The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
09/11 Hour 1- Spencer Arrighetti Bounce Back Good Enough For Playoff Start?
SPN-97-5 KFNC-987-9 HD2-MOT-Bill W. Houston, a gal media station. A killer beast! ESPN-97-5 and 92-5 proudly present. A killer beast. It's definitely a fan of the killer beast. Don't sweat technique. Now from a Veritex community bank studios, bring you the fastest three hours in Houston sports radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. Ooh, what a breakdown! Hey, how are we doing? It's a Wednesday edition of the killer beast. He's on ESPN-97-5 and 92-5 FM. You heard it yesterday? It came to fruition today. The crud has officially taken out Jeremy Branham. His voice is gone. He is not, don't worry, no RIPs or anything like that. But he's out today. So my man Brian McDonald's gonna pull double duty. He's gonna do all the hard work behind the glass. And also join me for three hours of being a pain in the ass. As we roll through all things- That's where you send the bar? You send the bar at pain in the ass? Yeah, I mean, so then anything other than that, you should be labeled a great show and progress. That's true, yes. Set the bar low and then over- See aim high, right. So that's where we're gonna start. And I guess, this goes back to a conversation, BMEC, that we were having yesterday, where you were like, when we were talking about Spencer Aragetti, and you were like, it's the A's. You're supposed to win this game and do these things- Yeah, that didn't age well. 'Cause it's that it age well. A's. And I warned you guys. I said, well, you know, since the all-star break, they had the best record in the American League, and I was one game off because I let some time pass. Well, that game is gone now, because now we're looking at a team that has been red hot, and all of a sudden the Astro's offense is nowhere. And the Astro's drop a game to the A's in extra innings in really rare fashion, the way that it all ended. And here we are. Again, thankfully the Mariners lost, but this is one that I thought they had so many opportunities to win left so many runners in scoring position. That was a tough one to swallow last night. Yeah, so thankfully, because of what you mentioned, the Mariners also losing last night. It seems like the Astros have gotten that favor quite a bit when they've stumbled over the last couple of weeks. 'Cause the lead, which I think only got as high as five and a half as a four and a half. So they really haven't lost much ground. Where I do think it hurts them, though, because I don't think it hurts them at all, really, in the division race of the Mariners. Where I think it hurts them is the race to possibly get the second buy with the Guardians, which I know, I'm waving the white flag on that. Like, I know it's mathematically possible, kind of. They'd have to go on a hell of a hot streak and have the Guardians go, you know, under 500 over their final 17 games, the Astros have 18 games left. So it's mathematically possible, but I'm waving the white flag and getting ready for a wild card series. I don't see any chance in hell right now that the Astros, even if they play great baseball down the stretch, can pass the Guardians and take the final buy. See, but here's the thing, the thing that's crazy to me that keeps me holding on before I throw in the towel is the fact that you're altered. It's the good bad and the ugly. Whenever you're bad or ugly, the Mariners do you the solid, but then you're watching the Yankees as well as the Guardians. And the Yankees were also within striking distance. The bad is that every time you think you gain ground on Cleveland, the next time Cleveland wins and the Yankees lose, then it's vice versa. So they're both kind of treading water just enough, kind of doing the same thing from the opposite way that the Mariners were doing that you can't get that full momentum of both teams lose on the same night. You gain ground on both teams because the Yankees, you know, they're in a dogfight with Cleveland as well for the one seed to where you're at least still, you're not mathematically out of it as much they're close, but it would be nice because if they, if the Astros just played a little bit better baseball over the last couple of weeks, the last two weeks really, I think that this could have been a really, really interesting race down the stretch. I mean, could have been. I think when you look at the math though, like as I mentioned, like the Astros would have to play really well to pass them. So I looked about to see what the Astros would actually have to do. And if you assume the Guardians who have 17 games left, let's assume they're in the two spot, you know, as they're chasing, I know they could flip with the Yankees, but let's put them in the two spot. If you assume, if you take the Guardians over their final 17 games and have them go eight and nine, so just one game below 500, I think guessing or hoping for anything less than that are more losses than that would be unreasonable. That's got to put them at 91 wins, meaning the Astros would have to go 14 and four over their final 18 to match them. And right now they hold the tiebreaker, but of course they have another series in Cleveland that would play into that tiebreaking scenario. So just to tie them and hopefully win on a tiebreaker, if the Guardians go eight and nine over the final 17, the Astros would have to go 14 and four, which I mean, it's possible. It's it's possible because they have, they've got seven games against the Angels remaining. They've got two more with the Athletics and you face the Guardians head to head. There's a Padres series mixed there in there as well, along with the Mariners series, but 14 to four down the stretch given that you just dropped the game to the A's. It feels like a feels like a reach to battle at this point. Yeah, it's a long shot to say the least. Look, I'm hopeful, but at the same time, I'm a realist. I realize that the best case scenario for this team is to just kind of reset the deck, get ready for the series, make sure you're playing your best baseball, and then go from there. Because I think that as much as we talked about where this team has come from, to where they are now, the reality is what happened earlier in the season, has set the table for the fact that you can't have these grandiose expectations and think that they there's a realistic chance because of the fact that you dug such a hole, but you can look back and say, that's exactly why you're not where you want to be. Because without that monstrous just struggle bus, they probably would be sitting in the one seed right now. Yeah, it's I mean, there's so many things to point back to over the course of the season. I mean, there's the two series against the White Sox where they dropped the first game in each of those series. There's obviously the bloodbath in Kansas City that included the Hunter Brown, you know, 11 hits, nine runs and one inning. There's a lot of points in the season where we've talked about games I shouldn't have lost, including last night when you and I were talking right before the show started about just the randomness and kind of the unlikiness of losing on like three straight bunts in 12 innings to the A's. So there's yeah, you flip a few of those. You're now suddenly because