The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian McTaggart Joins After Astros Take Down Red Sox’s & Josh Hader Needing a 2nd Opinion

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Brian McTaggart Joins After Astros Take Down Red Sox’s & Josh Hader Needing a 2nd Opinion 

And right now, after a heavy first hour of Astros discussion, pleased to be joined by someone who actually knows what they're talking about with the Astros. Brian McTaggart, astros.com, MLB.com as well. Brian, a nice win by the Astros yesterday, but let's get down to what is the biggest topic going on with the Astros. Josh Hater, we got the news yesterday that he's seeking a second opinion. We generally understand that that means the first opinion probably wasn't good. We got a preview of Brian Abrayu and Benet Souza taking over the leverage spots last night. Just in your eyes, how big of a blow is this for the Astros and the body language or just what you can kind of read about how severe it could be for Josh Hater? Yeah, well, the fact that a couple of days ago, Joe Espada called it a punch in the gut.

And then yesterday, you know, obviously they're waiting on a second opinion. and, you know, he says he wants to give Josh space to see the doctors. So, yeah, you're right. I mean, second opinion is never good. Rarely does it seem like do they come back and say, hey, second opinion, he'll be good to go here, you know, when the 15 days are up. Joe even said it's going to be longer than the 15 days,

which will take him, you know, probably into September because, you know, you're going to have to start building up a little bit, you know, throw a couple bullpins and whatnot. So it doesn't sound very good. I mean, we'll wait for the prognosis tomorrow, but I felt that they were probably already a reliever short. you know, after the trade deadline, I know they looked at trying to get a reliever. It just felt they could have used one more and now losing Hater.

Yeah, I mean, a bray you can close, Sousa can close, but, you know, now you're a little bit more limited in how you get the ball to the ninth inning. The perfect formula would be what happened last night. Your start ago, six and two, third, seven, and then you only have six, seven outs to cover. But we all know that's not going to happen every night. So they're in a tough spot. And, you know, we'll see what the news is. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow about Hater. Where do you think they go to kind of shore this up?

You do have a lot of arms coming back. Do you think guys like Luis Garcia, who's been in the bullpen before, would be an option? Do you think they would try to pick somebody off the scrap heap? We keep getting inundated with Ryan Presley questions here. Yeah, I've asked around about Presley, and I get the idea they're not completely interested in that. I mean, I think it would have happened already, you know, if it was going to work out. He and Dana Brown didn't exactly leave on the best of terms, so I don't know. if that, you know, if that, you know, hangs over their head as well.

But I think if Prussey was going to be an option, he'd be here already. But, you know, they did get DeLosanto sort of, you know, off the scrap heap, like you said, and his, you know, his first adding was okay. So I don't know, they're just going to have to piece this together the best you can. Yeah, they get some starters back. They can move some guys to the bullpen. I think Walter stuff will play well in the bullpen out of the left side, you know, deceptive three-quarter arm slot left side.

They, you know, Joe Espottor pretty much admitted that when A.J. Blueball, went back down that he could be an option for a bullpen starter role, sort of a hybrid, to come back up. So I think we'll see two or three guys who can start, who can relieve, and they're just going to have to try to patch it together the best they can. They're just, you know, Brian King, you know, struggle a little bit, giving up the long ball, so if they can get him back in form, like he pitched the first, you know, half of the season, that that would help as well.

But it's just, every day it's just going to be a chess match for Joe Espada, playing the matchups and maybe throwing a guy two innings and then try to get that ball to the eighth and ninth inning. It is interesting, Brian, as this team starts to get healthy, they bring, you know, Christian Javier and Spencer Arredetti are back on this team and they're trying to work into establishing themselves back into the rotation and both last outing for both were better. And then you got Jason Alexander, who's had a couple of good starts again for this team. Brandon Walter working his way back.

We'll see if he gets closer to a rehab start. We know Luis Garcia had another good outing last night for AAA as he rehabs, and we know McCullors is getting closer. I bring all this up to say if the math, maths here, Brian, and these guys all start to get healthy and they truly are with the void of Josh Hader. Does Dana Brown have a conversation with somebody to say, hey, I need, there's not enough rotation spots here. Do one of you guys take on a bullpen mentality here? Is that maybe some of those conversations going on behind the scenes?

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think they'll have to. I mean, if they, and that's a great problem for them to have if they can get all those guys back. If they get Garcia back in McCullors in France and Walter and you know, you have seven, eight starters now, yeah, they're going to have to put a couple of those guys in the pen. I think they would all be willing to do it pretty much. Like I said, they've already sort of had that discussion with Bluebaugh, and they might have had it with a couple others so far. You know, we've seen this team in the past put starters in the pen late in the season and playoffs. And, you know, a lot of teams have done that as well. When you get to the playoffs, you're going to use pretty much three starters, four at the most. So you're going to have some extra arms in the bullpen. So, man, they just got to do what they can to try to get to the playoffs. And I think they'll be in a lot better shape when they get there. But certainly, I think they have to win the games that Hunter Brown or Fromber start. It just feels like they need to win every one of those games. And then hope that Javier and Ergetti continued to get better.

