The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian Bogusevic Talks About The Trade Rumors Within The Astros

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

Brian Bogusevic Talks About The Trade Rumors Within The Astros

All right, 11.03, Sports Talk 790. It is Matt Ross with you. We've got Astros baseball a day game. Of course, we want you to listen to radio, but if you happen to be watching it on television later today at some point, you're going to see at least at 1130 or at 1230, the Brian Bogus Hevick led pregame show along with Kevin Eschenfelter. Bogies at the ballpark right now.

What a huge weight off of the shoulders of the Astros. And you would never say that after losing four straight games to Oakland and to the A's and to the nationals, but it certainly happened last night, Boge. No, absolutely. It felt like it was getting to the point to where they needed one, not just for the standings, but just to kind of let everybody breathe a little bit. You know, that stuff starts piling up, especially this time of year when the season's kind of dragging to begin with. And then you have Texas making a move and Seattle playing well. It was a much needed one win last night.

All right. So what is this time of year like in the clubhouse before we? we get to the actual particular players. You have been in the major league clubhouses for part of your life, and you've been around on July 31st or so. What is it like for everyone, whether their names are being mentioned or not? It's anxious. It's exciting. You know, there's always, you know, the opportunity for the unknown. And, you know, it's much more exciting to be in a clubhouse for a team where you're thinking they're going to add. And we're, all right, we're making the moves to go for it. And, versus being in a clubhouse where you're kind of looking around and saying, am I going to be gone? Are you going to be gone?

Who's going to be here tomorrow? But yeah, it's just a strange time. You know, just imagine being in your office on any given day knowing that, you know, there are going to be some guys in and out here in the next day or two. It just makes a little bit of angst, but at the same time, it's an exciting time because, you know, once you get past this, it's really like, okay, here's who we are and this is the home stretch now. Do you feel like, and not that you can speak on every,

trade rumor that's out there, Brian, but do you feel like this is agent driven because the agent finds out through reporters that their names are being banned about? Because I would assume that most general managers, unless they're just trying to float a name out there, wouldn't be calling their favorite Major League Baseball Network reporter and saying, hey, I want to mention this guy as a trade possibility. No, I think everything that gets out gets out for a reason and it's agents trying to steer teams into or steer their players into what they think to be better situations. Or it could be teams trying to, you know, throw some smoke out there and throw people off their scent of who's available and who's not. But yeah, a lot of the stuff that gets out there is out there for a reason.

And it's not usually because anybody's trying to tip their hand as to what they're doing. So if deals don't get made, tell me what that clubhouse is like. For instance, let's talk about just throw Dylan Cs' name out there. He's been associated with a variety of teams, including the Astros. What if Dylan C. stays to San Diego Padre? What's his mindset supposed to be if he still is a Padre, say, in two days from now? You know, I don't know that it really affects guys all that much.

You know, maybe young players who are going through it for the first time or hearing about it and seeing it for the first time, it might shake them a little bit. But a veteran, I mean, Dylan Cs, it feels like his name has been in trade talks ever since he got to major league. So a guy in that type of situation, you kind of take it for what it is, you know, kind of look at it as teams think I'm valuable, you know, teams are interested that should be a good thing for me personally. And if it happens great, and if it doesn't, you just go about your business. It just kind of comes along with the territory. At some point, eventually, you just kind of get numb to it all. Last thing I'll say about this before we get to the particulars.

You know, I've asked many people when I'm covering NBA games and traveling like, hey, when do you hear about guys being traded? And the majority of them typically say, if I have my contract and I'm getting paid, that has to come with the territory of, you know what? I may have to move at some point in my career. As long as the check moves with me, I'm going to live with it. Okay. Yeah, there are very few guys in any sport who get into the situation

where they're pretty comfortable or confident thinking that they're going to be with one franchise for their entire career. I mean, those guys are very rare because of their abilities and then also just their stature within those organizations. Everybody else, the idea of moving from team to team, it's not ideal during the season. You know, it's kind of a headache from a personal standpoint. But in terms of from a professional standpoint, everybody's under the assumption that they're probably going to be changing teams one way or another at some point, if not multiple times during their career. So the idea of it isn't all that, you know, disruptive, but just, on your day-to-day life when it does actually happen.

It's kind of a pain. All right. Bogies with this Brian Bogus, Fics, Space City Network with us here on the Sports Talks 70. So let's get to the two players that are being talked about more than anybody else. And we'll start with Dylan C's. Walk me through it if you can. A, why the Padres would make a move like that.

They're four back of the Dodgers in the West. They are in the wild card team. And then on the Astro side, are we supposed to context clue that maybe all these guys, guys that are at rehab and working on getting back from the AAA that maybe the Astros in the back of the mind are thinking maybe only one or two of them pan out that I need as many reinforcements as possible in my starting rotation? Yeah. So I'm from the Padre standpoint. Why, you know, if you need to make moves one way or the other, if you've got to shore up

one place of your team or your organization has got to come from somewhere else. So, you know, usually you think of, you know, trading minor league prospects for major league talent, but sometimes it's just trading from a place of strength or a place of surplus and trying to add somewhere else. So I don't know that it's necessarily red flagging somebody because a team is willing to move off of them. It's just kind of what they need or what they want at any given time. I think from an Astro's standpoint, look, it's great that there are guys who are coming back. It's great that there are guys who are really close to being healthy and going to be able to contribute at the major league level. but the fact of the matter is when a guy's coming off a major surgery and a long layoff,

