Will the Houston Astros be able to HOLD OFF the Mariners in the race for the AL West?

Will the Houston Astros be able to HOLD OFF the Mariners in the race for the AL West?

Welcome in to Inside the Ice Box here on the ESPN Houston YouTube channel. My name is Joe George. Find me on all social media platforms, Joe Radio, alongside Jeremy Brandham on anywhere you can find him, Jeremy Brandham, the king of sarcasm on Twitter. Sometimes he’s called a clown, but now he’s not the only one. And we’ll talk about that on the show today as we talk all things Houston Astros. Today’s podcast is brought to you by Blueest Star Tequila, the world’s first and only night harvested tequila. also sponsoring our Wednesday podcast, The Stormcast with myself and Will Conungle. Let’s talk some Astros, Jeremy. We’re make this really simple out the gate. Okay. Will the Astros win the West this year? Yes. Okay. Why? Um I think they’re better than the Mariners. Mariners are good. Don’t get me wrong. I like I’m not poo pooing on Seattle. I think Seattle is legit. Like they have a really good rotation. They have some dudes in their bullpin. Their lineup is good. I mean, Rosa, Raina, JRod, Naylor, Suarez, although Suarez is struggling a little bit. Shocker. And the big dumper. Like, I mean, they’re they’re a legit team. Let’s let’s take them seriously. But I like the Astros. Um, like the top of the rotation. The offense is looking better. Yordon return on the horizon. Feels like it. Uh, and look, I I mean, the hater thing is uh significant. I’m sure we’ll get to that. But I I do think that we overrate relievers a little bit. Like they throw 70 innings a year. They pitch one inning every other night. Two two nights out of three. I mean, I’d rather have hater than not have hater. But like we kicked it around on the show the other day. If you told me that hater is out for the rest of the season, but you got a Breu back or not a Breu, you got Yordon back in two weeks and he’s good for the rest of the year. Do you take that trade-off? The answer is obviously yes. Absolutely. So I think that they can survive it. I think they’re still going to win the division. I think Seattle’s feasted on a less than subpar schedule. Curious to see how they do on this road trip. Um, yeah, I still think the Astros win the division. I’m with you. I I think they still find a way to pull it off and part of that’s because there’s this hope that Yordon’s going to return. Kareah has been excellent, honestly, since he got traded back to the Houston Astros. Jesus Sanchez has had his moments of ups and downs, but overall like this the Astros have just Yes. They gave up a sevengame lead in the division, but that’s going to happen with the amount of injuries they’ve had. The fact that honestly I think they held it on for as long as they did. I find that impressive. Yeah. And that’s why I’m with you. I think eventually in the long run of this thing, the Astros do end up winning the AL West. And I was looking at the odds for this. I was just curious how things had changed because they’re obviously changing so dramatically. On one website, it looked like the Seattle Mariners were the betting favorite to come out of the American League. On that same website, the Astros were a minus 115 favorite to win the West. The Mariners were 105. So, it’s, you know, coin flip basically at that point. You’re right there. When was this? Uh, on Wednesday. So, it was after Seattle tied it. Yes. That’s interesting math. Yeah. That it’s like, yeah, this team’s going to win is going to represent the American League, but they’re not the favorite to win the AL West. And it’s like, well, like you would think that that would should correlate a little bit more. This is I think it was even before the hater injury that I looked at it. So, um, you know, the odds there are so close. And I do think it’s a tossup. I don’t think it’s a uh I agree with you that yes, I think the Astros are going to win the ALO this year, but I don’t think it’s, you know, it’s something I would put a guarantee on. I would not bet on it myself at this point in the season. Part of it’s the odds aren’t that great, but also it’s just it feels like one bad series. And unfortunately for the Astros, another injury just just feels like it’s going to happen at some point because the season has gone so wrong so fast for all these injuries. Maybe Isach Paradis can close games. He’s working his way back. I mean, you have a lot of options. Yeah. No, I mean, Spot is going to have to make his money. Like, he’s just going to have to he’s going to have to patch this together. Um, they have options there. Like, they have one of the better bullpens in baseball. Like, it hasn’t looked as better. It hasn’t looked as good the last month than it did the first month. But I mean, you have lefty options. You have right-handed options. Like Dubin got back like he didn’t look great in his first outing in, you know, in his return. Maybe it was a little bit of a difficult spot. Uh this de los Santos guys looks like he he kind of plays the part or been better. I mean, I think they can survive it. I I do think they have options. I think a spot is going to have to manage his tail off. Mixes and matching. One thing that can help is your starting pitchers go deep into games. That’ll help tremendously. It will. And you’re going to have, we’ll get to kind of all the pitching, but you’ve seen the return of Christian Javier, Spencer Aragetti, Luis Garcia feels not as close because they still want to see that velocity. It’s ticked up a little bit. Bunch of strikeouts in his last rehab start. So maybe he is coming back soon. I know Dana Brown said about Lance Colors that not all blisters are created equally. I don’t really know what that means. I feel like that’s a I feel like they’re taking too much abuse over that. Why? Because pitchers do get blisters on their fingers and it does take a while and it is it is more prone for breaking ball guys. Yes. Like are they embellishing it a bit? Probably. I also think it might be a reason to keep him away from the team for a little while. