The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
12/05 Hour 3 - Did the Astros Lowball Alex Bregman with Recent Contract Offer?
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I know you're being sarcastic, but the listener doesn't. Okay. Yeah. So where do you stand? Do you think we've gone too far, not like you and I, but just in the city of Houston, low-hards on the radio, which includes us, journal, all list, whatever. Do you think that we went too far universally in the city with the talk of regression in a sophomore slump when it comes to CJ's job? I realistically think that there has been too many people that are ready to like jump off the CJ train because of this season. I think that there have been people, you know, his mom got involved because of all the criticism he was getting. Look, understandably, this team is not doing what it did a year ago, but the expectations were the bar was set higher. People had higher expectations for this team. The schedule was tougher, but yet, you know, they haven't played great football all year as we just got done talking about. I mean, statistically, you cannot look at the stats and say that he's not playing less than he played last year, but each season is his own chapter in a guy's career. And I think that as well as things went a year ago and a lot of, you know, bounces went his way, his picks were way down. He could have had more interceptions than he had, but he had one hell of a year. And this year, that offensive line has caused him so much disdain in terms of not disdain, but so much in terms of his internal clock creating a more rushed pocket and all the decisions that he makes that I think that that's been extremely impactful. And I think that that's had a trickle down effect on the rest of his game. I think he's still a really, really, really good quarterback in this league. But if you want to call it a sophomore slump because the stats aren't going to be what they were a year ago, I understand where you're coming from, but just don't jump off the train and say that he's not a good quarterback. Yeah. See, I think we have gone a bit too far. I haven't seen anybody quit on CJ Stroud in the sense that they're jumping off the CJ Stroud train. Like, I, maybe I'm wrong there, seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESPN. If you have jumped off the CJ Stroud train, tell us why other than Todd the show and maybe King and Twitch, I had and I can't, I don't use them as credible sources, credible people. I don't, I don't know how you, I was kidding, but I don't know how you could jump off the CJ Stroud train in terms of like what you expect from him in the future. Could you have regressed from this year to last or yeah, from this year to last year? Sure. I mean, the numbers would tell you that. I don't think he's a lesser player though. He had a phenomenal rookie year. Some people call it the best rookie season for a quarterback ever, quite frankly. So he did set that bar pretty high. But if you like, let's take out the middle of CJ Stroud's career. If you go to the moment that the Houston Texans drafted at CJ Stroud at number two to right now and you eliminate everything else in the middle, would you be happy with what you have the quarterback that you drafted at number two? I would personally. I think everybody would, I think it'd be unanimous. Yeah. I don't think anybody would even bad and I know he can play in the league and everything like that. You just don't have the stats. No, let's say you, let's say you went into a coma. You went into a coma the day after CJ Stroud was drafted in the moment that, and then all of a sudden you woke up today and you do this crash course on where CJ Stroud currently is at in the NFL. You'd be over the moon with what CJ Stroud is. Now we probably went too far on where we thought CJ Stroud should be after his rookie year. Like we probably overrated his rookie season in totality. Like we jumped in and put CJ Stroud as the top five quarterback. Okay. We probably overreacted there. He's probably not top five yet. I believe he will be top five someday again, but he probably isn't top five yet. But then if you're taking him out of your top 10, I think now you've gone too far. I still think he's the top 10 quarterback in the NFL. I still think he's a quarterback that is capable of winning a Super Bowl. I think you can win a Super Bowl with CJ Stroud. And quite frankly, that's the only question I care about whenever I'm talking about a quarterback. If I have a quarterback here, quarterback there, quarterback over there, the question I'm asking myself, can I want to, can I want a Super Bowl with that guy? If I can win a Super Bowl with that guy, I'm going to be highly interested in having that guy. So that opinion of CJ Stroud hasn't changed for me. I believe after his rookie year, you can win a quarterback someday with CJ Stroud. I believe currently today you can win a Super Bowl with CJ Stroud. But his numbers haven't been awful. No. Have they been bad? Not even bad. Are they lesser than his rookie season? Yes, they are lesser than his rookie season. Are they deplorable? Are they awful? Are they bottom half of the NFL? No. I think you could still make a very good case. He's a top 10 quarterback in the NFL and he would be top 10 for me and he's top 10 for me. I guess I don't want to say easily, but looking at it, that's why I said every quarterback goes through every season as another chapter in their career and you can be on the high of all highs and play an unbelievable season. And the next season, you can look at whether it's the pitfalls of the team period with Joe Burrow and coming off an injury, but yet lately he's been picking it back up again. Dak Prescott, a guy that has unbelievable regular seasons and they have just completely crapped the bed and then he got hurt. So you can look at it and say, does that mean that there's a lesser quarterback for his career or going forward or for next season? Everybody's their own case study, but when you look at CJ Stroud and you watch play after play week after week, you realize all the throws that he still makes and all of his ability to kind of move and read the pocket and do the things that a good quarterback does in this league. There's no reason for me to change my opinion that this is a guy