Why Astros getting the BAND BACK TOGETHER isn’t as crazy as it sounds!

Why Astros getting the BAND BACK TOGETHER isn’t as crazy as it sounds!

Hey, welcome in to Stone Cults. I’m Brandon Strange with Charlie Filo and Josh Jordan. You can go follow them on XPLO and Josh Jordan SCS like Stone Cults. On today’s episode, the Astros need an R. Give me a J. Give me a V. Worth a shot, I guess. Speaking of former Astros, one took the main stage in game seven of the ALCS defeat the Mariners, but he’s not beating former allegations of cheating. Why are we still talking about this in the year of our Lord 2025? And hey, speaking of another former Astro, Breggy’s a free agent if anyone’s interested. I am. I’ll ask the guys what they think. Uh before all that, hit like on the video, subscribe to the channel, click the bell. We’re on all your favorite podcast apps where you can listen to the episodes. Just search Stone Cold Stros. Charlie, Josh, welcome in. I feel like I never see you guys anymore. It’s a joke. Uh so look, we we talked about depth challenges. We’ve talked about it kind of all off season during the season about just the depth challenges that Houston faces with the likely departure of Robert Valdez. And as it stands right now, it’s just Hunter Brown and a bunch of dudes. Uh interestingly enough, there is a free agent out there that has championship pedigree and experience with the Astros. That’s one Justin Verlander. Look, the numbers weren’t great for JV last year, but 152 innings pitched, 385 RA outside of Hunter and from no other Astro had better numbers than that with that many innings pitched. Um, granted, that’s because no one outside of those two was healthy and available for that length of time, which kind of makes JB’s story so incredible given his age. So, I just wanted to bounce around with you guys. This is something that I’ve been thinking about for basically since the end of the season. What do you guys think, you know, JB has left in the tank at this age? And do you think the Astros would realistically pursue him given his friendship with Jim Crane? It’s not preposterous. Verlander turns 43 years old in February, which does mean he’s at the phase of his career where it’s one year. There’s no multi-year risk of major dollars blowing up in your face, even if he were to break down an April career over. It’s just the one year. Now, the Giants paid him $15 million for his three wins in 2025. But as anyone with a clue knows now, one loss record defining a starting pitcher is a rather antiquated concept. Uh you mentioned 385, that’s competent back end of the rotation stuff. granted did work in a pitcher park. Oracle with the Giants. I I think of more import that Verlander once all that WD40 kicked in, a much better pitcher after the All-Star break, right? It’s not the second half of the season. It’s closer to 100 games played now when you come out of the All-Star break, but 14 starts after the break, Verlander’s earned run average was 2.99. Five September starts, 2.08. 08. Now he’s barely a five inning pitcher at this point. Father Time’s going to get everybody to some extent. And even while Verlander was effective, it was about five and a third innings per start. But if you can get five and a third innings, two earned runs, those are keep you in the game starts. And I think that you mentioned the personal friendship, the one-year contract component would have real appeal. And I’m guessing Jim Crane would chart the course for Dana Brown to you go talk with Verlander and if we can chisel that down to one year 10 million maybe plus some incentives I’d rather do that than 3 years 75 million for Dylan CE or Ranger Suarez or more years and more money subject to to how the market goes. You mentioned a bunch of dudes. The Astros first offseason move was another dude. Former first round pick 29 years old. enticing stuff. Nate Pearson, who Toronto released in September, he’s just never gotten it together at the major league level. Astros commit to just $1.35 million and hope that they can work their pitching matchup with him, but he cannot be the impact starting rotation addition of the offseason. No. And with Pearson, he’s mostly been a relief pitcher over the last few years. It’s just, you know, there was a report that Chandler Rome was saying the Astros are going to give him a try as a starter. you look into him, it’s not a surprise with him being a former first round pick. He throws gas 97 98 miles an hour, but he’s just super wild. So, we’ll see. You wonder if it’s just kind of a shot in the dark from Dana Brown of just like this guy throws hard. Maybe we can find some magic with him like we did with Kikuchi, somebody that throws hard. We can work on his breaking ball. Maybe we can get him to throw more strikes. We’ll see. And it’s a former first round pick, which Dana likes that. Taylor Trmell, he picked him up. He was a former firstrounder. A lot of GMs do that kind of thing. I also think it’s interesting that Dana Brown worked for the Blue Jays when they drafted him in the first round. So, he does have some experience a little bit with the player. So, you know, it it’s low risk. We’ll see what happens. I’m not counting on a lot from him. As far as JB, the number I like