- 15 hours ago
Seth and Sean kick off the show by discussing the Astros heading to CIncy this weekend, if this part of the Astros' schedule should have us on watch for Joe Espada getting fired, and their uneasiness about Tatsuya Imai being set to make his return against the Mariners.
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00:00I just couldn't be more amped about the Astros' next stretch of schedule.
00:06I'm freaking ready to go, man.
00:08Couldn't be more amped, and if there were a blank after that,
00:11I would have said, what is Seth going to fill this in with right here?
00:14Couldn't be more amped.
00:14I feel like one of those doomed platoons that's going into a battle
00:19where they just know, like, no, everybody's going to die.
00:23Yeah, yeah, yeah, and we just got to.
00:25Can I do it for my country?
00:27Right.
00:28No, you're doing it for Jim Crane.
00:29Jim Crane.
00:29Let's do this.
00:30Let's go.
00:30Let's do this for Craney.
00:32Yes.
00:32How am I doing it to protect us from the invading enemy?
00:37No, no, no, no, no, no.
00:38No, we're in no physical danger.
00:39Just go out there and just get yourself in.
00:41Yep, yep.
00:41Cincinnati Reds, and the Reds are a decent baseball team this year.
00:45So I was thinking about this yesterday, Seth,
00:47as I was pondering the future of this baseball team,
00:51the future of this baseball team where every article you read,
00:54you get reminded that you're going to get a healthy dosage of bullpen days
00:57over the next handful of weeks.
00:59They play 13 for the second time this season.
01:03Mind you, Mother's Day is not hit yet.
01:05For the second time this season,
01:06we are embarking on 13 straight days of uninterrupted baseball,
01:10which in past seasons would have been a whole lot of fun.
01:13You know, there's a lot of times the last several seasons,
01:15I'm like, ooh, every night we get baseball or every day during the weekend.
01:19This is great.
01:20My thinking now is, especially as tight as this division is,
01:25because this division is going to keep Jim Crane hopeful that they can get
01:30this thing turned around when they get a bunch of guys back here,
01:33because they're going to get some guys back.
01:35Jeremy Payne is going to be on a rehab assignment pretty soon.
01:40That's always the last precursor to the guys coming back.
01:43Hunter Brown will be back at some point, knock on wood,
01:45and there's other guys too on the list, and this division is not good.
01:50The Astros somehow –
01:51Everybody's 500 or worse.
01:52Yeah, there's some – yeah, the A's won yesterday, so they're 19 and 18.
01:56If the A's had lost yesterday, every team in the division would be under 500,
02:01and the Astros would somehow be three and a half games out of first place
02:04in this division with what is the worst record in the American League.
02:08They're not in the mood.
02:09You know, our former web guy, Garrett, loves to talk smack
02:13because he's an A's fan.
02:14All right, you're the prettiest troll at the Troll Academy right now.
02:19Let's not act like you just got a contract with Revlon or something.
02:24You're ugly just like us.
02:26No, they are, but the last several seasons,
02:28they've had somebody dump battery acid all over their face.
02:30They're a little easier to look at now.
02:34Ugly, no doubt, but a little easier to look at.
02:36But you're right, Garrett's going to text this in like five minutes.
02:39So is this a stretch of schedule that could get a manager fired?
02:42That's what I was thinking yesterday.
02:45I feel like we've fallen kind of, you know, just a little bit soft on this
02:51in that it feels like, okay, if Espada gets fired,
02:56it's just going to be one of those deals where you've just got to try to shake things up.
02:59And that it's not necessarily – look, I've got issues with various decisions that Espada might make in any given
03:06game,
03:07and yet the overall sum total of everything is I don't know which manager would have handled the pitchers pitching
03:15as poorly as they have
03:16and just the incredible amount of injuries.
03:20I don't know which manager all of a sudden would have vaulted the Astros up to a winning record right
03:26now.
03:26I totally agree with you, but this was something that we pointed out after the World Baseball Classic
03:33is that this might have been one of the worst things that could have happened to Joe Espada
03:36was Omar Lopez leading Venezuela to winning the World Baseball Classic
03:40because there will be a PR element to firing Joe Espada.
03:43There's no doubt about that because the more they lose,
03:45the fewer people are going to show up at the ballpark, all those things.