that isn't one of the best premier quarterbacks, young quarterbacks in this league and one of the best quarterbacks in this league period. Yeah, I don't love stats and football. Quite frankly, I think that they're, I think they're highly misleading and I think that a lot of things go into a certain player stat. Like a lone, you're dependent on your offensive line, which I think is something that's a huge conversation when it comes to CJ Stroud, you're dependent to your play caller, you're dependent to who your receivers are, all of these things. So I don't love looking at a quarterback stat line and being like, that guy's really good. I like to turn on the film. I like to turn on the tape and posture like I know football. Anytime I see, Jeremy Branham, I like to make everybody think that you know ball. Yeah, that's what I like to do. I like to make everybody think I know ball by watching the film. For me, my eyes and watching what I see on tape matter than completion percentage or touchdown to interception ratio. And whenever I watch CJ this year versus last year, I don't see a worse football player. All the highlights that CJ Stroud was performing in making last year, he is still currently doing. I think his lows have been lower though for a variety of reasons. Like he's been sacked way more than he was last year. He's a current, he's currently been sacked 41 times in 13 games. Last year in 15 games, he was sacked 38 times. So the offensive line is a huge variable of why CJ Stroud, I think, has a, you know, the inconsistent, the inconsistency is more prevalent. But like people are like, oh, his completion percentage is awful. He was 63.9 last year, he's 63.3 right now. It's almost the exact same and you have to factor in the internal clock. You know, as bad as that offensive line was in totality last year with all of the injuries and all the way they played musical chairs with them and the way they started the season giving up 11 sacks in the first two games, they put it together. They found continuity. They gave him enough time to where he had the success that he had. This year he has been under fire on almost every snap and at a certain point that's going to affect everything that you do because you're constantly expecting to get hit yet again and sacked yet again. And that changes the mentality of a quarterback. It has to. It doesn't mean that it's going to change it like David Carr for the rest of his career. It just means that in this season with as bad as this offensive line has been, he has regressed because of all that the extra coming at him on every play. Yeah, it's tough when you argue with this people who want to die on the hill that he's having a sophomore slump because it's that's on their side. I mean, other than interception percentage, which is marginal best, but or a completion percentage that is, but inter interception percentages is up. Yours per game is down the difference between his touchdowns, interceptions down, all these things that they would point to or down, but you can't exclude away Niko, miss and five games. You can't exclude away Stefan Diggs getting hurt or Tate Dale disappearing or or the offensive line being that bad. And I think overall, like going back to the beginning of the segment, if you didn't know what CJ did in his rookie year, this would be kind of the natural progression of a second year quarterback. Guys coming in and playing like CJ did in year one, isn't necessarily the norm. There's a usually a slower progression building up. And I think if we didn't have the expectations falsely raised from how amazing it was last year, then we wouldn't be expecting this, this, this, the spike in performance, the spike in production and look at these numbers in a negative way, a few text on this, um, seven one, three, seven, eight zero ESPN, uh, Oh, Todd and King of Twitch or morons. That's not nice. Those are our guys. Don't be mean to, don't be mean to Todd, uh, don't give up on CJ. He's had a less than stellar offensive line. That's a major variable for a quarterback's production. And you look at the pressure rates between this year and last year, this year are very, very high. They kept them more upright last year, tougher schedule, not surprised. Maybe less podcast. Look at the podcast thing is stupid, but the, the tougher schedule that comes into play too. Like you play more difficult opponents. What does that do to your stat line? If CJ Stroud played the worst team in the NFL each and every week, how would his numbers look versus playing the best defense in the NFL each and every week? Option A would obviously be way better in terms of production. I don't believe CJ is the savior. It sounds like after Watson, it sounds like Dallas after deck. Okay. I'm not putting them into Sean Watson conversation. The jury's out on the whole Dallas deck thing, like that, that hasn't done much in the post season. CJ Stroud won a post season game in his rookie season, but I can't put CJ Stroud as like a better resume than deck press shot right now. We have to wait. Dak has, Dak has been in the running for an MVP on multiple seasons because of the regular seasons that he's had that that's something that you can't take away from him. The playoffs, absolutely a separate conversation where, you know, what you really, what it really matters most is what everybody is really going to watch the closest and he hasn't performed in the playoffs. Now I, I test. I would take Stroud over deck, but I'm not going to sit here and argue resumes, pessimistic Chad. So much of the issue is CJ is the result of an abdominal offensive line. He doesn't trust them. I think I do think that is true. Like his internal clock is different. I would. I've been harping on it. Everything your run game, your receivers, your passing game, everything that you do offensively, it's all connects and starts with your offensive line and the offensive line has been putrid. It's been bad. It's not supposed to be this bad. We thought it was going to be way better than it has been, but it is the main crux of why they've struggled so greatly on offense across the board, not just CJ, but we do have to see improvement there because as we talked about after the game, I mean, Jeremy, I think called it the best offensive line, uh, promise of the season since the, since