- 12 hours ago
ITL debates the complicated legacy of McCullers in Astros history.
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00:00The Astros got a victory last night versus the Minnesota Twins.
00:03It was one that you got up early and you just held it for the entirety of the game.
00:08In fact, did you at all, I don't know, were you watching this one?
00:12Oh, yeah, we watched the whole game.
00:14How did you feel when you see Abreu get up late in the game?
00:18I was actually kind of hopeful when he got up, but did you see how he performed?
00:22Well, I was going to ignore that part.
00:24Because once he walked the guy, then he threw a wild pitch.
00:29Hey, man, that was all the way, like, that was like 14 hours ago.
00:33Why are you bringing up old stuff?
00:34No, but here's the thing.
00:35I was actually like, okay, let's see if Abreu can keep it going.
00:38So there's a little bit of hope in you.
00:40And then he didn't keep it going.
00:41He was completely, in fact, I called the shot erroneously.
00:45You know, obviously my wife loves the Astros, so we're always watching and talking.
00:49And I'm like, this is just not going to end well.
00:52It has all the markings of Abreu just blown, for which, by the way, Jason Alexander.
00:58Hey, buddy.
00:59Good gravy.
01:00No notice that you about to be starting pitching out of nowhere.
01:04Yeah.
01:05Hey, buddy.
01:05Yeah.
01:06Can you give me six?
01:07Here are six with no earned runs.
01:10And fooling guys.
01:11Like, never real good contact.
01:14Just, it was, dare I say, masterful?
01:18Because he wasn't overwhelming.
01:19And to remind you, this isn't Jason Alexander of 2025 where, man, look at this dude giving
01:24us, what is this lightning in a bottle?
01:26This is the, oh, this has come down to earth, Jason Alexander.
01:29Jason Alexander, get back on that CarShield commercial, man.
01:33Remember I was giving him a hard time because he wasn't even up here?
01:36And I'm like, what is he doing in this CarShield commercial?
01:38He doesn't even play for the Astros.
01:39Give my man his commercials back.
01:40Give him his commercials back on CarShield.
01:43Now, the reason why Jason Alexander had to take the bump is because Lance McCullers Jr.,
01:48it happened again.
01:49And I'd say that with no excitement, but he ends up in a circumstance where, did you see
01:55the reasoning that was given for him going on the IL?
01:58Shoulder soreness?
01:59Yes.
01:59And it was also, Espada went as far as to say he's been dealing with it for a while.
02:04Yeah.
02:04Which, do you believe that?
02:06Does that feel like a reel?
02:07Or does that feel like, hey, can we cover up some of these other ones that weren't very
02:10good?
02:10The biggest tell was Espada's nose was growing when he said that.
02:13Okay.
02:13All right.
02:14A little Pinocchio action.
02:16So, nah, man.
02:20It's, just on the game, I felt it was so cool.
02:23You know, we don't know what it means.
02:25We know they're up and down and all that, and their pitching is...
02:28Ten games below 500, y'all.
02:30But it was just really cool to see that kind of response in the game and, you know, them
02:35holding them off and all that.
02:37But the story is Lance McCullers.
02:39And I texted you guys as soon as I saw it.
02:42And as soon as I hit send, I kind of went, I kind of shrugged and I said, well, this
02:47time it's really it, right?
02:50This time it's really it.
02:51He's a fighter.
02:52He's a fighter.
02:53He's proved us wrong.
02:55Is this it?
02:56Really?
02:57Truly?
02:58I think he had a solid career, man.
03:00Wow.
03:01I think, look, man, he's a legend in this city.
03:05Yeah.
03:06Like, no doubt about it.
03:07But, man, that's a shoulder.
03:09Yeah.
03:10Again.
03:11Yeah, man.
03:12That's a lot, man.
03:13Yeah.
03:13But that gets to the heart of this.
03:15Like, how will you remember Lance McCullers Jr.?
03:17And it sounds like we put him in a box in the ground.
03:19But, like, even if he does make his way back, I think we were already kind of here.
03:23But it feels like this is the, oh, we know for sure that in spirit, like spiritually, this
03:27thing is over.
03:28Or even if whatever dribbles out with the remainder of this comes through.
03:33But, yeah, how will you remember him?
03:34Because I pulled up the baseball reference just to, like, have it visually in front of
03:37me.
03:37And seeing that the one all-star, the one time where he was in Cy Young voting, and really
03:43it was a fairly short stint of, oh, really, really good pitching.
