00:00Hi, Peyton Pendergast with you.
00:01Ross Tucker is going to join us at the top of the hour.
00:04He's our Odyssey NFL insider.
00:06You can text the show, 713-572-4610.
00:09We're getting a lot of trade deadline texts.
00:11We'll mix a couple of those in here in this segment.
00:13Just wanted to do some quick hits here on the other couple teams here in town,
00:17professionally, the Rockets and the Astros.
00:19Rockets get a nice win last night, Seth, 110-100 over the Denver Nuggets.
00:25I hadn't really been looking at the standings too much in the NBA yet.
00:29It's still so early.
00:30The Rockets are 8-3 right now.
00:31But I did look this morning.
00:33I'm like, yeah, I've been seeing the Denver's getting a little heat right now
00:36because they're not quite what they were a few years ago
00:38when they were winning the NBA championship.
00:40It seems like Jokic is maybe a notch below what he's been when he's been an MVP,
00:44not just an MVP candidate, an actual MVP of the league.
00:49And in watching them last night, I'm like, okay, it's a good enough basketball team.
00:53They made a run at you in the third quarter,
00:55and then the Rockets answered back late in the third.
00:57And any time the Nuggets tried to punch back, the Rockets were able to make big shots.
01:01That's what good teams do.
01:02So I went to the standings this morning.
01:04I'm like, hey, what is this Denver team?
01:05I'm like, oh, okay, wow, they're 5-4.
01:08They're the 10th seed.
01:09And I started looking at the West.
01:10I'm like, holy crap.
01:11I feel like the Rockets have played really good basketball this year so far.
01:14Yeah.
01:15They're 8-3, and if the season ended today,
01:17they'd be the 6th seed in the Western Conference.
01:20Yeah, it's tight, man.
01:21It's tight.
01:22Hey, losing two games in a row will do that to you,
01:25especially when one of those is a very disappointing loss.
01:28Yeah.
01:28You know?
01:29Yeah.
01:30That's where you lose to the Suns,
01:33and you don't deserve to feel super, super comfortable.
01:378-3, and they're tied with the Warriors and the Timbys right now.
01:40So, yeah, the West, at least early on here, the West is tall timber, man.
01:45But that was good last night.
01:47Durant and Shingun, both with near triple doubles last night.
01:5223-12-8 for KD,
01:5420-11-8 for Alper and Shingun last night.
01:57You talk about how tight it is.
01:58I mean, the Warriors are one of the teams that's tied right now for third.
02:02They're at 8-3, so you face them on Wednesday,
02:05and then, boom, there you are.
02:06Control your own destiny.
02:07Yeah, it's fine, man.
02:08And all those things.
02:09Yeah, control your own destiny.
02:1082-game season.
02:11That's right.
02:12They still control their own destiny.
02:15That's true.
02:15Yeah.
02:15They win out.
02:16They'll face at least a couple of these teams somewhere.
02:19They're going to play the Lakers and the Spurs,
02:20who are both only have two losses.
02:22So, they control their own destiny.
02:23They control their own destiny.
02:25Yep.
02:25So, I think, well, look, I mean, there's some truth to that.
02:29It is still true that by whatever your standings are at Christmas,
02:33tend to stick pretty well.
02:35Yeah, yeah.
02:36The Rockets, last night I thought,
02:38when you've got three of your centers injured and not playing in this game,
02:43every time Shane Goon's not in the game and you're facing a Jokic team,
02:47okay, what's going to happen?
02:48Oh, you know what they did?
02:49They were awesome when they moved Jabari Smith Jr. to center.
02:53Plus 13, right?
02:54And they played small ball, and they did everything that you want a team to do.
02:57You know, Udoka had talked about how they were a little too passive in those last couple games,
03:02so they became the aggressor.
03:04They created a bunch of turnovers,
03:05then took advantage of those turnovers to turn them into offense.
03:08Well, and I love, you know, I know KD,
03:10he got into kind of a fun back and forth with the media last week
03:13because he only took six shots in that win over Boston.
03:15I think last night kind of exemplifies what Kevin Durant's been this year for this team,
03:19which is I don't think he's hyper-focused at all on having to be second team
03:23or first team or even third team, all NBA or anything like that.
03:26Whatever the situation calls for, Kevin Durant's giving that to you.
03:30So last night he's in there as part of this small ball lineup
03:33where Jabari Smith Jr. is your center, and he's crashing the glass.
03:38He's, you know, he's moving the – he had eight assists last night, Kevin Durant.
03:43So I think he's been awesome this year.
03:45You know, KD, I've got zero issues with right now.
03:48Yeah, that's what, you know, he basically said that was what – what did he say?
03:53Helping my team rebound, especially when we go small like that.
03:56Yeah, they were – when Jabari Smith Jr. was at center, they were plus 13.
04:01Yeah, yeah.
04:02You know, and with Jokic, including, you know, some of that time with Jokic on the floor.
04:06Yep, good job by the bench last night.
04:08Reed Shepard hit a couple big threes, so that was good to see.
04:11Meanwhile, the Astros, their GM, Flo, Randy Flores, Flo as we all like to call him,
04:18he's at the GM meetings in Vegas this week.
04:20Bob Nightingale of USA Today is pretty plugged in.
04:24And he had the top ten trade targets at the GM meetings.
04:28And now keep in mind, baseball is operating on kind of a shot clock right now.
04:32December 1st, in all likelihood, there's going to be a lockout.
