00:00Houston, it took the Brewers two outings.
00:05Lance McCullers.
00:07Lance McCullers is no longer in the league right now.
00:11As Luke told me before the show started, he could get picked up
00:14or even the Brewers could pick him back up and send him to the minor leagues.
00:18But the Brewers have DFA'd Lance McCullers.
00:21He made two relief appearances for Milwaukee.
00:24He allowed two earned runs in four and two-thirds innings,
00:28striking five, also allowed three hits and five walks.
00:32Luke, do you think this is, one, do you think Lance is completely done,
00:36and two, do you think this was just a, there's something behind the scenes,
00:40or do you think he just didn't perform well enough to keep a job?
00:43I think he's probably done.
00:45Maybe a team out there will take a shot on him needing an arm at some point here
00:50these final two months to try to make the playoffs or to fill a roster.
00:54There might be a desperate enough team.
00:55I think he should be done.
00:56If I was another team, I don't think I'd be interested.
00:58But a team eventually might be desperate enough to bring him in as a guy
01:01who's pitched in the postseason and hope that he can be that last arm
01:05in the bullpen or in the rotation or whatnot.
01:08The second aspect for the Brewers, I think it was more of a numbers game
01:11where they had to make a decision.
01:13They had to get somebody off their 40-man to make a move,
01:15and they figured, well, Lance McCullers Jr. is the least valuable at this portion,
01:19at this time of the season, so let's DFA him.
01:21But with that said, I think it does show that that trade was more about trying to get
01:28Colton Gordon, and then McCullers was just the throw-in to make it happen.
01:32Like, okay, sure, Astros will take him off your hands,
01:35but I think they really just wanted the other arm.
01:38And I also, if I'm the Astros, I wouldn't feel so great about Prince Fielder's kid that I got back
01:44in the deal because it seems like this was all just,
01:47yeah, sure, we'll take McCullers, you take this guy,
01:49but we really just want Colton Gordon, and it was never about Lance McCullers to begin with.
01:52Isn't that your boy, Tyler?
01:53Isn't that one you were riding with last year, Colton Gordon?
01:56Oh, yeah.
01:57Big C?
01:57Oh, yeah, Big C?
01:58Wasn't that Big C?
01:59The Brewers were high on him, too.
02:01There for a while, you were the only guy that I knew that was really high on Big C,
02:04but apparently the Brewers are high on him as well.
02:07I'm going to tell you, I got a lot of a deal for this.
02:09I think I'm owed an apology, by the way, by nobody in this room,
02:15nobody on this station, but definitely some fans out there
02:18because I remember being pretty critical before the year started
02:24when I heard Lance McCullers speak to the media.
02:28And when you've made it to the pinnacle of your career
02:35and you have been to the mountaintop in World Series
02:39and in a run to a World Series, and you've been really great,
02:43although it's not been of late, obviously the injuries and he struggled as late,
02:48but when you've gotten to that point with one mindset
02:52and doing things a certain way,
02:56when you decide to change that mindset
02:59and when you change that mindset drastically, Luke,
03:03it's a bad sign.
03:05And I remember, I'm going to play this audio for you,
03:08I remember when in the preseason, before the year started,
03:11I think it was spring training at some point,
03:14Lance McCullers spoke to the media,
03:16and I'm going to play the audio for you.
03:18When he said this, I immediately said he's done.
03:20This is not the mindset of any player,
03:25damn sure not one that's been the tightest wired astro maybe of all time,
03:31given how this sucker has dealt with injuries,
03:34how he pitched and how high-strung he was on the mound,
03:37how he's dealt with injuries.
03:38But this piece of audio right here,
03:41some of y'all out there, y'all owe me a damn apology.
03:42I knew Lance McCullers was done when he was still an astro,
03:46and this was his response in spraining
03:48to kind of how his career is going and his return from injuries.
03:53I have no, you know, reservations about my future in baseball.
03:57You know, if God's blessed me, man, I have two beautiful daughters,
04:02you know, I have a beautiful wife.
04:04We've been married 10 years together, 16, 17 years.
04:07So if the future for me is to be home with them,
04:09I'll be happy with that.
04:10I'll be content with that, you know.
04:12But the future for me is to be in this game.
04:14If I can be healthy and I can help a team win,
04:17you know, I'll be happy with that too.
04:18So I don't have, like, I'm not coming into the year like,
04:21my gosh, you know, if I don't pitch well or if I'm not healthy,
04:23like, what am I going to do?