from him last year the most is 29 starts. That’s something I can get with, but the problem is is that’s the most starts he’s had since 2019. That hasn’t been something he’s been able to do every year. 385 RA, not bad. And as Charlie mentioned, pitched a lot better towards the end of the season. You know, Max Scherzer and what he did for the Blue Jays. That was a really big performance for them. He’s an old guy like Verlander. So, sometimes these older guys can come in in these big situations. And, you know, maybe the Astros could use somebody like Verlander that’s like Max Sherzer. You never know. You have to have them at the right time, but you do have to gamble on their health. You have to gamble on them falling off. Are the Astros a destination Verlanders is excited about now that he thinks he could add another championship if he went back to Houston? Doesn’t really feel like the Astros are in that place right now. I did see an article from Bleacher Report where they thought they were trying to match teams and possible trades and they thought that Mitch Keller, the Pirates, he’s a starter. thought that could make sense for the Astros to trade for him because they believe he eats up a lot of innings and that could help you know ease the transition of moving on from fr Keller logged the sixth most innings of any pitcher over the past three seasons. So that’s good but the RA’s in the fours not super exciting. You look at his baseball savant page a lot of blue on there when you like to see a lot of red. I’m not super stoked about it. The other issue with him he still has three years left on a on a 5year $77 million deal. So, he wouldn’t be cheap. Just this upcoming season, he’d hit the books at about 168 million dollars. Maybe a little more than he’d have to play uh pay Verlander, but I don’t know. I Some of these options are a little more intriguing than others. The nostalgia JV is exciting, but I think the bottom line, guys, is they’re going to have to add more than one starter, right? I I don’t think, you know, even after the addition uh just recently, I think they’re going to have to get a couple guys. payroll gymnastics as we’ve done some of the accounting before leaving Fromber out of it assuming Victor Keratini is not coming back he’d command a raise from his 6 million uh no way do you want Mauricio Duban back at at 6 million and then the dead wood uh chopped away finally a Breu Monto Presley all the the sunk cost dollars they’re still at give or take $30 million under the first tax threshold uh the Pirates are absolutely desperate for offense. So if the Astros are looking to offload Isach Paradus who projects at about $9 million, wait, he was their best offensive player along with Jeremy Pñena and healthy last season. Well, they’re stuck with $22 million of Carlos Kareah. The Pirates might be enticed to take Isach Paradus. Carlos Koreah, forget it. Unless the Astros are going to send another big check to pay off a lot of that contract. Ditto Christian Walker turns 35 years old. wouldn’t strike me as a guy the Pirates have any reason to be injured with interested in Keller three years 56 million Josh you touched upon the numbers his best erra the last three seasons was last season at 4.19 he has posted at least 31 starts over the last three years was an all-star in 2023 while the Pirates have to have one all-star uh every season so uh that would be uh if not a yawn inducing trade acquisition it would excite no one it would not goose any ticket sales. But again, if you’re getting Keller 3 years 56, roughly $18 million per per 18 million what Frober made last season. But if that’s still cheaper than the free agent starters will be commanding and you’re moving some of your payroll to trade for Keller, if not specifically with Mitch Keller, it’s the type of move for a starting pitcher the Astros could well contemplate. Yeah, look, I first of all, count me in for JV. Um, and gambling on health is every season in Houston. But hey, maybe with some of those changes behind the scenes, they can turn a turn a corner in that regard. Um, I don’t know how I feel about Dubon. I don’t know that I’m as ready to lock let him walk considering that it’d be that would be backfilling that position. Like I I Dubon at six is better and cheaper marginally cheaper. I Dub’s I would rather have Dubon at bat for honestly like Dubon like can at least put a string of atbats together whereas Aras was completely frigid with the bat in his hands. He’s good defender and if if you know if they just need him as a utility guy fine I’ll get over it. But I just I don’t know if all things were equal and I know they’re not. There’s about 2 million different gap and when you’re pinching pennies, every million counts. But uh yeah, I’m just not as eager to see Dubon walk unless they have a better option. And Aras doesn’t really strike me as that outside the supermarket commercial. Brandon, it’ll be okay. Uh and as far as Pearson goes, I mean, look at what they did with Jason Alexander. You know, they they were able to really turn, you know, turn it around for him. Got some good quality starts for him. But look, I I don’t need to look any further back than Forest Whitley, who was also a first round pick, also had