Hey everybody, welcome back to the Throwing Partners podcast.
It's Kirby and Joseph here coming to you on a Monday night.
The Braves actually have the night off, a much needed night off, and the Astros are playing right now.
So Joe, we haven't really talked about our teams a lot lately, so I'm going to kick it off to you in just a second and we're going to get things rolling.
Yeah, so to get things started off, it's been a while since we've done this regular episodes.
So I'm just going to go all the way back and give kind of a series by series breakdown of what the Astros have done post All -Star break, just to refresh everybody's mind as to the
current state of the team as it is right now.
So that first series after the All -Star break was a pretty important series.
It was a series against the Seattle Mariners who the Astros had been
climbing back to reach for first place all season.
And they would do just that in the series against the Mariners.
They would take two out of three.
They would take the first game, which would put them in a virtual tie for first place against the Mariners.
And then they would go on to win the second game, which gave them sole possession of first place against the Mariners.
They would end up losing the last game of that series, six to four, which would
have them be in a virtual tie again.
So they ended that series, both being in first place.
And then the Astros would move on to a series against the Oakland Athletics.
And this athletic series was difficult because before the All -Star break, the athletics had gotten hot and stayed hot.
The Astros would end up losing a series that a lot of people thought that
would be an easy win.
They would lose two out of three against the athletics and they would end up losing three in a row from the end of that Mariner series into the last game of that Oakland series.
And this series was special because it was the last time the Astros will play in the Oakland Coliseum against the Oakland Athletics.
You know, it's sad for baseball to see that a place with so much history and a city with so much baseball history is losing their franchise because of stubbornness from ownership
and just the city altogether.
But mainly the ownership.
If there's one person to blame, it's the Oakland Athletics owner.
He never wanted to spend money on the team and it really goes to show.
And it's just frustrating to see that he basically strong armed.
the athletics out of Oakland because that is a city that deserves a sports team and it now went from having three sports teams and the last 10 years to having none with the
departure of the athletics.
So the Astros would lose this series three games to two.
They would pop off in the last game, which would start them on a three game winning streak carried through the second game of the Dodger series.
But
They would win that last game eight to one and then move on to the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers that Friday.
They would win against the Dodgers who are banged up in their own ways.
But the Astros are obviously banged up in theirs too.
Five to nothing.
And then on the Saturday game, the Astros would win in miraculous comeback fashion.
Seven to six after being down five to nothing.
For most of the game the Astros would get a late inning home run from Alex Bregman off of Blake Trident which gave me 2017 vibes because as most people know Game five of 2017 World
Series the last home game the Astros played in Houston for the 2017 season Alex Bregman walked it off against the Dodgers and You know put the Astros up three games to two
Ultimately setting them up to win the World Series in seven in LA, but that game was special.
I was at that game.
I was at game five and I wasn't at the Saturday game, but it watching it on TV.
It gave me 2017 vibes.
It's a heated rivalry.
is Joe Kelly.
Once again, chirping his little ass off.
He does not know when to shut up.
And I don't really understand his appeal to Dodgers fans because he is quite honestly just a little.
I don't even like he's just a pain in the ass.
Honestly, I mean he chirps and then they get owned.
So honestly, if I was a Dodgers fan, I wouldn't put up with it.
But the Astros would win that game seven to six and then they would lose the final game of that series on Sunday, six to two.
It was a good series ultimately because the Astros would end up winning.
You know, it was a nice victory.
but the Astros haven't really done much since.
So it's kind of disappointing.
That last game of the, or that Saturday game of the Dodger series honestly felt like the last time the Astros had really put up some big numbers offensively and ever since then
they've played kind of flat.
Which brings me to the Pirate series.
Monday was the first day of that Pirate series and it was also trade deadline Eve.
And that is the day that we found out that the Astros would be acquiring Yusei Kikuchi for Jake Bloss, Joey Loprofito, and Will Wagner.
And I was at attendance on that Monday game when the news broke that the Astros would not only be sending Jake Bloss to the Toronto Blue Jays, but they would also be sending Joey
Loprofito and Will Wagner, which at the time and still kind of does feels like a massive overpay.
But I was actually at the game because I wanted to see Paul Skeen's pitch.
Livia Dunn's boyfriend and he was electric, but the Astros were able to get to him.
They would end up losing that game, unfortunately, because Ryan Presley doesn't know how to hold on to a lead and Josh Hager has a home run problem.
So that was very unfortunate.
The Astros would end up losing five to three.
They would go on to lose the next game of the series six to two, which was trade deadline day.
The Astros only made one other move for a Yankees reliever Chad Ferguson, I believe and He has already pitched in a game and he did well his first inning against Tampa Bay debuting
did not do so well And that's second inning of work, but that's for another series But getting back to the trade deadline eve day that Monday game that I was
finding out that the Astros had traded Joey Lopofito and Will Wagner along with Jake Bloss hurt because Joey Lopofito is someone who has actually contributed to the Big League club
so far this season and he has come up clutch in some very You know clutch situations when the Astros have needed it.
He's been very timely with his hits He does have a strikeout problem, but I do believe that that is something he can work
He is a rookie and everybody keeps dogging on him for his high strikeout percentage.
