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Welcome to Town Christian Kirk
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🔥 New Episode Alert! 🔥
Spring is in the air, and Born on the Bayou Sports is back with all things Houston sports! Tim and Scott break down Cam Smith’s scorching start to spring training—could the Astros have a rising star on their hands?
The Texans make a big move, landing Christian Kirk to bolster their offense—Tim gives props where they’re due. Meanwhile, over in the NBA, Scott’s starting to worry about Fred VanVleet’s lingering absence and what it means for the Rockets' playoff hopes.
And of course, the show wouldn’t be complete without this week’s Horses Ass of the Week, Tips of the Cap, and Scumbag of the Week!
🎧 Tune in now and get your Houston sports fix!
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Transcript
Introduction to Born on the Bayou Sports
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to Born on the Bayou Sports, a Houston sports show made for Houstonians by Houstonians. Join Tim Costello and Scott Barzilla every week as they break down the latest in Houston Astros, Rockets, and Texans news.
00:00:25
Speaker
Tim's a former minor league broadcaster, and Scott has written two books on the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Astros Pitcher Javier's Season Outlook
00:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, Javier could get it figured out, it would make things a lot easier because he was that guy everybody was counting on this year to be a Cy Young candidate, take that big step forward and and help anchor this rotation with Romer.
00:00:45
Speaker
Since he's come to Houston, you can look at the development of guys like Carlos Correa defensively, Jeremy Pena defensively, you know, Balix Bregman's, you know, certainly I think a better than average third baseman.
00:00:56
Speaker
And now you're putting teams in third and eight, third and seven, third and nine. Now here comes Will Anderson. Pin back your ears. Let's go.
00:01:05
Speaker
So if you're Bayou born and bred, or just like spending time in the H, sit down, relax, and stay Houston strong.
00:01:23
Speaker
Welcome back, Born on the Bayou Sports, Tim Costello, Scott Barzella coming to you on a windy Thursday evening. Scott, I couldn't help it, for the first time ever, I'm really paying attention to our intro video there.
00:01:38
Speaker
I got quite a few different beard length, hairstyle combinations going on. I don't think many of them look as good. No, ah you are looking freshly cut today.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I haven't had a haircut, but the beard's a little shorter, but Man, it got long there for a bit. Yeah, well, you know, different styles for different, you know, different seasons.
00:02:01
Speaker
So let me, speaking of seasons, before the podcast, you've been you've been dominating the starting question a lot here lately, Scott. I did a little research, okay?
00:02:15
Speaker
Let's talk spring training.
Spring Training Standouts: Then and Now
00:02:17
Speaker
What, in your memory, is the best spring training for a player who eventually became absolutely nobody?
00:02:28
Speaker
oh Oh, geez. You're going to test me on that one. um Well, the best, I don't know if this was a spring training, but have you ever heard the name Cameron Drew?
00:02:44
Speaker
I haven't. So he was with the Astros back in the days when they were in Tucson for their AAA. Okay. okay One year in AAA, he hit 360.
00:02:56
Speaker
And i don't think he ever made a major league appearance.
00:03:02
Speaker
i've got some I've got some guys here, okay? Some of whom you may have heard of. Some of whom you may have not.
00:03:13
Speaker
Have you ever heard the name... ah Rubio Durazo. The name sounds vaguely familiar. Hit 535 with six homers, slugged 1047 in the spring training of 2002. Have you heard the name? Let's go here. Greg Norton.
00:03:33
Speaker
Yeah, I've heard that name. Slugged 512 in 2002. Five 930 slugging. two thousand and two five homers nine thirty slugging let' plug on ah That was a pretty stacked spring training team there.
00:03:47
Speaker
how about How about this name I know you've heard of? Jeff Bagwell, 2002,.446 average, seven homers,.946 slug for the old Bagwell in 2002. Yeah.
00:03:59
Speaker
Well, he's not a nobody. But here's the most fun one. How about a guy named Jake Fox? Have you heard of that one? Yeah, I think the name does have a major. Jake Fox?
00:04:12
Speaker
Slug 797 hit home runs in 74 at bats in spring training in 2011.
00:04:19
Speaker
He was off the 40 man roster by June. Yeah. All this to say, don't you love spring training? Yeah.
00:04:30
Speaker
Well, you mentioned two of those guys from 2002. That must've been a hell of a spring training squad. Hey, Arizona numbers are always inflated though, aren't they?
Tim's Personal Reflections and Experiences
00:04:39
Speaker
Yeah. Um,
00:04:40
Speaker
I was going to ask you, we we took yesterday off because this was an observed religious holiday for us. um Have you chosen anything to either A, give up for Lent or B, try to augment for Lent?
00:04:58
Speaker
You know, I really haven't figured it out yet, Scott. I've been racking the brain. I actually tried to call and and make an appointment with my priest for tomorrow to go chat it up and see what he thought I could work on.
00:05:09
Speaker
But unfortunately, his his day ends at about noon on Fridays, and I didn't free up until about 2.30. So Father Joey and I didn't align. But I'm still doing some soul searching on that.
00:05:21
Speaker
It was a really nice Ask Wednesday service. i don't know about you guys, but ah we had just the the liturgy of the word, so there was no music. It kind of gives you a little gives you a little opportunity just to think about things, you know?
00:05:35
Speaker
And so I really enjoyed it. We were there at six in the morning, Tim. Not my style. We went at five in the afternoon. So, you know, because we had play tickets that night. We saw the Glass Menagerie. I don't know if you've heard of that of that play.
00:05:50
Speaker
um've I've heard of it like in reference of a tv TV show. I think maybe like New Girl or something like that. But I've never seen the play or a movie of it or anything. Pretty good.
00:06:00
Speaker
It's a Tennessee Williams play, which, you know, if if you're living in Trump world, ten for those y'all don't know, if' Tennessee Williams a good up and coming playwright. You know, we're expecting great things from him in the future.
00:06:11
Speaker
but Young kid really got some good stuff. He's got his fastball still. So, you know, look for good things from him, but no, no, seriously, that was a it was a downer because I think it was more, it was Janet was saying it was autobiographical.
00:06:27
Speaker
So, you know, kind of a bit of a downer there, but you know that's okay. It was, it was a night out. I got to think though, like, I could write a pretty funny autobiographical play about my life to this point.
00:06:40
Speaker
Like, I think I could really get the people rolling. Oh, yeah. I think anybody could. He just chose not to. that That's his choice. I'm a laughter is the best medicine kind of guy.
00:06:52
Speaker
But I got to think, like, whoever, you know, is playing my mom is going to really get some laughs. yeah think Yeah, I think anybody could do that with their mom. Ah, there's the, the people are talented. There's some talented actresses out there. I don't know if you ever saw a solo Goldbergs, but yeah. yeah i Yeah. My mom nailed the Bevy Goldberg combo with like Kitty Foreman wrapped into one.
00:07:15
Speaker
All right. with Yeah. Let's go back to spring training, Scott, because that's where this train was headed.
Astros Players and Prospects Analysis
00:07:24
Speaker
I know on this show last week, We had a conversation on when do we start taking players seriously. I know we had that conversation. And I know that we said mid-March.
00:07:38
Speaker
I know all of that was said. I am aware. Cam Smith looks good. Cam Smith looks real good. Well, we've got to care of what he's doing. I'm just saying he looks good. That's all that I'm going to say.
00:07:53
Speaker
Well, I'll say i'm going to take what he's doing in context because, you know, he was drafted last year. played five games above the, in the, above the A ball level, but he's raped everywhere he's been.
00:08:08
Speaker
I mean, that's just the fact.
00:08:13
Speaker
Some guys are players, right? Like if you can play, you can play. I, do you remember Houston street? Oh yeah. remember That guy pitched in the college world series. And then in like the MLB playoffs in the same fucking year, like,
00:08:26
Speaker
guy had stuff that could play at that level and they were like, hey, we need this guy. right like At the end of the day, and you're that guy, you're that guy. I know for a fact Pete Incaviglia did not play any minor league baseball, at least initially.
00:08:39
Speaker
have you made a also I don't know if you remember Pete Incaviglia. He went straight to the majors. He coached the Air Hogs and he coached the Skeeters. Was a one-time Astro, obviously towards the end.
00:08:52
Speaker
Manager of both teams that I worked for. rob Robin Ventura i don't think played in the minors. You might be right on that. um I mean, A-Rod was up by the time he was 19. Yeah, so was King. junior Junior didn't play much.
00:09:07
Speaker
And I'm not saying he's – I'm not saying Cam Smith's that guy, okay? I'm not saying that. What I am saying is he looks balanced at the plate. He's got great hands.
00:09:19
Speaker
Looks like he's got pretty good eyes. And the ball jumps off of his back. That's what I'm saying. So you got, well, you have two questions if you're if you're the Astros.
00:09:30
Speaker
And these are two separate questions. You know, they're interrelated, but they're two separate questions. Is he right now better than Chaz McCormick?
00:09:43
Speaker
that's ah That's a really hard question to answer. It is. um Because then if you if your answer is yes, then your second question is,
00:09:55
Speaker
How much better does he get with minor league seasoning?
00:10:04
Speaker
I don't think minor league seasoning is what he – like, okay, let's see how the rest of spring training plays out as I say this. But, like, if he's going to get seasoning and you're going to play him every day, let's say him and Chaz are awash, Scott.
00:10:18
Speaker
Like, let's say realistically, defensively, maybe he's a better athlete in right field than Chaz – maybe be hits for a little less of an average, probably a little bit higher walk percentage, a little bit more pop, right? Like, let's say that's how it plays out.
00:10:32
Speaker
So they're basically a wash. I think the seasoning at the major league level is probably better for him, right? Like, if you know your ultimate goal is I want this guy to play every day at the major leagues, and he's just as good as the option I have slated to play at the major leagues, why not let this guy learn on the job?
00:10:53
Speaker
Well, and then, of course, this is a straw man because Chaz McCormick doesn't have to play right field. I mean, he could play center field. Okay. then Let's compare him to Jake Myers, right? Like, yeah is he better than Jake Myers?
00:11:06
Speaker
Maybe that's the question, Scott, and I think that's a resounding yes, although yeah Myers did a random homer today. Well, I mean, and and and obviously Myers adds, you know, something to the defensive side of the things that none of those guys do.
00:11:19
Speaker
You know, Smith is – Adam Everett added stuff to the defensive side of things too, Scott. Well, before he had that, you know, he ran into Carlos Lee. Yeah, he was – yeah, he went from 240 to 220. Well, he was like a two-to-three win player defensively.
00:11:36
Speaker
Oh, he's the best shortstop in the league. Yeah, so to sit there and say that he, know, he sucked, yeah, as a hitter. Yes. Yes. But as an overall baseball player, give me a three-win guy. And that's kind of – Myers might be a two-win guy, which you know they don't exactly grow on trees.
