The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian McTaggart Joins The Show After Astros Take Game 2 vs Rockies

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Brian McTaggart Joins The Show After Astros Take Game 2 vs Rockies 

11 o'clock straight up here on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas as we broadcast live from Pizza and Pints. Carbroke Brewing, the doors opening up. If you want to come by and say hello, you could do that. As I said, Matt Thomas is out. Chris Cordy is with me. And I got to be honest, I was like in Friday holiday mode. So I didn't tease this properly.

But we have, of course, the regular Thursday guest, Brian, taggart of astros.com, MLB.com, our weekly Thursday guest here at 11 o'clock. Brian, appreciate the time as always. Let's go ahead and start with the pitcher of the month. We were talking about this earlier. To me, one of the big marks of an ace is you don't have your best stuff. You've got to ditch a pitch and figure things out. That's what Hunter Brown did yesterday with the curveball in Denver.

He is a bona fide ace. Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt. I mean, he came into that start leading the major. leagues in ERA and opponent's average, which is pretty incredible. But yeah, he admitted after the game, you know, his curve ball wasn't performing like it should have been just because of the altitude. So he sort of had to change things a little bit on the fly through the change up a little bit more.

But, you know, he was solid. I mean, he was a 90-something pitch, I think 91 pitches after the fifth inning. They went back out, got them through six, which is really important because they were without a couple of their key bullpen guys. picked up his first win since June 1st. So it looks like to me he's probably headed to the All-Star game as well. He should be. What's crazy to me, Brian,

it's how this team is able to do this night in and night out, that even when some of their pitchers don't have their best stuff, you know, we saw it from Colton Gordon the other night. It was first start, and I think seven starts where he wasn't able to go full five and gave up four runs, and yet the Astros still find a way to win. It's crazy. I mean, obviously, when you have the two front-end starters

in Fromber and Hunter doing their thing is awesome, but I'm just, I'm wild by what they're getting out of these other guys, and we're going to get to see Brandon Walter go today, but, I mean, that's a guy. His name wasn't even on the radar a few months ago, and it's like he's come out of nowhere and been great for him. It's pretty shocking how they're getting this thing done, right? It is, I mean, and then, you know, they call up Jason Alexander.

Another guy, no one knows anything about. He pitches really well, you know, big props, pitching coaches for getting these guys ready. I mean, every one of these guys, when they pit the no-name guys, you know, I say no name, but not the household name guys, when they pitch, like you said, even when they're not great,

they're keeping the team in the game and, you know, give them five innings and hand the ball over to that bullpen and, you know, it's shut down time. So can they keep this up here over the final three months? You know, who knows, but the good news for the Astros is they should be getting a lot of the, you know, they're

at least some of their starters back healthy. and you know guys like ergetti will be back you know Javier seems like he's trending towards coming back and all of a sudden now you got starting pitching depth so that that'll be a good problem to have if they can get there Brian McTaggart with us here on sports talk 790 and of course Brian the big story overall this week has been the the jordan alvarez saga and it seems to unfortunately keep popping up with the astros and their handling of things and the medical staff and all that type of stuff Of course, we know a lot of the fans are upset and all that, but just your perspective, I mean, it does seem to me like a lot of this is some bad luck, but at what point do you say is this just too much to be a coincidence?

Just what do you think about the way that things have been handled with the Astros and some of these injuries, and then the latest with the Ordon Alvarez? Yeah, well, there's been a lot of pitching injuries around the league. I mean, Astros, I think, are third with the most I-L days. So there's a couple of teams ahead of them in that regard to Dodgers are one of them. to have a bunch of pictures on the aisle. Not ideal, but some other teams are going through the same thing. The Alvarez situation, yeah, has got to be frustrating because that's twice now that they were close and then he had a setback.

You know, I will say it's not like they were pushing him when they didn't think he was ready. By everything that, you know, all the information they had, especially the last time they thought that he was close. And, you know, Dana Brown said Monday they were thinking about flying him to L.A. this weekend. Then he came in, you know, Tuesday after taking some swings and the hand was sore again. I mean, I think we'll probably get an update on Alvarez today in Denver. I mean, I'm in the press box right now at Coorsfield, so we'll be in the clubhouse here in a few minutes. So hopefully within the next hour may be the jealous spot or Dana Browdery's here. Can give us an update to see what's next for him.

