00:00Sports Radio 610 presents, live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugarland Studios,
00:08here's Area 45 with Bashani and Creighton.
00:21Stand up and acknowledge your baseball tribal chief.
00:27Acknowledge me.
00:28Long-time MLB insider, USA Today, MLB Network Radio, friend of the program on the Texas Mattress Makers Hotline.
00:37He is Bob Nightingale.
00:39Bob, last time we talked to you, the Astros were really scuffling.
00:45They were double digits under.
00:47Joe Espada had a very tenuous hold on his job.
00:52They've won 9-13.
00:54Are things getting a little more comfortable for Joe Espada right now?
01:01I wouldn't think so.
01:02I mean, they just had a, you know, a nice sweep.
01:05They're playing better baseball, trying to get some of their pitchers back healthy.
01:11So, you know, they're playing better.
01:13You know, they're still not in a good spot, obviously.
01:16And, you know, the thing for the Astros, that the league is so bad, the division is so bad, that
01:21it keeps everybody alive.
01:22But, hey, Bob, we've been seeing some pitching out of young Spencer Erichetti for these Astros, and he has been
01:29nails.
01:30There's no other way to put it so far this season.
01:32Erichetti has been pitching his ass off.
01:34I believe every start for Spencer Erichetti is allowed two or less runs besides one start.
01:40Now, is this like a flash-in-the-pan type of deal with this young fella for the Astros and
01:46Spencer Erichetti?
01:47Or is this a potential beautiful kind of one-two punch setting up for when Hunter Brown comes back and
01:54returns from injury to this rotation for the Astros?
01:58Well, certainly no one expected him to pitch him like this, you know, being called up, you know, did the
02:03WBC.
02:06So, no, it's a great story.
02:08He's pitching his way, you know, onto the All-Star team and, you know, keeps doing this.
02:13So, yeah, you know, see what happens.
02:16You know, I don't think anybody, you know, saw him dominating like he is.
02:22But, yeah, I mean, you know, you're not ready to say, okay, he's going to be the next ace of
02:28the staff or something like that.
02:29But certainly he's proving he can be a front-line pitcher.
02:33Bob, you know, I asked you about, you know, is Joe Espada feeling a little less heat?
02:38Dana Brown's been feeling equal heat.
02:39He's another guy who was in the last year of his contract.
02:42At the time, Mike Burroughs was really struggling.
02:45Tati Emai was struggling on the I.L., still struggling.
02:50You know, and this team was scuffling along.
02:52But, you know, he's taken Kaiwe Tang and they've moved him into the rotation.
02:56He's been really...
02:57They pulled Peter Lambert off the scrap heap.
03:00The deal for Nick Allen, which Astros fans were really not happy about.
03:06Nick Allen's at 295.
03:09Is...
03:09Are we starting to see some of the...
03:12Some of the fruits of what Dana Brown had to do kind of within the margins this offseason?
03:18Especially now as, you know, Mike Burroughs starting to get it turned around.
03:22And Tati Emai coming off six no-hit innings.
03:24Is this kind of what the Astros were expecting?
03:29And now maybe the heat's off of Dana a little bit?
03:33Well, you know, certainly expecting to, you know, be in the postseason.
03:37So we'll see what happens.
03:39You know, I don't...
03:39There's usually never a GM that gets dismissed during the season.
03:43It's usually after the season.
03:45Because you want to let him go through the draft and trade that line and everything else and see what
03:50happens.
03:51So I don't think he was ever in danger of losing his job.
03:54You know, once the season's over, then I think, you know, everybody's under, you know, evaluation.
03:59But, yeah, and certainly looking good with the Christian Walker signing.
04:03You know, where, you know, Walker didn't have his typical year.
04:06Last year, you're wondering, okay, you know, what's going to happen is his best years behind him.
04:12And he's, you know, proven again, proven that, you know, how valuable he can be.
04:16So, you know, right now it's looking like a great signing.
04:20You know, we'll see what happens to the trade deadline.
04:23If they're not in position to make the playoffs or make a run, then I would think they get some
04:28decent, a couple decent prospects for him.