I mean, they're five and a half back in the Guardians. You wouldn't have to flip a whole lot of those should have could have one of could have won games to be in a spot where you're only a gamer to back or maybe even leading over the Guardians. But you know, at this point, you know, you can't change those and the math does not look favorable for them to chase down a buy. So it's pretty much get right get ready for the wild card series. And now we got to I guess figure out which of the three possible or yeah, three possible teams that could face in that wild card series. The twins, the Royals or the Tigers like who we who want to see the most. I think ideally though, the Tigers kind of I think four back of the final wild card. Yeah, the Tigers are win striking distance, which is a surprise all in itself. And I know that TK and Blummer were mentioned in that last night. Who would have thought that at this point in the season, AJ Hinch and the Tigers would would still have a punter's chance to try and sneak in. Good on them for having a great season. I don't anticipate that they're going to be a playoff team. The most likely area one does is either the Royals or the twins and you handled the Royals at home. You know, they're a different team when they play at home when they're on the road and they've had some injuries. They lost their first baseman. They had to call they had to trade for you Lee. They've lost a couple of players to where you're like, okay, you just swept them here. You got to believe like if they came to your building for a three game series, you got to feel pretty good about that. To me, when I said like setting the deck, to me it more comes down to we saw Eric Eddy last night. I know that Ben Verlander and Dana Brown on the flagship today was talking about, hey, don't go back in the baseball. He literally said back in the baseball card. And he said, you know, the back of his baseball card, Verlander was, you know, hitting 97 on the fastball. It's just a matter of location. He's going to be back. Don't worry about it. Basically telling everybody to basically shut up and listen that Verlander's in the mix. That scares me, but it goes back to the conversation we had initially, which is regardless of what you think and what we all can see is probably the right decision to make. Justin Verlander from an organizational standpoint is going to be in the mix for a starting rotation spot. Yeah, I think the name on that we talk about back of the baseball card, I think the name on the back of his jersey is going to be what people in favor of giving Justin Verlander a playoff starter that I'm pointing to because you can't point to anything from his two minor league rehab starts or his, well, I guess four starts now back in the major leagues. I mean, he's had six starts to get past this quote unquote, you know, extended spring training that Dana Brown talks about trying to excuse away the the rustiness of missing two months for Justin Verlander. Six starts is enough time to get past that if he still had it. Now it's great that he has the velocity people will point to that. And there's some there's some conversations coming out of the Astros came talking about the shape of his fastball that I don't pretend to understand all the things you're talking about with why a fastball that has the velocity other than not having the location wouldn't be as effective as is that his other fastball. But regardless of the shape of the fastball, the velocity, the results have been pretty terrible. So and we can get more into this, you know, as the show goes on, but I there's no way I could go into the postseason. And obviously I'm not making this decision, but there's no way I could go in the postseason and try to sell not only the fan base, but the other players in the locker room that Justin Verlander is one of your three or four best options to put on the mound for a start in the postseason. This is what I said. This is what I said when we were kicking this around in the last week or so. The big thing is, is this is a dress rehearsal right now between now and the end of the regular season. If we all, and I think you and I are both on the same page and you guys can let us know how you feel 713 723776. Look, we both are basically saying throwing in the white towel on one or the one or the two seed, you're going to play a wild card series. So you might as well be as prepared as you can be. Well, that means Kyle Tucker, you're going to get it back to every single day and you got to start snapping out of this and you got to start getting back to the old Kyle Tucker. And from a pitching perspective, you are on call right now to show us your best stuff. And your next say three starts the rest of the way. Justin Verlander, Spencer Araghetti, you guys both have to show you are fully capable and warrant consideration for a playoff start. Because other than that, to me, it's Fromber, it's Hunter Brown, and it's Kakuchi. And other than that, I'm not having a discussion unless down the stretch, you show me enough to tell me that I need to kind of reconsider where I'm going, especially in this first series. Obviously, when you get to a longer series, you're going to have to add a starter to the mix. But for now, that's what I think you have to do. You have to make sure that these guys know, hey, it's put up or shut up time. Go do your best stuff and let us see what you got. There's no reason for from performance on the field to have a conversation about anybody other than Fromber, Kakuchi in Hunter Brown, as your three starters in a wild card series. And thankfully, especially if it's the Royal, since they played port so poorly on the road, all three of those games, if there is a third game, would be in Houston. So you do have that to your advantage. I mean, if you look at the other possible matchups, you won the series against the Tigers this year 42. I think you feel pretty comfortable in that matchup, even though AJ Hinch would be coming back in, which would actually be kind of cool. And then with the twins, I mean, the twins do own the season series, but you won that series in the postseason last year, including two games in Minnesota that you took from them. So I feel pretty confident in all those matchups, if the starting pitching holds up. And if, and I think this is the big if, if the factor into if the starting pitching holds up, if they make the right decisions on who's going to be in the starting staff, I feel confident if the Astros get to three game series for the wild card, which we both agree they will, because the buy is over at this point. They're going to make the right decision that Fromber and Hunter Brown will be in those first two or at least in the three. The question is, will they have the guts to put Kakuchi as well as one of the three starters in that series over Vernalator? I'm not convinced they will. See, here's the other thing you're leaving out though, Brian. Look, I obviously think that's the main thing. One of the main things you got to figure out. The other main thing is call Tucker. You've got to figure out what Kyle Tucker's going to be down the stretch, because if you're going to, again, kind of similar to the Berliners conversation, from an organizational standpoint there and from Kyle Tucker's standpoint, he ain't sitting