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. But the people acting brand new like a pitching blister never happens in baseball is ridiculous to me. Like I can’t believe that he’s missing three weeks because of a blister. It happens all the time. Have you kept up with baseball ever? Yeah, we do see a lot of pitchers that they only miss one start, but they do. There are pitchers who do miss chunks. D is right. Every blister is created differently. Yeah. I’m just like it’s also not the worst thing that maybe this blister is taking a little longer to heal. No, I mean I hope that it would take all off season to heal. Like I mean there’s there’s issues there. Yeah, there is. Like what are you going to do? I don’t I don’t know. The the rotation we can get right into it. So the rotation stuff is is fascinating. Like think about not just the Astros race for the West, a race for the American League, for a pennant, all of it. It’s this rotation all of a sudden. Knock on wood has a bunch of bodies in it. And I don’t really know what the math is at at this point. I I mean you maybe one of these guys helps solve your bullpen issues, but is Luis Garcia going to come back and go to the bullpen? Is Christian Javier going to go to the bullpen? Is Spencer Aragetti? Like like what I don’t I don’t know what the math is with all these guys returning even if that’s assuming we don’t see Lance McCullers again this year. Right. Like right now for me before we talk about Luis Garcia returning, Lance McCuller is returning, hopefully redheaded Tom Glavin, Brandon Walter returning, um hopefully he gets back. He’s a weapon. Um to me, the fiveman rotation, assuming he stay five and look, maybe they go to six uh later in the schedule, depending on what the schedule says, and with more starting pitching arms coming back, maybe they could go to a six-man. That’s a little tough, though, because if you have a six-man starting rotation, that means you’re playing a man down in the bullpin. in which you now don’t have Josh. In which you don’t have Josh Hater. So like going to a six-man’s a little bit more complicated now because you don’t have hater. So if you’re going fiveman currently and this is their rotation like they’ve announced their starters for Baltimore and stuff like that in in no specific order just counting down the five. Uh and Hunter obviously top two for me it’s Javier and Ericetti. Like those are your two middle of the rotation guys. And for me it’s Castanza. Castanza is my five. So like that’s it right now. So that’s our baseline. Um, when Luis Garcia comes back, do you want him starting games or do you want Castanza starting games? That’s the first question you have to ask yourself. Well, I feel like if they’re not going to take at some point the approach of potentially using Luis Garcia, the bullpen in the minors and just seeing like what it would look like. Well, I don’t know if that matters. Like, you don’t think so? Not really. Like him for a guy that’s never really done it. I mean, he’s done it. Yeah. For a while, not not in a while. Um, had a big relief outing. Was it in the extra inning game in Seattle where you pitched out of the bowl? Yes. Yes. Cuz uh um Oriti was the only one that didn’t pitch in that game. Okay. Um I don’t think it really matters in rehab assignments. Like you want them on a schedule and rehab assignments even if like and you see this too like when closures go down to the miners they have okay you’re going to pitch the first inning of every game. He’s like you’re on schedule. You’re probably going to dart out of there. So I don’t really care about like his role in Sugarland. Um, I I do think that he’d be an option for the pin now. Like people I see people like, “Okay, move this guy to the bullpen and he’s your setup guy.” What? Like how is how would Luis Garcia be higher on the pecking order than even Caleb Ort? No. Like that’s a bit ridiculous. But I would go rest of this season. Like we’re talking only 2025 here. Castans has been pitching well. He He’s extended. He can pitch you into the fifth, sixth inning of games. He’s looked really good recently. So, like if we’re having that discussion today, right now, this second, I’m keeping Castanza as my number five starter and uh Luis Garcia is going to be in my bullpen and I’m sending down Jordan Williams. So, to me, that’s step one. I I agree. I think that’s a good step one. And part of this is with Luis Garcia is the velocity has to continue to get back to where it’s been and be there more consistently. He was back up to like 94.7, I think, is where he maxed out at in his last rehab start and that’s coming off of it being around 91 92 the previous one. So, but effective though. It’s weird. Yeah, it’s it’s strange like so can that velocity stay consistent? Can it go up a little bit more even for him? That’s a big question. But I think having Jason Alexander in there in the fifth spot of the rotation, it does make a lot of