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Walker-ing on Sunshine
32 Plays1 year ago
The latest episode of Born on the Bayou Sports kicks off with Tim Costello and Scott Barzilla discussing the Astros signing Christian Walker to play first base, marking the end of Alex Bregman's tenure in Houston. The conversation then shifts to the Houston Texans, highlighting a narrow loss to the Chiefs and a dismal performance against the Ravens, deemed the worst game of the DeMeco Ryans era. The hosts also discuss the impact of Tank Dell's injury sustained during the Chiefs game. The episode concludes with the "Horses Ass of the Week," "Tips of the Cap," and "Scumbag of the Week" awards.
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Transcript
Introduction and Houston Sports Overview
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. Tim's a former minor league broadcaster and Scott has written two books on the Baseball Hall of Fame.
00:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, if probably Eric 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 Pomer. Since he's come to Houston, you can look at the development of guys like Carlos Correa defensively and Jeremy Peรฑa defensively. You know, Alex Bregman's, you know, certainly I think I'm better than average third baseman.
00:00:56
Speaker
And now you're putting teams in 3rd and 8th, 3rd and 7th, 3rd and 9th. Now here comes Will Anderson. Pin back your ears, let's go.
Weather and Golf Discussion
00:01:05
Speaker
So if you're by you, born and bred, or just like spending time in the age, sit down, relax, and stay Houston strong.
00:01:23
Speaker
Welcome back in and born on the bayou sports Tim Costella Scott Barzilla Coming to you hot here on a little bit of colder Boxing day, I guess they call it if you're British Yeah, I don't know if it's cold down here. It's definitely rainy cold and rainy up here and probably 50s and a little bit of rain ah kind of Nasty weather, had to turn around on the way to the golf course this morning. Never a good vibe, right? When you're feeling like you're about to go play golf and it starts raining on you on the way there. I did get to play on Monday for the first time in, I would say several months. I said my return, tough return to golf. You ever played over at a country place slash peer-related country club? Yeah. Yeah. We used to have, uh,
00:02:18
Speaker
You said district out there before it moved to Bay Forest, but when it's, when it's in good shape, it's a fun course. Well, you know, I have to say the, the greens keeper needs a fresh coat of Sherman Williams for those greens. Maybe if they could paint it a couple of handicap spots, you know, that would be kind of good. ah Yeah. They had three temporary greens on the back night. So that was, that's never, never a fun time. Not what you're looking for.
NFL Scheduling Critique
00:02:47
Speaker
Speaking of not what you're looking for, I have to think, Scott, the Christmas games was not what the NFL was looking for. It was a subpar product. And i I want to know as our starting question this week, do you think the NFL right now is devaluing their product?
00:03:08
Speaker
by having to always play on the big holidays. And essentially you force certain teams to play three games at 11 days. For the Chiefs, it was three games in 10 days. um And both Netflix games were or shitty. Yeah. and Well, I guess it depends. I mean, they they they pulled over 30 million, excuse me, 30 million people watching. So I guess it's from a Delta perspective. It's like, yeah, you know, we got people watching, but the question is how much longer will they watch
00:03:42
Speaker
and that's my thought right are you devaluing your product right that was not good football and we'll get into the texans we'll get into the texans aspect of it later on but just all and all right like the The Steelers looked not great. The Chiefs didn't you know look fantastic. the The Ravens didn't have to do a ton because of how bad the Texans looked. And I got to be honest with you, I didn't even watch the night game because the the two Netflix games were so bad, I was just over it. Oh, the night game? Yeah, I haven't watched tonight's game. I didn't watch the night game on um on Christmas Day, too. I didn't watch that one. And then I have no desire to watch football tonight after you put three games on yesterday.
00:04:24
Speaker
And so, you you know, I just I feel like the product is being devalued. Part of part of what made football great was that you look forward to it all week. It was such it's such a violent game. It gave people an opportunity to rest. But you look at like, let's look at the Steelers scenario before this stretch. They were in first place at 10 and three. they They lost three games in 11 days and they're fighting for a playoff spot. Now, obviously, if you win, no issues. But at the end of the day, three games in 11 days is still
Texans' Performance and Strategy
00:04:55
Speaker
outrageous. No, I think there is. But yeah, it's it's I think in the Thursday night games this year, I think a bit better than the ones last year.
00:05:04
Speaker
I think the ones last year were particularly awful. But the thing is, when you play four days after a game, the chances of one of those teams just physically not being ready. is but And the chances that both teams will not physically be ready, you just have really incredibly bad football. We've seen that how many times on Thursday nights, just in general. And then let's move it up a day. Let's move up to Wednesday. Now, I understand like the teams that played Wednesday played Saturday the week before, but now they're the week before game was, was rushed because they're playing Saturday instead of Sunday. Um, and then let's not even look, like ah then there's the emotional turmoil of what happened to the Texans on Saturday. And we'll get, again, we'll get into that, but all of that leads itself or lends itself rather to bad football. Well, and I think for the, for the Texas perspective,
00:06:04
Speaker
Coming into the season, who were your top two teams in the AFC? ah You know, two of the three of the Chiefs, the Ravens and the Bills, you know, take two of those three, really take the Chiefs and then one of the two Ravens or Bills, right? I don't, I don't think anybody thought the Bills were going to be this good coming into the season because, you know, you're, you're, you take stuff on digs off their team and some people are thinking, Oh, they're going to take a step back.
00:06:31
Speaker
So pretty much it's the Ravens and the Chiefs and so not only do you play two games of 11 days You play two game games 11 days against arguably the two best teams the NFL Yeah, and let's let's move. Let's transition to that Kansas City game, right? Because that was the first one you played on a Saturday again, you're playing that one um on On five days rest instead of six Say what you want there um you know, that was a pretty neck-and-neck game until disaster struck, right? and And that was what we're talking about is is the tank Dell injury where, um, that's a life altering injury on a freak play where you've got a, you know, a practice squad guy on his first game day roster, trying to make an an impact any way he can diving for a football tank. Dell makes an unbelievable touchdown catch and, and it might be the last play he's ever played this career. Yeah. And what's funny is how that news trickled out.
00:07:29
Speaker
because, you know, we saw the injury, everybody knew it was bad, but then the first, uh, the first reports were, it's a dislocated kneecap. You're like, that's, that sounds bad, but that's recoverable. Then you hear tort ACL. That's like, that's not good, but it makes sense. But with what we saw, but that's recoverable. Maybe not by the beginning of 2025, but you know, he could come back at some point, 2020.
00:07:59
Speaker
45 and then you hear it poured MCL and you're missing all of 2025 maybe P. Yeah, maybe career ending. I mean, he tore every ligament in that day. Yeah. And dislocated the cash. It was devastating. Um, it was when they brought the card out that had the cover on it. I think that's when you knew it was really, really bad. Right. When.
00:08:26
Speaker
It wasn't just a regular cart. It was the one that, that, you know, shields you from the public eye. I think that's when I knew it was really bad. It just, I mean, it broke my heart. Like I, that would have been a game time touchdown if the extra point gets made and I'm not even celebrating it because, you know, the text that I love more than anybody else is down on the field. I saw CJ's reaction. Um,
00:08:52
Speaker
His reaction postgame was gut-wrenching. Everything he said since then is gut-wrenching. And and yeah yeah, I feel like the wing got taken out of the team's sails at that point, right? Because let's say tanked out doesn't get hurt, right? You score that touchdown. There's no long delay. Fairbend probably doesn't miss the extra point. And we're in a tie ball game where the defense is balling, right? Let's go. Well, and what's really frustrating is that Even taking the Jets game, that was the one, this is the one game where it's like, this is the tank Dell I remember from last year. He had it going. He had what, five catches for 90 plus yards and we're in the third quarter. I mean, he, he was, he had it going. I mean, that was a great play, a deep throw, you know, uh, one of those 50, 50 balls that he comes down with.