00:11:59
Speaker
But yeah then so the question is, can Chaz McCormick do more in center than and Jake Myers overall? Considering Chaz McCormick, he's maybe – he's probably at this point maybe neutral defender.
00:12:16
Speaker
I think he can. i think I think like psychologically the move to left field away from center field fucked him up last year, right? Like I think maybe the expectation of I need to be a little bit more of a power hitter, i need to pull, I need to hit homers because now I'm a corner outfielder instead of a center fielder.
00:12:32
Speaker
And he went away from what he what he did, right? Like that man had a completely different approach at the plate last year than he had the years past. there's There's no explaining his downturn other than your approach completely changed.
00:12:47
Speaker
You were a guy who loved to drive the ball middle way, and when it came in, you would turn on it. And now all of a sudden, you move to left field, you bulk up, and you try and become a pull-home run hitter, and it bit you in the ass, right?
00:12:59
Speaker
I think he was a fine center fielder. Is Jake Myers better defensively? Sure. Yeah, you I'll give you that. But Chaz McCormick literally, literally played championship-winning defense.
00:13:13
Speaker
Chaz McCormick made plays in the World Series to win the World Series. Chaz McCormick made plays to keep a no-hitter alive in the World Series. Chaz McCormick was your starting center fielder on a team that went back to the ALCS the next year and and did nothing wrong um on a defensive standpoint at any point.
00:13:33
Speaker
Like, is he is he a guy who's going to go get it at an Andrew Jones level? No. No. But is he a guy who... Can play a decent enough center field? Yeah.
00:13:44
Speaker
And can you can you defensive sub him out late in games? Or can you mo move Altuve second, move Jake Rogers to the bench, move Jake Myers to center field, and move Chaz to left and now have some pretty good
Astros Outfield Debate: Who Should Play?
00:13:59
Speaker
defense out there? Boom, shuffle it. Let's go.
00:14:01
Speaker
Right? like But either way, like one of those guys has a chance to be a major league hitter, and one of those guys is Adam Everett. Yeah, and and I would say one more thing about Chaz McCormick. He has never struck out against a position player pitching.
00:14:17
Speaker
He's never struck out what? Against a position player pitching. Yeah, that too. Jake Myers has done that. At least got a pop-up or something. yeah that that that was Yeah, that's that's rough. but And so I think the question I have with Smith, because I think Smith right now is better than You know, whoever you think is worse between Myers and McCormick, I think he's better than they are right now.
00:14:45
Speaker
I think the question is, are you stunting his growth by throwing him to the wolves now? that's That's not a question I can answer because I don't know Cam Smith.
00:14:57
Speaker
Because if you stick Cam Smith in the major leagues, Cam Smith is going to experience quite a bit of failure. He's never failed before, not in professional baseball. I'm sure he probably hasn't failed in college or high school baseball.
00:15:10
Speaker
So how does he deal with failure for the first time?
00:15:16
Speaker
And I think that's fair, but also let's say he goes to triple a, he's probably going to deal with some failure there too, right? Either way. think yeah yeah either away So, and I'm just playing devil's advocate. I'm not saying this is the best option, but I kind of want him to be around.
00:15:36
Speaker
I feel like it's going to happen, which
00:15:40
Speaker
and you know even christian walker to the accident seems like a great personality great clubhouse guy to help guide him through that failure right like i feel like if it's going to happen which it is Let's let it happen with guys who are going to be as supportive and as helpful as possible and maybe even give you something to go back down to work on at the next level.
00:16:04
Speaker
and And now AAA seems easy compared to the big leagues. And you're right. You know, you're able to work on that weakness that you have. I don't know. But, yeah, it depends on it it depends on his psyche and it's what they know.
00:16:16
Speaker
But see, here's the other point in his favor, though. Where do you hit him in the order?
00:16:24
Speaker
Okay, so Altuve first. um
00:16:33
Speaker
Who's going hitting second in this lineup? It's like Paredes. Paredes hits second. Jordan third. Walker fourth. Diaz fifth.
00:16:45
Speaker
Pena sixth. So seventh? day Either Cam Smith or McCormick seventh. The other one, eight.
00:16:56
Speaker
And then whom am I missing? Whoever's playing second base. Rogers, nine. Yeah. So if you're telling a young phenom, hey, you're hitting seventh or eighth in the order, that's a pretty low pressure environment compared to, hey, you're you're in the lineup and you're hitting cleanup.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah.
Astros Clubhouse Culture and Strategy
00:17:19
Speaker
He's protected. He's sheltered. I think Jose Altuve is a fantastic clubhouse guy. I think Dubon. you know, is a guy that can help. I think your Don's a guy who is very warm and welcoming.
00:17:30
Speaker
um I don't know. I think a spotter is someone who you've talked about before, who will help guys get better defensively. i do you think our hitting coaches could be better.
00:17:42
Speaker
You know, I don't love Cintron. Not a fan. Yeah, no, not either. um That concerns me maybe a little bit, but other than that, I don't know. Like I,
00:17:53
Speaker
there's some guys that like, like the year Springer went down for a little bit before he came up just so we could keep, like keep that extra year of control. Right.
00:18:04
Speaker
Or like everybody knew he was a big leaguer in camp that year. Right. like Everybody knew that like this guy should be making a team. And when he didn't, it was like, this is purely for that extra control year.
00:18:16
Speaker
Well, now that went away. Right. So now like when you got a big leaguer on your fucking roster, And, like, everybody can look around and be like, hey, 26 guys break camp.
00:18:29
Speaker
And I don't know if I can count 25 guys that are playing better than him. You know, at some point, like, you can play your way into a job.
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, and I think what I like about him most is I think the walks that he's drawing. Because, yeah, any, you know, you get guys that are double A, triple pitchers, you know, they'll give up meatballs.
00:18:54
Speaker
You know, you, you mentioned how many guys that hit six, seven, eight, 10 home runs in spring training that nobody had has ever heard of from again, but you know, how many of those guys were doing that and showing excellent play discipline?
00:19:11
Speaker
Not many, man. Like, I think, I mean, at worst, like it feels like at worst, it feels like, wow, Dana Brown made a fantastic trade. right? Like for one year of Kyle Tucker for a guy that we get for six years of this, you know, potentially more.
00:19:29
Speaker
And realistically, if we wanted to, we still sign Kyle Tucker back next year because he still hasn't signed an extension, right? Like if you wanted to, and he was willing to, you have the money to do that. So, yeah I mean, you put yourself in a wonderful position and, you know we've talked before about like, I think you owe Jose Altuve you know, staying a competitive ball club his entire career.
00:19:53
Speaker
Like, I think you owe that to him. So I feel like Dana Brown has at least done the move, made the moves needed to compete in the AOS for two to three more years and the ability to keep it going longer. If Yiner is the right guy, if Hunter Brown's an ace, if Aaron Getty's an ace, right? Like he set your, you've set yourself up to be like, if some of these young pitchers hit, we could be okay.
00:20:20
Speaker
Well, and and um obviously we're going to move on to some other big news and other things, but I was reading a little piece in a Major League Baseball trade rumors that, oh, you know, Justin Turner, you know, your favorite third baseman of mine. Oh, man. Okay.
00:20:37
Speaker
i okay I don't know where you go with this because he's coming up in the show later for me. um Oh, did i am I stepping on toes here? Is he talking about the Mariners? Yes.
00:20:48
Speaker
I mean, he's he's getting a little... ah Okay. Well, yeah. He... You can talk about it because I'll still go. He didn't have many nice things to say about the Mariners.
00:21:02
Speaker
and And the big thing that is crazy to me and when you compare the Astros, the asked me clearly Dana Brown had a mandate. His clear mandate was Spend up to the tax, not over the tax.
00:21:19
Speaker
And you know what? As a mandate, I can't argue with that. There's advantages to clearing the slate, to, you know, getting that, you know, that monkey off your back, coming clean in 2026 and let's go.
00:21:34
Speaker
But can you honestly say that you would have done many things differently given that mandate than Dana Brown has? No, I really don't.
00:21:46
Speaker
Like, I think, you know, you've you've replaced everything you've lost. Right. Like you had two pretty good sized parts of your offense leave this offseason and Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman.
00:22:00
Speaker
Right. Well, you brought in Christian Walker and you brought in Paredes. both guys who are slated at least to produce at a high level in this ballpark and in this offense. So like everything that's been lost has been reproduced. And then through the Kyle Tucker trade, you might've picked up a legitimate stud on top of that. You've made some great moves on the peripheral, right? Like I love the Rogers move.
00:22:27
Speaker
I really do because it's a guy who's hungry and literally Asked to come here. The moment he heard that Jose Altuve was making the move to left field, he called his agent and said, get me to the Houston Astros.
00:22:39
Speaker
I want to be a part of that team. There's a spot open and I can, and I'm going to play my ass off. That's the kind of stuff that you're like, okay, like you're coming in motivated. You're coming in wanting win a job. Like again, does it always work out? No, but those are kinds of guys I'm willing to roll the dice on with a, as a non roster invitation.
00:22:57
Speaker
Come on in. Let's see what you got. Um, Guillermo, um, That's another guy. Or bringing back Ben Gamble. Or you know just the flexibility that you've given yourself.
00:23:09
Speaker
And we still have Dezenzo. And we still have Whitcomb. Right? Like roster flexibility is massive. and And you've got this slew of young pitchers that look fantastic.
00:23:22
Speaker
So, um yeah, I'm pretty happy with the man right now. And, you know, the other part of that trade, you mentioned Paredes and you mentioned, you know, mentioned our young outfielder, third baseman already, but Wisniewski looks, you know, looks okay.
00:23:43
Speaker
And I think he's a guy that, you know, those, the law firm that is our pitching, our pitching coaches. i don't know if you've heard them referred to as the law firm. Like it was at Miller and I can't remember. Yeah.
00:23:57
Speaker
Yeah. attorneys at law. um I was going to say, I can't help it every morning when I'm listening to 610. They've gotten Jim Adler to sponsor their chat line.
00:24:11
Speaker
So every time I find myself, I'm Jim Adler, I'm the dumb, tough lawyer. I mean the dumb, tough lawyer. ah just yeah But anyway, you've got you've got good young pitching, and I don't know if you heard this,
00:24:27
Speaker
Lance McCullers Jr. touching 95 on the gun for the first time since 2019.
00:24:35
Speaker
I can only get so hard, Scott. I can only.
00:24:39
Speaker
Wow. who Do you want to red line it in the spring, Lance?