03:47I've talked about it because I love that.
03:49Love that guy.
03:50Wow.
03:51Big.
03:51He used to come up to the studio.
03:53Remember that?
03:53Yeah.
03:54And just hang out?
03:54He was a regular guest with Seth and Meltzer.
03:59Yeah.
04:00Yeah.
04:00He was always on the show.
04:01Listen to the music.
04:03And just, like, love that guy.
04:06And somebody, and as somebody, Figgy said, you know, he's a legend.
04:09You're somebody, Figgy.
04:10Yeah.
04:11I've often said that.
04:12He is a legend.
04:13But that doesn't answer the question.
04:15How will you remember him?
04:17You know, he had a legendary performance.
04:19But I've talked about it as much as, you know, respect and admiration I have for the
04:24guy.
04:24Kind of underachieved.
04:27Believe it or not, I will probably look at him as somebody that could have been if it
04:32wasn't for the injuries.
04:33Yeah.
04:34Yeah.
04:34This is like, imagine what his career could have been if he didn't go through all of these
04:39injuries.
04:39Does this feel fair?
04:40The person that texts in from the 972, Lance is like a one hit wonder that won't believe
04:44his song isn't cool anymore.
04:47Which feels, I mean, I can understand you getting to that place.
04:51It feels like a harsh interpretation of this, though.
04:54Well, I don't mind it.
04:55I would say he's probably like a two hit wonder.
04:59Maybe like, like everybody known for one hit, but he had maybe a couple other hits that
05:04was cool, too.
05:05But that was it.
05:06I got to tell you, and figure you hit one of them.
05:09The first three thoughts that I remember that I thought of were, are you going to remember
05:14him as a hero?
05:15Are you going to remember him as a could have been, which is what you said?
05:18Or disappointment?
05:20I can't help.
05:21Again, I will say it.
05:22You can't help how you feel.
05:24I'm disappointed.
05:25You combine all three together.
05:27Maybe it's all three.
05:28A little bit.
05:29Heroic.
05:30Could have been.
05:31Could have been the disappointing.
05:34I mean, 7-1-3-5-7-2-4-6-10.
05:37All the good things we can say about Lance McCullers.
05:40I mean, I feel disappointed.
05:42And I forget, I'm not just feel bad for him and his injuries.
05:45I'm saying disappointed in what we got.
05:47So, if after 2022, like, this is the thing that I was trying to figure, wrap my head
05:51around.
05:51If after 2022, Lance McCullers, like, the injury, and he just goes, all right, guys.
05:55Yeah.
05:56Peace out.
05:57How does this hit you?
05:58Like, how do you view this if you don't get all the way through these other years?
06:02And it's just the seven years of him actually playing.
06:06Yeah.
06:06And, you know, obviously the World Series, and he leaves with a pretty good, I mean, really
06:12good, like, last few years.
06:14I think we'd all be landing what Figgy said.
06:16More of what could have been.
06:17I think his star would have shined a little brighter, you know, in a lot of people's
06:21eyes.
06:22Because just all these years, and then the frustration of, oh, and the Astros, I guarantee
06:26you're going to do this again.
06:28They're going to get, you know, he flew back to Houston, if you didn't know.
06:30He's getting, I'm guessing, some sort of MRI, some sort of imaging done.
06:35And they're going to say the same thing they always say.
06:37You know, well, we're going to see how it goes out.
06:39Put him on, he's on the IL.
06:41We'll see how it, you know, it progresses.
06:43And then we're going to get in a couple of months, oh, he's...
06:46He's, you know, right on his rehab schedule.
06:48And then he's going to be throwing from flat ground.
06:50And the fact that we have heard those things for, what, four years?
06:56That is what really kind of made it feel worse.
06:59That's, yeah, that was my thought as well.
07:00It feels like the attempt to try and get that old thing back, which maybe is what this person
07:05is talking about, about the one-hit wonder, made it so that we kind of don't think enough
07:09about, or maybe did it go the other way?
07:12Because sometimes in trying to hope that he would get back to the old times, we think enough
07:16about the old times to where maybe he does not just become like a local legend where he'll
07:21drink for free, but also he's not considered like the full greatness of what he did.
07:26You know what I mean?
07:27Yeah.
07:27No, I think so.
07:28So it's really a tough, sad story, but it's also a disappointment.
07:32Maybe, you know, you were right, Figgy.
07:34It's a little bit of all three.
07:36The other part of it that I went to is, does this affect how we get into, you know, the
07:43trade deadline and such?
