- 6 hours ago
ITL debates whether Houston’s struggles are a real problem or just a rough stretch early in the season.
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00:00We have been, at least I will put this on me, John, it's not you.
00:03I have been Debbie Downer, especially early on in shows over the last couple of weeks,
00:07because whether it's the Rockets or the Astros, we've been starting with things that feel pertinent
00:11and things that feel pertinent have been, you know, maybe less than stellar play at times.
00:15And then we got what happened yesterday in Colorado, where the Astros lose in a magnificent fashion
00:21in the worst way, I guess.
00:23It was that game, and I should not use this word lightly, and if you're mad at me, that's fine,
00:28because I understand where you're coming from.
00:29That game was, watching that felt like terrorism.
00:32Watching that felt like hell yesterday.
00:36713-572-416.
00:38Are you mad at Reggie for using the word terrorism?
00:40I'll hold it, but that's what it felt like to me.
00:42Again, first world problems because I've not experienced terrorism on that space, right?
00:46But I was just like, damn.
00:47Feel free to email Parker.
00:48Yes, parker.hillis.odyssey.com if you feel like I am doing more forward things.
00:54This was sick.
00:55I felt so bad watching this baseball game.
00:58And I felt trapped.
00:59Like, it wasn't just, I felt like I had to watch this the whole way through, but it was,
01:04offense was not there.
01:05Pitching was really problematic.
01:07Injuries galore all over the place.
01:09I was like, and then on top of that, all of these things harken back to all of the nagging
01:14scares that we have had in the last couple of years with this Astros team.
01:18And it all came down to a feeling of crisis with the Astros already, what is it, 13 games
01:24into baseball season.
01:26All right.
01:26So, first of all, I think you're being too hard on yourself because we start many shows
01:30with, hey, the Astros are on a hot streak to start the year.
01:32Hey, how about that Hunter Brown?
01:34Hey, Lance McCullers.
01:35And then, of course, Texans, a lot of good news that we've covered.
01:37I think you're just being too hard on yourself on that.
01:39We have to talk about the story and the story.
01:44I hate this story.
01:45I hate it so much.
01:45You don't have to like it, but we have to talk about the story.
01:48That's what our listeners are doing.
01:50You know, you know, you know what?
01:51713-572-416.
01:53I hope y'all are at the office cooler talking about something else.
01:56My phone right here.
01:57It was blowing up.
01:58Going to be a long season.
01:59Going to be a long season.
02:01All my, my guys on the, on the podcast are enormous Astros fans.
02:06I think we all are.
02:07You know, my wife is an enormous Astros fan.
02:09Oh, I haven't realized.
02:11Jan is a huge Astros fan.
02:12No, I get that, but I haven't thought as much about, like,
02:15what watching games is like for Jan, especially when it's bad,
02:18because you told us what she was.
02:19She runs hot and cold.
02:20Yeah.
02:21Yeah, I didn't realize about that about your lovely wife.
02:23You sound like the Astros to me.
02:24They're going to win the World Series.
02:25God, they suck.
02:28It's one extreme or the other.
02:30We laugh to keep from crying.
02:32So, so you, you are being too hard on yourself.
02:34And the story right now is the question.
02:38It, you know, it's early guys having a bad start to the season, by the way.
02:41He's having a, because it's early guy.
02:43If you're saying it's early, you're not paying attention to.
02:45Come on, guys.
02:46You're not paying attention to.
02:47Ain't even me yet.
02:47The ace of your staff, you know, the erratic, you know, starting pitching.
02:53Christian Javier.
02:54Now Jake Myers.
02:56The bats going silent.
02:57Getting swept by Colorado, which won 43 games last year.
03:01It's a long season, fellas.
03:02Yeah, but that's the thing is, it's, or will it, will it still be early when you're waiting
03:06for your, the only pitchers that you feel good about to get back on this team, right?
03:10Like that's the thing about the, it's early of this.
03:13That's the thing that makes this a particularly problematic thing is that this ain't just something
03:17where you go, it's a bad stretch and they'll figure it out, man.
03:20You can't figure it out.
