Our Ideal Rockets Draft Pick at 3! | Bill O’Brien Lies about Texans Years? | Espada’s Weekly Blunder

Our Ideal Rockets Draft Pick at 3! | Bill O’Brien Lies about Texans Years? | Espada’s Weekly Blunder

[Music] welcome to Houston sports talk with your host Robert land thanks for checking into the best Houston sports podcast now part of the believe Network and joining me as my co-host Stephen Kerr 65 plus years in sports journalism between the two of us and later in the show Joe as spata’s blender of the week and an underrated loss in the Texans organization plus Bill O’Brien says dumb stuff on podcast what but Stephen I I did want to announce my dream Rockets pick if they stick at number three and that’s coming up not too long from now all right well we definitely are looking forward to that I mean there’s so many different scenarios that we could use with that that whole number three pick and we’ve talked about so uh yeah we’ll definitely get into that yeah the draft is just uh less than three weeks away actually and and you know when I watch the playoffs I see three huge elements that lead to winning size shooting and high IQ unfortunately nobody in this draft fits all those elements as you know not a great draft the best you can do for size Doan kingan he’s not bad as far as IQ but since it’ll be difficult to play kingan much with the Rockets best player right now shenon I’m taking the most elite shooting Prospect Reed Shepard who’s also high and IQ he opens up spacing for shenon which is a big benefit he’s shown range well beyond the the college level three which is big for me 52% from three in a 30 game around a 30 game sample size is too hard to ignore plus I remember the question marks about Steph Curry’s size coming into the NBA not saying he’s Steph but I just don’t want to be Stephen the one who passes up an elite shooter when you have a roster full of young guys with questionable shooting and Stephen another consideration is even if Jaylen falls on his face Shephard’s a perfect fit next to amen Thompson in the back court since amen size makes up for Shephard and Shephard shooting makes up for alen’s range yeah you know I was just thinking that when you said it and you know it’s kind of like the old meat Love Song two out of three ain’t bad you know he may not have the size but he’s got the other two things and I think the more I think about what this Rockets roster needs Robert in in a draft like this and the fact that they have the number three pick the more I keep coming back to shooting because you know shooting in defense obviously you know defense was the big thing too last year I think e Oda has shored that up to a much greater extent you know they did rise in many of the rankings as far as defensive stats but the shooting to me is really where it is that the rockets and for sure Reed Shepard is is the guy that everybody talks about keeps coming back to if you’re talking about the best shooter in this draft Yeah and we remember jari Smith had a really great shooting year at Auburn and then he sloughed off when he came into the NBA and now we’re like oh is he is he good or is he just kind of mediocre shooter can he get back to what we thought he could be at Auburn but it’s a big difference when you’re shooting 40% from three and then you’ve got a reed Shepard that’s shot more than 50% and I’m also factoring it the calip Perry’s Kentucky guards have often looked much better in the NBA than they appeared at Kentucky Shepard’s amazing off-on numbers at Kentucky his sort of plus minus have to at least be factored in two and I love having Shepard being tutored Stephen by Van vet who plays a similar game defensively and in a draft where nobody appears to have Superstar upside why not take a player with a super Elite skill like shooting yeah that’s one of the biggest reasons the Rockets you know wanted van vet is for his veteran leadership and you know at that point it was the young guys that they have now but if you’re going to draft somebody at number three and bring them in and put them in that position who better to do that than van gleet he’ll be sticking around you know at least another year to be able to do that and maybe pass some things along and Stephen I I just got to send also a quick congrats to Rudy T because not a whole lot going on with the Rockets these days but he won the national basketball coaches associ Chuck Daily Lifetime Achievement Award and it meant enough to him where you know he talked about tearing up and you know you could just by reading the quotes from him I mean I think it meant a tremendous amount and I’ll put a link to our recent Rudy T tribute at the end of this video in case you missed it because Stephen I just I think it’s cool that Rudy has not forgotten and I’m just thrilled really thrilled that the Space City network is re-airing the 94 Rockets Knicks finals right now oh I know I and unfortunately I don’t get that so I don’t get to see that so I bet that is a really cool thing and you know what couldn’t have happened to a