The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
09/10 Hour 2 - Do the Astros Have a Legit Position Battle in Centerfield?
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Houston Restaurant Week has been extended through September 30th. ESPN 97.5 proud partner for Houston Restaurant Week since 2024, and it's time to raise some money for the Houston Food Bank for you. Just dine out and do good. Choose from over 400 restaurants to visit for lunch or dinner, select from their prefix menus, and a portion of the proceeds goes to the Houston Food Bank. Plus, you're supporting local restaurants. Go to HoustonRestaurantweeks.com to find all the participating restaurants. Do we have a center-filled debate again for the Astros? And a couple of things here. This is probably more of a big picture conversation. Because, like today's lineup, there's a lefty pitching. So, both Jake Myers and Chaz McCormick are playing. Jake's playing center. Chaz McCormick is playing right field. Jordan's in left. Got a cannon. So, I mean, right now with no Kyle Tucker playing right field against lefties, they're more than likely going to both be in the lineup. Now, against righties, probably not. You've got to make a decision of which of the two you want to play. If, when, knock on wood, if, when, Kyle Tucker plays right field again, well, now that conversation also extends into left-handed pitching more than likely, unless you played one of them left field and then you do age Jordan. It just kind of depends. But if you're in a situation where you're Joe Espada and you're filling out your lineup card and you're deciding, final decision that you have to make. Jake Myers in center-filled or Chaz McCormick in center-filled? Do we have that debate again and what would your answer be? I think we do. I think, but again, that's kind of the beauty and the kind of possibilities that you're not going to be pleased that we have enough games left in the regular season where this, we talk about the pitchers, like the big start for Arageti and how he's got to prove himself again. What are we going to see if Verlander starts again and how he's got to prove himself? I think both of these guys have to prove that they could earn the starting job in the playoffs the rest of the season. We know how just atrocious Chaz was the entire season. But whether it was the trip to Sugar Land or not, he's come back up. He's gotten some knocks. He looks like he's gotten a little bit more confidence back because he's not carrying the world on his shoulders. And we know he can play decent defense. Now, Jake's defense is better, but Jake's offense has gone right in the crapper. So I think that you have to let it play out for a little bit here. And I think it's a legitimate conversation. I think before it was pretty cut and dried because Jake was hitting the baseball decently enough. You're like, look, I'll take a decent offensive player that's a better defensive player and coupled with the fact that Chaz was just in no man's land. That it was an easy discussion and it was Jake all the way. Now, I believe that isn't it's open. It's on the table. It's up for discussion. And I think these guys in the next couple of weeks, someone's got to step up and prove that they can grab the by the the bull by the horns and take the job. Glad you said horns. Chaz is a 66 OPS plus. Jake has an 88 OPS plus. That's the full body of work defensively. I don't think that Chaz is a slouch defensively in center. I think Chaz is a good defensive center fielder. I don't think he's as good as Jake. Right. Jake is Jake's borderline great. I would say that Chaz is really good. So Jake does give you more defense in center field. They both have noodles for arms. They're pretty comparable when it comes to their arms. Chaz, like if you're going, if you just eliminate the numbers for a second, which of those two do you think has more offensive upside? Chaz. Oh, I would agree. I would agree completely. I mean, Chaz has kind of done it in the big. Chaz before this year has been a plus offensive player in each of the last three seasons. Last year probably will be his career year had a 130 OPS plus. He had 22 home runs last year and 115 games. Chaz has more offensive upside. And Jake Myers had a really hot May. If you pull the numbers since June 1st, Chaz is a better offensive player than Jake Myers. So because Chaz has been awful. Like Chaz has had a disastrous season. But even with Chaz being a disaster, if you eliminate the first two months of the year and you go June 1st on, Jake Myers is hitting 194. Jake Myers is a 256 on base. His slugging is 313. He's done that in 306 plate appearances. So that's a large sample. That is that is awful. That is a 569 OPS since June 1. Chaz McCormick's hitting 216. That's better than Jake Myers 194. His on base is 265, better than Jake Myers is 256. His slugging is 346, better than Jake Myers 313. Chaz McCormick, even though he's been terrible this season, has been better offensively than Jake Myers since June 1st. And Chaz McCormick six games since he's returned from Sugar Land. That's not forget he homered. And his final at bat before being sent to Sugar Land 23, 23 plate appearances. Way too small of a sample, but he's hitting 409. So Chaz, because he has more offensive upside. Chaz, because he's actually been a better offensive player since June 1st. Chaz, because he's showing life again offensively. Chaz McCormick would be my center fielder over Jake Myers, at least until this little mini hot streak has expired for Chaz McCormick. Yeah, I think as much as I despise the term that they love to use, this is about back of the baseball card too. And the fact that he's on the uptick, Jake is on the back of his baseball card. And the fact of the matter is, is that Chaz has been there and done it when he's been there in the biggest, brightest stage that you play on in the playoffs, when he did it defensively, when he could still hit the baseball, when he looked like he had the, he was the guy that, you know, Philly fans are still talking about. He doesn't have to be that to that level, but he's on the uptick as well. That's why I would lean Chaz, and that's why I'm saying it's so important if Jake's going to make a stand to say that he wants the position, he damn well better start earning it in the final 19 games of the season. And this goes back to the earned the burn thing. Like they've both been bad offensively. And if like you don't want to sit here and have the conversation of like a 216 hitter in a 194 hitter, I get it. I get it. If you want to say, well, they're both offensively bad, play the better defensive guy, I get that too. But Chaz isn't a huge drop off defensively. I think it goes back to the earned the burn thing because Chaz McCormick