00:00And we are seven days, boy, a lot of counting days here in this segment.
00:03Didn't mean to, didn't do that on purpose.
00:04We are seven days from the trade deadline, Major League Baseball trade deadline.
00:11Will the Astros be sellers or buyers at the trade deadline?
00:16And last week, obviously it was what we were trending towards, that seller side of things.
00:25And then you rattle off five of six and a bad AL,
00:27and now you look like you could potentially be a buyer in the division.
00:31I know my boy Luke Morrow always keeps it real, even at the expense of being called a hater.
00:37Hating ass Luke.
00:39I don't like that, by the way.
00:41I'm not a fan.
00:42I feel that.
00:43I don't know why, but that hater, hating, you're hating.
00:48The whole concept is always stuck in my craw.
00:50Well, I agree with you.
00:52I say, I just tell it as it is.
00:54But if you ever say anything that's like a disagreement or is the minority, then you're labeled a hater.
01:01Well, I would rather, I'm just saying like in general that, like I would rather you call me stupid.
01:07Like you're a dummy.
01:08You don't know what the hell you're talking about.
01:09I don't know what I'm talking about.
01:11Then, oh, you're just hating.
01:12There's something about like legit the act of hating, whether it's sports or anything else, like the legit, like legit,
01:19not just thrown away, thrown around carefully.
01:23Like the legit thought of like being a hater is one of the worst things you could do.
01:28And so when I hear it, it always sticks in my craw.
01:30So I don't appreciate when they say that about you, Luke.
01:33I'll be honest with you.
01:33It kind of makes me, it kind of makes my skin, my hair on my arms stand up a little
01:38bit.
01:38I appreciate it.
01:39I'll take a wet blanket instead.
01:40Yeah, now I will hit your ass with a wet blanket now because, I mean, I do radio every day
01:44with a wet blanket every time.
01:45You know, Ron, he's been known to lay around in a wet blanket too now.
01:48But the Astros, man, I think most of us fans that are true fanatics that just, I mean, we just
01:54want the best for our guys and we don't want no damn rebuild.
01:58We don't want no selling.
01:59But the reality of it is that's where the Astros are living right now.
02:03They're teetering on selling versus buying at the trade deadline.
02:07And it's just a matter of time before I think we get there.
02:09I hope it's not this year.
02:11But I know, Luke, you always keep it real, 100% real.
02:14And you seem to do so with the Astros for sure.
02:17But just your thoughts on where the Astros are right now, what they're going to do, and maybe what you
02:22think they should do.
02:23Yeah, I think we need to keep it real with the Astros.
02:26If, like, everyone will point to, well, the AL is so weak or the AL is bad, the Astros can
02:31do something.
02:32But then you also zoom out, and it's like, yeah, the Astros are part of what is the weakest American
02:37league ever, historically.
02:39And yet they're still three games under .500.
02:42They're in the worst division in baseball.
02:44And yet, somehow, they're still only in third place.
02:47So if you're like the Yankees or the Rays or somebody else, you can point to, yeah, the AL is
02:53terrible, and, you know, we're cleaning up because we're better than all these bad teams.
02:57But the Astros, you can't use that as an excuse.
03:01You have to use that as, like, to your detriment.
03:05That, yes, the American league is incredibly poor this year, and yet, somehow, you still can't take advantage of that
03:10and be over .500.
03:12You're still three games under .500 with the fifth worst run differential.
03:16It's not a good team.
03:17So I think the Astros are at a crossroads here in this next week where this is an opportunity because
03:23of a couple different factors where I think the Astros can really take advantage of this particular trade deadline
03:30and bolster their not only the farm system but, honestly, probably the Major League roster or at least the near
03:37-future Major League roster, very near-future,
03:39to rebuild this team where you can do the tear-down rebuild without having to go through what they did
03:4615 years ago and have three straight 100-loss seasons.
03:50I think it'd be a pretty quick turnaround because, as I referenced earlier, Jeff Passon has his list of the
03:57top trade targets in Major League Baseball,
03:58and they update it, like, every week.
04:00The Astros have six guys on there in the top 62.
04:04And then, thanks to a texter earlier who pointed out Blue Ball is another one who's not on that list,
04:08who I think you could trade and get at least one piece for A.J. Blue Ball right now, maybe
04:13two.
