00:00Two weeks until opening day, and the Astros, still some concerns.
00:05There are some things I'm excited about, but Christian Javier leaving the team yesterday,
00:12or it was announced yesterday that he'd left the team, to attend to some personal matters,
00:17to me kind of highlighted one of the big concerns I have, which is Christian Javier.
00:21Even if he wasn't leaving to go tend to some things, these first two starts for a guy who
00:26is super important for this team.
00:29I think it's crucial.
00:31Christian Javier doesn't need to recapture what he was in 2022, but he's got to be a
00:35viable arm, and most importantly, Seth, he's got to be a viable arm that doesn't eat into
00:40your bullpen every time he goes out there.
00:42Christian Javier has been, since 2022, one of the least efficient pitchers out there in
00:48terms of just the number of pitches he throws, the amount of innings that he gets through.
00:53He's never been a workhorse.
00:54Look, he was a guy who was in the bullpen before he became a starter, but so Javier's
01:01a concern.
01:02Hater starting on the IL is a concern only because you don't have Hater, but it's something
01:06we expected, I think.
01:09But those are the two big ones on the pitching staff right now.
01:11It's like, what's the ripple effect for the bullpen with Hater not being there?
01:14How long is he going to be out?
01:16Right.
01:16And Christian Javier, and the back end of that rotation, I think it's still a lot of
01:20question marks.
01:20Yeah, I mean, if you're looking at McCullers, Burroughs, and Weiss, take your pick about,
01:25okay, a reason to not be 100% comfortable with it.
01:29Burroughs has been outstanding, I will say that, in spring training.
01:32He's been great.
01:32Right, but look at the length of track record of everything.
01:39You can take your pick as far as there's reasons not to be confident in either of those
01:44three guys, but even if you want your top three to be Hunter Brown, Christian Javier,
01:51and then Emai, I feel good about, I feel really good about Emai right now.
01:55Obviously, I feel good about Hunter Brown.
01:57Javier's the biggest wild card in terms of a guy that you need to be somebody to complement
02:06those best two guys at the top of your rotation, but also that Emai's going to need an extra
02:12day of rest, at least at the beginning of the season, until he gets comfortable with
02:16the major league pitching schedule.
02:17Yeah, that's interesting.
02:18Look, Emai's getting paid a salary where they're clearly counting on him to be one of the top
02:22three guys, at least on this staff.
02:25Burroughs and Emai, and I'll throw Hunter Brown in there, too.
02:27I mean, Hunter's your ace, so obviously he needs to be great or else everything is sunk.
02:32But Hunter, Burroughs, and Emai have been outstanding this spring.
02:36That's interesting.
02:37You know, Burroughs doesn't have a long track record, as you pointed out, but there's a lot of hope
02:41with him.
02:42Emai has no track record in Major League Baseball, but he's had extreme success overseas.
02:49I'm curious with Astro fans which one they feel better about going and getting you 13 or
02:5714 wins this year, ERA in the threes somewhere, something like that.
03:00It's something you need out of a number two starter on a good team.
03:03Do they feel better about Burroughs, who's got a short track record, but he's been here in
03:08the big leagues, or do they feel better about Emai, who's got zero track record here, but
03:12he's got a track record of excellence overseas?
03:15Right, yeah.
03:15I personally feel better about Emai right now, but we also, you know, if only you could get
03:21away with a two-pitcher rotation.
03:23How are you feeling about Lance right now?
03:26Have you talked yourself into anything?
03:28No, no, no, no, no, but look, I wasn't expecting Lance, I wasn't expecting anything out of him
03:37this year, so the fact that he's hitting 93 on the gun at spring training, you know, he's
03:43looked decent in spring training, and he's had a, most importantly, he's had a normal off
03:48season for the first time in like five years, where he's actually, you know, he's not rehabbing
03:52an injury, he's not, you know, it's not shortened for some reason, so as far as compared to what
04:00I was expecting out of him, I feel great, I feel great, I just, my expectations is at
04:05best, he's a, you know, he's your sixth starter, so I am rooting like crazy for Lance McCullers.
04:11Yeah.