I mean, Javier was better than I thought he was going to be. his Velo was there. And I think he'll be fine. Eric Getty's last start was better than his first. So those are all positive things if you're the Astros. Brian McTaggart with us here on Sports Talk 790, a name we haven't mentioned much. Lance McCuller's Jr. I just feel like we talk about him and I feel like I can see it playing out in so many different ways with him.

What is your kind of gut feeling on him coming back and how he fits into the puzzle? Boy, that is a really good question, Ross. I don't know. I mean, this whole thing is really weird, being out a couple of weeks with a blister now. And, you know, back on the mound Friday night in Sugarland making a rehab start. Yeah. I mean, if he goes out there and you can get people out, do you give him another shot in the rotation? Have they had that discussion with Lance of, you know, maybe putting him in the bullpen?

That being said, I mean, you know, he's, you know, maxing out at 92, 92.5 miles an hour at this point. So they're going to have to, you know, make a tough decision. and I'm not sure where he fits right now. I know he wants the ball and he wants to compete, but especially to get some of these other guys back. And, you know, but he's got a shot. If he goes out there and pitch as well and stays healthy, I think he'll get another shot in the big leagues,

but he's going to have to come up here and get people out because they've got a quarter of the season left, and they're in a dog fight here with a really good Mariners team. So they're just going to have to put their best foot forward and put their best arms out there. Brian, let's talk a little bit about the offense. It, man, it feels like every time I see something disparaging about either Janair Diaz or Christian Walker, they make me look stupid that night and go off.

And last night it was Yonar Diaz with two hits and the big home run. But on a night where you had just four hits, I mean, the two home runs were as big as you can get. But I just, I'm looking for more consistency. And I hate to harp on this guy. But Hasey Sanchez, you know, they had some hits, a bunch of doubles when he first got up here with the Astros. but we're working on going on almost a week without a hit for him. Do you continue to bat him to hold top of that lineup if he continues to not hit here? Oh, no, I don't think Joe will either.

I think he's in over 12, yeah, in the last, you know, six, seven games or so. But, yeah, I mean, I think the lineup is long enough now. You have enough options to where if a guy's strike, you can move him down. We've seen Cam Smith had everywhere in this lineup from first to, you know, ninth and So, you know, now with Urius, you know, Chaz is swinging a little bit better against left-handers. So you have some more options from the left side and with Correa as well that, you know, you can move things around. I mean, he gives Correa the day off yesterday. And, you know, you feel comfortable if, you know, you got solid options to put out there at third base.

So Joe, it's not going to be the same lineup every day. And if a guy's struggling, he's already shown he's not afraid to move him down, sit him out of the lineup. And that's going to be easier to do over the last quarter of the season. But, yeah, you traded Jesus Sanchez for a reason. You wanted an impact left-handed bat. He was that the first week. He hasn't been so much in the last week. But, you know, we've seen Yonder be really streaky this year.

Walker got going, but still he's a little bit streaky. Even Jose Al-Tube has been streaky. So it's going to happen. And, you know, they're going to keep running Sanchez out there and see if he can make an impact. Continuing with Brian McTaggart and keeping on the injury front. You're on Alvarez. I feel like we've asked you about him basically since May at this point. He's going to take live BP this weekend, they said.

That sounds good. I'm going to ask you, how crazy would you call me 1 to 10 if I said, I think that he's maybe managing pain on something that he needs an offseason procedure for? Yeah, I wouldn't doubt it. I mean, we've been told numerous times he's pain free. I mean, the hand, the, The bone, I mean, I think Dana Brown said that today. He's pain free.

The fracture has been healed for a couple of months now. So, you know, I'm not sure what the issue is. It's hard to say if he's going to need surgery or not because I really don't know what's wrong with him other than hand inflammation. What's causing the hand inflammation? We don't know. But, you know, he's dealt with hand problems for so long now that you would think that if there is a solution where they can do surgery, then they probably should explore it and do it just because, This seems to have been lingering in his career now.

Ever since he came up, really, he's had these hand inflammation problems. But who knows? I mean, the fact he's taking live BP is a really good sign. That's a big increase in velocity, you know, against pitchers down in West Palm Beach. And the next step would be a rehab. So maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Who knows? Yeah.

So before we get you out, Brian, just ask you in general, this hater thing going down, obviously they can kind of manage it. But in your eyes, how much does this affect your feeling of the Astros to not just win the American League West, but to win American League pennant? I think it's a big blow to both. You lose one of the best closers in the league. Yeah, I mean, that's really going to hamper your bullpen.

Like you said, Abraeu can close. That's fine. But now how are you going to get the ball to Abraeu and Assusa and King and all that? You're just taking a huge piece of your arsenal out. And we've seen him pitch an inning in a third. We've seen him pitch two innings. he did Friday night. You don't have that guy now. And so, yeah, I mean, I think it's going to make it that much more difficult to fight off the Mariners who are playing really, really good baseball

since the trade deadline. And when we get to the playoffs, you know, the bullpen use is magnified and being able to have a guy to shut down and shorten games and get those last three outs is huge. And so if he is out, that's just, that's a big weapon that Joe Spada won't have, but they'll have to find ways to overcome it.