better person and a better guy than Rudy and I I don’t think I’d get any argument from that you know the interesting thing about Rudy T and Chuck Daly they have a couple of things in common Robert they both won back-to-back NBA championships and they both coached the US team so it’s kind of interesting that you know he would win the Chuck Dy award you know and then there’s a couple of similarities between the two guys you know and Chuck Dy certainly one of the best coaches ever in the NBA but you know I think we we forget that both of them you know actually went outside and coached the US team Stephen this check daily award goes back to 09 it’s not been around all that long it’s amazing how many EX Rockets coaches have received it Rick adamin Bill Fitch and Dell Harris along with Rudy in just the last 15 years and you know we didn’t even mention in our Rudy tribute and and I’ll take the hit on this one that he ranks fourth in playoff games coached and playoff wins all time and fifth in playf win percentage of head coaches with 20 or more playoff games coach so I mean Rudy’s like an elite playoff guy he is very underrated when you’re talking about that Robert I mean most people let’s be honest they’re not going to mention him and they should because you know those stats as you said speak for themselves and you know that is a Lifetime Achievement Award so you know it’s not necessarily going to a current coach it’s going to people that have coached in the past you know that are still around the game in some capacity maybe so man I just I lit up when I saw that Rudy T won that award because certainly deserving of it and for for so many reasons I keep asking our viewers on YouTube I want you guys to post in the comments who do you guys think the rocket should pick at number three um I’ve got some responses so far but I the more that come in it’s kind of fun to see who everybody likes but I remember I put that question I posted on on Twitter on X and Reed Shepard was the consensus and I I just feel like rockets fans are gonna be very disappointed Stephen if it’s not Reed Shepherd at this point yeah I think so and either that or they’re just going to trade it maybe get a piece this is one of the things that’s going to be so intriguing Robert and we still have what almost three weeks so we’re going to have to sit and wait a little bit longer the suspense is probably going to kill us by the time it it gets there but what are the Rockets going to do with that third pick all right let’s go to uh the other team in Houston that’s on the upswing we’re gonna get to that other team and the team that’s on the downswing yeah we’ll save it for later not so upward a littleit yeah but it’s going to fly into the radar but the Texans lost an important member in their hierarchy the Comm sers grab director of Team development Dylan Thompson I know a lot of you out there going that’s no big deal why do I care about that well it matters to some important Texans because CJ Stroud said quote there’s a ton of great people in this organization but DT has been the main person you talk about a brother like to somebody who loves you no matter what happens on the field you can feel that he’s really one of the reasons why I feel like we were very successful this year that’s CJ Stout talking about him and Will Anderson said there’s no Will Anderson without Thompson he had a huge impact on the rookie class taught them how to be great leaders helped them with spir spirituality and uh Stephen I’ll just say this guy sounds like Jack easterby without the ego or power grab elements oh let’s yeah let’s definitely hope not and you know what fans don’t usually know about the people in the Player Development Department because they’re typically they’re not the press conferences you’ll see writeups about them you know or have them quoted like say after the draft when they’re assessing the draft picks but otherwise you don’t really hear from them but that by no means that that does not mean that they aren’t valuable because yeah without them how are you going to know who’s who to draft you know who to pick these are the guys that bring those players to you in the scouting department they work closely together so losing someone like that they’re they’re losing a valuable member and Robert you know it’s because of the success the had this past year and if it keeps going if they equal what they did next season or even surpass it you’re going to see more guys like this leave for better front office jobs or even coaching jobs for that matter yeah and The Brain Drain has mattered with the Astros and hopefully it’s not gonna take the toll on the Texans but that’s what happens when you you are successful and don’t know if you heard about this Stephen speaking of uh a guy that the Texans lost but not a guy that anybody said that the Texans lost Bill O’Brien was on a podcast a few days ago did you hear about this no I did not hear here Bill O’Brien on a podcast yeah are you sure you got that right yeah he was on a podcast he was on