on the bench when they get to the playoffs. He's playing because again, like you said, it's not even the back of the baseball card, as well as it's also the back of the name on the jersey. He's going to get starts. So he's got to contribute and he's got to get back to somewhat close to where he was. And right now he's not there. He's one, four, ten. So when you look at that, you say, yeah, you got issues with the pitching staff trying to figure and sort that out. And maybe it's as simple as, but again, it's a bad look at Berliners not going to be one of your three starters and you leave them off the roster. That's a big problem, I think internally with Verlander making a stink. I just don't think it's not even a guarantee to be on the roster next year. So I mean, I get the idea of you wouldn't want to upset a player who would be here for the long term, but Verlander, because he missed so much time this year, he didn't have his contract vested. He had to hit 140 innings. He didn't get close to that. I mean, it's possible he's back on the roster, but the way he's pitching right now, there's not really a big case for it given his performance and his age. So I wouldn't want to like, I would go on my way to piss off Verlander. Obviously, this is not something I'd want to do. But what if I would make the best decision for the team? I mean, right, but you got to also consider big picture. If you're anticipating, like, we are what you're going to beat Minnesota, you may need him in the next series. And you don't know what you don't know about Eric Getty or anybody else to say, can Eric Getty is he going to continue to do this? And he's never pitched in the playoffs before. And he's pitched more innings than he's ever pitched. So you're looking at it going, I still need to make sure Verlander's cool because that next series, should I get there, especially if you burn your good pictures in this series to start with, you're going to look to a guy like that because you're going to need more starters. I would hope Verlander is a mature enough adult to handle this situation. I'm not really worried about his feelings in this. I mean, unless the Astros just handle it in the rude display possible, then I don't see how if they come to him and talk to him like adults say, hey, look, you haven't been in great form. You're still a valuable part of the team. We want you out there when we get to the next round and we're going to get to the next round. So be ready, sit this one out, get some rest, get your mechanics right, getting good shape, get some rest, and be ready for the next series. I think if they handle it right, there would be no reason for Verlander to have a pity party and then not be ready to go for the ALDS at the Astros' events. I just can't get to the point where I think Verlander is going to just pout and cry and moan and throw himself out of rhythm for a potential ALTS turn. I don't buy that as a possibility. Yeah, I think that because when you mentioned that, the other thing that I thought about was, yes, the names on the back of both jerseys matter and I think that there's going to be pushed because of that. I think the other thing is the nameplate on the owner's door matters. And I think Jim Crane, again, I hope I'm wrong because I hope because of everything that we saw that didn't go right with the things that he was trying to do and the punches that he tried to pull when he was with the guys that he had brought in previously and how badly the Montero and the Abreya situation went. I hope they finally, as we talked about yesterday, let Dana Brown do his job, but I just got to believe come playoff time that he is going to be knocking on the doors and picking up the phone and telling some people that's my guy. We got to make sure we don't piss off JV and possibly we may need him down. I don't know what Crane's going to say, but it scares me because he likes to manipulate things. I mean, it feels like a reach to say Jim Crane's making lineup decisions. I know we have criticized him. A lot of people criticize him for overreaching what an owner should be involved in. Certainly, he made Dana Brown look like a puppet at times since his tenure started, but calling up and saying JV has to start making the lineup decision for a spotter feels like a reach to me. And I mean, I'm not saying it's a zero percent that would happen because you can't dismiss anything crazy with the Astros in the way they've been run over the last couple of years, but I would put the odds being very, very loud. I could see him being involved in the conversation. If they're going to tell Verlander you're not starting in the wildcard series, I could see Jim Crane because of his personal relationship with Verlander being a part of that conversation to make sure Verlander doesn't have hurt feelings. But I can't see Crane going to the point of saying calling up a spot or calling up Dana Brown and saying JV has to get one of these three starts. No, I think that which we won't know that will never come out, but that's just kind of my gut feeling on it. We know that in the past, he's metal. That's all I'm saying. He's metal. We know it from a player acquisition standpoint. We know that he plays it like fantasy baseball. We know he has a relationship with JV. I think that that's why maybe we don't have to have this conversation because JV just doesn't look good or just is the same JV we've seen down the stretch. If JV pitches anywhere near decently, I think that there's going to be a conversation or two hat about Justin Verlander that includes Jim Crane. Well, sure. And there's three weeks left. I mean, it was it's today. I mean, as we look at the calendar today, there's about three weeks left on the season. So that includes Verlander. That includes Tucker. We have a lot of concerns about them getting getting back into their their top form before the postseason starts. And there's plenty of reason to be concerned about that. Tucker's one for 10 before strikeouts. Verlander's ERA is what six or seven since he returned. There's a lot of reason to be concerned, but there's also time to where we could be looking back in two weeks thinking this conversation turned out to be kind of silly. Well, hopefully we will, but we'll see. Well, to continue to kick it around, we're going to be here all day. So hopefully you guys will be two, three to six. Well, we've got a whole lot to get to in a very, very busy show today. Of course, we're going to be talking Texans. We're going to be talking Astros. We'll talk some SEC football all with Cole Thompson. Cole Thompson's going to be here. He covers the Texans. He covers the SEC. We'll get into that. Our man Houston Stressons is going to be starting Garrett from Houston Stressons going to be joining us as well. Talk a little bit about your Houston Texans from a different perspective as we kind of get a conversation or two going about that. And you're always a part of it as well. You can get Brian McDonald today at SACT by BMAC on Twitter. You can get me at pack man Joel with a K. You can get us on Twitch on YouTube. You can also hit us up with text and call 713-70-3776. More to come. Hang with us. Just getting started. It's the Killer B's on ESPN. Broadcasting live from the Peritex Community Bank Studios. It's the Killer B's with Joel Blanket. Jeremy