00:24:47
Speaker
maybe he gives gay Maybe he can dial it up to 97. Who knows? Is he going to start or is he going to be like a 7th, 8th inning guy? I know what I would do, but I don't think that's what they're going to do.
00:25:02
Speaker
Um, I make him a reliever. Yeah. I would turn him into, I would make a brave, your eighth inning guide and make him kind of like your, what do you, don't know what you'd want to call like an old fashioned stopper.
00:25:18
Speaker
You know, the guy. heess Yeah. Well, I mean, maybe a combination of Neres and, and, uh, Matton and, you know, where you, um, You bring him in when you're in trouble, basically.
00:25:31
Speaker
Here, last, a bunch of curveballs. You know, let's see what... Call him a fireman. That's his name. Making his rounds all over town, putting out old flames. making and Making him enough but dress up as a fireman in the H-E-B commercials.
00:25:47
Speaker
Jesus. Can you imagine how good his H-E-B commercials are he's back? yeah He should come into an H-E-B commercial with like an M&M, like, guess who's back? Lance is back.
00:25:58
Speaker
Back again. That would be funny. Guess who's back. Lance is back.
00:26:08
Speaker
Throw in heat. like that Oh, my God. I think you called me. This is why this is why I do the job that I do, Scott, because I can come up with hot fire like this. This is what the War of Healing Aids wants.
00:26:22
Speaker
If he fakes an arm injury during an HEB commercial, know how much of Houston would be like a whole. ah Damn. That'd be great. That'd be fantastic. And then you could ice it down with an HEB steak.
00:26:35
Speaker
There you go. Maybe some peas. All right.
Houston Texans: Trades and Strategy
00:26:39
Speaker
Let's make a transition to the newest Houston Texan, Christian Kirk, everybody. Ah, crap, it's wild. Are you excited? Yes.
00:26:51
Speaker
Well, you know, actually I actually have an article running tomorrow, and he actually, if you go like over a 15-game basis, like give a guy some, you two missed games a year.
00:27:04
Speaker
So he has more catches per 15 games, a higher catch percentage, and more yards than Debo Samuel. The Commanders gave up a fifth for Debo Samuel.
00:27:19
Speaker
We gave up a seventh. For Christian Kirk.
00:27:24
Speaker
I'll just leave it right there. No, I think he's okay. Debo is a good football player. All right. I think you'd agree with me on that. Like Debo is a fantastic football player.
00:27:38
Speaker
I don't think Debo runs crisp routes. Right. I think Devo's a guy that you look to get the ball in his hands and let him go to work afterwards. He just so happens to have the body of a wide receiver, right?
00:27:49
Speaker
We're like, we don't need that guy necessarily. We've got Joe Mixon. Joe Mixon likes to get the touches. He can he can do that job himself. I like Christian Kirk as a football player. However, like, you know, guy's got one season over a thousand yards, his first season in Jacksonville.
00:28:05
Speaker
And he he had like 133 targets that year. They were throwing the shit out of the football to Christian Kirk. His best year before that was with um the Cardinals where he's like 930 something yards um played, I think 15 games.
00:28:20
Speaker
Those were his only two seasons playing a full season. um That does cons concern me a little bit. He's got a $15 million dollars cap hit that concerns me a little bit. And again, a guy who's on a one-year deal, you and I talked, you know, we'd like to get some other wide receiver chemistry going for him.
00:28:39
Speaker
And, um, you know, it just, when you keep getting guys for one year, it makes it little bit tougher, right? I've, I've heard reports today. If, if, uh, Stefan digs one to a team friendly deal, they take them back. Well, like, I don't know if he's willing to team friendly.
00:28:57
Speaker
So, you know, now you're left looking at the draft, but you still have, you know, offensive line needs. So like, I like the move. I certainly do. Um, I like thinking it outside the box is the same thing that happened last year with, you know, the running back market where the Texans saw a guy that they could get for a real late draft pick as opposed to a bidding war.
00:29:19
Speaker
So that's what they did instead. And I, I don't mind that move. And and maybe they, they signed Kirk to like a two, a two year deal after this and they reworked the whole thing and it becomes a lesser cap hit.
00:29:31
Speaker
I might be okay with that too. I think that's where they're headed. Cause you remember, if you remember the timeline, You Mixon's extension came pretty pretty fast pretty fast right after they picked him up.
00:29:43
Speaker
Now, for a running back, that extension kind of looks, yeah you know, i don't know how many years he's going to be, you know, Pete Joe Mixon. But what I will say, number one, you look at all the other wide receivers that are available.
00:30:00
Speaker
Is Devontae Adams going to play second fiddle to Nico Collins? Probably not. Okay, so we' we've already had Diggs, right?
00:30:10
Speaker
So we know we've already had him in the building. Do you think Cooper Cupp plays second fiddle? Yes. He might, but then that that his ah cap it right now is $29 million.
00:30:23
Speaker
That's too much money. That's too much money, right? So maybe the Rams cut him loose. Maybe. But if you look at what this offense needed, desperately needed,
00:30:35
Speaker
is they need a slot receiver who could go out there five, 10 yards and be a safety net for Stroud whenever there's pressure, be that hot read. They don't need a number one receiver.
00:30:47
Speaker
They've got that guy. And the problem I had with bringing in guys like that, bringing in like say a Debo Samuel and bringing it, is that the stories I hear about Debo Samuel are not flattering in terms of yeah his locker room presence.
00:31:06
Speaker
I've heard the opposite. Everything I've heard about Christian Kirk has been great guy, you know, a good clubhouse guy. And if he's a guy that's willing to get, let's say, 90 targets, maybe 65 catches. I mean, to me, that's what you need.
00:31:26
Speaker
As long as you have that guy on the outside, the other guy on the outside that can maybe take the lid off, like a Will Fuller hi Obviously, we don't want the actual Will Fuller anymore. Fuller was pretty good at times.
00:31:39
Speaker
but Slander the man. No, not slander the man. I'm saying I don't want 35-year-old Will Fuller. Okay. But a Will Fuller type, whether that comes from college or another free agent, I think would put you right about where you want to be.
00:31:56
Speaker
I mean, i love I'd love to find a way to get gold in. um from the University Houston. And then, of course, later on, he did play for the other Texas school. But really, we all remember him as a Coug.
00:32:12
Speaker
The other school. I mean, like, he played a a lot of time at UH, right? And then he one year or somewhere else. So, like, let's really be real. He's a Cougar. and But, like, either way, I'd love to get him. I'd love to have that guy back in Houston.
00:32:26
Speaker
I don't know if he had an electric combine, right? And, like, I'm a guy that feels like you should have seen everything you need to see on tape, right? Like how, how does seeing a guy run around his underwear changes drop position, but it does right. Like guys, Anthony Richardson flew up a draft board after the combine.
00:32:42
Speaker
ah Zach Wilson is a guy who's thrown up, flown up draft boards after workout. Like it happens. um So I don't think he's going to be there. So then we're looking at in Juba from Ohio state. We're looking at, um,
00:32:57
Speaker
Bond from UT, who's another speedster who didn't really run that fast at the combine. like Do you then want to go even look at a first-round wide receiver if it's not the guy that you really truly wanted? Because I, at that point, like I want CJ Stroud to get hit less.
00:33:15
Speaker
I want him to spend more time on his feet and less time on his ass. Well, problem is, I think, in that spot in the draft, and this is why I've heard heard some people suggest that the Texans may trade down again,
00:33:27
Speaker
Because i just don't know what's what's what is bang for your buck at that spot. So let's let's, like you suggest, let's say Golden's off the board. I don't think there are any first-round guards.
00:33:41
Speaker
Why are you going to draft another tackle when you already have three? So do you go defensive tackle? You know, I think this is a strong defensive tackle draft.
00:33:53
Speaker
You know, do you want to build the interior defensive line? Now, I think that that would be a ah good long-term move because I think, you know, your interior defensive line is lacking. But, you know as a fan base, you're going to be looking at this, man, this defense is like top five defense and ah offense is bottom third and you're drafting defense.
00:34:14
Speaker
What are we doing? ah But it might end up being the smartest move if you're sticking at 25. Well, there's rumors that Sheldon Rankins might be coming back. um Apparently the Texans really wanted him back, but the Bengals outbid them last time. And now he's, he's possibly thinking about coming back to Houston. That would be a nice move, Scott, if they could keep him or get him back.
00:34:37
Speaker
But I do agree with you building the interior of the defensive line. It's not a bad play just to help with the run, right? Like just to just, clog up the middle.
00:34:48
Speaker
I almost want like a Vince Woolfolk type guy to just eat up your center and guard and let your linebackers just feast on the run. Well, either that or you want to talk about, and and I hate to mention this guy's name.
00:35:03
Speaker
um Let's say a a homeless man's Aaron Donald.
00:35:10
Speaker
Because, you know, you're not going to get another Aaron Donald. But could you imagine, like, say, you know, Or just a horn sap kind of guy, right? Like just a guy who can just fight and get some sacks and make plays from the inside. Yeah, guy who applies pressure from the inside while you've got Hunter you've got Anderson rushing from the outside.
00:35:30
Speaker
That's a nightmare. I don't disagree with that thought process. And I don't think it would get the reaction you say from the fans. Like I think the fans love having a top-notch defense.
00:35:43
Speaker
And I think like if you added a baller, they'd be like, Okay, we're going fucking feast this year, right? Like, that would be my thought. Like, if there if there wasn't the guy that you wanted offensively, and there was a stud defensively who had maybe fallen kind of like Jalen Carter did, right? Like, let's say Jalen Carter-type player falls to 25 or whatever it is that the Texans are at. Yeah.
00:36:05
Speaker
You fucking run to the podium and take that guy, which is what the Eagles did last time. Yeah, and look what it did for them. Hmm. Yeah, Super Bowl later. Two appearances and one win.
00:36:17
Speaker
they They take the best player, right? Like, they know that they've got the culture. Obviously, there's some guys, like, that's not worth the risk. But, like, they know that they had a culture that would make sure that he's on the straight and narrow. And they believed in the talent.
00:36:30
Speaker
And clearly, they've got a ah something with Georgia players. And and oh that team, they they seem to fit well. yeah Maybe we should draft someone from Georgia. How about that, Scott? Can we get a Bulldog?
00:36:43
Speaker
Well, we did. We did last year. And look what oh look what he did.
00:36:49
Speaker
Lassiter's a bulldog. Lassiter's bulldog. That's right. Okay, yeah, here we go. See, get some more of that shit. They have good offensive linemen. Why don't we get some of their guys? Well, that's where the owner, you know, the owner of GM right there on the podium with Jalen Carter just hands him a card and says, here's a car service.
00:37:05
Speaker
You're using them. i would I would just be like, have you met Diggs? He is your English butler slash driver, you know or Alfred. Have you met Alfred? he He's going to get you everywhere you need to go.
