00:00how serious should that be?
00:03Should the Astros, I think they should be.
00:08I'll let the cat out of the bag over here.
00:10Now, I don't think Dana Brown should be.
00:12I think they should be considering what they want to do with Dana Brown, too.
00:16We were talking about Udoka earlier.
00:18I would put Dana Brown front and center as the number one culprit
00:22to why this roster looks the way it does and why this team is where it is.
00:27But I also think that this team, they just need a spark.
00:35They need something.
00:37It does not, to me, look like if they just continue to roll like this,
00:42and I could be wrong, and I'm sure many of you will be there to let me know if I
00:45am.
00:45We'll get all this little funk.
00:47But this does not feel like two years ago where they got themselves 12 games under .500
00:52and they kind of stayed the course and willed their way to getting here.
00:56I think not only do they need their guys to be healthy,
01:00but I think there needs to be some kind of shift, some kind of change there.
01:06And even though I don't believe Joe Espada is at fault for a lot of what's happening,
01:11as I said, I'd put Dana there, but I do think in-house they just need a shakeup,
01:16somewhere a different voice, different ideas.
01:19And that's why I would say they should be strongly considering him.
01:24Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I get it.
01:28I can hear that side of the conversation of simply just to shake things up,
01:31but I don't think anything Joe has done or hasn't done is deserving of him losing his job.
01:37So if you want to make a change just for the sake of making a change, I could get it.
01:41Also, if you're Dana Brown and you want to try to preserve yourself by moving on from Espada,
01:46it could buy you a little more time.
01:49I could get that too for self-preservation for the GM.
01:52But otherwise, I don't put the struggles, if we're just talking about who's to blame,
01:56I don't put it on Joe.
01:58I mean, they have the most players on the IL.
02:01They've used the second most pitchers in the league this year.
02:04They have the worst, statistically, the worst pitching staff in the league this year,
02:08in large part because of those injuries.
02:10You're missing your ace.
02:11You're missing your closer.
02:13They haven't had their starting nine very often offensively.
02:16I mean, there's just so much that Espada is trying to deal with.
02:19I think the roster construction was poor to begin the year.
02:22There's a lot of things you could point to of the roster not being good enough.
02:25So I don't put a lot of blame on Joe.
02:27But if you want to make a change for the sake of making a change,
02:31then that I could somewhat understand.
02:34I might not agree with, but I could understand.
02:35I could get it.
02:36I just say it, Joe.
02:37I'm thinking about Joe.
02:39I just say it, Luke, because if this thing continues to go the way it is,
02:43I don't think that either one of them will be back.
02:46I definitely don't think Joe will be back.
02:48And, I mean, neither one of them have contracts past the season.
02:52And 11-18 to kick this thing off to be in the cellar of a division that's not great,
02:59that is not helping your chances to get a new contract if you're Joe Espada.
03:04So I just think he is going to be gone if this continues.
03:09Hell, I mean, it'd have to be a hell of a turnaround
03:12and an advancement in the postseason for him to have a shoe-in
03:18with the job coming back next year.
03:19So with that, I just, it just, I don't know, boy.
03:22It doesn't feel, they just feel off.
03:26And, yes, to me, I mean, it's hard to explain.
03:29You watch me, but it's more than just injuries.
03:31They just, it just, there's no.
03:33It sucks to suck.
03:34There's just something missing, even if everybody was back.
03:37There's just something missing.
03:38And I think it's about time for a different voice in there.
03:42Could be.
03:43And as we said earlier, I mean, you just slide over the bench coach
03:45who just won the World Baseball Classic.
03:47You got somebody else there that could try to revitalize this team.
03:51And as I laid out before, usually there's a domino effect
03:54that you wait for that first team to rip the Band-Aid off.
03:57And then once they do, it's like, okay,
03:58I guess it's not too early to fire our manager either.
04:01We've seen two people.
04:02Right.
04:02Teams rip the Band-Aid off.
04:03Yeah.
04:03The Red Sox did it, what, over the weekend?
04:05And the Phillies did it today?
04:07Yep.
04:07Tried to hire the Red Sox former manager already?
04:09And so now we'll see.
04:11Former member of the Astros coaching staff.
04:13And I think a lot of people would like Alex Cora.
04:16Yeah.
04:16I would take him.
04:17So, you know, last year when that first firing happened in the MLB,
04:24two more followed later that week.
04:26So we might, maybe we get another one here soon.
04:28And Espada has the second highest odds to be the next manager fired,
04:31only behind Carlos Mendoza for the Mets.
04:34So it could occur.
04:35And like I said, you know, as you laid out,
04:38if you want to try to change the voice in the room, I get it.
04:41But I would also, I also think of after Alex Cora was fired in Boston,
04:46a former Red Sox player, Anonymous, said,
04:48it's like crapping your pants and only changing your shirt.