there with with Christian Hackenberg who was his quarterback at Penn State oh okay that figures and there was a I forget who the host was but he said a couple of things Bill did that made me chuckle number one O’Brien said he didn’t enjoy being the GM didn’t enjoy negotiating contracts and more or less said it was a mistake well I’m glad he’s aware of all that but quick aside on contract negotiation hey Bill remember when you hired no I’m sorry you didn’t hire him you fired Texans longtime great negotiator Chris Olsen you you had a negotiator if you did like to do it that was really good at his job and you let him walk you told him to walk and what really made me chuckle Stephen is when he said he was in charge with quote another guy he would not even name check Easter B well that’s funny because he certainly defended him over and over when he was there you know the only thing Robert that surprises me about that is the fact that he would even say those things on a podcast because as you remember if you watch Bill O’Brien in his press conferences after a while after a short while you could almost quote you could almost no word for word what he was going to say I mean it it was about as predictable and as as dry as a as a sponge so the fact that he’s saying all this stuff you know it’s kind of interesting and I mean I guess because his former quarterback was on maybe that was maybe that was the reason but you know there always going to be things that come out after somebody leaves I’m glad he admitted it was a mistake although it doesn’t sound like he said it was my mistake so he stopped short of that but it certainly he was the one who wanted all this power so when he got it he s he suddenly realized maybe this is what not quite what I’m cut out for and you know C McNair is like a overriding dictator and said no bill o Brian I don’t care if you don’t want to be the GM I don’t care if you don’t think it’s a good idea I don’t care if you don’t like it you got to be the GM he was held up at gunpoint Stephen and made to be the GM yeah yeah if you believe that I got a a bridge to sell you and in here in Austin where I live because it’s just not true I don’t I don’t believe that for a minute ah just it’s ridiculous and then he it also made me laugh when he said that uh he can coach he said he can coach which he was fine not great but he was patting himself on the back as a coach let’s just put it that way but after that he says he can evaluate talent quote unquote and then went on to Pat himself on the back for the lar me tonsil trade he called tunel one of the great left tackles in the history of the game now Stephen Tel’s good but he’s never been all pro I mean all all time history of the game come on Bill yeah I think that’s stretching it a bit you know but if you have to admit at the time he certainly is what the Texans need I mean they desperately needed a left tackle but to say that you’re going to put tunel in the top five of alltime offensive lineman you know top five but he just said you know he just said he was an all-timer which is to me I was like what is I like ly T’s got to make an all pro before he’s an alltime guy well if you’re saying all-timer he’s a top something whether it’s top five top 10 and he’s on a top list somewhere so but yeah the fact that the Texans needed a left tackle I think underscores more why they needed lar tunel than the fact that lar tunel was just this great you know top five left tackle yeah he might be top five or 10 in the NFL now but he’s not of all time but not all time no I don’t think so’s he’s not a Hall of Famer even yet you know the way he’s being paid like one not necessarily is one yeah I think far from a Hall of Fame like a easy Hall of Fame candidate right now and uh Bill talked about evaluation and I mean is an evaluation knowing that you don’t need to give up two first round picks and a second for a left tackle I mean Stephen Talent evaluators don’t do that which is basically a quarterback type trade for a left tackle and they don’t make oh yeah there was that DeAndre Hopkins steal anybody remember that one the worst maybe in NFL history How Could You Forget so well you know it’s a matter of opinion and Bill obviously has a high opinion of himself so once again I I don’t think that’s really surprising that he would say that sort of thing yeah I don’t know what’s going on at Brown University but if I’m the people over at Brown I’m trying to figure out how do can we erase him from our record books somehow yeah yeah Brown’s a listen Brown’s a top academic school so you know what what more can we say is it is it still after having Bill O’Brien top well I yeah I was I was trying to leave that out I was trying not to knock the school too much you know but yeah you could say that all right now a quick plug for an upcoming show that we’ve got without giving away the name I’ll tell you to look for one of the top four or five wide receivers in Houston’s NFL history he was a first team All Pro went to three Pro bowls and a key guy and what