00:37:18
Speaker
This car looks like the Batmobile, so you think you're top shit when you're getting into it. And his name's Alfred, so you're having a great time. All right, man. Enjoy Philly. Yeah, so i I would go defensive tackle if the wide receiver you do.
00:37:33
Speaker
You don't, you know, if the wide receiver that's there you don't absolutely love, I would go defensive tackle because I just don't think there's the guard. There's not the interior line is not really strong in this draft.
00:37:47
Speaker
And i hate the idea of, well, he played tackle, but we can maybe move him. And and I hate that idea. Yeah. CBS Sports has us going D-line at Walter Nolan.
00:37:59
Speaker
um 17th overall pick falls to us there. um I don't mind it. Right. Like I don't mind the idea. um Why not go best talent available? Right. Like I think one of the things that killed that Cowboys dynasty was like, they started pigeonholing themselves with draft picks, right? Like, Hey, I need a backup quarterback. I need a second wide receiver. So you reach right. Like guys have constantly picked in the first round because teams reach because they need a wide receiver.
00:38:32
Speaker
They need a quarterback. Fucking Christian Ponder was picked in the first round. Jake Locker was picked in the first round because teams needed a quarterback. Well, you know what? There were great guys in that draft class. People were picked ahead of J.J. Watt because no one needed him.
00:38:46
Speaker
But the the Texans are like, this guy's going to be awesome. We'll take him. So sometimes letting the best player in the draft come to you is not the worst thing in the world, man. Yeah, no kidding. and And, you know, what happens if it's a tight end? Or, you know, what happens if it's,
00:39:02
Speaker
A safety. yeah know You know, you can't tell me that we can't put another strong no strong safety next to Caden Bullock. I mean, I'd like to. i'd I'd like to sit there and say, you know, goodbye to Jimmy Ward as a cap hit. But, you know, that's just me. What about a safety?
00:39:19
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. safety Malachi Starks out of Georgia, 25th overall player on the on the NFL draft board. Wouldn't mind that, man. Him and and Bullock together.
00:39:33
Speaker
Build your Legion of Doom, whatever whatever the Texans version of that would be. Something with mosquitoes, because we got a lot of mosquitoes in Houston. Like the Stingley's Mosquito Annoyance Crew.
00:39:48
Speaker
I don't know. Derek Stingley's. nor Swarm. A swarm. Yeah, they fucking swarm. We're good. There you go. more There you go. All right, do we dare talk Rockets basketball, Scott?
Rockets' Challenges and Player Potential
00:40:03
Speaker
Because they're back to near full health. We're getting close to playoff time, hovering just outside of that play-in series.
00:40:14
Speaker
Well, can I offer you some good news here, Tim? I love good news, Scott. They are currently beating the Pelicans ninety eight to eighty six in the fourth quarter. I love it. Well, the in just knowing their luck,
00:40:28
Speaker
You get Fred Blandleet back, but first minute he's on the floor, he steps on the referee's foot and re-enters the ankle. Oh, I didn't see that. He hasn't been playing the last three games.
00:40:41
Speaker
cause Did you see that Montrosti when they played Oklahoma City? they had whitmore and Oh, yeah, I did. I did watch that game. That i was rough. and and And then they were basically like, we're just going to hold everybody back so we can beat the – The Pacers and, oops, but we didn't beat the Pacers.
00:41:02
Speaker
um Yeah, I'm of two minds of this. I think the beginning i was against making a major move. I think we both were. But I still don't understand why we didn't pick up a veteran point guard.
00:41:18
Speaker
Yep, we we said that the whole time. Yeah, and it just looks extra bad now when you're like, oh, we're going to be, badasses as soon as you know Van Vliet gets... Oh, never mind.
00:41:33
Speaker
He's out again. Crazy to see the Lakers have surged all the way to the two-seed. Yeah, i think that would i think that deal, know obviously it's done a whole lot for LeBron in that he doesn't have to be ball-dominant at 40. It's kind of rejuvenated him some.
00:41:51
Speaker
you know they didn't pick up they They had picked up a center. who was a guy from Charlotte, I think. the know that he didn't They couldn't make it happen, though. Yeah, they avoided the trade. and so I don't know what they're doing inside, but there you know that's going to be an interesting team come playoff time.
00:42:09
Speaker
Yeah, I would laugh so hard if Luka went to L.A. and won another ring. I obviously want the Rockets to win, okay but if they don't, Luka winning a ring in L.A. would be fucking hilarious because now the Mavericks have had Just some of the worst luck, right? Like you have the trade that goes down, which all the fans hate.
00:42:33
Speaker
Then a d gets hurt immediately. Then ticket prices for season tickets go up. Then Kyrie gets hurt tears his ACL, probably out for an next year too.
00:42:45
Speaker
Then your backup point guard sprains his ankles severely in the same game. And now you're four and six in your last 10 and you're barely one game over 500 in the 10th seed.
00:42:57
Speaker
Starting at point guard. through 10 are in the playoff, the play-in series? Yes. Yeah, as so starting at point guard for your Dallas Mavericks.
00:43:10
Speaker
drop out from Indiana University, it's Mark Cuban. Fuck that. I think we should bring back the old player coach. I think it's time for Jason kids to bust off the old Jordans and draw plays for himself on the sidelines and then call his own fucking number from three.
00:43:30
Speaker
That's what's just to happen. Or you go back from my college days and it's like and and he's he's called his buddies, Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson, They're coming back. Here come your Mavericks.
00:43:43
Speaker
And it looks, I mean, realistically, the Rockets are three games up on the Warriors in the standings between fifth and sixth place and a game behind the Grizzlies, three games behind the Nuggets. So they're either realistically right now kind of plugged into that four or five seed.
00:43:57
Speaker
um I think they're a better basketball team than the Warriors are at this stage. However, You know, i'd I'd love the matchup against the Grizzlies. I would love that opportunity in the playoffs. You might have a chance to win a series there.
00:44:11
Speaker
I don't love the fact that Fred's not healthy. I don't love that. But, you know, let's let these young guys go experience playoff basketball. You've got money to spend in the offseason.
00:44:22
Speaker
Yeah, I've got all the paper content in my wallet that says they're not going to the NBA Finals. No. I mean, I think if they were to win a playoff series,
00:44:34
Speaker
I would be pleasantly surprised. um And it doesn't really matter who they're matching up against. I just, ah that's where I think they are. They're an extremely young team. They don't know, you know, you got Fred Van Vliet and Dylan Brooks, but how much playoff experience does Dylan Brooks have?
00:44:51
Speaker
think one year in Memphis. I mean, that's not, but that's not a whole lot of playoff experience. So you've got, you know, Fred Van Vliet, and then you've got some guys that are deep on your bench that don't play.
00:45:04
Speaker
that has some playoff experience like a Jeff greens. But i just don't think it's happening this year, but what it does is it's a lab. You know, you, you, you kind of mix some things together. You, you kind of see what happens. You see where your deficiencies are and you see, you know, which kind of star and going to be the one that's going to take you over the top.
00:45:27
Speaker
And I want to see a man Thompson in the playoffs. I want to see what this guy does. um when the lights are bright. I want to see what that defense looks like, right? Like this is a guy that throughout the season has kind of shown us we need to build around his style of play, right? Like going into this off season, we need to look at this team and say, how do we make Amen Thompson the best version of himself?
00:45:52
Speaker
I want to see what that looks like in the playoffs, right? Because guys like that have existed before. Russell Westbrook, is a pretty similar player, I think, to him. Maybe not quite as long and lanky, but the style was the same, right? Like, not a great shooter, but can get into the paint, plays good de defense, physical player, rebounds the ball well, passes the ball well.
00:46:15
Speaker
at you know At times in his prime, Russell Westbrook was dominant in the playoffs, but also never won the big series. And then also at times, Russell Westbrook threw up more bricks than an Acme factory.
00:46:28
Speaker
So, you know, I need to see what Amen Thompson does and how teams are going to react to him and how he reacts to their plans for him to to be able to make sure that, like, we build a team properly that can help him.
00:46:41
Speaker
if if ah If they're going back off of him like that, hey, we need a pick-and-pop guy. We need some three-point shooting to space it. Or we need to find ah a big big man who can bang it down low so they can't just pack the paint like that. you know Whatever it may be, ah you know you have to find a way to get some data out of this.
00:47:04
Speaker
Right. And I think with Eamon Thompson, and I shudder to say this, I think he's got a higher ceiling than Westbrook.
00:47:16
Speaker
um Because i think he's a... and thank I mean, Russell Westbrook's a first ballot Hall of Famer. Yeah. Okay. But I think that, and I say ceiling, which means it doesn't mean he gets there, but I think he's a guy that's a superior defender to Westbrook.
00:47:35
Speaker
I think he already looked he's a legit first-team All-NBA defensive player. um Westbrook's a pretty good defender. Westbrook's a pretty damn good on-ball defender, too.
00:47:46
Speaker
He is. He is. And ah um I'm saying was right. Like I'm not even looking at his defense now. I'm looking at like, okay. See days where he's, you know, averaging a triple double in his prime. Like he plays some damn good fucking de defense, but I do agree with you that amen. Thompson's probably a hair better.
00:48:04
Speaker
And I think what's funny. and And when you're talking about stars, I heard the funniest term. I don't know if you've ah heard this term, uh, all, all NBA first team street clothes. Oh, God. Yeah.
00:48:17
Speaker
Westbrook was part of some of the worst trends, man, when it came to the interview. Remember the fake fucking glasses with no no glass in them, just frames? Well, I was thinking in terms of like what the what you want to avoid is you want to avoid you know what's happened out in l L.A.
00:48:33
Speaker
with in the Clipper land. Don't pay attention over there. God, who's the guy? I'm drawing on his name. The guy that won the titles with the Spurs and won with the Raptors. Why?
00:48:48
Speaker
Yeah, Kawhi Leonard. He was on the floor and I was watching him play the Lakers. I was like, wait a minute. That guy looks like Kawhi Leonard. and said Is that really him?
00:49:00
Speaker
I don't recognize him when he's not in street clothes. Rare sighting. You don't want to pick up that guy. So I think, you know, the summer gives you, know, that's why, you know, i hated the idea of doing it at the deadline because your timeline is so condensed.
00:49:18
Speaker
want to have a time in the summer where you can get your heads together and you can sit there and say, okay, who is the guy we want to target? You know, maybe it is Durant. I don't know. um I don't like the idea of Durant because he's going to give you, what, one or two years, maybe.
00:49:36
Speaker
But, you know, does Devin Booker do anything for you? No. No. I mean, obviously you get into the the Greek freak. You just start talking about. What about Lonzo Ball? That could be interesting. I could be interested in Lonzo Ball instead of Fred VanVleet coming back. Another really good defender, a better shooter, gets in another guy who can get into the paint.
