The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Sitting 38-30 Still Comfortably #1 In AL West, Should Cam Smith Go Back to 3rd Base?

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

Astros Sitting 38-30 Still Comfortably #1 In AL West, Should Cam Smith Go Back to 3rd Base?

I still submit. Way wrong, Matt on that. Not a jazz drummer. He is a vaudevillian performer. Woody Marks up onto the state here, the state fair of Iowa. That's where Woody Marks would be rather than being a jazz drummer. Pro golfer. Pro golfer. Okay. Strong last name. Uh-huh. So, I mean, it's me and Sean where, you know, throwing out the golf terms there at the end of the show. Solid ball striker. He can roll them. How about like in the cabinet of a pre of like William Howard Tafts cabinet. Yeah. And yes, the Secretary of War, Woodrow Marks, also known as Woody Mark. Chief of Staff, could have been. Not a lot of Woodrow's anymore. Can I tell you what my favorite thing is with the Friday Open? What he's Marks, name isn't even Woodrow, right? I think it's Quintavius. Okay. Close enough. Same thing. But tomato tomato. Can I tell you what my two favorite things are with... What are your two favorite things? With the Friday Open. It's either the audio and then it's the layout by you, which for awkward situations, there is nothing better in rating.

than a good, well-executed layout. Like, it is the best. Yes. Because it just, it lets the spotlight be on the person who made it awkward. Uh-huh. And you're away from it. I mean, they are the ones who are fully taking it. Or it is just your full-on laughter just because there is no other reaction to have at that point.

And it's the best. Thank you. I appreciate that. Dan. Uh, yes, a typical Friday open on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. A little bang on the drum all day. A couple of clips from throughout the week and maybe. some from sometimes past.

And we're off and rolling here on a Friday on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Matt Thomas remains out in Las Vegas. His son's dream college graduation trip going with Matt Thomas to see Barry Manilow and Caratop. I saw you got to sign Barry's birthday card last night. Yeah, I guess how old is Barry now? About 89? I was going to say, he's probably got to be up there in the age. But I saw that Matt Thomas had the chance to go and they had the birthday card out front that you could sign.

and Matt with Sharpey. Next week. Yeah, Sharpie in hand. Yes, he will be 82. 82 for Barry Allen Pinkus. I'm wondering what the set list is for a Barry Manilow set now. Let's see the set list. Well, I'm sure somebody updated last night.

Barry Manelow. It's just for me. I mean, I don't have to do that to the audience. You're 100% right, but just for me. I mean, I guess good for him. He didn't even write I write the songs. You suck, Barry Manelow. All right.

Anyways. The Mad Tom Show with Roy. Ross without Matt Thomas. Ross. You have to wait until Song 18 for Copa Cabana? That's fine. Let the people wait. I would say either do it song one or deep into the set.

It's one or the other. Some people these days they like to come out there with the heat and play their most important or most famous song and then move on. I mean, Mandy was 16. What's song one? It's a miracle. I'm not familiar with that one. I'm not. Me either. I'm your man. Same deal.

Now, here's the thing. How raucous does a crowd get you suck me into this And it isn't anything goes Friday here in the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 713, 212. Which wasn't Mandy, 2-1-2-5-790? 7-1-3. 2-1-2-5. Why can't you write a love song to your dog, man?

Of course you can. What's wrong with that? I mean, I don't really think that... Mandy, you came and you licked my face. Is that how it goes? I mean, Pixie, be tough for that one. Chaco? Chaco?

Those are your dog? You can write a song about Chaco. I'll be looking forward to it. And your new album, your upcoming debut album. Maybe AI, because, I mean, AI will not only write them for you, but they'll also play them for you. It's the Dan Matthews experience on the cover, album cover. You have a silk shirt on with about four buttons on button.

Look it nice there. Appreciate it. That is the look. You always love whenever like yuppie older white dudes go that look at a bar on like an early Friday night. And I'm just like, buddy, buddy, day. That game passed you. Gotta stay young, baby.

Gotta stay young. Cacky shorts and golf shirts are your thing. Embrace it. No, it's time. Look, you can always relive. the good old days. So what is the energy like in a Barry Manilow concert? Normally, if I'm going to a concert, even if I don't like the band, like as long as you

get some good energy, people are singing the songs, I mean, people are probably passing out and needing oxygen in a Barry Manalo concert. I mean, there probably is a little bit of that in the crowd. I mean, it's just like, was Manilow ever really that popular? I don't know. Like even like when he was, I mean, with Mandy and Copacabana and all of that, like, I don't think like whatever era he performed in that I'm like you know oh man you know what oh barry manelow's performing I have to go see that like I've always wanted to go see

Metallica I'm not going to be able to go this weekend but like I'm not going to be broken up because I don't get to go see them well people would have been broken up if they don't get to see barry man alone well he's about turn 82 so get in while you can all right it is the bad time of show with Ross Dan Matthews is hanging out for the first hour appreciate him for that Adam Clanton I think is hanging out for the 1 o'clock hour. We'll have, I don't know, news at noon, various things going on. We'll be talking about

some stuff going on in the news that is sports-related, not non-sports-related stuff. But anything you want to get to, phone lines open at 7-13-212-5-7-90. Astros win the series against Chicago White Sox yesterday. Frambert, not a quality start,

but a pretty good one. And not a ton of timely hitting. Just two-for-12 with runners-in-scoring position were the Astros. did enough to get the victory. The White Sox can be beaten, folks. And we found that out last night. Thank God.

It is nice. I mean, even though Mike Talkman, who, by the way, keep an eye on the name Mike Talkman. Somebody mentioned him in the postgame show. Like, hey, we're talking about Mike Talkman and how annoying he is. Why don't the Astros trade for him? He's got just the rest of this season on a $2 million deal left. So you want to go get somebody that's...

I read he was under team control next year as well. But it would be probably like a low arbitration deal. I don't know if he's in arbitration or what. I didn't see that one. Baseball reference at earliest free age at 27, which means he's under control for 26. Okay, fine. But I could have read it wrong. Either way, yeah, it shouldn't cost you a whole lot.

He's hot hitting. The White Sox, you're talking about not having a ton of sellers in the American League or National League. Well, they're a seller. They're going to try to trick themselves into thinking that they're going to get into any sort of wild card race. So, yeah, that's a good point by you, Mr. Matthews. an eye on from Mike Tuckman. I just wouldn't think that he's going to cost a lot either. No, I mean, that's the other part that... I wouldn't think so.

You know, you get a good solid player that you can use as a fourth outfielder and not have to mortgage the farm, if you will, to go get him. Yeah, so that would be someone to keep an eye on, but the Astro's able to get the three to four win. Just enough, as I said, timely hitting. They got a lot of hits. They had a lot of opportunities with runners in scoring position, but just couldn't come through consistently enough. but Isak Paratus with the home run

and then he being one of the storylines. We'll wait to see today what happens. He heard his hamstring going down the line yesterday to first base and he was taken out of the game replaced by Marisu Dubon. After the game, Joe Spada is saying he'll be evaluated tomorrow, which means today. And apparently good news is Isok Paratus already told Joe Spott he wants to be in the lineup today.

So if he wants to be in the lineup, hopefully he's not feeling too bad. we'll see what happens from there. Well, I mean, just a couple of things. I mean, one, you saw him in the dugout after he gingerly walked off the field with the training staff. And he's standing there, like almost kind of like looking out to the field like, hey, I'm still going back out there. I think that it was Joe at that point being like, no, no, no. We've seen this with other guys. We're not going to chance this.

Go back to the training room, get checked out, do all of that. You mentioned what he said. But the thing that my mind immediately went to, I thought it was lower leg. and when he pulled up like that, I was like, oh my God, please tell me he did not snap in Achilles. Really? Was he grabbing for his calf?

I thought that it was something calf-related or like maybe rolled his ankle coming out of the boxes. They showed him running out of the box again. Don't say that word, Dan. You don't have to say that word. Batters box? No, to Achilles.

Well, I mean, I didn't want to think it, but it crept into my mind. I was like, of all the things that are going for this team right now, don't start doing. this. They've been pretty, I mean, pitching injuries have cropped up a lot and Yordon's been out, but for the most part, they've been fairly healthy on the position player side. And we'll see what happens with Esoc Paredes. Okay, we'll talk about that coming up. We have to hit a break, though,

on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. We have some NBA stuff to get to as well. Your Astros beating Chicago White Sox welcoming in the Minnesota Twins for a three game set. And it is, and anything goes Friday. 713, 212, 5, 799. is your phone number 713-212-5-790 This is fine I'm not a big fan alo Neither am I but I mean this kind of puts you in a good mood I mean it's a jam

Gets the people going Cup of Cabana It's a good karaoke song This goes old school 790 Remember Brad Davies? Yes Yeah he said that this was his go-to song Because his point was valid

And I brought this up with Sean about singing karaoke is that if you're not necessarily comfortable with your singing voice, go with a song like this that gets everybody involved. We also did a parody on this like literally over 10 years ago. I think it was about Namdi Asimwa. When... You know my longtime favorite one that you guys did. Which one was that?

Oh, that's on me. That's on me. That was put together by the one and only, Mike Bobillon. Yeah, that's a good one too. I might have that parody. But it was a... even great. I wrote that in about 20 minutes and then we put it

together in like 20 more. That was when Al Farb was our assistant program director here at the wonderful, I believe, might have have been the sports animal at the time and not sports talk 790. Not sure when exactly that transition was made. Anyways, welcome back to the Matt Thomas

show with Ross, Dan Matthews. Appreciate you hanging out. You know what? You should be free and clear on a Friday. No, actually you got Astros tonight, so you're not free and clear. But I do appreciate you putting in some extra time. with me. You guys can get in at 713, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. Phone number 713, 2,1,

2, 5, 790. So, Dan Hemming and Hong and complaining about the Astros all year long, fire the hitting coaches, fire. Joe Espada, pitching woes. This guy can't hit. That guy can't hit. It needs to be off the team. And, well, they're eight games above 500,

and they are four and a half clear of the Seattle Mariners. We're spoiled here in Houston. I mean, I take it the opposite way. for everything we've talked about of, you know, at times, frustrating times with the hitters. And I get that those calls are going to happen. I mean, I've heard them.

You've heard them. We've all heard them. But like the fact that you haven't even necessarily hit somewhat of a stride as a lineup in your eight games above 500 and your four and a half games up in the division, like what are we doing here at a certain point? Winning an American League pennant? I mean, but that's just it.

I mean, that's where that belief and that hope starts to creep in. that you believe that you can do that because the way that you've pitched, I'm not scared of the Detroit Tigers. I'm not scared of the New York Yankees, but the way that you've pitched, and if you get the hitting to somewhat be able to level up with them,

I'm definitely not scared with them. Yeah, the funny thing is, is your pitching has been on par with the Tigers and Yankees the entire season. Where you're really lagging is the offense. And that's where you do have the room for growth. So if you can get, I mean, it feels like we've been saying this for a long time, but if you get Yort on back with apparently Joe Spada said he's not hitting right now. So what do you think he's at like 85%?

I have him at 72.3%. Well, that'd be lower than what Dana and told us earlier this week. I didn't know if Joe's something. There was a mild sap back. 72.3 repeating is the percentage I have. He said 80. Well, he doesn't know. None of us know.

he was also saying that Spencer Araggeti was getting his cast off soon when Joe Spada already said the cast was off. So I don't know how well the communication is with the medical staff over there. I'm just saying, I'm sorry, that's a fact. We were told that Aragutti might throw either this weekend or the star of the road trip over in West Palm Beach. Off the mound.

Well, that's good. So yes, the ifs, the if game, which we can play with the Astros, and we played it for a long time last year, and then a lot of the ifs came through and they won the American League West. So the if game is, if you get Yordon back and he's good, if you get Spencer Arrigetti back and he's good, if Christian Walker, who looks like he might be turning things around, can continue. Same thing for Yainer Diaz. He's had a ton of batted ball, bad luck all season.

He has five hits in the last two games. And if Jeremy Pena can keep things up, you're in a very good spot, very good spot, especially when rotations shorten and you get into the playoffs. Think about it last year because the spring. It comes for everybody in baseball. You've got to be able to have that sprint. You reel off six, seven, eight wins in a row, something like that. You got to be able to have that if you're going to win the division,

if you're going to get into the postseason. You want it to happen in August, September, into October. Because the teams that win the World Series, more often than not, that's when they do it. I mean, last year, the team that they ran into was the hottest team in baseball, the Detroit Tigers. Hell, they traded away one of their top arms at the deadline because it was, We still got a young team, still got a bright future. Are we necessarily sure we're going to be going for it this year?

And they still were able to get to the divisional round. So the hope is that you're able to start doing that sprint, at least picking up your speed again in August, September and October. Yeah. And again, they still have, based on opponent win percentage, the weakest schedule remaining in baseball. Well, and with the two out of three you just took, you were three games above 500 against

sub 500 teams. Yeah. You just gained one there, so keep it going. Toughest games left. You still have three left with the Tigers, six with the Yankees, some Dodgers games, some Phillies and some Cubs mixed in there. But you got six with the Rockies, and you have 11 with the A's left on the schedule. And how about seven with the Baltimore Orioles?

So those are some games, some winnable games. I think to me, it's almost like the American League West is already done. You're kind of focusing on turning this team around and looking internally rather than standings watching. We have a golf analogy on the Sean Salisbury show that Sean brought up of Rippet and Rippet. Well, I mean, that striping it, being a solid ball striker. Yeah, right, right, you know, drive for show, putt for dough, for sure.

But in this case, it's, you know, looking at it from the scoring perspective of the easy holes, you want to burdy those holes. You want to eagle those holes. And I mean, and that's what it is with some of those softer parts of the schedule is those are when you get your birdies and your eagles. The other ones you're looking for par. The other ones you're scrambling trying to make sure that you don't do worse than a bogey on that hole. Because, I mean, you know, you face the Yankees twice, once here, once there.

And you want to be able to try to at least just win the series, or if nothing else, get out of there with the salvage at worst. Yeah, and it's up and down. I mean, even now they've won seven out of the last 10, but, I mean, the twins could come in here and sweep you. And then all of a sudden we're back in panic mode. We're talking about what's going wrong and this and this and that. but overall, it's

been impressive with everything that they've been through that they're still being as successful as they have been with playing the fewest games of anybody in baseball against teams below 500. I think it was teams below 500

they had like the fewest games in baseball, although that's maybe gone up. It was 15 when I saw that graph. Yeah, me too. But they still have the softest schedule remaining in terms of opponent win percentage. So room for growth. growth and then the question is

Yiner Diaz and Christian Walker can they keep it up? We haven't been talking about, we know, we talked about it yesterday a little bit too, Dan, like, all right, we'd be focusing a lot more on Yiner Diaz if Christian Walker wasn't as poor at the plate as he has been, but how are we feeling about both those guys right now? Feeling better about

Yiner? I mean, he was kind of the last one. He was, you know, what is the last of a dying breed? Wasn't that a mob deep song? I think so. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, he was the last one. I mean, He was the guy that you were looking for to be able to finally say, okay, hey, he can put that game together, now do it again. And then do it one more time.

And do it in time after that. That's what you need for the slow starts that he and Christian Walker have gotten into is you need them to have that stretch of a few games where it's multi-hit performances. Yeah, it's almost even unfair to say slow starts. Like, we're 68 games in the seasons. Like, you're having a slow season. Yeah. And things can turn around still in a hurry. And it's funny the nature of baseball.

There's like two hot weeks at the plate can just pull your numbers up so much. Within the last two months, he's raised his average yiner that is 40 points plus. He was sub-200 going into April. I think it was 14 points in two games. So, I mean, yeah, I mean, that's a nice jump. I mean, nine points to the batting average for Christian Walker after going three for four. So. Yeah, so, yeah, 234 to 248 in two games.