04:52And I think it would be similar with the Astros where, yeah,
04:57where if you change Espada, like you're not fixing the real problems.
05:01You still have big issues with this team, with these injuries,
05:04with everything that no matter who you bring in,
05:06I don't know how much else can be done.
05:08Yeah.
05:08To me, I'm just saying, if you want to save this season,
05:11like if you're looking at this and you think, all right,
05:13we want to save this one right here.
05:17Like I just don't think you can keep going the way it is.
05:21I think there's got to be a major move because they're coming out.
05:25And it's not like his teams are airtight and buttoned up.
05:28I mean, they're making a lot of mistakes out there,
05:32getting picked off at first base at important times out there,
05:36mistakes made, errors like that.
05:38So it's not like they've just been great,
05:41although I'm not saying most of it is on Joe.
05:45Text line coming in, calm down with your firing the Astros.
05:48Coach, you would have been fired in the first month of the job.
05:51Yeah, I'm not a coach.
05:52What an argument.
05:53I would not have been hired.
05:54Come on, man.
05:55I would not have been hired.
05:57I'm not a –
05:58Must be Joe's uncle or something.
06:00Not a major league.
06:01And I do.
06:02I think what Rob said, Espada is just a victim of bad injury luck.
06:06I think not just bad injury luck and bad roster construction.
06:11I mean –
06:12The last couple years.
06:13Yeah, I mean, like Dana is –
06:15Dana is the number one culprit to me.
06:17Yeah.
06:17My man, you can't say, boy, I feel good about this bullpen.
06:21I think we got this here, boy.
06:23For us to be able to get a guy like Tang late, man,
06:25that's really helped the rest of this bullpen right here, baby.
06:27We got a guy like Brian Abreu who can hold it down when Hader gets back.
06:32No.
06:34And now we look at this, and these guys get lit up on a daily basis.
06:37I mean, any one of them.
06:39I said it last – I think I said it last week.
06:41They should go ahead and grab Joe a hat down there
06:44and just start throwing names in that hat.
06:46And Joe just go in there and reach out and grab one.
06:49Because that's pretty much –
06:50I'm sure they vomit in the stands.
06:52Yeah, that's pretty much what they're –
06:53That's pretty much what they got out there.
06:55Because they – I mean, anybody that go out there, it's bound to happen.
06:59Somebody is going to give up something, it feels like, every night.
07:03Every night.
07:04And because of their starters, that bullpen is having to check in
07:08at many times in the fourth.
07:11Which, you know, obviously does not help a poor bullpen anyway.
07:15Yeah, pick your poison.
07:16I also don't know what they're doing with Brian Abreu.
07:18Like, just put him on the IL and let him figure things out.
07:21What is the last – is he still hadn't pitched since?
07:22He pitched in one of those games over the –
07:24in like an eight-run game against the Yankees.
07:26That's what you're resorting to using.
07:28Like, why even keep him –
07:29I guess they don't have a better option to fill that spot on the roster.
07:32With how bad the bullpen is.
07:33But why are you keeping him around?
07:35Let him go on the shelf.
07:37And there's got to be something wrong.
07:39His velocity's down.
07:40Like, mental – you know, let's spend some time figuring out
07:44what's going on here with this guy.
07:45Instead of letting him just sit in the bullpen.
07:47No, he's just – and he's soaking up a roster spot.
07:49Yeah.
07:50And again, I don't know who they would bring to put in.
07:52Well, I think Dana's got somebody, I'm sure, because they're deep.
07:56Or to Dana.
07:57Yeah.
07:57That's the other thing that – he is – he's way too positive, Dana Brown.
08:02He gets himself in trouble with his optimism.
08:06He's also cost himself.
08:08He said, like, I don't want to talk about a new contract.
08:11I'm just going to let my results speak for themselves.
08:13And then fast forward, and they're one of the worst teams in the league.
08:17Good job you bet on yourself.
08:19Hey, Dana, them chicks, they come back on Dana's ass.
08:23He writes.
08:24Yeah, baby.
08:25Yeah, just let my work speak for itself, baby.
08:29Yeah.
08:30Okay.
08:31My man said, hey, our rotation, well, we are deep, baby.
08:35We got some arms out there, and that rotates.
08:37Yeah, you've had to use 68 of them.
08:39Yeah, exactly.
08:39Don't be a knucklehead.
08:41Lord have mercy.
08:41All right, we'll see.
08:44I do think Joe is – I don't think Joe's going to make the season.
08:49I would – yeah, I wouldn't fire him yet.
08:51But I would take that bet.
08:53I think he'll be gone at some point this year.
08:55I think he's going to struggle to make the season.
08:57I think he's going to struggle to make the season.
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