00:50:02
Speaker
little fucking weird, but like he may have to get that shit in order. I just don't know if I want to deal with his dad in town. but i think i think I haven't heard from him in a while. I think a Doku could probably deal with that.
00:50:14
Speaker
um But trying to bang his wife.
00:50:22
Speaker
Yeah. She's a long, she's a street walker. She's working under my blood. Hey, you better keep yourself in line or I will bang your woman. he anyway Yeah. So yeah, that that's, but I don't know if he wants out or what that, his situation is, but that gives you more opportunities that gives you more opportunities to look at guys and and look at, you see who's, who's your best fit.
00:50:46
Speaker
Cause you know, the Spurs, obviously they shot their shot with, with Fox. I don't know if that's going to be, you know, the the thing that gets them over the top or not. And you'd hate to sit there and and spend all your bullets and, you know, be a second round team that, you know, that's no fun.
00:51:05
Speaker
Yeah. I, I, I agree with you. Like, plus, you know I don't mean this in a negative or anything way, but like who knows what's going to happen with Wemby? right like This guy's got blood clot issues. This isn't, hey, I broke my leg, I'll be back and whatever. like Obviously, for the sake of the game, I hope he's okay, but like who knows when he comes back, realistically, right, Scott? like This isn't like, hey, there's a set timeline.
00:51:31
Speaker
He's got a fucking blood clot. Your coach had a stroke. Well, don't you remember how, you know, whenever was it when we were picking Jabari, I think.
00:51:43
Speaker
Who was it the Oklahoma City picked after us? That white guy? The real skinny one. Yeah. God, he's so good. Holmgren. He's good. But he's first all, you NBA team street clubs.
00:51:58
Speaker
I mean, he he hardly ever plays. So, I mean, that's kind of with Wemby. Yeah, he's got all the talent in the world. But, you know, how much is he going to play?
00:52:10
Speaker
You know, we had the same thing with Yao. I mean, Yao was legitimately the best player. my God, I love me some Yao. He was the best player from that draft. But, you know, those big guys just have feet issues. Rick Smiths, you had the feet issues. George Miroson had the feet issues. well they also made him play all those Chinese national game, too, in the summertime. So, like, he never really had – a chance to let his body rest. Cause like part of the deal of allowing him to come to the NBA was that he still had to represent the Chinese national team, which meant that like he never had summers off cause he was playing FIBA every year.
NBA Durability and Team Strategy
00:52:45
Speaker
So to me, you want a guy that's going to give you 75 games, regular season games a year. Maybe 65. I'm happy. I mean, maybe 75 combined playoff and, you know, regular season, but don't give me a guy that's going to sit there half the season be like, deuces, I'm out. with you that I don't need Greg Oden, right? like i don't I don't want Sam Bowie, who's the in front of Jordan.
00:53:14
Speaker
like I'll give you an example of a guy that I think could be available who would be a huge mistake is Zion Williamson.
00:53:23
Speaker
Yeah. Intriguing, though. Intriguing talent. Pair him next to Sedgun oh Man, when they both play.
00:53:35
Speaker
I know. I know. Intriguing as fuck, though. Yeah. I would have to really consider that. All right. I know it's probably not the best.
00:53:48
Speaker
Okay. I did some tease an article I got going tomorrow, going back to baseball. I'm just going to give you a gut. I'm not telling you my answers because my answers are in the article.
00:54:00
Speaker
Give you a Gut check time. I got three fantasy sources. So i'm to give you the average numbers. Okay. Yair Diaz. Average 278, 310 on base, 444 slugging, 19 dingers, 67 runs, 75 RBIs.
00:54:21
Speaker
Are you going over or under? On what? Just general in general. Over. Over? Okay. Okay. Christian Walker, 243, 323, 457, 30 home runs, 257, 310, 393, 14 homers, 53 runs,
00:54:37
Speaker
eighty one runs ninety one rbi
00:54:42
Speaker
ah
00:54:45
Speaker
push accurate okay brendan rogers two fifty seven three ten three ninety three fourteen homers fifty three runs sixty eight 60 RBIs.
00:55:03
Speaker
o but In Dreamland, I'm extremely happy with that. ah Is that a projection? Those are projections, but two of the three sources had him still in Colorado.
00:55:17
Speaker
If I give you the source from Houston, see what you think. 240, 295, 369, 11 homers, forty five runs forty eight rbis
00:55:30
Speaker
Higher. Okay. Paredes. This one was the easiest one for me. 238, 335, 417, 21 home runs, Higher. that was the easiest one.
00:55:48
Speaker
jeremy pena this one's interesting two sixty three three eleven three ninety nine seventeen home runns eighty two runs seventy two rbi's eighteen stolen days
00:56:00
Speaker
except as is. Okay. And here Jose Altuve as left Does it matter? Yeah. Because baseball prospectus
00:56:12
Speaker
twenty three ninety seven and seventy four three homes ninety seven eighteen
00:56:22
Speaker
higher yeah the batting average fathers cause actually baseball perspective Had everybody low. Okay.
00:56:34
Speaker
Almost done. Yordan, 296, 389, 559, 35, 95, 97. two ninety six three d nine five fifty nine thirty five ninety five ninety seven Fuck it. Higher.
00:56:44
Speaker
don't even need to hear it. 228, 295, 365, 13, 56, 57. Lower. sha byers do you have your barf bag ready go ahead to say weller i don't need to hear it twenty eight two ninety five three sixty five thirteen fifty six fifty seven lower Chaz, 234, 306, 384, 12, 44, 42. I want to
00:57:11
Speaker
ah want to say higher, but there's just something in me that feels like Chaz has lost it, so I'm going to say lower. All right. And then Dubon, 253, 291, 353, 7, 46, 42. 46, 250. I say higher. Yeah. So...
00:57:21
Speaker
seven forty six forty two forty six to fifty say hi so You had me almost peg. I went, uh, lower on Dubon.
00:57:35
Speaker
You don't like your, we're, we're different on Dubon. I'm not a Dubon fan. Um, I went slightly higher on chess. I went lower on Jake.
00:57:46
Speaker
I went higher on Jordan. I went higher Altuve. went lower, slightly lower on Pena, almost a push.
00:57:59
Speaker
Um, Kuretis higher, definitely, because the ah the baseball prospectus numbers were ridiculously low. Rodgers, I went lower. Walker, a little lower, but almost a push, and higher on Diaz.
00:58:17
Speaker
So we're almost the same.
00:58:20
Speaker
The batting averages are all pretty low. I agree with you on that. I think there's room. like i I hope in my heart of hearts that Chaz is better than his numbers. Because it just makes us a better team if he is. I just am worried that something changed, right? Like this is a guy who looked to be a pretty damn good major league player up and coming, gotten better every year, and then just fell off the face of the earth.
00:58:47
Speaker
And I don't know how many times I've seen it, but I've seen it happen time and time again. And those guys don't typically come back. Yeah. And I think what happened with him ah too, though, is that his stat cast numbers,
00:58:59
Speaker
always predicted regression. And so we had some natural regression last year in addition to the other issues you have. But like one source had them at 243, 316, 400. You know, to me, a 716 OPS, I'd be like, okay, I can live with it.
00:59:19
Speaker
If I can get 255 to out of Because I know he's going to walk, right? Like Chaz has a decent eye. So I get 255, 260 and give me like 15 to 20 bombs.
00:59:33
Speaker
Like now we're talking. Like that's the Chaz that I like. That's the Chaz that I don't expect the world from you, but you're ah a good ball player. That's where like to me, like when I look at around the edges,
00:59:50
Speaker
who is capable of playing right field for this team? realistically. So do you think they could play Desenzo out there? I don't know. I haven't watched any spring training games, but I know he did play outfield in like winter league.
01:00:06
Speaker
I don't know if Wickham could play in the outfield. think he's more of an infielder.
01:00:12
Speaker
i mean, you've got Gamble.
01:00:17
Speaker
I mean, to me, if you, if you could get a 700 OPS out of McCormick, stick that in center field, so 700 OPS in center field plays a whole lot more than in right. Yep.
01:00:30
Speaker
And then can Cam Smith give you a 700 OPS? I think he can today. i agree. I agree. I, I want it.
01:00:44
Speaker
I want it to happen just because it means he earned it. Right. Like nothing was given to this guy. Like everybody expected him to come in have a nice showing and go back to double a, but like, We talked about top the show. There are some guys who get that taste and they don't go back, right? Like Wally Pitt missed one fucking game.
01:01:04
Speaker
One game. He took one day off. And Lou Gehrig never let the job go again, right? Like obviously different situation. There's no minor, like not the same minor league setup. But like this guy got one opportunity and never fucking looked back.
01:01:19
Speaker
Some guys just take it. Like, the opportunity was there for Cam this year, right? that The outfield is question marks go lower outside of left field. So if this guy shows up and just says, like, I answered your fucking question, the answer is Cam Smith. Go ahead and pencil that shit in right now.
01:01:38
Speaker
Hey, awesome. That's awesome. Well, I mean, and that's similar in in his profile. I mean, the Rangers went with Wyatt Lainford last year. That's a similar profile.
01:01:50
Speaker
i mean, they spent about a similar amount of time in the minor leagues. i mean they were Evan Carter got a quick call. Lankford was drafted, I think, out of college the previous season. I think Carter was a guy who went straight from college to Major League Baseball the year they won the World Series.
01:02:06
Speaker
Maybe. I don't know enough about Evan Carter. Either way, he was a quick rise. And Lankford wasn't great last year. He's probably going to be much better this year.
01:02:18
Speaker
But he was 700 OPS guy. And a year of Major League seasoning. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. All right, Tim. All right, let's do some let's do some ah awards, Scott.
01:02:35
Speaker
Horse's Ass of the Week. Who do you have for us this week? Oh, gosh. I think my perennial ass, I think, is just – I got to laugh at the New York Jets.
01:02:51
Speaker
I just say, are you going find a way to call Bobby Sloan and ask? No, I'm going to, I'm going to find a way to just to laugh at the New York Jets. So let's look at their week. Maybe they're two weeks.
01:03:04
Speaker
They said goodbye to Aaron Rogers. Aaron Glenn came and said, no, we're not doing this. You know, you're going to go ahead and get out this week. They've cut Devante Adams.
01:03:17
Speaker
Nobody would even give them the seventh front pick for Devontae Adams. So they've cut him loose. So I don't know. I mean, they don't have a quarterback on the roster.
01:03:29
Speaker
Not that I know of. um I mean, maybe you know of a guy that they have that I don't. There's rumors that they want to. sure there's someone on the roster. It's just not a, not a someone that you want starting NFL games.