But what people don't understand is he progressed really fast in the Astros minor league system and he has all the tools to be a very successful MLB player.
A lot of people are more upset about the loss of Jake Bloss because you're giving up six years of control for a young pitcher who just like Paul Skeens was drafted just last year.
He progressed really fast in the Astros farm system.
But in my opinion, I am not really projecting Jake Bloss to be that much.
I think that he'll be an innings eater like Jose Urquide or Brandon Bielak.
But I don't think that he's got a ceiling of someone that's gonna be a superstar in this game and blow the doors off of hitters.
mean, he was dealing with an arm injury after his first start in the major leagues, which that just screams red flag to me.
I know that pitchers can obviously.
rehab and overcome arm injuries but and all of his starts he would go three innings and in that fourth inning he would hit a wall and lose velocity on his fastball and again I know
he's young he still has time to build up which is exactly what the Blue Jays are gonna giving gonna give him the chance to do when because they immediately optioned him to
triple -a but
For me, honestly, he's someone that wasn't really going to contribute to the big league club this year or not positively anyways, because every start that he had, he was
basically coming out of the game in the fourth inning and he wasn't giving the Astros any much needed link.
And I think you say Kikuchi will do just that for the Astros.
So once again, the Astros would lose that pirate series, two games to three, winning the final game of that series and then starting
the race series with a much needed win because the Astros had been on a skid.
And that first game of the race series was Usai Kikuchi's Astros debut.
And boy, it did not start off well.
He would come in, make the start and immediately give up a lead off double.
And then on the second batter of the game, a two run home run.
But that was all he gave up after that.
He would end up recording 11 strikeouts in his Astros debut and he did something that I thought before the game he would make an adjustment to.
And it's something that I believe a lot of other people on Astros Twitter saw as well as the Astros pitching staff and scouting department.
I think that they went off to you say Kikuchi and gave up as much as they did because they project him as a three starter.
I truly believe that and Dana Brown said that and came out and said that on the Astros home network radio show a couple of days after the trade.
And I think that what they saw was a lack of efficiency and just stubbornness from either him or Toronto Blue Jays pitching department because good Lord, I do not understand why he
was using his curve ball 32 % of the time over his change up and slider.
When his curveball is his hardest hit pitch It was very obvious to see kind of what adjustment the Astros would attempt to make And the Astros have come out and said that
there I mean it's not gonna he's not gonna completely scrap the curveball Which I do think that they should just completely scrap it because the numbers on the slider and change up
are just so good but He would leave his curveball
over the plate, over the heart of the plate and was getting constantly hit his hardest pitch.
And for some reason he was still using it 32 % of the time.
And I just, think that the Astro saw that if they cut that curve ball percentage down to around 2 % that he has some real efficiencies with his change up, which generates the
least amount of contact.
But he was utilizing it the least as a Toronto Blue J and then his slider.
which also generates a lot of soft contact as well.
But for the change up specifically, I loved seeing him throw it a ton in his first start.
He got a lot of strikeouts off of it.
And I just, think that that's, it's something that the Astros have been very good at.
When you go back and look at guys like Charlie Morton or even this year with Hunter Brown adding his cutter or two scene fastball, they're figuring out ways to take what pitchers
do.
already very well and just creating efficiencies off of it, highlighting it.
know, guys like Garrett Cole and Justin Verlander, you know what they're going to throw before, you know, they even throw it.
They have most MLB hitters have a scouting report.
They have the percentage breakdown of what pitch is most likely to come in and that bat.
And you still can't hit them.
And a lot of people have been saying, well, maybe this UK,
Kikuchi start was a one -hit wonder because now teams are gonna know that he's gonna be relying heavily on his change -up and slider But I disagree.
I mean he places both pitches very well Now I do believe that he does have a problem with this fastball.
He leaves his fastball middle middle And he needs to kind of place that fastball a little bit higher in the zone for it to be Really effective along with that change -up and slider
Ari Alexander, a reporter for KPRC2, did a comparison between his fastball heat map and Justin Verlander's heat map.
They have very similar fastballs.
It's just Kikuchi consistently leaves his fastball just a little bit, a couple inches under where Justin Verlander has been able to spot his fastball up.
If Kikuchi can get that fastball just a little bit higher in the zone, it will play and
Along with that change up in slider that he, could be seeing 11 strikeouts per game from him consistently if he can do that.
And he will be that third starter that the Astros projected him to be trading for.
so I was really encouraged by, what I saw.
I predicted it ahead of game time on Friday during the day.
I was really proud to see the prediction of mine based off of the analytics actually came to light.
Although I know I wasn't the only one that predicted the drop in usage first curveball.
A lot of people were able to see that, but it's just something that I saw with my own eyes and I was able to correctly predict.
So like I said, I was really encouraged by that start.
Not really encouraged about anything else I saw from the Astros, however, and that Tampa Bay series as they would go on to lose the last two games of that series.
and get some pretty bad news over the weekend as well.
Losing that series.
On Tuesday of the Pirate series, both Justin Verlander and Luis Garcia pitched in simulated games before they were supposed to progress and make a rehab start.