04:11I'm rooting like crazy for him, and I hope it, if this is his last year as an Astro, I
04:15hope it's a great season.
04:16I think the, um, the other, the other huge lingering questionable thing right this moment
04:22is obviously Jeremy Pena's finger injury.
04:25I don't, this is why, I don't want to hold the Astros sketchy medical record against them,
04:31and yet at the same time, there have been so many times where I've said, well, this should
04:35be a minor issue, and then it ends up being a saga.
04:38I feel like Jeremy Pena's broken tip of his finger should be a minor issue.
04:44Yeah.
04:45Right?
04:45I'm, I can say that, right?
04:47That, hey, but the reports are that it will be a minor issue.
04:50Yeah, we've heard reports about how things are going to be minor issues.
04:54Oh, yeah, yeah.
04:54I just, there's, of all things that could turn into something else, this feels like the
04:59thing, and it's his ring finger, it's not his index finger, or his second finger, or
05:03his thumb, or anything.
05:05This feels like the thing that should 100% be a minor concern.
05:08It should be, it should, and yet, yeah, well, and yet he was, you know, he's top 10 for
05:13the MVP last year.
05:13He was your best player, so you've got to be concerned.
05:15You've got to be concerned about Pena missing any amount of time, especially if the ripple
05:19effect is.
05:20Now Carlos Correa, who, you know, he would not stop talking about how amazing it was that
05:24he gets to play third base here.
05:26We don't know for what period of time he's going to have to go play shortstop, you know,
05:30and this is a guy who's had physical issues before.
05:32So I think there's that.
05:33I think there's a general concern with just Espada, with this overload of infielders.
05:39Is Espada going to be the right puzzle putter together each and every day?
05:43You know, if you're sitting here going, no, it's great that we got Isak Paredes, because
05:46we can get this guy off his feet this day, and this guy off his feet that day.
05:50That's a lot for the manager to be taking in, you know, and there's matchups that you probably
05:54have to be cognizant of, and okay, we rest this guy on that day, because this is the
05:58starting pitcher.
05:59There's a lot, and Espada's got plenty of support, I think, to probably put together
06:03the optimal line.
06:04Hell, they probably got AI in the building over there that can tell you what's the optimal
06:07lineup that must include Isak Paredes against this pitcher, and they hit a button and it
06:11spits it out.
06:12So it's probably not going to be Espada sitting there having to do Sudoku, putting the thing
06:16together or whatever, but I have a concern about that, the ability to piece all these
06:21puzzle pieces without having an all-star bat languishing on the bench the whole time, and
06:25then to that end, the right side of the infield, which feels like it's, that's the one part
06:30of this whole Isak Paredes equation that feels like he ain't infiltrating, which is second
06:36base is going to be Altuve, and then Christian Walker.
06:39I just don't see Christian Walker being a part-time player at $20 million a year.
06:43So that's the concern I have, too, is just what do the puzzle pieces look like on a day-to
06:47-day
06:48basis?
06:48Yeah.
06:49So I am super excited about the starting rotation, as you just touched on.
06:54Hunter Brown, EMI, and whatever Mike Burrows ends up being, whatever he's been so far in
06:59spring training, if somehow this is the Astros car wash rejuvenating somebody, then I'm here
07:04for it.
07:04Oh, yeah.
07:05No, 100%.
07:05I guess it's, because you and I are a little bit different in how much we read into spring
07:10training results.
07:10I just, with Burrows, great.
07:12It's been awesome.
07:13So far in spring training, he's had 8.2 innings, 8 and two-thirds innings pitched.
07:17You know, it's just always such a small step.
07:19How many runs has he given up?
07:21I believe it's zero.
07:22Zero?
07:23Right.
07:24Zero.
07:25Yeah.
07:25So it's eight innings.
07:27And it looks good.
07:28He's got command, all of that, and everything.
07:30It's eight innings.
07:31Yeah.
07:31So I'm cautiously optimistic about him.
07:34But it's eight innings.
07:35Yeah.
07:35I know.
07:36Eight awesome innings.
07:37Yeah.
07:38Yeah.
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