The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian Bogusevic on Astros Pitching & Lineup as Opening Day Nears

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Brian Bogusevic on Astros Pitching & Lineup as Opening Day Nears

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Let's spend 10 minutes right now with Brian Bogussevich of SCHN. Joining us here on the program. He's it is every Wednesday on Sports Talk 790. Brian, we're down the home stretch. Tell me how much more your detailed look at the box scores. I know you did a game on TV that are day. Are we to make anything out of the increased offense?

Are we making anything out of the better lineups we're seeing? Tell me what it's like to watch the Astros down the home stretch of the final week of spring training. Yeah, the last week of spring is interesting from an evaluation standpoint. I mean, you've got the guys who are veteran guys and you know they're going to be on the team, you're just looking for them to check whatever boxes they feel like they need to check. If a guy's not feeling great, you get them more at-bats, get them on a back field. if guys want to get a feel for stealing bases or doing something, you say, hey, go ahead, force the issue.

I don't care what the result is on the field. The flip side of that is the other guys, the handful of guys who are in the true competition for spots, you're almost grading it as if it's the regular season. And there is some process to it. You want to see things that are going to be sustainable. But you want to see guys who are looking like they're ready to go and who can help the team from day one. And maybe even if it's, you know, if your feelings on two guys are roughly the same,

whoever is swinging the bat better and can maybe get off to a quick start the first week, that's going to be the guy you go with. So, you know, you kind of have to handle it two different ways depending on individual situations. Boge, I don't want to be hypocritical about, well, are the bats going to be good enough for the start of the season because I'm watching spring training? but man, on the other side of things, starting rotation and everything I've seen by and large the last two weeks

has been very and very impressive. I'm talking about McCullors all the way through to, you know, even Christian Javier looked better than a couple of days back. I mean, so can I separate pitching and hitting for this time of year? Are pitchers supposed to be ahead of the game at this point? Well, certainly the pitchers are always ahead, but at the same time, you've got to look at, why these guys have been successful and what maybe the questions were regarding them coming into the season.

Christian Javier, for example, okay, what's the V-Loh going to look like? Well, it ticked up in his last outing, and he held it over the course of a couple of endings. So that, you know, regardless of what the bottom line is, which across the board pretty much has been good, you know, that's what we wanted to see from Javier. You know, you wanted to see front-line, high-end stuff from Tetsuya Imi. He's gotten better every time out. He's sitting 96-97 now. You know, Mike Burroughs, okay, he's got a really good change of. What's the other stuff looked like?

His fastball's been just blowing guys up. His slider looked really good in his last outing. So, yeah, I'm really bullish on what the pitching as a whole has looked like, you know, because the questions that we had are looking like they've been answered, at least in a spring setting from what the guy's stuff. is looked like, but also just how the rotation and staff kind of takes form. We know Hunter Brown is an ace. You know, were Emi and Burroughs kind of a number three, number four type, or are they number two, number three type? Well, they look like they're top of the rotation guys, and the depth has looked

really good. You know, you mentioned Lance. I haven't seen Lance in, you know, a long, long time look as comfortable and confident in as fastball as he does this spring, which, again, exactly what you would have wanted to see from him coming in. So yeah, there's a lot to like about what the pictures have shown. And what about the bullpen? I mean, with Josh Hader probably on ice, we know it's Brian Abrae, you stepping into the closers role. How are we feeling about the guys behind him? You know, as good as you can, it's funny when whenever a team loses a closer, you always think, okay, well, what have we got in the night? What do we have in the night? Well, I think everybody's comfortable with Brian Abraeu in the knife.

