The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian McTaggart Joins The Show On The Opening Day at Daikin Park

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

Brian Mctaggart Joins The Show On The Opening Day at Daikin Park 

It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross, but it's without Matt Thomas. He's traveling with the Rockets. He's, you know, opening day not big enough for him to come out here. That's okay. But it is with, it takes two guys to replace them. Actually, three at this point. Adam Wexler is here. Adam Clanton is here.

And now our weekly guest on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Brian McTaggart is here as well. How many opening days is this for you, Mr. McTaggart? Too many. Too many. Too many to count. Okay. 20 plus, I don't know.

You lost count at some point. That's okay. It's certainly a unique one of all the ones you covered, I imagine. We are coming into a new era for the Astros. Kyle Tucker gone, Alex Bregman gone, other guys to replace him. A number of storylines to get to as we go along here. But first and foremost, what we've been kind of talking about, it's this Astros championship window.

How are we feeling on opening a day about how open that window is? Yeah, I think it's still open. I mean, they're not the juggernaut they were a few years ago, certainly, or in 22 or even 19, but this is still a good team, I think, that could win a pretty average division. That being said, they probably have more flaws this year than they've had in quite a while. So they pretty much revamped half their roster. 13 of the guys on the opening day roster this year were not on the roster last year. So that's a lot of roster turnover, and you lose some big-time key players from the last few years, too.

So a lot of unknowns about this team, but they still have a pretty good lineup. They still have a solid top of the rotation, still got two back-end bullpen guys you feel good about. If you're the Astros. And you can build on that. I mean, you can make trades in the season and whatnot, but it's going to be interesting for sure. You got to see K.M. Smith go to work every day, literally every day in West Palm Beach, Florida. Yes, every day. Your countdown to when you get to come back is always a pleasant follow there on the social medias.

But seeing some of that, we see the performances. We see the numbers, the box score. And we've seen a little bit more of them here in the two days they've played ball games at Diken Park. going into what you saw from him the person, the preparer, the ball player, what would you glean from any of that as you try to guess what he'll be like as a major leaguer starting today? Yeah, the moment, the first day I can't, the moment he walked in the clubhouse, you were like, oh my gosh, is that him? He just looks apart.

He was only 21 years old then. He's had a birthday since then. And then to go out on the field, it is spring training, but still a lot of pressure on him. He's from there, so he had a lot of family in the stands watching him. and to draw a couple of walks off the bat, hit a couple of homers, and even some of the outs. There were a couple of times he was down, 02 in a count, worked it back to 3-2, ended up making an out or whatever.

It looked like he was not rattled by any of this. It looked like he was ready. It's going to be a big jump. I mean, he's played, I think, five games above Class A ball. That's unbelievable that he's going to be in the starting lineup on opening day against the New York Mets. I'm sure he couldn't envision that. But there's going to be bumps along the way,

but I think he'll do pretty well. He just looks like he is ready for this. He's built different. Nothing seems to phase him. Got a great approach at the plate. And I think that's the reason that he's here. Speaking of guys who have done a lot of opening days in this stadium, Jose Altuve is going to play left field today, just a few feet from where we're sitting.

You've gone to all the spring games. All the conversations have been had. We've seen the good and the bad as far as fielding. How does Brian McTaggart, who has covered the Astros as long as anybody, and Jose Altova certainly as long as anybody feel about this. Can we still call it the experiment? I know it's not an experiment because it's what they're saying they're going to do, but how do you feel about this going into the first game?

Yeah, the experiment's over. They're going with it. It's weird. I'm not going to lie. It's weird to see him run out there. It's weird to see him run after balls. It's going to take some getting used to. And there were some growing pains in spring training,

but that's what spring training is for. He had those back-to-back games where there was a runner at third base, less than two outs, a chance for him to make a throw at the play. and he dropped the ball on the exchange. Glove is bigger. He was trying to catch it, you know, too low, make the exchange too low like an infielder. Those are things you learn in spring training.

I think the biggest challenge for him is going to be what happens at the wall, playing the carams off the wall, also knowing when to go to the wall, when to come back and let the ball come to you. And I think those are things the first few weeks played here at Minamate Park. He's going to have to figure out.

But I'm not going to doubt Jose Al-Tube. People have doubted him his whole life and look what he's done. So it's probably not going to be. to be seamless out there, but I think by the end of the season, you'll say he's okay out there, and as long as he's hitting, you'll be good with it. Brian McTaggart with us here on Sports Talk 790, and

let's go to the spot that he vacated. If I say at the end of the year, the player with the most starts at second base will be wow, that's a good one. Boy, that's tough. I would probably lean Dubon. I mean, I know that his strength is being utility guy in playing all over, and he's

still going to do some of that, but He's still your best defensive second baseman. He's better than Brendan Rogers. I mean, Brandon Rogers is a couple of years removed from a gold glove, but defensively the metrics aren't what they were in 2022. It's not 2022 anymore. He's still pretty good out there, but I think Dubon is their best defensive second basement,

and you're going to want your best defensive second basement out there more than not. Do you think there's a solid reason why considering moving Isok Paredes to second base was really never done at all while he's been here? For Cam Smith to play third? For Cam Smith to play third? For all sorts of options with... Even the Bregman situation plays into it.

There's never any consideration of moving him to second base then either. Yeah, there never was. I don't have an answer for you. I mean, from day one, he's been at third base. And at some point, we asked if he could play second. I think we were told yes. But for whatever reason, they just wanted him at third base. Maybe they just don't like his... I mean, he's a bigger guy.