Branham. On ESPN 97-5 and 92-5. Hey one of Branham's groupies grinding on coffee and whiskey. Just realized no Branham in here today. Branham kind of called his shot yesterday. He was losing his voice during the show. Hopefully he's good to go tomorrow. Needed to kind of rest up the pipes today. So it's just me and BMAC and a cast of thousands and friends that are going to be kicking it until 6 p.m. We were in Astros talk. We'll get to Texans talk and a lot more. But we were talking about the fact that the Astros basically should start being in a standpoint where as they review where they are and what they're doing they're probably going to play a wildcard series. They're probably going to host a team either the Royals or the Twins. And how does that translate to what they're going to do with their roster? We know Verlander blew up. Verlander's not been great. He hasn't won a game since he came back off the IL. Dana Brown this morning on the flagship starts talking about yeah but he's throwing 97. It's just a matter of where he's throwing it but we totally believe the back of the baseball card he's going to be back. Arigati also the back of his baseball card had the massive puke fest all over himself his last start before last night. Last night he only gives up two runs. Is that good enough for you? What you saw of Spencer Arigati it wasn't what we saw when he was playing really good teams and mowing guys down striking out double digit digits but was it enough for you to be okay with him being a guy that you can lean on in the playoffs? I think what he did last night now I mean seven hits is a lot of hits but no walks and you get seven Ks through six and two thirds only give up the two earned runs. I feel good enough with that bounce back that I would put him ahead of Renele Blanco which we've seen. I know he had a good bullpen appearance a few days ago but I put him ahead of Renele Blanco what we've seen from him kind of regressing over the second half in this version of Verlander that we've gotten since his return from the injured list the four starts have just been absolutely abysmal so if Verlander continues to pitch like this I would have Arigati as the four starter meaning he would get a start in the ALDS which is I mean it's risky he's never had a postseason start as you've pointed out as everyone knows because he's a rookie but Verlander he's had a lot of postseason success we know that hasn't always translated in the world series but this version of Verlander 41 I don't trust him right now he has three weeks to win that back and it wouldn't take a whole lot for him to win back went back to me if he has two really good starts then I'm back in and Arigati is on the bench or in the bullpen because of the back of the baseball card because the back of the jersey that says Verlander if he shows us over two starts that he's he's gonna rebound the form I will put him back in but as of this moment yeah I think that's already gives the A he puts Arigati back into the four spot for me I think the only I think the reason why too Brian you would be on that kind of a pay that level and I'm not far behind you is the fact that you don't have that many you don't have any other options except look I'm bigger on Blanco in a lot of ways than Arigati if Blanco is full health and his arm doesn't look like he's been dealing with he's been gassed they set him out for a reason they skip to start for a reason they know that he his arm has been taxed all year he's well past his previous career high he is from her from a year ago but for different reasons the second half not because of the fact that he didn't have the ability or his feelings were hurt but he just carried this team for the entire first half when they were trying to figure stuff out and it took a toll on his arm and so now they sit him for you know a start they sit him out for a start they say he's gonna do some bullpen work he pitched the other day but you wonder like how much gas is truly left in the tank for a guy that I have confidence can get out but now I don't have the confidence that if I go put him back on the mound for a start can he give me five can he do what he was doing and more like he was doing in the first half or are we just kind of have to just we're lent and say okay what we'll take whatever we can get for him but we don't know how many innings he can go yeah I think I would I hear your your comparison to from her because he certainly did carry the team in the first half but I would actually compare Rinal Blanco to JP France but I mean they're both guys who were not really prospects older I mean France came up with 28 Blanco at 30 when they had their big season and I mean Rinal Blanco's prime was obviously a lot hotter he had a no hitter in his first start it lasted longer because France I believe was only eight starts before he fell off but I think we're seeing something kind of similar guys who weren't big-time prospects guys who didn't have a very high you know an innings pitch in his career and now have exceeded that and have just completely gassed out and maybe aren't as talented as the guys random being of course the reason they didn't come up to their age 28 or 30 so I think I kind of look at Rinal Blanco as JP France but a little bit better I think he's better than what France was down the stretch last year when he tailed off I do think he's better than that but I don't really trust him in a postseason start trying to get six you know five or six innings out of him see an AR Platinum text in Blanco's not a lock for a playoff spot the stats generally equal to or better than Fromber and Hunter I disagree there look I think Blanco his first half stats were dominant his first half stats he should have been an all-star but it hasn't been the same since right that's what I'm saying like you want to talk about a tale of two different situations I'll lump Fromber and Hunter together we know first half Blanco was unbelievable but we know second half Blanco has been a different story on the flip side we know that Fromber and Hunter had their issues in the first half Fromber and Hunter have essentially been lights out since they got back from the all-star break and there's no reason to believe that they aren't your one two solidified in as much cement and stone and whatever else you want to put them in that ain't changing no and look I it's it's great to point out how great of a first half Rinal Blanco had and it's absolutely true but to a point when we're talking about success in April and May I know it's not as back at the baseball card is what we've talked about with other players who were talking about you know seasons they had three and four years ago but I don't really want to judge Rinal Blanco right now what he did in April and May it doesn't really factor into me what I'm trying to factor in and decide is who's in great form now it doesn't matter to me what you did in April and May if you're in bad form it's at timber going into October and I'm not saying Rinal Blanco is is completely enabled or incapable of giving you a good playoff star I think there's something in there I just don't think he's one of your best four options right now and I would put Eric Eddy ahead of him I think the key to Brian is the factor right now you only need three you only need three