00:09:47
Speaker
It was just kind of starting to see him and CJ back on the same page, right? We're like the best friends hooking up. The touchdown pass was like, where the hell is he throwing it? And the next, you know, tank down came down with it, right? Like I didn't see anybody there, but tank and CJ just knew. and And yeah, it was, it was, it was devastating for the whole team, right? But I think collectively the whole city and then even more so in every, every university of Houston alumni out there, um,
00:10:17
Speaker
we we were We were all gutwrecks, right? like That's our guy. ah the There is no better ambassador for the University of Houston at this point in time than Tank Dell. That man shows up for and um every big basketball game, every football game. He's a presence on campus, he's a presence in his community, and he plays for the hometown team. And again, wonderful guy. So we've all rooted for It's gut-runching to see him not be able to accomplish what we know he's capable of.
Texans' Roster Speculation
00:10:50
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that that's really the the key point is it and we'll get to this more on this later. But, you know, obviously this this is a franchise changing directory trajectory play because now all of a sudden you don't have a number two wide receiver because Stefan Diggs is going to be a free agent. So, you know, where do you go to pick up your number two because
00:11:15
Speaker
We all know John Menchie isn't it? So, you know, who's your number two wide receiver? Do you draft that guy? Do you sign that guy? Do you re-sign Stephon Diggs? I mean, do you go out and free agency and maybe make a run at Jamar Chase? I mean, what ah where do you go from here? Can I make a crazy off the wall suggestion for you? but if tean What if the Texans drafted Trade it up and draft it, Travis Hunter. Go get yourself a nickel cornerback, a lockdown cornerback. Go get yourself a playmaking wide receiver. You limit the snaps on both sides. I don't know, man. That will be a crazy move. I don't know that they have the capital of getting to the top five of the draft. Do you think he's going top five? Yeah, he's going top five. He's going to be the first nut quarterback taken.
00:12:14
Speaker
It would be sick if we could pull that off. I will say, I don't think it's, I don't think it's going to happen, but I do agree with you that now wide receivers is a huge concern in the off season versus if you had a healthy tank dial and a healthy.
00:12:28
Speaker
Uh, Nico Collins go into the off season step on digs the luxury again, just like he was this year versus now you're like, well, shit, do we need to resign digs? Do we hit the free agency market? Do we spend a first round pick potentially on a wide receiver? Do we go early second round? They, they brought in Deontay Johnson off waivers.
00:12:50
Speaker
It was not much of a factor Obviously when you got a Wednesday game after a Saturday game So you've got one regular season game and one playoff game essentially to see if Deontay Johnson is maybe a guy who meshes with your locker room But I mean that's all down the road stuff Looking at that game.
Texans vs. Chiefs and Ravens Analysis
00:13:08
Speaker
I mean what's so frustrating Scott is we were playing toe-to-toe with the back-to-back NFL champions and the referees and Really? yeah that we were We were right toe-to-toe with them, right? This defense was right there with them. And then that play just changed. And again, it was a one score game. But you just couldn't get that stop. You couldn't get off the field. And then when you did you know give CJ opportunities, he just looked defeated. looked like a shell of himself. And I don't blame him.
00:13:41
Speaker
and and And it would have been nice, right, to say like, that's my guy. I'm a go out and I'm a fucking ball out for him and do it. And that's what happened. But obviously you can go the other way of just like you're gutted and you can't find that fire. And that's unfortunately what we saw it seem like. Yeah. And I think what's unfortunate is that, uh, when you look at this team, you kind of look at what could have been, I mean, this team ended up getting, they got blown up by the Vikings.
00:14:12
Speaker
that That was a legitimate blowout. But played the Lions close, should have won. Played the Packers clo close, should have won. We played, you know, that we beat the Bills. And we played toe-to-toe for most of that game. So there's only two games this year where they've got their doors blown off. And both of those games. Speaking of which, let's move on to the one where we did.
00:14:40
Speaker
Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, the Texans lit a fucking egg. but My God, well, that game could have been 45 to 2. I mean, the Ravens took their foot off the gas. The second, you know, the second half, you know, once, you know, LeVar Jackson scored that, you know, whatever the hell that play was. ah I mean, paddled up. And it it here, you know, I'm gonna I hate to knock on D'Amico Ryans, but during that only drive, I was screaming twice, just take the three points. I mean, it would run about the 30 yard line, just take the three points. So luckily they build us out with a passer interference. They were down on the side, the goal, you know, inside the five yard line, just take the three points. It's a 10, five football game. It's a one position game at that point.
00:15:36
Speaker
And, you know, here we go. It's a new game, but instead, Oh, let's try it. You know, we're going to do, you know, this Bobby slow it, whatever bullshit we do inside the 10 yard line that we always do. And it never works. Yeah. I think the most telling thing was, was, you know, after the game, Danielle Hunter called out to preparation, right? He literally said like, we have to game plan better. Like the most fixable thing was we, we got out game plan.
00:16:07
Speaker
And I don't necessarily know how much you talk about the defense there, or if he's maybe calling Bobby Sloak out a little bit. Because, I mean, number one, this defense is beat up, right? You lost Jimmy Ward for the season. You didn't have Shire here yesterday. You only had, what, four healthy, five healthy defensive linemen in general. Your cornerbacks are banged up. Your offensive linemen. This was not a healthy team.
00:16:37
Speaker
But you still as you at one point it was ten five, right? This game was right there and then they the fucking dam just broke and Holy shit, did it get bad? Well, it's ten to two because they never took the three. You're right. I'm sorry ten to two yeah Well, it hears it here's what I wrote basically I think there are some teams that you just don't match up all against and the Ravens is that team for the Texans because as a de defense I don't know, how do you stop Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry? How do you do it? And the fact that they have better receivers this year than they've had in years past with a healthy Mark Andrews ed flowers aunt batement and and likely, how do you, I mean, I don't know, but I mean, the think about this, like, think about this really.
00:17:35
Speaker
The think what the Patriots did with with two great tight ends before Aaron Hernandez started killing people, right? Like they were fucking wrecking the league with two tight ends. You now have That level of production would likely and mark Andrews and and now Lamar Jackson really But the large action the thing is you've got to have a linebacker smile It has got to be your fastest linebacker But their two best receivers can be on the field in double tight sets. So with Derek Henry on the field, so you literally have no idea what they're going to do. They could line up with double tights, heavy formation, and you're like, okay, this is a Henry down. And next thing you know, likely an Andrews are streaking down the field. Well, that's a, and this game was a carbon copy of the playoff game last year where really the defense held up for the most part of the first half of that playoff game.
00:18:32
Speaker
Christian Harris in particular made some plays and he made some plays in this one. Will Anderson made some plays, obviously last year with the safety. I mean, I was screaming at the top of my lungs at my parents' house, we're not getting shut up. We're not getting shut up. I mean, it was, you know, but my God, this offense, I just don't, I could, I could look at, you know, let's say we play the Ravens and in the postseason.
00:19:01
Speaker
I could look and see, okay, getting show your back is going to be a really big boost. Cause now you've got to sideline the sideline linebackers that you can have on the field at all times. That doesn't even count Henry toe to toe, but your office has got the score on this team. And, and I don't know where are you going to get office from Tim? Yeah. At this point, right?
00:19:29
Speaker
You have one legitimate NFL wide receiver, Niko Collins, who's a stud. But literally every coach in the other side's coaching staff is walking in the office saying, we're not going to let Niko Collins beat us this week. Someone else is going to have to beat us. and And at the end of the day, that's what happened this week, right? Like they put a ton of coverage on Niko Collins and said, have about it have at it Robert Woods, have at it John Mecci, have at it Hutchinson, like literally,
00:19:58
Speaker
Anybody but but Niko Carlos are gonna beat us and Niko had a couple catches three catches 60 something hours probably but at the end of the day Niko was a non-factor in that game. They shut down the run and Stroud was just bad was bad with a capital B and and again I don't know how much of this is hangover to the fact that you know his best friend and How does that happen to him? And then he has to get up there and answer questions about it. And he's trying to mentor and and carry the wide receiver that that dove into into tanks knee, right? There's just so much on this man's plate right now, but he was missing wide open throws. Like that, that game, like Schultz had, you know, a opportunity in the flat where if Stroud hits him, he's possibly in for six, if not like down near the, down near the five, three yards line, right?