01:03:44
Speaker
mean, maybe it was that guy that was playing in the preseason for us that was used to a – Tim Boyle. Yeah, Tim Boyle. the gunnail The guy that called gunslinger is like, if he's coming into the bar with a gun, i am ducking under a table.
01:03:59
Speaker
I think you're you're more safe, like, just standing in the middle of the room like this than you are ducking under table. Shoot me.
01:04:08
Speaker
Yeah, no, the Jets, I mean, theyre they're just a clown show out there. ah I feel sorry for Aaron Glenn, you know, because their owner and his son are using Madden ratings, you know, to judge who should be on the team.
01:04:26
Speaker
Could you imagine him, you know, like Technobol? Man, this Steve Atwater guy is awesome. What sign that guy? Man, did you see Tony Dorsett running the ball for the Denver Broncos on Technobol?
01:04:41
Speaker
Hey, this is oh Bo Jackson guy looks like he could be a real stud. Maybe we should look into making a move for him. Look at him outrun all the defenders. like god Hey, hey yeah grandson, have you heard of this guy John Elway? I was playing it. you know I was playing this game. I don't know why I sound like Adam Sandler. but we You know, there's this guy that's ah that's a he's a quarterback and he's a punter.
01:05:11
Speaker
So we wouldn't have to hire punter. i mean He was great. His helmet looked kind of weird. It looked like it was made out of leather, but his name is Sammy Ball. You know, anybody think about calling him up and see if he could play?
01:05:24
Speaker
I would, I mean, I wonder how many NFL owners know their players Madden ranking. Because, like, the players know their shit.
01:05:35
Speaker
They're like, why am I ranked this? I should be higher, right? Like, I wonder if they're like, Hey, guys, this is this is Cal McNair over here, and I i noticed when I was playing Madden, C.J. Stroud's faster than you got him on the game. You got his speed out of 86.
01:05:53
Speaker
He's at least a 91, all right? You come on down to Houston. You come watch C.J. run. We'll get little brisket, okay? Then you go on back to your your your headquarters, and you you take care of that speed, okay?
01:06:08
Speaker
Cal knows what their Call of Duty score is. I don't think he knows a what their Madden score is. But should you imagine, has there ever been a player, man, sitting there thinking, oh, my God, they got me as a 91?
01:06:19
Speaker
I'm no higher than an 84, dude. What are they even getting? That's fantastic. Oh, fuck, yeah. I pump my arms really hard when I'm running. It makes me look faster.
01:06:30
Speaker
All right, that's a good one, Scott. um I'm going to kind of generalize this one but you know to your point you said you'd heard rumors right but like depo was a locker room cancer things of that nature and and this is the i think the horse's ass goes to is this shit always comes out after right because while he's there you know my wife's a huge niners fan i'm inundated with a lot of niners news because we share an espn plus account and it's the opposite right like the
01:07:04
Speaker
The U check's wife is making custom jackets for him. They're all hanging out. They're all great friends. But the moment this guy's traded away, use a locker room cancer. That guy causes issues that, you know, and it's just.
01:07:18
Speaker
It's frustrating that like we can't just say, hey, great job. Thanks playing with us. you know, play hard next time you see it. Right. Like Alex Bregman is a great example. No, nothing's come out that says Alex Bregman was a locker room cancer. We're not happy to, or fuck you. Don't want you here anymore.
01:07:34
Speaker
Like, Hey, we enjoyed having you. We couldn't afford you. Good luck where you're going to go. You know, I don't understand why it just always comes out after that. Like this guy was a problem when everything, while he was there was this guy's a great teammate.
01:07:48
Speaker
If he's a problem, call it out while he's a problem. Maybe he won't be a problem anymore. But if you're just doing because you're a bitter ex-lover, you know, the fuck are you? Well, and this is going to put my, you know, my hat tip on a little damper, though, but it depends on who the source of that is, right?
01:08:07
Speaker
If you're the team, yeah, you're you're that's pretty scumbaggy behavior. If you're, you know, somebody in the press or, you know, some disgruntled player, that's usually, you know, how that ends up, you know, turning out. But,
01:08:24
Speaker
It's like, you know, Ann has really been fascinated. don't know if you paid attention to the Amber Heard and and ah Johnny Depp. Yeah. ah usually like She was really into that. And she was all like defending Johnny Depp because she has a weird fascination with him, even though he's like 60.
01:08:45
Speaker
And it's like, you don't know what happened in that house. yeah You have no idea. We have no idea what happened in the locker room. We know what people are saying, but of course it's always people saying, nobody ever puts their name on it.
01:09:00
Speaker
It always comes out after, right? Because like what I see is a teammate's wife making him a custom vest out of a Jersey, right? Like I see him wearing, like, I love Brock Purdy shirt, you know, like getting custom shirts of Brock Purdy made, right? Like doing the same stuff that like Jose Altuve does.
01:09:18
Speaker
Now, am I saying he's a great teammate? No. But what I am saying is the tune changes immediately after he gets shipped out of town. And I just think that's below the belt, right? Like you shake your hand, you say, Hey, we enjoyed having you. You've played great football for us. We got to a couple of Superbowls with you on the team. It sucks that we couldn't pull it off.
01:09:38
Speaker
Good luck in Washington. Hope we, hope we faced you in the NFC championship game. So, all right, Tim. So hat tip time. Well, hat tipper.
01:09:49
Speaker
Well, let me, Change the old animation here, Scott. I was running behind. Oh, yeah. Let me fill the buster here for a moment. No, we're good. You're good. Who do you have for us this week? I've got a joint hat tip.
01:10:03
Speaker
You've got joint? A joint hat tip. Yeah, I got a big one. I ordered some um online. oh No, but in all seriousness, I really like what the 49ers did there.
01:10:15
Speaker
i like I don't like it if they're bad-mouthing him after the fact, but I like the fact that they drafted a wide receiver in the first round last year. Pearsaw unfortunately got shot, so yeah he went didn't enjoy the rookie season. He probably could have, but like the idea because one of the things I hate, Tim, is I hate lazy analysis. and yeah How often do you hear this? like so Alex Bregman leaves Houston.
01:10:45
Speaker
And somebody says, well, we just lost 25 home runs and 90 RBIs. No, you didn't. You didn't. Because that's assuming that nobody is going to play third base.
01:10:59
Speaker
You're going to put somebody there who's going to produce something. So the question is what is the replacement going to want to do? What is Ricky Pearsaw going to slitting into Samuel's position?
01:11:15
Speaker
Is he going to be just as good for cheaper? Probably. Could he be even better? Maybe. And so this is where I think in my other joint one, Nick Asario has done it again. i don't think this is not a home run.
01:11:32
Speaker
It may become a home run if he gets a restructure on that deal for Christian Kirk, gets it a cheaper number. Maybe gets another year or two beyond this season where you can have him for, you know at least two years.
01:11:45
Speaker
But this is a solid single or a double. The way that you go from the second round of the playoffs to the third round of the playoffs is you don't make these wild swings where you get superstar players in here and hope it works.
01:11:59
Speaker
You get incrementally better. And that's what Christian Kirk does. Christian Kirk's not going to get 1,000 yards receiving this year. I hate to spoil it, burst anybody's bubble.
01:12:11
Speaker
He's probably a 700 or 800-yard guy. You already have a thousand yard guy and Nico Collins. You have hopefully, you know, some improvement from John Metschie.
01:12:24
Speaker
Hopefully you have some improvement from Dalton Schultz. Maybe Brevin Jordan comes back and catches some balls in months other than December. Who knows? But you got incrementally better.
01:12:37
Speaker
Now this team still needs someone has some work to do. They got to fix an interior offensive line. They probably need one more wide receiver at least. And they need some interior defensive linemen.
01:12:48
Speaker
But it's a good first move. I mean, we haven't even reached free agency yet. No, I agree with you. I like it. You know, we were talking about it on a work call the other day. Like, you don't have to hit a home run every single time you're at the plate, right? Like, sometimes like you line one into the right field, you pick up your single, and you hand the bat to the next guy and hope he drives you in.
01:13:08
Speaker
And that's what this is, right? Like, you're building a roster. You can't have 52 superstars. You've got to have some role players. And if Christian Kirk's coming in here, no one like I'm going to be a role player. I'm going to catch 75 balls.
01:13:23
Speaker
I'm going to, you know, give you. six, seven yards on average on my reception in the air. And I'm going to do what I can with it after the catch, or I'm going to work the slot. I'm going to own the middle of the field. I'm going to make this team better. Yeah. I love the move, Scott. And I, and I don't disagree with what you said about the Niners, right? Like, and I'm not even saying it's the Niners that was leaking that because, you know, my, as I mentioned already, my wife is a Niners fan. And it's funny. We were talking about this earlier this tonight of like, she's happy with Pierce. All right. Like she thinks he's ready to start right now, or I thought maybe they'd get a guy for a year,
01:13:56
Speaker
hey, you know this guy didn't get a full rookie year because he got shot. Maybe we need a ah bridge gap of A.U.K. for one more year, then you trade him. Where she was fine with, like, trade A.U.K. too and let hurt but Jennings and Pearsall be our two wide receivers is where she's at on this.
01:14:13
Speaker
Yeah, that would be interesting. the I think the market for A.U.K. would be definitely more robust than it was for Samuel. It'd be interesting, but there are rumors that he will be traded too, so we'll see on that.
01:14:26
Speaker
um I'm going to tip my cap. And this is weird for me to say, because I really don't like the guy. But in this instance, I'm going to tip it to Justin Turner. You mentioned it was an article where he was interviewed and he spoke very, very very freely about his time in in Seattle.
Seattle Mariners' Strategy Critique
01:14:44
Speaker
And I think he expressed basically the same feeling that Seattle fans have had for years, right? Like he was on a team that, that had some really good pieces. And as he put it, like a legendary started pitching staff, but he felt like was good enough to win a world series in the heat of battle.
01:15:03
Speaker
Let's make some moves. They didn't do it. You know, then it's like, Hey, maybe I'll come back in the off season. Hey, what, you know, you guys make this a world series contending team and I'll consider coming back.
01:15:14
Speaker
And they made like pussyfoot moves around. They didn't do anything of, of substance to add to their roster. And he's like, why the hell would I want to go back? You clearly, are not wanting to win a World Series.
01:15:26
Speaker
And I think it's probably, I don't know if refreshing is the right word if you're a Mariner fan, but like it's nice to at least hear from the players that like now we're being avoided because of the way this team does not go all in Maybe that's what they needed to hear. Maybe that's what the Poto needed to hear to finally fucking do it.