sense right now. And you talk about loyalty and things like that and well, there’s no loyalty to Luis Garcia. He’s not a Dana Brown guy. Like he’s not gonna feel forced to put him back into the rotation. He’s going to do what’s best for the Astros. And I agree with you that as of right now that makes the most sense. They just go with those five and then you fit in Luis Garcia and then potentially McCullers and Walters. Figure that one out down the road. The only argument to where So what would you do if MC wants McCullik comes back? Cuz like we covered step one there. And look, Alexander’s got a 256 RA like is FIP. I’m not a huge believer in FIP, but some people are 374. Like that’s good. Like I’m not bumping him out of the rotation for a guy who hasn’t pitched in two years. I’m just not doing it. He’s been really good in his last several starts at the Yankees. six shutout innings, carried a no hitter what, deep into the game, middle of the game against Miami. Six shutout innings, like a solid offense. So, like I’m I’m not kicking Alexander out. Now, the McCullers, the step two is something like a scenario that I want to play out because I don’t think many people have played it out. It’s just like, oh, we’re going to bring in all these pitchers and you have this unlimited roster, all of this stuff. Now, you do have one thing working in your favor when it comes to the roster is that you’re a couple of weeks away from September 1st. Yeah. By the time McCullys actually could be back, the roster might be expanded, but only one pitcher. Yes. So only one pitcher. So like when McCulla’s come back, comes back is important because if he comes back in September, okay, he’s your 14th pitcher. You don’t have to make another decision because okay, Luis Garcia is going to take Jordan’s spot. No problem. He’s in the bullpen. Blah blah blah blah blah. If Lance McCullers comes back before September, which I think that they’re probably going to manipulate this, but if he comes back before September, what do you do now? assuming everybody else is healthy like you’re going to have to DFA somebody or you send down Alexander does which is yeah but it’s if it’s not best for the baseball team it doesn’t make any sense right how much power do you think Josel Tub and Carlos Korea have with Jim Crane I don’t know then you DFA Lance Mccor if he won’t go to the bullpen but even if he goes to the bullpen that’s my that’s my point on August 28th who whose spot is he taking so I I my guess my best guess my hypothesis here is that they’re going to milk unless there’s an injury They’re going to milk Lance McCulla’s return until September 1st. Yeah, I think I think that’s the most logical thing to do is just is wait it out as long as possible. I mean, he will he will need rehab starts probably. Yeah, at least I mean at least one he’s pitching one I guess. Did he pitch one Thursday night? Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. So, maybe one more if you could like really try to milk this thing out. That’s that’s the calendar game here. Like, Lance, we you can’t come back before September 1st. Lance, go have some coffee. I just I don’t know. Like I I don’t know what you do with Lance McCullers because if he’s not going to be a bullpen pitcher and you don’t want him as a starter like then he’s just it’s best not he’s not going to be on the playoff roster. So the long-term ramifications are not are not complicated for at least for this season. But for the interim I mean it’s probably just Alexander going down at this point and then at some point you’re I guess I guess yeah I guess that would be the move. But but I don’t but it’s if it’s not what’s best for the baseball team that I don’t like the move. It might be the easiest move to make. But if Alexander is pitching better than Garcia and he’s pitching better than Spencer Aragetti and he’s pitching better than Lance McCullers, then why would you move him? Yeah. Did I just did is Spencer Aragetti the guy? No. Like if he’s not performing well, like I don’t think so either. It’s just Lance McCullers makes this complicated of just like what is his status going to be? And frankly, even if he’s out there, you know, it’s not been that good. See, you could do the whole okay Lance is back August 25th. Okay, Jason, we’re calling you right back up September 1st. You could play that game. So that’s probably the way you would do it. But then there’s also the okay well is AJ Blue Ball going to be somebody you consider in the bullpin type of stuff to play now. He pitched on Sunday. So like that’s the reason he didn’t come up when Gordon did. That’s the reason he didn’t come up when Jordan Williams did is because he pitched on Sunday and he wasn’t available. I I wonder if he’s on the roster as soon as tonight. Like I wonder if he’s on the roster to open up the Baltimore series. Yeah. So, like that’s a wrinkle, too, because we’re having a tough time getting Lance McCullers on this roster, especially before September 1st without AJ Blue Ball. So, if AJ Blue Ball is an option, that throws a wrinkle into things. Another thing is is look, I don’t know when Brandon Walters return is scheduled to be. He hasn’t thrown in rehab games. Last I read, he’s throwing sides in West Palm Beach on La Pla with Yordon. Um, so like he’s probably several weeks away, but September 15th and again assuming health, let’s say that you know Lance McCullers is the 14th pitcher you’re keeping in September. Luis Garcia is up. Let’s say they don’t bring up blue ball because