But it also ticks everybody else up into, you know, one inning later and that much more pressure. But, you know, those guys were really good, especially at the end of the year last year. It was the same situation. They were all pretty good. I think it's a little bit left-handed, even though all those guys handle lefties and righties pretty well. I think, you know, a wild card type guy could be Rederi Munoz, who's looked really good, you know, hasn't showed. any of the control issues that he's had in the past and looks like a power right-handed arm. So, you know, for a short spell, I'm good with it because they've covered, you know,

important innings in the past, but there's no question that for this team to work the way it needs to work, and it's kind of set up to be a shortened game with that back of the bullpen, you need Josh Hader back, you know, sooner than later, but definitely equipped to handle it for a short spell. Brian Bogusevic with us here on Sports Talk 790. And let's just keep with, it's been a big storyline as though the infield log jam stuff. But I'm just curious, kind of your insight as far as a former player, the human element of this. Because we just as pundits and media and fans and stuff, just just like, yeah, just put them out there. Just sit one guy.

But can you speak to what it's like not only for the players, but also the manager too, trying to figure out how all these guys who want to be out there every day. And if you as a personally as a player, don't know necessarily going into the ballpark, when you're going to be in the lineup, when you're not. And then having to sit sometimes when, especially if you're ESAC Piraeus, you're one of the best hitters on the team. Yeah, it just throws another element into the dynamic of a clubhouse and a dynamic of an entire season that you would rather not have.

you know, everybody says the right thing and everybody, in theory, is fine with, oh, you get a day off here, you get a day off there. But eventually, guys start to see it as this is not a day off for my, you know, rest purposes. This is, you know, the other four guys getting chosen to be in the lineup over me. And it can affect you. And you're not going to get the best out of people unless, number one, they know exactly what their role is. And number two, they're comfortable with their role. And, You know, these are five guys who are everyday players, have always been everyday players and should be everyday players. And if it gets to a point to where one of them feels like they're not or, you know, potentially multiple feel like they're not, it's just not going to be a good situation because, yes, everybody wants what's best for the team. But at the same time, everybody, you know, to a degree, feels like they are what's best for the team. And it can just, it can just muddle things up and create a dynamic that you don't really want to have to deal with. I brought this up with you last week, but it's worthy of repeating just for the different

audience, Bogie. The leash for the corner outfielders, when you have a guy like Jordan Alvarez, who loves to play left field, I know there's a chance of some wet stuff today in Jupiter, so they're going to pull him out and let him DH, but when you've got a guy who's like, I can do it, I've never been hurt out there, let me go out there more than once a week, or whatever the case would be how much of a of an not necessarily an argument but a good old fashion debate will that be between

the athlete the general manager and the manager it's a real thing that needs to be you know discussed and revisited probably constantly you know a lot will depend on how well the offense as a whole is functioning if you can kind of

afford to give somebody a little bit of a longer leash if eight other guys are coming out of the gates hot. But at the same time, Jordans made it very clear that he's comfortable out there and likes playing out there. You know, it can, I think everybody's of the same mind that if you take the risk of injury out, that having him out there and allowing all the other infielders to get in

with the DH spot makes the team better. So, yeah, I think it's something that they're going to have to revisit, maybe not on a daily basis, but quite often to see, hey, because it's risk and reward. The reason for not having Jordan out there, he's not going to be an everyday guy out there by any means, but having him out there for a significant amount of time is you're trying to, you know, cut down on the injury risk. Well, the reward might start to outweigh that a little bit if you see that you really need to have all these guys in the lineup at the same time.

Last thing, Christian Vasquez, was a late add-on to this roster. I would presume, Brian, and you and I are not general managers for living, but he didn't come just for giggles to start the season and play a handful of games in spring. I mean, is he the leader in the clubhouse of the backup catcher spot, you think? I think so. It's a difficult position to be in that backup role. You know, it's hard to not play every day. It's hard to, you know, and it's probably going to be even less of a time share considering the amount.

of that bats that yiner's going to get back there. So, you know, bringing in a guy who's a veteran who knows how to succeed in that role, but also who knows the organization and has been there before, if they were bringing in a guy totally from the outside, you might say, okay, well, I can see that being a fall back plan and give Cesar Salazar some run out there and see how that goes. But I think bringing Vasquez in, you know, they feel like he can add something from a veteran standpoint. So yeah, I think he was brought in for a reason. You know, that being said, I know that they're comfortable with Cesar Salazar. It's just, you know, who gives you the best option back there.