gas, also wild, and they couldn’t fix him. They are good, but they’re not miracle workers. Um, so we’ll see. I mean, I mean, obviously, it’s just a shot in the dark, so if there’s something there, it’s it’s found money, I guess. Um, so moving on. When the Astros aren’t in the postseason, they still seem to be on the tips of everyone’s tongues. I guess that’s the definition of relevance. But it started really when Springer hit was hit by the pitch in the knee by Bran Woo in game five of the LCS. Uh, people online saying, “Oh, he deserved it since he was never punished for participating in the Astros sign stealing scandal.” And then Monday night, that chatter reached fever pitch when Springer crushed that hanging sinker from Eduard Bazardo in the seventh for the three-run home run. Turned out to be the game-winning home run. Uh and then, you know, one of the guys I follow on social is Jared Kurabas. He’s unabashed Red Sox honk, but overall diehard fan, pretty pretty fun follow. Um even he was surprised by the level of the science stealing talk following the game. I’m paraphrasing here, but he said basically something to the effect of, “I thought we were past this, but boy was I wrong.” My question is, is the sign stealing stuff a legit narrative that exists outside of social media, or is this just salty fans online medicating with mass quantities of cope? I think there’s a little bit of both. I’m a little surprised as well how much this crept up, but seeing the role that Springer played in that series, I kind of get it. You even see, you know, Jim Rome tweeting out stuff, you know, that about George Springer, how he’s inevitable and all this kind of stuff, which is pretty cool to see, honestly, because obviously I’m a big George Springer fan. But I I will tell you this, it’s not going to go any way any or go away anytime soon that they’re going to play the Dodgers in the World Series. So yeah, this stuff’s going to keep going on on Twitter. For me, I am I try to compare it to stuff, right? And I think about the Patriots and, you know, their cheating history. Were people still bringing up the Patriots and their, you know, videoing and their cheating. What is it almost 10 years after the fact? I don’t really remember that being talked about almost 10 years after the fact with them. And they had a couple scandals cuz they had the deflategate one, too. But you know how fans are. They’re bitter. they’re they’re locked in. It stands for fanatic. So, you know, if they don’t like you, you’re going to hear about it. But it certainly gets, you know, much worse and it gets amped up on social media because you have so many people with, you know, accounts where they don’t have to be held accountable for what they say and they can post all kinds of terrible things. And and I think that’s the line where, you know, when you’re applauding Springer being hurt, you know, and a lot of the Seattle fans are like, “That wasn’t true. If you were in the building, that was mostly Blue Jay fans booing that that happened. But you saw the outcry on social media. There were tons of Seattle Mariners fans enjoying and basking in Springer getting hurt. So, there’s something to it. And that’s where I like to draw the line. Like, man, we’re cheering for guys to get hurt, man. That’s bad karma. You know, in these sports, it’s hard enough to get through these things healthy and, you know, to be having to deal with that kind of stuff. I don’t know. It’s It’s icky for the fan base. And I think Seattle kind of got what they had coming to them. Yeah. Multiple components on this cheap mentality. You get a full house. Everybody cheers together. Everyone booze together. Uh the Mariners obviously within the division with the Astros. If the Blue Jays were against the Kansas City Royals or the Tampa Bay Rays, I don’t think the the outcry would have been uh as large. Uh let’s go beyond bad karma. if you boo an injury, other than perhaps if it’s to a player, eye for an eye, who through dirty play injured one of your guys, but short of that, you’re a punk, you’re a loser, you’re just not a very nice human being if you’re cheering for injuries over sporting outcomes. Um, and another thing, you know, they don’t boo you if you suck. So that Altuve and and Bregman and that Springers still hearing it in George’s case, it’s because he could not possibly have been more relevant than punching the Mariners out of their first ever World Series. And hey, second biggest home run behind Joe Carter in Blue Jays history to put Toronto in the World Series for the first time since Carter won it in in 1993. Last point, when you get deeper into the playoffs, I mean, obviously it’s nothing remotely approaching NFL playoff numbers, but you’re drawing in more casual fans, so the networks are going to go for those storylines or old narratives, things that might be tired to fans who lived it season to season. And yeah, been there, done that, heard that over and over and over and over and over. Please stop me uh again. Uh, but it’s more apt to come up and when the booing was that loud, I think it would have been a bit negligent for the broadcast to not address the elephant in the room. Uh, but yeah, Springer is going to hear it. Game three in in Los Angeles. And