there’s not room. Now what do you do with Walter on September 15th? I mean make tough decisions at that point. I think it’s I think what you said about Lance is in play. I think it’s possible. I think he’ll get another crack. I think he’ll get a shot. But if Lance McCullers gets that crack and shot, whether it’s in the rotation, whether it’s out of the bullpen, and he looks like he did in his previous return off the IIL, I I do think a DFA is in play or another mysterious injury. Yes, a mysterious injury, a DFA. And the other thing they obviously could just do here is they could have Lance McCullers go out there. Yes, you’re starting this game today. Um, and the moment that you are in danger, Jason Alexander is coming in and they are doing them. I hate that though. But like in theory like if Lance gives you three innings, Alexander can give you the next five and get you to Brian Abrau and you’re limiting your bullpen in that way. Kind of in the way they used they used Christian Javier two or three years ago where yes he was the sixth starter in the rotation but if it was around when he could pitch sometimes he would piggyback for someone whether it was Ariti or Garcia or someone else to help kind of solve the math problem there. So that could be the other option. Yeah. I just don’t know why you would um derail Castanza who’s really well for a guy who has an RA of seven because unlike where there might not be loyalty as is extreme to Luis Garcia, it does feel like there’s front office loyalty or at least ownership loyalty to Lance. There shouldn’t be with 40 games left in the season in a playoff race. And will Jim Crane want to eat another contract? That’s the other part. I mean, he’s going to eat the money regardless. Sun cost like you’re paying Lance McCull’s you know the pro rated 18 and a half for the remainder of this year and then all of next year no matter what. Yeah. So like the question becomes kind of similar to what it was with Jose Abrau. Would you rather pay Lance McCullers to pitch poorly for your baseball team or would you rather Lance to pay would you rather pay Lance McCullers to you know go spend time at Maven? Like that that is the question. Yeah. I there’s a probably a lot of people that are listening to this right now that would rather spend Jim Crane’s money to pay him to go away. Not that they don’t like Lance, it’s just that he’s not pitching well. I mean, it’s not it’s not a like respect uh what he did for the city thing. It’s where are the Astros currently today and how does he factor in where’s he at today? Yeah, it’s it’s it’s hard to figure out. Uh so Josh her is out as as we record this, he’s still out seeking a second opinion. We don’t have an update for the Astros uh at this moment in time. So, what does the back end of the bullpen in in a perfect world, let’s say Hunter Brown gives you in, you know, game one of the of a wild card series gives you six really strong innings, but his pitch count can’t allow him to go into the seventh. How do you get to Brian Abrau in the ninth inning? Who’s out there in the seventh? Who’s out there in the eighth? Fully rested game. Yeah, let’s say game. Yeah, game one. No, game one. Make it nice and easy. Um, if it was game seven, I would say Souza and Abrau combined for six outs for for nine outs. N I can’t do math. Yeah, they would combine for three innings. Yeah. Um, if you if it’s game one, it’s a little different because you don’t want to, you know, blow out their arm in in game one. Although wouldn’t I wouldn’t I wouldn’t put it past the spotter to do it. I would not like and most managers. It’s not a slide at a spot. Like and I understand like these managers micromanage in the postseason and they try to extend relievers. So it wouldn’t shock me if it’s Susan Abrau for nine outs. It really wouldn’t. I don’t love doing that in a game one because I think it one they’re getting looks at them. Two like what does it do for the rest of the series? How much fatigue will they have? Yeah, you get the extra days off especially in a division series. I don’t love that idea in a game one. Fully rest in game seven much different story. Um so I would go combination of Souza and Abrau. I don’t mind playing the pockets though. Yeah. Like Joe Espatada says, “We’re not going to announce a closer.” I know Dana Brown said the same thing like, “We’re not just going to proclaim a closer.” I know the first look at it in a safe situation. Souza came on, it was more than an inning uh because he he relieved you relieved Hunter Brown in the seventh, finished the inning, pitched the eighth, and then Abrau was there for the ninth. So like that’s the way ideally it would be. But if let’s just say you use like a king or or an or depending on the pocket in the seventh inning. Let’s say you have three straight righties up. Okay. Well, I want Caleb Ort there. Let’s say you have lefty, righty lefty. Okay. That’s probably a Brian King situation. Um and then in the eighth, ninth inning, again, it depends on the pocket. It’s the best part of the lineup, right? If you’re Well, not even that. Like, it could be handedness. It could be best part of the lineup, it could be handedness, however they want to play it. If if 3, four, five is coming up in the eighth inning and they’re all right-handed hitters, like give me a Breu in that spot and I’ll go to work with, you know, Souza um in the what would that be? End of the night. Yeah, but I’m trying to think of the spot of the order. 