Justin Verlander came out of his simulated game feeling fine.
He's gonna throw a bullpen.
And then after that, you know, they're going to see how he feels and then he will be making rehab starts.
he's going to need about two rehab starts before he's able to build up back to the big league rotation.
Luis Garcia, Luis Garcia, however, on the other hand, felt elbow soreness and will be shut down.
It still a no throw, as of this moment.
It's kind of frustrating to see because this is the second setback we've had with Luis.
And again, he's feeling soreness.
He was ahead of schedule for the longest time.
And now he's kind of back on that, that 12 month to 14 month period where guys need to recover for Tommy John.
But I said it when they first started giving a timeline on Luis Garcia, I thought that they were rushing him.
I didn't.
I mean, I see the need for it.
I see that the Astros need it, need him.
But the cons were just, I mean, the cons of not having him again for another season just outweighed the pros in my opinion.
I mean, he's going to almost have a Lance McCullers Jr.
type of timeline now where we also got news that Lance McCullers Jr.
is likely to miss the rest of the season.
The last time we saw Lance McCullers Jr.
he was giving up six home runs to the Phillies in the 2022 World Series after having a start pushback because of champagne bottle hitting his elbow.
Yeah, give me a break.
I people love to love on him, but that is the biggest load of crap for someone who has come out and said that he is pitched injured before and the 2018 postseason and then
ultimately had to get Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2020 2019 season.
Only staying healthy for the 2020 season and the 2021 season up until the postseason.
It's BS.
I believe that he keeps pitching injured or he doesn't take his rehab serious or he's just not.
I don't know.
I really don't know what it is with him.
I don't know if his body is just efficient or defective.
But he's come out and said that he's pitch injured before.
So I
Like he has no benefit of the doubt in my opinion.
He very well could be rushing it to get back so that he can contribute and he can make himself feel better.
But it's the same thing like in 2021 after that White Sox series when he went down, everybody said that he should get the surgery on his elbow so he can just get it over
with.
What did he do?
He refused to do it.
Waited until
after the 2022 season to get the surgery missed all of 2023 and is now going to miss all of 2024 when he could have just had a surgery after the 2021 season missed the entire 2022
season and he could probably be pitching right now if he would have stayed if he had that surgery it's a bunch of what ifs but he could be healthy right now and he could be making
a contribution for the Astros but he decided that he wanted to just straight rehab it not get the safe surgery
This is what it's led to.
It's led to two consecutive years without having Lance McCullers Jr.
Basically three because he only threw seven games in the 2022 season.
So we got that news as well.
I have thoughts about my colors.
Can I share?
Yeah, go ahead.
Okay.
So, McCullers is actually one year younger than I am.
So we came up basically in the same generation of baseball players.
obviously not the same talent level.
but my thought on it is Joe is like, when we were growing up, like they would just burn kids to the core.
And I'm talking about like, it didn't matter if you were 12, like you were going to go throw six innings, seven innings.
didn't matter.
when you were 14, guess what?
You were throwing a lot of innings.
When you were in high school, you were throwing a lot of innings.
There were no pitch counts.
There were no pitch limits.
And guys were spinning the ball a lot earlier.
I honestly don't know if there is actually a reasonable thought or a reasonable expectation that he should ever come back to pro ball.
Because for one, that arms only got so many bullets and I'm not saying that he may have used them all already.
But don't be surprised if we never see him in pro ball again.
Because honestly, I don't I don't know that I don't know that his arm is physically capable of actually coming back and even being used again I mean we saw the same thing
essentially with Dylan Bundy for those of you who are familiar He's also my age.
If y didn't know I'm But Dylan Bundy was overused as a kid when he was in junior high and high school, especially And he ended up making it to the big leagues
But he burned out early because of all of the high stress he had when he was young.
And I'm sure my colors went through the same thing.
So it's just, it's one of those things, Joe, it's unfortunate that that happened to both of them, but I don't know that he ever makes it back to the big leagues, if we're being
honest.
Yeah, and doesn't like I said, it doesn't help his case that he's come out and said, are there have been reports that he has played injured before in his past?
That is the in my opinion, that is the most selfish thing you can do, especially as a pitcher on the baseball field.
You control the game.
Like if you're throwing injured, you're setting your team up for failure.
And not only are you setting up your team for failure on the field, you're setting them up for failure off the field,
because the Astros have had two consecutive off seasons where they needed to address starting pitching.
But the GM and the medical staff said, no, Lance McCullers Jr.
He should be ready sometime in the year.
And guess what?
The reinforcements never came.
And it's the same thing this year.
We were expecting reinforcements.
He never came.
It is so frustrating to me.
Luis Garcia Jr.
That's a different case.
He was progressing a lot faster.
The medical team felt like he was progressing a lot faster.
He showed no signs up until his rehab start and then now subsequently his simulated game and they're shutting him down.
Now he came out and said that he is not feeling great.
They shut him down.
He is doing the right thing.
He is not trying to pitch through it.
I genuinely appreciate that after dealing with the Lance McCullers junior experience.
Like if we're going to miss Luis Garcia, Jr.
I keep saying junior.
That's a different Luis Garcia.