04:31And to speak to that, Bob, with Dana Brown and the trade deadline and this division in particular with how
04:38bad it is with these records right now.
04:41And kind of keeping the Astros in it, even though they have played not great baseball all season long.
04:46I mean, we just saw the Astros win two series in a row for the first time this year.
04:52Is Dana Brown, I mean, he's got to be thinking buyers at this trade deadline, right?
04:58If the AOS stays stacked up because everybody's just so poor right now and losing so many games.
05:04Dana Brown has got to be thinking buyers, right?
05:06And if so, what is Dana Brown going to be shopping for to add to this Astros roster and hopefully
05:13an attempt to make it to October?
05:17Yeah, I'm not sure they have, you know, that the prospects are trained to be big time buyers.
05:22So we'll see.
05:24Where you don't want to be is the no man's land.
05:26You don't want to be like five games out, you know, being around a 500 team or a little below
05:31and, you know, still have a chance.
05:34But realistically, you know, if you made the playoffs, just how far you're going.
05:39So we'll see.
05:41You know, and they're in the race, you know, right now just because the West is so down.
05:45But, you know, if the Astros is giving a close eye on the Mariners because they're the one team that
05:52has a chance to, you know, run away in a high in this division.
05:55You know, they've been, you know, grossly underperforming with all the talent they have.
05:59So the Texas Rangers, for that matter, but particularly the Mariners.
06:03You know, Bobby, you know, we call it the AL worst because they don't even have a single team over
06:08500.
06:09But the American League as a whole only has four teams over 500, which is just wild to me.
06:15But, you know, for those, the biggest issue they had was the pitching.
06:21And the pitching is kind of normalized here over the last two weeks.
06:24For the Mariners, they haven't maintained consistent offense.
06:27They beat up the Astros when the Astros couldn't pitch.
06:31And they beat up the A's who also can't pitch.
06:34But outside of those teams, their offense hasn't looked all that great.
06:37The Rangers can't hit.
06:38The A's can't pitch.
06:41Of those teams, which one of those three between the Mariners, the A's, and the Rangers is most likely to
06:49get it right the soonest?
06:52The Mariners.
06:54You know, they have more talent than anybody in the division.
06:57And they also have more at stake.
07:00It'd be a massive letdown in that city for them not to be in the playoffs after being one game
07:05away from the World Series last year.
07:08You know, they still have never been to a World Series, let alone win one.
07:12So, you know, I think of all those teams, too, they'll be the most aggressive at the trade deadline.
07:18They have a ton of prospects that can move.
07:21And I just think they have more at stake.
07:23You know, I'm going to get Kyle Rowley back here.
07:25And, you know, he'll certainly be better than what he showed.
07:28And I say he's going to hit, you know, certainly he's not going to hit 60 home runs again.
07:32But, you know, he's also not going to hit, you know, 180 with, you know, one home run, you know,
07:37every two weeks.
07:37So, that's still the team to watch out for.
07:42You know, the Rangers, you know, I don't know, you know, what to make of them.
07:46I thought they'd have a better season.
07:48But you said that offense has completely disappeared.
07:51And with the A's, they won't do anything to trade that line.
07:56They're really, you know, when they're in Las Vegas.
07:59So, they'd love to make the playoffs, I think, next year.
08:02You know, having that momentum going into it.
08:05But they've, you know, they have worked so long to get all these prospects and everything else.
08:10They're not going to take a gamble and trade something away and try to go for it and have it
08:15backfire if they don't make the playoffs.
08:17Long-time MLB insider Bob Nightingale with us on the Tetris Mattress Makers Hotline.
08:23Bob, there's been a lot of talk and coverage of the CBA discussions between the MLB and MLBPA and how
08:32the league proposed a salary cap system, 50-50 split escrow to make sure at the end of the year,
08:41hey, we're going to balance out to 50-50.
08:45A couple of things here because, number one, for the last several years, I've been a proponent of a salary
08:50cap system.
08:51And of the union going after the ownership and saying, sure, we'll do a salary cap, 50-50 split.
08:59Because as you look back from like 2012 on, players never even got 40% all the way through 2022.
09:09They got, barely got 40% in 2023.
