The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian McTaggart Talks Astros Slow Offense To Start The Year

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Brian McTaggart Talks Astros Slow Offense To Start The Year

Astros, MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. Brian, first and foremost, you have gone to St. Louis a lot in your life covering the Astros, especially when they were in the National League. It was like clinically depressing watching Cardinal baseball there. I know yesterday the crowd was pretty good, but what the hell has happened in St. Louis? That used to be like an automatic 40,000 they're building every time. Yeah, I mean, I've never seen the stadium as empty as it was. And I actually asked that question of one of their beat riders, and he said,

you know, opening day, it was, it was magical. They had, you know, the Clysdale's and that whole thing. And then beginning with the second game of the season, the fans have just checked out. I mean, they really didn't make any upgrades in the offseason other than signing Phil Maton. And, you know, they weren't a good team last year, but it looked like they're going to be a good team this year. So I think the fans have just checked out. It was, it was sort of a depressing three days. Usually you go to, go to St. Louis, and it's, you know, it's this baseball, like it's supposed to, to be, but not this time. All right. We looked at the graphic

on Twitter, and a lot of people are doing this as well. I have, and look, everybody goes through a stretch where you're winning and paying 500 baseball. But even when you play 500 baseball, Brian, you maybe win three in a row or drop four in a row or win this continued streak of up-down,

up-down, it is legendary right now for the local nine. Yeah, I think somebody said I'd have to confirm that it's the longest streak in Astros history where they haven't won two consecutive games or lost two consecutive games. So I guess that's the definition

of mediocrity when you're just, when you're going to win loss, win loss. So you know, they're 8 and 10. It feels like their record should be a little bit worse, I think, just with the way they've played, especially on offense, but they've picked the ball pretty well. And that's sort of why they're at where there are, because right now their

offense is really tough to watch because you've got guys in the middle of the lineup who just aren't producing and they need to get a turnaround quickly because the schedule is getting really tough here with the Padres coming in and then the Blue Jays. They got to go to Kansas City. So this is not an easy stretch for them. And they got to figure out a way to start stacking up a couple of wins in a row,

which they haven't been able to do yet. Any hints from your perspective about maybe a little bit of a lineup change because right now Walker slash Diaz is providing you just about nothing in that four or five spot? Yeah, and after the game yesterday, Joe Espato was asked about any possible changes to the lineup, and he said he seemed to indicate that wasn't going to be the case, at least anytime soon. He said all nine of these guys have to come up and hit at some point no matter the order. And I get what he's saying. I mean, you can move Walker and Diaz to other points in the order,

and they're still going to have to hit for this lineup to work and click and be successful. And I still think they will. I mean, Yonner Diaz didn't forget to hit in the offseason. Christian Walker is a guy who hits 30 home runs every year. So, you know, not sure what's going on with those guys. I know that Christian Walker looks increasingly frustrated by the day. But it is only 18 games. They've got a long way to go.

They've got to get this thing turned around. And I think they will just because the track record of those guys and they can't really get much worse at this point. Brian McTaggart with us here on Sports Talk 790. Let's just go to Cam Smith, 18 games into his major league career, both in the field and at the plate. How are you feeling about the way he's looking? Well, better in the field than at the plate.

I mean, he looks a little more natural in right field with every game. I mean, I thought he had a pretty good defensive three days in St. Louis. He looked pretty fluid down there, ran one ball down. His throws have been pretty good. I think he's going to be fine out there. You know, offensively, I think he's still trying to figure it out. I mean, you got to remember this is a guy who played five games above Class A ball prior to this year. And now all of a sudden you're in the big leagues facing the Mets on opening day.

That is not easy. And so there's going to be some growing pains. Did not have a good series against St. Louis. But, you know, again, they got to get him going a little bit as well. You know, he's still got a runway here to try to figure this thing out. He does seem to take walks from time to time. He doesn't look overwhelmed at the plate, but the results haven't been there. So I think that's something they're going to have to watch here closely in the next couple of weeks

is just to see where he's at and then decide whether they want to keep running him out there or send him to AAA and get some momentum and get some more bats under his belt where he gets some confidence and maybe bring him back up. Back to Christian Walker real quick. Just if you had to guess, do you think there is any sort of lingering issue with the oblique that could be hampering that he could be playing through, or do you think most of his problems are just mental and some bad luck? Yeah, I don't think the obliques is an issue because he's still,

you know, he's still taking his hacks and taking his swings. If there was pain there, especially with his history, I mean, I think he would shut it down. You know, he's, they're pitching him to the point where he's chasing a little bit more than he

normally does, and I think he's getting frustrated. And when you start pressing, you start chasing pitches off the plate a little bit more. And I think pitchers are really, that and they're pitching him to try to get himself out and he's doing that so far. But, you know, that's just the adjustments he's going to have to make. He's been in this league a long time.