lastly on the topic, I trust you guys are coping all right emotionally with the Mariners coming up just short. Look, one of my best friends in life, college buddies, worked for the Mariners for 30 years, so I feel badly for him. Other than that, it’s in the end with rare exceptions, the more deserving, better team wins. And go Blue Jays. Yeah, it’s interesting because President Trump even vote for root for Canada against the Dodgers. Uh well, you know, look, I I look at in the past, we thought once guys left that see we thought that kind of cleansed the rep a little bit. It was kind of weird like watching guys like fan bases embrace Springer going to Toronto, fan bases embracing Bregman and being excited about Bregman in Boston. Uh so you you thought like, okay, well the reputation is cleansed and people like value them as players and obviously George showing up in in a game seven of the ALCS in the biggest moment with a three-run dinger. That’s like that’s that’s a big moment. So, it’s interesting that it get it got to see it just heightened back up to that level online. But I I as the question because I do wonder if the casual fan cares much and if the media only talks about it because they just have so much time to fill in those games and it’s just kind of a lazy talking point to kind of circle back to and um obviously the history there. I I I we’re definitely going to hear a a recanting of that uh during this World Series. But uh yeah, I I I just thought it was interesting. And while we’re talking about former Astros, um news came out last week that uh Alex Bregman was opting out of his deal in Boston. Uh that short but lucrative deal. Now, look, this is obviously in hopes that uh even with a reduced AAV, he’s looking for that longer deal, that last longer deal of his career. And I have to ask it because he’s a former Astro and they need offense. Is it any scenario that Breggie dons the orange and blue once again? You mean the Mets orange and blue? Generally, I’m a never say never type outlook guy. No way. I mean, they offered him stretching it beyond where they wanted to go. 61 156 last off season $26 million per you know Bregman’s going to seek more than that. I’m fascinated to see what he gets. He’ll turn 32 years old right about opening day. He went gang busters the first two two and a half months for the Red Sox. Then after having had a couple of healthy seasons to finish his Astros career, uh-oh, injury problems reared their ugly head. He missed like 40 games. And let’s add that Alex Bregman closed August by going 3 for34 and then in September hit 216 with an OPS of 640. Not exactly springboarding into free agency as if Vladimir Guerrero Junior’s postseason was the platform where he to become a free agent. Oh, he took his half billion dollars. I think any team that gives Breman six mill six years 200 mil is nuts. But all it takes is one really, really rich, desperate franchise. I certainly don’t think that the Astros will go after Bregman in free agency cuz we’ve seen Jim Crane doesn’t pay market value, but you see that Kareah is back. Why did he get Kareah? Well, he got the other team to chip in a bunch of money, so he felt like he got a bit of a discount there. So, if possibly Bregman does go sign this long-term deal somewhere else and maybe that team becomes unsatisfied with Bregman’s contract or money gets a little tight and they need to move him, it wouldn’t shock me if Crane would entertain trading for him and and getting him at a discount, getting the other team to to chip in, pony up some cash. So, and he remember they did that with Verlander, too, where the Mets chipped in for part of his money when they went and got him. So, I think Jim Crane, he likes a good deal. If the deal’s right and Bregman’s part of that deal, I think he pulled the trigger. I just I don’t think that’s going to be in the next year or so. Amazing that he opts out of two years, 80 million, 40 million per. Let’s say he doubles that though in the total guarantee. Fenway Park fits him. Fenway Park fits fits all right-handed hitters. Uh but for Bregman, who’s been increasingly pull happy as his career’s gone along. Uh I could well see him revisiting Detroit, which could look for one more booster shot to to its offense. And uh Philadelphia Phillies, it might be one team to to watch in the National League. And who knows if Daddy Warbuck says, “You know what? Sodto wasn’t enough. Fork over another 200 million for Bregman. We’ll we’ll try if adding him makes makes a difference. At least get to the playoffs, the Mets, in 2026. Yeah, I I Josh, you kind of stole my thunder on that because that’s the only scenario in which I see Breggie coming back is some team, you know, wherever he signs eating a chunk of the money to trade him back to Houston. um you know somewhere on the back end of that deal because that that’s how they come back is he lets Crane lets some other team give them that big bloated salary and then when that person doesn’t solve their problems when whatever team that is and they’re ready to move on there’s Crane ready to accept back the kids with open arms on a discounted deal and say you’re always welcome here as long as I’m not paying all your salary. Um, so yeah, I I think