09:13They got 42% in 2024.
09:15And you look at this, like, man, 50%, that's a massive chunk of income that they're leaving on the table.
09:22It seems like maybe they're protecting the highest 1%, but they're not getting all the money for the rank and
09:29file guys.
09:30Last year, there was a really big jump.
09:32They went up to 46.5%, where the record was $5.23 billion in salaries and, you know, the other
09:43costs that baseball puts in to account for, like, benefits and stuff like that, versus baseball's record revenues of $11
09:52.3 billion.
09:53The 50-50 split, now they've proposed it with the escrow, is that something that ultimately could work for both
10:05sides, provided, I feel like this is an opportunity for the Players Association to get something they've wanted for 60
10:12years.
10:12And that is to get the owners to open the books.
10:18Yeah, I think it's still, you know, be it distrust.
10:22You know, you can skew the books, you know, any way you want.
10:26You know, look at Atlanta, for instance.
10:28You know, so the profit they're making from the battery area isn't included in revenue sharing and stuff.
10:35So what happens to you and what happens to that money?
10:37Certainly not included is when a team goes up in value.
10:40You know, like when the Padres were sold for 3.9, when nobody expected them to get over, you know,
10:461.7 or 8, you know, that sort of thing.
10:49So I just think the distrust, I think they think they're still doing fine financially.
10:55I mean, obviously, they don't want the system to change.
10:57They wanted to, you know, get more money from it.
11:01But it's almost like, hey, they're perfectly content with the way it is now.
11:06So we'll see what happens.
11:07I still think it's going to come down to, you know, it's kind of a stare-down contest.
11:12It comes spring training or particularly the regular season.
11:17Once they miss a paycheck, if this is going on until mid-February and those first paychecks are missed, then
11:23I think it's like, okay, who's going to blink first?
11:26If the union doesn't look like they're going to stay strong, maybe, you know, MLB says, okay, we're going to
11:33drop the idea of a salary cap.
11:35But if players say, hey, we need to get this money, we'll never get it back, you know, we're making
11:39$40, $60 million a year, you know, that might be a different story.
11:42So, you know, I don't think anything's going to get done until once the lockout occurs after December 1st.
11:49The most surprising thing for me here was, you know, that the league's proposal has all the teams pooling together
12:00their local revenue, which, look, obviously there are teams like the Red Sox and the Yankees, the Cubs, the Dodgers,
12:07that just make phenomenal local revenue, and those teams have never wanted to share all of that.
12:14Is that something that, I mean, like, that really stuck out to me.
12:19Is that real?
12:22Yeah, I mean, that's a little bit of a surprise, but it's also the owners of those teams saying, okay,
12:28we'll agree to it if there's a salary cap.
12:31You know, we want to, you know, force these other teams to spend money to, you know, the salary floor.
12:37Knowing it will save money if there's a cap.
12:40So, for instance, the Dodgers, you know, if you're, since they paid out, you know, a little over $500 million
12:46with a luxury tax and the payroll,
12:48and then say, okay, now we can't spend more than, you know, $270,000, you know, that's a $250 million
12:54savings right there.
12:57You know, we've got to give up some of the extra money in TV.
13:02Because, right, you know, right now the TV thing is such a huge disparity, you know,
13:06where the Dodgers are getting about, average about $330 million a year in those teams.
13:11Like the Milwaukee Brewers, KC, getting about $25 a year.
13:16So, I think the owners of those teams said, okay, we'll do it, or you could put in your thing.
13:22But only if there's a salary cap.
13:25If there's no salary cap, there's no way those franchises who will give up their TV money.
13:31Long-time MLB insider Bob Nightingale, USA Today, MLB Network Radio, with us on the Texas Mattress Makers Hotline.
13:39Follow him on X and or Twitter at B Nightingale.
13:43Bob, always a pleasure.
13:44Always learning stuff every time we talk with you.
13:47Appreciate you, brother.
13:48We'll talk soon.
13:49All right.
13:50Look forward to it.
13:50Take care, buddy.
13:51All right.
13:51Bob Nightingale with us on the Texas Mattress Makers Hotline.
Comments