I don't know if he's ever been through a stretch this poorly. But when you join a new team, there's a lot of pressure on you, especially when you're making that kind of money and you're hitting in the forehole, there's a lot of pressure on you to produce. And the longer you don't, I think all that builds. So how's he going to handle that? How's he going to respond? You know, he's got a chance Friday to get a couple of hits, have a good series.

reason that he'll be on the right track, but he hasn't been able to do that so far. Brian McTaggart, MLB.com with us here every Thursday on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Tags, there's one player that equals the mark of the team. It might be Framber Valdez. One night, you're ready to go, all right, Astros, let's get into a deep conversation on extension. The next night is look forward to seeing where you pitch in 2026. He is literally just like the squad right now.

Yeah, he's an enigma. I think the team right now is an enigma. When friend Framber's on, he's the best there is. He's got one of the best curveballs there is in the game, but he just tends to lose it at times. And, you know, we've seen that this year. He's got a couple of good starts, a couple of not-so-good. And, you know, again, the second half last year,

he was piling up those good starts. And when he does that, He's won the top two or three left-handed pitchers in the game. And so it's going to be really interesting to see what they do with him. If this season progresses and they're not contending in the division, which I don't think is going to happen, the division is not that strong, I think they will play better. Do they consider trading him?

Because I don't think they're going to resign him. I don't think they should resign him. You know, let someone else pay him, you know, the money. But that's something they're going to have to entertain. And I just don't think they'll get to the point where they're so far out they're going to trade him because if they're going to contend, they'll need him. But they're going to need the good Framber and not the one that we've seen on and off. But you're right. He's sort of like the team now.

You don't know what you're going to get from day to day. What do we know about the health status and the latest on both Forrest Whitley and Lance McCullors? Yeah, Lance is throwing Saturday for Corp. Christine. I think what could be his final rehab start there in Midlands. So I hope he likes spending a night or two in Midland. Nice place I hear. But I think that will be his last one.

And at that point, I think they're going to consider activating him. And Dana Brown, I think, said last week, maybe when they go to Kansas City next weekend, he could be back by then in the rotation. So that's going to be a big storyline. Whitley through back-to-back games. I don't know if the second one was today or yesterday, but he's really close to being activated. I think he's a little ahead of Caleb Wart who's going to be activated soon too

so I think we're about to see a couple of new relievers in the bullpen with Whitley and Ord I think we'll see them both up here within the next couple of weeks I mean within the next few days and then probably Lance within the next week or so get your crystal ball out for me on Lance if everything works out well and like I said you know he must be really ready to go

because he's going to go to middle in the pitch of baseball game what do you think ultimately he will look like forgetting about performance but just about length and pitch count and whatnot. What do you think could be his forecast for the next 30 days? I think he's going to get up to the goal is to get up to 75-80 pitches

in this start on Saturday. So you're looking at a guy if he makes his first start for the Astros, you know, could do 80, 90 pitches, 5, 4 or 5 innings. I don't think we're going to see him go out there going 7-8 innings, but it's going to be interesting to see because his numbers have been

pretty good and his rehab starts. I mean, his Velo was down quite a bit, his last start, but I asked around about that to some people, and no one seems too worried about it. They think that once he's in a big league environment and the adrenaline is gone, you know, he's not going to throw 97, 96 anymore, but they need him at 95 and not at 91, 92. So if he's at 94, 95 with the fastball, Lance has got a track record that when he's healthy, he's really good. So I'm really anxious to see after what, two and a half, one and a half years, whatever it is, what he can do against a big league lineup?

And I think we're going to get to see that shot here pretty soon. You know what, we can have a bullpen question. When Orte and Forrest Whitley do come back? I mean, who are the guys you think aren't going to be the ones who are going to get shut down and how we're just feeling about the middle innings, especially the bullpen in general, and really kind of a bray who's been a little bit shaky? Yeah, I mean, you know, Nick Hernandez just came up. I mean, I could see him, you know, he's a guy who's probably,

going to go up and down quite a bit this year. I think he could probably go back down at this point. Contreras has been up and down and he's back down. So, you know, there's moves they can make there pretty easily. Brian King has settled into that seventh inning roll pretty good, a left-hander and pitched really well. I mean, O'Krit has emerged as a weapon. Again, he came in yesterday and pitched well. He's been really, really good. So Josh Hader's been terrific. No one's really paying attention to his numbers, because he hasn't had a ton of save opportunities, but his numbers across the board are really awesome. So he's having a good year. Abraeos has been up and down.

You know, he's walking too many guys, but, you know, I think his last daddy was a little better. So their pitching's fine. I mean, if I'm the Astros, I'm not too worried about the pitching right now. They just got to start hitting, bottom line. Well, leave it that, friend. Thank you for the visit, as always. And I'll be sending you my Rocketsters if you'd like to have one.

and we'll talk with you next week about the same time.