that’s the only uh the only situation in which we see him, but uh it’s it’s always fun to think about it. Final thoughts before we jump out. I have nothing against the Dodgers. They work within the rules. Their resources are damn near unlimited. So, hey, smart business the way they structure the Otani contract and $325 million for Yamamoto. And then Roki Sasaki, who’s turned into a stud closer out of nowhere for them. He picked the Dodgers. They got him on a dirt cheap contract because of the posting rules from Japan, right? Astros fans, Brewers fans, Padres’s fans, everyone else’s fans, if they were in the Dodgers situation, they’d be stoked and saying, “We’re not doing anything wrong.” That said, I really hope the Toronto Blue Jays uh win the World Series. Canada hasn’t won a Stanley Cup in 30 years, right? Hockeyy’s really their thing. So, let them win baseball and uh keep MLB from having a back-to-back World Series champion since the Yankees threeed 98, 99, and 2000, but let it go seven games. There you go. I’m with you. I would like to see Toronto finish this deal. Anytime you get to watch the Dodgers lose, that’s going to make me happy. And to see Springer be part of that, that would be cool. For me, I’m I’m going to look at I wonder how Jim Crane sees the division now that the Mariners were one game away from going to the World Series. You know what you have on your roster and your challenges, but you also know what Seattle brings. I I wonder is Crane encouraged, discouraged about the team’s outlook for next year with what he’s seen from the Mariners? I think that could play a big role in how they approach this off season. He should be discouraged but not devastated. And to build on that, Josh, what do the Mariners do after getting so close, as close as they’ve ever come to going to the World Series? I mean, could they be like the 1985 Mets who were loaded and fell short to a terrific Cardinals team and came out the next year and just buried the league and ultimately won the World Series. For starters with the Mariners, are they going to pay to keep Josh Naylor? I know auary is at the grand slam in in game five, but he really didn’t do very much. He’s 34 years old, strikes out a ton, low batting average. Naylor, if the Mariners keep him, that’s problematic to me for the Astros because it says the Mariners intend to really own this division for a while. And as we’ve discussed, their farm system is teeming with elite prospects. The Astros have zero elite prospects at this time. Yeah. I want to circle back to what you said about the Dodgers. I I think we are headed towards a lockout for exactly the reasons that uh you you outlined, which is that every team is not in the same situation as the Dodgers being essentially owned by a hedge fund that invests in the team to build equity within the team that they don’t have to turn a profit. Most teams have to make revenue to pay their expenses. Whereas they have the Dodgers have the most lucrative TV deal and there is no uh urgency for them to have to turn a profit from year to year and they can uh defer all of that money because they’re in a financial situation where they can and it’s very unique to them. So I think we are headed towards a lockout. I don’t know what the answer is. I’m not necessarily in favor of a cap. I think a cap hurts players uh because I think it throttles their level of income. It throttles their value as a player. Um and I don’t think in a battle of billionaires versus millionaires, I I don’t think the players benefit from having their salaries capped. Uh I think that’s going to make things a lot harder and I think it punishes teams that actually do want to spend. But maybe a s maybe a salary floor. Maybe that’s you know like creating something along those lines to where there’s incentives for teams to spend money especially the the seller dwellers. So I don’t know people who are smarter and richer than me are going to have to figure it out. One without the other. Let me just add that cap floor cap. Um my final thought before uh we jump out the door here is that uh Josh talked about the burner accounts. celebrating the Springer hit by pitch. Aaron Lavine, sports director at Fox 13 in Seattle, who I assume is not the media member that Charlie was referencing as his friend. He commented after or during game five after Springer got hit, he said, “Well, if you’re going to hit anyone with a fast ball, as a professional who covers sports, it’s a garbage comment.” And it was quite frankly awesome and cathartic to see everyone outside of Seattle piling on him after he made that comment when he made that comment and then quote tweet him after the game just to rub it in his face. Dude, do better. And maybe one day your team will see their first World Series. But as it stands right now, he deserves every bit of heartbreak he felt watching Springer rip the mariner souls out of their bodies. One last reminder, if you’re watching on YouTube, be sure to click like on the video. And if you listen on podcast on apps like Apple or Spotify, give us a fivestar rating while you’re here. For Charlie and Josh Branding saying so long, thanks for listening. And as always, ghosts.

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