has shown life. He has shown up holes again. He has more offensive upside. He was had a good year last year. And because Jake Myers has been an offensive disaster since June 1, to me, it's Chaz McCormick. To me, it's Chaz. Yeah, if it's just apples to apples and you're just taking guys that are both been mediocre and saying, which guy am I going to play? I'm playing the guy that's been hotter lately. I'm playing the guy that has the experience of being that's had success in the playoffs. I'm playing the guy that looks like he's starting to show signs of snapping out of it. And he's done it previously to know it's not flooky. If he's snapping out of it, there's a chance he could become the player that he once was. With Jake, he's kind of been offensively what we've always seen him to be. Yes, he had the hot may, but overall, Jake's not known as an offensive player, like he is a defensive specialist in center field. If it's apples to apples, then I am going to earn the burn. And I'm going to tell you that I believe in Chaz McCormick over the long haul as being a guy that I would trust more offensively than Jake Myers. Therefore, I'm going to lean the Chaz's way. And I hope that this is a discussion because Kyle Tucker's playing right field. For sure. Because if Kyle Tucker can't play right field, well, now you're probably playing both guys. And I don't want both guys. I want one guy in the lineup. I don't really care who it is. I would allow Chaz to play out the heater. I think that you have to allow that because he is starting to heat up a little bit. I don't even know if it's a heater. He's just showing life. Let's just call it that. And Jake Myers has not shown life. So give me Chaz over that. And I think that with the guys that they brought in, I think as good as Gamel has been, Gamel's not a center fielder. Gamel might be your guy that you use instead of one of those guys in right field down the stretch. But I think that overall, Jason Hayward was a guy that maybe could have been considered in the center field discussion. I just don't think he's been anything offensively to where you can think that he's going to be getting better than the other two guys, no matter where you put them. So I think that he's out of the he's out of the discussion. Yeah, 50-12 Dubon, Gamel Hayward. I don't think the Gamel or Hayward are centerfielders. Like Hayward can play there in an emergency. He's not a guy that you want in center field. Quite frankly, I don't want Dubon in center. I think Dubon's not a very good defensive center fielder. Center fielder, no. I think in left field, obviously, shown some plays where he can. He's pretty good at throwing and covering ground. And everybody will remember the play in left field that we ran into the wall. But I think that he can play the corner out field. I know we always would joke about the personal center fielder of Justin Verlin. Verlin might be out there at all either. But I don't want Dubon in center field. And if you have to play like the defensive guy behind the flyball pitchers, okay, well, Chad starts with Fromber and Hunter Brown, who are a couple of ground ball guys. King of Twitch, you see Bryce Matthews got bumped up to AAA. Time for him to come up and see. I did see that. Apparently, they want him to be up on the spacers during their playoff series. Now, I wonder what his ETA is. It ain't this year. No, for sure not. But is it opening day next year? I think it'll be in the discussion. Is your starting third baseman next year? I think it'll be in discussion. I think not that it's going to be similar to Peña. But I think that when they look at their options, that's why they want him in Sugar Land. They want to see, you know, as quickly as his meteoric rise through the organization has been. If he start, if he continues to do the same kind of things in AAA, then I think he's going to get a look in spring training as a possibility. I think there's a chance he's in the dugout in the postseason. Like Peña was in 21. Now, he went on the roster. He wasn't playing, but he was just learning. Yeah, he did it with Jeter too. And then Correa left and then Peña took over. Like, I think you might see that with, I think Matthews could be in the playoff dugout should the Astros get there. And then I think he can, I think his earliest ETA is opening day next year. I agree that it would be in the mix. I wouldn't bet on that though, but I do think it's in play. Yeah, I think a bragman gets away that they'll look at a free agency to find another third baseman and or internal candidates that you already have. You have Desenzo and Whitcomb and guys like that, but he will definitely get a look. Yeah, I think they would go veteran and then like let one of those three guys battle it out to see who makes the Major League roster and then battle it out with that veteran. Uncle Barney texting in the reason Chaz has been given after, has been given chance after chance this year's because the Astros know that Chaz has much greater offense and potential than Jake. I would agree with that. I would also agree. I would also say the injuries. Like if Kyle Tucker didn't get hurt, maybe we don't see Chaz get chance after chance. If you were on Alvarez wasn't a guy that, you know, you had DH most days, Chaz probably doesn't get a chance. So it's been struggles and it's been injuries. And yes, Chaz's offensive upside greater than Myers. Yeah, for sure. I agree with Uncle Barney on that. He's a smart man. Yeah, I'm just a family. But I, but I think that when you look at the, what we talked about to start the season, I was thinking about putting Chaz as my everyday center fielder. Anyway, at that point, I didn't know he was going to be this awful all season long. But if you would go under the premise that Jordans and left Tucker's in right, I don't mind J. I mean, Chaz McCormick playing center field. No, I don't either. I think we're on the same page there. Like let him play. Like let him have the runway to see if this little, you know, pulse can lead to a heater and then it can lead to him being back. Let's find out. Let's find out and like Jake Myers hasn't done enough offensively for us not to find out. 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0, ESP and HRMP listener line. I didn't realize something about the playoff race and the Astros involvement in it. I wonder if you guys realized it. 