The Josh Innes Show - Random Thoughts: The Astros Are A Machine

Episode Date: October 21, 2022

Hi Friends! The Astros organization is proving once again that it is on the current Mount Rushmore of sports organizations. This is a big picture pod about what the Astros are as an organization. They do almost everything right. It's really wild. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go, go Astros! Alrighty everybody, welcome into the show! Here come the Astros, burning with desire. Here come the Astros, breathing orange fire. Here come the Astros, with winning on their mind. Here come the Astros, number one every time. Go, go Astros, number one every time. Go, go, Astros. Got a text from a guy, or a text, I say a Facebook message.

He says, why don't you go, go Astros? Do you listen to the podcast? I still play this thing. Way down south of Houston, baseball's come alive. From the beach and to the outfield, it's flashing orange and white. Stealing round the bases. Driving in the runs. No place else but

Houston. Astros number one. This series is over, by the way. I mean, we said that after game one. Honestly, I mean, the series was over before it started because the Yankees are not as good as the Astros. And this is not one of those things either where it's like, you know, the Phill was over before it started because the Yankees are not as good as the Astros. And this is not one of those things either where it's like, you know, the Phillies in theory aren't as good as Atlanta.

But you could go, oh, I see a scenario where it works out that they win. It wasn't shocking that the Phillies won that series against Atlanta because they were hot coming into that. They had to beat St. Louis twice. Then they go into Atlanta. They've got good starting pitching. And with good starting pitching, you can beat anybody in a short series. All that stuff. So that wasn't shocking, right?

So, like, they did that. It's not like the Yankees are coming in on a heater. It's not like the Yankees are coming in like, oh, my God, we were massive underdogs, but we upset a team here, won a wild card series here and go. A lot of times in the baseball playoffs, it's kind of that wildcard team that can make a run. You saw it with St. Louis back in 2011. They barely got into the playoffs, got hot and got in. We saw it with the Astros and the Cardinals in 06. Cardinals barely snuck in. They had a horrible September, ended up barely getting in,

won 83 games and won the whole damn thing. My point being in this is sometimes a team is just hot and it makes sense, and you go, okay, that team's got a real shot to upset somebody. That's not how I feel about the Yankees. And obviously the Astros were the favorite going in. Now you could say they weren't a heavy favorite, but they're the favorite going in. They've got the better pitching. Offense, you can say a sketch at times, but whatever, it doesn't matter. The pitching's been dynamite starting pitching.

You knew that going in would be be dynamite at least on paper you knew the starting pitching was better than the Yankees and you know that the bigger names in certain spots might reside in New York on the offensive side but that still doesn't mean that they were going to go out and produce but anyway all that to say this it is not shocking that the Astros are up to nothing it is not shocking that they are going to win this, it is not shocking that the Astros are up 2-0. It is not shocking that they are going to win this series. It is not shocking that they are the Yankees' daddies. None of this is shocking because the Astros are one of the most well-run organizations in all of sports, and in particular, baseball.

Now, let's think about this for a second. When we start thinking about well-run organizations and how you know that you're well-run as you guys know i'm a cardinals fan and for the last 20 some odd years they've been an exceptionally well-run organization that's been to the playoffs like 15 times maybe more in that stretch uh when they lose big name players they seem to replace them with guys you've never heard of and those guys produce they consistently make it to the postseason they've been to what four world series they've won two of. That's the kind of stuff you get from that organization. That is who they are. That is what they do, right? Well, all that, you look at well-run. Patriots, for the most part, have been well-run, although Tom Brady covered a lot of the issues that they might have had. But you look at

that team and you go, okay, that's a well-run organization. They're always consistently there. There's never really a downturn for them in this century. There are franchises in multiple sports. The Spurs were like that for a long time, just a really well-run organization. And when they lose people, they replace people. That's the hallmark of a great organization. The Astros are a great organization. The Yankees are not a great organization. The Yankees are fine, but currently they are not a great organization. They're fine. The Astros are a great organization, and it's been proven by the fact that they've been able to replace major big-name people and not miss a beat. In fact, at times could be better. Look no further than Pena. Look no further than what

Jeremy Pena has been able to do, not just in the postseason, but all year, but the postseason it kind of comes to a head and it magnifies. We find out that he's nominated for a gold glove. Okay, well, he said he wasn't as good of a defender as Correa. Boom, he's got a gold glove. You say, well, Correa gets all the big hits in the playoffs. Who's been arguably the most consistent hitter in the postseason? I don't even know if it's arguably the most consistent hitter that's gotten big hit after big hit, whether it's to drive in a run, whether it's to set the table for someone else to drive in a run, than Jeremy Pena. Everything that we said that Carlos Correa did that needed to be replaced, and we questioned whether or not Jeremy Pena could do it,

Jeremy Pena has done it. He's crushed, right? That's what good organizations do. There are a lot of organizations that can have a year right and now some organizations are great because of one particular player the chiefs actually i don't even use the chiefs the chiefs have become a great organization under andy reid they did it with alex smith and they went to the next level with pat mahomes but they were been a good organization since 2011 right trying to think of other examples st louis is another you know obvious example. The St. Louis Blues.

