00:00And lo and behold, the Astros have won five out of the last six.
00:04I could have used that last one, man.
00:05Yeah.
00:06I really could have used that last one.
00:08I started believing the hype.
00:09I started leaning in because when it was, you know,
00:13they kept kind of going back and forth.
00:14It was three and three.
00:15I was like, all right, the Astros are going to do it, man.
00:17They were just hitting home runs.
00:19It was Jeremy Pena home runs.
00:20And then it was just like, oh, they're just going to home run enough home runs
00:23until they win this baseball game.
00:25And then the avalanche happened.
00:28Yeah.
00:28Yeah.
00:28I was feeling pretty good because Friday night's game was wild.
00:32Yeah, man.
00:33They were just getting, I mean, they were down 5-0, sixth inning.
00:37And I guess a good pitcher.
00:38I turned off the audio.
00:39Yeah.
00:40I turned something else on the TV.
00:42I started watching something else.
00:43So then they put up the snowman in the sixth inning.
00:45That was all their runs.
00:47And so we're thinking, all right, got a little luck,
00:50good fortune and good play going on here.
00:53And then obviously Hunter Brown was a beast on Saturday.
00:57Seven innings of, what was it?
00:59He was stalking.
01:00He was crazy.
01:01He was like a shark just walking around the mound like, give me the ball.
01:04I was so happy, though, because his first few games, actually his last, what,
01:08like three outings had been so lacking in what we had come to expect from Hunter Brown.
01:15That was like, oh, man, it was good to kind of almost get the monkey off his back.
01:18It was like, oh, okay, this is the Hunter Brown I recall.
01:21And it seemed like all the dudes had that same feeling.
01:23People were like, oh, man, he is nasty.
01:25And they showed up for him with all the runs.
01:28Anyways, I say all that to say, the Astros are doing the thing again where it feels like, oh, okay.
01:32They might be turning it on right at the right time.
01:35And so as we head towards the trade deadline, which is, what, a week away about?
01:41It feels very clear the way that they're going about things.
01:44And only more has been demonstrated here.
01:46It feels like they're going to buy, as Dana Brown has made it very clear he's doubled down on.
01:51It seems like the Red Sox approached the Astros about Jeremy Pena, and they were just like, no.
01:55No, not going to happen.
01:56No, no.
01:57And so it feels like we have an idea of how Astros are looking at the trade deadline,
02:01but also who's running it, J-Lo.
02:02Yeah, this is a Jim Crane thing, right?
02:03Dana Brown, in the last year of his contract, I think we've talked about this here and there,
02:10probably does not have that much rope, that much authority to just call those kinds of shots.
02:16That's Jim Crane.
02:17Says, no, we're not going to sell.
02:19And, you know, Jeremy Pena's not going anywhere.
02:22In fact, we're going to be buyers.
02:24And I just feel as if this is all Jim Crane.
02:29Is that a good thing, though?
02:30Is that a good thing that Jim Crane is really calling the shots here?
02:33I don't know.
02:34I'm curious.
02:35It would be a good thing if he was always the type of owner that would go in all the
02:39time
02:40and stuff like that, pay people.
02:42But he don't be paying people like that.
02:44He'd trade them or let them go.
02:46And so, like, right now in this moment, it's good.
02:49He's still trying to compete.
02:50But at the end of the day, we all know Jeremy Pena is probably going to get a bigger payday
02:55somewhere else.
02:57That's the thing, Reggie.
02:58That's the thing, what Figgie just said.
03:01Because he's going to – I've seen reports out – reports, you know, just rumors.
03:04There's eight, nine, ten years, $250 to $300 million.
03:10You think Jim Crane is going to pay that?
03:13I don't.
03:13I mean, let's be honest.
03:14Track record.
03:15Track record.
03:15Exactly.
03:16Track record says no.
03:17The only thing that I point to is it looks like we're heading towards a work stoppage,
03:20and I don't know what baseball looks like on the other side of that.
03:22That if you end up with what the owners want, which is some level of, you know, salary cap
03:28and what you have affectionately called the Jim Crane rule, right, it might be that, yeah,
03:32you can't really get all those years anyway, so you might as well stay here and get your money.
03:37But, yeah, I don't – that's the only thing.
03:39That's really – otherwise, it does seem like Jeremy Pena is short for, you know,
03:43remaining on this Astros team, which is really sad when you see what he does this weekend.
03:47All that being said, like, I don't think it's a good thing that Jeremy –
03:51Brandon is so involved in the very particular way that he is because it feels like he is
03:56kind of having a take and eating it too.
03:57How so?
03:58And so much as he wants to have influence on the team, which I don't begrudge him, right?
04:02Of course.
04:02But I think he also still then has the capability of hiding behind the general manager
04:07and letting the general manager take the arrows that we are inevitably firing at him
04:13towards Dana Brown, like whether it's the fan base or us in particular talking,
04:16I'm not going to take us out of this circumstance.
04:18And so, like, he kind of picks and chooses the ways that he wants to do this.
04:22And I know that he says that he wants to, like, always win.