If we're going to miss Luis Garcia for the remainder of the season, that's fine as long as he can come back healthy next season.
I'm okay with that because we've got Justin Verlander still and while Verlander may be older and he's not the same Cy Young Verlander that we saw in 2022 or 2019, he can still
give us some good decent innings that I will feel happy with.
So, I mean, that's basically, that's just my little rant to wrap it
The Astros are currently tied with the Rangers in the first game of their series, 1 -1, and the bottom of the sixth with two outs as of right now.
So hopefully they can get the win.
That series is tied.
The season series is tied 5 -5.
So the winner of this series will win the silver boot for the year the Astros have won it seven consecutive years.
So I'm hoping they can make that an
Well, let's hope so, Joe.
And let me just say this.
It's a great day in Braves country because today they cannot physically lose to a AAA team.
So honestly, it's not a bad day for me.
Joe, I've been saying this since May and nothing's changed.
The Braves are still a 500 team since May 1st.
They went 13 and 14 in May.
They went 14 and 13 in June.
They went 12 and 13 in July.
And they're currently two and two in August.
That is actually one game below 500, but you get the point.
They are 7 and 9 since the All -Star break.
It got kind of ugly there for a little bit.
Let me just explain here.
They came out of the break and had a series against St.
Louis.
They won the first game in a walk -off actually, which was kind of a cool way to start the second half, and then, you know, consequently lost the next two games.
Then they went, then they had a two -game set against Cincinnati at home and lost both of those.
That sucked.
So that that drove their losing streak to four and then after that they had a weekend series against the Mets and Lost the first two of that one as well Which gave them a six
game losing streak and I believe that's the first time that's happened since 2017 before this division run title started One of the games that they lost in New York was absolutely
horrific one of the ugliest losses of the season
They had a defensive blunder in the 10th that ultimately cost them the game and the game that they should have won.
It was horrible.
And then Joe, the best part about it is Sal Lakota comes through again and says after the Mets go up a half game after the second loss of the series, Sal Lakota comes through and
says, the NL wild card race is over.
Well, what happens after that?
Well, the Braves, of course, won the last two games of the series.
So they actually left New York on a high note and went to Milwaukee and won the first two.
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Let's see.
They lost the first game there, sorry.
And then they won the last two games.
I think I've got that right.
And yeah, that's right.
So they come home on a two game win streak against Milwaukee and then they won the first two games against the Marlins.
They've officially activated Jorge Soler after he's been traded.
And you you start thinking like, okay, the Braves are cooking.
think things are looking up.
You know, their top five is Solerre, it's Riley, it's Ozuna, it's Olsen, and it's a catcher.
So it sounds good on paper, right?
Until Saturday.
Saturday, they lose to the Marlins.
Okay, you're gonna lose some games even to AAA teams.
But then Sunday, they decided to also lose in an ugly game.
It was a...
Max Free decided to come back.
I don't know if that was the best option for the team or not.
Didn't matter because they got shut out anyway.
But he did not look good.
He looked very rusty.
I think he had five walks, which was pitiful against the Marlins.
I don't know how you even give up five walks to the Marlins.
But he did and the Braves got shut out and it was ugly.
So needless to say, today being an off day was a real blessing for them.
They desperately needed a day away from baseball.
I am hoping
When they kick off this series against Milwaukee tomorrow, that thing start to look up for them.
They desperately need to go on a streak where they win eight out of 10, know, 12 out of 15, something like that, to kind of separate themselves a little bit.
Now, while all of this is happening, Joe, there's been a couple of positives here.
Orlando Arcia has decided to come alive.
Okay, thank God.
He's got a 1 .004
Ops with four home runs since the all -star break that place that is outstanding That's not Bobby wit jr.
Levels, but we're gonna talk about that in a little bit Marcelo Zuna is doing his thing.
He's got a 912 OPS with six homers since the break He is still on track to probably finish on the top three of the MVP Running probably without Tony winning it And then you've got
Austin Riley who's got an 805 OPS with three homers since the break
So not great, but also not horrible either.
That's pretty solid.
Matt Olson, the OPS is not there, but he's got five homers, which I will happily take.
And then the team actually has 29 homers since the All -Star break, which is second MLB, or at least it was as of yesterday.
So we will take that.
However, most of these home runs have been solo shots, and they desperately need to get guys on base in front of these guys that are hitting homers.
That'll ways we can start scoring some more runs.
So there's been some positives there, but they've still got a lot of work to do when it comes to the lineup.
The pitching staff, since the All -Star break, they've got 178 Ks, which leads MLB.
Fantastic, right?
As a team, they've got a 395 ERA, which is not great, but it's not horrible either.
It's just about the middle of the pack.
So the pitching staff overall is still doing a pretty decent job.
Now granted they have lost Max Free, they have lost Renato Lopez, they have been plugging those holes with Grant Holmes and with Bryce Elder and guys in the bullpen that may not be
there much longer like Luke Jackson.
So that ERA still sits at the top of league at like a 3 -4 -4 I think for the season.
So the pitching staff, they've just been outstanding.
I can't say enough good things about them.
But the offense is still, that has been their problem all
If this offense was just a top 10 offense and not a top 15 offense, this team might have 70 wins right now.