He does move pretty well for a bigger guy. he's got pretty good hands. He's not Alex Bregman at third base, but second base is a little bit bigger of a challenge, I think. You've got to have a little more range, so maybe that went into it. Is this the least we've ever talked about Yordon Alvarez before a season? And in that vein, is that why he's going to sneak attack us all and finally hit 40 home runs? Exactly, yeah, no doubt.

In spring training, he's like, I want more. I was like, oh, that's bad news for everybody. Yeah, it's a shock that he's never hit 40 home runs. I mean, he had the oblique injury a couple of years ago that cost him like six weeks, but he was pretty healthy last year for most of the season. But now that he's D.H. in full time, you know, I think he's got a chance to break Bagwell's home run record, which is 47 home runs. If anyone's going to do it, it's going to be him.

So, yeah, I mean, I think you're right. He's sort of flown under the radar. For a top 10 major league player, he sort of went under the radar in this camp. And, you know, I think when we start today, he's going to start reminding people who he is. You mentioned Bagwell's 47 and attempting to join the 40 Homer Club with the Astros for Yordon. Do you have the names of the other three in Astros history that have hit 40 plus? Are you quizzing me? I had already looked this up myself.

Planning on talking about this, so it's sitting right here on a team. That's two of the three. Who's the other? Oh, there's another one. Birkman, Hidal. Oh, Bregman. Bingo. This guy knows his stuff.

That's why he's all with us, Brian McAagher. Yeah, he's pretty good. Let's go to the pitching side. Starting pitching 1 through 5, in theory. It sounds pretty good, but as you know, it doesn't always go to plan when it comes to a starting rotation. We've already seen Luis Garcia getting shut down and looking for a second opinion. How are we feeling about this rotation going into a long 162 game season? Yeah, I think one through five, if you're the Astros, you feel good about it,

but they use 12 starting pitchers last year, so you need more than five. And now they have Ryan Gusto in the bullpen. Where's the depth? I think that's the biggest concern. They don't have the depth. I mean, they have a couple of prospects at AAA, lefty Colton Gordon, right-hander, A.J. Bluebaugh, but they're prospects.

You have no idea if they're going to be ready or what they're going to do when they come up here. What if there's a handful of injuries? Where are they going to get this starting pitching depth? And I think that's the biggest concern. You know, if you get to the trade deadline and you have to make a move to get a starter, you can do that. But, you know, what about in May if there's two injuries?

Who's going to step into that rotation? I mean, you could stretch out Gusto and put him in there. But I think that's the, one through five, I think you're fine with that. That could be a good rotation, but we know you're going to need more than five, and I just don't know they have the depth right now. And speaking of that, just real quick, to look at the division since we've got you here, a lot of people are saying, oh, it's a fight between, it's the Rangers.

They're overwhelming favorites, and then if anybody does win it besides them, it's going to be the Mariners. I don't know why I'm talking like this. And then, you know, you have, you say Kukuchi, who used to be a part of this rotation, and you could argue was the best pitcher down the stretch of last year after, you know, being acquired. Is there any way the angels make any sort of noise, provided, of course, they're healthy, and of course Anthony Rendon's never healthy and isn't right now?

Depends what you mean by noise. I mean, I think you have the three teams you talked about, then you have the angels and then probably the two other teams. Angels and A's are probably there. And I think there's a pretty good gap between those two teams. I mean, Mike Trout's back. Is he going to have a Mike Trout-type year and out of these healthy? I mean, their lineup is not bad.

It's not as good as the Astros. The rotation is not as good as the Astros. Certainly not as good as the Mariners. So I just don't buy the, if there's any hype about the Angels, I don't buy it. I think it's going to be a three-team race. I mean, I think the Mariners, the Rangers, the Astros all look like 85 to 89 win teams to me. And they're going to beat each other up. So I think it's going to come down to the wire.

But, you know, maybe they surprise. I mean, the A's have a couple of exciting young players, and Lawrence Butler and Brent Roe. Rooker, but still they're the A's, and they're pretty far behind the rest of the pattern. All right, so we'll have to get you out with the crystal ball then. Oh, no. Yeah, who wins the AOS? How does this play out you think for the Astros this year? I'm going to pick the Astros just because until they don't win it, I'm going to keep picking them until they do win it.

Now, I mean, if the Mariners went out and added three or four bats, you're like, okay, the Mariners are clearly better. But Astros have a better lineup. Astros have a better bullpen than the Rangers. And I don't think the Rangers lineup is substantially better than the Rangers. the Astros. It's going to come down to health, of course, and injuries and all that stuff. But I think the Astros win it in a very close race. That would be, what, eight out of nine years. Pretty incredible. Wouldn't surprise me if they finished third, though, behind. I think those three teams are just so close. But I'm going to go with Astros.

He is Brian McTaggart. Brian, thanks for the time. I'm with you. I think we're going to go with the Astros, and well, we'll have you on every week. Try to figure this out as we go along. Appreciate the time, as always, and we'll talk to you. Happy opening day. All right. Happy opening day, guys. All right, there you go. Brian McTaggart here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, with Adam Klanin, with Adam Lexer. Wex are going to take quick break here. More Astros coverage with you all the way up until Astero's Radio Network at 240. We're broadcasting live from Dyken Park here on Sports Talk 7-9.