The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian McTaggart Joins The Show Talking Recent Injury News Within Astros

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Brian McTaggart Joins The Show Talking Recent Injury News Within Astros 

All right, we spend 10 quality minutes with our good friend Brian McTaggart of MLB.com on the Astros beat. You know what? Smart move by you not going to Tampa Bay. My goodness. You don't have lost 10 pounds. You don't need to lose 10. Probably more like 15 or 20, but that's not here nor there. Tags, how's your life?

That's very true. I'm good. Yeah, it looked very hot and very miserable. And what is the, do we even know what the long-term solution is for them? They're not going to fix the roof, are they? What's going to happen in the race? Were they playing in 2012, so we even know? Yeah.

Yeah, last I've seen, they are going back to the trop. I think they are going to fix the roof and go back there. You know, they had all these plans for a new ballpark, but, you know, that's all sort of fell through a new ballpark right in that same district in downtown St. Pete. So it looks like they're going to go back to the trop and, you know, status quo and see if they can maybe get that new ballpark off the ground again. Yeah, I'll let the Nashville raise have a much better sound to it. Do they not? I think a team in Nashville would be a great idea.

I mean, look, I love going, and I think any sports writer will tell you, we love going to St. Petersburg. The Trop is a great place to work. There's not a lot of crowds. Press box is great. Town, St. Pete's pretty cool. So I'm okay with them staying there, too. All right. Now on the more important things.

Dana Brown was on this radio station about 90 minutes ago. He says there'll be a further update on Renel Blanco. Brian, you and I have been around these baseball streets a long, time. I am not expecting anything close to good news if Dana speaks to the media later on this afternoon. Yeah, I mean, I tend to agree. I mean, they just went through this with Wisniewski and, you know, they got the worst news possible with him. Not that that's going to happen with Blanco. We have to wait and see, but, you know, I'm not so sure there will be an update today. I mean, these things tend to drag out. We kept hearing there were going to be updates with Hayden and that,

you know, dragged on for a few days. But yeah, certainly not good if you, if you have an elbow issue and you have to fly home. It's not like, okay, he's going to make his next start now. He's obviously going to be out a while. So that just further trims their starting pitching depth. If he does go on the IL, you would have three fits. So they're starting rotation out of the opening day on the IL. And they're about at the ends of their starting pitching depth right here.

So, I mean, I think Brandon Walter was probably it. AJ, you still have A.J. Bluebaugh. But now you're just counting on rookies who you don't know what you're going to get, despite, you know, Blue Balls, a pretty good prospect. So they're in a tough spot pitching-wise and certainly can't afford any more injuries while they've got to hope for some good news on Blanco. And the unfortunate part of all this is these guys that are taking over the, for the injured players, tags, expectation levels are just get us through five, six innings if you can. And that just hasn't happened. I mean, Walter gave you five of their day, but most of these guys have had a difficult time getting there.

And I also include Lance McCuller's who's fresh off the injury. list. This bullpen started to show it's warts a little bit the last couple days. Yeah, they've had to cover a lot of innings, and the bullpen has been really, really good, the strength of the team. But, yeah, that combined with the offense, not scoring a lot of runs, you're being

asked to cover a lot of innings, and you have a one or two run lead most days just because the offense is not scoring runs. It just puts a lot of pressure on those guys. And, yeah, they let a game get away in Tampa that they would like to have. They would have won that series and had a winning road trip didn't happen but that yeah i mean gustow's going to pitch friday um you know if you're the

astros you want to get five out of him maybe your your tBA for sunday which which could be colton gordon and you're going to be like we got to get five out of him fortunately for the astros they have an off day monday so maybe they can reset a little things a little bit before the aes come to town but this could be a pretty difficult series to make it especially yeah we Our team is playing really well. Yeah, we talked about McCullors, and it's funny how it kind of feels like it's changing a little bit with all these injuries, Brian, to where it felt like beginning of the season, okay, if he can be your fourth, fifth guy, anything he can give you can be a plus. But right now, it seems like there could be some pressure. The Astros need him to produce.