the change. Yes, since the change. So, and we, I think we noticed an improvement overall and not just the tenant, but not just this last game, uh, but overall, since they made the change with a Kenyan green out and then make it the change at center as well. So I think if we're going to hold on to, well, it was the offensive line, then, then CJ would need to show a production improvement with the better offensive line to make that point even more, I guess proven for lack of a better work. You just need more than a one game sample. Yeah, it would have to be the bigger sample size, but if you want to make your argument, it wasn't CJ, it was the offensive line, the offensive line plays better than CJ's production has to go up. Agreed. You just need the, the series of games and it's probably all the games after the buy. I'm not jumping off the CJ Stroud train. It's okay to acknowledge though that opposing defenses have adjusted well. So the opposing defenses countering CJ Stroud, or are they countering the poor offensive line and attacking that? They're capitalizing on the match ups and that's what coaches do weekend week out. They see this offensive line. Look at what the Jets did. The Jets have been a, a piss poor team while season, but the Jets new Quinn and Williams matched up against Kenyan green was going to be a huge advantage and they took advantage of it. They're supposed to. Yeah. I think the Texans don't lie, not CJ Stroud's weaknesses per se, as there have been a quarterback that hasn't gone through a sophomore slump, I would say most quarterbacks are usually better in year two than they are year one though. Like you look at Peyton Manning way better in year two. Yeah. Certainly. Yeah. And he was, and he didn't play as rookie year. We played one. Yeah. One game. Yeah. One game. He was secondary quarterback. A Texan zone line stealing money, tougher schedule, yards per game is down across the league. I do believe that is true. I think the kickoff rule plays a little part into that, but yeah, I mean, if the yards per game is down across the league, then you can't look at CJ Stroud's yards per game. You'll be like, Oh, well, look how bad he's regressed. I point more to the interceptions. And he led the league in yards per game this year. He's like 10th fair. He's not just that is the overall yards are down across the league, which they are in that's, that's part of the conversation, but also where he ranks against the rest of the league is down. Yeah, it's a good point relative to the league is the best way to look at it versus yards versus his rookie year, a tougher schedule, another tougher schedule. You guys are currently in the denial and bargaining stages of the five stages of Greece. The excuse making is crazy today. Okay. Another one stop making excuses. There needs to be more quick throwing and play action passes. A lot of defenses that would be slow, a mix in that'd be slow. There's plenty of blame to go around offensive line, CJ decision making, but let's not forget the play calling as well. We mentioned that man, if the Texans never figure out this offensive line, what a waste of talent with CJ. Absolutely. That's true. That has to be priority number one, not only this off season, but every off season, the way that you have CJ, CJ can be better than Baker and Darnell. I hope so. I hope he can be better than Baker and Darnell. I would say he is better than Darnell. And on the previous one, C Joe burrow, that's what you do when you have an unbelievable talent at quarterback and you don't put the proper offensive line in front of him and then realize how you can screw that up. Yes, he did eventually get to a Super Bowl, but a lot of times the, the injuries he had and the way that he has, you know, had, had struggles, it's due to his offensive lines sucking too. There are a few other like advanced numbers that don't CJ shroud. He's first with 104 dropbacks on third and fourth down with seven plus yards to go. So they're putting him in bad spot, third and longs, fourth and longs. He leads the NFL and third and fourth and longs, more than anybody else in the league. He's quarterback number six on the pro football focus grade quarterback, number seven and big time throw rate quarterback six and turnover worthy play rate, the good rate, he's, he's avoiding turnover yet the Texans are 15th and success rate. So C that's offensive line. It's not play from your quarterback. So I would point to that. That was from Hayden Winx that mentioned some of those advanced numbers. Seven one three seven eight zero ESPN. The Astros have an offer on Alex Bregman according to Brian McTaggart and to me, if it's according to Brian McTaggart, it is official six years, 156 million dollars. Are the Astros low balling Alex Bregman? A lot of people think that's the case. Seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six, it's the bees on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five. ESPN 97 five I assume you knew. Coming to you live from the Veritex community bank studios. It's the killer bees on ESPN 97 five and 92 five. It's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham, killer bees, ESPN 97 five ESPN 92 five. So Brian McTaggart has a report out today that the Astros have offered Alex Bregman a contract. The details of the contract six years, 156 million dollars, a lot of, a lot of conversation going on on Twitter right now. Do you think that the Astros low balled Alex Bregman like they did once upon a time to Carlos Korea? Not at all. Because of the fact that reading an article on Bleacher report this morning, that's, that was taking the top 10 free agents left on the market and trying to guess their final contract numbers. That's exactly what it was. Six and 156. So I don't think that's a low ball. I think that we know that there are teams that are going to, I think quite honestly, he's the plan B for a lot of teams. I don't know that he's a top priority for any team other than the Astros right now, but I think that based on what happens with Juan Soto and some of the pitchers in the market, it's going to dictate how much interest there's going to be in Alex Bregman. And with that interest is going to be competition to try and get the best offer in. And that's where the numbers might get inflated and exceed what the Astros are