The St. Louis Blues finally won a cup a couple years ago, but they had that long stretch of years making the playoffs. Well-run organization. Lose big-name guys, replace big-name guys. Never really fall off. Never have that two- or three-year stretch where you're just dreadful or not a one-off type of deal where, wow, magically we were good for a year and then boom. Like football Tennessee, the Vols right now.

The Tennessee Vols have been awful for the last two decades. And now they've got Hendon Hooker and they might go undefeated or at least go 11-1, might contend for the SEC title. This feels like it's probably a one-off year of them being an 11-win team. Might they be a good program moving forward? Sure. But right now they feel like it might be a one-off. Bama's not a one-off. They've been

good for 12, 13 years under Nick Saban. They've been to how many national championship games? They're well-run. Some teams just show up, have one big year, fall off the face of the earth. It happens in pro sports. It happens in college sports. Like LSU, look at Coach O.

Coach O had one magical year with Joe Burrow. Every other year he coached at LSU or Ole Miss, he was dog shit. That happens. These are things. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks.

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Age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction pick six not available everywhere including new york and ontario void where prohibited one per new customer bonus award it is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days limited time offer see terms at pick six dot draft kings dot com slash promos But what's awesome about watching the Astros and what they do is you can feel comfortable knowing that they are a well-run organization. And the biggest thing is you look at the people they've had to replace and do you think that they are any worse off because of the people they used to replace the predecessors? Are they in a worse spot because Dusty Baker is the manager over A.J. Hinch?

No, I don't believe that. I'm not one of these people that gets on social media and tells you that Dusty's not capable of doing stuff. Dusty Baker's the manager over A.J. Hinch. No, I don't believe that. I'm not one of these people that gets on social media and tells you that Dusty's not capable of doing stuff, Dusty's too old. They're winning in spite of Dusty. It's bullshit. First of all, managers don't matter all that much anyway. It comes down to one or two decisions,

maybe a year, that make a difference. But is Dusty Baker inferior to A.J. Hinch? Have the Astros been stopped from doing bigger things because of Dusty Baker? And I don't buy that. I think that's hogwash. So no. James Click, is he inferior to Jeff Luno?

Well, Jeff Luno is a fucking rock star, but every move they've made has somehow led them back to this road where they are two wins away from going to the World Series again. Is Jeff Luno probably better than James Click? Sure. To me, Jeff Luno probably better than James Click? Sure. To me, Jeff Luno is the GOAT. That dude built this whole thing. But James Click has come in, and the moves he's made. It was James Click who decided, you know what?

No thanks, Correa. It was James Click who said, Peña, it's yours now because we're not going to pay Carlos Correa. And what has Jeremy Peña done? Jeremy Peña is a rock star. Gold Glove nominee. Big hit after big hit in the postseason. He's made people forget about Carlos Correa while Carlos Correa is sitting on his ass

watching the postseason with other dudes, former players that don't play anymore. He's sitting there watching this while Jeremy Pena is getting big knocks, home runs, driving in runs, making dynamite plays. Like we forget about the plays Jeremy Pena made defensively in that previous series that saved big moments. You want to go back to a big moment, game two of the Seattle series. It was the Verlander game. Whichever game it was, Verlander started.

Verlander's just getting hammered in that game, hammered. Pena makes a hell of a pick over at short, gets them out of an inning. And it gets them back out there and gets the offense up. That could have been a much bigger inning. Maybe you don't win that game. Pena's been huge. Why do I talk about Pena? Because you've got a general manager who said, all right, see you later.

Correa, we can't do it. Sorry, bud. He gone. The moves he's made have been big. Now you might say, well, Mancini really hadn't been much in the offense and blah, blah, blah. Fine. They're two wins away from going to the World Series. None of it matters. If you get to the World Series and you win, it doesn't matter if your lineup didn't look sexy on paper. It doesn't matter if Mancini didn't do blank, blank, and blank. No one's going to grade those trades as a negative unless they come back to haunt you in a big spot. Now, if you play this series and somehow blow a 4-2 lead and all these