03:47You're saying just because Omar Lopez is just such a –
03:50Well, he's a sellable solution to the fan base.
03:53He's popular.
03:55He's got recent success in an environment where he wasn't supposed to win.
04:00Venezuela was not supposed to win the World Baseball Classic.
04:03The Countryman to Jose Altuve.
04:05Well, there's that too.
04:07And so I think that there is a sellable solution sitting right there on the bench with the Astros
04:13I think does factor into it.
04:15And I think if they were to fire Espada, that's the easy decision to make
04:18is to make him – make Omar Lopez the interim manager.
04:21I'm just wondering what the runway is here for Espada because I think you're right.
04:24If you're firing Espada, you're doing it for one reason.
04:27It's to give the team a spark because I don't think he's doing a bad job.
04:30I just don't think he's been dealt a great hand here sitting at the poker table
04:34that is the American League right now.
04:36At the Reds for three games, that's – at least you've got Eric Getty going in one of these games.
04:42But that's – you know, you're staring losing two out of three in that series.
04:47And then next week, this is the stretch that can get you fired is you've got seven home games
04:52coming up against the Mariners and the Rangers.
04:54And this is your opportunity next week.
04:57I don't want to look ahead of the Reds, but that's what I'm about to do.
05:00If you're going to get back into a division where nobody's winning right now,
05:04the best thing you can do is have a great week at home against two of the teams in front
05:08of you.
05:08So this upcoming week after this Reds series, assuming that you don't just go 0-3 in the Reds series
05:15and then you're even further back in the division, if you can win at least one game,
05:18maybe two in this Reds series, man, you're sitting on a really nice opportunity next week
05:24to get back into the race in the worst division in baseball.
05:27And last I checked, winning the worst division in baseball does get you into the postseason
05:31in Major League Baseball.
05:32You're four and a half games back.
05:34You're dead last in the AL overall, and yet you're four and a half games back in the AL West.
05:41Yeah, I guess, is that how we're going to be looking at it?
05:46If you're Jim Crane, are you looking at it that way, though?
05:49Or do you have to try to step back and say, all right, we're still, in terms of how do
05:55we operate on this team
05:56and what do we do to make a decision about whether we're buyers or sellers at the trade deadline?
06:01You've got to kind of step back and ignore the ugly division, don't you?
06:05I don't know that Crane does.
06:08If there's an avenue to the postseason, I am nervous that he's not going to be looking at this as
06:14a bigger issue.
06:16I'm concerned that the buying and selling thing is probably more for, like, June.
06:21I'm more thinking of, like, this coming ten days is about Joe Espada.
06:26And if they win those games, if they win enough games next week to where they're hanging around,
06:31I think Jim Crane's going to wait for some of these guys to come off the injured list
06:33before they make any decision on buying and selling.
06:37Conversely, Seth, I think if they go one and six next week against the Mariners and the Rangers at home,
06:44then I think Joe Espada could be fired when we come in a week from Monday.
06:47Like, I think this is a huge ten days for Joe Espada.
06:52That's my point with all this.
06:54And this is the problem is with all of the injuries.
06:56I did a little thing this morning.
06:58I'm like, okay, if I could draft five guys who are on the I.L. right now and get them
07:03back,
07:03how would this team look different right now compared to what their current record is?
07:08Who were the – okay, I don't even have the I.L.
07:10I haven't even gone through it other than I know, like, Hunter Brown was first on my list.
07:14Yeah, Pena's probably two, right?
07:16Pena's there too, even though – look, even though he hasn't performed all that well.
07:19But, yeah, if I could take a completely healthy Pena, hypothetically.
07:23If I'm in some fantasy draft where I'm taking a guy that's on the I.L.
07:26but also just, you know, hasn't had injuries at all to worry about.
07:31The Correa injury bumps Pena up to two.
07:33You know, like you got Nick Allen out there right now at shortstop.
07:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:38That's 100 – okay, you're 100% correct on that.
07:40I guess in L.A., yeah, guys who could viably come back if I could draft them
07:44because Correa's gone and gone forever as far as this season goes.
07:48Yeah.