Yeah. for your idea he is. But it's nice to see him be able to do what another thing that's been a frustrating thing with this Astros team this year is their offense seems to be singles and solo home runs. You can win games that way, but you're not going to win a ton of games that way. When I got guys on base, I need the extra base hit. You got it last night. I got guys on base. I got to have the home run.

Christian Walker gave you that the other night. You get those. You win a lot of games. Well, hopefully they can continue doing that. in average now are the Houston Astros, but as you mentioned, not as much slug. 14th in Team OPS for the Astros. So middle of the pack, they could creep into the top 10, keep up this good pitching. You're talking about a pretty good squad.

Time for a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. You guys want to get in. You can. 7.13-2-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-790. We're going to go to take a quick bottom hour of the quick bottom of, the hour break. When we come back, I will ask Dan what he's thinking, as we're now just seven weeks away from the trade deadline, but where the Astros could or would go. We'll talk about that.

Anything you guys want to get to on the phone lines. It's anything goes Friday on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Did you guys happen to hear the lazy boy spot? And what we hear the radio biz call a stop set, of course, Dan, as you know. Yeah. There was a lazy boy spot there. And they're about their great father's day sale this weekend. We'll have some more details on that as we go along. But I have been informed. Dan, we have a great prize to give away here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. That is a $500 gift card to Lazy Boy.

I'm with you too. I want to recliner. Dan is raising his hand. You can't see because it's the radio. Even without saying anything, you knew where I was going. Dan wants the $500 lazy boy gift card. Dan, you are ineligible. I'm sorry.

I am ineligible as well. So in the one o'clock hour, make sure you're tuning in in the one o'clock hour. When you hear me, I will say it conversationalally. When I say lazy boy, conversationalally, the 10th caller gets the $500 gift card for the Father's Day weekend sale. to lazy boy. Dude. I mean, you want to talk about happy father's day? That's right.

All right. So coming up in the one o'clock hour. A piece of junk you got right there. Guess what? Time to upgrade, brother. Make sure you're tuning in at the one o'clock hour. When you hear me say lazy boy, the 10th caller to 713-212-5-790.

7-13-212-5-7-90. We'll get the recliner gift card. Hey, Ross, what was that word again? The word again is lazy boy. $500 gift card. All right. We got to keep the show going. That'll be fun coming up at 1 o'clock.

Make sure you're tuned in for that. Rossi, Real, with you, Dan Matthews as well. Matt Thomas is out in Las Vegas. The phone lines are open for regular calls if you'd like to get in at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. So the Astros is taking control of the American League West. And it has been, okay, a good run from them. they've won seven out of their last 10 games,

but Seattle Mariners are trash. The Los Angeles Angels are not very good. They're the only team in the division above 500. So both things can be true. The Astros are on a good winning run. They're eight games above 500. They're surging up the standings. And the rest of the division is terrible.

But that just makes me wonder, with the trade deadline now seven weeks away. And like I said, fluid situation, they could get, you know, an injury could pop up. They could get swept by the twins. and we're all back in panic mode. But where are you as far as how dire are the needs? Let's start with pitching.

Bullpen has been pretty good, and you're feeling like you need a starting pitcher, really this entire time, but gusto with a quality start last time out. Lance McCullors, Jr., two of his last three starts have been quality. You know you're good with Hunter Brown and Frauber Valdez, but do you feel like you can hold the glue till Spencer Arrogate gets back, and maybe it's not a press,

need for a starting pitcher, or do you think that that's something that should be a top priority for Dana Brown and the Astros? That's the audition. I mean, you've got probably, I would say, four guys that are auditioning for what the priority is going to be at the deadline, because you're going to do one of the two. You're not just going to stand pat here. And the audition is for the three guys, Colton, Gordon, Brandon Walter, and Ryan Gusto to prove, yeah, I need to be here. I need to be in the back end of the rotation because you talk about Framber and Hunter. Those guys are entrenched.

They're fine. They're not going anywhere. Lance, he's taken over the Rinal Blanco rule, five, six innings out of him. He'll give you a decent enough start to be able to give you a chance to win a game. That's what you want out of your three. There's two spots that are open. So the good news is you don't have to go big game hunting

for a starting pitcher. I don't think they could afford to if they wanted to. Well, there you go. But even if they could, you just need a back end of the rotation guy. Somebody to eat innings, somebody that can give you a chance to win, which is what you want out of every single one of your guys. But that's what's being auditioned for out of those guys. The other side, I heard Bogie mentioned this, or was it tags? I'm trying to remember who it was that mentioned this about Jacob Melton.

And that's the audition for him right now. We've talked about wanting a left-handed bat somewhere in this lineup, primarily in the outfield. Well, Jacob Melton, if he proves that, then you say, okay, well, then we can look back at the other guys and try to add somebody in that spot. So that's what it is at this moment, is you're playing through and trying to develop a strength out of a part of your team that has either been injury riddled or just has not been giving a ton of production. And this next month half, that's what you're trying to be able to get and try to figure out what you're going to try to go after. Because it does seem like they're going to have to choose between one of the two for the reasons that you gave. You don't have a ton to be able to offer. Yeah.

And it's good. It's a luxury to kind of not be at this moment in the. the spot where, I don't want to say you have to panic, but it's more of a pressing matter to get something done. Like last year, the Kukuchi trade, something needed to get done for the Astros. They needed a starting pitcher. And while it turned out not to be an overpay, people thought it was a gross overpay at the time.

And right now it's looking like they gave up nothing. At the time, it's somewhere in between, right? The Blue Jays wouldn't have made the move if they thought Loper Fito, Will Wagner, and who Jake Bloss, were all just going to be nothings. So there was the potential. And then you kind of had to give up a lot at that time to make that move. But now the Astros don't have to be in that position, which I think is definitely something that is in Dana Brown's favor.

Well, and the other thing that's a problem that you run into, which is why I really would hope that in future seasons, they bump the trade deadline back. Because, I mean, at the time, they're in late July, you've still got teams that are three, four games out of a wildcarts, spot and they say, we're not moving this guy. We've got a chance. Like, while would we do that? A couple years ago, the angels convinced

themselves they were still in with Shohei. And they made a bunch of trades and then they released all the guys. Now, I'm not saying that it's all rational thought. No, yeah. But they were also trying to show Shohei that they were competitors and trying to keep him as a free agent. Right. I mean, and I get that there's

a long game to it. But, I mean, that's what feeds into it too is that, I mean, it's just become with the expanded postseason that you've got teams, that are hesitant to give guys away because of that very reason. You will have some teams that on the surface when you make a trade, why would you do that? We're three, four games out.

Well, we're not playing just for this season, kind of like what Dana Brown said when they made the trade of Kyle Tucker. We're not playing just for this season. We're playing for down the road too, guys. Yeah, it's a tough task for Dana Brown. It's like, hey, you've got a win, but you also have the standard of the tax. And by the way, we don't have a whole lot in the farm system.

Good luck. Best of luck to you, Dana Brown. All right, 713, 2, 112, 5, 790 the phone number will in Pasadena has been holding wants to get in talk some Astros what's up Will hey what's up guys uh yeah just want to talk about the Astros I completely

agree with you guys on what you're saying I mean I will say this is probably the best I've felt about the Astros from a roster standpoint since 2020 and no obviously this team is not as good as that was but the thing that's cool about them I feel like is you know barring no further injuries

the needs are really clear you know like you said they got to get a starting pitcher they got to try and find a left-handed bat. But, you know, if they can see, if Arrogetti comes back and they can figure out, you know, what position they want Al-Tube to play in the playoffs, then they know exactly what they need to get. You know, one team I'm looking at, and I doubt they're going to be sellers, but because they're right in the thick of it and the run differential is great, but like the raise, you look at a team like the raise, if you could pluck a guy like Lytel or any other of their starters

and a guy like Brandon Lowe, you know, that would fix the Astros Rostro's roster needs right then and there. But like you said, obviously the thing Astros fans, you know, need to realize is especially now with the expanded playoffs, I mean, it's going to cost way more to get, guys. I mean, for a trade like that, I mean, obviously Bryce Matthews, a lot of top prospects, I would imagine would have to be, would have to come with it. But, yeah, I agree with you guys. I just feel really good where the roster is at right now.

And hopefully, Aragutti comes back. strong. Appreciate the call. Yeah, thank you, Will. Appreciate it. Yeah. Eric Getty is, what's the biggest remaining X factor? Would it be Yordon? Yeah. Because people forget he's been missing. When he was even playing, he was not good at all.

But then there's the question of how much of him was really there. I mean, because, I mean, they did admit that he had been playing through this for some time. At first they tried to say, no, I just popped up on Friday. And then they're like, okay, yeah, he's been playing with us. So there you go. I mean, that's, that's, we know how good he can be. And we know that what he was before the injury is not anywhere close to being that guy. So, no, he, that's absolutely the case. Because Araggeti at best is a

middle of the rotation guy. I can find those guys. You give me enough time. I, I can go out there and I can find somebody that can do that. He might project to be even better than that throughout his career, but for right now, that's what you're counting on him to be. With the raise, they're one of those teams that if they ask you about a prospect, then you go back to your scouting department, hey, is there something we overlooked with this guy? Yeah. Because, I mean, how many times we've seen them do that?

Like, we're, they're just the absolute, and the Astros have done that. They ask for one of your pitchers, we'll look out. No, that's it. I mean, like, there are certain teams that have that reputation of, you know, they ask you about a guy and you're like, well, you know, what is he for us? Oh, he's number 30.

Well, take another look. Yeah, yeah. All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, I think there is one. big wild card that will factor in for the Astros with the trade deadline. I'll tell you what it is after this short break. 713, 212.1.790 is the phone number if you'd like to get in.

713212.5.790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross with you until 2 p.m. Here on Sports Talk 790. Seven weeks away from the trade deadline. And we pay off on our teases here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, Dan Matthews. I appreciate you hanging out. Final segment. Thank you very much. Yeah, man. Anytime. I'm going to take you up on that. You better watch

out. Matt Thomas gets a bunch of vacation. He's been a long time. Again, the nerve of that guy. I know. Like to, you know, go after Clanton and everybody else. And it's like he says that and he's one foot out the door. Like a guy I used to work. The hypocrisy. There was a guy I used to work with that was notorious for miraculously calling in sick

the day before he was taking the day off. Oh, really? Yeah. That's pretty funny. And I was like, oh, you got stomach issues. I bet you do. Nobody's going to pick up on that pattern. Enjoy, enjoy Gulf Shores, their chief. That is unfortunate. All right. Well, Matt Thomas is out. Dan, I do appreciate you hanging out. And as I said, on this show, we do pay off on our teases. The Wild Card for the Astros trade deadline.

Bryce Matthews. second base, 23 years old. He's been hitting or swinging a hot bat with AAA Sugar Land Space Cowboys OPS up to 864 on the season. Now he's just hitting 267, but he's showing a little bit more power. He's up to eight home runs. Do you think he will be a factor,

not necessarily immediately, but in the next couple of months, I mean, Brennan Rogers clearly not working out at second base. if Isok Paredes, if we hear he's out, you know, a hamstring could be two days, a hamstring could be two months. We don't know. So we have to gain more information there. But if Paredes is missing time,

then what happens? Do you slide Dubon over to the third? Do you put Cam Smith at third? Either way, that's opening up a position player spot. Could Bryce Matthews be factoring very soon for the Houston Astros? I think it's possible. Well, and again, it gets back into the audition thing. I mean, that's a third column that you can throw into the,

audition because it's not only auditioning for you. I mean, maybe somebody really covets him out there and you can, you know, try to dream a little bit more of trying to go get that top tier guy in the pitching rotation. Because that's where you're going to have to pay more for is for pitching. I mean, for a guy like Mike Talkman, I threw him out earlier. You're right. He's got the deal that he's got right now, but he's also got his third year of arbitration coming up. So you would have another year of control.

You wouldn't have to pay as much for Mike Talkman. I just don't think that the White Sox are going to hold your. your feet to the fire for him. Give him a decent enough package. Mike Tockeman's yours. You can even get Mike Topman and throw him in the outfield. He's an outfielder. Right.

But I mean, with Bryce Matthews, you at least want to know what you have. Because, I mean, to your point with Brendan Rogers, I don't see this getting any better. I mean, he can make all the adjustments to his swing he wants, but the strikeouts are still there. And I understand what he gives you defensively, but I can get that just fine with Maricio D. Bonn. I can get that when you put Shea Whitcomb out there. I think it's serviceable enough defense there that it's going to be able to carry the day.

I feel bad for him in a way because even like the beginning of this season, he was having some hard hit contact and it just wasn't going his way. He was having a little bit of bad luck and kind of fell by the weight side. Still, I mean, he had the home run. He had another hard hit ball here and there. But it's just been the opportunities have been few and far between. And not like I'm saying, you know, Joe. a spot is fumbling this or anything

because he hadn't shown enough. But it feels like every now and then he'll just get a hold of one and you'd be like, hey, maybe there is something here with Brendan Rogers, but it's not consistently enough. Well, I mean, he did that last night. And I mean, you're at the point where you can't, you know, hey, let's let him work his way out of this. Because when you don't have

Yordon, you might not have Esoc Paredes and your offense has been scuffling the way that it has for the better part of this season. Well, then patience is no longer a virtue for you because it's going to start losing your games. It already has. but it will start doing it a lot more. So you don't have time to be patient to let Brennan Rogers work his way out of this.

That's the problem you run into. You do have, I think, a little, the possibility of a bit of a cushion because you are four and a half games ahead. And now, depending on what happens with this ESOC Paredes injury, and you don't want anybody to be injured. You certainly don't want Yordon and Paredes be injured. But Yordon's injury has allowed you to be more flexible with the D.H spot and give some of these guys some looks. I mean like Jacob Melton who is up here now and if Isok Paredes does miss time then would that put like Brennan Rogers first in line

put him out there for a week see what happens and then it could be Bryce Matthews time. Well I mean I think that's definitely you know something that you can consider but I mean it's you look at it and you say well what about Maricio DuBonne I mean I can use Dubon at many different positions that's why when it looked like it was going to be between

he and Rogers for second base this year I said make Rogers and then people will want about them. Yeah they tried to make yeah they tried to make Rogers win it, but he didn't perform enough. Because with Dubon, he's much more valuable of, hey, I need him in left field one day. I need him over at third base. Maybe even play him at first every once in a while. Just whatever it is, you can move him around.

That's what he's proven that he can be, and he's got the gold glove to back it up. So if I have that value, I can expand my lineup even more of having them both in the lineup at the same time. So I get what you're saying with it. I just, man, I look at some of these at bats, and I'm just like Rogers is long. lost and he's not getting better with it. Yeah, I think part of it is the fact that he's not out there a bunch that he is just, he's swinging at everything. He's just everything out there that he's seeing. He's trying to make something happen.

He's pressing. And it's just the whiffs have been way up for him. Well, good things come to those who make the most of their opportunities. Some get more than others. I get that. But you're put out there, oh, man, I'm not playing very much. I understand that you might put a little extra. added pressure on yourself of, well, if I don't do this, I might not get another shot.

That's the way it is. And I mean, if that's what's weighing on you, then that's for you to try to battle your way through. I can't help you with that. Career strikeout percentage for Brennan Rogers, 22% this year for the Astros, 37.7. So damn near. Almost double. Almost double. Clearly pressing, clearly trying to make something happen, trying to make a spark, and it's not working for him at all. I got enough strikeouts in this lineup.

I don't need more. I mean, it's the bottom line. I mean, it's just, it is because of how this lineup has been, really, it's either, boy, it's really fun to watch this team, or, you know, it would be nice if just one of you would come through in this spot. Just one. That's all I'm asking for. Just once.

If you would come through, we'd be appreciated. Not a once. For the Astros. Okay, well, we'll see what happens. Not that confused feelings ever since. And you never want to. Let's pay for drugs. All right, that's a ding.