678. Yeah. It’s like that that to me makes more sense. And also in the playoffs where these pitchers can go longer and probably managers are more willing to use them longer. Abrau in the eighth makes sense against, you know, 345 234 that’s right-handed heavy. And then if he just mows them down and dominates and has like an 11 pitch inning, go back out. Starts the ninth. Yeah. Um and maybe don’t even finish the ninth. Maybe starts the ninth, gets a couple of outs, runner at first, lefty up. Souza, get that final out for me. So I actually like that they’re doing that. I like the mix mixing and matching. You can play the matchups. Um so yeah, I mean Espatada is going to have to manage his tail off though. Yeah, I mean Espatada is to me it’s it’s the Astros are very confident they’re going to make the playoffs no matter what. He’s got to win manager of the year. how he’s gotten to them to this point and then even what’s going to happen the rest of the season I think is going to heavily impact that but like he’s just made they’ve just found a way it’s been so impressive to to get through all of this stuff and they will continue to have to try to now what’s the do huh what’s the minimum he has to do to win manager of the year I kind of like that segment be the num number one wild card team okay I was I was gonna say win the division yeah I I think because of the amount of injuries I I think you would still look at this team and be like they’re still the top wild card team especially if it’s a close race with Seattle. If Seattle were to run away with it maybe and the Astro but if the Astros probably wouldn’t be the one number one wild card team if Seattle runs away with it. So I think as long as he can get into that win the division be the top wild card team he’s going to get it. And honestly even regardless as long as he makes the playoffs he probably deserves it because of all the injuries that have happened this year. You know, it’s it’s they’ve had to manage this team with having guys play left field and DH and second base and Keratini and, you know, Yiner and the split that that’s been going on this year and who’s dhing who’s catching all these different injuries and just moving guys in the lineup and what he’s done with Cam Smith, moving them up and down. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I think it’s very welld deserved. Now, I think I know your answer to this next question, Jeremy. John Schneider deserves a little bit more love, by the way. Probably. Like I haven’t looked at the odds in a while, but like I’ve heard Aspatada, I’ve heard Hinch, they’ll throw out um you know even a couple more name. Schneider deserves some credit. Like that’s a tough division and he’s gone what worst to first. Y like that’s another guy that’s going to be in the mix. Uh currently John Schneider is the betting favorite. Okay. Uh he’s a minus 250. Uh AJ Hinch is a plus 220 followed by tied at plus 1,000 Joe Spata. That’s good odds. And Alex Cora. I I like those odds. Yeah, I might play that actually. That feels like one where it’s like that that feels pretty solid about like the Astros win the division. That’s some good value. Like I I you mentioned the odds earlier. Astros win the divisions like minus 105. Yeah. 115. 115. Uh give me a spot at plus 10,000 over Astrosus 115. If you think the Astros are going to win the division, don’t play the divisional odds. Yeah. Play the spot of manager of the year. Well, parlay. Well, a spot of manager of the year and win the division. I mean, you get a little bit of cushion there, I guess, but not much because I mean, I guess there is correlation there because I don’t because again, I don’t think that he wins manager of the year if they don’t win the division. So, I guess you could I guess you get a little bit value there. I’m pretty sure I know your answer to this question, but uh we asked this last week, I think it was, but now the haters call, I feel like the question’s a little different. Colin Presley, no. Yeah, me neither. No. Have you seen uh I’m a Savant guy. I like to look at the baseball. Yeah, I saw I saw you tweet that out. It is ice cold. It is. He has nothing going for him. Yeah, man. I watched it. I watched it. I mean, he went from the closer to a mop-up guy. Like, he he brings nothing. It’s it’s one of those where the reunions have been nice. They’re a fun story with Hector for the second year in a row, but he basically he hit his 10 years of service time. They ded him the next day. Um I felt intentional in a way. Um like you brought back Karee, you brought back Verlander before. I don’t I don’t think you bring back Presley in this situation. He doesn’t really help you. He doesn’t have it anymore. like he’s fallen off the cliff and we saw this last year. Like we saw the writing on the wall and it’s gotten worse. Yeah, the cliff was steeper this year. And people were like, well, you know, the Astros pitching machine is great at getting the most out of of pitchers. Yeah, those pitchers usually aren’t 36 years old. And then why did they get rid of them? Well, the money I mean the money was a factor in. But but I mean like what have the Astros reclamation projects been? Like you say Kikuchi last year who his strikeout rate was insane. Souza has been, you know, Bennett Souza has been a great reclamation project. He’s a younger guy. I think he’s like 30 right now. Who’s the oldest pitcher the Astros have fixed? They didn’t fix Verlander. Verlander when he came here in 17 was having a tough year in 17. I was actually thinking more about he’s in his mid-30s. Yeah. I