And I'm not exaggerating that, but that's just how good the pitching staff has been.
This is the same team that lost a one -nothing game against the White Sox.
The White Sox have lost 20 games in a row!
How do you lose 20 freaking games in a row?
I don't get it, but it's just that game frustrates me because we saw a gym from Chris Sale.
And he took the loss in that game and we couldn't scrape across one run against the White Sox.
I swear to God there are teams that play in men's league Sundays in Houston that could beat the White Sox right now if Garrett Crochet is not pitching.
They are that bad right now.
So needless to say, I'm getting off my tangent there, but that's just how frustrating this offense has been this year.
I mentioned the Phillies.
Or did I mention the Phillies?
No, I did not mention the Phillies.
The Phillies are starting a series tonight against the Dodgers.
Okay?
I'm gonna read off some stats to you real quick, Since the All -Star break, the Phillies are 4 -11.
Okay?
Not too long ago, the Braves were, I think, 10 or 10 and a half games back in that division.
As it sits right now, the Braves are six games back.
Which is
not undoable for them to catch them because technically they still have seven games left against the Phillies and so far this year they're four and two against the Phillies.
Surprisingly the Braves have actually played better against teams that are above 500.
I don't get it but hey I'll take it.
You know, that's kind of what the Astros formula has been over the last couple years where they beat up on really good teams and they just don't give up for the bad ones.
I don't get it at all because you've got to take care of those crappy teams that are only gonna win 60 games on the season and Yes, it might be their World Series But you've got to
treat it as your World Series as well and get those but what should be bona fide wins It drives me nuts that we're dropping these games to terrible teams Anyway what I was saying
about the Phillies, okay, they're two and eight in their last ten They've got a an atrocious team ERA of 476 right
That's 23rd in MLB.
That's unacceptable.
They've also got a team OPS of 687, which is 22nd in MLB.
So those are bottom third in both of those categories, just as basic generic team stats, which would explain their 4 -11 record since the All -Star break.
That's been good news for the Braves, but I just, I have this horrible feeling, Joe, that the Braves and the Phillies are gonna play here in a couple weeks.
And the Phillies are just going to figure it out and the Braves are just going to get just absolutely ram -rotted when they play that series.
Like I just, have this horrible feeling about it, but they're going to figure it out.
But we'll see.
I hope that I'm wrong because I would love to see the Braves take two out of three.
That would, that would make my day.
That would make me feel a whole lot better about their odds to possibly win the division.
Do I think that they're good enough to win the division?
Yes, if the if the offense gets gone if the offense gets going that's been the thing all year long but it hasn't so I don't know.
We'll see joe i've got a few other things to talk about.
do we want to talk about?
How bad?
The white socks have
I don't think there's really much to say they they are on pace to I mean that I they're just they're horrible They haven't won a game since the all -star break.
I don't know how that's possible.
I Just I don't get it.
They're a really bad team.
I don't know what ownership is doing.
They had a horrible trade deadline While they were put in a really bad position by Garrett crochet, I mean they still had the option to deal
Luis Robert Jr.
and they did not, they could have gotten a hole for him, even though he has not been playing very well.
But I mean, the fact that they really didn't do much at the trade deadline and they didn't get that back that much.
I mean, it like you had Martin Maldonado on that team and even they cut them like that's just, I don't understand.
like I just, I don't get
But they're really bad.
I had this thought the other night, Joe, and I want to run this by you.
Okay, so we have seen so far from the White Sox this year, we have seen really good seasons from Michael Kopek, Garrett Crochet, and Eric Fetty.
Do you think that Martin Maldonado played a part in their three seasons being successful?
Okay, alright, that's all I wanted to know.
It was just something that crossed my mind the other day and I was like...
Obviously these guys have or were top prospects at one time or, you know, like Fetty kind of went off the beaten path and I think he played in Japan or whatever.
But it's interesting to me that all of a sudden these three guys have good seasons and you've got Martin Maldonado back there.
they having such good season if they were if it was him then they wouldn't have cut him but I don't believe that it was him so but hey the good news is the two worst teams in the
league are currently playing against one another the Chicago White Sox and the Oakland Athletics so one team has to win baseball doesn't end in a tie like football so one of
about the athletics this year is they can hit homers and they can score runs.
They have put up 17 runs in three games this year.
No other team has done that, if that tells you anything.
Their offense is actually pretty good.
Their pitching staff sucks.
they had a top 10 pitching staff, top 12, they would be a 500 team or better right now, easily.
Yeah, that's part of the reason why the Astros lost that series against them right after the Mariner series.
The Astros caught them at a really bad time and unfortunately couldn't take advantage of a weak opponent because they got hot at the right
Joe, speaking of hot at the right time, let's talk about the Royals for a minute.
Okay?
Since the All -Star break, the Royals are 11 and 5.
Okay?
And they are obviously led by Bobby Witt Jr.
Now, right after we made our season prediction episode, I actually text you and I said, Joe, I hope I don't feel like a freaking idiot not picking Bobby Witt Jr.
to be the AL MVP.
And right now, I am feeling as such.
Let me read you the stat line real quick since the all -star break Bobby Witt jr.