04:36So there's this runway right now where free agents can sign with other teams,
04:41teams can make trade – like it's business as usual for the next few weeks.
04:45Nightingale points out in his article from the GM meetings
04:48that there's not a lot of really marquee free agents.
04:52It's a pretty weak free agent class.
04:53It's Tariq Skubal and then a bunch of other guys.
04:57Yeah.
04:57But he's saying the guys that are at the top of the market,
05:00you might see a lot of them jump on signing here over the next few weeks
05:03just to get in before whatever the new rules look like next year.
05:06Like the bird in the hand.
05:07Yeah.
05:07It's more likely that it's going to be harder to give out huge contracts
05:11after this than it currently is.
05:14Yeah.
05:14Would you say?
05:15Well, that's what the owners are hoping for.
05:17Yeah.
05:17Like there's maybe going to be some kind of restriction on some of these contracts.
05:21Yeah.
05:21So that especially if one of the big money teams wants to pay right now,
05:26you might not have that opportunity after the lockout.
05:29Yeah, jump on it is what Nightingale is saying.
05:31But he has top ten trade targets and top ten free agent targets.
05:34Top ten trade target, like third or fourth on the list,
05:37Jeremy Pena.
05:38Here's what he says.
05:39Pena was close to signing a five-year extension in 2025,
05:42but he switched agents to Scott Boris,
05:44and now all contract talks have ended.
05:47He's a free agent after this coming season,
05:49and the Astros can slide Carlos Correa back to shortstop if needed.
05:53Let me pause right there.
05:55I don't know if that's as easy as Nightingale makes it sound right there,
05:58like just sliding Correa back over to shortstop.
06:00Yeah, no, no, no.
06:01I got pissed off when I saw it.
06:02Like part of one of the reasons that Correa was happy about getting traded to Houston
06:07wasn't just that he was back in Houston.
06:09He specifically said that he wanted to play third base.
06:13For his longevity, yeah.
06:14So, I mean, like, even if you did move him back to shortstop
06:18and Correa convinced himself that he was happy about it,
06:22relying on Carlos Correa to stay healthy at this point in his career,
06:25especially playing shortstop,
06:27isn't something that gives me the warm fuzzies about how they might operate.
06:30I don't know if it gives Correa the warm fuzzies.
06:32No, that's exactly – no, 100 – that's why I said if he's cool with moving back to shortstop,
06:36which I don't think he will be.
06:38Yeah.
06:38There's a whole – it's not as simple as just moving Correa back to shortstop.
06:43No.
06:43The other part, though, too, is, you know, he said all contracts have ended –
06:46all contract talks have ended since Pena signed with Boris.
06:51Yeah.
06:51I mean, Randy Flores has been the GM for a week.
06:54Yeah.
06:54So, I don't know.
06:55Like, all contract talks with Dana Brown ended.
06:58Who knows if maybe they at least opened it back up to some casual discussion or something.
07:03Sure, sure.
07:03This feels like one of those ones, though, that Jim Crane gets involved in,
07:08and it's probably more Crane than whoever the GM is, but that's fair.
07:12Like, maybe Flores is able to sell Crane up in the ante on Pena.
07:17But if Boris has flat out said, look, we're looking for an eight-year deal or something,
07:21then, yeah, they're not going to resume talks.
07:22No, no, no.
07:23Yeah, I don't think Crane's going to change the core of the way he does business with the new GM.
07:29Nightingale also says the Astros will certainly listen to offers just like they did with Kyle Tucker two years ago.
07:34This is the Tucker situation all over again.
07:36I think the biggest difference with this is that Pena is, A, a more popular player than Kyle Tucker was.
07:44I think, undoubtedly, he's more popular.
07:45Not that Tucker was unpopular, but I think most Astro fans, they like Kyle Tucker,
07:50but I don't think he was beloved here.
07:52Like, I don't think people were clamoring when Kyle Tucker got traded.
07:56Like, oh, my God, I got to retire my Tucker jersey.
08:01And I know Tucker was a good player and everything.
08:03Pena is kind of a matinee idol here.
08:06You know, Pena is very popular.
08:08Pena is a former World Series MVP.
08:11Yeah.
08:11I think Pena is much more attached emotionally to this fan base than Tucker was.
08:18So, I think this would, if they move on from Jeremy Pena, look, if they get good stuff in return,
08:24then it's a sensible move.
08:25This is a team that needs to take a good hard look in the mirror at what they are right
08:29now,
08:30which is honestly something different than they were even two years ago when they traded Kyle Tucker.
08:35You know, this is a team that's on the downslide right now.
08:37So, they got to take a good hard look at themselves.
08:40And if they get a great offer for Pena, they really got to consider it.
08:43I just think if they move on from Jeremy Pena, I think you're going to see a lot of Astro
08:46fans.
08:46I don't think they're going to be out on the team or anything like that,
08:49but I think emotionally for a lot of people, the Jeremy Pena trade is going to hit a whole lot
08:53harder than the Kyle Tucker trade.
08:55Yeah, I think it'll hit harder.
08:56And then at the same time, I don't know whether apathy is the right word or anything,
09:00but I do feel like it's not going to be outright outrage or anything.
09:04No, but apathy is even worse.
09:06Right. No, that's what I'm saying.
09:07I don't think it's apathy.
09:09But it's an uncomfortable acceptance that, all right, this is the deal.
09:14We know how it is.
09:15You've got a father that's just never going to raise your allowance,
09:18and you've got to figure out how to find joy in life.
09:22Yep.
09:22Yeah.
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