willing to pay. I don't think that's a low ball offer because you don't want to make your best offer right now anyway. Yeah, I'm curious. I don't think it's a low ball to be fair. I don't like Bleacher report. I don't think anybody that like, I don't know anybody that works at Bleacher report, but I usually don't find them all that credible. The athletic has the projection for Alex Bregman seven years, $189 million. So higher than what he was offered, but I don't think that that's that's huge, like a huge massive leap. That's, that's just one extra year and now $33 million is significant, but it's pretty close to the AAV of six years, $156 million. So I don't think it's a low ball, but I don't think it's enough. I don't think that Alex Bregman is going to sign for six years, 156. And to go to like to the point that you brought up about, will they improve their offer? I think that's how we're going to determine if the Astros are serious or not about Alex Bregman, or they just like putting on a face, but hey, look at us. Look at this contract offer that we're giving. Look at us. We're giving it the old college try. Look at us. We're really efforting for Alex Bregman. At the end of the day, Bregman signs for six years, 180 million, and they're, you know, fall short of that. So let's see how serious they are. Is it their best and final? I don't know. I wouldn't say that it's an insulting low ball, low ball offer. But what I would point to is the Carlos Correa offer, that was a low ball, but they never improved on it. I would even point to James Click. They gave James Click a one year deal to kind of say face. They weren't firing the general manager that just won the World Series, but had zero intention of bringing back James Click. So they had zero intention of bringing back James Click. They really had zero intention of bringing back Carlos Correa unless he signed a low ball offer. Let's see how serious Jim Crane and the Astros are if they're willing to go more for Alex Bregman because if this is their best and final six years, 156, it ain't going to get it done. No, there's the difference. I mean, when you're doing any kind of negotiating, you're not going to make your top offer right off the right off the top of the negotiation process. The Astros did though with Correa and with Click. That's what they said, right? But I think to your point and the point that I was going to kind of reiterate is the fact that they I don't think they would have made a six year offer and made the kind of long term massive offer that that that Correa already knew that he was going to be offered by somebody else out there. They just say face. I think by making the contract offer that they made with competitive AAV to start the process, but going to six years already, it shows that at least they're going to be more engaged in this negotiation than maybe they were in the others when they were just trying to say face. It feels like by going to six years and being pretty competitive to start the process going, they feel like they're going to have a little bit more of an urgency to try and get something done with Alex Pregman. Again, I don't know if you if we know that like we know, I'm not saying we do know that definitively. It just looks like it from the standpoint of other offers. I think they made knowing damn well, he wasn't going to accept them and they were just trying to do what they needed to do, but they know he's not going to accept this, but they, but I don't think in the past that they've shown with all their past history that they want to go to six years, and at least they're willing to go to six years. So at least from a Scott Morris perspective, okay, they're serious in negotiating with us if they're going to go to six years. Now let's talk about the dollar figure and see how far they're willing to go. And that's the scary part because now, as I said, as other teams get involved in the mix and they want to get competitive with it, that's where I think they're going to, the ceiling is going to be too high and the Astros aren't going to end up doing it. Yeah, I think what the, I think what happens from here, let's just know how serious the Astros are. I don't think this is an insulting offer, but if it is their best and final offer, it is ultimately not going to get it done. Right. And I think that that's why it was surprising to me that if it was confirmed that this was their, their offer, then six years was surprising to me because I didn't think they'd ever want to go to that, that, that length years wise, regardless of the money. Yeah, they've only done it with a, you weren't on who was internal. That was a steal. Yeah. It was a steal. And then what did out to they get this most recent time? I think there was a five year deal now, the first contract, I can't remember, they offered Correa five years, 160 whenever he was a free agent, the first time he was a free agent and got way more than that. But no, no one thinks that Alex Breggman's getting Carlos Correa money, not, not a single person on earth. So I think the jury's out in terms of where it goes. Now, $26 million per year is actually a pay cut for Alex Breggman. Ben was making $20 million AAV, but remember he had escalators in the contract where he went from like 10, 11, 10, somewhere around there. And in the last two years, he was making 30 and a half million dollars. So if he does accept a six year hundred and fifty six million dollar deal, his paychecks will actually go down than the last two years. Yes. Everybody has, he doesn't have to until he sees what the other offers are, but for most people you realize, hey, I'm willing to take a little less on the front side now, knowing that I'm probably going to give them a little less on the return and investment. Do you really think he's taking less than 30? I'm saying, I'm not saying that he's going to take less than that. I think he might be, you never know, a year ago, he would have been probably forced to this year with, with teams that are probably still going to be willing to, and the markets of teams that are going to be interested in this. He's going to get offers that are probably going to be at least at 30. Yeah. Would you sign them for this deal? The deal that's currently on the table, I would, I would, I would be out. I certainly understand