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah, there was like three, four, five yards over guys' heads. It was just, it was Davis Mills-esque from the Davis Mills era. And it's the first time, and he's had some, he's laid some eggs. I mean, he laid some eggs against the Jets twice. He's had some bad football games, but that's the first time I've watched him that I've openly asked the question, is he really the quarterback creature for this team?
CJ Stroud's Challenges
00:21:22
Speaker
i don' question at that point and And I'm worried too. Some of the, some of the relationships that he's building in the city, you know, he's going to these Dave Rubin white parties. He's spent the entire off season touring the world, spreading football, going on podcasts, making appearances, building the brand that is CJ strap. Right. And in a sense, I don't necessarily have an issue with that because, you know, he truly believes he is a, a a vessel and, you know, his job is to spread the word and football gives him the opportunity to do so, right? Like he's one of those people and I have no issue with that whatsoever. What I am going to say is if that's what you believe, you're not going to be given those opportunities if you suck, right? You're not going to be asked to come speak in front of people. You're not going to be asked to come to the you know fellowship of Christian athletes, national, you know, um,
00:22:21
Speaker
Symposium and and give a and give a speech there You're not gonna be asked to come to a church and and speak because no one's gonna know who you are If you flame out of the league, right you have to Find a way to be at the top of your game If you still want to be that guy who gets out there and and spreads the word the way you want to like Tim Tebow was a flash of the pan ah Tim Tebow didn't get to do what he wanted to do at that level because he just wasn't good enough well, and I think
00:22:52
Speaker
There is some questions that I think we're just going to have to leave open for now. I think number one, is this a temporary problem for CJ Stroud? I mean, that's one we don't know. We don't know if it's based on what happened with Tank. We don't know if it's based on the fact that he's got happy feet based on a line that sucks. So we got to leave some things open. Number one is,
00:23:16
Speaker
Is Bobby Sloak the offensive coordinator of this team moving forward after the season? I think frustratingly so, yes. I think you're going to get a new offensive line coach, but I don't think he's going to get hired anywhere. And I don't think Tomiko is going to fire him. Cody Stutes on his, you know, on his part on Houston football, he said that not only does Sloak need to be fired, but they need to move away from the West coast system altogether. Well, if you do that,
00:23:43
Speaker
That's basically CJ Stroud starting over and learning a new offense. And so do you take a step back before you take a step forward if you do that? Possibly, but I think if you go get one of those guys who's a known quarterback whisperer, you'll be okay, right? Like bring somebody in who who works to CJ strengths, bring somebody in.
00:24:09
Speaker
Maybe it is an Eric the enemy. Maybe it's a cliff Kingsbury type or, you know, someone who maybe you go get the office accorded from Ohio state. Maybe you go get that guy and bring him down here. And cause he's worked with CJ before. I don't know, but you know, Brian Hartline would, I would love to get that guy onto this roster. That guy, look at the talent that he produces year in and year out coming out of Ohio state at the wide receiver position. Would it be a big jump for him? Yeah, absolutely.
00:24:37
Speaker
But you've got a guy who knows CJ Stroud intimately, who understands the NFL because he was an NFL receiver. And you've got someone who can at least look at the talent level around CJ and say, okay, how are we going to use it best to scheme guys open? To me, that's the kind of hire I would look at. I understand you probably want someone more experienced. And what's frustrating to me is I feel like if we get rid of Sloak, the next hire we have is probably going to have the last name Kubiak.
00:25:07
Speaker
Well, it could be that or it could be just like Gerard Johnson gets elevated from, you know, quarterbacks. Again, we're staying with the same shit. If, if Ron Johnson was that good, he, he would have been with CJ at his hip all off season, all whatever. And CJ would look fantastic this year, but I have to look at every coach on the offensive side and say, you failed the quarterback this year. The play calling has been terrible. CJ, we have, We are we have. terrible and third and long and we give our quarterback more third and longs at any team in the NFL. It's not even close. It's like we have 167 third and longs this year. The next team is at like 92. Yeah, that's that's bad. But I guess I'm driving at is is what they call it the
00:25:57
Speaker
the Kuba Stan office or whatever the combination of names that they throw together. Is that the best offense in general for first round? And if it is, then just getting somebody else who's calling plays. To me, if you're talking about thinking outside the box, is Case Keen of a name that you want to consider? I wouldn't mind that. At least Case understands the position a little bit more and and knows Stroud and in cases worked in a bunch of different offenses. I don't think the kubiak offense is that great. I don't think the, I don't know if it's West Coast or zone read, whatever you want to call it. Cause I don't think we run West Coast offense. I think we're a zone or a zone read offense. You know, that's, that's what this football team is is predicated on. It's tough, hard-nosed zone read running in the football. We've been that way all of our fucking life, except the Brian years.
00:26:55
Speaker
But at the end of the day, I think very few fans understand this offense better than the Houston Texans fans, because we've seen it for so long. And one of the things we were most excited about when Bill O'Brien came to town was he was like, oh, we're gonna be a game playing offense, right? Like we're gonna- It was bullshit, but it's what he told us, right? And we were all like, oh yeah, because Kubiak's calling card was like every play, the first play of the game was a play action left with a boot read to the right with a long shot to Andre or underneath route for Owen Daniels. So that was everybody in the NFL news. That was the first play of the game. That was going to happen. Yeah. so Like we were just excited for something different. And then we're right back to that same offense. And I don't think it's it's a very, to me, it's a very easy offense to shut down.
00:27:41
Speaker
The reason it works for the 49ers when it did is because of the talent level across the board. You had a Christian McCaffrey, you had like George Kittle, you had a Deebo Samuel, you had an Iyuk, and you had Jennings, all fantastic skill players at every single position. When you don't have that level of skill player production across the board, when you've got, ah you know,
00:28:09
Speaker
John Metche out there trying to make plays. When you've got Robert Woods out there making plays, when you've got Dalton Schultz instead of George Kittle, there's a difference. and And the scheme matters a lot more at that point. Yeah, I think, but more than anything, and I don't know what scheme this is, but oh listening in the morning show at 6'10", Seth Payne was talking about the fact this is the number of times where you'll see on any one, say, a given play.
00:28:38
Speaker
three offensive linemen blocking one defensive lineman, and two defensive linemen just running free for the quarterback. We need a system where it's like, you see that guy in front of you? Block that guy. I mean, get in his way. Do something. I mean, there's too many times. And there's times when you get Kendrick Green gets get his ass beat. There's times when Ken Young Green got his ass beat.
00:29:06
Speaker
But there's also too many times where they're running seemingly simple stunts. And nobody's picking the guy. I mean, they need something. I don't know if it's simplifying it. I don't know. i I'm not smart enough to figure that out. But somebody's got to come in here and say, OK, forget about all this other bullshit. That guy in front of you, you block that guy. And then if you get him to the ground, you block the guy behind him.
00:29:34
Speaker
i mean that's That's what needs to happen. Here's where I'm at. There's two Hall of Fame, former Houston Oilers who were amazing on the offensive line and have coaching slash head coaching experience and Mike Munchuk and um Bruce Matthews. yeah Pick up the fucking phone.