04:25But as Figge points out, like, there are some things that he leaves that he's not willing to go to.
04:30And so it's like, again, you're trying to play both sides of the coin,
04:33and that doesn't often work in any walk of life, trying to do both things at once.
04:37Well, then the other part of this is Bob Nightingale has reported –
04:40I think executives – I forget how he put it – in baseball believe that Jim Crane
04:45has already made the decision on Dana Brown.
04:47And we've talked about this, right?
04:49It would feel odd for you to stake the entirety of your decision on whether or not to keep him
04:55in tow
04:55on what happens at the trade deadline, especially when you are going to enact a level of pressure
05:00on what he does, you know?
05:03Yeah.
05:03No, and so the smart thing is, okay, if you're Jim Crane, we're always going to compete, right?
05:10Then you probably are going to overpay in some instances, like a Jeremy Pena in 2027 or whatever.
05:18So to say we're always – and also have no real general manager moving forward
05:24and no real inclination, at least according to your track record, to pay these kinds of guys
05:30and an aging, you know, core of – well, really, Altuve and Christian Walker's not exactly a spring chicken either.
05:38You know, how does it play out?
05:39He's calling all the shots on this and it's kind of all over the board.
05:43No, I mean – agreed.
05:44Agreed.
05:45Like, it is – there's a level of dissonance here.
05:47Now, I want to acknowledge that not every team is, like, perfect utopia.
05:50Like, there are some natural, you know, differences that you're dealing with because you're dealing with humans
05:55and so things will be a little bit difficult.
05:57I think that this is a particular challenge, especially when you look at the ways in which
06:00the Astros are kind of pushed up against the wall to some degree, right?
06:04Obviously, this works with Jim Crane when you are dealing with an Astros team that is flush with prospects
06:09or with an Astros team that has young, talented MLB-level talent.
06:13I think it's because of the very particular situation that you are that this dynamic does not work for what
06:18the Astros have right now
06:19and it's frustrating because we all want some level of resolution that feels like it's just not coming,
06:24whether it's making the decision to go all the way, all the way in, just burn all of the –
06:29burn all of everything
06:30and what you have.
06:31Like, burn all the candles.
06:32Let's do it all.
06:33Or do you just go, hey, it is time.
06:36We need to acknowledge.
06:37And it feels like they just continue to straddle the middle of this year, which, again, I don't think that
06:42it goes well.
06:42Like, so I'm going – I've decided to be in – I'm here for a good time, not a long
06:46time
06:47because that's the way that it feels like the Astros are kind of playing this.
06:49The other thing that's really interesting here is the American League has done no favors for the Astros
06:55because it's just not good.
06:56The Astros right now have a 27.4% chance to reach the postseason according to fan graphs.
07:03And you're thinking, all right, better than a one-in-four chance.
07:06The problem is only four teams have a worse, you know, percentage chance to make the playoffs.
07:11So everyone is in it.
07:13And the other thing that is really wild, I wish the Astros would have gone on an eight-game win
07:18streak
07:19or lose six out of eight.
07:20That's right.
07:20One or the other.
07:21Because, like, where they are right now, you're like, oh, I can see.
07:24I can see where you want to contend.
07:25But it's either you kind of wish they had gone in and they were in first place right now.
07:30Then you're like, all right, let's go.
07:31Or they had lost six out of eight and you're like, all right, well, that's it.
07:34But it feels fitting.
07:35It feels fitting, doesn't it?
07:36It feels like where they are in their larger arc of organization of a team, right?
07:41They are just kind of in this nebulous kind of purgatory where they're trying to figure out which way they
07:47go.
07:48And, you know, shout out to the weekend that was for the Astros where they push a lot closer towards,
07:53hey, we're going to force your hand that you kind of already decided.
07:56And so bring me Mickey Moniak or whoever the left-handed outfielder is that they're going to ultimately acquire
08:02and try and push forward.
08:03And I've just got to hope that Joe Spott and the boys are able to, like, pull one more magic
08:07trick.
08:08They're just in such a weird place right now.
08:10Like, even that game yesterday, had they managed to win yesterday, that would have been, what, six in a row?
08:16We'd be like, okay, I can see it.
08:18But because they lost, it's like, oh, here they go again.
08:20Win two, lose one.
08:21Win one, lose two.
08:22I'll give them five out of six, man.
08:23Like, I won't be a joke about that.
08:24I'm just talking about we would have been.
08:26It's a roller coaster, man.
08:27Really feeling it.
08:28That's right.
08:28That's right.
08:29All right.
08:29But, yeah, they continue to win enough baseball games, it seems like.
08:33They get themselves within shouting distance of being able to do something interesting.
08:38But this is the nature of it.
08:39At the very least, I can say they're interesting.
08:42I don't know if it's the type of interesting that I was hoping for.
08:44But there is an alternative, which is just uninteresting baseball.
08:48So at least I will appreciate them for that.
08:50But there you go.
08:51A little bit of baseball talk.
08:52And baseball talk here on Sports Radio 610 is presented by Xfinity.
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