03:20If he not playing baseball and we're adding more of the dudes to the, he not playing baseball
03:25pile.
03:26Yeah.
03:26And you're right.
03:27Yesterday was like, oh boy, what else can, I actually started thinking it comes in threes.
03:31What's going to be the third one?
03:33You know, I was like, did we not have three injuries?
03:36Well, Vasquez got his, his finger, didn't he like, but it wasn't anything big, but either
03:40way, what, what has constituted as big.
03:42And also are we sure that it's not anything big because maybe we're going to get news
03:46today.
03:46That's also, again, it felt like terrorism finger because that scariness crept in.
03:51I felt like Spider-Man with the symbiote where it just kind of takes over you.
03:54You start having like all the negative thoughts.
03:56You, you know, me right early on in the season, I was taking the optimism perspective of new
04:01staff, right?
04:03Obviously luck is also always a factor.
04:05And last year it felt like you were the most unlucky team that you could possibly be.
04:09If you were the Houston Astros, when it came to injuries, like you just dealt with an ungodly
04:13amount of injuries that felt like no way that can happen again.
04:16Right.
04:16It sure feels like it's happening again.
04:18And I understand it's, it is indeed early and there's, it's only been a few to this point,
04:22but again, if it starts like this, this, the, the, the, the anxiety that creeps in is will
04:28it continue like this?
04:29And honestly, it doesn't have to get to the point of last year.
04:31We were already talking about some of the depth issues that you had in various different
04:34places.
04:35The easiest one we could talk about is you're starting pitching where instead of having
04:38two guys that are pseudo aces or something to that effect, you have one of them.
04:42And the one that had remained healthy all the last year is already out for what feels
04:47like it could be a significant amount of time.
04:48I'm like, I realize I'm talking fast and that is usually a tell that Reggie is going
04:52through something and buddy, I am going through.
04:55Okay.
04:55So let's, let's ask the question and not, not make a declaration.
04:59Is it already crisis mode?
05:01You can, you can argue each side.
05:04We'll start with the bad news first.
05:05You know, it might be because of what you just talked about this pitching where, you know,
05:11Chandler Rome tweeted something after the game yesterday, a shout out to Chandler.
05:15And I was like, yeah, he goes, he literally tweeted.
05:18I have no idea who's pitching.
05:22And that's a dude who's in the know, who's talking to people and who thinks about this
05:26team constantly.
05:26Like that's not, that is not a, you know, uh, that is not born out of a lack of effort,
05:32a lack of vigor.
05:33That is a, there just aren't options.
05:35Like I feel honestly, I felt bad for Joe Espada yesterday.
05:38When you're dealing with these injuries, you're throwing out, uh, you're throwing out dudes
05:41out of your pen and yo De Los Santos who had not been with the team.
05:44And you're like, Hey man, give me three.
05:46That's a dude who hadn't pitched.
05:48And usually the guy you throw in there for one, maybe two, you're like, we just need
05:51to get to the end of this game.
05:53Talk less of figuring out what happens on Friday.
05:55I think right now it might be a struggle to say, we can count on that starting pitcher.
06:00If I said we can count on that starting pitcher, fill in the blank.
06:07Buddy, this is one of those things where if you ain't got nothing to say, don't say
06:10nothing, nothing good to say.
06:11They don't say nothing at all.
06:12I feel like I have to trigger that in this very moment.
06:14Can you count on McCullers?
06:15Yeah.
06:16No, no.
06:17If I was power ranking the dudes I could count on, he'd be fairly low here.
06:23Burroughs?
06:24Depending on what we're talking.
06:25What are we counting on him for him to do?
06:27So who is the ace right now?
06:28Well, ain't no aces.
06:29That's the thing.
06:30I firmly believe.
06:31I'm saying right.
06:32You're a number one pitcher.
06:32Yeah.
06:33Who is your number one pitcher?
06:343.80 RA?
06:35I firmly believe that it ain't guaranteed that every team has an ace.
06:39An ace is a specific designation.
06:41I view it kind of like superstar.
06:42Not every NBA team has a superstar.
06:44You might have your, I guess, quote unquote star player, your best player.