Even though I started that with the, with the, with the movie quotes with Dan Matthews. These cats are a sign of nobility in ancient Egypt. I've been trying to get Matt to watch Walk Hard for like a decade and he won't do it. He loves now certain types of movies. I won't recommend to Matt because he likes kind of like slapstick humor. You know, Airplane is his favorite comedy of all time. You know, the naked gun type of stuff. Walk Hard's in that same vein.

It is. And I think Matt needs to watch. I think you would enjoy it. Although he did disappoint me once by saying that McGruber was terrible and I'm like, you're terrible. McGruber's amazing. I'm going to be honest, I never saw McGruber.

It's funny. Okay. Just go on with low expectations. I will go in with extremely low expectations. And then we'll go from there. Well, Dan, that's pretty much going to do it. For the hour, I appreciate you hanging out.

You're the man. You know what? I really am, Dan. No, I'm just kidding. All right. So, thank you for hanging. out. Last word on the Astros trade or on it's, no, sorry, on Bryce Matthews. Is he up with this team by July 31st? We'll see what happens with the SOC Paredes today because, I mean, that's what I'm wondering.

Who down there could you call up to fill a need in the infield? He'd be one of them. He would be a top candidate. And then I will ask you more percentage breakdown. Do if, let's just make it up. Paratus misses three weeks. Most games at third base would probably be Dubon. Would Cam Smith get any games over there? Do you think they'll try to keep him learning right field? For right now, right field, because I think they believe

he's not going to lose third base. But, yeah, I think that you would see a majority of Maricio DuBond, maybe even Shea Whitcomb over there, which I know that some people, you know, you have little shivers up your spine for how that game went last year over there. Yeah, could be some Shea Wickham time. Didn't mention that either. Okay,

and appreciate you hanging out. We'll talk to you. Well, you'll talk to the people on the radio tonight, right? That's it. Yeah. Astros on deck 6 o'clock. Then you've got Astros on deck on Father's Day. Yes. My dad, you're working the morning shift. Take some time off, Dan. I go home and take a nap. All right, go take a nap. I appreciate you for hanging out.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. Love you. And there you go. Papa Matthews, shout out to you. All right, we're going to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. I am the Ross part of that. I'm going to be flying solo for. two hours on an anything goes Friday. Let's see how that goes.

You can come in and be my co-host for a little bit. You want to call 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-7-90. We'll also have Adam Clanton joining in at 1 o'clock. We'll have the news at noon coming up at, of course, noon. And anything you guys want to get to, it's in anything goes Friday. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Hour number two of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross.

is upon us. It's 11 a.m. here on Sports Talk 790. Ross, Vir, we are out with you until 2 o'clock. We got Adam Clanton joining at 1. We got the news at noon coming up. Well, that'll be at noon. I'm glad you figured that one out. Thanks to Dan Matthews for

hanging out in the first hour. I'm flying solo for a little bit, so you want to get in. You want to talk. You can do so. 713-212.5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-790. You can also send tweets to at Sports RV if you'd like to interact that way. So we've been heavy talking with the Astros, and I know it's seven weeks away from the trade deadline,

but it's kind of something interesting to talk about. And it's always going to be a fluid situation, whether it be injuries, performances, underperformances, and where the team will be. But right now, you're sitting pretty. With a lot of the complaining that we've done, you're still four and a half games ahead of the Seattle, Mariner's in the American League West.

And it's not like they're lighting the world on fire. But it's also not like they're terrible. I mean, think about how spoiled we are to where you could be, the Baltimore Orioles have already fired a manager. They are 13 games below 500. They had all these young phenoms.

Two years ago, they won 100 plus games. And you're thinking, we're about to take over the baseballing world. And they're terrible. And, okay, maybe people don't really care about Baltimore Orioles baseball in Baltimore. But it's nice to be here and have what we have in Houston, despite all of the shortcomings of the team.

And we talked about with the injuries and then the underperformances with the bats and being where they are right now. If you look at runs allowed, so that's, of course, pitching around baseball, they're basically where the Tigers and the Yankees are. 247 runs allowed on the year for the Astros. That's exactly where the Detroit. tigers are. That's above where the New York Yankees are, who've allowed 259 runs on the season. Where you're really lagging is offensively. 14th in Team OPS, that needs to get better if this team is going to push for an American League pennant. And then you have to ask how much of that

growth is going to be internal, meaning guys who are underperforming getting better, potentially calling up somebody like Bryce Matthews and having him be here at the Major League level, And how much of that would be external? Or Brandon Lowe is a name that people have been mentioning as a potential second baseman who can come in here and possibly do some damage. Mike Tuckman, the Chicago White Sox player outfielder. The White Sox are terrible. And they're out of it.

They're going to be sellers. So why wouldn't they possibly start exploring trades already if you are going to make a move, if you're the Houston Astros? And how much can, I think to me, the biggest key, how much can Christian Walker and Yiner Diaz continue this improvement? Yiner Diaz has been hit a lot hotter over the last couple of days

and really over the last couple of weeks since a horrible, horrible start and having his batted ball luck turn around, but we also have to mention the good with the bat. So some bad luck with Yiner Diaz, some bad luck with Christian Walker in terms of batting average balls in play,

and hopefully that can turn around. But you know who's had great batted ball luck all season long? That would be one Jeremy Pena. If the number that we've been talking about really the last couple of days because I think it, I think it's important when you're talking about how lucky or how unlucky guys are. 315 batting average balls in play is the average for Jeremy Pena. He's hitting 3.57 right now. Now, some of that is legging out some infield singles, which is great.

and also something he did last year. But I think if we're going to be honest with ourselves, we could see a scenario in the next couple of weeks, next couple of months, whatever it's going to be, where Jeremy Pena is struggling and goes into a little bit of slump because the batted ball luck isn't as good as it was to start the season. He's well, well, well above his career averages.

So that could come down. But right now, he's swinging a hot bat. He's up to 324 on the season. leading the team with an 867 OPS. He's got, not only does he have a three-game hit streak, he has a three-game multi-hit hit streak. Three straight games, two hits, two-for-four and all of them with a run scored. That's actually pretty interesting. Crazy how baseball will do that over 162 game season.

You'll get some random stretches of this, random stretches of that. Well, how about a random stretch of two-for-four games, three straight games for Jeremy Peña, who's been great at the top of the lineup. I think he's going to continue to be good. He should be a no doubt, no doubt about it, no-brainer All-Star, more valuable than basically any player in baseball not named Aaron Judge if you go by baseball references war. I think Fangres wore, he's top five in all in baseball as well. Playing great in the field, really blossoming, and it's really fun to see Jeremy

Pena, who's taking over as one of the leaders of this team, as a young guy who came on, burst under the scene in 2022 and won that World Series MVP, won the ALCS MVP and we thought he was just going to be like oh my God, this guy's a superstar in the making. Handsome dude, great smile, ladies love

him and great in the field, won a gold glove, and then he performed the way that he did. And just as life in general and sports in general, things don't always go according to plan. Slip back at the plate, and his second year was a little bit better there in the third year.

And then this year for the fourth year now, he is really breaking out at the age of 27, which is good and not super common. Talked about it in the preseason. And two years ago, I was buying in. I thought Jeremy Pena was going to have the breakout season. Turns out I was a year early. But guys at the age of 27 who have been around baseball,

played college, as long as Jeremy Pena had, you don't normally see a huge leap forward made the way that you're seeing. from Jeremy Pena. But it has been nice to see from him. But as I said, bad at ball luck, it could be turning the other way for him. We'll see at some point.

It's not happening now. We don't have to talk about it. But I will say that if we bring up how it's been bad luck for Yiner Diaz and bad luck for Christian Walker, you got to play it both ways. We can't just be blind homers on everything. And you have to bring up that it's been a little bit of good luck

for Jeremy Pena and what he's been able to do at the plate. But nonetheless, even if there's a little bit of slippage in his game, I don't think he's all of a sudden just going to go back to like a 250 hitter or something like that. He's still having a lot of power. He's still great in the field. He's still providing a whole lot of value for this Houston Astros squad. But can Christian Walker continue to do what he's doing? And Yiner Diaz.

If they do that. And we've been talking about a lot of ifs. And that's what we do on sports talk radio in the first place. So we talk about if this, if that. We're talking about sports. It's like we're sitting down at the sports bar. What do you think about this? what do you think about that?

If that can continue to happen with those guys performing, if you get Yordon Alvarez back and he can be the center of the lineup guy that we know he has been his entire career, this team is going to be able to contend with right now the big dogs in the American League, that being the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees. As I said, you look, the pitching's already on par with those guys. the hitting is where you are lagging with being one of the

better teams in baseball. It's just been the offense. They've been middling. They haven't been terrible. They started off the season, horrible. And they've been improving incrementally ever since. So what will happen there? And how much are they going to go look around and poke around in the trade deadline?

A couple of months away almost, basically, at this point. So I don't think that anything is necessarily going to be imminent there. But that is something that Dana Brown, I'm sure, is thinking about and kind of planning for the future. But there are just a number of factors in play. And right now, imminently, the biggest factor is what's going on with

Issoc Paredes? If you had not heard last night going down the line to first base, pulled up lame about 30 feet before the first base. Then he was limping. And it was very apparent that he was struggling with his left leg

after the game, Joe Espada saying it's a hamstring injury. And then after the game, Joe Espada also saying, hey, Yusuk Paredes wants to play. He said, put me in the lineup tomorrow. So that could be good news. That could just be adrenaline and feeling okay. I mean, you know just as I have, you've ever heard of muscle or turned an ankle or whatever.

You try to play on it. You try to walk it off. You try to go back out there. And maybe you can even make and play the rest of the game. And we've seen this in football, baseball and other sports. And then the next day, that's when the adrenaline wears off. That's when the soreness starts to puff up.

And then that's where you can run into a little bit of trouble. So I don't necessarily want to speculate on a timeline for ESOC Paredes because a hamstring could be anywhere from two days, two months. Who knows? Soft tissue injuries. If you've followed sports long enough, which I know you have because you're a great sports fan and you're listening to Sports Talk 7.9. you're very smart.

It could be anything. It could be anything in between. And who knows? And especially with the soft tissue stuff, the problem is where you're feeling 100% and then you go back and they get put back out there and then possibly a re-aggravation. So we'll see what happens with ESOC Paredes.

He said last night he wanted to be in the lineup today, going to be evaluated by doctors. Espada was also asked if he was undergoing any test that evening and said no. So I think that also is a good sign. So we'll just take those little pieces and bits of information and hope that things are going to be positive for our good friend Esoc Paredes going forward.

And everything will be okay. He's probably going to miss a little bit of time. If I had to guess, I don't know how much, like I said. But Maricio Dubon plugged into third. My gut feeling would be, it would be mostly Dubon. They would be hesitant to go to Cam Smith in third. base. I mean, the guy's already learning so much on the fly, learning how to be a professional, learning about hitting and game planning and carrying himself day to day and learning right

field. I don't know if you'd want to disrupt that and toss him back at third base, where even if you read prospect profiles on him as a third baseman, there were a lot of people saying that he wasn't necessarily long for that spot defensively anyways. So maybe in a pinch, maybe in a stray day here or there. You would throw Cam Smith at third base, but I'm going to guess what happened last night is what would be the plan going forward. And that would be Maricio DuBahn,

spending a lot of time at third base. What does that mean about the rest of the lineup? Does that mean Brendan Rogers at second base? Does that mean potential call-up of Bryce Matthews? I don't know. But if you're Dana Brown and the Astros or Joe Espada, item number one on your to-do list today,

when you get to the ballpark is figure out what the heck is going on with Isok Paredes and try to figure out how long he will be out. I'm sure the Ashos will be very forthcoming with everything that's happening with him and his hamstring injury. All right, time for a quick break here on Sports Talk 790. Should Cam Smith go back to third base or you think they would keep him in right field if Isok Paredes is missing time? What are you looking at, potential names or positions as far as the trade deadline as well? and how you feel about the squad overall? There are some people are saying, yeah, you're 38 and 30,

but who cares, your division's terrible? That's the only reason you're in first place. And there are some people like me saying all this complaining and whining, eight games above 500, pretty good, especially considering the pitching injuries. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you'd like to get in. 7-13-212-750. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross with you until 2 o'clock.

Here on Sports Talk 790, your home for your Houston Astros. Welcome back. The Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross, Vierre out with you. Phone lines open at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. If you would like to get in, talking about the Astros,

what's going on with the trade deadline, and what's happening with ESOC Paredes as well. We should know more today. If you haven't heard, he tweaked his hamstring. how severely we don't know. He did say that he wanted to play today. Joe Espada after the game yesterday. Here's what he had to say about Isak Paredes and how he was feeling.

Left hamstring right now. We will know more tomorrow. But he said left hamstring. How's he feeling? Have you talked to him? Yeah, he said, you know, I'm playing tomorrow. Joe. I'm like, dude.

Let's check. you out tomorrow and see how he feel. But the strength was fine. So we'll know how he feels tomorrow. Right. He still just got, came off to feel adrenaline. So we'll know more tomorrow once he wakes up and we'll check him out. All right. There you go. So we'll figure things out as we go along. I'm sure we'll get some more updates later on in the day. Make sure you stay tuned to Adam and Adam, Adam Klein and Adam Wexer on the A team. Probably when Joe Spada speaks at 4 o'clock. We'll get some more on that. Ross v. Real with you on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Matt Thomas is out. Phone lines open for you at 713-212-5-7-90. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. You can also send some tweets to at SportsRV. Also, I've been trying to build up my Instagram at SportsRV. So if you want to go ahead and check that out, or at least just give me a follow. You can mute me right after. I don't care. I'm just trying to get my follow numbers up. I really appreciate it at SportsRV for Instagram. All right. Let's see. Mike in Cyprus has been holding longest on the phones.

Mike, go ahead. The floor is yours. A happy Friday. And one quick comment, anybody that wants to complain about the Astros, just needs, they weren't around during the days of the obligatory Astros phone call of the day that you endured way back. So. I'll cut you off real quick. I'll let you make your point in your regular comment. The funny thing to me is that there were people who were around there.

And then you just forget. You forget about those old. days and then they're still spoiled. There are people who'll be like, I've been an Astros fan since 1968 and this is unacceptable. It's like, are you sure you've been a fan since 1968? You're not acting like it

because like we've all gotten, and myself as well I will include have gotten a little bit spoiled. I've done a fair amount of wondering and hand-wringing about the starting rotation and all that type of stuff and they still where they are they are. But there's still a lot of people who were around and following the team in those days

and still we get spoiled. Mike. Yes, no doubt. They can't please everybody. But last time I was watching the game, when Paredes pulled up, first thing I thought of the hamstring, oh, man, how long is he going to be out?

And I immediately started thinking, okay, well, you know, wait 30 minutes after the game. You know, get on Twitter, get online, we'll figure out something. And then I started thinking, I mean, what doctor are the Astros using? I mean, I don't want to call Tucker a Jake, But wouldn't it really hurt all last year that badly?

We have the best cancer doctors here. We're in Houston, freaking Texas. We have amazing doctors at every field. You know, people come here from all over the country for our doctors, and we can't diagnose a broken leg and Yordon Alvarez. I mean, are we going to which doctor in the clubhouse or what? Because, I mean, I understand you want to play your cards, close to the vest.

You don't want to give much information. But, I mean, come on, we were doing well, and how much information are they going to give out? Is it a bad hamstring? I just don't know what the hell to believe anymore when they're talking about this, or is it really horrible management from the organization as far as getting proper doctors? Or there's a little bit of both? I just don't know what to believe. Yeah, it's a tough spot to be in, Mike, and I appreciate you getting in.

and we shouldn't be here for sure. A couple of things can be true. Number one, it'd be nice if an organization and, well, the Astros among them were much more forthcoming with injuries, made trainers available. I mean, guys who were trying to do their job, the Chandler-Romes, Matt Kawahara, Brian McTaggart to the world, who are with the team every day on the beat. And they're the conduit to the fans. They ask questions because, hey, these. These are things fans would want to know.