where you're coming from. And I think that you would probably have the support of the city on your side. I think if we just did a Twitter poll right now, would you sign Alex Braggman? That sounds like a good idea. Would you sign Alex Braggman to a six year, $156 million deal? I think it would probably, like what percentage of people you think, well, let's do that. We'll report back tomorrow. How many, what percent of people on my Twitter followers will say yes, 60, 65% okay, I'm going to take the over on that. I'll take 66%. Ryan, you want to get in on the fun? Already price is right at them. So what's normally. Oh, sorry. You repeat the question. I was going to put it out of Twitter poll during the next break and we're going to report back tomorrow. What percentage of people would say that they would like Alex Braggman back on a six year, $156 million deal? Oh, I think Astros Twitter is almost all pay the guy when it comes to these things. So I'll say it's like 75% bad game theory there. He should have, he should have, he should have, yeah, he should have prices riding me. Yeah. Now I wouldn't do it. I do think he's a declining player. Six years is a little too long, $26 million. I don't think he'll, I don't think his production will live up to the $156 million. There's also some other rumors out there. Brian McTaggart reporting that the Astros are interested on Christian Walker. That to me sounds like a backup plan in case they don't sign Alex Braggman, which I like the idea of Christian Walker in Houston. Now he does come with a compensation pick. So you would lose a draft pick. All right. He's also a first baseman. So he's not younger. So you have, what do you do with concerns about the line? Well, I don't think, well, no, because I don't think it'd be a six year deal. I think it'd be a two to three year deal on Christian. I think it would be, I, I've heard they would like to keep it at a three year deal, but if they got a three year deal out of Christian Walker, what do they do a third base? Probably a battle in camp between De Zenzo, Bryce Matthews, or there's been rumors that their backup plan at third's Jorge Polanco. Yeah. Cause they're not going to afford a Domus. The Domus is going to get very similar to the projections out of Domus were six and one of 50. Yeah. You're not. I think there's one, I think there's a possibility for them to sign one big fish and like in that fig, that big fish tier, I would have Bergman. I'd have a Domus. I would even have Walker, even though that'd be on a shorter term deal, I could see them signing Walker to play first Polanco to play third. I could see that scenario. I don't, I don't like the third base aspect. Polanco was not good last year. Now he was coming off as knee surgery and he was better in the second half than the first half. It's pop against the Astros. Yeah. He's got some pop. I don't hate Jorge Polanco as a plan B. I don't, I don't think he's as good at Bergman. Obviously, but if they, if they get priced out on Bergman, I don't hate Polanco on a short term bridge. Would you rather have Christian Walker at first base or will you Domus at third base? Well, I mean, it's very different question because of Domus is going to make a lot more money. Well, if you're saying we're going to own it. Well, but if you were saying you're only going to go, I'd rather have a Domus one fish. I would too, because six and one 50 for a Domus, I could, I could deal with that. See, I think he makes more than that. I think he's more than six more. That was, that was projections. I saw this more. Yeah. Yeah. I think he gets more than six for one 50, but I think a Domus is a better player. He's a little younger. Yeah. I'm much younger. He's a year younger than Bergman. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. He's younger than Bergman. So well, I think you made, I think you made versus a walker. No, no, no, I'm saying if you want a Domus at third base versus Bergman, you can start weighing all the, the age, the numbers offensively, the defensive abilities, things like that. He had more pop and more home runs than Bergman. I think Bergman's a better defender because he's playing at third base. Bergman's, I think their OPS was like the exact same, OPS plus was like the exact same. I think Bergman's still a slightly better player than a Domus. I don't think it's crazy difference though. I don't think it's a crazy difference. I would personally like whichever one you could get cheaper would be my answer because they both might be priced out of my room. I would look third base before I looked at first base because I think that the platoon option you had first base late in the season, especially if we would like to say, I think you and I personally would like to see Yiner play more first base. Yeah. But if Yiner is playing more first base, you have a way to solve the first base problem a little bit easier than worrying about if you can get someone already on in your system and on your roster to play third base or find someone cheaply. I just, that worries me. The problem though is that it's such a huge difference in terms of their contract. Yeah. Like the athletic projection on a Domus is six years 150. The athletic projection on Christian Walker's two years 44 million. So man, it's a hundred million dollar difference. So it's not as easy as which guy's the better player. It's a Domus on the six year 150 million dollar deal or Christian Walker, two or four. Yeah. No, mine was just like from, you know, from position, which one would you rather do? And then from the standpoint of, I know you just said, if you're only going to go out and get one fish in the market, you know, obviously less years and so less money for the long term on the Walker deal, but which guy would you rather have? That's why I asked the question. Yeah. I mean, I, if money was not an object, I'd go a Domus, but like money is an object, obviously. I think I might change my answer because I think you could get Walker and Polanco and then maybe an arm at the cost of one willy a Domus. Isn't that kind of like bringing back to the Josh Hader conversation last year like, okay, you went out and made the big splash on the biggest guy at that position, but you could have taken that money and spread it out to three or four guys. I think, I think