I’ll call the greatest ever Houston NFL wide receiving course see if you can figure out who we got lined up I’m excited about this one you got me wondering Robert wow all right let’s uh let’s move over to the can’t hold a late inning lead Astros Stephen and two more gut-wrenching losses in the last couple of days I’m laughing trying not to cry but social media wants to harp on Ryan Presley’s bad luck but gez it’s it’s what is it like five blown saves and three two or three blown holds or something like that by a setup guy that used to be one of the best closur in the game yeah it’s been going on too long Robert and I don’t know I I had this Dreadful feeling or feeling of dread I should say and I know I think I talked about it on this podcast that when the Astros signed Josh hater and that meant that Presley was going to be you could use the word relegated I guess to a setup role I just have this uneasy feeling that it that he was not going to have a good season that no matter what he said publicly and no matter what the team said publicly that it was going to affect his performance and man you know there are times you wish you were wrong Robert you know that’s one of these times because he has just not had a good season and who knows whether that is the reason or whether he was just due for a Bad season season but whatever the case yeah it’s gone on way too long for it to just be oh pre’s just running into some bad luck I mean the whole Astros team has been dealing with this all season I just feel like okay yeah there there’s an element of expected batting average and expected this and whatever but at some point I mean we watch the game Stephen you just you get the feeling it’s GNA come unraveled if Presley comes in the game and it’s close and I’ve read that well now he’s not got great numbers when it’s a back-to-back appearance or when he’s had a long time off so now we’re supposed to what pitch him like every other day or something I it’s it’s it’s getting too complicated for a guy that’s just supposed to be a dominant guy and and to fall off the map and yeah his numbers you know trailed off a little bit last year but it feels like he fell off a he fell off the Jose auu Cliff how many blown saves did you say he had I believe it’s five you said five I think right the Astros are five and 14 in one run games that tells a lot and and I think you even said it was either this last podcast I think we were talking about how many one-run games they’ve lost and fact of the matter is if you lose that many one-run games something’s going wrong and I’m sure a number of those were due to those blown Saves by Presley that you were talking about it it just it it points to you know there’s usually if you’re losing one run games like this it’s the little things but those little things add up and that is definitely one of them and it’s actually become a big thing if you’re talking about Ryan Presley if Ryan Presley does his job Stephen they’re in the race they’re right there yeah and the funny thing is I know what are they seven games out as we’re recording this they’re not exactly out of it but they’re they’re taking themselves out of it every day that something like this happens whether it’s the last game of the Angel series the opening game of the San Francisco series you know games you you could have had but you let slip away and each day that goes by you know once we get through June Robert I think we’re going to have a pretty good idea whether the Astros are going to win this division or even make the playoffs depending on what happens you know about the next three weeks or so I don’t know I’ll talk about it a little bit later but I feel like um my my hope is just about run out at this point um but let’s get to um another thought that I had and it kind of leads me into my a spot blender of the week because Sunday’s lost I don’t think that was all on Pressley not sure what you thought Stephen but when Presley gives up the run to make it seven to six you got to go to hater I know he’s trying to save hater for the n but it was obvious Presley didn’t have it worry about the ninth if you get there and if you’re willing to bring in hater in the eighth and Pitch him in the ninth anyway in a tie game which is what a spot it did then use the hook on Presley sooner he hasn’t been shy about doing that before hey haters come into the eighth inning and you know that was talked about before the season that he probably wouldn’t do that well he’s done that on numerous occasions of this season and it didn’t pay off yeah you you had the game in hand and you let it get away you know I’m trying so hard to give Joe a spot of the benefit of the Robert I really am but as the days go by I’m beginning to wonder about some of his pitching decisions and that’s one of them that that definitely goes up there it’s a head scratching one because aren’t you in the point of the season now Stephen where they need to start treating these games like playoff games because if you don’t get back in soon it’s over with well