07:50But where I run into issues a little bit is just that none of the pitchers,
07:55other than Hunter Brown, have – you know, the starting pitchers are guys where I'm like,
08:00oh, you've got to have him back.
08:01That's right.
08:02I guess, you know what, Josh Hader.
08:03Josh Hader – oh, yeah.
08:04Yeah, because some of the damage that Brian Abreu specifically has done
08:08might have been allayed if you had Josh Hader in the rotation the whole time.
08:13Yeah.
08:13So, I guess Josh Hader, Hunter Brown, Jeremy Pena.
08:17Yep.
08:18Yeiner has been – had been there for – like, the problem is Yeiner started to get it going.
08:23Now he's on the I.L.
08:24Yeiner's got to be in the five because you've got to look at the guys that are behind him.
08:28Like, you're having to start Cesar Salazar twice a week.
08:31Like, you'd rather have Yeiner Diaz in there splitting it with Christian Vasquez.
08:34But Yeiner – so, we'll bring back Yeiner, but it's not like that – that's not –
08:39the sum total of where we are right now included Yeiner being on the team.
08:43Yep.
08:43So, I'm trying to go, like, backwards in history and say, okay, what could it have been like?
08:48Oh, I see.
08:48What could it have been like if these guys had all been healthy the entire time?
08:53Hunter Brown and Josh Hader are 100% the biggest guys.
08:57No doubt.
08:58Yeah, I see what you're saying.
08:59Yeah, I was looking at it drafting, like, going forward.
09:01That's a really interesting way to look at it, though.
09:03Yeah, because we've tried to – we've used injuries as an excuse to a certain degree.
09:07But, okay, would it have been that different if Hunter Brown were healthy in here the whole time?
09:11Would it be that different if Josh Hader were healthy in here the whole time?
09:13No, it's a good exercise.
09:14If there was some computer you could – which I'm sure exists – some computer you could simulate it through
09:18where these guys are all healthy.
09:20And then you look at that and you go, okay, so this is what – this is what the expectation
09:23should have been
09:24for Joe Espada as a manager with this team.
09:27Not 15 and 23.
09:30So, you know.
09:30Peña would be one.
09:31If I could get Peña completely healthy instead of his, you know, dueling injuries that he's had this season,
09:38maybe I would bring Peña back.
09:39But it doesn't, like, as of right now, given his performance, it's not like that would have made a huge
09:44difference
09:44to have him healthy.
09:45But maybe with complete healthy, it'd be something different.
09:48And then you get in, I guess, the outfield guys, whether – is it Loper Fido or Jake Myers?
09:54I don't know.
09:54It'd be Loper Fido for me.
09:56Yeah.
09:56He's just got a little more upside offensively, I think.
09:59And Bryce Matthews has done some good things defensively in center field, too.
10:03He's made some plays out there.
10:04For a guy who doesn't play a lot of center field, you know, he's had some – he's had his
10:07issues here and there,
10:08but he's been playing center field for two months.
10:11A little Cam Smith-like in that.
10:12He's made some good – you know, he's adapted to the outfield pretty quickly.
10:15So, yeah, it's – and the good news is some of those guys you named, they're going to be getting
10:20back pretty soon.
10:21But that's what I wonder – that's what I wonder with Jim Crane is two things.
10:27One, the dynamic you mentioned, where if they're just a bad team in a bad division, do they roll with
10:32it?
10:32And I think he does.
10:33I think when you've gone out there and said the window's going to stay open as long as I'm the
10:36owner,
10:37that's the default switch as opposed to tearing it down.
10:41And I just think there's going to be something where Jim Crane breaks out in hives from the idea of
10:46having to trade for prospects.
10:48You know, like having to trade – like there was probably a little part of the Kyle Tucker trade that
10:53Jim Crane felt a little uneasy about
10:54because it's a sign of we're one of those teams now.
10:57We're not totally one of the – you know, we're not a – like back when they made the trade.
11:02It was still – it was a good trade.
11:03It was a good trade.
11:04It was a good trade.
11:05But they hadn't made a trade where they trade the star out in – probably since like Lance Berkman and
11:12Roy Oswald back in the day.
11:13And I'm thinking that was probably easier for him to digest because Cam Smith is – you know, you're looking
11:19at him like,
11:19okay, he is a potential five-tool star that – yeah, okay.