00:29:56
Speaker
If Bruce Matthews and Mike Munchak don't get into that building at least for an interview, you failed. You absolutely failed. Bruce doesn't even have to move. I can actually, I know where he lives. I can hand deliver an invitation for an interview to Bruce Matthews' house in Sugar Land. I've been there, Cameron was friends with Jake. I know exactly where Bruce lives. I'll get the invite to him. But if you do not interview Bruce Matthews,
00:30:23
Speaker
you You're wrong, right? Like you've got a Hall of Fame lineman with, with coaching experience for a line in the Tennessee Titans that fucking ran rush shot over the, li over the league with CJ two K like that. That was a great line. Yeah. bob I'm done with Bobby slope. I mean, that's, that's basically all that it does to who you replace them with at this point, what kind of office you replace them with. I, you know, whatever, but.
00:30:52
Speaker
To me, the biggest problem is not really so much the offense and the way it's designed. To me, the problem, big problem between this year and last year has been the play column. I mean, especially when you get down to the red zone, there's times when this office looks great. Then you get inside the 20 and then we're running some kind of stupid, you know, pitch play or, you know, backwards pass or, I don't know, some kind of, you know, going to the back of the playbook and finding whatever bullshit Staggerly or whatever, you know play we could come up with just run the same shit that got you 60 yards pri Previously on the drive. I'm with him. Absolutely with you I just looked at a heart line is the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach So he does have offensive coordinator experience up at Ohio State. He's up to Chip Kelly. I think it's the play caller though which for how Well, but in it here if you're in his case if they offer if you gutted this whole staff
00:31:49
Speaker
And you offered him wide receivers coach. Do you think, does he stay at Ohio State or does he want to come to the NFL and be a wide receivers coach? I don't know. I think that's a tough call because I think he's got, he's got it made at Ohio State, right? Like he just literally turns out first round picks on a year end, year out basis. It's his alma mater. You're in a national championship hunt every single year. And then on top of that, because of all those things, you get the best recruits in the country at wide receiver every year because you continue to make 21 year olds into millionaires in the first round, right? Like the league is littered with first round picks that have come out of Ohio State at wide receiver. And so that's a tough decision. I don't know if you're going to get him at at the wide receiver position for the coaching staff. I'm willing to, I'm willing to bet on somebody like that at coordinator, um, with the relationship he had with CJ Stroud in the past because they'd worked together before. If see if I went to CJ Stroud and said, look, I'm thinking about bringing a Brian Hartline in,
00:32:49
Speaker
To be your offensive coordinator. What are your thoughts on this and he said man? I love that idea Okay, let's go it. Let's go do it. The experience isn't as big a deal to me because my quarterback is in i I'm in a shit or get up the pot year with him in year three, right? I saw a great analogy um when When comparing the Texas to the Astros which was this if you look at the Texas of the 2016 Astros and there were big changes made going into 2017.
Comparing Texans and Astros
00:33:17
Speaker
You brought in veterans, you made some you made some tweaks along the coaching staff, and you had a different attitude in the clubhouse going into that 2017 team. Even the front office made changes in how they viewed talent. They they added the human element into it a little bit more and after the J.D. Martinez debacle and misjudging him,
00:33:40
Speaker
And we're able to you know zero in a little bit better on ah some of the players that they wanted. And so the Texans are going to have to have a little bit of that philosophy change. They need some some more veterans like ah um like a Joe Mixon, right? You need a maybe some veterans on the offensive line, some big, nasty,
00:33:57
Speaker
Grizzly motherfuckers who are just not gonna let CJ Stroud get to you get touched today. It's not gonna happen You need some of those guys who are going to bring what you need in the locker room after a big injury to say hey that sucks But here's what we have to do to be ready to go in five days Well think about who this team brought in free agency in our major trade wise, right? So you had I'll show you you had Daniel Hunter on defense You had Diggs and Mixon on offense. I would say all of those worked out well. Wouldn't you agree? I mean, Diggs obviously towards ACL, but he was playing good football up until his injury. I think for the most part, I can agree with you on that. However, Diggs isn't on the field for a large portion of the season. Al Shair has been suspended for the last three games, right? like
00:34:57
Speaker
There have been aspects of them that have worked out, but, you know, because of Al-Shayir, the Texans kind of have become the bad boys of the NFL, right? And and yeah rightfully or wrongfully so, they've obtained that reputation and put some targets on their back. Adidika Autry, you know, missed, you know, a good portion of the season being suspended as well. So, I mean, that one didn't work out. But what I feel like is I feel like when D'Amico Ryan's and Nikosario put their heads together,
00:35:26
Speaker
on free agents or existing NFL players, for the most part, they're picking the right guys. So they just need to put their heads together on picking, I would say, two new offensive linemen. You get a new left guard, you get a new center. I think your right guard, Shaq Mason, is under contract. You're not getting rid of him. Your tackles are under contract. You're not getting rid of them. So you get two new offensive linemen And then you pick one guy to be your number two wide receiver. If it's digs, okay. I saw enough of digs that if he's going to be that digs, I'll take that as my number two wide receiver. Would you take that over 17 games? I think so. Yeah. I mean, it depends on, it depends on our offensive coordinator, right? Like I, if I have a guy.
00:36:21
Speaker
Who knows how to use what Step on Digs is now? Yeah. Okay. I think part of, part of the problem of the season too, is Bobby slope was, was trying to scheme up plays for 2018 step on dicks where that's yeah not who he is anymore. And he tore an ACL after that. So step on digs is a little bit better version of the Robert woods at this point, right? Like he's a possession receiver, sure handed. We'll make some big catches on third down. I think at this point digs is a, is a third receiver. I think your second receiver needs, we are dying for a.
00:36:54
Speaker
Edelman, Wes Welker, Twitchy slot receiver. This team is dying for that. with With the type of quarterback that CJ is, with the pressure that he gets, if you had somebody that you could just flip it out in the slot real quick the way the Patriots used to and just pick up five, six yards, that should be your number two right receiver. And then Diggs is my three on the outside. I'm happy with that. Yeah, unfortunately, Dell was that guy or should have been that guy.
00:37:24
Speaker
Uh, he's built but again. We also, we are the worst wide receiver screen team I've ever seen in my fucking life. There were a couple of them. There were a couple of them where they were actually blocked. Okay. If Nico would have taken it inside and just taken the five or six yards that were there to the inside, but he kept trying to go outside and that's just not the way the block was set up. And it kept losing yards, like read the fucking block and take it where it is.
00:37:54
Speaker
Yeah, that play that playbe you run four different times was just... Nine. We ran it nine times. But in that Chiefs game, I think it was four times where they lost the yards. Four for Midas nine yards. We ran it nine times against the Baltimore Ravens. Yeah, though that's that's just sick. I mean, it especially after you've read it that many times poorly against the Chiefs, you got to rip that sucker out until you figure out, okay,
00:38:24
Speaker
How do we run this thing effectively? Fucking add an RPO element to it. Be like, hey, either I hand it off to mixin' up the middle or I'm hittin' it on the outside for this whatever. Or just fucking read the block!
00:38:37
Speaker
i' I'm reading the block go and take it inside take it inside take it inside and he took it outside every time but Scott we were talking about the moves the Texans are gonna have to make a free agency the Astros made one and the city of Houston right now is Walker in on Sunshine as Christian Walker will be the new first baseman for your Houston Astros now this most likely unless some fucking miracle means Alex Bregman is no longer a Houston Astro, but Crazy as it may sound, I think the Astros' infield defense just got better, and let me tell you why. Last year the Astros were 32nd in defensive runs saved at first base. Christian Walker is number one in defensive runs saved the last three years. As good as Alex Bregman was, having a great first baseman makes every single person better.
Astros' Roster Moves
00:39:29
Speaker
We talked about it with how good Jeremy Peรฑa was when he had Uli over there at first base. We talked about how good Correa was when he had Uli over there at first base. I think this whole infield, while reshaped, is actually pretty damn good. So how long were you sitting on that walker-ing sunshine bit there? I actually thought of that while we were talking pre-show, and I worked it in there. And I've been waiting to ahve been waiting to bring that title in. It's the title on the on the show right now. but Hey, yeah, three things I love about this guy. ah And ah and the three things you ah in addition to what you mentioned. Okay, number one. I don't know if you knew this. I can't remember knows it was somebody from the board on the crawfish boxes. He is a data nerd. Like he he is studying data constantly on hitting.