absolutely that’s that’s why I’m saying I think June is a critical month to find out where this Astros team is going to be when you get into September and October and if they are you know 11 12 games out by the time the month ends I don’t think you can have confidence that they could even come back and if you if you’re not going to win the AL West chances are you’re not going to make the playoffs with any of the other wild card spots because your record is g to be poor just to put the cherry on top of the Presley deal it it’s six save opportunities for Presley One save six save opportunities one save that is yeah that that’s not good terrible and and they’re hitting 311 against him and it’s a 164 Whip and I mean bad luck whatever it’s no it’s it’s it’s pitching at this point well it’s bad pitching and you know Robert so much of pitching as you know is is mental and I I just think it’s it may have even started out that way when the season began because of his role being changed now I I think it’s just mental as much from a performance standpoint as anything else and you’re allowed to demote him he’s you know what Ryan Presley I’m sorry you’re not doing your job just like he’s moving guys up and down the batting order a spot is you got to move Presley up and down priorities and you know Seth Martinez might need to be the guy in the seventh inning with the bru and the eighth at this point well you know that’s interesting you bring that up because I thought the same thing and you know your batting order if if it’s not immune to making changes well neither is your pitching staff especially if it’s in the relief situation you know if he’s bullying too many more I don’t know that you can put him in leverage situations whereas a guy like Seth Martinez who is pitching I think better than we expected why not give him a shot in that role I mean you can’t do much worse right no and I I’m curious just on a spot Stephen you you said it it’s starting to the the flaws are starting to show is there anything else that you saw this week that bothered you were you happy about Jose Abu coming up to bat against the Giants late in a game with two guys on I was gonna that was what I was going to bring up and look I know we’re picking on a br it seems like we’re picking on a Bru all the time and in this case it it’s not really that I mean it’s not Abu directly but putting abau in that situation when he has struggled so much yeah I know he’s had a couple home runs I mean he he kind of looks like he’s putting things together but I just don’t think now is the time to put him in that spot that’s where I think he should have been Pitch hit for is is in that particular spot and you know you had Runners on base and but I think he struck out if I’m not mistaken I know he let the runners on base so yeah I’m not sure I would have put him in that situation just yet the braady situation is worth picking on because this is the exact epitome of what has gone wrong with the Astros bad Investments dumb decisions the emphasis on oh we’ve got to double down on a bad decision and instead of hey we’re the Astros we’re winners screw it this guy can’t do the job we go to the next guy that’s what winners do that’s what the Astros used to be about for seven years yeah I think we even talked about that last week and that’s what it is is they’re they’re just trying as hard as they possibly can to help this guy turn around and listen nobody wants Jose AO to turn around more than I do maybe not more than Jose Abu perhaps because if he turns around that definitely makes the Astros a better team and gives them a better chance to come back but you know we’re seeing little snatches here and little snatches there but it’s gonna have to happen more before I’m gonna say okay maybe that stint a month stent in Florida did him some good but right now I’m just not convinced and if you brought up Joey L profo I know you you may not want to throw him against left-handers okay whatever but at some point you you’ve got to play L profo if you’re going to bring him up because he needs to play he needs to prove whether he can be up here or not it’s like Dana and espot don’t agree on that or something because Dana said well we’re not GNA bring L perfo up unless he’s going to play and that was kind of his deal and then L profo comes up with the injury to Tucker and they proceed just not to play him to stick them on the bench well you could have brought anybody up to stick them on the bench and low peredo is making great plays at first base and the Astros are scrubbing it from you know Sugarland social media or whatever because you know it looks bad on a break I mean this is an organ this to me sounds like oh this is oh yeah that’s what losers do that’s what losers like they’re trying to cover up mistakes left and right like we’re not gonna figure like they think Astros fans are stupid well I I guess what I don’t understand Robert is you’re you’re putting a veteran who has struggled way more than than he should and you’re doing that over a kid who