06:47Not everybody has a superstar.
06:48You had one ace on this team.
06:50Yeah.
06:50He's out for, I'm hoping, six to ten weeks.
06:54Right?
06:54I'm hoping that's what it stays.
06:55But Graydon on the curb, who is your number one guy right now?
06:59Who is your best pitcher?
06:59Somebody got pitched number one, man.
07:01I would say Amai.
07:03I think the stuff is probably in a better circumstance than Mike Burrow.
07:07Yeah.
07:07I think Burrow's, I like what he does, but I'm also wondering how well this holds up in
07:13the majors at this point.
07:15But yeah, it's one of those, and neither of those has the track record nor the stability
07:19this early in the season for you to say that.
07:21So it's probably Amai and McCullers.
07:27I guess.
07:28Yes.
07:28In Denver.
07:29Just because of experience.
07:30Yeah.
07:30In a weird way.
07:31JP France.
07:32And he ain't even stepped on the mound yet.
07:34He's flying to Seattle right now.
07:35He's not even there yet.
07:37They scrambled him like when the military's like, oh, snap.
07:40They're going to scramble some airplanes.
07:42Hey, get the F-18s out there, man.
07:44What?
07:44Yeah.
07:45And that is JP France, right?
07:47Honestly, in a weird way, I'm oddly hopeful that you end up with like, because the Jason Alexander
07:53down on the farm.
07:54I love saying down on the farm.
07:55Down on the farm.
07:56It's just a fun way of talking about the minors.
07:59But down on the farm, Jason Alexander has been fantastic to this point.
08:02Spencer Arighetti, if memory serves, I might need to go and double check.
08:04This has been pretty good as well.
08:05So we can't sit here and say Jason Alexander is your guy.
08:07No, no, no.
08:07Not your guy.
08:08But I do like the idea of, is it possible you get the guys to come up and stable?
08:12Because last year, they were pretty damn stable.
08:14Yeah.
08:14And I'm like, does that give you some stability?
08:16Yeah.
08:16That is the place that I'm at right now.
08:18And I see you on the text a lot, right?
08:192-8-1, Reggie, take your favorite tequila or whiskey, pour it over a spear of ice, take
08:24you a sip.
08:24Yeah.
08:25Believe you, it helps.
08:25And buddy, I got some screwball at the house waiting for me.
08:28Like, I might take that advice because it does, I'm going to be honest, it does feel
08:32like crisis.
08:33And the reason why I say that, I know that I sound manic at this point.
08:36And I might be manic, honestly.
08:38Like, I'm not taking that off the table here, right?
08:41But I think that this is crisis, if for no other reason, then, this is not a team, unless
08:46they were going to do what they kept, what they were doing in that first week of the
08:49season, which I think we had already understood outside of the rose-colored glasses, is not
08:53a reasonable expectation.
08:54Yeah.
08:55That this is going to, this is not a team that's just going to blow the division out of the
08:59water and then here you go.
09:00Although, this matchup that's happening this weekend is a couple of teams that look very
09:04bad in the Astros and the Mariners, but that's for the weekend, that's for tomorrow,
09:08right?
09:09This is not a team that's going to blow out the division.
09:11This is not a team necessarily that's going to, you know, even if they don't blow out
09:14the division, have a firm grasp on wild card, right?
09:17At least as projections set.
09:19You are going to have to be competitive.
09:21And without your ace, right, without your only dependable starter, and you've lost some
09:26of the games early on.
09:28Again, there's still a whole bunch of games, but you've lost some of those games that are
09:31like the swing games, for lack of a better way of saying it.
09:34And you're not, the way that you're situated now and the way that it seems like you might
09:38be if some of these injuries continue to be there, or if some of these injuries that
09:41you have sustained are long, long standing, it's going to make it even harder for you
09:45to get some of those swing games that are the difference between winning 87, 88 games
09:51and winning 83, 82 games, right?
09:53Like, and those things end up being a big difference between being on the outside looking in or
09:57being the first wild card, right?
09:59Those are the things that end up being huge swings.
10:01And already right now, you either haven't won those games or are losing guys that help
10:04you win those games.