These fans come to our news source for this information. So we are the ones that ask these questions and try to disseminate said information. So they're doing their jobs. And if the organization wants to keep things tight-lipped and just give vague answers like discomfort or whatever and they think it gives them an advantage, that's fine. But what I don't like is the flat out lying and or misdiagnosing. for example, you mentioned the Kyle Tucker thing. I don't think Kyle Tucker is a Jake. I don't think Kyle Tucker didn't want to be out there.

I don't think he was just preserving himself for his upcoming free agency. And that's a question only Kyle Tucker can answer. But I don't know the true answer. But my guess is not. He wanted to be out there. He was having his best season of his career. He wanted to go out there and have another 30 year. Or actually, yeah, he,

never got the 30, or yeah, he did he ever get the 30, 30 year? I don't think he did. I think he was one off, right? Was it one home run or one steal, whatever it was? But he wanted to go out there and have a 30, 30 season and keep his value up. But he wasn't able to do that. And also, though, during that whole fiasco is the Astros told us it was a bruise over and over and over. And the only reason they came out publicly to admit that it was a fracture was because it was going to be reported by Chandler Rome. So they're like, oh, God, somebody's going to report. This is a fracture.

Oh, man, it's time to come out with this. And that's, at least the way it was told to me, that was the scenario that happened last year. And then this year, I think they just messed it up. I want to believe that this was just kind of a couple of freak things that happened, and it's not a pattern. That's what I want to believe. Because I don't think a million, multi-million dollar borderline billion dollar operation like the Houston Astros

wouldn't take care of their players. I don't want to believe they're not using doctors that are in a van down by the river. They're using the best and the brightest. And sometimes things don't get properly diagnosed. And they talked about it, how the swelling was showing up. And then it turned out there was a fracture.

And Yordon Alvarez had one. And that can happen. We have Brian Bogusevich on. every week, of course, former Astros outfielder and on Space City Home Network. He said the same thing happened to him when he was playing to where got the imaging, but there's so much swelling,

the fracture was missed, then the swelling went down, and then they found a fracture. And that's what's happening right now, I believe, with the Astros with Zach DeZenzo. They even came out and said, capsule strain,

gonna let the swelling go down for a couple of weeks, and then he will be re-imaged. So sounds like they're learning from their mistakes. And also, I mean, feels like they have let guys want to play through injury. But I don't think, or how about this? I'll say it this way. I want to believe that the Astros are not intentionally or not just showing a blind eye to their players with athletic character. There's just no way.

There's no way. You want the best and the brightest on the case for these Astros. it's just been a couple of curious cases in back-to-back years that really make you kind of question what the heck is going on over there. But maybe they'll learn from their mistakes. Dana Brown even said we kind of learned, hey, we got to do better with our imaging

and getting more and more imaging. And then they're trying to do that with Zach DeSenzo and I imagine others going forward. So all in all, out of our hands, whatever will be will be. Yordaun Alvarez has a fracture. He's not hitting right now. I kind of, I've been saying this, I don't even need updates. When he's in the line, when I see Yordaun Alvarez, when I see 44 Yordaun Alvarez in the lineup,

whether it be two, three, hopefully not four, wherever, I'll be happy. Till then, whatever with him. But like I said, it's not intentional and it's not like they're just using some, you know, some terrible dock in the box. I mean, we've all had, now, of course, they're supposed to have the best and brightest doctors, But, I mean, I've had doctors misdiagnosed things for me before in my life. It happens. You just wish it wasn't happening, I guess, so publicly in the case of the Astros when it comes to the Kyle Tucker thing and your Don Alvarez. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you'd like to get in.

7-13-212-5-790. Let's see. Jay calling and holding the longest down the phone lines. What's up, Jay? Hey, Jay. How are you doing? I'm pretty good, Jay. How are you?

Good. That's cool. So the thing I want to talk about is three things. Three things? Yes. The first thing is, what was the actual strayed for at the stray deadline? To say straight for like a guy, I mean, Ryan on Horn or the land or a lefty bat? Who should they stray for?

Okay. You're talking about Duran from the Red Sox? Yes. Okay. What else you got, Jay? The second thing I hurt, like, in two months. Like, if he hurt, he ain't coming back in for two months, I feel like they should call it Bryce Matthew.

Oh, okay. You think Bryce Matthews doing well? He's doing well enough at AAA? I think so. Yeah, he's a little young. He hadn't got a lot of ABs in AAA. You think he's good? You think he's going to be ready, though?

I think so, because I did the same thing to Camp Smith. He didn't even wait a trip boy. That's true. Jay, how old are you? 10, about to be 11. Oh, wow. When's your birthday? October.

Okay, that's cool. So you're out of school right now, Jay? Yes. All right, you're a big Astros fan? Yes. Who's your favorite Astro? Jose Artu. I knew you were going to say Jose Al-Tuven.

I knew you were going to say Jose Al Tuve. He's really cool, isn't he? Yes. Isn't it crazy how he always comes through in the big moments, especially in the playoffs? He's a very special player. Yep. I know. You play baseball?

Yeah. Oh, nice. What position do you play, Jay? Your position yet, but I'm thinking probably like checking base. Okay, like Jose Al-Tuvae. Yeah. That's pretty good. You're wearing number 27 like Jose Al-Tubei, too?

No, we're my dad's favorite number 16. Okay, why is that your dad's favorite number? It's because he works. I think his position he works. Oh, okay. It's not like he's a big Joe Montana fan or something. Yeah. All right, Joe, what's the third thing you want?

I mean, excuse me, Jay. What's the third thing you wanted to get to, Jay? The third thing is, um, when I was trying to think, I forgot the third thing. That's okay. Take your time, Jay. We're chilling. We've got a lot of time to fill. Okay. Hold on. I'm trying to think with the door d'est.

That's okay. You're going to the fifth grade or what grade you going to now, Jay? Fifth grade. Oh, wow. That's cool. I'm going to the fifth grade. Do you like school or do you think it's boring? I like school a little bit.

Okay, a little bit? How come only a little bit? It's because I kind of, I'm kind of tired. I wake up early. You know what? I'm with you, Jay. I am 40 years old and I still don't like waking up early. They moved this show from noon to 10, and I'm still struggling to get in here on time.

Sleeping is fun, Jay, don't you think? Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Getting up early, hopefully you can get used to that at some point, Jay. Can you remember the third thing, or is it still not coming to you? It's still not coming to me. Hold on. All right.

Let's see. Was it about the pitching? Yes, yes, it is about the pitching. Do you think that the pitching rotation is going to be fully healthy? at the end of the season. Yeah, that's going to be tough to predict, Jay. I don't know. I mean, Spencer Arredgetty, hopefully going to come back by, I mean, a month and change.

He's not even throwing, so that would be good. We'll see with Lance McCullors Jr. You know, Lance McCuller Jr. has been hurt a lot, but also he's been healthy. So, you know, you can't pretty. One thing that I've learned, Jay, and I'll give you some advice when we're talking about sports, you can never predict injuries. Some people use the word injury prone, and they will say this guy's had a million injuries and then they don't

think they're going to pan out and then they turn out and pan out. Do you remember Michael Brantley for the Astros? Are you too young? Yeah. Michael Brantley, when he came over from Cleveland, everybody said he was injury prone and he was hurt too much and then he came over here and he put in some good seasons. Do you remember Charlie Morton, Jay?

Yeah, I think he's still pushing. Yes, he is. All right. Wow, that is correct, Jay. So when Charlie Morton first came over the Astros, everybody said he was injury prone because he heard his hamstring and he had some other bad injuries and stuff like that. And like you said, he's in his 40s and he's still pitching. So it's very difficult to predict injuries. People will call somebody injury prone and then they'll be healthy for a couple of seasons in a row.

I've seen that in my old gray-haired old age, Jay. So that's my advice for you when you're following sports to tell you that it's really difficult to predict injuries. Nobody can really do it. Yeah. All right, Jay. the call. I appreciate it. You're welcome. All right. What are you doing? You got any fun stuff playing this summer? Oh, I'm going to take a haircut today.

Oh, you're getting a haircut? Nice. Yeah. All right. Yep. That's cool, Jay. All right. Bye. Bye, Jay. Appreciate you. Have a good one. That's Jay, folks, the 10-year-old giving more intelligent baseball analysis than 95% of you. Good stuff there for. as far as the trade deadline, I don't know about Ryan O'Hern or he also mentioned Darren Duran. I don't know if the Astros have the resources to, it's going to be interesting, especially when it comes to a bat. And are they going to treat Yordon getting back and then Bryce Matthews possibly coming up as in addition of a deadline,

kind of like deadline deals when it comes to position players? I don't know. I would say the most likely thing to happen would be a start. starting rotation guy, a 3-4-5 guy, not somebody that's going to be at the top end of a rotation, which, number one, they don't have the resources for. And number two, there's not a pressing need for because they have Fromber and Hunter Brown doing their thing. But great stuff from Jay that I'm going to say, the smartest call we've gotten probably in months.

Appreciate Jay with the great baseball analysis. All right, time for a break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. You want to get in and follow that? I don't know that you can. 713-212. 5-790 is the phone number 713-212-5-7-90 you can also send tweets to at Sports RV

Details on a $500 giveaway coming up next here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Is this on purpose, Frankie? Did not think about that. That's okay. Sometimes we call those happy accidents in radio. That happened to me when I was a producer. This is our producer filling in today, by the way, Frankie. He's done some Doug Pike over the week.

and doing some filling in training around here. So Jonathan Allen, normal producer, is out. He's getting a tooth yanked. I think, you know what? I don't want to put too much of his business out there. I think he only said the tooth yanked stuff publicly. So I will leave it there, but he's okay. He should be fine.

He's getting a tooth yanked. Frankie, how about that call from our friend Jay? We need to make him a correspondent, although I don't know exactly what the child labor laws in Texas are. But I imagine, you know, you could probably exploit children in Texas when it comes to labor, right? I mean, it's a right to work state, man. He likes what he's talking about. Does he have to sign a release or anything?

Where are you from, Frankie? I'm from Houston. I'm from Houston. Okay. Like what part of Houston? Like a Tascata, Kingwood area. I'm going to be honest, Frankie.

First of all, you got a good voice. Second of all, you got a little twang. Feels like you got a little twang to you. Does anybody ever tell you that? I've gotten that a few times. I tell you you. Okay. Well, now you're laying it on a little thick, Frankie.

You don't have to do it like that. All right. But, okay. All right. So Frankie is here hanging out, folks. and that was great stuff from Jay in the last segment if you missed it. We might have to replay that one a little bit later.

Okay, first of all, I have to pay off on what I tease. Talking about the $500 giveaway in the 1 o'clock hour, we will be giving away a $500 gift card to Lazy Boy. Lazy Boy Furniture Galleries has a Father's Day giveaway, so we're giving away that $500 gift card in the 1 o'clock hour. Also this weekend they have a Father's Day sale. Two great chairs for one low price. You can keep one and gift one.

That is the perfect Father's Day deal. They've got over a thousand recliners ready for delivery, but only while they last. Check out the Lazy Boy Furniture Galleries today, and you can save big. And also we're giving away a $500 gift card. When you hear me say a very simple word in the 1 o'clock hour, lazy boy.

lazy boy and I know there are some of you listening on streaming so what we're going to do is we're going to hold the phones for 20 seconds and then we're going to open them up and then the 10th caller 10th caller when we say lazy boy gets a $500 gift card to lazy boy in their furniture galleries so that'll be great for you that's coming up in the 1 o'clock hour we'll tease it again give you the information on that in an hour but in the 1 o'clock hour you hear me say lay boy. That will be your cue to call and win a $500 gift card. That's huge. I'm going to try to rig this. Try to get somebody in my family to win this. Okay, I won't do that. That's not legal. But anyways, all right, we have to take quick break. A lot

of you tweeting in about Jay and his fantastic baseball takes. Some of you on hold as well, but we went way over with Jay. It was well worth it, but we are behind. So we have to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll read your tweets. We'll take your calls. We've got news at noon coming up as well. And you guys, 713-212-5-790

7-13-212-5-7-90 Holy smokes a lot of reactions still about Jay and his phone call I mean, that was just amazing Jay extremely smart and respectful and he knows baseball better than most of you out there I might even throw myself out there

I throw myself in that mix as well. Great call from the 10-year, Jay. A couple of tweets coming into at SportsRV, if you want to find me there. Let's see. Kay knows, says Jay knows ball. Jay does no ball. Impressive stuff from Jay there.

Killabee says if my kid isn't like Jay, I don't want them. Well, that's a high bar. Great stuff from Jay calling in. And I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to tell you folks a little secret. we have a phone screener up here and you put the guy's name and then the producer in this case

our friend Frankie will put up a little bit of note a note about whatever is happening with the caller what they want to talk about whatever so you put a kid on there and normally I'm like okay some kid and it's you know some snut-nose kid and some parents trying to put their kid on the radio and it's fun for them but then it's brutal for us but hey that's fine

that's how the game is played but man that was Jay can call in any time. Anytime we see Jay on, Jay should be first on for sure. Let's see, Varro says that has to be the coolest phone call in the history of the show. That kid knows sports. Good job. Jay. Yes, totally agree. Steven says, I'm with Jay.

Waking up is very difficult. I'm with Jay too, man. That's what I didn't like about schools waking up early. And I still, like I said, I'm still struggling. This show moved from noon to three. Now it's 10 to 2. was in like November. Oh my God. Is it almost been a year? Where does the time go? People? What is happening? Uh, yeah. So that was like six months, seven months ago now at this point. And I'm still not acclimated because I'm just the worst morning person in the history of time. But it's genetic.

Mom, dad, brother, sister. We're all like that. That's just how we roll. Can't get up in the morning for whatever reason. Uh, let's see. Uh, R S.J.R says Jay, the kid reporter of the show. Like I said, I don't know if we can employ him or if we can give him a name. We're having our legal department. Look at this. But, yeah, more Jay on the show would be a good thing for sure. Now I read everybody named. It's probably Isaac.

Everybody I read now, because of Isak Paratus, I read as Isok. That was the best call just right now with Jay. The kid was wholesome. This is what sports radio was made for. Kid sounds like he knows his stuff. Definitely. you're coming to the table with Jaron Duran and

Ryan O'Hern his potential trade targets knew with a he's 10 years old so I didn't even know if he was going to know who Charlie Morton was and then immediately he's like yeah you know Charlie Morton pitching with the Orioles right now be honest how many of you knew

that Charlie Morton was pitching with the Orioles and he wasn't still with the Atlanta Braves that was pretty impressive stuff from Jay to be sure let's see a couple of more tweets at SportsRV. Once Jackie says Best Caller all day, hands down.

H-Town L-E-L-O says Holy Bleep, bring back Jay Weekly. Greg says Hall of Fame caller. Better takes than grown adults, including me. That's pretty funny. Be Greasy says get Jay some Astros tickets.

Well, I guess we could try to figure something out if Jay wanted to. Let's see. Who else is tweeting in here? May Theos, great job Ross with Jay. He was adorable and brought the knowledge.

Absolutely. For sure. This is a funny one from Roto Honda. Is Brad smarter than a fifth grader talking about our legendary in his own mind, caller Brad? And I'm going to say no. That kid knows baseball way better than Brad ever did.

Brad was telling us that like Brendan McCurry was going to be the next big thing. Basically anybody at AAA Sugarline, or double a who gets a hot hitting for a week, Brad thinks that they're going to be the next superstar for the Houston Astros. And that just simply ain't it. Let's see, Trevor says I missed it. Replay call afternoon.

Yeah, we're going to replay that. I'm going to figure out when. I will give you guys a time. Fine. I guess I can come up with it on the fly. Let's see. Coming up at 1 o'clock, we got Adam Wexer coming in. Also in the 1 o'clock hour, we will have our lazy boy giveaway if you haven't heard.

if you hear the word lazy boy, we'll give away a $500 lazy boy gift card to the 10th caller. So make sure you listen for that coming up in the 1 o'clock hour. Let's shoot for 1230. How about that? Audience turns over. That'll be an hour afterwards. So at 1230, we will replay the call of Jay. If you missed that, that will be coming up.