00:40:25
Speaker
And so this is a guy that, you know, is is constantly working on his craft and knows, you know, he is a low babbive guy, but when he puts the ball in play, it's usually with damage. Number two, he said he wanted to check out the barbecue scene in Houston. So this guy knows.
00:40:46
Speaker
He knows, you know, what's up. So, ah ah but my favorite was his comment. He says, you know, I'd say I have big shoes to fill, but I'm replacing Jose Abreu. And that's, I mean, that's pretty ballsy, but, you know, I kind of like ballsy. You know, the vibe of the room you walk into, right? Like that's the, that's what that is. Like, you know, this town is, um, dying for quality first base play.
00:41:13
Speaker
And you know hopefully he can give it to us. And again, I don't think that's that bad of a deal. Three years, 60 mil. That's right in right in line with what you and I discussed on the previous week's episode. And when you look at this infield, you know Paredes, a guy at third base, should be able to take advantage of the short porch and left field. He was you know having a great year in 2023 before being traded to Chicago, a ballpark with the way the wind blows that doesn't really fit him.
00:41:40
Speaker
um you know you've now got Christian Walker at first base, a huge, huge, huge plus over um where you were last year. The question still remains this outfield. Okay. Because even if you want to tell me that you're going to get some, your Don and left field and yiner's going to DH some days, you still are going to tell me we're going to try it out. Jake Myers.
00:42:08
Speaker
who has shown you at best as a 230 hitter. He's we're basically saying Jake Maristic is back, people. It's Jake from Rake Farm. And and we're just betting that Chaz last year was a and ah now ah abnormality. And hey, we're going to get the Chaz of old. I think it's a recipe for disaster in the outfield. You know, there's been some rumors. Maybe there's another left hand back coming or maybe there's a ah left handed arm, a loggy coming.
00:42:36
Speaker
I don't know, you know, at this point, throw throw two million at at Jason Heyward, throw a million and at, um who was the the other lefty that we had been gambling with last year, right? Like, I'd like to see, I would be fine if you told me Jason Heyward starting in left field going into the season. Yeah, or right field, because he's he's a plusright a defensive right fielder. And then, of course, Chaz and left and,
00:43:00
Speaker
ah Cause right now you're outfield, unless you want to put, uh, by the trail out there. This is going to include DuBois. Uh, would you like me to pass you a barf bag or, you know, are you going to be? i mr pointto I'd rather DuBois be my everyday starting center fielder than Jake Myers. but better don't wait it moment Yeah. That's my point. You're going to have both right now. I, you know, I was going to say about Paredes.
00:43:31
Speaker
He had the number one pull rate, pull fly ball rate in baseball last year. Right-handed hitter. So I don't think it's outside. I think I looked at the spring chart for Walker. He would have had nine more home runs in Minute Bay Park based on the balls he hit this year. Now, we've seen this kind of spring chart before. That's how they they they talked us into Preston Wilson years ago.
00:43:59
Speaker
I was so amped for that one. I was so amped for that one. But I i think the idea, because you know Walker missed some time, I think the idea of both him and Paredes hitting 30 bombs, and of course your Don hitting 30 bombs, is not outside the realm of possibility. So really the question is, can McCormick be a major league average outfielder? We've seen that he can be.
00:44:29
Speaker
Will will be I don't know it I could I could be swayed into one of Chas or Jake Myers will play every day Whoever is better will play every day. The idea of playing both is where I have a problem Scott I I think I could see where they might have both of playing and just having a better third outfielder as the other guy ah Maybe I don't know that Hayward, Hayward is technically better. At least if you're looking at last season's numbers, um, the guy, the other guy they mentioned in that article, I said to Jesse weaker. I wouldn't mind him. Um, what I want actually is what I want for them is to sign two guys, whether it's Hayward and gamble or Hayward and weaker.
00:45:27
Speaker
and just mix and match just depending on the day and go with that. I got a name for you. Probably pretty cheap. Um, can I interest you in one Mark?
00:45:38
Speaker
hannah Yeah, you missed me because Mark kida can also play first base and play some first base. He was overall 242 last year was better once he got to the Giants was 288. Um, and his final 32 games of the season with the Giants, but he's played some center field. He could play left field, has a bit of pop. Um, you know, not going to hit your 40 home runs anymore, but.
00:46:04
Speaker
He's a guy that is useful. He doesn't have to play every day. You can platoon him. There's, those are the kinds of guys that are still out there that I want the Astros to be looking at because we're not going to get stars, right? Like the, the payroll is pretty much set, but we kept a guy like Grant, like Kessinger on our, on our roster for two years. For what? For what? He is zero.
00:46:29
Speaker
He is zero. But you had guys like this that were out there who could have helped us over the last two years, right? When we were dying for quality first base play and outfield play, Mark Connick gets released by the Detroit Tigers and we decided to keep Kessinger instead of bringing that guy in? I think he was traded to Chileans. I think that's what... But I mean, either way, though yeah other there's other guys. um well I don't know.
00:46:55
Speaker
Well, my, my, my like tact has always been that when you're a general manager, your job is to give your manager the best 26 guys you can give them. And you have to look at your manager and how does your manager like to manage? And I think a spotter likes to manage a similar way as Dusty Baker. He likes to play everybody on his bench. He likes those YMCA Sunday, every day, everybody plays days. Well, David, if you're going to do that,
00:47:26
Speaker
Then have a good bench. Yes. You know, if you're going to have a play everybody day and there's still one guy who never plays that that speaks volumes. I mean, and if you're if you believe that, hey, that's the way to keep keep my guys fresh in into September and October. I mean, there's a defense for that, but you've got to have if you're going to have an outfield that's going to have a bunch of mediocre guys. Let's have five mediocre guys.
00:47:56
Speaker
Because then, at least at that point, you could mix and match or rotate in or rotate out and kind of see who the hot hand is. I mean, two years ago, Chasmakorvik was an afterthought until all of a sudden Chasmakorvik became brilliant in 2023. But the problem was is that Baker wouldn't keep him in the lineup. What happens if you sign a Mark Canada and all of a sudden he just rediscovers the fountain of middle age?
00:48:23
Speaker
It comes in and hits like 270. It has 15 or 20 home runs. Then all of a sudden that guy should be playing every day. But give him a chance. No, absolutely. I mean, there's guys out there um who could come in and help this team. Mark Conner had 2.7 war last year. Erikson Profar is a guy who can play outfield or infield. It's still available. He might be pretty. He might be a little bit pricey. He might be.
00:48:52
Speaker
but at the end of the day, he's, he's a better, he's better than anything we have. Oh yeah. Don't, don't, don't doubt about that. Tommy fam tommy pham is out there to be had date. Adam Duvall can play center field. He can play left field. He can play right field. Like these were not, we're not going to go get the best available talent right now. You know, Santander is not coming here. Her name to Oscar Hernandez is not coming here.
00:49:19
Speaker
But let's go get somebody, let's get Jason, bring Jason Hayward back. Let's bring back, you know, Ben Gamble, someone to give us an off, even if it's just an invitation to spring training. Because here's what I think is about to happen too, Scott. I'm going to throw another caveat on top of this. Alex Bregman's not going to get the deal that he wanted. I don't think Bregman's getting anywhere near what the Astros offered.
00:49:42
Speaker
I think Bregman is about to take a one year deal and he's going to be back out of the market next year. And the Astros positioned themselves to win, to look wonderful PR wise. You already see Dick face coming out, talking about some, some teams don't care about leadership and all this other shit after he realized he fucked up. Yeah, I know that that's a whole hour conversation. But what I would do too, is I would sign two or three guys.