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0, 3, 7, 7, 6, it's the B's on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. ESPN 97 5. Live in the Veritex community bank studios, here's Joel Blanket, Jeremy Brennan. It's that time of year again. We want to thank our loyal listeners that our 24 listener appreciation party. Join the team for ESP and 97 5 and 92 5 for an evening of food for Philly Flats, BB's Tex Orlean, J-Bar M lanes and halal guys. Trinks will be provided from Tejos beer and Space City vodka. There'll also be a raffle where you can win a great prize for a public food company, but that's not it. The 2022 baseball championship trophy that was won by the local 9 will also be at the listener party. You'll be able to get your picture with that trophy. Caller number five right now to 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0, 3, 7, 7, 7, 6 wins a pair of tickets to the listener party. You'll get a behind the scenes look at where and how your favorite shows and videos are made. So where the killer B shows are produced and we're only giving away a certain amount of tickets and you will need one to come to the party. So if you don't win now, you can still head to ESPN 97 5.com under the promotions tab to secure your tickets. Now caller five 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0, 3, 7, 7, 6. You want a pair of tickets to the ESPN 97 5 listener party. Alex on Twitch. He might be trolling. I hope he's trolling hashtag pay them hand. Bragman seven years, $210 million. Way too long. AV probably. Okay. 30 million a year. Yeah, that's fine. Probably all right. They didn't do it seven years. No, 8089 Cody Bellinger next year for centerfield. That ain't happening. I'm paying them that much money. I wonder if Bryce Matthews is an option in centerfield. He's a good athlete, but don't they want him to be an infielder of the future on the left side? But if you sign Bragman to a four year deal, that's not happening. Right. But I don't I just I just I have my doubts. They're going to sign Bragman. No, I don't think so either. But if they do and Bryce Matthews is forcing his way to be in the starting lineup opening day 2025 home for his bat, then give a shot. Yeah. I think that it's not not likely, but I would say it's possible. Yeah. And it would take it would take some things to happen. You know, it would take Alex Bragman extending his stay in Houston. It would take Bryce Matthews forcing the Astros to find a spot for him because they need to get him in the lineup. A long shot, but it is something that I'm kind of curious to see if, you know, they resigned Bragman. If that's something that they would think about doing. Because I mean, you resigned Bragman three to four years. Well, third base is locked up for three to four years. Peña is in his third year. So he still has three years left of club control. If Matthews is going to be ready before that, which he should be, he's already going to be in triple A, you have to find a home for him. Well, so then my question was then going to become, do you think that they would explore an external candidate in centerfield? Or would do you think that they would be looking for whether it be Leon gets a legit shot in center feed? I don't think Leon's a major league starter. See, his bat disappointed me greatly when he came up. I just think, do you think that the, but would you think, do you think they'd spend the money to look at free agency for a centerfield? I don't. I think they would ride with Myers Chaz. And then if Matthews was playing out there, maybe, I don't think that was not a centerfielder. I could see them, Gruman, give him some chances in Sugar Land to see kind of the way we were talking about if Peña had gotten, I mean, a yiner had gotten more reps at first base, or when we were when we were in the Joey Low Perfido conversations about getting reps. Yeah. I could see if he's, if he shows offensively, he's just, he's ripping it in triple A too, and you don't have another spot for him, then I think that I could see him getting reps in Sugar Land in centerfield. I think they would have a battle for centerfield before they signed one. Because I mean, Jake Myers plays a good centerfield. Like you can get by with a low bat. That plays really good defense. And then you're hopeful that Chaz can figure it out. I think, and that's the thing too. I think you have viable options that are average and defensively are actually better than average. So that if you got so much offense everywhere else, you can live with those two guys in a platoon situation in centerfield. I don't think you can live with one who was expected to be a corner outfielder and another that's just never going to be there offensively. I kind of think it's going to be a quite off season for the estrus. I think they'll look to resign Braggman on a deal to their liking. If that doesn't happen, they'll move on. Maybe they sign a middle of the market free agent at third base. And I think they look to sign one starting pitcher. I think they're going to look to sign Kakuchi. I think they'd like to. I think he can. I think the bigger conversation is going to be is he chasing the dollars? Yeah, I think he'll price himself out. I think they want him back. I think he'll price. I think I think it'll go both ways with their top two free agent targets. I think I think they want Braggman back. I think he's going to be too expensive. They say see you later. I think they're going to want Kakuchi back. He's going to be too expensive. He'll say see you later. I think if they retain Braggman, Kakuchi's gone. I think if they don't retain Braggman, there's a chance Kakuchi's here. Okay. Yeah. I mean, more money to spend. Keith is Braggier, Kakuchi, more likely to resign. That's a good question. I see the thing that's interesting about Kakuchi is everybody's talking about how much he loves it here. Yeah. And so you wonder, because I think he made a boatload playing elsewhere before he came to the major leagues, to where I wonder, that's why I asked how much of the money is he chasing? Or this is his best success rate and his best organization since he's been in baseball. If he wants to stay here and there's truth to that, how much of a discancy willing to give him? I'll lean Braggman over Kakuchi. You think that you think because of the way he's played lately too, that they're going to do something? Well, I think Crane likes the legacy guys, and Braggman's kind of a legacy guy, but Crane also likes pitchers. So maybe that's me talking on both sides of my mouth. But how, if they're going to retain Braggman, that means they're going to go four years? I mean, they'll play the market. Hopefully not. Hopefully it's three tops. And then the question becomes, would he go four years? Because I think he's chasing more years than that. Yeah, I don't know if he gets that though, especially with the Bocky elbow. He might he also might get it from a really bad team. Yeah. I mean, majorly baseball is wise and dumb, though. Like you don't see you don't see like crazy stupid deals like you used to. I realized that something's happening in the playoff chase in majorly baseball this