01:15:48
Speaker
Because we've all sat there and been like, wow, the Mariners... Interesting. not They didn't really make, okay, wow, okay. And it just doesn't work out for them. But they come into the offseason they just, it's strange, right? Like this is a team that should be loading up, right? Like you have a young superstar who is still controllable for a certain amount of time. Like this is when you do it. You've got a pitching staff that's absolutely loaded.
01:16:16
Speaker
and And you just kind of sailed the offseason in. So I tip my cap. to Justin Turner for calling it like it is. Two immediate thoughts on that. Number one, I mean, I think Turner's 40.
01:16:30
Speaker
He's not playing much longer. He doesn't have to worry about burning any bridges. And yeah that's when guys are at their most honest. but It's like a senator not running for re-election. yeah Let's see how I really feel about this.
01:16:44
Speaker
But doesn't this Mariner team, the way that DePoto does business, kind of remind you of Drake McLean. I was going to say Jerry Hunsaker. Uh, no, was going say like Ed Wade.
01:16:58
Speaker
Cause you know, let's bring in Pedro Feliz to play third base. Let's bring in Ty Wigginton. Let's bring in Preston Wilson. How about, uh, who's the the racist?
01:17:12
Speaker
Um, Aubrey Hoff. Oh yeah. Let's bring in Sean Chacon. See if he can choke me out. Brandon Jennings. Um, But, you know the thing is, is that these are moves where, you know the Chad Bowler.
01:17:26
Speaker
It's like there's an episode of The Simpsons where they they form a barbershop quartet. They call themselves the B-Sharps because they want to come up with a name that is initially going to be hilarious and then just gets less and less hilarious.
01:17:41
Speaker
It's like you hear a name. It's like Aubrey Huff. I've heard of that. I've heard of that guy. Oh, you know, when in my youth, we signed Buddy Bell.
01:17:54
Speaker
Huh. That's, know, and that's the kind of moves these Mariners teams have make. Justin Turner was a nice pickup. And he ended up doing some nice things for the Mariners, but he's not going to change the trajectory of their franchise.
01:18:10
Speaker
Randy Arozarena is a nice pickup. He's a nice player. Wouldn't you like to have him in left field in Houston?
01:18:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, but he's not going to be batting cleanup in Houston. He's he's a you know complimentary player. They still have never gone out. I mean, to me, that that roster was begging for Peter Alonzo.
01:18:36
Speaker
Yeah. the see I mean, yeah the fact that they didn't go out and sign Peter Alonzo, the fact that they didn't go out and get Matt Chapman last offseason just absolutely floored me.
01:18:47
Speaker
It's like you're it's just ready-made. Gap right there. Sign this guy. Nope. thank maybe not Thank God because you're the ones that have to beat them. But, you know.
01:19:01
Speaker
i But, like, we're fans of the game. Yeah. right Like, we are fans of the game. And I want to win always. But I also don't want another fan base to just live in ineptitude.
01:19:13
Speaker
Because, like, even when the Astros sucked, like, you could see signs of, like, hey, this guy could be a building piece. Or like, hey, we drafted Carlos Correa. We drafted Alex Bregman. These guys are coming. These guys are coming. We just need to have something to help sustain them.
01:19:28
Speaker
Well, like, you got your guy there in and Julio Rodriguez. Like, the guy that was supposed to be your savior is there. Right. And when the Astros got their guy there, they made moves. They brought in Brian McCann.
01:19:39
Speaker
They traded for Justin Verlander. They traded for Garrett Cole. They signed Charlie Morton. Right. Like when the guys got there, they made their moves. Well, the guys are fucking there for the Mariners and they're not making the moves.
01:19:52
Speaker
And as a fan base, what the fuck can you say? Because you already watched them waste Felix Hernandez, in my opinion, Hall of Fame career and did absolutely fucking jack shit with it. Now you're going to watch him waste Julio Rodriguez's career? No, he's going to leave. He's not gonna you not going to hang around.
01:20:09
Speaker
like the The idea of a guy who's going to hang in Seattle who go make Juan Soto type money when Seattle clearly doesn't pay that, like it's Kyle Tucker Part 2. See you the fuck later and join New York.
01:20:21
Speaker
He'll be a Yankee. You've got basically him on offense. You've got Cal Raleigh as a good hitting catcher. That's You know, Randy Aeros Arena is a nice player.
01:20:34
Speaker
He could have a good bounce back year, but yeah, he's not going to carry a team. Yeah. J.P. Crawford is a OK shortstop. But, you know, name me another guy on that team who's a good baseball player.
01:20:49
Speaker
I can't. I mean, not not unless you start going to the mound. I mean, you wasted Seager's whole career. That guy ah was a pretty damn good third baseman, right? like yeah And he just was fed up. Like, he retired early.
01:21:02
Speaker
The Rangers tried to get him to sign um when they signed his brother, but he's just done, right? Like, he's fucking over it. And I get it. Like, if you went and laid your ass on the line every single year and the Mariners just never did what it took to get you over the line, I'd be done too.
01:21:19
Speaker
But that's a scumbaggy move. Let's move to the real scumbag, Scott. Who do you have for us this week as your scumbag?
Texas Education and Political Impact
01:21:26
Speaker
Okay, so we I'm sure if you go back and play this podcast, you're going to notice that I did not utter one curse word tonight.
01:21:35
Speaker
um That's kind of one of the things I'm trying to do, in lent at least on the air. I'm trying to limit my cursing. Trying to keep a calm demeanor, which is going to be difficult tonight.
01:21:48
Speaker
because my scumbag is a frequent winner of this award. I think that, you know, just like I was nominating Bobby Sloick, I think this guy has been like Tim's kind of default when he didn't know who to pick.
01:22:02
Speaker
I'm picking Greg Abbott. And he earned it. um don't know what your reason is, but he earned it. So he has earned it because he keeps pushing vouchers. Now, if you want to you want to take it a ah sports angle on this one,
01:22:17
Speaker
You know who's going to be hurt the most is extracurricular activities. Yep. Small town Texas football. Goodbye. Texas football. You're going to if your parents, you're going to be putting the bill for team equipment.
01:22:31
Speaker
And that just, you know, get wait. Now, wait for that one to come on down. So I went to the faculty meeting today, Tim. And here's the message that we got told by our principal who was literally in tears to him.
01:22:45
Speaker
Our district is 40 million in the whole. Schools are going to be expected to make up half of it. Now, how do you make up $20 million, dollars Tim?
01:22:57
Speaker
Snip, snip. So her, they gave every principal a red folder, which gave them a number of how many people they were going to have to let go.
01:23:09
Speaker
We have a faculty of 80, Tim. Her number was seven.
01:23:15
Speaker
That's nearly 10% of the faculty. Now, that's all. That's what she told us. Now, what I believe is I believe that she, you know, is fighting for us tooth and nail.
01:23:27
Speaker
We're a special campus. We do special things. And particularly part of that is that we're, you know, we teach career pathways. You can't jam 30 kids into a welding class.
01:23:39
Speaker
That's not safe. And it's just not feasible. So, I have a feeling that the district and her are going to haggle back and forth. That number is going to end up going down and maybe it becomes two. Maybe it becomes three.
01:23:56
Speaker
We already cut staff coming into this year, Tim. We had five special ed teachers you and partner in my department. We're now at four. So we don't have a reduction in kids.
01:24:08
Speaker
We ended up taking on more kids. Each of us took on more kids. So now her initial plan, what they said the district's plan is, is that they're not going to fire anybody. They're just going to let attrition take care of it.
01:24:22
Speaker
But it doesn't make for a nice working environment. If any one of us, if I get a counseling job, it's very possible they could have three SPED teachers next year. If one of our other SPED teachers goes, I could be one of three coming back in.
01:24:38
Speaker
Teachers that were teaching, you know, maybe 20 to 25 kids in a class now teaching maybe 30, 35 in a class. So all of this is designed on purpose.
01:24:52
Speaker
All of this is to have us see our test scores tank so that Greg Abbott can look and say, see, look at what's happening with our public schools. They're failing.
01:25:05
Speaker
So, you know what we're going to do? State of Texas, we're just going to cancel this whole idea of public schools and we're going to go to all private.
01:25:14
Speaker
That's what we're going to do. Now, your wife's a teacher. I'm a teacher. We're both dedicated professionals. We do this because, you know, we want the kids to be successful.
01:25:28
Speaker
We do this because, you know, it's what we love to do. And what Greg Abbott and hopefully not the test Texas legislature would push comes to show what they're trying to do is make our job harder.
01:25:41
Speaker
They're trying to make our job harder because they want to see us fail. That is just the pure truth. And I've been saying this, you know, a lot, you know I drove by Tim.
01:25:54
Speaker
We had a food town closed. We had add a Dairy Queen closed. We had a car dealership next the dairy queen closed. And what I've been fond of saying is I'm just tired of winning, Tim.
01:26:09
Speaker
I want to go back to losing all this winning is just, is, is, is too much. I can't, I can't handle, you know, losing seven, eight, you know, teachers who, you know, are probably, you know, dedicated professionals who who should be sticking around.
01:26:25
Speaker
Yeah. That's going to help us win. It, I don't want to win anymore, Tim. just tired of winning. Yeah. And he calls it school choice when we've all had school choice.
01:26:37
Speaker
He talks that parents should be involved in their children's education. The fuck you should. You want to be involved in your kid's education homeschool. Otherwise, there are trained and dedicated professionals who
Trump's Sports Interference and Cultural Influence
01:26:48
Speaker
know what needs to be learned at certain ages.
01:26:50
Speaker
Your Bible fucking study group does not. These the same people who thought their kids should be drinking little bit it's little bit little bitty bits of bleach mixed with water every day because it would help their intestines. These are the people who think their kids should be homeschooled.
01:27:02
Speaker
To top it off, Greg Abbott an 140,000 state employees expect to fully return to the office instead of working remote. So fuck him any any which way, right? Adolph Sittler is a piece of shit. um I can still cuss, Scott. I did not give that up for that.
01:27:17
Speaker
I'll up it. I'll up it for you. I am going to give my scumbag this week to our fine and honorable King Donald Trump. And it's not for, I'm sorry, I didn't bend my knee. Do I need to kiss the ring?
01:27:32
Speaker
Do I need to wipe the ass? What do I need? What do I need? But either way, it's not for the deplorable conduct that he took with the president of Ukraine. It's not because he tried to back channel Trump.
01:27:44
Speaker
and support the anti-party of President Zelensky to get him ousted from office during the middle of a war to support Putin. It's not for the deplorable State of the Union.
01:27:57
Speaker
It's not for his reaction to my dude, Al Jackson, who's awesome from Houston. um That was ridiculous. Al Green. Al g Green, right. Al Green from Houston.