00:50:11
Speaker
who make about two or $3 million a year. Because to me, there's a good chance Adam Duvall, if you look at last season's numbers, there's a good chance he's washed. Okay. So you bring him in and he's washed. You cut him. He's making $2 million. He gives a shit. You bring in Hayward. Let's say Hayward's washed. You cut him. Doesn't matter.
00:50:34
Speaker
So, you know, the worst thing that can happen is, is that you have these young kids like DeSenzo, guys like that who maybe can play in the corner outfield, maybe Melton comes up at some point at mid season, you know, but sign some of these guys, I would say at least two, if not three and say, okay, we're going to, we're going to have five outfielders and we're going to rotate them.
00:51:04
Speaker
And we're going to go with the hot head and we're just going to see what happens. It would, it would be the logical way to go, Scott, but unfortunately, um, doesn't seem to be what we're going to get. Let's give some awards away. It's about that time. Who do you have this week as your horse's ass of the week, Scott?
NFL Scheduling and Player Safety
00:51:24
Speaker
Oh, I am going to go with a one mentioned before the national football league.
00:51:34
Speaker
What are we doing? Christmas day is a day that's always belonged to the NBA. Let them have their day. You have 364 other days on the calendar. Let the NBA have their day. You can't tell me that you're, oh, we're worried about player safety. Bull fucking shit. You're worried about player safety. You're playing three games in 11 days. And the best that you can do is you can sit there and say, well, all four teams,
00:52:05
Speaker
Playing the same amount of games, the same amount of days. Sucked for all of them. No. If you want the best product, you don't need football every day of the week. We don't need Tuesday day football. We don't need Wednesday night football. I don't need Friday night football. You got high school football for that. You got college football on Saturday. Football belongs on Sundays and Mondays.
00:52:34
Speaker
I would take out Thursday night football. I would take that up because to me, you, you hit the nail on the head earlier in the show and he asked the question, are we devaluing the product? Absolutely. We're devaluing the product and these guys are not safe. And if I was the players, that would be my first things. Like you want this 17 game schedule. You want this 18 game schedule that let's stop all this playing, you know, all around the week, you know, bullshit.
00:53:03
Speaker
You play blood days, you play Sundays. That's it. That's all you're doing. Yeah, could not agree with you more. I was thinking along the same lines and that's why I brought it up earlier that NFL is ridiculous. They are hypocritical. They are. They are only in it for the money and, you know, they had an opportunity to make some extra money from Netflix. So they took it.
00:53:25
Speaker
and player safety be damned. So, um I couldn't agree with you
Alex Bregman's Contract and Loyalty
00:53:30
Speaker
more. I i i think my horse's ass us is Scott Boris. You know, I mentioned the comments that he made um regarding Alex Bregman, you know, the leadership and all that stuff. This guy, I mean, obviously, you choose to go with him, you know what you're getting, right? But when your free agency is at the same time as Juan Soto, everybody knew you weren't going to get carte blanche agent services, right? You were going to get back weighted, back listed till Soto signs and we'll deal with it. He wasn't going to give you his, his full attention. So when the Astros gave you what's a pretty good deal, right? Six years, 29 and a half million dollars a year to remain on a world series contender for a guy who hasn't quite been at his top game since 2019. That was a fair offer. That was a very fair offer.
00:54:23
Speaker
so you're giving your guy really bad advice and now watch what happens in the new year where he doesn't sign anywhere near what that contract is and if he does it's going to be with a bad team. Alex Bregman is going to sign a one-year 32 million dollar year then be back on the market that's next year the same way Carlos Correa did because this guy is a fucking horse's ass he doesn't play it straight with his clients, teams hate dealing with them. And at the end of the day, one guy gets paid in the off season and all his other clients get screwed. Yeah. And I think I was thinking about this. I was taking my dog for a walk this morning and thinking, you know, Jose Altuve is beginning the first year of his five year deal. And I think, you know, you could compare, I think Jose Altuve and Craig Biggio are very comparable in one respect.
00:55:15
Speaker
Would you agree that they could have made a ton more money elsewhere? Yeah, absolutely. I don't know about for Bijo a ton more, because I don't know at that time period, the salaries weren't the same. But Bijo could have gone to a Red Sox, to a Yankees, or whatever, and chased the money. I think the Rockies are off with a little yeah shit hole.
00:55:36
Speaker
And obviously it's proportional, right? Because, you know, we were talking about the late nineties, the early two thousands, but he is not as big as it is now. We get all that, but he could have gotten probably 10, 20% more. Yeah. Can you think of prime altitude available on the market? I mean, that's two 50, $300 million dollars contract, right? You would have gotten 10 to 20% more. I think probably similar. We've all done that on an AV basis. So.
00:56:05
Speaker
That's where Bregman's at. Anywhere Bregman signs and the two biggest places that have been mentioned have been obviously New York and Boston. And I could see him fitting either place, you know, theoretically. But the point is, is that if you, if you're Alex Bregman and you're a Boston Red Sox, are you an all time great Boston Red Sox? Nope.
00:56:32
Speaker
If you're a Yankee, are you an all-time best Yankee? Nope. I mean, are you even Craig Nettles? you could I mean, the only read the only way you become a Yankees legend is if you rattle off three, four championships in your six years in New York. That's the only way. But then if you're but if you do that, then you can't say he's Reggie Jackson, because Reggie Jackson was the, ah you know, the stakingly best player on those seven teams.
00:57:01
Speaker
It depends on what he does in the postseason. If Bregman goes off, then yeah, he's Reggie Jackson, and that's what it is. But the odds are he's going to be a good piece on a good team, and his best years are behind him. And you're paying for the Alex Bregman of the past, and you're getting um an aging veteran.
00:57:20
Speaker
Who yeah, I have that speed is down who has a history of wrist and forearm injury Injuries that when that happens, he can't get through the baseball and he hits a bunch of lazy five balls to right field Yeah, I think you'll he'll end up being a Yankee or Red Sox. I Think you'll be either at or below what the Astros offer was and it'll be one of those deals where Whoever loses out on who they want, whether it's the Red Sox or, you know, the Red Sox have actually sneakily had a really good off season so far. So to me, if they signed Bregman, I mean, that would be a pretty damn good off season for them. I mean, yeah, Bregman's a nice piece. Don't get me wrong. I would have loved to have Alex Bregman back, but I think the offer we gave him was fair. He turned that down and the Astros cannot sit around.
00:58:17
Speaker
and Wait till February hoping Bregman resigns Then what do you do if he doesn't resign and everybody else is gone, right? I have to you know and And part of the hat tip probably goes to Dana Brown as well for having a backup plan saying hey Alex You've got till this day to make a decision on this contract Otherwise it's going off the table and the money's going out the door elsewhere I can't sit here and wait for you. You've been in Houston for this long. You know who we are. You know what our pitch is.
Astros' Management and Strategic Planning
00:58:48
Speaker
You know what the culture is. Are you in or you're out? And again, I commend David Brown for having a plan. He went into the offseason and said, you know, we need to find a way to keep this window open a little bit longer. Fans may not have liked how they did it, but realistically,
00:59:05
Speaker
This is a competitive lineup, Scott. like Do we love how all the positions play out? No. But as you said, you've got 30 home run potential with Paredes. You've got 30 home run potential with Walker. You've got 30 home run potential with Yordan Alvarez. You've got 20, 25 home run potential with Altuve. You've got 20, 25 home run potential with Yayner Diaz.
00:59:26
Speaker
that's ninety hundred forty That's 130 home runs between five five guys right there. That's a pretty rockin' offense. Yeah, and I think we're going back to the Scott Boris, I think the comments are because the Astros chose to move on. Because the Astros learned their Carlos Beltran lesson from 2004, where we're just waiting for Beltran to make a decision and then finally he makes a decision in what was in January, February, and there was nobody else worth having at that point. So the Astros learned their lesson. You can't afford to wait, you know, Boris is using you
01:00:03
Speaker
You know he's using you. Don't let him use you. Yeah. And I'll save the rest of my comment for the, for the hat tips. I guess I might tip my cap on my hat tip, but let's move it over. Scott, who do you have as your, uh, your hat tip here this week? So you're going to tip your cap one direction. I'm going to go, uh, adjacent to that. And I'm going to tip my cat to Jim Crain because, and I wrote an article that got blistered.