But it certainly appears like the Astros might be without Alvarez for a little while. But, hey, they've been without him for two months, and they just can't. keep on trucking. So the bigger thing, I think, in the short term is getting Pena back and putting him back at the top of the lineup because they really miss him as well. It's crazy, too, Brian, with the injury to Jeremy Pena. I mean, we keep looking and saying, how many more injuries can they overcome? And, you know, Jake Myers gets hit on the side last night.

I think we all kind of breathe a little bit, you know, paused a little bit going, oh, my God, not another one. but luckily he stayed in the game. But, I mean, if you're Dana Brown, I mean, he's been preaching for the last couple weeks. You know, we're looking at a left-handed bat, left-handed bat, left-handed bat. I just almost wonder the approach of Yoron's going to be out of significant amount of time, which it just feels that way. I mean, does that maybe escalate them a little bit more here at the deadline to say,

you know what? We have to get a bat regardless. Yeah, Dana, we asked Dana about that the other day, and he said the Gordaun injury really doesn't change. their thoughts at the trade deadline. He's been on record saying they need a left-handed bat. The urgency is there, and it still is. So I think it's pretty safe to say they're going to get some kind of bat

to add to this lineup, a left-handed bat. They're not going to replace Jordan Alvarez for sure. But they definitely, I think they're 19th in runs per game, so they definitely could use just another, you know, another capable bat in there, especially one that can bat from the left side because even though they've called up some guys here, they can hit left-handed in the last couple of weeks. Guys like Hubble, they're still very much right-handed when it comes to the core guys in the lineup.

So they will add a left-handed bat up to the deadline, I'm pretty sure. What do you feel about the pitching side? I think it's kind of a tough situation because you've got all these guys who are coming back or look like they're on track to come back, but then it's kind of an unknown thing as far as setbacks or new injuries popping up and the deadline now being four weeks away from today. Yeah, I think if they don't have any more injuries to their pitchers and they feel confident, they're going to get Arred Getty back. And I think he would be the first one to come back. I mean, he's still only throwing bullpins, but, you know, he's completely healthy.

He's just building up right now like he's at spring training. So he will be back. I think Javier's pretty far down the road as well. I mean, I have to take a little bit of that with a little bit of caution because some of these guys have suffered setbacks. but if they can get Araggeti and another one of these other rehabbing pitchers back at the end of July, early August, really no need to go get a starting pitcher. I mean, a starting pitcher is going to cost you, you know, what, three prospects last year with the Cucci. So the price on those is pretty high, and they have six-home on the IELs, and four of them are deep in rehabs in Florida.

So I don't think the urgency is there for starting pitching. I think offense is definitely where they need to bolster the lineup. Well, and I almost wonder too, though, Brian. if you're getting a bat or you're getting an arm, I almost think you want to go rental, as opposed to a guy who would have multiple years of team control, because all these injured guys are going to be back next year, presumably. You know, the Tommy John guys won't be back at the start of the season.

But, like, just when you get back fully healthy, I mean, you know, in a perfect world, you don't have any open positions, position-wise, and all that kind of stuff. So unless it's like a pure upgrade where it's a guy, all right, we've got three more years of control, whatever, I almost think it would be easier to go rental and easier to part with maybe a middle-tier prospect for a guy who's a rental.

Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. I mean, I don't think they're going to get anybody. I don't think they're going to trade for a bat who they're going to plug into the lineup for the next three or four years. It's going to be a guy who can, you know, hit six or seventh or, you know, if someone's getting a day off, can hit second,

you know, just give you another bat from the left side. It's going to have to be somebody with some positional versatility just with the way this roster set up. And like you said, some guys are coming back off injury, maybe someone that can play second and outfield or maybe first in outfield. But, yeah, I mean, I certainly agree with you. I think it'll be someone, you know, like a Trey Mancini who's only here for a couple of months. And, you know, you hope to catch lightning in a bottle.