Has a 1295 OPS with four home runs and 16 RBI's and a 469 batting average.
He has 30 hits in 16 games Joe these are video game numbers at the big league level Bobby Witt jr.
Is becoming everything that everybody thought he could be I don't know that he is the MVP right now with the way judge is playing
But I'm going tell you right now, if he stays on a pretty good path and Judge has a couple of weeks where he falters, we might be talking about Bobby Witt Jr.
winning the MVP in his third season of the big leagues.
I can see it happening because of his speed.
He plays good defense.
He is the total package, He has it all going for him.
And man, he is going to be, in my opinion,
the next face of baseball.
What do you
I think that he's got a really good chance to, he's got a 7 .2 floor right now and we're not even, I mean, we're not even done with the season yet.
I'm excited to see if the Royals are able to make a push to the postseason because I think he's gonna be absolutely electric when he gets there.
I know some people aren't born for the lights, when lights are the brightest, air and judge.
But I think that he has the potential.
So I mean, I don't know.
I'm just really excited to see.
mean, it's crazy.
He's got a 167 OPS plus right now and that's just insane in my opinion.
So I think he's going to be really, I mean, I think that he actually has a better shot than judge of winning the MVP right now.
Just because actually I take that back.
I take that back.
I didn't realize judge had a 219 OPS plus.
What are we talking about?
How is that possible?
That's what that's the whole that's the whole issue for me Joe is is judges offensive numbers are so good and what makes Bobby wits Overall number so good is the fact that he
plays outstanding defense and he also has you know Elite speed like he is like one of the three fastest guys in the league Which judge has neither of those?
So
For me, it's a really tough call.
And like I said, it's going to take one of them stumbling over the next two weeks, or a two week span between now and the end of the season.
But I mean, if Bobby Wood Jr.
just has a good August and a good September and Judge doesn't, which he is known to go in slumps and suck, then I think you could easily see Bobby Wood Jr.
winning this award.
My guy Gunnar Newton
falling off, but he's still not having a bad year
Yeah, okay, so let's say neither of them stumble and they both continue to play on the pace that they are right now.
It's Aaron Judge as the MVP, right?
I mean, it's gotta be, right?
Okay,
Yeah, which is hard to say because he's not a one dimensional player, we know that.
But his best asset is his power and his ability to get on base.
Which is, okay, don't get me wrong, those are great,
these are just some of like the regular counting stats right now.
Aaron judge, 127 hits, 41 RBIs.
He's batting a 322.
he's got, he's scored 87 runs.
he has 103 RBIs, five stolen bases.
he's got an OBP of 456, a slugging of 701.
He's got a 1 .157 OPS.
I mean, that is just, that's, that's unheard of.
That's honestly unheard of that might be, I mean, that's, that's going to be up there.
And it's like some of the best offensive single seasons and MLB history, cause that's crazy.
And he started off horribly.
He started off the year horribly.
he is he is on pace to hit 59 this year and just as we saw two years ago when It came down the stretch in the last couple of weeks of September Joe what happened?
Well, gee Major League Baseball decided to give the gold balls to pull holes and to judge because pull holes ended up going on this absolute tear and so to judge and judge got
past 61 to 62 and Albert Pujols got to 703 on his career total.
So don't be surprised if this happens again and we see Judge hit 60 again.
Just because.
We know how Major League Baseball works.
We know how the script works.
Aaron Judge is supposed to stay healthy and he's going to hit 60 again and win another MVP and then probably suck in the postseason.
So, you know, I mean, he's
they write it up every year.
What a horrible ad
But okay now another person that's on an absolute heater right now is Vlad E jr Since the all -star break he has actually put up even better numbers in Bobby wood jr.
He's hit 492 with a 557 OBP and a 1 .051 Slugging percentage that's good for a 1608 OPS.
He's got eight home runs and 17 RBI since the break
to go along with 28 hits in 16 games.
If there was any...
Joe, if there was ever a time to go get this freaking guy, I wish the Astros would have done it.
Because, boy, could they sure use that in like the 4 -hole right now, you know?
Because right now, the Astros have five guys that have an OPS under 700 that are playing tonight.
That is unacceptable.
So it's...
Kakuchi was a great trade, but Vladdy Jr.
might have actually been the right move
Yeah, they're definitely feeling the loss of Kyle Tucker right now.
I failed to mention that.
And my Astros recap.
Yeah, they're hurting right now offensively.
Their offense has been sputtering ever since that Mariner series.
And like I said, after that Dodger series, that Saturday game, was probably the last time I really saw a spark from them.
But since then, they've been flat.
They're currently tied 1 -1 in the top of the seventh.
They had the bases loaded with one out and Mauricio Dubon, who was an RBI machine at the beginning of the season, just came up and struck out on a horrible slider in the dirt and
they now have rookie Pedro Leone up with a 2 -2 count.
And it's just, bad if they don't score a run right here.
It's just, it's so bad.
Their offense has been struggling.
They haven't been able to get that big hit like they had been.
And as I mentioned, they're really just feeling the loss of Kyle Tucker at this point.
So, thank you.
would have been really nice.