But yeah, great stuff from him. And a couple of trade candidates for the Astros as far as position players, I think as I said, I think it'll be a pitcher that they will be going for more than anything. And there can be names, but I mean, I don't know how much even were people talking about Yusay Kukuchi last year when he became the trade target for the Houston Astros. Tyler Anderson is of the Angels is a name that has popped up. You've had some other ones as well. And we'll see. But I think something will have to be done.

but again, for now, basically as long as Dana Brown has been the general manager of the Houston Astros, you've been in a situation where you have to get something done, but you have a limited amount of resources when it comes to what is available in the farm system. You don't want to trade away Bryce Matthews. We'll see about everyone else as far as the farm system. in a good way it turned out that it's it turns out that you didn't give up much for you say cacucci what is this guy Josh wants to wake up the strippers coming up at noon

so okay frank Frankie you have no idea what he's talking about do you so every Friday at noon Matt Thomas who has the big PA address announcer pipes and is you know the host of the show of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. I'm the co-host. He belts out good morning strippers. Oh.

So I'm going to tell you why this happened. All right. Let me give you a little Matt Thomas show history here on the program, Frankie. Back when this show was 12 to 3 before, well, this is a long time ago. The show has been from 11 to 2 to 12 to 3 to 2, back to 12 to 3 now to 10 to 2. But hey, we've still been on air. We appreciate you, our benevolent masters at IHeartMedia for employing us. Anyways, the show moved from 12 to 3 to 2 to 4 because our genius higher-ups wanted the J. Moore show on.

So Matt would normally open the show at noon what's happening lunch timers. At noon, lunchtime makes sense. So at 2 o'clock, when we moved to 2, Matt was trying to figure out what we could do to say, he would say, what's happening late lunchers, what's happening snack timers, what's happening nap timers. And then I also, I came up with the line. I don't want to take full credit, but I must because I did come up with the line. I was like, how about saying good morning strippers? So on Fridays, he would say good morning strippers at 2 o'clock.

And he would just start belting it out. It used to be good morning strippers. And then it became good. And he'd just go for like, you know, 20 seconds with those prodigious PA pipes that he has and just belting out Good Morning Strippers. And it became, it took this life of his own. People loved it. And like, they're made. We have shirts made, Frankie that say Good Morning Strippers.

Like, they're nationwide. There are people all over the country that have Good Morning Stripper shirts that Matt does it on a Friday. And when he's out on a Friday, either I do it or somebody who's filling in does it. So it sounds like Josh and Cyprus wants to wake up the strippers coming up at noon, correct? I think that's right. Okay, so we're going to let Josh and Cyprus do that. And that's coming up here at noon on the Matt Thomas show. How good of a job will Josh do waking up the strippers?

I like letting other people do it because you just can't live up to Matt and that booming voice that he has. I just don't have that. I never will. It's something he was born with that I was not. So I will gladly pass the baton. to Josh and Shiper's. He will wake up the strippers coming up here. We'll also have Jay's call coming up at 1230 and Adam Clanton coming up at 1 o'clock. And anything you guys want to get to, it's in anything goes Friday at 713,

212, 577. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Coming on, Todd Rungren. We're not ready for you just yet. 1202 in H-Town. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. On a Friday, normally, it would be Matt Thomas, with a good morning strippers, but Josh in Cyprus wants to wake up the strippers and Josh, go ahead.

The floor is yours. Yours. That's pretty good. Josh and Cyprus, appreciate you. Now to the regular Friday bid here on the Matt Thomas show. Okay, now the college name is just gave me.

Jay in Cyprus, something in Cyprus. Josh in Cyprus, I think it was. A great job. with the Good Morning Strippers here at noon on the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

Without Matt Thomas. We got Adam Clanton joining in a little bit. But right now, we have to get to. Well, actually, one more plug. We have the call of Jay, if you missed it, the young lad who called us about 45 minutes ago. A lot of you missed it. So we'll be playing it coming up at 1230 as well.

You can catch it there. But right now, you have to get all the top sports news items of the day. We have to get to the news at noon. All right. Frankie is filling in for Jonathan Allen. He says he doesn't really want to talk about sports. He says he hates me and I'm the worst and that was very rude.

I didn't appreciate that. Okay, maybe he didn't say any of those things. I got to go ahead and take over the news at noon. A number of things to get to here in the sports world. But we will go ahead and start out with the Astros, getting the win over the show. Chicago White Sox. Strike three call at the top of the zone.

Slater goes down. And that is the ball game. Josh Hader remains perfect. 18 for 18 and save chances as the Astros take two out of three from the White Sox winning tonight, four to three. The Astros slay the dragon. The Chicago White Sox, they're just too dang good, man. I mean, 23 and 46, don't look at their record.

Astros three and three with the White Sox on the seat. and the good news is they won this series winning back-to-back games after dropping the opener on Tuesday. Frumber Valdez, he was good, not great. But, I mean, you'll take five innings of two-run ball. We just have very high expectations for what he's been bringing to the table, especially his last two times out. He went a complete game with just 83 pitches.

Then he had seven innings of two-run ball against the Pittsburgh Pirates. So a really good start for him. Seven hits given up, which is. tied a season high, but 12 strikeouts, just one walk, 95 pitches, 23 foul balls from the Chicago White Sucks. They were battling out there, but at the end of the day, Frambervaldez won the battle because he picked up the win. His 75th win of his career, he is now one behind.

I have to go back in. I believe it's Mike Hampton and Dallas Keikle, who have 76 wins as left-handed starting pitchers in Astros franchise. history. Bob Nepper at the top of that list, I think it's like 90 or somewhere around there. So Framber Valdez don't think he's going to finish the season or his career with the most left-handed pitching wins in Astros history. But pretty darn good, notching his 75th last night. Bullpin was very good. Dubin, Brian King, Brian Abrae, all scoreless. Josh Hader did give up a home run. His first to a left-handed hitter since 2022 also gave up a double that was almost another home run.

Still pretty good. 18 pitches, 14 of them for strikes, and a 155 ERA on the season, and a perfect 18 for 18 in save opportunities. Josh Hader, very good for the Astros. He's got 18 saves in a 155 ERA. Brian Abrae 18 holds in a 1.50 ERA. So what you were hoping, as far as a 1-2 punch at the back end of the bullpen, you have been getting as the Houston Astros get a,

get a victory. They'll be welcoming the Minnesota Twins in for a three game set this weekend. 710 first pitch here on Sports Talk 790. It will be a good matchup today with Colton Gordon back on the mound. Tomorrow will be a really good one. You've got Joe Ryan who's had a really good season and been good for the twins taking on Hunter Brown on Saturday. And then I accidentally closed out my tab. So on Sunday, it will be Brandon Walter versus Samp. Simeon Woods Richardson.

Hopefully the Astros can get another series victory. They are now four and a half games up on the Seattle Mariners in the American League West. Yes, with all the Hemming and Hong, we've done about them all season. They're comfortably in first place in the American League West. All right, moving along on the news at noon. Some very unfortunate news, if you did not see from Antonio Brown. Apparently, the former Pro Bowl wide receiver wanted for attempted murder charge after a Miami boxing incident in May. Authorities seeking out Antonio Brown and wanting to charge him with attempted murder with a firearm,

according to a warrant obtained by the Washington Post. He needs to post $10,000 bond stay under house arrest until trial. Warrant signed by a judge on Wednesday. Attempts to reach Brown on Thursday were unsuccessful. The incident apparently took place on May 16th. Police responding around midnight after receiving an alert from a gunshot detection system. On X the next day, Antonio Brown claimed that he had been jumped by people trying to steal his jewelry. He was led away by police in handcuffs.

but he said he was just being detained to share his account with police and said that he was not arrested. So that is interesting and, well, concerning as well with Antonio Brown. Hopefully, I mean, I don't even really know what else to say about that. That's just horrible news and some more horrible news, unfortunately. Reds Wade Miley accused of being the late Tyler Skaggs drug supplier. Wade Miley, of course, with the Asher, shows in what, 2019 or whatever it was. Now with the Cincinnati Reds

is accused in court documents of providing drugs to late Tyler Skaggs, the Los Angeles Angels pitcher who died of an accidental overdose in 2019. Skaggs' former agent Ryan Hamill saying in a deposition that Skaggs told him he was using pain pills containing oxycodone that were provided by Miley. This is all part of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skagg's family against the Angels in California.

That is just some more unfortunate news. And with that, I'm going to go ahead and end the news at noon. That's a real downer. So we're going to take a break here on that note here on a sports talk 790. We've been talking some Astros baseball. We've been talking about anything you want to get to. The legendary call by the young lad, Jay is coming up at 1230. Adam Clanton's joining at 1 o'clock as well.

You want to get in. You can 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-1-1-2. 1-2-5-7-90. You're listening to the Matt Thomas show with Ross with you until 2 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. Man, this is great. A lot of y'all supporting the young lad, Jay, still tweeting in, asking if we can get a replay. Yes, coming up at 1230, we will replay it here on this program.

Great stuff from a young kid caller, Jay. the highlights being talking about the trade deadline. Him knowing that Charlie Morton, 10 years old and knew that Charlie Morton was on the Orioles. That kid knows ball. And then he doesn't like school because he doesn't like waking up at more. He likes school, but he doesn't like waking up early in the morning for school. That is coming up in the next segment. Make sure you do not miss it.

Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, and also have some details on a great giveaway we have coming up in the 1 o'clock hour. I'll give you those when we come back at around 1230. as well. Phone lines open if you want to get in and talk about anything. It is in anything that goes Friday here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-7-90.

Still getting some more tweets in. Let's see. Liz says that call made my day. Chris Ferguson's and I thought Jay wake the strippers up. That's pretty funny stuff right there. Let's see. Kathy, J's smarter than half the people to call in. I'm going to disagree with you, Kathy. I'm going with like 95% of the callers that we get calling in.

And Kathy also says, tell Josh not bad, waking up the strippers. Also getting some texts in from some other people giving a thumbs down. Josh and Cyprus, I'm giving you a thumbs up. Like I said, it's tough. We weren't all born with the booming baritone pipes of the possessed by one Matt Thomas. but you gave it to college try. I would give it like a 7 out of 10. Now, this is the first one you've ever heard, Frankie,

so I don't know what kind of grade you could get. But what did you think about Josh and Cyprus and the Good Morning Strippers that he belted out? Man, he had a good diaphragm on him. He held that a long time. You never thought you'd be on radio today talking about another man's diaphragm, did you? Not in the bingo card.

No, not on the bingo card, but guess what? It happened. You're getting a crash course of the Mad Thomas show. anything can happen. Kids calling in with epic baseball takes, waking up strippers, playing crazy drops, and a lot of production value. And welcome to the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Appreciate you, Frankie hanging out. I mentioned, of course, you guys can get in at 713-2125790. Seabas tweets in, imagine finding sports team T's replacement while he's on vacation. Yeah, he's getting Wally Pipped, folks. We're already in contract negotiations with Jay. Okay, maybe we're not. Dosed pesky child. labor laws holding us back.

But we've been talking a lot of Astros. Jay wanted to talk about the trade deadline and what's going on for the squad. And we've been doing that as well. It can feel a bit premature because we are like seven weeks away to where, how much are we going to talk about this? But it's something we're keeping on because team needs become a fluid situation. Start of the season when it was the rotation that the Astros had, we're feeling pretty good.

Guess what? You get a guy going down with a thumb fracture. You get Ronell Blanco and Hayden Wisniewski going down with Tommy John surgery. It becomes a question mark. And then things can also become a fluid situation. We always talk about how long a baseball season is, but it can turn or things can go bad. Or your complete mindset about a team can change over a couple of games.

Where if, you know, we're feeling good, riding high, 38 and 30, 8 games above 500, this is great. we get swept by the Minnesota Twins over the weekend and we're like, oh no, this team is horrible. They're on a downward trajectory, but still going to not mean that it's not going to mean that they're not going to win the American League West. I still think they're going to do that. Not a foregone conclusion at this point

because, you know, they've been winning. Mariners have been losing. Simple as that. Four and a half games up. Where have we seen this before? Almost, when was the swoon where the Astros was it around mid-June? and then within a snap of your fingers, the Astros went from 10 games back of the Seattle Mariners to back in first place.

So things can turn in a hurry, for sure, but I think barring health, this team is still going to be in a pretty good position. Jeremy Payne doing his thing. We'll see what happens to the ESOc Paredes. That definitely is something that is in question mark and that definitely could factor into what we're talking about, about guys getting called up,

possible trade needs, and stuff like that. and everyday second baseman, I think, certainly on the short list of priorities for the Astros. Starting pitcher, I think so as well. Even with Ryan Gusto doing what he was able to do, and you've had somebody like Colton Gordon go out there and well, and be good for a couple of starts here and there for the Astros. And then Brandon Walter doing his thing for the Stros as well.

How long can you bank on that? how long can you expect that to happen? I don't know. But a couple of stars from Brandon Walter. Dude's got a 1.64 ERA. That's pretty good. So we'll see what happens. How much are needs becoming pressing needs,

especially when hopefully you should be able to cruise in the division. But like I said, we can turn anything around in a 162 game season. but right now Astros at 65.2% according to fan graphs to win the division. That's pretty good numbers. Playoff odds at 79.8%. And these are just numbers that they crunch. It's just something to look at.

It doesn't mean a whole lot. It's not like Joe Spott is in the team meeting like, hey, guys, we're 65% to win the division. So let's go ahead and cruise. We're all good. No, that's not how it happens. it's just something that we can look at and talk about and make it a talking point, which I'm doing right now on this talk show. So it looks pretty good for the Astros to win the American League West.

I've seen, I don't know if you've played any bit of poker. For you played some back blackjack, 65% is not a guarantee of anything there. So they could still not win. Things could still not go their way. But it does look good right now. And it feels good right now. And look. Yeah, there are people like, oh, who cares?

The rest of the division is bad. So what? You play who's in front of you? Astros didn't ask to be in the American League. Astros didn't even want to be in the American League. So now they're in the AOL West, and it turns out, Rangers are faltering, mariners are terrible and don't want to spend money? And the Angels and the A's or the Angels in the A's?

So what? Somebody's got to win it. Somebody's got to be the best in the division. And that's somebody the last seven years. it's been a full season, has been the Houston Astros, and hopefully they're marching their way towards their eighth. What will happen with the trade deadline coming up? We shall see.

You gain more data, is what I call it. Over the weekend, we're going to gain some more data on where the Houston Astros are. Obviously, there's a human beings playing a game, but we'll know a little bit more. We'll see another start from Colton Gordon. We'll see another start from Brandon Walter. Hunter Brown, in all likelihood, going to continue doing his thing and be the dominant pitcher that we know that he can. and being a Sy Young candidate.

So that will start this weekend against the Minnesota Twins. Astros and Twins facing off 710 first pitch here on Sports Talk 790. It'll be a 6 o'clock Astros on deck. Early 310 start on Saturday. And then on Father's Day, it'll be the customary 110 start. 713-212-5-790 is your phone number if you'd like to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90. We are going to take a break here.

but when we come back, we have Jay's call, if you missed it, the young lad who called us the 10-year-old with some great baseball takes. We also will have the update, or I'm sorry, the details on the $500 lazy boy giveaway. We'll give you those in the next segment as well. And then coming up at 1250, one of the smartest things I've ever heard

a former NBA player say, who frankly to me is known for, saying dumb things. He said something really smart. We'll get that to you coming up at 1250. Then, like I said, Jay's call and details on the big giveaway coming up after this quick break. And you at 713-212-5-790. This is The Matt Thomas Show with Ross back after this short break.