they screwed up. I think it feels like it's a similar conversation. I personally like Josh Hader and I know he didn't have a great year in year one. I like Josh Hader. I don't like the signing of Josh Hader. Right. Because you could have spread the money out. I think that's kind of same conversation as compared to really, you know, don't sign willy a Domus because you could get Christian Walker plus, you know, something else and then a bullpen arm, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And this year when you're talking about like the biggest fish on the market in Soto, they're saying if you're the Yankees, 600 million more than that, but I'm saying there's teams that want in Yankees or want Soto back, obviously, but their plan B, they said, if they don't get Soto and he does any sign somewhere else is Christian Walker, the pitch from the Orioles. Oh, Corbin Burns, Corbin Burns, Christian Walker and possibly Alex Breggman, the third baseman. Those three players as opposed to Soto, yeah, you should want that. But of course, the big splashing this is you got to have Soto back in New York. You got to have Soto because he's the biggest fish. That's kind of like to the Hader conversation. Yeah. The Astros are also interested according to Bruce Levine from the score in Chicago. He says the Astros have called on Cody Bellinger. I don't hate the idea of Cody Bellinger now. He does make a lot of money. So there are some finances that would need to be figured out there that I think are possible. But I'm going to save them for the show tomorrow. Cody Bellinger is an interesting option because I think you could play them at two different positions depending on who's pitching against you because I think you could play him at first base against lefties and allows John Singleton to platoon with him kind of frankly. So, okay, let me restate that. So if you trade for Cody Bellinger, he would be a first baseman and center fielder for me against lefties. I would have him play first base and I would start Jake Myers and center and Chasm McCormick and left field and against righties, I would start him in center field, move Chaz to left and play John Singleton at first. And I think that you're a better ball club for doing that. I think so. I think that. And again, when you start thinking about the reasons why you say no to Cody Bellinger because of the past history of Bregman does walk out the door. That's basically aside from Altube, the last possible point of resistance for guys that wouldn't want Cody Bellinger. Yeah. I mean, I would have to ask for their I would have to ask how to be basically the only guy that's going to be out there. I don't know. I think Verlander is there. I think there's a chance he's back. Maybe. Maybe. I think he's. I think it's a contract. Yeah. One year 10 million. Something like that. I would call out to vain. I would I might even call Lance and I make fun of Lance McCullers. Not Zirlan. I know I make fun of McCullers and never pitching, but I would call out to vain McCullers and see where they're at on that before I do something. Yeah, because I think they would also have their finger on the pulse of the player. Yeah. I would I would definitely make that call to them before I make that trade. All right. We'll talk about it next at the B's on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five. We're listening to ESPN 97 five. We're taking a break. Okay. That's cool. Now back to the killer beams on ESPN 97 five and 92 five live from the Veritex community bank studios. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham, Lakers is a question about the golden air and the window closing. We'll get to that in two minutes, seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESPN. Let's go out to the HRP listener line. Brian and Bellaire. Let's talk about Bellinger. Look at that alliteration with the killer bees. What's up, Brian? You're in the hive. Hey, guys, I'm literally never called into a radio show, but right before we went to the break, you said, considering Bellinger, you know, if fragments gone, then I'll two base the last one left that might have a problem with bringing on someone like Bellager. And my immediate gut reaction was, what about me? And then I start thinking about what about the other tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of fans that also have a say in this like, does nobody hold graduates anymore? I've talked about this with my kids a lot, teaching them about just the whole Astros run in these last six or eight years. And as free agency happens, all of this gets homogenized and people move around and it all seems to go away, but it doesn't go away for me. It doesn't go away for the die-hard Astros fans that have had to stick up for our team. I've got friends in lots of other states and countries and we like to battle and talk about our team versus their team and all these sorts of things. And I'm like, does nobody hold graduates anymore? Why is this okay that someone like Bellinger could come in here and sign a decent deal? Maybe it's a good value. But how can we ever go to a game and root for him ever again as a true Astros fan? Well, I think that, and Brian, I appreciate the call, I think the thing is that you forget the fact that as a fan, I understand the passion that's there and that's what you're supposed to have. But I don't think the organization, yeah, they might think about it, but the organization has made moves in the past too, where they're going to make a move and they know it might not be popular with the fans. If the team's okay with it and they feel like it's going to make the team better and it's in the best interest to the team, they're going to make the moves that are going to improve this baseball team, regardless of how the fans think. And yes, there's always going to be a discussion about the finances if they think it's going to truly affect ticket sales. But I believe that what they've seen and how they've seen the loyalty of this team, winning cures everything. And as this team, as long as it's been winning, has drawn unbelievable fan support and they're still going to do what they're going to do. What's the closer from Toronto that had all the problems that? Oh, sooner. Oh, sooner. I mean, Roberto Osuna was as controversial as it gets at the time and