11:22So I – if that makes – that's easier to – that's easier for him to digest than getting, you
11:28know, a bunch of prospects and the like.
11:31In – well, and doing it in – yeah.
11:33Doing it in July.
11:34Extreme prospects.
11:34And doing it in July during a season.
11:36You know, that Tucker trade was in December.
11:38You're doing it in season.
11:39You're waving the white flag.
11:41And then I don't think – the Kyle Tucker trade wasn't waving the white flag.
11:44It was – we can't pay this guy.
11:46It's different when you're doing it in July.
11:48And I just – I wonder if he's got that in him if they're four games out from a team
11:52that's, you know,
11:54two games below .500 at the top of the division.
11:56I would say no.
11:57I think he's going to ride it out.
11:59Now, as far as firing Espada, the question becomes, okay, is that the spark you're looking for
12:04or does Crane look at who's coming off the I.L.
12:06and that's the spark we're looking for, you know, getting Payne back, getting Hunter Brown back.
12:10Josh Hader looks like it's pretty imminent.
12:12He could be back.
12:13Ken Rosenthal of Fox and MLB Network, he's kind of echoing what we've been saying here,
12:19which is like, man, Joe Espada has just been dealt a rough hand.
12:23Major League leading 14 players on the injured list.
12:2614.
12:26And now they've lost Correa.
12:28Pena is still out.
12:30We all talked about their infield glut all spring and into the early part of the season.
12:34Guess what?
12:35They don't have an infield glut anymore because they've lost Correa for the season.
12:39And this is a team that, in my mind, would have contended with the Mariners for the A.L. West
12:44title
12:45if they had stayed healthy, if they had any semblance of health.
12:48But they're not there.
12:49And the rotation is an absolute mess.
12:52They're going to bring Tatsuya Amai back to the rotation next week, even though on his rehab assignment, he hasn't
12:58been very good.
12:59So it's just an unfortunate turn of events for the Astros.
13:03What can they do?
13:04All they can do is keep playing, which is what they will intend to do, of course.
13:09But at the same time, with so many players out, I believe it's four members of their opening day lineup,
13:15not including Pena, who was not in the opening day lineup.
13:18It's just a hard way to go about it.
13:20And the Astros right now are really compromised physically.
13:24Compromised physically.
13:25And a reminder, I feel like I've been dancing around this at least.
13:30Amai is coming back.
13:31Yeah, baby.
13:32He's coming back.
13:34Sean, as a city, as a metropolitan area, as a fan base, we have to rally around Amai.
13:40And remember my idea that everybody scoffed at?
13:44Made a, said, like, oh, Seth, you're such a big, dumb idiot.
13:46Remember that?
13:47People will put a poll out and say, is Seth a big, dumb idiot for this idea?
13:51What idea was that?
13:52We need to make Daikin Park more like a Japanese baseball environment.
13:58We need choreographed chants for Amai and do all of those things.
14:04Make him feel at home.
14:05Yeah.
14:05Yeah.
14:06One day a week at least, you know, on his start.
14:08Learn a little bit of Japanese, you know?
14:11Dude.
14:11Dude, just not one of those words that ends up sounding like a bad American word or something.
14:17If you, like, let's choose a few Japanese chants and be reasonably good that he doesn't
14:22think we're insulting him or something.
14:24Use ChatGPT to come up with the chants because ChatGPT has the highest guardrails of any of
14:29the AI when it comes to...
14:30Is that true?
14:31...doling out the dirty stuff.
14:32I don't know.
14:32Of the ones I've used, it does.
14:34You know, like, they've got pretty high...
14:36I've got to get into this Claude fella.
14:37Yeah.
14:38I've heard about...
14:39Because I've only messed with Gemini, which sucks, and ChatGPT.
14:43So right now, ChatGPT is way above Gemini for me, but I haven't even experimented with Claude.
14:48I've heard people talking about Claude.
14:50It seems like the people I see on X who are definitely smarter than me, who's the scientist
14:56types and everything, it seems like they use Claude a lot.
14:58I know.
14:58Could it be too smart for me and you?
15:00Could it be a little...
15:01That's true.
15:02Yeah.
15:02That's true.