was thinking more like the the Mets Verlander. Yeah. Like they didn’t fix. No, he was that guy. Yeah. So like and I just don’t know how they look at Ryan Presley’s stuff and be like, “Oh yeah, we can work with that.” Because Yeah. cuz they didn’t they it didn’t work last year. Like they they couldn’t get it going last year on track, it only got worse this season. So, right like the Astros pitching machine whenever they like a guy like they they look at the stuff and like okay we can work with that stuff. Yeah. When you look at Presley stuff you’re like that guy doesn’t have it anymore. He’s he’s worst. I can’t work with that. He doesn’t have the weapons for me to work with. There are probably other guys who will be DFA in the next 15 days by other teams that the Astros could go in and go after. I mean, we saw teams kind of unload salary, but the Angels like two or three years ago like DFA like three or four guys from their bullpen at the end of the season and like just because they were like, well, we want to save the money we can and let these guys go find a winning team. So, there also might be mark arms available. I do think Blue Ball though is a really interesting guy. You bring him up like I would love to see him come out of the bullpen with that gas. I think he could be a weapon for you. Like he’s not immediately gonna be your eighth inning guy. Yeah. Like that. There’s two conversations that are prevalent right now within the fan base that drives me crazy. It’s the bring Ryan Presley back. He doesn’t have the stuff anymore, man. He’s averaging six strikeouts per nine. Even last year was nine strikeouts per nine. He’s lost it. It’s gone. Astros can’t find it because he’s father time has won that battle. I’m I’m Adam Presley and he’s contemplating retirement too, which like why is he contemplating retirement? Because he’s telling you I don’t have it anymore. Well, I think he also only wants to play in Texas. Maybe. So, but like I I’m out on the pressing reunion. We also just talked about the roster crunch. We just talked about the pitcher roster crunch tonight. Add a dude who’s a bubble guy. Anyways, that doesn’t make any sense to me. Yeah, Blue Ball, I would like the idea of it. Um because I do think his stuff would play. You can make the case that he’d be better like than De Los Santos who the Braves released and that’s why he was available and the Astros gave a major league contract to. Uh I I have a feeling that we’re going to see Blue Ball on the big league team soon. I think it’s gonna be before the rehab guys. Actually, I think it’ll be before Garcia. I think it’ll be for before McCullys. I think he’s gonna take um Wee spot. I think he’s gonna take the wee spot against Baltimore. Yeah, I mean, I would love it. I mean, he was very impressive in his last appearance for the Astros. And like you talk about just finding arms and bodies that can compete at that level. He looks like he can. Now, the the one thing with Blue Ball is he can’t join the roster unless there is an injury or his 15 days are up. So, you got that caveat out there, too. Yeah. Yeah. So, it might take a little bit of time. Yeah. Unless Williams has a blister, you know. Yeah, you never know. He might he might have a blister. Broken toenail pop up 10day I or 15 day I um before we get to something I actually I heard Paul Golant discussing this. I’ll bring it to you today because I feel like this is a right in your area of of topic. You almost did Willhouse. I did. I stopped myself. Um before we get to that though, um another clown emoji was thrown out there towards another sports radio host. Really? By Chandler. Yeah. To who? Pendergast. Really? Yeah. for being pro uh bullying brag men. That’s interesting because Pendergast like quote tweets a lot of Rome stuff. Yeah. Like and is like kind of like Yeah. Like kind of you know, hey, you do good stuff. Uh I’m on the Penderg side of this. I you know what I’ve noticed I I think Chandler does a good job for what it’s worth. I I’ve never met Chandler. Uh we’ve been in the same like building, but I’ve never met Chandler. I think Chandler is a good journalist. I think Chandler does do a good job with that. I I think he’s really good in the beat. I’ve listened to his podcast a few times. Um, I think he presents good information on his podcast. I think he’s a little dull, but I he provides good information on his podcast. I think he’s a little boring, but he provides good information on his podcast. I I I enjoy like I listen to the Luno one like that was very good because I mean Luno was really good, but I listened to his interview with that scouting director after the draft just to like learn about the prospects a little bit. I I think he does a good job when it comes to reporting and being a journalist and all that and provides good information and I think he’s a sharp baseball mind. I really do. Um, I think he has a tough time understanding entertainment or sarcasm really. Like who car? And I also think he like has players that he stands for and will like, you know, defend them no matter what. I think Bregman’s obviously one of those guys. Yeah, you never know. It could be sarcasm in the tweet, too. Like not towards you, but maybe they call me a clown. He didn’t understand. He didn’t understand my s my Well, actually, that wasn’t really a sense of humor thing. That was more like I was surprised Pñena missed two games with a broken rib and somebody like snitched me out from a perspective that like I was complaining and calling Pñena