Thank you, Frumber. Appreciate you. We are your home for Astros baseball. Astros twins coming up at 7 o'clock. Dan Matthews and the Astros on deck. 6 o'clock. You've also got the A-Team, 2-6. Hey, you've got me joined by one of the 18 members, Adam Clanton coming up at 1 o'clock.

You just shouldn't really tune out of Sports Talk 790 all day. That's just basically the bottom line. Ross, Vee, Riyat back with you here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. We will be playing momentarily the call from a 10-year-old Jay who called us last hour. A lot of you all missed it, so I wanted to replay it for you. But I mentioned we have the giveaway coming up. If you want to win a $500 gift card to Lazy Boy, that is coming up in the 1 o'clock hour. It is very simple.

When you hear me say, lazy boy, I'm going to say it conversationally. That'll be next hour. When you hear me say it conversationally, that means you call in and you can be the 10th caller. Those are you listening on streaming, we're going to hold the lines closed for a little bit. Then we're going to open them so everybody gets free rein. The 10th caller will get the 500 call. gift card to lazy boy furniture galleries right now. They have a huge Father's Day sale.

You get two great chairs for one low price. You've been thinking about a getting a recliner. You've been stressing what you're going to get your father for Father's Day. How about the two for one at the lazy boy furniture galleries? You keep one for yourself. You give one to your dad. You win twice, brother. A thousand recliners ready for delivery only while they last.

lazy boy furniture galleries. You can hurry into them and get that great Father's Day deal or you could win a $500 gift card. So hold off before you order or buy anything. See if you can win that $500. Lazy boy furniture galleries gift card coming up in the 1 o'clock hour. Again, you hear me say lazy boy in the 1 o'clock hour. That means it is time to call in and try to win that gift card. All right.

Let's go ahead and hear from Jay. This was a call earlier today. As I mentioned, sometimes it can be hit or miss a mixed bag when young children call in. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's not so good. But I would say this was great. 10-year-old Jay talking some Astros baseball earlier today here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Jay calling and holding the longest down the phone lines.

What's up, Jay? Hey, Jay. How are you doing? I'm pretty good, Jay. How are you? Good. That's cool. So the thing I want to talk about is three things.

Three things? Yes. The first thing is, what was the actual Shreve for at the Shade Deadline? Should they shorth like a guy, Ryan, I mean, Ryan on Horn or Dilan or a lefty back? Who should they stray for? Okay. You're talking about Duran from the Red Sox? Yes

Okay What else you got Jay The second thing In like in two months If he hurt He ain't coming back For two months

I feel like they should call Bryce Matthew Oh okay You think Bryce Matthews Is doing well He's doing well enough At AAA I think so

Yeah he's a little young He hadn't got a lot of ABs in AAA You think he's gonna You think he's be ready though I think so Because I did the same thing The Camp Smith He was

They didn't even went to triple. That's true. Jay, how old are you? 10, about to be 11. Oh, wow. When's your birthday? October. Okay, that's cool.

So you're out of school right now, Jay? Yes. All right, you're a big Astros fan? Yes. Who's your favorite astro? Jose Altoouva. I knew you were going to say Jose Altova. He's really cool, isn't he?

Yes. Isn't it crazy how he always comes through in the big moments, especially in the playoffs. It's a very special player. Yep. I know. You play baseball? Yeah.

Oh, nice. What position do you play, Jay? A position yet, but I'm thinking probably like second base. Okay, like Jose Al-Tuvae. Yeah. That's pretty good. You don't wear a number 27 like Jose Al-Tuvae, too? I want to wear my dad's favorite number 16.

Okay. Why is that your dad's favorite number? It's because he works. I think his position he works. Oh, okay. It's not like he's a big Joe Montana fan or something. Yeah. All right, Joe.

What's the third thing you want? I mean, excuse me, Jay. What's the third thing you wanted to get to, Jay? The third thing, I forgot the third thing. That's okay. Take your time, Jay. We're chilling. We've got a lot of time to fill.

Hold on a third thing with the third thing is. That's okay. You going to the fifth grade or what grade you going to now, Jay? fifth grade. Oh, wow, that's cool. I'm going to the fifth grade. Do you like school or do you think it's boring? I like school a little bit.

Okay, a little bit? How come only a little bit? It's because I'm kind of tired. I wake up early. You know what? I'm with you, Jay. I am 40 years old and I still don't like waking up early. They moved this show from noon to 10 and I'm still struggling to get in here on time.

Sleeping is fun, Jay, don't you think? Yeah. Yeah, I agree. getting up early. Hopefully you can get used to that at some point, Jay. Can you remember the third thing, or is it still not coming to you? It's still not coming to me. Hold on.

All right. Let's see. Was it about the pitching? Oh, yes. Yes, it is about the pitching. Do you think that the pitching rotation is going to be fully healthy at the end of the season? Yeah, that's going to be tough to predict, Jay. I don't know.

I mean, Spencer Ergetti, hopefully going to come back by, I mean a month and change. He's not even throwing. So that would be good. We'll see with Lance McCullors Jr. You know, Lance McCuller's Jr. has been hurt a lot, but also he's been healthy. So, you know, you can't pretty. One thing that I've learned, Jay, and I'll give you some advice when we're talking about sports, you can never predict injuries. Some people use the word injury prone, and they will say this guy's had a million injuries and then they don't, they don't think they're going to pan out. And then they turn out and pan out. Do you remember Michael Brantley for the Astros? Are you too young? Yeah. Michael Brantley, when he came over from Cleveland, everybody said he was injury prone and he was hurt too much.

And then he came over here and he put in some good seasons. Do you remember Charlie Morton, Jay? Yeah, I think he's still fishing. Yeah, he is. All right. Wow, that is correct, Jay. So when Charlie Morton first came over the Astros, everybody said he was injury prone because he heard his hamstring and he had some other bad injuries and stuff like that. And like you said, he's in his 40s and he's still pissed.

pitching. So it's very difficult to predict injuries. People will call somebody injury prone and then they'll be healthy for a couple of seasons in a row. I've seen that in my old gray-haired old age, Jay. So that's my advice for you when you're following sports to tell you that it's really difficult to predict injuries. Nobody can really do it. Yeah. All right, Jay, thanks for the call. I appreciate it. You're welcome. All right. What are you doing? You got any fun stuff playing this summer? Oh, I'm going to take a hair cut today. Oh, you're getting a haircut? Nice. Yeah. All right. Yep. That's cool, Jay. All right. Bye. Bye, Jay. He's like, all right, I got to let you go. That's enough from you.

That was just, oh, man, great stuff from Jay, the 10-year-old caller. How about that? I mean, he knows more baseball than all of us. stuff talking about Charlie Morton. I was wondering if he was even going to remember Charlie Morton. He had been in the Ashro since 2018. That dude was three years old. He's talking about him pitching for the Orioles. Wow. Incredible stuff. Great, great stuff there from Jay. And I think I was like, thank you for the call. He's like, you're welcome. Yeah. That's all good. And he's like, I got to let you go. Time to get a haircut. Bro. That's his big summer plans for Jay getting a haircut. Great, great stuff right there. Okay. We are going to take another break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

I mentioned some of you are already calling in for the recliner giveaway. I'm not even going to use the word. That's in the one o'clock hour. In the one o'clock hour, when you hear me say, you know what? I'll go ahead and say it. Don't call in now. Don't call in now. Don't call in now.

When I say the word lazy boy, it would be conversational in the one o'clock hour, that's when we'll have the $500 gift card giveaway. That's coming up in the one o'clock hour where I'll be joined by Adam Clanton as well. Well, time for a quick break, as I said here on the show. When we come back, a legendary NBA player said the smartest thing I think I've ever heard him say. Normally, this guy says a bunch of crazy stuff, but he said something very smart, I think, we'll play it for you and react. When we come back here, it is the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas.

You can get in if you'd like. Phone lines open at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. Well, that guy's not here. That's okay. He's out on vacation. We're holding it down. Ross Vier out with you. Thanks to Dan Matthews for hanging out earlier.

Thanks to my unofficial co-host, Jay, for calling in, and we were able to replay that for you folks as well. Adam Clanton coming in the next hour. We'll also have non-Florida stories coming up at 130. And in the 1 o'clock hour, the giveaway, if you missed it. Well, I'm sorry. That's coming up at the 1 o'clock hour. 713-212.

790 is your phone number 713212-5-790 you can also send tweets to at sports rv let's see a couple of tweets coming in ATX hobo girl thanks for replaying it adorable yes it was adorable Isaac says hearing it the second time just as good or even better as the first talk about catching lightning in a bottle yes of course I'm biased I just feel like live radio can give you those unplanned fun moments that come out of nowhere. The spontaneity, you just can't beat it. You can watch your podcasts and stuff like that.

But when you throw in the random caller and the moments it can happen, nothing beats live radio for me. Of course, I am biased having been working in this business now for 16 years. Let's see. At some more tweets coming in. From Kathy Docs, Tater. Jay was incredible. I kept waiting for evidence another person in feeding of info,

but his answers was too quick and correct. That is a very good, astute observation from you, Kathy. The same thing. A lot of times, as I mentioned, kids will call in, and you can kind of hear the dad in the background, giving them stuff or feeding them information.

But I was like, is this kid reading off a piece of paper, talking about O'Hern and Jaron and all this stuff? And then, yeah, like lightning quick on a couple of things, picking them up. Same thing with the Charlie Morton thing talking about him playing for the Orioles. Very impressive stuff from Jay for sure. All right. Tweets at Sports RV if you want to get in that way.

Mention this going into the break. Magic Johnson, one of the all-time greats. You can put them top five all-time, top ten all-time. I'm not sure where you have them. But basically any top-10 list of all-time grades you look at, Magic Johnson is in there when it comes to the end. B.A. As a pundant, I don't think he's good. I mean, he was on in the 90s, and I thought he was master of the obvious. He's been on different shows. ESPN. I don't think he's ever been on T&T,

but with ABC and other stuff like that, just never really felt like he was very good. And then a lot of times, he'll be master of the obvious when you look at Magic Johnson's Twitter account. So, I mean, love him as an all-time great, one of the all-time great passers, all that type of stuff, five-time champion. I don't know how many MVP's he won, probably, three or four, if not more. But as a pundit, meh. However, Magic Johnson, yesterday, he was on one of the ESPN talking head shows. I don't know if his first take or whatever, but he had one of the more profound takes about

something we argue about all the time. And I will let you hear that. Magic Johnson, it starts off with Stephen A. Smith, asking him what defines a superstar? and then there's a lot of interjection from Marley Caram. But listening to what Magic Johnson said, it is so, well, some of the times the things that can be the most profound are the most simple.

And I think that's what Magic Johnson did here. Define the superstar. A person who can go on the road and sell the building. There we go. That's the, that's a simple definition. I'm going to see that person, right? So you ain't talking skill on the court.

That's it. You talk about. Draw. You gotta be box off. Magic's in town. You're going to the game. Yeah, a superstar got to say, man, or you're running home from the office and saying, oh, I got to see him on TV, right?

And that's what you say, Larry Berg, people running home, right? Charles, people running home. Shack, people running home. Kobe, people running home. And then, of course, the greatest has ever played, Michael George, people going, running home to see him.

Or they're trying their best to get into the arena to see that brother play. That's a superstar who could go on the road and sell the bill than that. Hmm. Very simple. To the point, makes sense.

And I think he's right. So that begs the question. We could talk about all sports, but we'll start with the NBA. How many superstar players are there right now in the NBA? Off the top of my head, two easy ones to me.

That would be LeBron James and then Steph Curry. People come to the game for years. And it's like this. And Matt Thomas can attest to this because he gets tickets occasionally from the Houston Rockets being an employee. And he'll always have people asking him for tickets. And when you work in this business, I get people for me asking for tickets as well. Like anytime I go anywhere and tell people what I do. And the first thing I hear is, what about them tickets? You got them tickets? No, I don't have the tickets for you. I just got them. I don't have

flying out of my pockets. And if I did, I'm probably giving them to my family rather than, or somebody I know rather than this guy that I just met in line at the Ratch Rie Rhee. But anyways, LeBron James and the Lakers goes without saying superstar, Steph Curry, I think, goes without saying. Are people around the country? Just trying to think of the top draws and road draws. And maybe there are some numbers on this. And I'd be curious to see also with those numbers, like sometimes guys are out. There's load management.

People twist ankles, whatever. but other guys who I think of as maybe provisional members. Do you think people are hearing that Luca Donchich before he was with an L.A. L.A. Laker. Now he's paired with LeBron. Definitely. I mean, the Lakers on the road are going to be one of the hottest tickets. You can see one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And then you can see one of the greatest young basketball players of all time

who is blossoming into a superstar himself. Luca Dantzich, when he was in the Mavericks. I would say to an extent, yes, it's a bigger draw when he comes into town here in Houston. Nicola Yokic I'm putting him like on a tier two

kind of provisional. Shegilded Alexander unfortunately isn't there yet. He's become an MVP so now he's starting to climb on the list. I got a sneaky one for you. That I've noticed the last couple of years there's a lot of people who get in the building to see John Morant with the Memphis Grizzlies.

an alarming amount. I go to a lot of of Rockets games. I do a lot of pre-post game shows and I do the post-game shows from the press area. So as the arena's emptying out, I see a lot of people who are staying there for certain players. It's always a million kids and little people. They'll bring their

shoes, they'll bring their jerseys, they'll bring whatever a sign, and they'll have a Sharpie with them and they'll stand by the opposing tunnel and they'll try to get an autograph from Steph Curry. John Moran is actually one of the ones that I've seen a lot of people hang out for and a lot of young kids gravitate to for whatever reason,

which is kind of even surprising me. Victor Wimbunyama, I think if he's not there, he's getting there. As far as somebody who people will come and say, you know what, hey, this guy's in town. So great definition for Magic Johnson. Because it's like, what would you call a movie star? A movie star is, if this guy is in it,

I am going to see this movie. Don't care about the plot. Don't need to see the trailer. This guy's in the movie. It's time to go. And there are a handful of guys like that. And I think right now, to me, you can tweet me at SportsRever.

You can call in 713, 212,790 if you disagree. Right now it's just two. And there are kind of guys who are possibly going to get there. I would say Wemby, Luca Aunt Edwards I haven't mentioned Do you put him in that category

Janice Nikoliyokic That's kind of like the tier two Maybe guys who can reach Those types of heights And be the superstar player We can also talk about this for Baseball I think it's harder to talk about football

Basically no matter who's in town The NFL is so huge There's only one game a week it's big and everybody wants to go to the game just because it's the NFL and it's a huge event. But we can definitely go through some names there. But I'm curious if you think there are more than two superstars by Magic Johnson's definition,

guys who sell out the building just because they're in town or at least attendance goes way up just because they are in town. Steph Curry, LeBron James, definitely at the top of that list right now. Okay, time for a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Hour number four is coming up. Will Adam Clinton be here for the opening of the segment? Who knows?

We'll find out when we come back. Also, of course, we'll have non-Florida stories and the big giveaway coming up in the next hour. And you guys at 713-212-5-790. Hour number four of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross is next here on Sports Talk 790. Hour number four of the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. Adam Clinton made it on time, folks. For those of you who bet he would be here after 102, you lose. This is two times in a row.

I know, I'm proud of you. That I haven't been like, I don't ever really late. It's like Ross time. Yeah, exactly. Two minutes into a segment, that's facing on time. I was actually late. I was supposed to hang out in the 9 o'clock hour like a couple of weeks ago with Dan Matthews. I didn't show up until 930.

What a non-team player. I know. I know. At least I bought him breakfast today. He's hanging out. You bought him breakfast? Yes, I did. How come you never buy me breakfast?

Because I don't eat. Because I don't want to mess with your intermittent fasting times. I know, it's bad. Do you like breakfast for dinner? I, No, I will do that, but I'm more breakfast for lunch. You like brunch? Yes, exactly.