options for the first series if indeed there's no way Blanco's at the top three and I wouldn't even put him in the top four although I would hear the conversation but I would lean Eric Eddy because when you look at second half Eric Eddy has been much better second half than Rinal Blanco yes but I also think that from a standpoint you only need three and honestly as much as I put the first two in stone right now unless things change drastically I've got all three of them in stone I've got Kakuchi set in stone as well those are my three guys those those are the three guys that are going to take the bump for me if I need to play three games and I'll sort it out from there I've got two quality options maybe three that I can go to with Eric with Eric Eddy with Blanco and with a potential for Verlander to get better if I if I then have to reset when we go to the next round well we've got to get there first and those are my three starters all right you guys want to chime in on this la you want to talk a little bit about Justin Verlander what's going on yeah so two points I want to make very quickly the first point is you don't keep a future Hall of Famer out of the pitching rotation in the playoffs that's I mean that's just something you don't do what if he's pitching like dogs is well wait LA before I get to the second point I understand you know the back of his baseball card but if he's if he did what he did the other night and gave up a grand slam and a three run bomb in the first two and a half three innings how are you going to tell me that that warrants giving him the baseball yeah so that brings me to my second point and and that is it's going to be up to the pitching coach and a manager to Michael Manage's innings pitches and and the minute Verlander is in trouble I don't care if it's with two outs in the first inning or whatever that's when you you got to take the man out but I'll let you're talking about that I hear what you're saying right but at the same time he didn't pitch that many pitches the other night he and and you say are you going to pull him in the first inning because the start before and Cincinnati he loaded the bases he walked the bases loaded in the first inning you're going to pull him in the first inning in the Arizona start he gave up he gave up two he had two outs he gave up two singles in a bomb and suddenly you're down three nothing in the first inning well and and and Verlander I think is a smart enough guy and a manager and the the pitching coach they're smart enough to know that the Astros this year have had trouble putting runs together in many games many games games that they should have won they couldn't put good hits together to to win games so that's probably going to continue in the playoffs so that's another reason why I'm L.A. and I hear what you're saying thanks for the call we got to get to it and we got to get another call in here but the thing is with what you just said about the fact that you don't have as much wiggle room because you're worried about the offense that's why I can't take my chances holding my breath that Justin Verlander is going to keep his head above water and do what he needs to do especially if I'm worried about runs and run support yeah I hear what he's saying and it's it's not a completely unfair point but I hate the idea of well he has to get a start because the Hall of Famer yeah well he's a Hall of Famer based on things he did in 2008 2010 2011 what does that matter in 2024 I mean what matters is his current form and his current form has not been a top four picture on this team what if your Hall of Famer is pitching like a triple A starting pitcher that's struggling to make it to the big leagues and can't find the strike zone in the right spot that's a bigger problem no matter what is back back of his baseball club not what's best for the team right Chris we got to get you in here before we keep moving on what do you got worse yeah no Justin is definitely pitching like a triple A pitcher right now since he's come back off the IL Glavin I saw an interview with him and he was saying that what what really turned his career around is when he decided not to throw a hundred percent to start it throwing 96 percent so he could know where the ball was going be more accurate just because Justin Stonehart doesn't mean he knows where the ball is going so I think there that's the reason why he's throwing hard is because he doesn't know where the ball is going I mean JB is not going to willingly not be the third starter you can't even take him out of a baseball game Brian I mean he won't let us bother even take him out and my other point is I think Eric Gotti should be at the Game 3 starter because Kakuchis had experience coming out of the bullpen and playoff games before good show guys appreciated Chris thanks for the call look I would push back on that by saying he's had one appearance in the bullpen I would hardly call it like bullpen experience in the postseason my bigger thing is Kakuchis got multiple years of major league experience and one playoff game Eric Gotti has zero playoff experience and he's basically throwing more innings than he's ever thrown in his life those have a couple of red flags attached to him where I'm going to really question where I'm at where and how I use Spencer Eric Gotti that's just me yeah I mean the difference in the postseason bullpen experience between Kakuchi and Eric Gotti is one appearance yeah I know I know Kakuchi is the veteran but the difference in their in their bullpen experience in the postseason is nothing to make a decision over no but but but the main thing is you're right from playoff experience I have no I have no ground to stand on with that other than my mourners just major league experience no I know I was a disagree I agree Kakuchi would be a third I'm I'm making a point to the caller's point that we should give Kakuchi or put Kakuchi in the bullpen because he has this postseason bullpen experience but it's only one more appearance than Spencer Eric Gotti has in the postseason so I don't see that being a tiebreaker or deciding factor in why you would go with one or the other I would take Kakuchi I trust him more that's just kind of a gut feel but if they made Eric Gotti I wouldn't I wouldn't stress out over it but I would prefer to be Kakuchi well and I would say this to Chris's point where he was really right which is to on the Verlander point when Kakuchi and a lot of his career has been based on this where he's trying to get his velocity up and his velocity is good but when he misses he misses over the heart of the plate with that fastball and he gets crushed so that's where you do have to be smarter and realize since he's been with the Astros and they basically used his secondary pitches a lot more he's been a ton more effective and he's not getting crushed and that's something that we'll keep an eye on as well all right we'll get to some more Astros talk in a minute but before as we continue to move on let's get to some Texans talk look week one we know what the Texans did some people thought that there was a great performance and they look dominant other people like Paul thought hey if you played several other teams you might not have won but we saw what happened around the rest of the league we've got our power rankings let's