00:00Um, yesterday the Astros played baseball.
00:02Uh, they did not win the baseball game, but, uh, you know, it'd be like that sometimes,
00:06I guess.
00:07A four to two loss for the Astros.
00:09Even, I mean, it was a, it was a weird game for, uh, first, uh, I was about to say
00:13Spencer
00:13Arrigati for Hunter Brown, who said that like, you know, some days one pitch isn't working,
00:17maybe two, none of them were working for him.
00:18Yeah.
00:19But I kind of was in a weird way encouraged by it because if you got none of your pitches
00:23and you still managed to only give, what is it?
00:24Two run runs.
00:26Yeah.
00:26Now he did have to leave early because he, his pitch count got up.
00:31I don't know.
00:32I'm just always fascinated by the pitchers that are like, Hey, everything's going wrong,
00:35but I can still keep it from entirely burning down.
00:38Uh, but that's neither here nor there.
00:39We could talk about the game itself and we will.
00:42The weirdest thing happened before the game.
00:44And this is, I've not been able to take my mind off this, John Lopez, like at least in
00:48full, it's been somewhere in my brain, just, you know, continuing to churn.
00:51No, me too.
00:51Which is what the hell is happening with Brian Abreu?
00:54It's weird, man.
00:55This is very, very strange.
00:56Uh, and of course, uh, Joe Spata said, uh, you know, that is personal matter and I bet
01:02it is personal and they're going to give him all the time he needs or some time or whatever,
01:06however you put it.
01:07Now, if you're confused, we're like, all right, so what happened to Brian Abreu?
01:10Yeah.
01:10Um, the Astros, and this happens at two 53 yesterday.
01:14So, I mean, not for long after we get off the air, but definitely before they start
01:17playing baseball, the Astros made roster moves.
01:20Now, of course, Logan Van Wey was, uh, called up from AAA and then, all right, that's fine.
01:24He did pitch last night, but right-handed pitcher Brian Abreu was placed on the restricted
01:29list effective yesterday.
01:31Now the restricted list is not something that I deal with all the time, John Lopez, but,
01:36uh, the restricted list is one of them things where, and let me see if I can get this
01:39correct, it's a roster designation for players who are unavailable to play for reasons that
01:44are not related to baseball injury while their teams still relate, uh, retain their rights.
01:49That is what, uh, baseball reference lists as the reason why this list exists.
01:54So he's not injured.
01:55We could take that off the board, right?
01:56A hundred percent.
01:57They told us basically.
01:58This led to so much speculation yesterday.
02:01Well, and, and, and here's why it's so weird.
02:03I'm so glad you mentioned it at the hour that it happened right around 3 PM, 2 53, I think
02:08is what you said.
02:10You just said that means that Brian Abreu was in the clubhouse.
02:14Keep in mind, this was a 6 0 7, uh, first pitch, uh, you know, our time.
02:19Uh, well, he might not have been, they might've, they might've made this decision ahead of time
02:22and they only let us know at three possibly, but it has all the markings of, this is why
02:27I think it's so weird.
02:27It has all the markings of, you know, he was there.
02:30General manager was there, whatever.
02:31Maybe it happened in the hotel before, like you just said, but a lot of times to, to have
02:35something happened in the afternoon, they get there five hours ahead of the game.
02:39Yeah, man.
02:39You know, he, there, so they, there was something going on there.
02:41That's one little weird thing.
02:43The, but the weirdest thing to me is the fact that he is on this list and it's personal
02:48matters.
02:49Okay.
02:49Hey, what are some of the personal matters that people might be saying?
02:52Oh, I may be, you know, a family member died.
02:54Well, there's a bereavement list, ain't there?
02:56There is a bereavement list.
02:57Oh, I, maybe it's a, you know, someone in, in, in his circle or, or family, um, you know,
03:03is having some sort of personal matters or surgery or whatever.
03:07Well, there's a family emergency list as well.
03:10All right.
03:10Well, you know, and we know it, they would have put him on the paternity list if it was a,
03:15one of those, you know, something along those lines.
03:16So all these other lists, you still get paid and you're still kind of exempt from the roster,
03:23but, but you're accumulating major league, you know, service days.
03:27So they had all these other three options for whatever this personal matter might've been
03:32and didn't use them.
03:34That's just strange.
03:36That's just weird.
03:37Now, the one thing that I think has a little bit of legs to it that could be like a,
03:41Hey,
03:42not too much to see here.
03:43Ladies and gentlemen is, you know, is, is there some level?
03:46Passport issues.
03:47Remember to get to Toronto, you're crossing a border here.
03:51And depending on if he's a U S visa holder, as opposed to like,
03:53I don't think that he is a citizen per se.
03:56And not to say that I know in about his, you know, whatever his documentation is,
03:59but I don't know what his papers are here to them series, man.
04:03Yeah.
04:03So I don't, it's a three game.
04:04But I mean, the way that this Astros bullpen is set up,
04:06like they need all the arms that they could possibly have,
04:08especially during the course of this 13 games and 13 days.
04:10So maybe this is some level of, if we can't get the paperwork squared away,
04:15we put you on this list to get through these three games so that we can bring up another reliever,
04:19which of course they did to get through it.
04:20I can't imagine that that's it.
04:21Like maybe that there's, there is a reasonable chance that that is the case,
04:25but there's also like Brian Abreu has been in a really weird space with this organization.
04:31And we have seen in the past where, you know, a player who, you know, maybe,
04:35I think it was you Darvish got put on this list for the, by the Padres because he didn't want
04:41to,
04:41I think he didn't want to come out of the pen or something.
04:43And then they, they cleared up a spot, right?
04:45Like there's, there's instances where this has been used, not quite disciplinary,
04:48but as an opportunity of like a little timeout in order to kind of figure some things out in the
04:52meantime.