07:46You have four of your five starters.
07:49That from opening day.
07:50From opening day are gone.
07:52Right.
07:52Yeah.
07:53And then you have guys like Miguel Uyola and Ethan Pecco that they're considering bringing
07:59up.
08:01Jason Alexander, shout out to you, man.
08:03I was, that was impressive.
08:04But still, you know, you've got guys like that.
08:06I mean, this is not a good situation that the Astros are in.
08:10Yeah.
08:10And you just naming pitchers right now.
08:12Yeah.
08:12Like when you talk about the Altuves and, you know, the people that's, that probably, I
08:18don't know.
08:18Like I would consider the trade deadline at this point, man.
08:21Yeah.
08:22I would throw in the white flag.
08:23What's funny is like, if I'm just being in the moment, I go Lance, I don't know that
08:27Lance McCullers changes that because he was another one of these kind of, is he getting,
08:31is he doing the job?
08:336.6 ADRA.
08:33Right.
08:33Yeah.
08:34It was, it was in that place.
08:35But in a almost symbolic way, I think that it might do it because if you did not realize,
08:41which I imagine it was hard to avoid, yesterday was the first time that you did not have
08:46a member of the 2017 team on the active roster for the Astros.
08:50That is very symbolic.
08:51And so I think the symbolic nature of, okay, this, this is a closing of that era.
08:56I know Altuve will be back at some point.
08:58Well, the way that I said that, go ahead and knock on wood because that scared the hell
09:01out of me coming out of my mouth.
09:02But like, yeah, but it feels like, oh, okay, this is, maybe this is something where it
09:08switches something somewhere in the organization.
09:10Is it a sign?
09:10In a real way where it's like, all right, guys, we really need to consider like, how
09:14do we get to the next side of this thing as opposed to continuing to try and, in the
09:18same way that Lance McCullers did, draw out that golden era of what this was.
09:22And somebody said from the eight, three, two, I wish his ego could have allowed him to be
09:25a reliever.
09:27I don't know.
09:28I guess ego, you can throw that in there.
09:30I just feel like, you know, it's what he was doing.
09:32It's what they expected him to do.
09:34Uh, I I'm with you.
09:35I wish he would have been a reliever at some point.
09:37What would that have done for his shoulder though?
09:39Coming back two days later and then another two days after that.
09:42But then, but the less, I mean, obviously the less taxing of the actual length of the
09:46outing, you know, I don't even know if that would have been better for him.
09:51Like, will he be a better pitcher coming out the bullpen?
09:55Well, I have no clue.
09:56As Lance Bregman once said, I guess we'll never know.
09:59Yep.
10:00Yeah.
10:01That's not the way I want to use that quote.
10:03From the seven, from the seven, one, three, man, y'all are a bunch of backstabbers.
10:06Lance McCullers is our neighbor and family.
10:09You can STF you with the public disrespect.
10:12I don't know that I was trying to do this and disrespect at all.
10:14Could we have given him more respect?
10:16All right.
10:16You know what?
10:16Let's, let's change it up now.
10:18Come on, Lance.
10:19We can't wait to get you back.
10:20But no, seriously.
10:21Could we have given him more respect?
10:22Let's give him, let's love that guy.
10:24Put him back in the rotation next season then.
10:26Come on, let's go.
10:27You can do it, Lance.
10:28Exactly.
10:28You got this, Lance.
10:30No, I mean, we've.
10:31Bury us in the H, Lance.
10:32Come on.
10:33Let's go.
10:33Clearly a legend for this organization.
10:35I mean, you talk about, like, all you got to mention is the number, right?
10:38Right.
10:38Was it 27?
10:39Mm-hmm.
10:39Right, the straight curveballs, like, that immediately is evocative of incredible memories.
10:44And on top of that, we've given him a lot of credit for, like, not just packing this
10:48thing up.
10:48Mm-hmm.
10:49But I was just interested to see exactly, like, where people's minds went to because
10:52that is the sad portion of it is that the injuries, the perpetual nature of the injuries
10:56takes you away from that greatness that he once had.
10:59And that's not a blame on him.
11:00His body just failed him.
11:02Yeah.
11:02Yeah.
11:03Yeah, it's just kind of sad because his body failed him and maybe the Astros as an organization
11:07failed him in that way as well.
11:08Yeah, we expected to see more from Lance.
11:11Mm-hmm.
11:11So this, I mean, that alone is kind of sad.
11:14For sure.
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