talk about yours who was better than the Texans in 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204 1936 that's a 32 204 1936 or all state siding in windows.com e s p s p n 97 bar you're back with the killer bees on e s p n 97 5 and 92 5 live for the paratex community bank studios here's Joel Blanken Jeremy Brannen go Brannen on the day b-mag and blank as we take until six o'clock as you still got bees in the hive and it is alive where we had astros talk going on and a lot of people chiming in on this topic because of the fact that Justin Verlander creates so many memories and so many reactions because of what he's been for the Houston Astros but I think to Brian and I's point you can't worry about what he's been even since he's just been an astro you have to worry about what he's going to be going forward and the biggest thing with that is you just don't know and what you've seen recently gives you more reason to be concerned than calm as you try to set up your rotation yeah 2017 2019 2022 memories don't win 2024 playoff games exactly and that feels like a heartless thing to say but it's just the reality I mean Verlander is as Jeremy would say is the greatest astro starting picture in the team's history I mean only of the guy that would be in the conversation would probably be Roy Oswald so I mean even if you have him too he's still one of the top two in the history's franchise and the history of the franchise is easy for me to say but that's something while we should obviously always keep those memories close to our heart and celebrate them and love them that doesn't really matter for the form that he's in currently and the form he's in currently is not worth a playoff start exactly he has time to fix that but right now he's not in that form when we get Jason in here before we switch topics to the Texas Jason wants to get in here on Verlander what's up Jason yeah so my question is is it out of the realm of possibility for Verlander to be willing to come out of the bullpen I know he's made one bullpen appearance a couple years ago in the end of World Series when it was all hands-on deck type of deal but can a spot I go to him and say look you're not making this roster as a starter you can make the roster and pitch out of the bullpen you you guys think he'd be willing to do that so that's the key thing would he be willing to do that because if you listen to the game on Sunday night baseball and ravage and the guys in the booth we're talking about the fact that they did he had never he's never done it before you're right I remember he did in the Red Sox series two in the playoffs but it's something that's a possibility but they alluded to the fact that he didn't that they didn't think he was willing to do it and he wasn't going to do it so therefore he's either going to start or he's not going to be on the playoff roster which got everybody's wheels turned and we had already talked about it prior to that I think that's the big key we know that in the past that Oder Easey was a guy that said I don't want to I don't like this even when he did it he had all kinds of hang-ups and you know prepping how to get ready and it was just a big pain in the ass I think with Verlander the other part of this is the conversation's tough I don't think Espada in a first-year managerial role that's a tough thing to do we've seen how volatile JV gets even getting taken out of games we've seen how you got to kind of handle him with kid gloves like a lot of veteran starting pitchers I think that's a tough conversation because I don't think Justin Verlander is going to be on board with that no I don't either and I even if he was willing to have the conversation as you mentioned he did it in the Red Sox series in 2017 the caller mentioned he did in the World Series I forget the specifics of that scenario but even if he was willing to do it I think you're talking about a guy who would have to come into the clean eating right he's not coming in with runners on getting to get ready in a hurry this is going to have to be a situation where like you tell him okay definitely game three there's no there's no mystery about what game it is it'll be game three you're coming in after as soon as Kakuchi's done let's say he goes five you're coming in for the sixth inning and it gave us two two innings to bridge the gap to the high leverage guys in the back of the bullpen that's the only way that would work but then what if Kakuchi's dealing are you just going to automatically take him out to put in a guy like Justin Verlan who struggled and even if you are willing to to take Kakuchi out I mean let's say you're in the the sixth seventh inning are you going to tell you're going to put in Verlan who's struggling over guys who have been in those situations the Brian Abreis used the Ryan Presley's the Taylor Scott's the Jay the Josh Hader would be the ninth inning so Verlander wouldn't be in for him even there's but yeah well man I mean yeah I don't know Maris was I don't know about there's maybe I maybe I would take out I don't know if I'd have a problem with putting in Verlan for instead of Maris but but you hear what I'm saying that like are you going to take out Kakuchi early are you going to put in Verlan who's not in good form because you instead of these guys who are experienced in those spots have been in those spots you know millions of times know how to handle the quick up and down I just don't think there's a logical place to put Verlan or even if he's willing to come out of the bullpen hear me out though Brian on this one because of the fact that we heard Dana talk today and we mentioned the quote about the fact that he was topping out at 97 miles an hour we know he still got it back at the baseball card he's going to figure it out I'll tell you this right now I think where he was thinking about is exactly what you're talking about a piggyback a piggyback or what do you normally want to get from an oort or guys out of the bullpen that's going to try and give you one or two a solid innings you want some guy throwing hard that is going to blow you away and empty the tank for one or two innings if that's what you're worried about if you're focused on his v-low is the same then that's what you're talking about because we know that the the problem has been overall location and as he gets longer into a ball game if you're going to tell me for an inning or two he's going to empty the tank on his fastball his curveball was actually pretty good the other night they were even talking about it on the on the on the telecast that that he should have thrown it more that if if he's willing to do it you're right now I'm talking about a guy that I have confidence for an inning or two that's going to top out at 97 miles an hour that if he throws his curveball anywhere near effectively and keeps guys off balance for one for less than one time through a batting order to get six outs or three outs I believe in that guy I just don't believe he wants to do that I question if we even really believe in that though because yeah he can hit 97 but he doesn't know where it's going right now that's the big thing like in this scenario you painted he's coming in he's emptying the take he's he's basically almost not I hate to say like throwing mechanics out the door but he's trying to throw