04:13I don't know.
04:14He's young enough.
04:15But that could be a seventh guy.
04:17So you have, I mean, that's a lot of players, no doubt, but they have a number of guys that
04:22they can move on this roster
04:23and I think really get something back for it, especially because this is going to be, I always get confused,
04:28what, a buyer's market?
04:29Whatever the market is that's more beneficial to the seller, that's what it's going to be for the Astros.
04:35There's not a lot of teams that are going to be selling because everybody believes they can make the playoffs
04:39this year.
04:40So if you are selling, you can get some deals.
04:42Teams are going to be desperate to bring in pieces that you can get more than what your guys are
04:48worth.
04:48And I think that's why this is the crossroads.
04:50If the Astros fool themselves and think, hey, we're just an outfielder away from competing for a World Series this
04:56year,
04:56then you're going to continue to spin your tires where this is going to be the Astros of the next
05:01couple seasons,
05:01just like the last two to three seasons of just a mediocre baseball team that you hope makes it to
05:06the playoffs,
05:06and that's about their ceiling, where if you tear it down, you rip the Band-Aid off right now,
05:11you move some of these guys, you get a big haul of prospects or mid-tier big leaguers,
05:17because you can be competitive, depending on your offseason, more competitive next year than you are right now.
05:23There's still, we're almost in August, there's still three games under .500.
05:26It blows my mind when people talk about this team as like, you know, like they're just an outfielder away.
05:32No, they're still under .500, and we've played two-thirds of the season.
05:35This is just, it's not a good team.
05:36Tear it down and build, and you'll be able to rebuild very quick with this deadline.
05:41That would be a seller's market that you were looking for there, if that were, that's what you described.
05:46I'm not saying that's what it is, but that is definitely what you described.
05:51Yeah, you know, look, I like the part, because you're the first, I don't run around having a ton of
05:58conversations
05:58with folks about the Astros and how quick a rebuild would be.
06:03Most of my conversation is day-to-day, are they winning or losing, and how much it pisses me off
06:07if they're losing.
06:09But that does make me feel better to hear someone that is as dug in as you, and dug in
06:18as in knowledgeable,
06:20not dug in as you won't change your stance, have a feeling that if they were to go the route
06:26of a rebuild,
06:27that it wouldn't be like what we experienced back in the day where it was three seasons of 100 more
06:32losses.
06:33Like, that is refreshing.
06:35I could probably come over to your side of thinking, if you tell me what you are,
06:43is that they could be pretty healthy on the backside of flipping some of these players.
06:48You mentioned six players, and Blue Ball being the seventh.
06:51Do you recall who the six were on that list in the top 62?
06:55Jeremy Pena, who I would be very interested in moving now, because I don't think the Astros are going to
06:59sign him, unfortunately.
07:00I would love to keep Pena, I just don't think the Astros are going to do it.
07:02So you might as well trade him.
07:04So he was one.
07:07Josh Hader is another, who I would move on from.
07:10You have Paredes, who's actually one that I would keep.
07:14He's the only one.
07:15So that's three.
07:15Christian Walker would be four.
07:17Brian Abreu is five.
07:19Who are we missing?
07:20Walker.
07:21It's got to be Esau.
07:21I said, no.
07:22Did you say Christian Walker?
07:23Yeah.
07:23Esau.
07:24Pena, Paredes, Hader, Christian Walker, Abreu.
07:27The Christian combo.
07:29There's another one.
07:30Was Blue Ball one of them?
07:30I don't think, maybe he was on the list.
07:32I don't think he was.
07:33But he might have been.
07:34Maybe he was the six.
07:35So maybe it's six players.
07:36Blue Ball might have been on the list from Jeff Passan.
07:38I got a feeling that Shirley Yordan wasn't on there.
07:41No.
07:41And I got a feeling that none of our outfielders were on there.
07:43No.
07:44Blue Ball's got some nuts on him, man.
07:46Let me tell you.
07:48I haven't heard that one before.
07:50Well, look, it sounds like either way they go, they should have enough value to move the
07:55needle to your point if they're going to turn this thing around and maybe turn it around
07:58quicker.
07:58I don't know.
07:59I just hear that seller and I think, oh boy, that is going to be three years of painful
08:04baseball season if they indeed do that.
08:07I don't know.