has no experience at first base but the fact that he has played some first in the minors and looks good why not put him in for one game and see what happens you know if if he throws if he makes a throwing error or you know misses the ball he’s should a cat and and the game ends okay you know then maybe you have a right to say that but at least give the kid a chance to show what he can do it’s it’s not like he’s going to be any worse than a guy who is struggling in all aspects of his game not just offensively but defensively yeah yeah no it’s it’s a mess and you know I I kind of said it before but I pretty much given up on this year however one bright note for the future Hunter Brown is back to looking like a legit young Phenom and six of his last seven starts Stephen he’s given up three runs or less and he’s gone six innings in his last four starts meaning he’s keeping the pitch count down a little bit well I tell you it definitely it couldn’t have come in a better time and with Hunter Brown you know you kept wondering well he’s got to figure it out he’s got to figure it out cuz he certainly showed flashes when he first came up so that is good to see and he’s at least taking some of the relief off of the bullpen and you know you talk about him and I think every start that he’s making Spencer arti is improving more and more as time goes on too so you know if those two guys can improve each timeout that is obviously great for the Astros pitching staff but it’s also great for the bullpen because it means you’re not going to be calling somebody in you know whether it’s a Seth Martinez or a Taylor Scott that much sooner so yeah it is definitely great to see Hunter Brown turning it around you just hope he can keep it up the rest of the year yeah you said Eric Getty’s looked good 389 RA in his last eight starts which really it’s just those first two or three starts with him at Hunter Brown that they’ve kind of got their act together and if he gets that control he’s a stud also but Stephen this pitching staff is a mess and it’s thanks to and you and I have talked about it since we talked last time we knew right after we talked about it it came out ariti gone for the year Javier gone for the year thanks to the world base classic and multiple postseasons riti Javier Garcia all going to miss a season and a half after pitching in that stupid WBC and I know the WBC is coming to Houston I’m supposed to be excited about it in two years but I hate it hate it hate it always have hated it Stephen yeah I’m with you on that Robert it just and you know for riti it’s unfortunate because this is his second Tommy John surgery in the last what five years or so you know so for him it just kind of makes you wonder I know he’s not the only pitcher that’s had to but especially bad for him but Christian Javier I mean were counting we were counting on him I think way more than Jose ariti to Anchor this Astros pitching staff with rber Valdez and you know with Hunter Brown and Justin Verlander and these guys and now he’s gone for the year so and it looked like you had a deal on his contract too Chris aier with that extension and all that and and then now basically wipe away two years of that deal on the contract and maybe you could say WIP away three with how bad he was last year yeah so it is it’s such a blow to the Astro staff and I know you know we’re still hearing encouraging things about Luis Garcia you know throwing batting practice or throwing you know that sort of thing haven’t heard much about Lance mccullers’s but it’s still going to be a while before these guys get back the Astros you know they can’t wait for them to come back to turn things around they need to do it now and you know you can hope that when they do get back that they can even be effective and then that’s the question how effective are they going to be by the time they do if it’s July August maybe first of September who knows so really they they just can’t be in the conversation we need to talk about the hero and with guys like Hunter Brown and Spencer arti they can just keep going that that’s what really needs to happen if the Astros even have a chance of turning things around yeah just to something I thought about Stephen and I can’t remember if we’ve discussed this much on the show we’ve definitely talked about that you know John Smoltz came out and said what’s causing these issues with Tommy John and arm surgeries and stuff like that guys trying to throw as hard as they can spin rates blah blah blah well here’s the deal the Astros have been a franchise known for thinking outside the box going left when everybody goes right and that’s really the key in any um Championship kind of thinking and being a billionaire you got to think left when everybody goes right you got to think differently and the the Astros Stephen I still think this goes back to all right so we’re getting all these guys hurt we’re trying speed and spin rate and all that sort of stuff how about we do something else maybe the spin rate we’re not going to change a