as hard as he can for a guy who's already struggling with command the command probably being his biggest issue right now I don't think that best suits Justin Verlander to have good results if he's coming in and just trying to hump it up and throw 97 for two innings yeah I mean beside the whole point of him not being used to the role and all the other possible problems that go along with that I don't think with his command controls now hopefully he can fix that over the next three weeks but if he's still having these command controls I don't think him coming in and trying to throw gas for two innings necessarily leads to the results that we would want from that spot you're right I'm not saying because I'm not saying just throw gas and to your first point which is the most valid of all which is we saw and I mentioned it and I alluded to it with the caller if he's going to walk the bases loaded in Cincinnati or in the case of his last start it wasn't that the fastball wasn't good if the location was awful with the fastball the curve ball actually location was good he wasn't throwing it he wanted to throw the fastball so you're right that's the bigger issue and that's why it kind of comes full circle to the way we open the program where I said look this is going to be addressed rehearsal for for Arageti and Verlander for the last three starts Arageti started off pretty damn good last night to at least say okay we see that he can get back on track he's he was more like the old Arageti last night let's see what Verlander gives you in especially in the next two starts and we will have to gauge accordingly like is he capable of kind of dialing it back in that's going to be the big question yeah because I when when does he start next it be against either the A's or the Angels right so I mean it's it's not tonight I'm trying to see when he starts it's not Thursday so we're talking about the week and he's going to be facing the Angels in LA look I mean I know we just I well I said this I'm not going to put you on this because you were riding on it I know I just said it was the oh it's only the A's last night and I'm about to say well it's only the Angels but I can't take Verlander seriously as far as him turning the corner and being the guy that we need him to be in the postseason if he can't go out to LA and dominate the Angels right no and I agree with that so all right we're going to continue to roll we'll get back to some more Astros talk but that was some good conversation to start the program we've got a lot coming up with the Texans so we got to get into some NFL let's get into the fact that that question that I set up last segment I mean where do you where are you with your Houston Texans after week one of the regular season where would you put them who's better than the Houston Texans after week one let us know 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6 call text hit us up on social media before we go to the break I do want to tell you a few things about my bookie we know my bookie is the place that I always tell you to go to because they are the best place to go when you want to put a wager down on whatever game you're watching and we know that football is back so that means the wager time is the right time when we're talking about the greatest time of the year you've got baseball playoffs around the corner you've got college and pro football you've got so many sports you can bet on in one place I tell you to go it's my bookie.ag because they take care of you in a variety of ways they got to always got promotions going on right now they got a weekly risk free boost on Thursdays you can bet without a sweat if your bet hits you win big if it doesn't forget it on Thursdays 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and on that first deposit you'll receive that bonus using our promo code bet nine seven five do what i always tell you to do bet anything anytime anywhere with the only place i tell you to do it it's my bookie.ag live in the barontex community bank studios it's the killer bees now back to Joel and Jeremy back on the bees berry uh Jeremy Branham with the day off the day resting his pipe says he had a little bit of a lost voice situation happening yesterday hopefully he gets well real soon we'll hopefully have him back say one bad enough today i guess not not a game sometimes you just got to be a gamer and not be soft and this is one of those moments i'm ready you got to put your big boy pants on and just what would you do to save our journey today we would not be happy do you have some cuss words interlaid with some pretty choice words um by the way i do want to remind everybody that we do have our listener party coming up again this year it's going to be next friday it's it's going to be a phenomenal evening it's for adults only if you know what i mean because we're going to have alcoholic beverages but it is going to be fun right here at the home of gal media where you guys can get a tour of the production facility the studios see everything that we do sometimes while we're doing it and then hang out with all of us with some great food as filly flats we're going to have uh bb's techs or liens j bar m lanes chicken fingers halal guys space city vodka tahas beer all getting you ready for a full night of food drink and fun and we always have a chance for you to win a special prize in the raffle from republic boot company as well we got a limited amount of guaranteed admission tickets that are still available purchase that includes your food and the drink you do have to be 21 to attend get to espn 975 calm right now under the promotion tab to get your tickets before it's too late all right so with that being said brian i saw this the other day and i i was curious when you're talking about you know i i mentioned paul just not being on the bet the texans bandwagon that they beat the colds but he thought if they played another opponent they might not have been so quote unquote lucky that he he wasn't sure they played their best game you know we watched every game across the league we saw the upsets we know Cincinnati didn't look good we know that teams that kind of work starting to get penciled in as potential contenders might look a little bit like pretenders after one week of the season so if from your perspective if you would say the texans are better than who's still better than the texans so we know that the texans got the w i don't know depending on how you feel but how many teams could you see where you could say they're better than to all right put the texans above the them above the texans right now it's a short list for me to be honest uh i i hear what paul saying because obviously there was deep shots that anthony richison miss we know the one where camari laster got beat on a double move by anani mitchell hookham uh it should have been a touchdown if that was an accurate quarterback there's another one where stingley thought he had deep coverage he was sitting in zone and anani mitchell's wide open in zone and uh richison missed him there as well so you could certainly make the case for quote unquote they got lucky i don't really share that because even the texans i think would have game planned differently if they were facing a quarterback who could hit the broad side of a barn barn like richison