morning. And I didn't actually saw from a mariner guy. Seattle was talking about a team they were chasing and it wasn't the Astros. I was like, what? What's going on here? Did you know the Astros currently have a better record in the third wildcard? I didn't know. I had no idea. I didn't look at no idea. The cash current the current third wildcard in majorly baseball is the Minnesota twins. They're 76 and 68. Astros are 77 and 66. Like we hope that doesn't, it's a game and a half. We hope that doesn't come into play obviously, but it's a little bit of a safety net. That's a pad that I wasn't aware of because I'm sitting there thinking as much as I thought the Mariners were in the rearview mirror and gone and that the Astros next goal was to chase down the number two seed and get a buy. I didn't and I thought God forbid that when when I heard them mention that the other night, Ravitch mentioned that they still have that series with the Mariners. I'm like, good Lord, don't let them swoon to the point where that series matters and they could get bounced. I guess with the swoon, it would make that probably out of the realm of possibilities. But for right now, that is a good safety net. Sure. Hopefully that doesn't factor in. But if Seattle went 19 and 0 in the remainder of their games, or I guess it'd be 20 and 0 because they played one game less than the Astros. They played one more game than the Astros. So they have 18 left. If they went 18 and 0, like you're screwed. But the fact that you have the lead on Minnesota, you got a little bit of insurance, a little bit of insurance. You still have a greater lead on Seattle than Minnesota, obviously, but you have the insurance that if Seattle just gets, you know, scorching hot that you can still make the playoffs via another, you know, avenue you want to know, but you just have to leave every possible option open for you to end up getting there. We know how talented this roster is. I think that they can play with anybody once they get in. But you just have to get in. And I was completely writing off that third wild card. I was like, well, in a couple weeks while I was writing it off because they were scorching and that they looked like they were going to run away with the division. But I think that that's something that at least we can monitor when we scoreboard watch the fact that, hey, watch Minnesota too, because at worst case scenario, you still want to be able to get in even if you don't win the division. Yeah, you got a little bit of a backup plan there. And I didn't realize that until I saw Seattle fans saying, oh, they're right on the hills of the twins. It's like, oh, they're not on the hills of the Astros with the hills on the twins. Okay, that's good for the Astros. 2920. I think if they keep Bagwell, both Kakuchi and Bregman are signed next year, Bagwell is going to be around now how much control he has. Hopefully he's gone. Hopefully they've empowered Dana Brown, who I think has done a good job. I think Dana Brown's a little loose lip, but I think Dana Brown, as the general manager of the Astros has done a good job. Not that we'll ever find out, but it seemed like right around the trade deadline that there might have been a come to Jesus internally to where they allowed him to do his job a little bit more. But for whatever the reasons and whatever the case, when you look at the fact that he had successful drafts, draft, he knows talent. And look, even what he did, he found Ben Gamble. Everybody was like, who? Why? What are you doing? Ben Gamble's actually turned out. But I think overall, we know he knows talent. I just think that there was a shift in the internal organization to actually let him do his job. I'm hoping the Abreu DFA was the outright release. I hope that was the line of demarcation. This is Dana Brown's team now out of the Monteiro move, because in unison with Abreu, it looked like two of the three moves that team team Crane made were very good. 9 9 1 3, more suitors for pitching. That's true, but I think I think Braggman will get more AAV than Kakuchi, even though there are more suitors for pitching wouldn't Melton be ready for 25. I think Melton has a chance to be on the team next year. I view him more as a corner out filter though. I don't view him as a center filter. I think he could be your opening day starting left fielder next year. I think he's a better version of what people were enamored with with Joey Loperfito. I think that he could be a better version of a corner out filter for this. I think so. Yeah, I think I think you can start in left field next year. You're on your DH 9 1 9 8 crane will seriously go after Braggman because of the history of the team and he's white. Are you talking about crane being white or Braggman being white? I'm I think he's trying to make an erase issue in Braggman's white because Crane has given contracts, big contracts to Jose Altuve and you're on Alvarez and Christian Javier. And Jose Abreu. Jose Abreu and then Montero. Josh haters pretty white though. He is but I mean if you want to just got to do ratio it out. I mean he's done a lot of people of color. The hitter used to be a pretty racist too. He sure did. Back in the day. I shouldn't laugh at that. He scrapped those tweets when he was what 17? Yeah. I mean Crane's given big money to non white guys. That's a bad tax by the way. That's a bad tax 9 1 9 8. Alright 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6. Cash it or trash it. What do you cash in? What do you trash in with the bees? That's next on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. My colleague U of H class of 1990 go Cougs has been protecting the interest of businesses for nearly 25 years. HR and P provides comprehensive human capital management services including HR compliance benefits administration and payroll. HR and P will also work with you to customize the plan for whatever you need. 