What are you, a 40-year-old female? Yeah, pretty much. Who doesn't like a good mimosa and some french toast? My wife. Yeah, minus the French toast. To me carbs. No, I don't get to eat breakfast because I do the intermittent fasting And the feeding time is what I call it because I'm like a caged animal

Is between like 645 and 8 o'clock See, I can't really do that If I was going to do that to eat just in the evenings I can't do a four-hour show with no energy from no food Let's kind of clarify that It's not just any four-hour show It's arguing with Wex for four hours In the last four hours you haven't eaten in 24 hours

Yeah, see how do you do that? I love him. Yeah, that's great. Well, actually, it probably makes the show better because you're more irritable. Oh, I'm so irritable. And let me tell you, as you can see, it's Metallica weekend. Oh, you are wearing a Metallica shirt. How many times you've seen Metallica?

This will be four, I think. If we don't kill each other before we get to this show, it'll be a miracle. Who is that? You and Misses. Okay. Well, I hope everything's okay. That's fine. Between you folks.

Where's the show at? NRG. NRG Stadium. They're expecting, I think, 76,000 people. How can you get 76 in there? They go full third 360? Yes. When you put a stage on one end, that takes up a lot of seats.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. When you've got it in the round, like this is... Oh, they do in the middle, like rodeo style. Except for the rodeo, you can't put people on the floor because there's dirt. Yeah, why not? Bring your chair. Well, you can, but there's dirt for the horses and such. Yeah, bring your Macademy, $9 chair that you got.

You know what? I remember when they used to be $9. Along with a lot of other things. I don't have. All right. Anyways, Adam Klentz here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Impressive Edg. Uh-oh. I thought everything was supposed to be fixed within the first 30 days.

Anyways. 100 days. 100 days. Anywho, we're not going to talk to anything else but sports. Did you hear the audio from Magic Johnson? I don't know if you happened to be listening to the last segment, but I have not. Okay. I was talking about the definition of a superstar.

player. Okay, so I heard about this, but I have not heard the audio yet. All right, so we're going to talk some after those and some other stuff, but since I talked about this in the last segment and I was wanting someone to bounce off of with this, here's what Magic Johnson had to say. This was on first take. And quite frankly, for somebody whose punitry has been terrible,

this is probably the smartest thing he's ever said. Define the superstar. A person who can go on the road and sell the building. There we go. That's the that should be. It's a simple definition. I'm going to see that person. Right.

So you ain't talking skill on the court. That's it. You talk about the boss off. Yeah, you've got to be box off. Magic's in town. You're going to the game. Yeah. A superstar got to say, man.

Or you're running home from the office and saying, oh, I got to see him on TV, right? And that's what you say. Larry Bird. People running home. Right. Charles, people running home. Shack. People running home.

Kobe. People running home. And then, of course, the greatest has ever played, Michael George. People going running home to see him. Or they're trying their best to get into the arena. to see that brother play. That's a superstar who could go on the road and sell the building now.

I don't disagree with that definition because in the NBA especially, I feel like players that are not necessarily other people's definition of a superstar do just that. They sell out the building. People will, like, you know,

this is where I go back to my struggle with James Harden. James Hardin was must see television for about two years there The adorable tour But not everybody liked his style of play Yes But you also go in knowing Hey I might hate the guy

I might hate the fact that this is the original Free Throw Merchant Before Doris Burke started calling SGA that Yes But I also know that during those two years And you know this because we were doing games You were doing post game I was helping call games

You knew any time you walked into the building that he could go off for a 60-point triple-double. Yes. And so guys like that, the deuce, I think you'll go there because you think that something like that might happen, but you also sometimes go there knowing this guy might not necessarily be championship material. And I think some people define superstars as this guy's capable of winning you a championship. It's just, it's all subjective, like so many things in sports.

but what Magic Johnson is saying from a business standpoint is 100% accurate. The NBA, frankly, needs more of those guys. I would say, okay, so who are, if you're going just by Magic's definition, guys who sell at the building on the road, I think there's only two definitive guys right now. LeBron and stuff. Yes. Yeah.

And that's the NBA's, that's part of the NBA's problem right now. I have more of those guys. I got another one for you. Now, unfortunately, he plays with LeBron now. Would you put, where do you feel about Luca Donchich on that? I, man. I think he's kind, it feels like I have the definitive list and then there's a provisional list. It's like tears.

And he's on like the, exactly. When I'm trying to think, really, when Luca Donchage was coming into town with the Mavericks, it doesn't feel like this, here's the deal. The city's a buzz. And you're somebody who gets people who request tickets for you, right? I was just about to go there. Okay. So that's, that is from, from Maddie Johnson's definition standpoint, which I think is a good one.

It is. That's how I would look at this because I know who gives me the most ticket requests. In other words, I know what teams and they're the two you mentioned. There's no other, like there might be some Spurs and Mavericks fans. I want to go see that freak Victor Wimbunyama. The alien. The poor man's Ralph Samson. That's what I'm going from now on. Okay, well.

How he bounces back from the deep vein thrombosis. I don't feel good about that situation for him, but that's not my problem. because I'm a Rockets guy. I just, those are the only two. You nailed it. You nailed the only two that really people, multiple people are texting me not only like the days before, but like weeks in advance. Hey, I would like to take my kid to go see LeBron.

Hey, I would like to see Steph. You know, nobody else really gets those kinds of requests. Yeah. I will tell you, now me, it's easier for me because I'm a credentialed media member. And when I'm working home games, which I do, I don't know, about half. I like it when I know you're there. I can't see you because the huge enormous scoreboard that they installed is actually so big that you can't see across now at the top of the lower bowl. But I like knowing you're there.

It makes me feel better. Okay. I make sure, for example, when Wimby came into town, I wanted to make sure that I go to the arena for that game. I would put just for me, but this is, like I said, this is different because I get in for free and I'm working the games. I put Anthony Edwards on that list just for me. That's my dude. Nicola Yokic and Janus, I think I would put. Here's my question about...

Does the casual fan feel that way? I don't think so for those guys. This is part of what I think is the NBA's problem. It's funny we're talking about this because Wex and I got into this yesterday. Just because of the NBA finals, first of all, it has like 10 days between each game. It's so stupid.

I'm so proud of them for playing two games and three nights. What a concept. Well, they're going to be real tired tonight, folks. It's going to be a 70. to 65 final. But like, if Janus, if SGA, if Luca, well, not Luca, this doesn't apply anymore because he's in L.A. Oh, Anthony Edwards. If those guys weren't playing in Milwaukee, in Oklahoma City, in Minneapolis, would they be some of these guys that I'm saying we need more of? Because if that's the case, then the NBA is still stuck in the 90s way of thinking

in that, well, we've got to have our superstars in big markets. Big markets doesn't apply to the NFL. Big markets still applies to Major League Baseball, but I don't think it's as bad as it used to be. That's more about the media coverage. Oh, it's Boston, New York again. But, like, I feel like once the NBA stops looking through that prism and just tries to a, like, look who's the cream of the crop in the NFL right now.

I know Philadelphia just won. It's small town, and we've been there, as we know, Kansas City, Missouri. Or you can go to Green Bay and other ones. But I think you can transcend market in the NBA. I mean, LeBron, when he got his start in Cleveland, which is a good example. He was a major star, but also he's kind of generational as far as a superstar. Oklahoma City maybe can get there when it was Russ and K.D.

And James Hardin, I mean, those guys were stars. They were on commercials. The guy that always gets lost in the shuffle because he bridged the gap between Jordan and LeBron was Kobe. What if Charlotte doesn't get duped by John? Jerry West, and he spends his career out on the East Coast for the freaking Hornets. Well, he probably doesn't win five championships. That goes without saying. But is he

Kobe? Is he one of those guys that sells out? I think he becomes a superstar. I think maybe just to a lesser extent. It's all about... Because even Jordan, he played in a big market in Chicago. In orders of power, right? Would if LeBron James, remember when the decision was happening and people were talking about him possibly going

to the Knicks? Simply because he can become a big star. I honestly think when the, when this second or I guess third time go around. I think that's part of the reason why he signed with L.A. Because why? Super stardom. Being a bigger, being more opportunities. Well, that's why Shack went there.

Being in Space Jam 2 and becoming a billionaire and all that type of stuff. I absolutely think it was partly a business decision to go to L.A. after leaving Cleveland the second time. I don't think I've asked you this question point blank. Where are you on the go debate between those two? I think it's a nuanced, not easy conversation. I think the best player at his piece, is Michael Jordan, and I don't think that's arguable.

What's funny is... I think the best career I would go with LeBron James. But what's funny about that is in the goat debate, so in other words, not the career but more of who is at the peak of their power is the best. Yeah. I think that has hurt LeBron the longer he's played. Yes, I think people forget. I mean, Jordan did what he did in basically 13 seasons?

I think a lot of the mythology of Jordan was absolutely helped by the fact that he walked off the floor a champion with the, I mean, it was a perfect moment. And of course he came back and there was Washington Wizards, Jordan, and all that type of stuff. But walking on the floor at the peak of his powers, with a championship winner? Twice.

Twice. He walked away in 93 as a champion. He walked away 98 as a champion. That's because Jerry Krause would not... And then when he didn't play in 94, they won 55 games and Scottie Pippen finished second in the MVP. And also, when he came back and people had to say,

Well, he wasn't in shape. He dropped 55 on the Knicks, Jackass. They didn't win. I think there is a lot of mythology that needs to be cleaned up with Michael Jordan, like I said, because of, I mean, Scottie Pippin was great. He had the greatest coach of all time. To ever tell you about the time I got Hakeem mad at me for asking about this? No. He wasn't mad at me, but he gave a very forceful answer, which for Hakeem, you know, is kind of out of character these days because he's such a gentle giant.

Uh-huh. He was like, they were there. He was there. He was there. He lost. Yeah. He was mad. I knew the answer. They lost. He didn't know that I was one of these staunchest advocates for Screw the Bulls.

Yes. They were there and they lost in 1995. Absolutely. Nick Anderson. It kind of helped having, I mean, Scotty Pippen, who finished second in an MVP. They won 55 games when he was gone. When LeBron James left Cleveland, they were like already in the dumps and getting Kyrie Irving. But anyways, this is a conversation we can have for hours.

This is what we do. Yes. The peak, if I need one game to win, it's Michael Jordan. If I need one series to win, it's Michael Jordan. Yeah. For sure. And honestly, LeBron does not come to mind when I think about a game winning shot situation. Yeah, but he's made a bunch of game winners.

Yeah, but I don't think of him that way. Huge shots. I know. I think that's on you. I think a lot of it is because he wasn't, a lot of his game winners aren't like pull up fadeaway 16 footers, which are sexy. It's like, I'm getting to the basket and you can't do anything about it. You want a super hot take? Yes.

There's the choices between these two players. So you can't think these are your only two. options. If it's LeBron James or Damian Lillard. Oh, stop. It's LeBron James. I'm taking Damian Lillard. Oh, my God. All right. You know what? You're going full Max Kellerman. I want Igwadala. That's what you're going right now. I'm not a boxing analyst

masquerading as someone who knows sports. I want Igwadala. All right. Get out of here. You know what? I'm turning your microphone off. We're going to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Adam Clanton is hanging out. Appreciate him. You guys can get in 7-1-3-2-1. one to five, seven, ninety. Back after this quick break. Adam Clinton is growling now.

Dude, I'm a little worried. Oh, man, you just don't get it. No, I just don't. We were, uh, we got, for BuzzFest, Marilyn Manson was here. Okay. And we were in the pit, and I'm standing there next to Teresa

and like every song ends, and I look at her, I'm just like, I want to run through a brick wall or you know. Okay. And so, like, but Metallica is like my band. Sounds like you got a lot of stuff to sort out over there. I have a lot of anger issues. And a lot of pent-up things.

How does that make you feel? Well, you know, it's fine. I got to play. It's what you say in this show. It's fine. I always have to play therapist to Matt Thomas. Now I've got to do it to you too. Jeez.

You know, he went to Vegas. Who? And he took his kid. Yeah? And you know, our gimmick is that I tag him everywhere when I make my Astros videos. And then he comes in with some just ridiculous, convoluted response about, you were not there and I was not there and this is what we were actually doing. So I

won up him today. He went to Vegas and put it on his social because he wants everybody to know that it's his 40th trip there. I mean, is he ever here? Oh my gosh. Does he ever host his show? I don't know. First of all he makes fun of you guys more than anybody

for not being or getting hours off. That's insecurity about not working himself. He's just a lazy boy. He is. What a lazy boy, Matt Thomas is. He really is. I mean, just out of control. And the thing is, so I won up to him. In his comments section, I was like, I took the day off from doing a video so that we could go to Vegas together.

Imagine my surprise when you told me you were taking Peyton. Now, you love to go to Vegas and you don't gamble or drink, which I find very confusing. So Vegas has something for everyone. You know, even if you don't gamble or drink, you could be entertained. That's true. I mean, there's a lot of other things to do in Vegas besides those two things. And go to the massage parlor, stuff like that. You just went down a very dark place.

You said Vegas. I go with someone who loves Vegas and does enjoy gambling and drinking, and I've turned her into a lightweight. She doesn't drink that much anymore, so if she does, yeah. It's cheaper. Yeah, well, in her liver, you know. It's good for the liver. Good for the health. She's like, is dying.

She loves Vegas, but she's like you. And I'll never forget the story you told. She's got to be out of there in two and a half days or she starts getting like hives. No, it's out of control. It's too much. Okay, I think we have a winner. We'll tell Frankie, thanks all of you for listening. It's still a great promotion over the weekend with the Lazy Boy Furniture Galleries.

The $500 gift card, we'll get the winner in just a moment from Neil. They'll have to get their information, so we'll figure it out in a second. But we do have a winner. But if you didn't win the gift card, you can still go to the Lazy Boy Furniture Galleries. It's the huge Father's Day sale. Two great chairs for one low price. You're thinking I can get one for yourself. You also want to get a Father's Day gift.

How about two for one? Give one to Pops and keep one. The perfect Father's Day deal. Over a thousand recliners ready for delivery only while they last at lazy boy furniture galleries. And what's the name of our, the first name of our winner, Frankie? Victor. Congratulations to Vennessee. Victor, you are the winner of the lazy boys' $500 gift card.

Yeah, it's okay. He's talking on the air right now. We'll try to get that all sorted out. Appreciate all of you for calling in. You could use a nice recliner, couldn't you? I'd tell you what, I've ever told you. See, this will not surprise you even at all a little. I have gone through recliners like socks in my life.

You know why? No, I don't. I'm almost scared to ask. Well, I like the rock a recliner, right? Because I like to rock. Okay. Because I've got a lot of nervous energy. Okay.

So I was breaking them. Like, we're talking within two to three years, the springs are popping. And I've done this since I was a child. Wow. And so it's like... You know what sounds like... If you go through that, like, socks, it sounds like you need a two-for-one deal. Yes.

Yes, it does. And I've actually done that before, but I had nowhere to put the other one. So, yeah, I finally... Guys, can you keep this in storage until I break one? Well, I... Yes. I actually did that once. I had a... That is really, really a poor...

commentary on me. But I just like, I love to rock, but this last time I went and got a chair that's not, it's stationary and now my wife is convinced that that's the source of my back pain. So maybe I'll get one of those. Wow. You got a lot of things to work through.

By the way, Craig, congratulations to Victor. We have our winner so you guys can stop calling, but we do appreciate you for listening to the program. All right, we were talking the last segment about Magic Johnson's definition of a superstar, a guy who's selling out when he's on the road. We came up with Steph Curry and LeBron James.

What about, I was kind of thinking about baseball. How many guys do you think, I mean, people are, for sure, the one that's easy that comes to Monty. Shohei Otani. Which is absolutely, especially when he's pitching. I mean, that is must-see-mussey television. Exactly. I would agree.