01:00:33
Speaker
on crawfish boxes because I praised Jim Crane. Because Jim c Crane, he's done one thing that no owner in this town, not a single one in Astros baseball history, has been willing to spend top dollar on his team. John McMullen, the first owner that I remember vividly, yeah, he signed the old one to the first million dollar contract.
01:01:01
Speaker
offered him a pay cut following the 1988 season when all he did Tim was lead the league in strikeouts in 1988 offered him a pay cut. I mean, I, I can't emphasize that enough. Drake McLean for years, you know, I'm going to go big and say Carlos Lee, but I'm going to skip all the rest of the parts of my team. I'm going to sign Carlos Lee and then try and give his everyone a tie. Wiggington is the move that puts us over the top.
01:01:30
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to let Darrell Kyle walk out of town over a million dollars. I'm going to trade Kim and Eddie because I can't afford him. We're going to do all these things, right? Drayton McLean has spent up to the tax threshold and over it. Jim Crane. Yeah, Jim Crane. He's doing this again. he said You said Drayton, but Jim Crane. Jim Crane. He's spent it over again.
01:01:58
Speaker
He's probably going to go right up to the tax threshold this time around. Estimates are based on arbitration that we're going to come in just under it. Now, did they find a taker for Ryan Pressley? Maybe. Maybe. Then you can go get another outfielder. Then you can get an outfielder inventory, or you can sign. you know You can afford to sign some of those outliers we were talking about with $14 million dollars fresh. You can maybe afford to sign that lugi of that you could add to your bullpen. But either way, Jim Cray is spending money on this team. And yes, they traded Kyle Tucker. Yes, they've probably listened on Fromber Valdez. And you know what? Fromber Valdez might end up being dealt before this offseason is done. and And I hate to say that, but the p point is, is that at this point, not in 2022 or 2023,
01:02:57
Speaker
But at this point, it looks like the baseball people are in charge. And so far, I can't quibble with any of the baseball decisions that the baseball people have made. Jim Crane, you get my hat tip for the week for at least agreeing you know to spend money. Maybe fans might disagree with how it's being spent, but you're still spending it. I'm with you. i think You hit the nail on the head with that last comment. We may not all agree with where the money goes, right? Like, yeah, it sucks. We're wasting a ton of money on Abreu and Montero. That is, that is lost money. But at the end of the day, you have put up in a world where it's put up or shut up. You've opened the checkbook and and you've if' spent at the tax threshold. What I love for you to be the Dodgers and say, money is no object. Fuck it. Let's go. Yeah, we all would.
01:03:53
Speaker
But the Dodgers have like six owners. It's a different scenario. Jim c Crane, when he bought this team, had quite a few minority owners that little by little he has bought out. So Jim's the guy. And I think the guys put a competitive roster on the field. And again, as you mentioned, letting the baseball people be in charge is the biggest part of it. I think the parallel you can draw between owners is is between the Houston Texans and the and the Houston Astros, right? Both for different reasons, you know the owner either let the wrong, they really let the wrong people get involved, right? With the Texans, you know, the though owner passes away, team goes to the son, somehow an Easter bait gets his hands involved and shit gets out of control. Well, eventually the owner wakes up, really his wife fell asleep and when she woke up, the owner got his astute out. Next thing you know, things get better. Well, with the Astros, it was
01:04:47
Speaker
You had to light $39 million. dollars Jim Crane is wasting $39 million dollars because he didn't let the baseball people be in charge. I think that's a pretty expensive mistake that Jeff Bagwell and Reggie Jackson made. Therefore, I'm going to let my baseball people be back in charge again. Because at the end of the day, let's not forget this guy's a wealthy businessman. They don't like wasting money.
01:05:10
Speaker
Reggie Jackson is no longer an employee of the Astros either. I don't know if we've ever really mentioned that on this on the show He's back with the Yankees. And so um It seems that the the ships have been righted and so forth that I do agree with you the Astros Jim crane deserves some recognition Dana Brown deserves the recognition as well as I said moments ago for having the plan knowing that hey we just saw Juan Soto take 700 and 60-something million dollars. When you line Kyle Tucker's stats up from 2019 to last season up next to Juan Soto, there's not a lot of difference. And Kyle Tucker is a better defensive player. So while he may not have the name cache to get 760-something million dollars, I think Kyle Tucker is looking at a 350 million dollar contract pretty squarely in the eye, and we know that Jim Crane doesn't do those. So hey, I'm gonna have a plan for that.
01:06:03
Speaker
I'm giving Alex Bregman till this date to make a decision. If he doesn't, there's a first baseman that I know would love to come to town, and we can make these other subsidiary moves. And hey, our infield defense is just as good, if not better, based on this plan that I have. And I'm going to pick up a top prospect that within a year or two, I'm going to have elite level third base play back again. Okay, let's go make that move. So a secondary hat tip there to to Dana Brown again.
01:06:31
Speaker
All right, so so that that is your hat tip. That's my hat tip. I do want to give a ah second hat tip. We didn't get to mention them today. Houston Rockets playing great fucking ball, man. Second place in the West right now, 20 and nine, a half game above Memphis in the Western Conference, fourth best record overall in the NBA. So while I didn't get to see them on Christmas Day, they did win tonight and a hat tip is deserved for your Houston Rockets.
Houston Rockets and Bobby Sloak Critique
01:07:01
Speaker
Yeah. And so, yeah, I did see the score at halftime. So then they'd go on to win that game. They did go underway. Yeah. So they were up by, they were up big and going into halftime. So I figured they would. All right, Scott. It's that time. These people have offended us and they deserve to be recognized as scumbags of the week. Scott, who do you have for us? I'm going to go with a frequent flyer here.
01:07:29
Speaker
the guy that's been in our crosshairs for, I would say, the last six weeks. Okay. I want to go Bobby Sloak. All right. um i was I do have a secondary scumbag that i that I'll offer in after you're done with yours, if you'll remind me, but I'm sorry, two points and their defensive point. You guys shut out. That's the first 31 game that has ended with a team scoring two points since 2013. I mean, that's just pitiful. And yeah, you can offer up cutting excuses. Yeah. Take those injuries was horrible. Uh, and I, and I, I get it. You know, CJ is probably not mentally prepared to play, but you know whose job it is to kind of, you know, build a game plan around who your players are. That's your offensive coordinator. Your offensive coordinator needs to know, Hey,
01:08:27
Speaker
you know, my quarterback's just not with it right now. Maybe we need to lean heavily on Joe Mixon. Maybe this needs to be like a Joe Mixon 25, 30 carry game. Since, you know, our quarterback maybe is not, you know, mentally where he should be right now. Maybe we have, you know, another running back on the roster, any other running back on the roster that could take maybe five or 10 carries. If you want to make it at a run heavy game, that would may also be a way to maybe take,
01:08:57
Speaker
some of the air out of the Baltimore office, you know, maybe the best thing to do for your defense is to keep your defense on the sideline. Maybe you do that. Um, you know, maybe you bring in, you know, your better tight end who's better blocking, which I guess at this point is Irv Smith. yeah No, you brought back back. Yeah. I mean, bring in your best secondary blocker in addition to that line and say, let's go ahead and, you know,
01:09:26
Speaker
let's go heavy and see what we can do with this running game. And the running game was not absolutely terrible. It's been worse in other weeks, but she just abandoned it. You said, we're just going to let CJ hover around. He gets sacked five times. He overthrows like five or six targets. It was just, it was a horrible day. And it seemed like it was, it seemed like a fait accompli, which is the worst feeling that you could have going into a football game.