They do. I don't think it's a case of, you know, in a month or six weeks, you know, Lance will be back to his old self. I mean, they need him to start getting deeper in games. And I think that's the last hurdle for him. him is just becoming more efficient. He's searching for that put-away pitch. I mean, he was constantly ahead of guys in Arlington. A lot of two-strike counts.

He just couldn't put the hitters away. There were a lot of foul balls. He threw a lot of strikes. I think he had like 64% strike percentage. So he was putting the ball in the zone, but just controlled it in the zone pretty well, but just could not get the put-away stuff. And that let some of bats get a little long

his pitch count went up. So that's going to be the big. step with him when he takes the mound tonight. Can he put away hitters? Keep that pitch count down and at least maybe get past five and who knows maybe six innings as well. Brian McTaggart, MLB.com, Astros.com with us here on Sports Talk 790. So we have the Mariners coming into town. You don't want to oversell a series in the middle of May, but injuries are piling up. I mean, if you lose three out of four in this series, you could be five and a half back in the West. It feels like a lot could hang in the balance again saying that it is in the middle of May.

Yeah, but yeah, this is a big series. And, you know, I've always said, you know, where are you at Memorial Day? Well, they'll be at Memorial Day after this series. So if you're the astronauts, you don't want to be six and a half out, seven and a half out. If you split or win the series, you're okay. But, I mean, this is a Mariners team that is coming in pretty hot. I mean, they've won six of eight. They went to San Diego and swept them.

They took two or three from the White Sox. So this is sort of the last leg of a long road trip. And they're throwing a couple of, well, I guess three really good starters at you with, you know, they got Luis Castillo coming on Sunday. George Kirby's coming back off the injured list tonight, his first start of the season. He's always pitched well against the Astros. They have Wu going on Saturday. So it's going to be a really, really tough matchup for the Astros. And they can swing it a little bit too.

I mean, they're not a great offense, but they're certainly better than they were last year. So they're a little bit more complete team than they were last year when they're, when they blew that 10-game lead. And they're doing this with a couple of their best starting pictures on the injured list in Miller and Gilbert, who's back tonight. And Kirby, who's back tonight. Tags, Christian Walker's a pro. His glove work has been phenomenal. The reason why he's won three straight-go gloves.

Would he be getting the Jose Abraeu treatment if he wasn't the only one that was struggling right now in this offense? I don't think so. I mean, I don't think he's not performing as poorly as a, Bray you did. He's not living up to his contract and what he did certainly. He'll be the first one to tell you that. And he has told us that. You know, he says he feels a lot of pressure and embarrassment about the way he's played. You know, he had that O for 16. He broke out of it in Arlington, hit some balls really hard. And then, you know, here he is again in another prolonged slump. Although he got a hit in his last bat yesterday. But it just seems like a lot of his at-bats end with, you know, a close pitch on the zone that he takes looking that he's not happy with. I haven't seen enough of him to know if that's sort of his M.O. Or, I mean, does he have to get a little bit more aggressive and some of those pitches?

But the deeper we get into this season, you just wonder, is he going to get out of it? I think he's hitting under 200 now. So, you know, Abrae was in the low 100. So not in that territory, but certainly not anywhere close to what the Astros need or what he expected. And, you know, we're almost two months in now. And here we are. A couple more minutes of Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. with us here on Sports Talk 790.

The second base spot has seen Rogers, it's seen Dubon, we've seen a fair amount of Jose Altova. Are you surprised at the rotation? What would you like to see if you were whispering to Joe's spot as here about what you think should be done at second base? I'm saying it's a problem spot, but it has probably been more of a

variety than think people, and most people, and most people like to have at that position. Yeah, it's been a revolving door, and I think it's just kind of surprising because you know, the Astros have had that that one guy at second base, what, for the last 12, 13 years, it's been Jose Al-Tube every day. So it's sort of unusual, I think, just seeing the rotation of different guys go through there.