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They say Muhammad Ali was the greatest of all time but he never fought Cassius Clay. What was he afraid of? Boom. It's cash him. That is so good. But that's exactly right or trash him. This is your hot date. Hmm. Seems like an overreaction with a killer bee. Give us a hot spoonful of your opinion. All right. What do we cash in? What do we trash in 713 780? ESPN. What is your cash? What is your trash? Blankers? What you got? I hinted at this and we talked about it a little bit yesterday but I'm going to take it a step further. Dion Sanders is in his last year coaching at Colorado and this is the last opportunity for Dion Sanders to coach at a big time division one program. I'll trash it. Trash. I don't think I don't think that they spread because I took your. Yes. Yeah. I don't think it's his final year at Colorado. Yeah. I disagree with that part. I think you'll get another job but I do think it's his last year in Colorado. Really? Yeah. I do. I don't. I think he stays there. I think it's his last year in Joel tell me not if you agree with my reasoning for him. My my reasoning was like I don't think what we've seen from him how much like the self-promotion is a part of this that he's going to be willing to go through the losses and the scrutiny when his kids and Travis Hunter are gone. And so and what's the kids and his two sons Shiloh and Shidur gone and Travis Hunter gone. He's not going to want to sign up. He's not going to want to deal with this and he's going to move on. I think it's go where though. I think it's on both sides. That's the thing. I don't think he's going to get another job. But you say he's in coach again. I said he could. I don't think he'll do it to me. I think he'll take. He might go back to inner phone network. There's a thousand places he can go. He's already capitalized so much personally with all the endorsement deals he's gotten out of this too. But I think it's two full Brian. I think you're right. One of the things I was thinking about is he's into this personally because of the fact that hunters like a son and because his two sons are there. They're all going to be gone at the end of the year. I don't think he's going to be able to recruit and get the kind of kids. And I don't think he's going to put the effort to getting more than just like the the the real meaningful the big time players. He's not going to get the offensive lineman. And because of your college program and you look at he's dunking his offensive line under the bus. He's basically calling out the fact that he didn't do a good enough job recruiting the rest of the team. He's telling the band now he's denying it but telling the band not to play the fight zone. He's telling media people not to you know not he's banning them from asking questions. There's just too much of a controlled freak attitude and all the other things outside of just the football and the just and the football isn't what it was a year ago. They've had where they were though and the attention that's on Colorado now is astronomical. 29 and a half million dollar deal for five years. So like that's going to be tough to get out of. Like do they want to pay off Dion to go away and then hire another coach. And they're also saying that the money that Dion has brought in is like the estimates like two hundred eighty million dollars. So like yeah with the attention firing I might think he's resigning. That was going to be my take. I'm trying. I don't think he ever going. I don't think he's going to be where I'll trash it. Trash. Cash or trash. Joe Mixon is the most talented running back the Texans have ever had. Trash. Yeah. Trash it all. Trash. Trash. I mean you're on the flagship. You're going to forget about Arian Foster. Yeah. This wasn't my cash or trash. This was the Baytown Batty. I had friends send me the Baytown Batty. They posted on their socials. Joe Mixon is the most talented running back to ever put on a Texas uniform. The Baytown Batty. Every comment on this. Mixon is nice but the most talented gifted. That's Arian Foster. Not Arian Foster 100%. It's one game guys but don't disrespect Arian Foster. I respect your football opinion but you're wrong here. LOL Arian Foster is the best. The Baytown Batty doesn't know ball. He's wrong. No sir. Overreaction Monday. Exactly why I don't listen to the show. Hopefully listen to us. So just non-stop that district. Arian Foster fans came out. Came out. You can have double dual perfect. Yeah. We might hear this again on Thursday. Yeah. It's an all-time take. Yeah. It's not as bad as some of his baseball takes but it's not good. We're doing the bracket again this year. Now he might be the second most talented running back to Texas. But he might be on the short list. Why do you talk to the body of work? He said talented though. So talented doesn't mean production. To be fair. Okay. I see where he's coming from though. They had a they had a Heisman Trophy on the roster. Well, Run Day. But Mixon was the first round or no Mixon was the second round. Arian Foster was undrafted free age but I think people put way too much stock on where a player was drafted when it comes to talent. And he was hurt going into this last season of Tennessee which is part of why he went undrafted. No, my real cash and retraction but that was just too much fun to pass up. The Texans do have Super Bowl potential. I'm cashing this. I'm going to cash this simply because of the fact that so far what I saw from teams that I thought were going to be a little bit better have not been what I thought that they had the potential to be. But they still could be. But I think the AFC is the Chiefs and everyone else and the Texans just went up a not a couple notches in my book to where I think it's them and the Ravens. I'm going to cash it. I think they got a lit they got a shot. Yeah, I'm going to cash this as well. I think I was I was getting ready to trash it. We used the word potential. I think they had the potential. I wouldn't pick them because Chiefs are still the Chiefs. My home is still my home. As the texture told us earlier the show Stroud isn't on my home's level that breaking news. So I would still have the Chiefs and the Super Bowl as they did a few days ago when made her picks but potential. Yeah. I mean if the offense plays like this you could say potential because I mean maybe someone else does use solid knocks the Chiefs out before even face them. Who knows what happens at the end of a playoff. So potential. Yes. I would agree with that. Or if there's a way that you stay out of the side of the bracket if you get Baltimore to play Kansas City and there's there. I think there's a path. Baltimore scares me too. Yeah. Baltimore's there. Your trip tonight. And I hope they both lose. I hope the markets here hold my home's sprains both of us. I guess you you hoping someone gets here hold him. I can't believe it. You want to win Super Bowl or not? Yeah. I know you're a dog. Honey, please, Brian. I'm I wish AJ. I'm a dog. Hey, Tom, baddie. I don't find a bad guy. I didn't just troll. It just was relentless. And that was going on every day. He started the show with that milk in the show. It's so funny. The frog had wings at five. Brian, what do you got? Well, I mean, one was on Sanders, but I'll go ahead and make an audible on the fly here. I think JK Dobbins is going to be the best free agent pickup in fantasy football this season. We saw this last week, you know, he came off the Achilles injury in week one against Texas year before. And he'd always been a pretty explosive back when there was issues with him getting enough touches. Lamar ran