04:53And I, it is, it is weird to me that I can't entirely rule out that it's something like that
04:58from this circumstance.
04:59Well, I, I, I can't imagine that it's anything close to that.
05:02And here's the biggest reason why he is only 62 service days away from being able to be a free
05:09agent after this season.
05:10So you're telling me that your organization is going to take away three of those days or however many,
05:16you know, on this trip to, to Canada for the sake of just a roster spot for, for, you know,
05:20for a pitcher to come in and play.
05:22I can't, those service days are like gold,
05:26especially for a guy that's that close to free agency.
05:30So we probably even, uh, you know, file some sort of protest or something.
05:35Yeah.
05:36So it, it is extremely strange.
05:38It, it smacks of, and this is just me speculating now, uh, maybe some sort of trade that, that, uh,
05:45could have been,
05:46but wasn't, or, you know, they want to just keep them on the, on the side, so to speak,
05:50but they still need the roster, the end of the player on the roster.
05:53I don't know what it is, but this is just very bizarre.
05:56Yeah.
05:56And maybe, maybe we're, we're looking into this too much just off of the strength of it's
06:00been a really, really weird year.
06:02Yeah.
06:03I mean, maybe you can just qualify it as a bad year in that way.
06:06Uh, and maybe that ends up creating the, the, the tone and the tenor for all of this,
06:10but it's just, it's a really odd thing that has happened with the guy that clearly has not
06:15been able to find his legs fully.
06:16Yeah.
06:17And at very least I, I, you know, tense up anytime I see him take them out for the Astros.
06:21Well, for sure. But, but even if you're trying and you know, this is another kind of weird
06:24part about it, just all levels of this, even if you are trying to trade him or tried to
06:29trade him and now you're going to try again near the trade deadline, why would you send
06:32a message to every other team in major league baseball that there's some sort of issue with
06:36this guy? We're not even paying him, which is why I'm not sure that that's the case.
06:39Yeah.
06:40Right. Like that, that wouldn't, that wouldn't be like good messaging here. Also again, um, would
06:45you be sending him out, especially when you know that you need relief, uh, pitching? Like, would
06:48that be, would that be something that makes sense? Even if, you know, we feel the way
06:52that we do about Brian Abreu at this point where it feels like, all right, I know exactly
06:55what he is and what he can and cannot do. I don't know that you, it, it, the way that
07:00Rob Nightingale has talked about this, knowing that, Hey, you want to go get relief arms.
07:03You want to get a outfield help that can bat left-handed. Would it make sense for you
07:07to send Brian Abreu out?
07:09Uh, well, I think, I think, you know, to be at the trade deadline, no matter what, uh, but,
07:14but there's that reason for it. And what about just the message to Brian Abreu who has given
07:18this, you know, no matter the season he's had, you know, has given this organization some
07:22crucial, crucial, you know, innings and outs over the years. Why are, if you, if you're
07:28Brian Abreu, you come to the Astros and say, I have this personal matter and I'm simplifying
07:31it, you know, but whatever I have this personal matter. I'm going to need some time. All right,
07:34go ahead and take all the time you want. We're not going to pay you and you're not on the
07:37roster. What, what message is that? Yeah. Astros. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Hey, Figgy, we really care about
07:42you. We know you've everything you've done for this organization, world series, championship
07:46series, all that stuff. Go ahead and take all the time you need, but we're going to go ahead and
07:49not pay you. And you're not going to be on the roster. That's the thing is just the way that
07:54this
07:54list works. It is, it is very odd. It feels oddly confrontational, but they've, they've talked
07:59about this as if it's nothing. And I just, it just doesn't feel like absolutely nothing. And so I
08:03have a hard time getting there. Do you think we get answers to this? That's the question though,
08:07because like, obviously we can, we can run up all these possibilities, but do you think we ever get
08:12answers to what is happening here? I think this is one of those where ultimately we will, but it
08:17may not be anytime soon. I mean, there, there, there is going to be some, some clarity on this
08:22and, and, and it may welcome from a Bray you. I mean, he's not, he's, he's prone to say a
08:27couple
08:27of things. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, you might get something sooner than you think,
08:30especially if it's something a Bray you don't agree with. Right. If it's, if it was some type of
08:34issue and they ain't paying them, I'm sure he's going to speak a little bit. All I know is every
08:40company I've ever worked for. And especially this one, if I said, Hey, I got, I need some
08:45time. They'll say, cool. Take it. Not okay, but we're not going to pay you. Right. No, that's
08:52absolutely the case. You know? Right. So yeah, I'm fascinated. And we're going to cost you potential
08:57free agency this year. Come on, man. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. It's such an, it was such an odd
09:03thing to see happen with your Astros. You're going to hear from his agent or something. Yes,
09:06we will. Yes. I hope, I hope so. Sooner rather than later. A weird start time for the Astros
09:11game today. 3 0 7 first pitch. That's right. Uh, in Toronto, uh, Peter Lambert, Peter, let
09:17me see. Uh, where do I want to go? Peter, not pumpkin eater. Okay. Not pumpkin eater.
09:22Lambert. I did not plan ahead. As you can tell, uh, Shane, Shane Bieber is on the mound for
09:27the, uh, for the blue Jays. Okay. I think that the, the bit works with Lambert. I didn't think
09:33that we was doing this with all the pictures made in heaven right here. Shane Bieber is
09:37a Cy Young winner, man. That's right. I still remember when he won that Cy Young. Cause I
09:42was like, wait, who? Yeah. I was like, wait, who is this? I think that was during the short
09:45season too. Yeah. It's all of a sudden I was like, Oh, Shane Bieber. And this is a thing
09:48that I need to know. Okay. Very good.
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