Even though I came out and said before the All -Star break, I didn't think the offense needed it.
I'm now eating my words because since I said that they have gone on to struggle mightily.
Joe, can I ask you a question real quick?
Is Jose Altuve hurt?
Because he is
Now, I think that he's just in one of his mid -season slums.
He always does this.
He's a very, I don't want to say streaky hitter because he's one of the best hitters in the league, but he does get in these lulls where he just cannot hit to save his life.
Pedro Leone just went down on strike three off the plate.
That's great.
But yeah, I don't know.
He he just gets in these fonts.
I mean, we saw it in the 2022 postseason where he didn't get a hit until I believe it was like the fourth game of the Yankee series.
But yeah, is he just he's just in one of those fonts.
Alex Bregman has been playing horribly.
Jordan hasn't been hitting well at home.
which really hurt on the home stand because he came up in a lot of situations where the Astros needed him.
Jeremy Pena just snapped an 0 -4 -11 hit list streak with a single to start off that inning.
Jake Myers had a very bad month of July.
He's come back down to earth.
The only hitter right now that I would trust in the Astros lineup is Yiner Diaz, who's hitting over 300, or hitting 300 right now.
And that's something because yeah, I mean he just.
I never thought he would be at 300 hitter.
He's he's been more of a slap a slap base hit kind of guy instead of hitting for power like a lot of people you know saw on that first season.
But he's probably been the most consistent part of the Astros offense so far this season since his rough start.
But it's it's bad right now and yeah, you're right.
Vlad would have been a really good pickup,
Who knows what the price was and there were reports that the Blue Jays weren't selling on him anymore.
So I mean, it is what it is at this point, but I really wish they would have actually given up prospects for Yandy Diaz because he played very well against the Astros when
Tampa Bay came into town.
It was kind of a what could have been moment.
You know, he let off that you say, Kikuchi game with that double in the in left center field gap and
I was like, man, what could have been?
So it's just unfortunate they didn't get it bad at the deadline.
Joe, saw Blake Snell throw a no -hitter a few days ago.
That was pretty cool.
Yeah, Blake Snell threw a no hitter and I've got some choice words for Reggie Jackson because I mean, he came out at the beginning of the season after the Astros had started, I
believe it was like four and 12, four and 10.
And he came out on a podcast hosted by John Heyman and Joel Sherman.
And he said this about Blake Snell.
He said,
He signed a two year deal, I want to say for 62 million.
That's too much for him.
First of all, he was the reigning Cy Young pitcher at this point in time and he had historically pitched very well.
He then goes on to say, he's been hurt a couple of times and I think there's incentives on top of that.
He's also got an option on his own.
Between the four or five people that make decisions with the Astros, we don't play that game.
Man, we don't play that game.
You don't what?
Wanna win?
If that's what you want to do, I mean, what are you talking about?
And first of all, the most annoying part of that whole statement is the between the four or five people that make decisions within the Astros.
That pisses me off because there should only be one person making decisions who are getting, who's getting information from other sources, but one person making the decision
and that should be Dana Brown.
and that's kind of where my whole,
My whole issue with the ashes front office kind of stems from, especially since he came out and said that I've gone hard on them.
I was pretty upset even before that, but this whole notion that you're not going to pay for a starting pitcher who was on a two year deal.
Okay.
The giants were almost looking to sell him at the deadline.
like that's just insane to me.
He, he's, he's getting paid $31 million a year and,
Reports came out that Jim Crane didn't want to go over the luxury tax threshold.
Well, she's already at now picking up Usaka Kuchi, who was a three starter as opposed to a one starter.
And while Blake Snell has been injured this year, he hasn't pitched his greatest up until recently.
He's very clearly shown you why he is worth that much money in a two year span, because he has been pitching great for the Giants ever since.
I think it was like mid June.
I got some capsules to go with too.
just goes to show after throwing a no -hitter.
I mean, that just is the most asinine thing I've ever heard from a former Major Leaguer and a Hall of Famer.
Okay, you ready for these stats Joe?
Okay.
All right.
So Blake Snell, historically is not a fantastic pitcher in the first half of the season.
Blake Snell is an incredible pitcher in the second half of the season.
My baseball reference page is moving slow right now.
Just hold on a second.
Let me, let me read you some of these off.
His second half stats are unreal Joe.
He has
239 ERA for the second half of the season in his career.
That tells you everything that you need to know about Blake Snow.
Joe, this is a guy that got, was it him that got yanked in the World Series against the Dodgers in 2020?
He was owning that game.
That was an incredible lineup that the Dodgers had.
And he, he shot him down.
We're talking about a guy who is historically very good.
He has some control issues, but Joe, this guy is good.
He has great stuff.
When is a pitcher most valuable?
The second half of the season and October.
Blake Snell is both of those.
And Reggie Jackson saying stuff like that is just, it's belligerent to say it.
You know, it's stupid.
He's like the Alex Bregman of pitchers and what do know, Alex Bregman has come on the scene for the second half of the season and he was a big factor for the Astros making a
push and a comeback to regain the lead in the AL West.
And for a team that, again, the second year in a row, I mentioned this earlier, has needed starting pitching because of Lance McCullers Jr.
and pitching injuries, you
Justin Verlander leaving in free agency.