they made that move. Luna made that move. There's a lot. They did. But at the same time, as an organization, Crane was behind supporting. Crane supported Luna in it. But if Luna wasn't the general manager, I don't think Roberto Osuna's ever an Astro. I really don't think there's another general manager in Astro history that makes that trade. Maybe not because of the because of all the things that was following around a sooner. All of that. Yes. But I believe Crane showed a willingness to support it enough to go through with it and make the move to where the point I'm making is I understand that the fans feel like their say so matters. But at the end of the day, I think that they're going to make if they feel like Cody Bellinger makes them a better baseball team and what we just laid out for you and playing two different positions to help this ball club, I just I honestly think that they're going to make that move. If they feel like that, that's that's how they see Cody Bellinger. Do you think Trevor Bauer could help this baseball team? Trevor Bowers. Trevor Bauer, you think that Osuna had. That's my point. To me, it's case by case like there there are certain lines that you're willing to cross to help your team. There are others that you're not. What Bellinger said was words like Cody Bellinger said a bunch of words in the immediate aftermath of that. I think it's a great call, Brian. Appreciate the call. I think it's a great take. And yeah, we didn't bring up the fan perspective of it. But he also asked the question like, how would we ever root for him? Well, if he hits 40 home runs and leads you to a world series, I think there'd be a lot of screaming fans admitted made part that are rooting for him. And look, this isn't quite the same thing, but I mean, Bellinger never said anything more than words, right? He said that the Astros cheaters like, you know, he insulted them, whatever. Carlos Beltron left the Astros and it ticked off a lot of Astro fans and every single time that Carlos Beltron would come back to Houston and play, they booed him out of the stadium, whatever he returned and he was helping the Astros and helping them win a world series eventually. All of that fanfare returned for Carlos Beltron. So how would you root for him if he's really good? Now if you trade for him and then he's awful, well, then he's going to be public going to be number one in a go. Who's the worst guy that left recently? Garrett Cole? Yeah. So if Garrett Cole, you know, left the Yankees and decided he opted out like he had then opted back in, but he opted out this offseason and decided I want to go back to Houston and play for the Astros as much as fans rightfully booed his ass every time they've gotten close to him since. You don't think that they'd welcome him back and they cheer for him if he was the same Garrett Cole? I think it's a no-brainer. Yeah. I think it's, I mean, it's, it's okay. Well, no, they do, so like context matters here, but yeah, I mean, I think Brian's point is a fair one. I personally don't care a whole lot about words. I feel like, yeah, I really don't like, I mean, if you're not doing anything that misrepresents my organization, like in the Bauer case, I wouldn't have fan of the Astuna trade. Like those are, those are where I'm going to draw the line. But in terms of Bellinger saying mean things about the Astros and their players now seven years ago and if out two days okay with it, then I'm okay with it. These are pretty high sample size of players that had mean things to say or negative things to say when that was all going down. You can't hold a grudge against all of them. Texture, the callers teaching his kids all grudges. I didn't, I didn't notice that. Another texture I literally set out the Astuna, the Astuna year, bad word, Astuna never Trevor Bauer. I'm with that. Let's be real. Nothing is going to happen and Dana Brown will come out and tell us how we have a winning block club as we are. I disagree. Astros will be active in free agency. In some form or fashion, they might not be spending tons of money, but they'll make some moves. Because Alex Bregman goes somewhere else. Yeah. On top of that. Yeah. People don't hold grudges at the end of the day. It's business. There's a slight few who will never be Astros, but I would 100% root for him if he hits 40 tanks. And if he had four, you would boom out a bit of a beat mark. Let's go back out to the HR and P listener like Corey, you're in the hive of the bees. What's up, Corey? Yeah. I kind of wanted to go against what Brian just said. I mean, this is a business and business is winning. So I agree 100% of you are saying if Bellinger comes in as a business superstar, I mean how are you not going to root for the guy and also on out do they come in? Maybe outside of this organization that people don't know, but out do they's probably one of the most likable guys in the league between the players, obviously, during the seating scandal. Everybody goes upset and saying mean things. I mean, that's just the world we live in, but just say that we wouldn't want a guy to make our team better after like this long. For the most part, unless I mean the guy has a history like beating women, then you don't want to employ that guy. But yeah, for the most part, if he helps you win it and he's all he's like the most heinous thing he ever did was say, oh, the Astros cheated, especially when it was seven years ago. Trevor Bauer to me is with you. It's just it's so totally different in the fact that he just seems to be so just vulgar and for lack of better terms with everything that that has been shined a light on whether he was convicted of anything or not. We've talked about whether he'd make a finest place back in Major League Baseball at all. I think that's a major difference from a guy that just basically said what a lot of people were saying at the time, which is the Astros cheated. Yeah. Would you trade Lance McCullers for Cody Bellinger? Hell yeah, I would. Someone asked me that on Twitter the other day. I was like, that's a good question because it act because part of the reason Chicago wants to trade Bellinger is because they want to save money and they don't feel like he's worth the contract he's going to get. Now you add additional years if you're actually, I mean, Bellinger actually has a