But he hasn't been pitching for a while. So then it's kind of like, by the Magic Johnson definition, is there somebody else? Aaron Judge is the best player in baseball right now. You would think that that would be the guy. We hate him here in Houston for sure. I don't hate the guy and here's why. I hate him. Well, he plays for the wrong team.

I hate the team he plays for. Aaron Judge, by all accounts, and my few interactions with him, super nice guy. I'll tell you why I hate him. He hit the home run at the time minute it made now, Dikin Park, and he pulled his jersey clothes,

making fun of the Jose Altovae thing. And then what happened? Then he lied about it and was talking about it was cold. Say you're trying to show him up. Say with your chess, Aaron, Judge. If you're going to go over there and be making fun of Jose Al-Tuvai and trying to start stuff with the Astros, let's go. Don't go cowering in a corner.

So I do hate Aaron Judge. What's up? I don't begrudge anybody hating a sports person. This is the first time in history, by the way. We've talked to. I hate someone that you don't hate. Well, I was about to say, who am I to criticize your sports hatred of all people? Exactly.

That'd be pretty darn hypocritical of Adam Clinton. But yeah, I think if he didn't play for the Yankees, though, I wonder. I mean, he's huge. He's a specimen to watch out there. He's hitting almost 400. And he is. He's somehow having a better season than last year. But we all know what's going to happen.

He's going to get to the postseason. He's going to roll over and die metaphorically. All right, I got to know. So Aaron Judge, you would say, by Magic Johnson's definition of selling out of the road, is a superstar or is not. I would probably lean towards he is. But it's not like, definitely. Like with Shohei.

I got another one. I think he is Juan Soto. People coming to the ballpark saying Juan Soto was in town. If you're a baseball fan... Now, I don't know if you're not getting sellouts. But, you know, like when you say LeBron James, to me, that supersedes the sport he plays. And that is, I think, part of this definition. I know I'm taking liberties with Magic Johnson's own individual definition.

But, like, there are only certain athletes that can cross sports barriers and just pop culture barriers. to say, I want to go see this person, whatever he does. Like, you know, Mike Tyson or Tiger Woods, a very select few. Like, they're still looking for that guy in golf. I don't think there is a Tiger Woods. And I'm not saying from the talent standpoint, I'm saying from I've got to go see this guy play

or even turn on golf on TV. That was unheard of before Tiger. Yeah, and also, I think a baseball in a way also lends itself to, I mean, you come more to the ballpark for starting pitchers. Yeah. I would say, like, when Verlander was in his prime and he's, on the road. You're like, oh, it's Verlander Day, let's go. Yeah. I would say

Paul Skeens. Yeah. But he's... I try to get to the ballpark when Paul Skeens is in town, for sure. You're one of us. You know what I mean? That's true. He plays for Pittsburgh. They don't even go sell out for him. Yeah. And so... I was shocked when Paul Skeins threw in the...

It was like 15-8-91 or something. It was under 16,000. Right. And let's be honest. if you are going to the ballpark to see Paul Skeen's, 50% of you is hoping his girlfriend's there too. 50%? Okay, I was going to be nice. 75%. But, like, I don't think he's that guy

because he can't even sell out his own gym. Yeah. Hmm, it's not an easy question. Terrick Scoobel? Like, I would want to... Yeah, that's another guy. Like, is it because he plays in Detroit? Like, you know, I...

I don't think... I think you have to be very... If you're using Magic Johnson's definition, i.e. this guy puts butts in seats. Yeah. The list is small. For sure. All right. We're going to take another break here on the Matt Thomas show.

Adam Clanton is here. We already have our winner so you guys can stop calling in for that. When we come back, we'll talk a little more sports. We also have none Florida stories. I've got a good one. You do? We're with you until 2 o'clock. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas.

So good. Anything Goes Friday continues here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. Rosvia Real, Adam Clanton with you. We already did the giveaway, so we appreciate you folks still calling in, but it is done. It is over.

Congratulations to Victor in Pearland. He is the winner of the gift card. And still, though, an opportunity for you, two-for-one recliners with lazy boy furniture galleries. Make sure you check them out. Great Father's Day sale this weekend. All right, we've been talking about a number of different things going on. I forgot to mention, or failed to mention, I should say,

Forrest Whitley traded away. Forrest Whitley. To the Tampa Bay Rays. Now, when he was DFAed, other teams could claim him, and then you could make a trade and all that type of stuff. Apparently, it's for cash considerations. and should the Astros be concerned that of all teams that have Forrest Whitley now,

the Tampa Bay raise, who have so many reclamation projects when it comes to pitching, and a guy who's got good stuff. I would feel better if basically any other team in baseball picked up Forrest Whitley than the Tampa Bay race. Yes and no. Here's why.

The Astros are one of the few teams that can say we did what you claim to do better than you. That's true. And I know that Brent Strom is long since, he's on his second team. Josh Miller and the boys, yeah, he's an assistant with the Pittsburgh Pirates. But it started with him, like the,

the, you know, whatever, the, whatever you want to. And then it's kind of continued. If they can't, if they can't do anything with Force Whitley. Yeah. Also, they probably would have like to option him, but he was out of option so they couldn't option that they had to do this and kind of in between a rock and a hard place.

All right. Anyways, just that bit of news. Forrest Whitley traded to the raise in exchange for cash considerations. Now it is that time of the week where we go to None Florida Stories. It's like it starts with like I can't put my finger on it. mid-90s alternative, and then it turns into REM and that's quite the intro. Yes, former producer Connor McGovern.

I believe AI made that. So there we go. Maybe we should ban all AR art from the show, but I kind of like the song. Maybe we should ban all AI since Terminator's going to happen now. That's probably true. I-Robot, here we come. We are definitely going to that.

All right, I'm going to start off Adam Klan, because you told me about your story, and I'm curious to see where that's going to go. I'm going to give you a whole. the time in the world and we'll figure that out. But I'm going to take you to Detroit, Mr. Clinton, where on a Sunday, recently

this past week, there was an employee working at a shoe store, at the Foreman Mills store. Al Bundy? Around 8 Mile and Van Dyke. I don't know if that's near where Eminem grew up. Well, if it's around 8 mile, it has to be, right? So,

James Bosquez was working in the store where unfortunately, a man walked into the shoe store, defecated on the floor, and walked out. Really? James, quote,

he came straight to the store. It didn't even talk to anybody. He went straight to the shoe aisle. Oh, my gosh. And he... Drop trial. And he didn't even try to hide it. How do you hide that?

He just pulled down his pants, pooped, didn't even wipe, and walked straight out to a car and left. He had a getaway vehicle? Did he? The store has a bathroom. James Bosquez told Fox 2 Detroit, but it has been close to the public since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, anyone who asked to use the bathroom is allowed to use it. The suspect, however, did not use before dropping trow. And that's what he is. He's a suspect. Bosquez said, quote, he walked in the door at 1013, and he was out the door at 1017.

So a dump and dash occurred at this shoe store. Four minutes and 10 pounds lighter. In Detroit. Detroit. I mean, I wish I could say I'm surprised that that happened in Detroit. It is Detroit, after all. Apparently, he walked in with another man who went to the men's department, was walking around, and then walked out with him as well. He had to know what he was doing. Hmm.

I just... The guy that used the bathroom was probably in his 50s and the guy he was with was probably in his mid-30s. This would qualify for, I just don't get it, by the way. They were in a burgundy Cadillac, had nice outfits, nice and clean cut. I don't know what was going on. The problem I have with this... guess. Other than the obvious,

you know the biggest problem I have with this? What's the biggest problem? That not only was this the case, it was actually pointed out in the story that he didn't wipe.

Yeah. So you just mentioned that he was wearing nice clothes and got into a nice vehicle. He's sitting on that. Before, maybe it was an emergency situation.

The man is on video and apparently the authorities are still looking for him. What's the charge? apprehend him. Besides public indecency, I would assume. Yeah.

Public defecation's got to be some kind of biohazard. I don't know. There you go. That's my non-flora story from Detroit. Adam Clienton. There's the time. What do you got? I'm going to read aloud. Typically, I'm a ex-guy. Twitter, if you're nasty.

Hold on. The Astros are tweeting, thank you for everything for us. Thank you for what. That seems personal, Ross. I mean, no, I look like. I wish him the I wish him the best. I wish him well. I was saying both. And I said west. I wish him well. I wish him the best. And out east.

You wish him the east? With the Tembay raise, as long as it's not against the Astros. Yep. Seemed like a nice guy. Interviewed him a couple of times. Cool kid, whatever. But thanks for everything. And for coming up here and getting shelled. By the way, the rays are the team that shelled him, right?

Well, then they should know better than anyone. They know what better. We can fix them. We can fix them. That's what every woman says. Well, we know. I can fix him. Don't worry. That's what you say about any woman and it's hot enough in a mugshot too. But anyways, go ahead with your non-floor story, Mr. Clinton.

I'm going to read aloud. Like I said, I usually go to X or Twitter. This one's going to come via truth social. Okay. I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them in the strongest of words to just do it. But no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done.

I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or we're told that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the world, by far in all caps. And that Israel has a lot of it with much more to come. I can keep going. Please don't. Listen, I don't want to talk about World War III on this show right now. I know. I'm trying to bury my head in the sand.

You really are. But regardless of how you feel about him or this conflict, I think we can all agree that the country that screams death to America all the time, getting their military leaders knocked out outside of Florida, by the way, is a good thing. Why do you think they scream death to America? Because they don't like it? I don't know.

Lots of countries don't like us, but they don't do that. Well, I have to think because it's been centuries or decades of intervention over there. But anyways. If you want to take Iran's side, you can. I'm not taking your own side. Well, I'm saying we should just stay over here, mind your business, USOVA. That you and I will always agree on. I'm a big fan of the U.S. foreign policy prior to World War I, where we did just that.

Isolationist. Just stay over here and leave us alone and we'll leave you alone? Yeah, well. And now it's... That's enough of that for this. I like this segment, though. I like it because I live in Florida. We appreciate you.

Yeah. They'll make me get out my old school Donnie two drops. Why do you have that? See, that's what you should have done long before the segment began because, man, you had some good ones. Dorn down the tubers. Because you'd be in jail. That's the best one of all time. Just welcome to the world of the media.

Have you gotten any new ones added since 2.0? I had, no, because I mean, I did, made these when I was a producer and I don't really play drops. Racism. Racism. Do the Chinese checkers child. Oh, wow. Let me find that one. I am the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever seen in your entire life.

Where is that one? It's the best one. Oh, here we go. Here we go. It's like a chess player, Grandmaster, playing against a checker's child. There's the guy in the background. Get in the hole. It's like a chess player, grandmaster, playing against a checker's child.

What's going on there, man? All right. Well, on that note. I am going to hit a break here on The Mad Thomas Show with Ross. It'll all be fine or we'll all die from nuclear fallout. We'll see. Coming up next here on the Mad Thomas show, full American global diplomatic relations breakdown from Adam Clanton on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross.

I don't know Putin. I don't know Putin. It went in and you thought it was gone and it came out. We have some bad umbraes here and we're going to get them out. To me, that's very personal. Wrong. Wrong. DeShone Watson.

Going to be a great NFL player, watch. Where's Deshaun? Hey, fellas, is he that good? Tell me. You better believe it. He's going to be fantastic. And that's something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do. Maybe that's a question you should ask China.

If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be. be dating her. You know, this is very Michael Berry of you. Play an entire song with just some sound bites dropped over it and call it a segment. Ramon.

All right, folks. Ramon, see you later. Donald Trump drop? That's my favorite one. If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her. Do you know that Ramon put together a no, I didn't, two and a half,

I think it's like two and a half long minute clip of just Trump saying China repeatedly. China. China, China, China, China. I think you've told me about this. China. China.

China. All right. Sports Talk 790 here. Hey, are you? This is Adam Clinton's fault. Are you trained? And it's a Friday. Are you trading for Kevin Durant this offseason or not?

Okay, so the proposals I've seen, one of them was Jalen Green, Jabari, Swapping, and 29. Thoughts. I am the more I think about it especially his age the more I'm like just give 37 just give phoenix their picks I know you have to get rid of salaries that's why you bring a third team in yeah I don't I don't know man I don't the thought of giving it I don't mind trading jalen for him I really don't

I made this analogy yesterday tell me how stupid it is 1 to 10 remember when the when bob McNair was insistent that the Texans get ed read because they couldn't beat the patriots in the playoffs so you want an alpha dog because you couldn't win in the playoffs, but you got to get to the playoffs. Jalen Green for 82 games and Jabari Smith Jr., I mean, they have value for you as a 50. He was your leading score on the team and you won 52 games. That has value.

Look, somebody's got to go off for 40 against the Washington Wizards and that somebody has been Jailen Green. And that's okay. That wins you games. I think Wex brought it up yesterday. They were like 13 and 0 in 30-point games from Jalen Green. Here's what Wex also brought up. And I do agree with this. and we're seeing it right now in the NBA finals.

I don't want the Rock is to beat up on a bunch of sisters of the poor all regular season and then get to the postseason and not have a go-to guy. And maybe the go-to guy is on the roster right now. Maybe Alper and Shingoon takes that next step. Maybe Amin Thompson gets a jump shot this offseason. Could you imagine? That would be great. But like if, and I'm not saying that Jalen Green didn't have the defense completely zoned in on him.

But so does every other superstar. Absolutely. He's already got as many single-digit playoff games as Tyrese Halliburton. He's already got, and Anthony Edwards has zero, and I think Booker has zero, and he's got four double-digit games out of seven. But I'm like, if you're going to... I'm a single-digit, excuse me. Yeah.

If you're going to make a deal in which parts of this core are going out the door, shouldn't it be for like a 30-year-old Janus? I would much rather that, but that's probably going to cost you more. Of course. And so that's what they have to figure out. Because there's no guarantee that a 37-year-old who had an Achilles injury four or five years ago is going to be there for you in the playoffs. He was hurt at the end of the season for the Phoenix Suns this year.

And he played still like 60-something games and he played, I think, 75 the year before. But before that, it was a lot of mismatch of missing a lot of games. So who's more likely to be there after an 82-game season in the playoffs, the 23-year-old or the 37-year-old? And see, what I could very easily envision happening, seeing happen, I should say, is Durant lands with the spurs. And then... No, no, no, no, no, let me... Let me be sad.

No, don't need to be sad, because here's what's going to happen when that happens. Two-thirds of their big three will absolutely get hurt. Deerrin Fox is going to be like, I didn't come here for this. And I feel like, because I think they have some of Atlanta's picks, Wex was saying, I don't know. Wex knows all that. He's got it all in the spreadsheet or something. Yeah, we appreciate him for that. But like, you know, what's outgoing to get Kevin Durant to San Antonio

I think weakens whatever promising young talent they do have around Victor Wimbunyama. Yeah. And then when inevitably Kevin Durant and Victor Wimbaughamah get hurt, because they will. I think it doesn't. It's almost, I'm not going to say, I mean, we can talk about it, of course. But I think if there are five teams are more interested as Shamsrani, has said that at some point in the bidding war Rafael Stone is going to keep his paddle down.

He's not going to get into a bidding war because they're content with where they are. They would be looking to improve the team. But if you have to start throwing in multiple picks and multiple pieces, that's where Raphael Stone taps out and he ends up wherever. New York, Minnesota, I can't even remember all San Antonio or whatever. The price on Kevin Durant should be going down, not up. Well, it might be, but we'll see as we'll see as we. get closer and closer to the draft, especially if the Phoenix Suns, are going to be looking to pick something up in terms of draft picks.

That's going to do it for the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. Appreciate Dan Matthews for hanging up. Appreciating the 10-year-old Jay for calling in with some great takes. Appreciate Callum. Appreciate Frankie. I don't know your last name. Sorry. You can come say it real quick if you want a full shout-out.

Appreciate Adam Clanton for hanging out as well. I'll talk to you folks tomorrow on the Astros on Deck show. right now it is Adam Clinton, Adam Wuxter, the A team. Coming up next, don't go anywhere.