The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Jose Altuve Will Not Compete In WBC (World Baseball Classic)

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

Astros Jose Altuve Will Not Compete In WBC (World Baseball Classic) 

1052. It is Madden Ross with you. All right. So we have to eliminate the comment. If you tweet about Jose Altube not being in the WBC, or for that matter any of your favorite players, I would like for all of us to admit to delete the following comment. Well, it could happen just as easy in a spring training game that it could happen in WBC. And in theory, that is accurate.

Okay? Because when you get on a diamond, you are playing. But the reality, there are some differences. One, the intensity and the pressure is 500 fold over a spring training game. There couldn't be anything more, less stressful than a spring training game. Really, in an athletic event. Less stressful. Yeah, right. Number two, your body, whether it be the arm of the pitcher, you swinging,

is going to be different when you're playing in the middle of the season on April 15th, May 15th, June, 15th, then it would be in late February, early March. And you can get yourself ready for off-season workouts and you can go to the drills. You can go to spring training early. You're just not going to be a body clock adjusted to playing at your very best or pitching at your very best in a game in March. So you have pitchers who may not be as sharp as they need to be, case in point, when Jose got hit in the wrist.

And you're saying, well, okay, well, that could certainly happen in spring training too. There's also a part. I'm trying to think of the parallel on this or the analogy, which you know I'm terrible about. If something happens wrong with your employees, at least it happened on your watch. Like an NFL player getting hurt in practice rather than at the Pro Bowl. Very well, easily. But there are some things about if it was on my watch and my clock, while I'm not happy about it, it makes better sense than if I send off Jose Al-2 to go play with team Venezuela and we say good luck see you in three weeks.

I think the Astros, and I know Carlos Cray would like to play in WBC, but I think the Astros are hesitant. They don't want to have to come back. You know, because Carlos Cray is a huge part of this baseball team. He just is. And especially if the boys this morning were talking about this, if Puerto Rico puts him as a shortstop, that does him no good. He needs to play third base.

Being in the WBC and playing shorts up, I don't know what the search shop situation is for Puerto Rico. I don't have the roster in front of me here. Let me get the Puerto Rican roster. He needs to play third base. base. Playing shortstop does mean no good to get my guy

ready for the start of the season. Yeah, they still come back in the middle of spring training, don't they? They do, but they're going to need downtime. I'm not worried. I'm more, I get more of the injury thing than the third shortstop. But the human body goes from light workout, light workout, step it up, step it up.

Big time to BBC. Then you get back to after playing WBC. Light workout, light workout. They got Francisco Lindor. Okay. it'd be fine. Hey, put them at second. Apparently they got Nolan Aronado.

Well, Puerto Rico got a squad. Hey, Puerto Rico. You know what? Tell Carlos you didn't make the team. Thanks for playing. And Ross, you're never going to be able to shake me of this. I don't care if there's 40,000 people at Diken Park and everybody's chanting and playing their U.S.

and their international flags out there. And I know the pomp and circumstance and pageantry is amazing. I worry about big picture and I worry about the Houston Astros. and I just will I just can't change my stance and I know that may be a detrimental I'm not asking you to change your stance No I get it

because as you said the intensity is going to be higher they're going to play more innings probably get more at bats than the average I don't know what's going to all add up in a crew to in a spring training but as you said where are you more likely to be pushing your body to the limit like trying to go and run to the outfield and rip a handstring

or something like that probably more in a WBC game than a spring training game And it can happen anywhere. Absolutely. We're talking about not necessarily splitting hairs, but percentages of, it's in a smaller increase, an uptick in the WBC,

but the spring training, but it's also not nothing. And you don't watch, and I don't watch the WFC either. I don't get into it, but many of the players do, so that's kind of why it's their prerogative. Like, I don't care about,

I don't know, Olympic triple jumping. That doesn't mean people don't care about it. But Ross, there are people, there are sporting events where the athletes care about something and they don't think about the big picture.