the ball. I wasn't getting the goal line carries because again, Lamar was running in touchdowns, but he was kind of inconsistent a little up and down. But now you're in the system. John Harbaugh and Greg Roman, who was also there in Baltimore, you know, they're going to run the ball a thousand times, not only because that's what they like to do, but because they have virtually no wide receiver talent, shout out to Quentin Johnson. So I think JK Dobbins is going to become the number one back there. We saw the explosive game this last week, and he's going to be the type of guy like we saw James Robinson a few years ago with when he took over the job in Jacksonville, where he could be a leak winning type pickup for you, fans of football. Don't sleep on lab as a good. I said, virtually none. I'm trying to think of who's the competition. If it's not him, hold on. First, like a sleeper. First off, what soft lanes are you playing in where JK Dobbins are free? I don't think he was beat. He was running early. No, I mean, those lanes are soft. JK Dobbins available in zero of my leaks. Maybe you haven't looked at ADP, but Gus Edwards was going way ahead. Sure. Sure. But JK Dobbins is unavailable in every single one of my leaks. I'm telling you, I would get a look at his availability, but he's available at least. No, I believe. I believe what you're saying. I'm saying your leads are soft, and I want in them if JK Dobbins is available. I have JK Dobbins in my leaks. I'm just saying, for other people who are in these leaks work, because there's like 50% when he's still available, I'd pick him up. They could be a number one ad. No, who else would be? Jordan Mason. Jordan Mason. Jordan Mason. Jordan Mason. The problem there is you don't know how long it is. I mean, you assume CMC's coming back at some point. Yeah. At that point, I'll just say the kid last night was the guy that whether anybody had him or not, there's a guy in the short term that could give you some production, but then who's in the competition for like year long? That did. I agree with you. I think from a running back perspective, it could be Dobbins. We talked about likely likely, there's a guy that's going to be a pretty Cinderella. Not a running back though. Right. So I'll cash it. That's what I'm going to trash it because your leads are soft and your competitive leads. I'm not talking about my leads. I'm talking about leads in general. JK Dobbins are available in all of my leads. Jordan Mason's only available in one. How much of the fat budget you're using on JK Dobbins and Jordan Mason? I always believe in going hard in week one because you're getting the benefit of the full season with them, and we see the guys later in the season really not having as much value because kind of teams are established in the packing order. So I would go 50% of my fat budget. So should be $50. Yeah, it is. My all my leads are $100, fam. Two, five, eight, five. I'm in a very competitive tin team league. JK Dobbins is also available in ours. Tin team makes a little bit more sense than 12 teamers. I hate tin team leaks. Every team looks like a dream team. 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6. Painio. What are you cashing? What are you trashing? Hey, I'm catching their trashes. The Longhorns will make it to the conference championship and not only for they make it, but they'll win it. Thank you. Have a great day. Cash. You're going to win it? I think so. Trash. I think Georgia will. I'm not even going to play it. You don't want to jinx it? No, no, no, I'm not going to play the trash. I'm not going to go out. Texas is good, man. Like I hate to say it. Do you know my allegiances? Yeah, they're good. The line. I don't know if you've seen it, but the line's actually out on the Georgia Texas game. I believe it's week seven. It's the week out week before week after the Oklahoma game, but Georgia minus one right now in Austin. Oh, in Austin. Georgia minus one in Austin. Point ticket prices for that bad boy. Oh, who are they already? They're already going to be massive, but now they're going to be more king of twitches asking how many fantasy football leagues are you in? I'm in five. Blangers. Two. I'm in four real ones and 195 best balls. That's was my final number. I'm disappointed that I did. That was one of the things Sam asked for, you know, the football cards that got put out for us. Same was asking for Intel on you guys. The one of the ones I said for Jeremy, but it was in way too many underdog leagues. I don't think it's too many. I know you're not enough. I actually don't even know if you're joking with 199. I didn't think you know that's a legitimate final number. And I wish they had weeks two through 17 because I'd be in those this week too. Yeah, Sam, by the way, libel to me with that little football card. I'm not happy with it. Oh, yeah, she libled me to get to a shoot. She was incorrect on my things that I enjoy. Yeah, I think that was part of the purpose. Yeah. And that's why I'm going to sue her and ESPN 97.5 for libel. I was a little unhappy with the low hanging fruit of the Ronald McDonald joke on mine. It was a little, it was a little Houston. You have a problem. Miss was low. Oh, yeah, a text or bow, cash or trash. Sam darlin is finally in a good situation in Minnesota for one year. I think for one year, he's fine, but I don't think it's going to do anything for teams to be clamoring for Sam darlin for a long term. I mean, that's that's not what the texture saying though. I mean, it's extra same. He's getting replaced next year by J.J. McCurk. That's not a text saying. You see, this is the best situation he's ever been. Okay, cash it. I mean, I think O'Connell can coach his tail off. You got Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Aaron Jones, I think still has a little life left to it last week in Hawkins since coming back. Cash in like November. Cash. Give me the cash. I mean, we saw what happened when Mitchell Tabissi got a little bit of a look good for a very short amount of time. He got him another contract. So let's say they could happen, Donald. And then last one, one seven one one. Uh, Texans Eagle Super Bowl. Trash. I hope so, but I'm going to trash it trash the game last night. Even if you just not want to take, you want to take the folks off the Texans. Do you see the game last night and I think San Francisco's a really talented football team. Yeah, with no CMC with Brandon, I barely involved. Exactly. Hey, he was involved. They should have caught a shot pass. Yeah, Peyton Manning was very upset about that. He was very upset about it. I love him. I didn't hear Peyton Manning, but yeah, the same thing I think is the cream of the crop. Hey, you, I think it's you. Sorry. Um, I'm talking about it in the NFC. We got