01:09:58
Speaker
to me it almost seemed like they wrote up both game plans before the Kansas City game and then they're like hey guys take some time off we know we got the holidays coming up just get both get both projects turned in before this game and then we'll have you know it's honestly what it seemed like right like there was No accounting for the fact that you lost one of your most important pieces on offense and you didn't really have any way to replace it and you just didn't account for that. So yeah, Bobby's slow. Absolutely. I know it's getting over mentioned, but like that should say something, right? Like when you get called out week in a week out on the podcast, let's come back in a week. Um, you're reaching Ted Cruz territory. Now at this point, Bobby, I don't think that's where you want to be. Yeah, he's almost a Greg at a of territory.
01:10:49
Speaker
All right, Scott, I am going to call out a a group of fans, a type of Texans fan that is called CJ's toughness into question because he cried or he shed tears you know when talking about the tank tail injury ah either in the press conference or it happened on the field.
Masculinity in Sports Discussion
01:11:11
Speaker
We have a problem in this country when it comes to masculinity.
01:11:17
Speaker
Right. You've got people like Andrew Tate. You've got people like Elon Musk. You've got people like Alex Jones, who are constantly talking about what a man is and, you know, showing toughness and being ready to fight and kill at all times to where when we watch something like that happen, I was tearing up and I don't know Tankdale personally. I just love the guy as a player, as an alumnus of my university and whatever. That's that man's literal best friend.
01:11:47
Speaker
his best fucking friend and and to call into question any aspect of his character for showing emotion is is disgusting, right? Like I already hate that men in general are held to the standard that you have to be, you know, as Tony Soprano put it, the Gary Cooper type, right? The slow, you know, the the silent steady type. When in actuality, like it's healthy for all of us to express emotion that we have a quarterback who,
01:12:16
Speaker
is struggling and has that happened to him and While most of the city has done what they can to support and and lift him up. There's a loud minority um who questions his you know toughness or his is Fortitude because something like that and and I just think it's disgusting Well it think about this way, you know everybody has has what they have, you know, a work best friend. I'm sure you do, Tim. You know, somebody who you get along with best at work. Uh, I mean, like I, I'm fully remote and so it's a, it's a different vibe. I mean, there's, I guess there's people who I pal around with, but yeah, like when I worked
01:13:06
Speaker
at the air hogs, like we had different relationships. like i still I still am in touch with with one of the guys. we We both have season tickets to Dallas Broadway. We we both have kids the same age. We we text two, three times a week. And it's literally not a best friend, but it's the best work for it. Yeah. And it if you could met if anybody can imagine something this horrible happening to a best friend, because what you're looking at quite I would say probably better than 50% chance. Tank Dell never plays another down in the NFL. I think you'd probably agree with that, right? Yeah. I mean, this is like, we're looking at like a Bo Jackson type injury right here. And Tank Dell doesn't play baseball. and it But 50% because he's had every knee, every ligament, you know, damage to his knee. And I saw my dad had that happen to him. He used to be referee basketball games.
01:14:05
Speaker
He, uh, he was referring a game with a guy named Larry Johnson was playing JUCO ball. I'm sure you recognize. The Larry Johnson. Yeah. So Larry Johnson's full board, all six foot seven, two 50 of them on, you know, one-on-one fast break with a kid. And this kid was like, I'm going to draw a charge from Larry Johnson at the last second. The kid's like, I'm not drawing. No, I'm not.
01:14:36
Speaker
So my dad plans to make the call and the kid bails. And so he is a dad's leg just dead on to where every ligament in it. Dad's got an artificial knee. He's had an artificial knee now for over 20 years. That was the last basketball game he repped and he finished the game. You want to talk about tough. It was back in the days of two man crews. And so he was, he was permanently at half court.
01:15:04
Speaker
The other guy, the other guy had to do the hard work of going sideline to sideline because he just me think about your work best friend it suffering some kind of a career ender in the middle of a work shift. Are you going to be mentally? Okay. I'm ready for the day to go on. Let's go. I mean, is that, that going to be YouTube? No.
01:15:31
Speaker
And that's not even a work best friend, right? like that's what like That's his legitimate best friend. yeah i was like if Even if we weren't working together, if if my my best friend called me and so and said, i I just blew out my knee, and all this happened, and I can't walk, and I'm gonna be know i'm in the hospital for this long. I'm booking a flight.
01:15:57
Speaker
And then I'm, and I'm a wreck until I'm there to be with them. Right. and And that's from a distance. I couldn't imagine seeing it. So, uh, just as a secondary scumbag, Tim, you mentioned the Rockets and how great the Rockets have been doing. I don't know if you saw the, uh, or heard the Charles Barkley comments, uh, during the NBA cup. I did not. He said, this team doesn't know how to play basketball.
01:16:27
Speaker
So you're 21 and nine, second place in the West, Houston Rockets don't know how to play basketball. And do you know why he's making these comments, Tim? Why? He's butt hurt because he thinks that the Rockets owe him money based on his last year with the team. Like he thinks, I think they're going to have a dispute over like, it's like two or $3 million. And this is like Leslie Alexander period Rockets. I mean, this is not, you know, uh, Tillman Fertitta Rockets.
01:16:58
Speaker
Uh, which, you know, by the way, congratulations to Tillman. Did you hear he is going to be the ambassador to Italy? Yeah. so writer who's Takes over day to day controls of the team. His son, his son's gonna be charged. I don't love that. I don't love it. But luckily I already bought my cars and so, uh, I don't have to worry about dealing with, with it, but I know his son runs all the dealerships and so his son's going to take over all of his business operations. So it is what it is. Um, but yeah.
01:17:27
Speaker
like Charles Barkley, I mean, get your personal life out of your commentary. If you look at a 21 and 19 that was 500 last year with virtually the same roster and your comment is, this team doesn't know how to play basketball. Well, then does any team know how to play basketball, Charles? Are we going to sit there and pull that shit? Or it's like, well, back in my day, we knew how to play the game. I mean, people have been doing that for years. I mean, that's a ti tired, tired talking point.
01:17:57
Speaker
I mean guys from the sixties are doing it for based on the guys in the nineties and the guys in the thirties are doing it based on the guys in the sixties. It's just, it's tired. The game changes, but I mean, it is what it is. One funny little anecdote, Scott, you mentioned your dad finishing out the rest of the game, uh, after taking that knee injury, I experienced essentially the flip side of that.
Podcast Conclusion
01:18:19
Speaker
I was a, when I was on the high school golf team, I played for CLBB, uh, clear lake boys basketball, the rec league.
01:18:25
Speaker
and the ref didn't show up one game so we had like the league president had to fill in as the ref and he was not like in shape to be a game day referee so he's hopping and puffing and we had like a legit pass break when this dude killed it with a timeout for himself he yells my time my time as he hustles down the court so he could set up and then he goes goes he goes okay go and then like we had to like restart the pass break so he could be in position to make the call you know but ah Stories of the the rec league basketball world in high school. Oh, wow that's awesome That's awesome. We had ah also we had one of our our confirmation Teachers was a was a referee in that league who yes? Occasionally I made some calls against me that I was not a fan of so I would I would get in Ken's grill on On Sunday after our Saturday games like can I get a call foul on me when I'm all the way across the court? And the guy who hacked him was like not even near me. Oh, maybe I got the number wrong Tim
01:19:24
Speaker
Don't do it again. Don't do it again, Ken. Killing me out there. Oh man. But that's going to do it for us here this week. Uh, hopefully everyone had a wonderful holiday. Um, and we will be back probably a Thursday again next week as it's new year's day on, on Wednesday. So, uh, holiday scheduling throwing us off a little bit, but we will be back at it next week, Thursday, and then to our normal schedule again after that, but appreciate everybody who joined us this week. We will be back next week. I'm born on the by esports.