even when they get back, you don't know exactly what you're going to get from a talent standpoint. You don't know if they're going to be all the way to 100%. Just because you're activated, you might not be all the way back to where you were. You're certainly not going to be able to carry the same workload as a guy who never went through that or isn't coming off of an injury. And there's probably going to be at the very least some inconsistency or maybe some time when your innings have to be managed. So, you know, I think, yes, getting a Christian Javier or Luis Garcia back at some point, it's going to be additive. You add those guys into the mix. It's certainly helpful, but it's just hard to really pin down what exactly you can count on a guy for who's coming off of a major

surgery. So you brought up those two guys and didn't bring up Spencer Erigetti because it's a different situation. I think Erichetti's not going to have to worry about a governor on him because it wasn't an army issue that got him into trouble. So let me ask you this. If you were to put Javier and let's say even J.P. France got in the mix. You're adding him, you're adding Luis Garcia. You're adding three guys that are going to be on a pitch limit the rest of this year. It'd be ridiculous to think they're going to be throwing 90, 95 mile pitches per game. Does that not then tack your bullpen or does that make you livery of going to a six-man because you're going to already be one guy short in the bullpen with maybe three or four guys

in your rotation that aren't going to able to get you deep in the games? No, you're certainly going to have to be wary of that. You know, if you're going to have guys who are going to be on a pitch count, first of all, for their total. Also, you're talking about guys who are going to be on pitch count in terms of innings. If you see one of those guys coming off of a major surgery, go out there and throw 30 plus pitches in an inning, that's probably going to be it for them, regardless of what their total was for the game.

So you're talking about always having the potential for a short start. If you're already one guy short in the pen because you're in a six-man, rotation. It makes it really difficult. You certainly don't want to get into a situation where you're throwing leverage relievers and non-leverage situations. That's taking away from a strength of the team. So it's part of the calculus. And part of that, you know, is who are the other guys who are in the rotation? Can they be counted on to go deep into games and kind of balance that out? Is Framber going to be able to continue to do what he's been doing? Is Hunter Brown, you know, going to be able to get back to being as efficient as he was and being six, seven innings instead

of five or six innings. And you have to weigh all of those things because, you know, anytime you add somebody into the roster, anytime you make a change to the roster, the way the whole team functions is just a little bit differently, and it's got to be accounted for. A couple more minutes of Brian Bogus Civic with us here on 790. All right, so let's get to Carlos Cray. That's the second name that's being brought up. Now, obviously, a lot of that is because the thought to me is that ESEC Pertes is not going to play anymore this year, and you can insert Carlos Cray at third base right away. So when you first heard the name, what were your initial thoughts?

And then just like we do here on the radio, we try to deduce things. So what does an early Brian Bocasific deduction say about why there is apparent interest between the Astros and trying to acquire their former shortstop? Well, I think why there would be initial interest is quite obvious, right? It would fill an immediate need. It could fill an immediate need.

It's a guy who you certainly know what you're getting in terms of the clubhouse and on the field. And just anytime a player of that caliber starts getting mentioned as being available, and certainly when it's a guy who means as much as he has to this organization, you're going to look into it and just see what it is. Now, the surface level interest is just the beginning. It's what is it going to take to bring a guy in like that? Is it going to what's the prospect cost?

What's the money cost? All of those conversations are more important than just him being available. But also with a guy in that situation, you have to think about, you know, it's not just for this year. Like, yes, he slots in to Esoc Paredes, the spot that he's vacated with injury. But what does it look like in years coming? What happens when you have a healthy Jeremy Paineon, when you have a healthy Esoc Paredes, where do all these pieces fit next year and the year after?

Because it's not just a one-year deal for a guy like Carlos Correa. So when you're talking about acquiring somebody at the deadline who's not just a rental and hitting free agency, you've got to think about what does this look like for us. moving forward in terms of payroll, in terms of playing time, in terms of how the infield works. So why is there surface level interest, I think, is pretty obvious. It gets much more complicated after that, though. Well, that's what we were trying to do. I'm trying to size up 2006, Brian, because obviously we're down to two months left in this season and change. If I'm thinking about 26, I'm thinking that one of the names you just brought up will not be a part

of this team, that there will be something that will be decided because unless you think you can move Jeremy Payne to second base, I don't think I want Isak Parati's playing second base. I think, Jeremy, I want to keep him where I am at shortstop if I want to do that. I don't think Carl, I think to preserve Carlos Creight, playing him at third base would help him out, you know, in terms of longevity. So walk me through what 2026 would be if this deal was made. And do you agree with me that maybe one of the guys we brought up wouldn't be here? it's certainly possible i mean if you added a guy like that into the mix you know you obviously see some

redundancy in the in the positions but it could also be a thing of saying hey if we're if we can get better now maybe we do that move and then figure out how next year looks in the off season you also have the ability to take one of those guys and you know i mean you would have two guys in korea and pena who would be certainly well overqualified to play second base but that's always the I don't know how that changes your plans moving forward with a guy like Bryce Matthews. But these are things that have to be taken into account. And that's why the trade deadline is always so interesting because we get so hyper-focused on we've got to make a move for this year. We've got to make this team better now for this playoff run.

A lot of these moves will affect you down the road. So I don't know. It's a move that certainly helps in the short term. But theoretically, I don't know how it works long term. Yeah. That's good stuff. And we'll talk more about that. if indeed it does happen. Bogie, look forward to seeing you on TV.

Thank you for the visit. We'll talk again next week. All right. Thanks, guys.