sometimes cannot do but i yeah so i i i kind of push back on the lucky thing and right now i thought the texans especially an offensive look great there's definitely some things to clean up the the offensive line protection being able to handle stunts and twists inside was a problem but right now i'd only put three teams ahead of the Houston texans and my power rankings after week one and i don't think there's really any surprises here even though one of these team lot teams lost their first game uh but my my power ranking top three would be chiefs one 49ers two ravens three because i mean their only loss was the number one team and then i would have the texans at number four where the eagles right behind them and fifth so we have all the same teams and where i'm at is kind of what you just said i was going to put them third however i can't until you prove you can beat your daddy yeah because the ravens had been attacked through that last year well not only did they beat you twice you didn't score an offer to touch down against them and the fact that they're still a hyper talented team it's week one and they're still figuring out how to use and that's a big story in baltimore how to use derrick henry and what they're going to do going forward but you know the talent is there you know that zay flowers looks like he is creating space against anybody that tries to stop him you know lamar is still going to be lamar they've got two tight ends to choose from we talked about those guys yesterday so for me it's exactly where you're at the bigger question to me was i was considering because the eagles got to win against a quality football team according to some uh in in in out of the country now it gets a quality quarterback right? evidently not and and he's soft he can't stay healthy and so when you look at all those factors they got a win but their defense didn't look very good green bay was moving the football green bay had opportunities that they left points on on the table they should have gotten that might have changed the outcome of that football game so that's why i put the eagles also at fifth slightly behind the Texans i do as well have the chiefs then i have the ravens then i mean sorry the chiefs the 49ers the ravens and then the the the Texans and the eagles the big parlet the big question for me the big uh caveat 49ers looked so damn good and that was without cmc yeah really without i uke didn't do much right and he kind of he was dropping footballs that you look at it and say yeah they can get better but they look dominant the chiefs looked like they were the better team all night long were they as dominant as the Niners because i think that's a discussion yeah i i could see that argument but i can't i can't ignore the head to head results and not to go back to the baseball card but if i if i'm power ranking how good i think these teams are i can't ignore that even though the 49ers maybe looked more dominant in their matchup uh you would i would definitely say the chiefs were facing the better team facing the ravens then the 49ers facing the jets so you have to give the chiefs a little bit of a tiebreaker there and when these two teams last met i know it went to overtime but i thought the chiefs were the were the better team and they have been for several years so uh until the 49ers prove it i i would still have the chiefs ahead of them i kind of feel the same way about the eagles dropping them to fifth below the Texans because i can't forget 10-1 start then one of five down the stretch i know it was a great win in brazil against the packers but let's see it for a few more weeks because this was a front running team last year it started off great and they completely fell apart had replaced both of their coordinators so i'm going to need to see it for at least a couple more weeks before i'm willing to move the eagles up uh unless one of the teams above them so that's where i'm at with kansas city when it came down to it as much as i was really thoroughly impressed with the way that the niners had their way with the jets the big thing is is if i'm going to say from a raven's perspective that you have to beat your daddy and the ravens beat you the last two times that y'all played then from the same perspective if i'm going to go head to head the last time they played the chief beat the niners so therefore the chiefs still sit at number one they hold the the highest peak on the mountaintop until they get knocked off and right now they only chance of getting them knocked off by the niners is going to be in the super bowl so kind of what you were saying about the eagles if the chiefs continue to roll fine if they struggle in the niners are dominant or vice versa then it'll be a clear cut for the regular season but for me if i'm talking about the niners and the chiefs until the niners prove they can beat the chiefs then i will put the two-time super bowl champions and all their accomplishments in the back of their football card above the niners yeah it would take you know injury like i mean if the if obviously mohomes went down kelsey went down chris jones went down something like that then sure you're willing to look at the in a just uh or if there's they just stop winning for some reason which is why the role would happen huh sometimes it's complacency sometimes when a team's won two super bowls in the middle of the season they kind of relax they think they're gonna win the division and maybe they have a little lull where you go i don't even know if i would move him down it's gonna take a lot for me to move the chiefs below the one spot but last year they had a lull and people were questioning how good if they were gonna be i think they won 11 regular season games i mean i know i know they weren't the number one see they had to go on the road to buffalo they had to go on the road to to Baltimore but until like like you said i mean i can't believe i get a chance to quote Rick flair here but i'm going to take the chance to be the man you've got to beat the man and brother right now the chiefs are the man and so until they're beaten i'm not moving them but the remind that's the reminder i was saying they had a lull in the middle of the regular season last year we were wondering what Kelsey was they were losing some games they should have won they lost to a dominant packers team of course that was going to happen but down the stretch they started to flip the switch and once they flipped the switch whether they had home field advantage or not they proved they're still the chiefs and so that's what you say during the regular season the only way i think in the power rankings they would slip off the one spot would be if they they moved for a couple weeks or yeah or they I don't even know if a two three game lull moves them for me it's to me it's injury that's only way i move them off so there you go all right we're going to get into some more football next because we got an expert in the station he's going to join us in the studio he's going to talk everything about your Houston Texans he's called Thompson we can't wait to get him in here he's a friend of the show he's been here for a while we're going to get him in here and you guys can be a part of the show all that in our number two of the killer bees stay tuned he has been 97-5 and 92-5 [MUSIC]