you. Hey, you've made that diving effort. Yep. Didn't catch it. Yep. Manning said, getting camp signed early. You make that catch. He ain't Tom Brady in it. Yeah. Oh, man. I love Manning. Yeah, he's good. Both of them were actually good. Eli's got that. But Eli likes to get those zingers in. Yeah. He said, paying up for that one. I think I think he knew Peyton had a had an itch on that one. And it went ahead and set him up for it. He's funny. All right. Seven one three seven eight zero ESPN. It's time to get to poor football focus. What did we learn when we break down the film? What are our poor football focus grades for the Houston Texans week one seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six. You ask us to grade some of these Texans too. And we'll do that with poor football focus. It's the bees on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five. What is great football focus is this Saturday, the buy you bucket returns TD ECU stadium. You got to get out there. The weather is going to be beautiful. It's the old Houston rivalries. The Houston cougars take on the rice house this Saturday, September 14th, seven p.m. We're going to give away a couple of tickets later on in the program sometime in the five o'clock hour. So make sure you're tuning in. But rice used in a TD ECU stadium on Saturday celebrating Houston with this hometown rivalry, a night of thrilling plays, hard hitting action, unforgettable moments, huge rivalry between Houston and rice. Also buy you bucket special going on now. Head to uhcoogers.com/promo enter promo code rice to four and this buy you bucket special $15 100 level tickets $10 200 level tickets. So two great offers for you $15 100 level tickets $10 200 level tickets. Go to uhcoogers.com/promo right now enter promo code rice to four and you're headed to watch the buy you bucket Houston rice Saturday night TD ECU stadium. Come early, be loud and wear red. E-S-P-N-97-5 You're back with a killer bees on E-S-P-N-97-5 and 92-5. Live from the Veritex community bank studios, here's Joel Blanket, Jeremy Branham. Did you know there's a new way to listen to our station on the radio? What if we told you it's clearer, stronger and the best way to listen. That's what they say about make clearer, stronger, best. If you have an HD radio in your car, you need to check out 97-2 HD-2. Start listening on 979. You won't have to worry about changing your station ever again, ever again. Watch the all 22 this morning. Slowock was really stinking good. Uh, often, I thought it was great. That's slow because fantastic. Was in his bag all game long. Running game was on point. Offens over 400 yards. Slow was great. Offens a line had moments. If I were to actually, I don't want to rate the offensive line because it might be a giveaway. Uh, they played a little bit of dime in this game a couple of times. I like that look, by the way, because you get Bullock playing frequently basically center field. Murray and Ward both on the field and kind of move them up in the box a little bit. So that was intriguing. I thought the pass rush was better than you'd think. I thought they did a good job of kind of getting around the edges and setting contain all that stuff. Uh, one criticism on Shrau wasn't greater in his deep balls. We kind of talked about it yesterday under through Nico once under through tank once where that's over here to lead him to the middle more. See that was difficult because if you do that, you bring another defender into play. I just think he's probably, I thought the angle was right. Just a little bit more. I didn't, I didn't agree with the cause I wanted the color guy said that. I think if you brought it to the middle of the field, that other safety that was playing on the other side has a chance to pick the pass off. So I thought the angle was fine just under through them a little bit. But that's what I noticed there. So time for our poor football focus. You know, pro football focus. They grade all of these players each and every week. We're going to do that. The killer bees, poor football focus. And if you want us to grade a player, seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero, three, seven, seven, six, Brian, who are, who are grading first on poor football focus? Uh, what's great. Uh, Daniel Hunter. Okay. Okay. My, my, great. The great I gave him was a 55. And then it is now I, I look, Daniel Hunter was paid here to get sacks. He got zero sacks. He only did half of his job. So I'm giving Daniel Hunter a 55. I'm going, I'm going much higher than that. He didn't get sacked, but he did wreak havoc. We talked about it. Oh, you're okay with him. Only doing half his job, Joel. I want results. I'm okay with it. One week, sir. One week five. I believe the big picture is, is going to show the true value. 55's awfully low. I'm going to go 81. Okay. I'm going to go 92, three for Daniel Hunter. I thought it was fantastic. Spin move, put the right tackle on the blender. And I didn't sack the guy. He got out in the corner. Anthony Richardson. He only doing half his job. Then Jeremy. It was pressure. It led to an air and throw at the job. I thought Daniel Hunter was fantastic. He set the edge. He forced Richardson in the pocket the one time and led to a team sack. Yeah, I did know Hunter was fantastic. Great. Looks apart too. Looks the part. All right. Let's grade his running mate on the opposite side, Will Anderson Jr. For me, again, he didn't get to the quarterback, but he did wreak havoc in the back field. He was drawing double teams. He was drawing the attention of guards and tackles. I'm going to give him similarly an 83. 97 three for Will. He was great. 97 five. No, he was awesome. I'm dead serious. Like he was. He ate up a few blocks. The one sack for Mario Edwards that he had where he banged Anthony Richardson's head against the ground when he lost the helmet, which I love that play. I like football players who are violent and physical. Will Anderson ate up two blocks there. The both the left tackle and the left guard were blocking Anderson. I don't know if Edwards was on a stunt. I really don't think he was on a stunt. I think that he started to just go for his initial rush, realized it wasn't there, then kind of curled around Will Anderson, who was eating up two blocks. Yeah, I thought Anderson was really good. Great against the run, too. Great against the run. 97 five. Nice. I have to say, Jim, before we get to the next player, I think this raspy voice of yours right now is better for football conversation. It sounds like it makes you sound like a football guy. You know, it makes me it makes it sound like I watch film all the morning. Yeah. Yeah. It makes you sound like football guy or Danny Moore. Let's let's let's do more sounds like this. Yeah, she's always