01:28:09
Speaker
When Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert did the same thing last year and had nothing happen to them. It's not for any that. He's been censored now. Yeah. And Democrats fucking sign on to that, which is bullshit. They have no balls, which is why I'm not Democrat.
01:28:22
Speaker
But this is sports podcast. So I will keep my reason for naming Donald Trump a scumbag to the sports world. Scott, did you know the president of the United States could lift a lifetime ban from the Baseball Hall of Fame?
01:28:36
Speaker
Because according to Donald Trump, he's going to pardon... Pete Rose, and get him inducted into the Hall of Fame. Now, last I checked, the office of the president had the power to pardon federal crimes.
01:28:52
Speaker
I don't remember Pete Rose committing a federal offense that banned him from baseball. I remember him getting in trouble for betting on baseball, and the commissioner said, you're banned for life.
01:29:07
Speaker
The commissioner of baseball. And the base and the in the National Writers Association and the Hall of Fame, all in unison, said yes. That has nothing to do with the president of the United fucking States. It has, like, nothing to do with that.
01:29:28
Speaker
And with every like I'm just so tired of the goddamn fucking smoke mirrors of I'm going to wave my magic Donald Trump penis wand and make everything better. And no, that's not how the world works. You don't just go in and hop on fucking Truth Social, high as a kite on fucking cocaine at 2 o'clock in the morning, and type out a tweet that you're going to get Pete Rose in the Hall Fame.
01:29:54
Speaker
Why? What the fuck does that even do? The guy's dead. It means nothing. We all know who Pete Rose is. We all know he's the hit king. We all know he gambled on baseball. We all know he did it.
01:30:05
Speaker
We all know why he's not in the Hall of Fame. What you are trying to do right now is just to distract us from your giant fucking piece shit. Stop using baseball as your distractor. We already use it to distract from you.
01:30:16
Speaker
We don't want you coming into our fucking distraction. No president had ever went to the Super Bowl before. Why do you think that is? Because it's a giant waste of money. No president had ever driven his fucking limousine on the NASCAR track before.
01:30:30
Speaker
Why do you think that is? Giant waste of fucking money. These are our distractions from politics. We don't need Donald Trump showing up, ruining them. And we don't need you meddling with a lifetime ban in baseball.
01:30:42
Speaker
Are you to get fucking Jewish Joe Jackson posthumously put the Hall Fame? Why we go for fucking Bucky whatever his name was, the guy who played third base? He had a great in the series. Bucky Weaver. Let's get fucking Bucky Weaver and Eddie Seacott in there.
01:30:54
Speaker
Like, why are we stopping at Pete Rose? All of the eight men out should be eight men in if we're going fucking play this game. Like, what are we doing here? All right, Tim, I'm going to have minor correction on you here.
01:31:08
Speaker
Okay. He snorts Adderall, not cocaine. Speed, you're right. I'm sorry, speed. Okay. um like Okay, that's Junior. That's Donald Trump Jr. Wrong Donald Trump.
01:31:20
Speaker
but um Here's the funny thing. I'm sure you heard that he put made himself in charge of the Kennedy Center. And then everybody started canceling their appearances.
01:31:31
Speaker
Well, yeah how long? are you gonna have like You're going to have fucking Jeff Foxworthy live at the Kennedy Center. Bill Engvall live at the Kennedy Center. Tim the Tool Man Taylor live at the Kennedy center Another but shithead.
01:31:42
Speaker
Roseanne Barr live at the Kennedy Center. You know what kills me, Tim, is that... Kid Rock, live at the Kennedy Center. I performed in the Kennedy Center with the Clear Lake High School Choir. That's kind of cool.
01:31:55
Speaker
Yeah, we came in second place in the national competition. Our choir director was pissed that we came in second in that first place. But, you know, and and when we went to the gift shop, saw posters of Marilyn Monroe. I don't know. Why do you think they were posters of Marilyn Monroe in the Kennedy Center?
01:32:11
Speaker
I don't know. It's just kind of a weird thing. But, He doesn't. I think what Trump, his idea is he wants to make himself cram grand poobah of everything. So he's going to be over baseball. He'll be over basketball, football, hockey, golf, soccer, golf, the golf reunion.
01:32:28
Speaker
He's, you he's going to be over everything. And so he's just going to decide. and And I think, you know, Pete Rose was convicted of tax fraud, I think. Okay. Pardon him for that.
01:32:40
Speaker
I guess you could pardon him for that. Sure. and And, you know, the funny thing is not why he's on the Hall Fame. It's tax issues are not why yeah there. The commissioner has already talked about possibly reinstating him that he's dead.
01:32:55
Speaker
And I guarantee that's why Trump said it, because it's already going to happen. Let, you know, let him, you know, do we want Sweet Risberg in the Hall of Fame? yeah Do we want Chick Gandel in the Hall of Fame? yeah he had Great hands.
01:33:09
Speaker
Great set of hands Chick Gandel has. Yeah, yeah. He got into some fights. He got into some fights, yeah. But a lefty Lefty Williams. Lefty Williams. eddies I think Eddie C. Cotts robbed. He should be in the Hall.
01:33:24
Speaker
I can make a case for it. but I know you can. He was a great pitcher. Eddie C. Cotts had years of dominance. Yeah, so... And you know what, if we want to, as baseball people, if we want to have that debate, I think that's great because, like you said, it's a distraction.
01:33:44
Speaker
I don't want my president weighing in on whether or not we need plastic straws or not. I mean, do I like paper straws? No, not particularly. But there are certain things that are underneath the office of the president.
01:34:00
Speaker
I mean, do I want him weighing in on whether we have low-flow toilets or not? No. I don't like low-flow toilets. Are you a fan of the low-flow toilet? No.
01:34:11
Speaker
I don't think it is. There's a great – did you watch King of the Hill? Yeah, I saw that episode. yeah The episode where, like, he's like, Peggy, how many flushes was that? And she's like, a woman never – a woman never knew. Yeah, and he he proved it to them, you know, with the number of flushes and – It turned out like the plumber had like a deal, a back alley deal. you But no, like, and and and to prove I'm not one-sided, Scott, I've been on record numerous times. I thought when President Obama's NCAA bracket came out every year, i was like, why the fuck do i care what the President United States NCAA bracket looks like?
01:34:46
Speaker
That's not what, like, if he wants to do a bracket with like all his White House staff, cool, man, like, whatever. I don't need to see what your bracket is. You're the fucking president. Like, if you want to talk to me about like,
01:34:57
Speaker
Anything that was within the realm of president, that's fine. But why are you going on ESPN SportsCenter to talk about your bracket? You're the fucking president. Talk about world hunger. Talk about disarming nuclear weapons. Talk about like some of the good that you're doing in Africa.
01:35:13
Speaker
Let's not talk about your bracket and why you think Michigan state was going all the way that year. Like it was just, I hated it then. So it's not just, it's not just Trump. Cause I know people are going to say, Oh, you hate everything Trump does.
01:35:27
Speaker
I just think certain things are like, not for the president to be doing. You're the fucking president. Focus on being the president. You're allowed to have fun. I'm not saying that, but like, I don't need to see all of Trump's golf swings. Okay. Go play your golf. Do what you're gonna fucking do. You, you fuck shit up way less when you're on the golf course. I really don't mind that, but I don't need to hear what you shot.
01:35:46
Speaker
I don't because it's it's a lie, but I don't need to hear it. I don't need to see your swing. I don't need to have everybody who plays with you come talk about how impressed they were with how good you were at basketball at golf.
01:35:56
Speaker
Just the same way that everybody who played basketball with Obama was like, wow, he's really got game. Who the fuck cares? Everybody has a hobby. Everybody has a hobby. Like, I don't care what you do.
01:36:08
Speaker
i don't. But like, don't infect other things that people use to get away from you. Yeah, no yeah that's that's about right. I mean, you remember like watching like the West Wing where they were playing pickup games of basketball? Watch the Juan Howard out there. howard Yeah, let's that's what I'm saying. But all of a sudden, if the camera comes out and shows the president playing basketball, that's what I'm like.
01:36:33
Speaker
Why the fuck do I care? i don't care what the president does to blow off steam, because we all know every human being blows off steam in some way. And as long as you're not like Dexter and out murdering people as a serial killer and your your way of blowing off steam isn't a crime.
01:36:48
Speaker
I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's pickleball. I don't care if it's like javelin throwing. I don't care if you play the saxophone like Bill fucking Clinton. I don't care what you do. Everybody has some way of unwinding.
01:36:59
Speaker
I mean, George W. Bush is a pretty damn good painter from what I understand. He's a pretty good golfer, too. Now watch me hit this drive.
01:37:09
Speaker
Mission accomplished. Now watch me hit this drive. Fucking great presidential moment. I do say, i don't care what you do outside of, like, except that one moment. And i don't even like, joe i don't even like W, but holy fucking shit, that was awesome. Because then he hit it right down the fucking middle.
01:37:25
Speaker
Yeah, I, but I hear he's a good painter. And and I wouldn't mind looking at his work. But, you know, ah when he was in the White House, I don't need like a two-hour special here. Let me show you how I do this stroke here, you know.
01:37:39
Speaker
yeah But i'm I'm even fine if he painted while he's in the White House. At some point, you probably want to clear your mind and make a decision, right? And maybe painting is how you do that. I don't care.
01:37:49
Speaker
But as you said, i don't need CNN in there with George as he paints his dog. Like, I don't need that. That's good that he has that. I want you to have a release. It's a stressful job.
01:38:01
Speaker
But like, don't broadcast the release broadcast. Like you trying to make the world a better place. Cause you're the one, you literally have
Conclusion and Upcoming Topics Preview
01:38:07
Speaker
the one job in the United States where you can literally go out and make the world a better place with the s snap of your fucking fingers.
01:38:11
Speaker
And no one actually does it. So whatever. All right, Scott, let's say our goodbyes. Cause that one went a little longer than I, uh, than I really anticipated. No, that's all right. Yeah. You had a little bit of extra, extra steam on that one.
01:38:26
Speaker
You a little, little something, a little something extra on that heater. But yeah, we appreciate everybody who made us a part of their week this week. um Exciting week. Texans making moves. Free agency will be opening soon.
01:38:40
Speaker
sp Spring training continues to roll on and we're inching closer and closer to playoff basketball. So we're coming into a pretty fun stretch here of Born on the Bayou Sports. We hope everybody keeps enjoying it. Be sure to stay active and follow the Substack, thoughts from a native Texan. Scott is following a little bit of a new trend during the Lenten time period.
01:39:02
Speaker
And I'm just going to keep dishing fire, right? Like I think god the trend I got is is what I'm going to stay with. But tune in, stay tuned, find out what we got going on. We'll see everybody next week i'm born on Board of the Body Sports.