10:05And that's one of the things that it's early guy tends to forget.
10:08These games count just as much as games 150, 151, 152.
10:13They count just as much in the standings.
10:15And you're, there's not a lot of room to breathe right now with 13 games in a row coming up
10:19and
10:1923 games out of 25, uh, that, that, that's not a lot of room to breathe.
10:24Now, why might it not be crisis mode?
10:27You know, that, you know, let's look at it both ways.
10:29We said, we're going to look at it both ways.
10:31It is.
10:31And I don't like saying this still early.
10:34This team has, has, has struggled early in the past, but again, their, their arsenal
10:39was a little bit more fortified.
10:41I hope you have a better, I hope you have a better cheer up Reggie.
10:44I do.
10:44Okay.
10:45Cause I was like, it's early and just, we're playing the schedule is not doing it for me
10:48in this moment.
10:48To be honest, two things actually for you, these dudes could get better as much as we're all
10:53doubtful about it and skeptical because of the Astros track record with the record with
10:57these history, these injuries and such, they could get better and could get back in six
11:02or eight weeks or, or, or sooner in some cases, you know, depending on the injury and the
11:06player.
11:07And then the other thing is Astros, if, if, if, if the goal is to get to the playoffs, they're
11:12in second place right now, they're six and seven.
11:15And it's second place.
11:16Rangers are seven and five.
11:17They're six and seven.
11:17Um, and the Rangers also like the Rangers offense is a problem.
11:21They are a weird, uh, other bizarro world, right?
11:24The Texas baseball sphere is a weird bizarro world, uh, situation where they've got great
11:29pictures, although they've had a little bit of kind of injury stuff that pops up their,
11:33their, their lineup, they're looking at, and they're going, where are we getting runs
11:35from?
11:36So, and then the other thing is that the Mariners stink just as much as you do right now as
11:40of right now.
11:40Yeah.
11:40Yeah.
11:40I mean, they're, they're, they're scuffling the Mariners.
11:43So yes, I, there is reason to say, okay, maybe not crisis mode, but boy, I think there's
11:48more to say, you know, given the pitching and you, we can't identify one pitcher that
11:52we can rely on.
11:53Yeah.
11:53Starting wise.
11:54Um, but there are a couple of guys that we can't identify because they haven't done it
11:59enough yet.
12:00We haven't seen enough track record.
12:01If E-My and Burroughs stabilize, which I don't think is, and I know that there's various
12:05different kinds of ifs.
12:06We've thrown a lot of ifs out in spring training into the early ports of the portions of the season.
12:10That is an if that isn't a wild one, right?
12:13Burroughs has demonstrated capabilities of being a stable starting pitcher.
12:16E-My after the first outing, which you could easily, you know, write, right, or maybe not
12:21write off, but you can easily, um, kind of contextualize with his, it being his first
12:26start in America in the majors, right?
12:28Having all of the cultural differences and all of the differences in the game, he could
12:32easily get to stable.
12:33There's places where you can get to stable starting pitching wise and the offense it's,
12:37you could easily just be like, Hey, this was just a really downstretch of a series
12:40and you get back to going.
12:41Like these things happen even for good teams.
12:43So yeah, it is possible that this is a small, not small, but a blip in, in what is ultimately
12:50still good performance and you still are in a solid place, but it's hard to, you know,
12:55focus on that when in all reality, these are, these are big issues, right?
13:00They can very well overcome it.
13:01It is early.
13:02There's things about it.
13:03And plus, if you're talking about the bullpen bullpen is the place where it's probably easiest
13:07if you're headed into a trade deadline circumstance to add, but they are there.
13:11And right now coming off of a loss versus the Colorado Rockies, particularly that one where
13:15you lose nine to one and you can't score any runs and, um, you can't get dudes, uh, whether
13:20it was starting rotation or bullpen to get you through.
13:22And you're dealing with injuries.
13:23It feels like the, uh, I guess in this instance, the three horsemen of the Astros apocalypse
13:27right now.
13:28Uh, and thankfully we have a day off to decompress and buddy, that is what I will do.
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