player option for next year as well. So maybe you're not even adding an additional year because Lance McCullers contracts up at believe after two thousand twenty six. So you could actually be saving money. So the Cubs desire to trade this is that it is cost cutting by a few million dollars, not a ton, but a few million probably like I think he's making twenty five Bellinger. I think twenty seven in that range. And then Lance is what? Seventeen. Eighteen. So let's just call it. Let's call it ten million dollars. So the Cubs would save ten million dollars a year. They would unload Cody Bellinger. They get the idea of potentially a starting pitcher that could return that actually has a higher upside. The Astros get rid of a pitcher hasn't pitched in the last two years and they had a guy who's an immediate starter at either first or center field. I said, I mean, I'm in totally, I feel Brian Lance McCullers for Cody Bellinger. Yeah, I'm totally sorry for that. I can't rely on Lance. Look at us general general manager killer bees better than the original killer bees that are running the Astros organization. All right. Seven one three seven eight zero ESPN. Sorry, Blaine. We'll get to your question tomorrow. That's fine. I know it. No, Blaine, man. What about, uh, would you trade Presley right now for a third baseman? I don't know if I see I, I, we have a fundamental disagreement with his value level third baseman could get. I saw a night and gale was on a different radio show the other night and said that, uh, the radio. Press leakers. It's a friend of mine. Are you cheating on it? No. What was the damage? It was, uh, when you were the air bomb 45, Alec bomb for, um, for Presley, that ain't getting it done. Well, I mean, you might have to bring sweeteners to it. To the table, but at the same time, if I could, they want to get rid of bomb and you really return for him though. They need a closer Brian Presley's not a closer majorly baseball anymore. You don't. Okay. He's not. He's a mid reliever nowadays at 14 million a year for one more year. I think a role this Chapman just got 10 and he's better than chat than he's better than Presley. Okay. I, I'm not sure Ryan Presley has positive trade value. I think he has negative trade value. We'll see. Yeah. We will. If I, if I got to give up some prospects, okay, but I, I'm, I'm liking that deal. Yeah. I would. I'd be, I'm in favor of that. I think he's a good hitter. Uh, which at all is finest. All right. Car wreck of the day. What is your car wreck of the day? 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0, 3, 7, 7, 6, it's the BZ, ESPN, 97, 5, and ESPN, 92, 5. ESPN. 97, 5. Yeah. You know, Ryan, he's broken the bolts coming through. This is the car wreck of the day. What are you nominated for car wreck of the day, 7, 1, 3, 7, 8, 0, ESPN, Lankers, what you got? I got the Lakers last night. The Lakers last night, after they got off to a decent start, losing by 40 to the Heat. At times, having video with all five guys, basically quitting and getting back in transition. And LeBron, who finally had a good game because they were wondering if he had anything left in the tank, ended an 0 for 20 streak from three point range, not a good look. And then LeBron barking at Anthony Davis during a timeout where it seems like even those two guys that have always been tight. JJ's got his hands full in LA. Yeah. They're a mess. They're a mess. And I think LeBron, I think LeBron's, I don't want to say he's quit, but I think LeBron sees the riding on the wall. And I really think that LeBron was trying to get to the finish line of playing an NBA game with a son. And now that that's happened, I think a lot of his desire is done. Are you guys saying that he's washed? Oh, yeah. Oh, he, I mean, he had a streak of what? Oh, yeah. He had like three, four triple doubles early. Look, he still has a ability better than a lot of guys in this league. There's no question about that. But the fact that he's over 40 and he's playing way more minutes than I think he expected to be playing at this point in his career. I think it's all taken a toll on him. And I think Jeremy's right. Once he got that last milestone, it's not going to catch Michael for championships. So no, I think he's still good player. I just don't think he's the best player on like a top five team in the Western conference. Like he still obviously can play, but is he going to lead the Lakers to the promised land? No, I don't even think he's going to leave him to the playoffs. I want to nominate people buying celebrity meme coins and the thing is going to make him money. People bought these hot toy girl meme coins and they're losing all their money. Apparently people are still in jail over how stupid do you have to be to buy this stupid. You have to take advice from hot to a very, very dumb, but I mean, she's mean, very lucrative. She's making good business decisions. All right. What do you got, Brian? The Longhorns investigation of who was throwing bottles on the field yielded the zero people being identified. So well done to the Texas investigators and hook them. Yeah, you celebrate. Yeah. You celebrate that. We go. That's right. He's there. He can switch nominates us for saving crane money and then bear brother for bad knees. All right. What's winning? Let's go LeBron. You're the winner. All right. LeBron, congratulations. He's Brian. Good hard work. You all right. He's blank on Brian. On ESPN 97.5. Your child's first step is a big step towards their future. With first step by college invest, every Colorado child born or adopted on or after January 1st, 2020 will receive a free $115 contribution to their college invest college savings account. Plus, we'll match a percentage of your contributions in the coming years, helping you save even more. Hold today and start your child off on the right foot. Visit Colorado first step.org to get started and claim your $115 now. With the cold weather incoming, what's the obvious choice for a backyard upgrade? Hint, it's a solo stove. Solo stoves are smokeless and that's not blowing smoke with the patented design with signature 360 degree airflow technology to feed the flames and burn off smoke before it gets into your hair or clothes. Create the perfect atmosphere this fall. 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