Brian McTaggart, Astros.com, MLB.com, with us here on Sports Talk 790. Jose Al Tuve passing Jeff Bagwell last night on the Astros' all-time hit list. You've obviously been there covering his career. I mean, just we just, you love on Jose Al-Tuve what it's been like. And I think to me personally, the hand-eye coordination impresses me the most about him. What about you and what it's been like following him and just an all-time Astros great? Yeah, he's got the best back-to-ball skills that I've seen just daily. close up. I mean, you know, I didn't get a chance

to see in person anyway, Wade Boggs or Tony Gwynn, but just seeing Altuvei every day, his bat-to-ball skills are just super elite. And the thing that stands up for me also is just how clutch it is. I mean, look at his postseason numbers. They speak for themselves, but even last night,

like the hit to pass Bagwell, first pitch, two-run single up the middle. I mean, that, you know, that hit won the game. I mean, that's a huge hit in the grand scheme of things. And that's just what he does. and I know that his numbers have declined a little bit, but I think the question now becomes,

can he get to 3,000 hits? I mean, I think he has a really good shot. I was able to talk to Bagwell during the game yesterday, and I thought it was funny after the game, Altube said, Bagwell texting him all the time about his swing, and if he takes him a bad swing, Bagwell texts him and says, what the heck was that? So there's not very many people that can criticize Jose Al-Tube,

but Baguel is one of them. and, you know, he's now passed him on the hits list. So he's got some work to do to get to Bigio, but I would not doubt that he's going to get to 3,000 and pass Bidio here in the next four or five years. Talking to Brian McTaggart and Brian, don't want to overlook today's game. Obviously, Astros, just go for a sweep against the Rockies today this afternoon.

You'll hear that right here on 790. But looking a little bit ahead to this weekend, going out to Dodgers Stadium, July 4th weekend. It's going to be a heck of a series. I'm sure you'll have a lot of celebrities out there and that sort of thing. But a big star for Lance McCullors coming this Friday, as he wants to bounce back from that outing against the Cubs.

But what's crazy, Brian, the last two times Lance McCullors has pitched at, out there at Dodger Stadium. The last time was August 3rd, 2021 in a regular season game where he went six and two-thirds shutout innings. Astros won that game 3-0, and then I believe the time before that was game 7 of the World Series in 2017. So it's a place McCullors has had success. but you just look at that daunting Dodger lineup and say, God, it's going to be a tough test. Yeah, very tough test.

And, you know, Lance is coming off a start that wasn't great, you know, his first start off the aisle. But, you know, Lance is a competitor, and I guarantee you he's probably going to be frothed him at the mouth for this chance to go out there and pitch at Dodger Stadium. Yeah, he did start game seven in 2017. Didn't pitch deep in that game. Also had an RBI in that game if people don't remember. It was kind of a crazy game. but yeah, I mean, if they can go to Dodgers Stadium and win that series, then I mean, I think they've got a chance maybe to get the number one seed in the American League.

I mean, even if they go to Dodgers Stadium and don't win the series, not the end of the world. The Dodgers are really good. They're really good at home. Astros are short-handed. It's going to be a really tough series for sure. But they do have Frambervaldez going in one of those games, and they've won, what, 10 consecutive starts he's pitched. So if they can win his start and scratch out another win somewhere and come home, after a good road trip in good shape here a week out from the All-Star break.

Brian McTaggart, Astros.com with us here on Sports Talk 790. We appreciate the time as always. Brian, let the folks know what you got up at the website. Yeah, I got some cool stuff up there. Like I said, taught to Bagwell last night. I have a story on Bagwell and Al-Tube sort of talking about each other. As Al-Tube passes him on the hits list today, a Reddit AMA yesterday. Ask me anything and had to transcribe of that on the website as well, so check that out.

Okay. What was the craziest question you got? Or answered? The craziest question you answered. How about both? The craziest question you got and the craziest one you answered? Somebody asked me about how I got started in journalism. I didn't answer it because I don't think anybody cares.

And other than that, they were all pretty straightforward. Someone asked my favorite a player to cover of all time, and I said Lance Berkman, of course. Oh, okay. All right, well, thank you, Brian. We'll check that out at astros.com. Appreciate the time. And get the Astros beat email sent right to your email. Newsletter, baby.

Yeah, it's great. Newsletter came out yesterday. I can't remember. But another one is coming out Saturday. I did an interview with Bryce Matthews talking about his progress and the futures game coming up. So that'll be in your inbox Saturday. Wow. You're officially the hardest working beat reporter on the Astros beat.

All right. I'll take it. Out of the three, I'm one of three. Thanks, Brian. We'll talk you down. That's debatable, but thank you. Appreciate it. Brian McTaggart, great stuff with him as always.