And then in the season, losing Christian Javier and Jose Urquide for the entire season, and JP France.
just like these pitching problems, this surplus that we had at the beginning of the season is no longer a surplus.
But that could have been addressed at the beginning of the season by paying Blake Snell.
who just threw the third no -hitter of the MLB season.
But no, we don't play that game.
We don't pay $62 million for two years plus incentives.
We just have pitching struggles and give up all of our prospects for mid -season acquisitions when all it really would have cost was $31 million and not selling the farm.
it's interesting too that you say that, Joe, because overall, you know, Blake Snell doesn't go deep into games, but he's actually, I mean, the second half stats, who doesn't
want a guy that has been that good in the second half?
He is unreal.
I mean, he is on a different level, you know?
Do you have anything else you want to say, Joe?
Because I think we've covered pretty much everything that we wanted to talk
I didn't mention this when I was giving the Astros update again.
This is take two, by the way.
We were recording on Sunday night.
It was going so well.
And then we had technical difficulties.
So this is take two.
But yesterday in our first take, I mentioned the fact that the Astros are now in second place a whole game behind the Mariners.
The Mariners deadline acquisitions with Justin Turner and Randy Rosarena are paying dividends almost immediately.
Seattle's offense has been killing it since the deadline, which is exactly what they needed.
They are getting everything they could have asked for so far from both Randy Rosarena and Justin Turner.
Justin Turner had a big grand slam.
They won a series against the Phillies, completely blowing the doors off of them and the two games that they won.
And they've just been playing well.
You know, if the Astros can find a way to muster up, you know, the courage to win tonight against the Rangers, then, that'd be helpful because I'm pretty sure, no Seattle had the
day off, but they will gain half a game because Seattle has the day off.
So it'd be nice.
but the Astros offense refuses to produce any runs at the moment.
So we'll see.
Joe, I'm going to say this and I don't know how you feel about this, but there is a decent chance that neither one of our teams make the postseason.
And coming into this season, I would have never said that because we're talking about a team that went to its seventh straight ALCS and a team that won 104 games.
But right
There is a legitimate chance that neither one of our teams make the postseason.
I text a buddy about it the other day and I said, don't be surprised if the Braves don't make the postseason.
Their offense has been trash almost all year long.
They haven't decided that they want to show up to the ballpark and put the ball in play and take their walks and refuse to strike out 12 times a game.
They are essentially wasting a good year from the pitching staff, which really sucks for guys like Chris Sale, for guys like Reynaldo Lopez, for guys like a rookie in Spencer
Schwellenbach, and even Charlie Morton has an ERA under four from a 40 -year -old.
There is just this feeling in the back of my mind, like we may not get to enjoy October baseball this year, like we have in the past six, seven, eight years
Yeah, I agree.
There's definitely that potential.
mean, the Astros only path to the postseason really is winning the AL West because as it stands right now, they are not really in contention for an AL wild card spot with the AL
Central really clogging up that hole.
And then, you know, the two juggernauts in the AL East.
And if you want to throw a Boston in there as well, fighting for a playoff spot.
Yeah, I think I think there's a real possibility that the Astros don't make the postseason which is really frustrating because it has a lot to do with injuries but also you know the
ineptitude of the Astros front office just not doing what they need to do and again they turned what was really a promising season at the beginning of the season with a new
manager and Joe Espada you felt like you had all the right pieces in place for him to be successful but the front office didn't do their job and
really address the needs for the organization for the second year in a row.
And I'm just going to keep harping on that because that really is what it's come down to so far.
I we knew that there was a need at first base because Jose Abreu was not good.
And I know that they were hoping with that big contract that Jose Abreu would kind of be able to replicate his 2023 postseason.
but that was wishful thinking.
They did nothing to address that.
They did nothing to address starting pitching when they knew they were going to be without Justin Verlander.
They knew they were going to be without Lance McCullers Jr.
They knew Jose Orquide was dealing with elbow and shoulder injuries, start the season.
Now what they couldn't have predicted was Christian Javier and JP France going down.
but I mean, that's, that's things that you have to be ready for.
You have to plan for.
There was no organizational depth.
for us to tap into because we have been buyers at every deadline since 2017.
And, you know, we were hurt by the sign stealing scandal, which people again, fail to recognize not having a first or second round pick in 2020 or 2021.
That's really hurt us right now because we just don't have that organizational depth anymore.
just the,
The all around failure on the front office has really put a damper on this season and it's frustrating because we had a good thing going and Jim Crane decided that he wanted to
throw it out the window.
Well, I agree Joe.
Did you know to wrap things up here today that today is the one year anniversary of Down Goes Anderson.
Today is that one year anniversary that essentially ended Tim Anderson's career and made me want to buy a Jose Ramirez jersey even more than I already
So it's it's probably in my opinion one of the top five best calls of all time and it doesn't even relate to the game itself.
It is a fight.
But Down Goes Anderson is one of the best calls of all time.
So to me, I just wanted to shed light on that because that was one of
one of the craziest highlights from last year.
yeah.
Well, anyway, thanks everybody for listening to the show tonight.
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