I don't think we're going to see, like, a steady guy there. I mean, you know, Dubon is definitely their best defender at second, but you need to play him at other positions. You know, Al-Tube, I think,'s played a little more second base lately than I would have anticipated. I think three of the last six games he started to, second. So maybe, you know, maybe they can put him at second a little bit more if, you know, you got McCormick now getting some at Batson left and Desenzo. So I don't think things are going to change. I think we're just going to continue to see Al Tuve and Rogers get most of the

playing time at second base with Dubon in there a little bit as well. You know, Bryce Matthews is a triple A. He's on the injured list with a concussion and he's playing a little bit better, but he's still, I don't think, in any position to help you at this point. So, you know, I think when they get to the trade deadline and they're looking at needs. They're going to be looking at some other things other than second base. It is going to be what it is. I mean, they're going to be looking at starting pitching, maybe a left-handed bat that can help them in the outfield.

But they're just going to have to keep this second base rotation going and try to figure it out. Dana Brown also said earlier here on Sports Talk 790 that Yordon is still just hitting off the T. We had heard that possibly he would play over the weekend. So how concerned should we be? Well, I think every day that he, hits off a T and doesn't do anything else.

I think Astros fans should be more and more concerned because initially this was going to be a 10-day thing. He would only be on the injured list 10 days. I think we're three weeks into it now. And so the longer he stays out, I think the better chance he's going to have to go on rehab. I know that Dana said today that's probably not going to happen, but he still doesn't look like to me a guy who's really close to coming back. I mean, he's going to be happy.

He's going to have to hit off some velocity off pitching machines and really test that hand before they can bring him back. So I'd be surprised if he plays in this series. You have an off day Monday. Maybe you can get him back. But as long as they don't have him, this offense is going to continue to sputter and just not be itself. Because now you compare the offense to last year.

You don't have Bregman. You don't have Buccar. You don't have Alvarez. Al-Tube is not playing at the last year. He expected to come in and give you a lot more production. He has done that. So it's about Alvarez. is just going to be some tough sledding with the bats.

Last question. Going back to West Nesky is going to be on T.J. There's been lots of different players that have had a variety of arm elements, and it feels like there's been an uptick, Brian, since the pitch clock. If we were to pull Rob Manfred aside and give him some tangible evidence of injuries that are continuing to hit not only just the Astros, but any major league baseball team, is Rob Manfred the kind of commissioner do you think that would go, oh, you're just pulling out selective numbers.

I've got a sample size that says that the pitch clock has helped baseball and it does not increase arm injuries. Or is there any thought that maybe in the next two to three years, if we continue to see this rise of guys going through these types of elements, they may reconsider this. Because I know the pacing of baseball is good. They love that. They're about to find a new television partner, maybe NBC next year. I'm thinking what level of concern is Rob Manfred really have that so many pitchers, are going through the types of things right now, the Astro pitchers are going through right now.

Yeah, it's been a league-wide thing. And, I mean, Major League Baseball is obviously concerned about this. They did a report, I think it was last year, maybe December. They released a report where they interviewed over 200 experts from all areas about pitching injuries that happened over the last few years and are getting worse. I mean, that was, you know, surgeons and pitching coaches and pitchers themselves. And there are a lot of different factors. I mean, pitchers chasing velocity was up there.

I think that's probably one of the biggest things is guys now are max effort. And that's led to an increase in injuries. I think, you know, pitchers, they come to spring training now, have been throwing four or five bullpins. Before in the past, the guy would come and throw his first bullpen and sort of get off the ground. It seems like they're ramping up quicker. Even the guys coming up now, they've been throwing hard since they were kids now.

they chased the velocity when they were amateurs on these travel teams. So I think the pitch clock is here to stay just because the results of it have been so good with the time of games and the pace of play has been so much better. I think there's a lot of other contributing factors in the injuries that are probably more culpable than the pitch plot. Tags, looking forward to reading your updates tonight for the ballpark, Astros and Mariners 4-game series. I'll have it for you on 790 and look forward to catching all your stuff at MLB.com. Thanks for the visit as always.