whole lot but maybe we change how we look at starting pitchers and try to get them to go longer in the games and encourage our best arms to not throw it as hard as they can every single pitch like get get that as as the new organizational philosophy because then if you do that it’s not just that you have less arm trouble but you have your best pitchers pitching the more valuable innings in a game as opposed to the guys that are pitching in the sixth or seventh if you’re stuck with a Montero or a Seth Martinez you would rather have Christian Javier and fber Valdez and and those kind of quality pitchers when they were at their best you know pitching in those Innings well it’s a good idea Robert I just don’t know how you convince a pitcher to not throw so hard especially in this day and age and I think it also goes back even before Major League Baseball you know this starts at the Youth Level this starts at college and you know it continues on in college and in the minor leagues you know they’re they’re trying to develop them but I think this goes even Beyond MLB and you know I’ve read where you know maybe they need to implement some rule changes or at least incentives for teams to try to encourage pictures to do things whether it’s not throw as hard not Pitch as you know not Pitch as long whatever it is to to keep their arms as fresh as possible for the whole season you know you can pitch into the sixth seventh eth inning but if your arm is going to give out midseason that’s not going to help so I don’t know what you know it’s not something that you can answer right away but I do know something need needs to be done it just has to we can’t keep going on like this it’s not just the Astros that are having these issues it’s many just about every team in major league baseball it seems like and I hate to be like Debbie Downer with this thing but when I watch Hunter Brown he throws a very repeatable motion because we’ve seen Justin Verlander do this now for many many years so I think he’s got a motion that I I really like I am scared watching Spencer ragetti it reminds me it’s a little bit more Herky jerky it reminds me a littleit more of Al Lance mccullers’s where he’s getting all this snap and all this break and I’m afraid just that that he’s gonna break you know well see that’s where I think I think that’s what’s killing arms more than anything is just trying to put so much spin Time After Time After Time you know your arm just can’t I mean throwing hard can do it too but spinning and moving your arm that way it it just it can’t take it that many times I don’t think Justin Verlander has this crazy Spin and break and I think he’s made of his career more out of control and and the great the Great tend to do that he he’s learned how to manage his and that’s obviously why he is still pitching and yeah he’s had you know some injury issues in the last few years but that that’s just going to come with age but I think he has learned to manage his workload or at least the way he throws his pitches teach the staff the ryel blanco change up because I think he’s gonna have staying power because he’s relying more on change up than the breaking pitch in the spin yeah I think that he is a good example and you know we were talking about the success of Hunter Brown I think one of of the reasons is he’s the Sinker that he’s throwing has really been effective in his last couple of starts so you know he continues to do that that maybe one of the reasons that he can continue to be effective but yeah his motion and arag Getti you do kind of worry about that style eventually catching up to him did you have any other Astros thoughts before we finish things off well I I just want you know would like to see more lower fedo playing time and we keep hearing about some guys in the minor leagues that are are doing well but you know there’s still ways away but you know we keep hearing about the Astros are they going to be sellers they going to be buyers I I don’t see them being sellers I really don’t at this moment I think they they have to be buyers if they even think they want to have a chance at winning the division so that’s just going to be something to keep an eye on for the rest of this month the other thing the Astros need to start doing is just avoid getting hit by baseballs back down in the minor leagues because guess what janner Diaz got hit by a base I mean there’s not much that these guys can do about I will say this though Stephen I will say this got hit twice in that same hand yeah you know and and had had the contusion and and missed time and blah blah blah that’s a padding thing that you can put there that you know with all the Jeff Bagwell talk I remember Jeff Bagwell had one of those padding right on his on that same hand and it might be a good idea for bregman it was his was it it his left hand yeah yeah and and if you remember didn’t Bagwell start using that pad after he cuz he got hit on the hand I want to say it was in 994 during the strike shorten season and I I don’t know if it was