soft, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t calling Pñena soft. I was just surprised he missed two games with a change up and then got placed on the IIL. I’m shocked that he did that to um to to to Shawn though. And but I am pro I am fine with booing Breman. I’m also pro booing. It’s sports. It’s entertainment. You’re spending 50 bucks on a ticket. Like it’s all Yeah, Bregman’s the type of ball player that will enjoy it. ridiculous. It’s a term of endearment. You don’t boo nobody’s like that’s that’s silly to me, but that’s him standing for a player. He has certain guys that he stands for. Bregman’s one. Chaz is another because Chaz gives him information. Um, yeah, Hunter Brown is one. My kind of thought on the Bregman stuff was you you cheer him, you applaud him, he comes up to the plate, you cheer him, and then the first time he does something really good against the team, you boo him. And it happened in the first bat. He went deep. It’s like you’re the enemy now. If he struck out three times in that game, you could keep clapping cuz it’s like you’re not you’re not helping the Boston Red Sox against the Astros. I wanted I wanted him to be booted. I wanted him to cheer the ovate like the the video thing. Like cheer that. That’s cool. Like that’s a cool moment. Uh give him this give him the ovation, his first at bat. Let him tip the helmet and then after that it’s it’s ball. Like you’re on the you’re in the opposing dugout now. We’re going to boo you. We’re going to boo you with a smile on our face and then you’re going to smile back. Like that that’s some weird gatekeeping. That’s really weird. Yeah. Um, all right. So, final I heard Paul doing this on his show on Thursday. Uh, he did the Mount Rushmore of Astros animes. I’m curious what you think of his list that him and Sean came up with. Okay. Number one, Mike Fires. Yeah. Number two, Adulles Garcia. Number three, Albert Pos. And then number four, entered in Alex Cora. Yeah. I feel like that might be a little prisoner of the moment. I I hate Alex Cora, too. I I think I think I think everyone use the word hate. I don’t like Alex Corora. I don’t think anyone likes Alex Corora. No, there’s more pe There’s people I would have ahead of of that, though. Um I I I can’t stand Alex Cora. I I tweeted out that night he got ejected for not knowing the rules, by the way. Um I tweeted out there’s not many managers I I dislike more than Kora. And I started to think about that a little bit. He might be the one I despised the most. Like I Scott Service I didn’t like, but like he was a former Astro. I guess Cora was a former Astro too in the at least as a coach. Yeah. But I think I think that’s some of the Kora stuff is the is the the interaction whatever happened on that bus. I know there’s been a booking on it with like Andy Martino and stuff but the bus interaction between Blum and Kora. I I think everyone is so team Blum in this city that like when that came out and then how what’s happened since with Kora, right? It’s like it really it does elevate him in a way onto that list. Even besides service, I don’t even know like what other managers I would put on. A lot of people don’t like Boon. I Boon I I don’t like Boon either, but I I I can tolerate Boone more than Kora. Um Boon’s got nothing on you. No, he hasn’t beaten you or anything. Also, like there whenever I used to cover the Astros, then when the Astros beat him in the ALCS, I forget what year, but um like I saw Boon like waiting patiently after they were eliminated to shake Hinch’s hand and congratulate him like in privacy. Like I thought that was cool. And I’m sure most managers do that, but I actually saw that. So that kind of curried some favor with me. Uh, didn’t like service. Um, you know who I couldn’t stand? This might be dating myself a little bit. Tony Larusa. Well, could not stand. Yeah. Yeah. Could not stand Tony the short list though. I mean, my favorite baseball clip of all time is him and Dusty. Yeah. Screaming at each other from like it’s it’s such a great clip cuz like it’s so not Dusty Baker in that moment, but like they’re just barking at each other. There’s clear dislike in that moment. The other guys though that I would like consider there like you could go back to the uh like you know Killer Bees era like Glavin Maddox like that was annoying. Yeah. Bobby Cox, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, those guys were annoying. Phos for sure. I couldn’t stand David Xstein he really bothered me. Jim Edmmonds y really really bothered me. Um yeah I’d have to think about this a little bit more. I I wouldn’t have core on the Mount Rushmore. Certainly in the like hated crowd. Yeah. certainly in the pool, but I wouldn’t select him as my top player. There’s going to be a there’s going to be a fourth person that belongs on that list before I think so. I mean, you could put Evan DLE there, right? I think a lot of people would put Evanwich there. That’s a good point. I didn’t even think about that. How about How about Joe West for calling that stupid fan interference in right field? Yeah, Joe. Was it 18? That was a terrible call. Yeah, Disher probably is probably a good number four. Yeah, I think Corora might not even crack my top 10 if I really You think Garcia is really deserving a doulus? See that one that see that one’s another little bit prisoner of the moment. Like he certainly again would be in the pool. Would he ultimately be one of my top four? No. Like I would have I would have Edmonds ahead of ahead of uh Adulus. So fires and pools are for sure locked in. And you would go probably different direction with your other two. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s fair. They would be in the pool would certainly be in the conversation, but I don’t think I would ultimately land on them. Yeah. I mean, look, there’s a lot of people that everyone always everyone’s al always has their own the things they hate about other people. So, it’s always a little bit different list, but yeah. So, it’s Yeah, it’s very relative, but I just think it’s interesting that it’s amazing how Alex Coror has really put himself in the front. Yeah, John Boy’s a good one, too. They You know what? I actually think my stuff, my annoyance with John Boy is getting I’m getting more irritated with them than less irritated. They’ve backed off the hate. Yep. And now it’s like the words I want to describe what they’re doing to Jose Altuve on Twitter are not FCC appropriate. Yeah. Because they’re all over him. I mean, take it easy. He’s not going to sleep with you. No, like for real. Like like like they’ve gone in such you can tell it’s like their social media managers are doing it and not exactly. It’s not John Boy himself, but the company is so like just gassing up all the Altuve versus the Yankee stuff. I’m like, how can you Well, it’s content. It’s like engagement. It’s engagement. I mean, they’re they’ve sold out to the man for Yeah. Well, literally, the uh the thing that bothers me the most is that he didn’t apologize. Uh it’s why I don’t understand why Major League Baseball honestly thought that that was a wise investment to invest in that media company. Well, because they have an East Coast bias and don’t care about the Astros. I understand. I met I met the CEO and she’s a wonderful, very intelligent person. John Boyer. Oh, John Boy. Yeah. Um, but when they made the announcement that Major League Baseball was allowing that to happen, I was like, man, like they started some pretty outof pocket stuff that Rob Manfred himself had to go on McAfee and ESPN and all these different platforms and discredit everything that John Boy was saying about the buzzer theory and he they never apologized. That’s my thing. Yeah, totally fair. And like I don’t I don’t care that they’re gassing up now. Like I understand it’s it’s become bigger than just John Boy. Like it’s a it’s an entity. Like I think they do some good stuff. I do. Like some of like his lip reading stuff I think is really good. I like that one host. I don’t know his name. I think he’s pretty good. I don’t I have no idea his name. But um the thing that irritates me is just like they we’re just going to gloss right over that like it never happened instead of just owning it. Like hey you’re a fan of the Yankees. You’re talking crap about that’s fine by me. Like we talk crap about Adolles Garcia. People in the Astro fan base like yeah he’s on peeds. I’ve never said that. But people are like, “Oh, he’s on PE.” Like fans of teams say negative things about players on other teams, especially ones that have beaten you. It’s like, I don’t even care that he that he did that. I don’t even really care that he did that. My my thing is that he’s glossed right over it. Is praising Altuve and it was never like, “Hey, we were wrong about that. My bad. Just own it.” Yeah. No, I put Michael Kay in the same category and I would hold him to a much higher standard because he’s obviously the one that lit the fire or he had them on to discuss Carlos Beltron’s niece’s Twitter account that alleged the buzzers where all this began. And he really like I mean John Boy was like a nothing burger at that point where came out the leap reading. Yeah. Like that’s all people knew him for. Then he goes on Michael K. It goes super viral and they become a probably a multi-million dollar worth I mean millions and millions of dollars worth of a company now. And it’s like Michael Kay I would be he might deserve honestly to be on this Mount Rushmore too. Yeah, I can’t say Michael K. It’s gonna annoy me so much how ESPN put him on the call of the wild card series last year. I hope they don’t do it this year. That was ridiculous. It feels destined to happen again though. I know. But like it’s you shouldn’t like there should be some separation of church and state and it’s like if an entire fan base hates a broadcaster because they’re a local broadcaster of a rival, they should not be on that call. Not go even further. That is like Yeah. That is gassed up. Yes. Lies about an organization. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. All right. He’s Jeremy Brand. Catch him Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on the Killer Bees. Plus every Friday here on YouTube on the Inside the Icebox podcast, and we air that at 7 o’clock. You can catch me Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 6 on Last Call as well here on the ESPN Houston YouTube channel. This episode’s been brought to you by Blueestar Tequila, the world’s first and only night harvested tequila. You can find it near you at bluestartila.com. Thanks for watching. Remember, hit that subscribe button. We’ll talk to you guys next week.

Will the Houston Astros be able to hold off the Seattle Mariners in the race for the AL west? How do they replace Josh Hader? What to do with the rotation as all the starters like Christian Javier and Luis Garica return? Who are the mount rush more of Astros enemies? All that and more on this episode of Inside The Ice Box!

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