guys you signed that haven't been very good continue to not be very good, then okay. But they're about to go to the World Series. They're going to go to the World Series. They will not lose this series. So you can't look at James Click and say, well, he's exponentially worse than Luno. Now, Luno's a goat, but Click's done his job. Dusty's done his job. Pena's done his job. You want to look at the biggest three, you could argue. I mean, I know there are other guys that pop in and might replace this guy here, this guy here. But big picture, the three biggest replacements they've had to make over the last two or three years, general manager, manager, and Carlos Correa. And a bad organization would let that kill them. And you'd almost give them an excuse to let it kill them. You lost your manager to a scandal, your GM to a scandal,

and you lost a guy who is an otherworldly type of player that gets big hit after big hit in the postseason for you, and he's awesome, and you lose him because you don't want to pay him. That could kill some organizations, but not organizations that are good at what they do. They're like the Chick-fil-A of this. There are some shoddily run organizations that still exist, but they're not the GOAT. There's the McDonald's of the world and Burger King of the world, but then there's only one GOAT in the way it's operated and that's Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A is the fast food goat, right? The Astros are like that. I bet you Chick-fil-A can lose a lot of people, a lot of servers, whatever. You know what they do? They replace them with people to do the job just as well. Random comparison, I know. But that should make

you happy because there's no reason to believe the Astros are falling off a cliff anytime soon. I know we're in the moment now, and that's good. But sometimes, again, teams have one moment where they make a run like the Cubs. The Cubs had their little moment and they went to the World Series and they won the World Series. And two or three years later, they're in full-on rebuild. They're firing the manager and they're tanking. When you start talking about going on six, seven, eight years of sustained excellence and no sign of it slowing, do you think Kyle Tucker's going to start sucking soon? Bregman, is he going to suck soon? He's back. Do you think Jordan Alvarez, is he going to suck anytime soon? Pena, you have to replace some guys, but I have no reason to believe they can't replace

Uli Gurriel or anybody else because they've proven they can do it. And now they're two wins away from going to the World Series. And it is amazing because, again, when I was there initially in 2009, 10, 11, 12, they were a disaster. They were treading water. They were middle of the road. Then they decided to tank. And now look at where they are.

Two wins away from going to another World Series. And this year they're going to win that bitch. I feel pretty confident saying that. They're just damn good. And it's even more amazing because you look, and the offense, and I was reading some story, it was some national writer I think, and his whole point was the Astros are walking a tightrope. They're barely winning because they're not getting big hits

and they're just scoring enough runs. Great. You know who didn't score enough runs? Seattle and the Yankees so far. Walk that tightrope. Walk that bad boy all damn day. Walk it. Because they're winning the games and they're getting the hits they need to get. Maybe one day they'll look back at this roster if they end up winning the World Series and say, boy, Altuve didn't have a damn hit. They got a couple of big hits and that's all that mattered. Yeah, that's all that mattered. Is getting big hits when you need to get big hits and get big pitches when you need to get big pitches. And the Astros so far have made every big pitch through five games and they've gotten every big knock they needed to get

through five games. They've made every big defensive play they've needed to make. Kyle Tucker's made some big ones. Yordan's made some big ones. Pena's been a fucking machine. So everybody tries to find every reason to kind of undermine what the Astros have done and who they are and what they're going to do moving forward and try to downplay this series

and downplay the playoffs and say, oh, they're walking on a tightrope. Great, let them. Well-run organizations can walk on a tightrope. You want to talk about, I go back to the Cardinals. The Cardinals are a well-run organization and they walked on a tightrope in the 2011 World Series, and it came down to the last strike multiple times, and each time they got a big hit. Just winning organizations find ways to win in big spots. Well-run organizations do these things. Poorly run organizations have brief moments, and they disappear, and they're cute, and people get all hyped up on them, and they go away. I mean, look, the Dodgers, I think the Dodgers are a well-run organization that spends a ton of money. Even they got bounced in the first round after having this amazing regular season.

But look who's still standing. The Astros. Because they're just well-run, and they replace people with people who can do the job equally or better. They're incredible with what they've done. And they're going to the World Series. They will win. By the time we talk early next week, they're going to be going to the World Series. And I know it's not a hot take to say a team that's up 2-0 might sweep. There's a strong possibility they sweep. It's unbelievable what these guys have done. It's fun to watch them, and it's fun to know that you were there watching this from the beginning of it,

and now you're seeing the way it's culminated. You go from 2011 to now 11 years later and watch what it is with a new GM, new manager, two new managers in that stretch, new players in certain spots that have replaced legends, and here you are crushing the Yankees. The freaking Yankees. They're supposed to be everything. And you've got them to the point that their fans are doing the we want Houston. They're doing the kind of shit that Rockets fans do to LA. Beat LA. Because LA is the big dog and Houston is not. In this case, Houston's the big dog and the Yankees aren't. It's amazing what's happening here. Enjoy it. Embrace it. It's incredible.