after that that he started wearing the pad but I’m I’m pretty sure it was so you know if anybody would know it would be Jeff Bagwell and beio used to wear more armor than Earl Campbell at the University of Texas he certainly did so that that makes sense but yeah I mean those are just things it’s hard to keep from happening but with Alex bregman you know he had another scare with that too just the other day yeah I don’t know what you could have done with Tucker I think that hit him in a spot well it was a it was a foul ball it just hit off his that was there was nothing do about it wasn’t a place where you would even I think have the usual maybe like maybe if you wore a shin Pad but I don’t think where he hit I don’t think it any of those things would have helped him at all yeah that was just a freak thing and something I think was pretty unavoidable but yeah these guys are just they’re getting hit left and right you’re losing time and it’s like every single guy that goes down seems like a a big deal Stephen because you know every game it’s like okay we’re one one other one more game away from just throwing in the white towel well you know I mean the Texans have certainly had years like this where you wake up every day and you’re scared to go on X or you know look at the headlines to see if another Astros player got injured you know if you didn’t see the game last night or you know if you do you hold your breath every time something happens because it means oh my gosh another guy’s gone down it yeah it does remind me of the Texans it’s funny you say that it does remind me because it seemed like there was I can’t remember which year it was but there was one year where you would come out of a game and you would think everything’s fine the next day it’s like well that guy’s out for the year it’s like what what happened I didn’t even see him go out and there was nothing and it’s like with these Astros players there we see see them actually get hit but they stay in the game and you’re thinking okay they’re going to be fine and then the next day they’re like well I don’t think he’s going to play and it’s like with Kyle Tucker now he out for a series no he’s out for 10 days now yeah yeah well I want to say it was deshun Watson’s first year when he got injured it seemed like there were a rash of injuries that year I know it wasn’t very long ago you know just a few years ago the Texans went through that well now it’s the Astros turn yeah at least with the Texans this year they had all those injuries but you see him actually happen in the game and the guys you know has to go up the field and stuff so yeah and they maintained despite that I mean that was the thing about it all right we got a really good guest coming up this week look for my conversation with David delot who is in sports radio in Houston for 35 years retired you’re gonna find out kind of what he’s doing right now but more importantly he’s gonna have some really cool stories about his time covering the Astros and the rockets the Oilers and I mean just a lot of different stuff I mean incredible uh career for da I mean if you can stand this bu business you know this Stephen for 35 years in the same Market that’s almost impossible it is almost impossible and that’s a testament I I mean I remember listening to David I don’t know if it was for 35 years maybe I didn’t see that long but certainly for many many years you know being in radio myself it it’s tough to stay in the industry much less the same market for more than five years much less 35 give us a thumbs up we want to hear from you guys comment uh tell us what you think and of course uh uh I’ll come back at you you know I’ll come back at you if I think it doesn’t work but I’m GNA be you’re not shy I’m going to be nice to you usually so um but thanks again everybody for watching and listening and we’ll talk to you soon you’re listening to Houston Sports Talk hey don’t forget to support us by subscribing and commenting on YouTube you can always listen to us on Spotify apple or your favorite podcast app tell your friends about us and share our Show links on social media spread the word everybody thanks for listening [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Bleav Hosts Robert Land & Stephen Kerr talk about who they believe the Rockets should pick in the 3rd spot, Rudy T’s latest honor, Bill O’Brien dishing on his Texans years, an underrated loss in the Texans organization, Espada’s weekly blunders, Pressly’s struggles & the Astros arm issues.
(:50) Who should Rockets pick at 3?
(3:50) Rudy T wins Chuck Daly Coach Award
(6:55) Texans lose main cog in CJ Stroud & Will Anderson’s development
(8:55) Bill O’Brien’s excuses about his Texans days
(13:54) Ryan Pressly = Struggling
(17:15) Espada’s Blunder #1
(19:50) Espada’s Blunder #2
(23:04) Hunter Brown is a phenom again?
(24:14) True blame for Astros Tommy John epidemic?
(26:06) How do Astros prevent TJ surgeries?
(30:43) Can Astros avoid getting hit by baseballs?

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