15:03ChatGPT, while it's got the high guardrails, it does speak to me.
15:06You know, it does...
15:07Yeah, I ain't trying to win no Nobel Prize here.
15:09That's right.
15:09I just need some good sports verbiage.
15:13Yeah.
15:14Let me ask you this.
15:14What do you think happens...
15:16Okay, it'll be interesting.
15:17After this weekend against the Reds, they come home for this series in Seattle, and I think
15:22it was Chandler who kind of laid out the number of days of rest math for EMI here, particular
15:28that EMI is about that stuff.
15:30So it would be Monday, I guess, where EMI would be starting for the Astros against the
15:37Mariners, and there's been nothing that he's done in his two starts in the minors that
15:42would indicate that he's fixed whatever was wrong with him before the, quote, right arm
15:47fatigue.
15:48Not even close, yes.
15:48We've added to the long, long list of things that he has, through an interpreter, described
15:54as the things that have made him uncomfortable while trying to pitch in Major League Baseball.
15:59The pitch clock, which he's dealt with since he got here and knew about when he got here,
16:03presumably.
16:04And the other one was the way they prepared.
16:07Which a lot of other Major League pitchers in America had to adjust to not so long ago.
16:13No, he was acting like, or his translator, at least, the way he spoke about it, acted like
16:17they just sprung it on him or something like that.
16:19He doesn't like that the Astros are asking him to attack batter's weaknesses when he'd
16:25rather just go out and throw a slider on the first pitch every single time.
16:29Look, that's the way the interpreter put it.
16:32You got a Major League pitcher getting up and saying, through the interpreter, who knows
16:36if he got it right, I'd just like to be able to throw a pitch I'm comfortable with like
16:40a slider on the first pitch.
16:41Okay, so they'll never catch on to that.
16:43So given all these excuses he's been making, given the way folks like you and I on the radio
16:49have processed these excuses to where it's certainly come through a prism of where we're
16:53at a minimum upset with Emai right now, right?
16:57I think his popularity level is very low right now.
16:59If he goes out and pitches an inning and two-thirds, walks six guys, hits a guy, leaves
17:06having given up three runs, which is totally in play.
17:09Other than one start this year, every start, including the minors, has looked something
17:14like that.
17:15Does he get booed off the mound?
17:16When he's walking back to the dugout, a spot having taken the ball from him in the second
17:22inning, do those 23,000 people out there on Monday boo him?
17:27I feel like at Dyke and Park, I mean, compared to other ballparks, the booing your own guys,
17:33it's pretty...
17:33It's very low.
17:34It feels very low to me.
17:36It is.
17:36You know, it's not like I've done a deep dive clawed analysis on this.
17:40No, no, no.
17:40But Emai is pushing it right now.
17:43I don't think...
17:44I think through a combination of just the general congeniality of Dyke and Park crowds.
17:49And then also, you know, something that's been driven into us is, man, I don't want
17:54to be canceled because of, like, appearing xenophobic.
17:57Oh, yeah.
17:57And everybody's going to be like, yeah, man, just a little hold off of the dick and everybody.
18:01Yeah.
18:02Yep, yep, yep.
18:02I don't have the camera to catch me.
18:04Yeah.
18:04And I'm all of a sudden losing my job.
18:06You know what I'm going with, Seth?
18:08Yeah.
18:09Smattering.
18:10There's going to be a smattering of booze.
18:12Yeah, smattering of booze, which is not, like, not deafening, but I think there will
18:16be some boo birds in that crowd.
18:18I mean, look, it's thousands of people.
18:20And yet, I also would like to have a return of just random some Ric Flair woos, okay?
18:25Just because.
18:26The guy who was really good at it back in the day when what's-his-face was out there.
18:30Josh Reddick.
18:31Yeah, when Josh Reddick was getting the woo a lot.
18:34Remember there was one guy on the broadcast who was really...
18:37Oh, at the stadium.
18:38Yeah, yeah.
18:39He was the equivalent of that whistling guy at the Saints.
18:41He was good.
18:42It was, yeah, that just...
18:44Give a big woo and wink while you're doing it.
18:47And an old pain in Pendergast will understand what you're doing.
18:49That's exactly right.
18:51All right, we're good.
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