04:25You know, we're going to, I'm going to be able to provide for my family
04:27and we're going to be able to spend a lot of time together.
04:30But if I do, if I am healthy and, you know, that's the plan for me,
04:34I would love to keep playing baseball.
04:35But it's not like something for me where it's like
04:38it has to swing one way or the other, you know.
04:40And so that's a good place to be.
04:42And so I'm hopeful that it's, I'm hopeful that it's healthy.
04:45I'm hopeful that it's good for the fans, for the organization.
04:47And I would love to leave on that type of note.
04:49So we'll see how it plays out.
04:51Hey, Luke, I got this coming from a girl dad.
04:54I got a beautiful wife and two little girls too, Lance.
05:00I knew it was over when he said that.
05:02I knew when the guy that, hell, he couldn't even stay away from the media
05:06because he wanted to tell us every day,
05:08give us a report on how far he was throwing the ball.
05:10Flat ground, throwing off the bump,
05:12doing this spin this many, through this many fastballs,
05:15reach this velocity to all of a sudden,
05:17hey, man, I'm going to be fine.
05:18Like that mentality, and I'm not opposed to that mentality.
05:20Look, and everybody out there, relax a little bit.
05:22This is what y'all did to me the last time I said this.
05:24All of a sudden, y'all started hammering me about it.
05:25There ain't nothing wrong with a guy I want to spend time with.
05:27Nothing wrong with a guy I want to spend time with.
05:29It's my priority right now.
05:32But I knew when that guy that was wired the way Lance McCullers was,
05:36it was borderline life or death for him to all of a sudden do a 180,
05:42and we're in a situation where we got Hunter Brown and nobody else.
05:45Peter Lambert wasn't a thing at this point.
05:47We needed Lance McCullers, and it was a big opportunity for Lance McCullers.
05:53And instead of talking about the opportunity of, hey, my timing's right, man,
05:56I got a real opportunity to get in here and be a top starter for this team,
05:59and they need me.
06:00He's talking about how fine he's going to be if it doesn't work out.
06:03Luke, I knew right then and there, hey, man, this is – my man is cooked.
06:06Now, I'm a Lance fan, and I wanted it to work out.
06:10And every time he took the mound, I wanted to see him
06:14and still saw that fiery, on-the-edge player.
06:18At least that's kind of how I trained myself to watch him.
06:21But I knew, if I'm being honest, I knew when that damn audio right there came out,
06:24my man is cooked.
06:25He's done.
06:26Yeah, he was content.
06:27And I remember talking about it at the time, and I felt like he knew –
06:32he came around – he had an understanding of his situation,
06:35that he wasn't the same pitcher he once was.
06:37He just wanted to be out there and be able to actually compete,
06:40had more realistic expectations of this is just who I am now.
06:44And, yeah, he had that clip of, like, you know, we'll write –
06:46he just – he knew this was the last season.
06:49His contract's up at the end of the year.
06:50I'm sure he was under the impression, like, no one else is going to sign me.
06:52I just – I don't have it anymore.
06:54The Astros – I'm only here because the Astros are still paying me.
06:57So let me just ride this thing out.
06:59Let's see what happens.
06:59And then when it's all done, I'm content with my career and my position in life,
07:03and I'll go hang with the family.
07:05But it's sort of like – I think it was Bill Parcells would always say,
07:07like, if you have a plan B, you have a plan A.
07:09So if you're already talking about, like, going to be with the family,
07:12then to your point, yeah, you're not locked in on what you're doing in the here and the now.
07:15You're already looking ahead to what's coming up next.
07:18There's a way to go about that, Luke.
07:20There's a way to go about, hey, we watched Grinke do it.
07:22Let's be honest.
07:23I mean, there's a way to go about, hey, man, look, I know I'm not the guy that I once
07:27was.
07:27I've got to kind of remake myself a little bit, but I still love the competition.
07:30I love this team.
07:31I love the opportunity that's out there.
07:33I can't wait to go.
07:35But, no, my man says that?
07:36To your point, you hit the nail on the damn head.
07:39What you just said is exactly what I heard is, hey, he's still paying me.
07:44I might as well show up, man, but I'll be just as content at the crib with all my girls,
07:49which I love that.
07:51Hey, man, to each their own.
07:52I just don't want my starting pitchers, or at least the pool of players that could end up
07:57being a starting pitcher for my organization, I don't want them being content sitting at
08:02the crib with their wife and their daughters.
08:05Unfortunately, as a pro athlete, you can do that later on when you retire sooner than the
08:09rest of us.