good. It sounds like she swallowed gravel. Let's actually go to a rookie, someone who was targeted a few times, although it didn't matter because Anthony Richardson couldn't hit anybody deep. But Kamari Lasseter, what do we make of Kamari Lasseter in a week one? What grade do you give him? I'm going to give him 77. Correct. I saw good things, but I saw some things where I was like, okay, so I'm going to give him kind of better than better than average, but kind of right around there 77. I didn't think he was fantastic. I'm going to give him a 67 four. They didn't challenge him a whole lot. Texas played a lot of zone. I think they were trying to force Anthony Richardson to go deep, be accurate with the deep ball, which he doesn't have a whole lot of success with. Yes, he hit a couple. He got burned on that double move by 80 Mitchell, which Derek seemingly did ones too. But Lasseter was called for the hold there or legal contact. It was legal contact, which led to the penalty. So he had the penalty there. Overall, he was fine, but 67 two. I think is what I said. Yeah, 67 67 two for Kamari Lasseter. All right, let's go over to the offensive side here. We only got a couple minutes. Let's go to the biggest, biggest name. CJ Stroud week one. We're great. We given him. Oh, I'm good with CJ Stroud. I'm going to say low 90s, 90 92. 87 four. You're not going to go 92.5. So I'm going to go 95. That's my best journey with the brain. You're right. That's yes. I'm giving you a 27.1. I was thinking about doing things. I was thinking about doing the HD two version of it as well, but no, I'd go 92 five 87 four. I've missed a couple of those deep balls that I mentioned earlier, little bit errant at times, whether it was communication, whether it was rust. Overall really good though. I mean, 400 plus yards. You scored on six of your 10 possessions, should have been seven. You ended the game with the ball. So eight efficient offensive possessions, really, really good. The two deep balls, plus he had the ball picked off twice. Flag erased one of them. The corner guy, the secondary man couldn't stay in bounds or race the other one. So 87 four, I think I said, all right, new edition stuff on digs. Stefan digs, I'm going to go with 80, 89. I think that he was what we needed him to be. I think that he gave you two touchdowns. I think that it's going to be a lot, always is going to be dependent. He got open. A lot of it's going to be dependent on how many catches with the stats that he gets, but I was very impressed by Stefan Diggs week one 66 for me. If you take away the touchdown, it's pretty pedestrian game, but he scored twice. So the two six is 66 for Stefan Diggs. I like what you did there. All right. Let's go to the the guy that we most obviously have to go to next British Brooks. What is the grade for Mr. British Brooks? One play makes his day 70. I'm going to go with a 10, 10.0 for the British. We didn't play in a single offensive snap. He may have one big hit 10.0, nothing that he did wrong, but you can't get just the ones. You're both wrong. The grade is 55 because that was a linebacker hit. And that's a linebacker number 55 for British Brooks. Yeah. So that's, well, yeah, these things, you can wear zero, but that that is a classic old school linebacker number 55. That's the grade for British Brooks for the smackdown he put on that close return. I felt got woke with their numbers. Like, wait, hold on. They're woke. They're woke. Yes, they're super liberal with their numbers now. They did. Like, they used to be structured. They became extremely liberal with their numbers. Yeah. Okay. They did. Yeah. Liberal. You got a kicker wearing 44. That's stupid. Oh, I don't even leave the city and go yell at the sky mail. Yeah. I do not like it. There's like, oh, yeah. And the guys, they used to be more particular about when you could change your number two. And then they're letting guys and they used to have to buy back your jerseys with the old number as part of it. And however many they had in stock that now they're they've thrown it all out the window and guys are changing their numbers between pre-season and regular. Yeah, last year did. So did Bullock. Yeah. Tanged it last year. Yeah. Number seven, one, three and then I'll say seven, three. Yeah. Yeah. It was weird. Yeah. I mean, I've never been a fan of even in college when you got defensive linemen and linebackers were in college. I like it in college. I don't like it in the NFL. I don't like it either way. My last one. I'm fine with it. Okay. Where's Joe mixing? Last one. We're gonna do two more. We'll do two more. We'll get one out again. Mixing real quick and then we'll go with all right, Joe mixing. Joe mixing to me is way more than I expected. So I'm giving him a 90. Ninety nine nine. He was everything you could wish for. It was fantastic. So poor football focus. Ninety nine nine for mixing. All right. Let's make make. Let's give do one last one for someone who was often talked about in the opposite season. Did he deliver Kenyan green? Oh, Kenyan green to me was exceptional. Kenyan green to me was 80 87. Yeah. He was great in the run block. Past block was pretty solid as well. Really impressed. I'll go 83 seven and I lied one more layer me tonsil. People are going to are going to look at the penalty. I'm going to look at the overall body of work. I thought he was his normal self. So I mean, as one of the better left tackles in the league, I'll say 85 penalized, did okay in the past blocking, did okay in the run. Yeah, I'll go 42 zero for layer me tons. That'll be all right. What did the Colts game plan tell you about the Texans weakness seven one three seven eight zero ESPN. 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Both procedures work and both procedures are can be explained to you by going to 975 hair.com and making that appointment. He'll explain everything to you. They'll explain everything to you. You ask questions, you get answers, you decide it all on your own. No commitments, no signing on the dotted line, money out of pocket, nothing like that. Just see if you get the information, if you're not intrigued enough to want to do it. I did the procedures. I couldn't be happier with them. They're the best in the business. They're right here in the med center. Check them out today. Go to 975 hair.com. ESPN 97 5, presented by Satah Chulers. KFMC 979 HD 2, MoW Houston, a gal media station. Owning a rental property sounds like a dream, until you realize how much work goes into getting it ready. Determine a competitive rent price, market the property, schedule the showing screen tenants, drop the lease at a rent collection, handle maintenance request, make a communication. Whew, sound complicated? 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