The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Joe Espada Joins The Show Before The Series vs Rockies

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Joe Espada Joins The Show Before The Series vs Rockies

Skip, how are things on this Tuesday? How was the off day? I'm doing well. Off day was fabulous. Thank you for asking. Hey, a lot of excitement around these parts. A certain DH, a slugging left-hander, had a nice trip down to Corpus Christi. Have you filled out your lineup card just yet? Yes. And is there a certain DH in that lineup tonight? Yes, there's a DH in that lineup. You know what I mean, Skip. Come on, now. We're better than that.

All right. Is Yordon going to play D.H tonight? Yordon is going to walk in here. We're going to talk to him and see how he feels. And if he feels good, we'll wait and see. See what happens, guys. We all, you know, looking forward to him coming in here today and tell us how he feels.

Okay. That's good. I'm glad to hear that. How much recount were you getting from your folks in Corpus, Christi? Did he get, I'm assuming he got what he wanted to accomplish in terms of playing, day off, a little bit of outfield running around the bases a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He did all those things and he came out feeling well. You know, the Abbas, not only there, but the Abbas in West Palm Beach.

I think he's in a really good spot mentally and physically. And, you know, you mentioned outfield. He also plays some outfield. He came out there about feeling good about that. So, yeah, he's in a really good spot and, you know, really excited about. getting him back. You know, I guess the number one question is, beyond his playing, is the fact that you've used Jose a lot at DH spot over that time and not a lot of left field in the last couple of months. From a macro view, not necessarily about tonight or tomorrow, but from macro, how do you see things playing out if those guys are available to you healthy, trying to give them

days off, but also trying to keep them in the lineup every single day as you fight to win this division. Yeah, you know, so the DH spot will help us with that. The both can play left. The both will DH. You know, Jose can also play second base. So that's, that will be a way to keep everyone in the lineup and healthy. Also, you know, Jordan, we have to see how he feels volume-wise, how we get him going. You know, he has him play in almost three and a half, almost four months, so we have to see how he feels as he gets back to the everyday lineup and playing every day. We have a stretch of 13 games, so we have to be smart on the volume, not only with him, but the rest of the guys. Have you, in your conversation with Yordon, or members of your staff,

or the training staff, is it literally a wake-up every morning, how are you feeling? Or are we a little bit past that point where he has gotten up five, six, seven, ten days in a row and said, hey, my hand's feeling pretty good. Yeah, no, and he has been feeling pretty good. Like, you know, every morning, well, we'll check in, and he'll check in with us. And, you know, the excitement and how he's feeling is very encouraging. And that's the most important thing. We know that, you know, how good he is when he's healthy.

But for us, it's just more how he bounces back from the workload. And so far it's been, so far it's been. good. Talk a little bit if you can about, we've had some folks ask about Jake Myers. I know that Dana brought him up a little bit on Sunday. What do you know about him at this point? And where is he in his recovery path? So the plan is for him to start tomorrow in Sugar Land. So that will be, that will be great to also get him going and getting, get him ready to get back here to us and and helpful with some games. But he's also gone to a point where he's recovering very well.

He's pushing off that leg, doing all the drills that we need him to get done and check some boxes that we need to see from him. And right now he's in a really awesome, and a really good spot. It feels like things are coming together from the positional standpoint. You've got quite a few of your pitchers back. It felt like to me the Baltimore series, obviously the bats were fantastic, Joe. you certainly want to start to get some length out of your starting pitching. And I thought perhaps the brightest spot of that group was even though Spencer got in

some trouble with pitch count early in the game, he was able to give you a five and a third. And so I think we're kind of looking for that same kind of thing, maybe especially with a guy like Lance McCullors. Yes, that will be, that's an area where we know that these guys are capable of doing that. It hasn't been the case here, the last few outings, but we know those guys once they get settled. You know, some of these guys are coming back from injuries. So it usually takes a little bit of time to get them, for them to get settled. And, and I think we're getting to that point where we saw like Spencer did, where he stuff was in the zone, you know, aside from that

first inning when he threw 20-something pitches, he was efficient after that, no walks. He stuff was really good. And we're going to need some of those guys to help us out so we can, you know, not have to lean heavily on our bullpen. so early in the game. Ashto's manager, Joe, is spotted joining us right here on Sports Talk 790. Joe, I want to get your opinion on the bullpen right now, especially after what we saw this past series. Your willingness to go to them a little bit earlier

knowing that you have some starters like Christian Javier, Spencer, Lance coming off of injury, when you have the opportunity to trust in guys like Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown over these next two games of Colorado, what is that balance of making sure that you don't lean too heavily into the bullpen early on and let these guys kind of work themselves at

James. Well, you know, that's that's the key. You know, we're getting quality starts from Hunter and Valdez and, and Alexander who's throwing the ball really well taking us deep in the game. That's the key, right? They, if they come out, set the tone early and they could keep their pitch counts low, and those guys have shown that they could pitch out of trouble, that's the best way to, you know, give our bullpen an opportunity to sit in and watch the game from from the pan. But if we don't get those quality innings, those quality pitches, just quality big outs early in the game, that's when we are forced to use some of our guys in the pan. But, you know, having Hunter and Valdez and after an off day, our guys should be rested and

ready to go. Joe, how important was it to see Jesus Sanchez get off to a hot start out in the Oriole Park of Camden? Just after what he was doing over the last several weeks and his kind of finding his moment in his stride here to be able to get seven hits in the first three games. How important is that coming home to a 10 game homestand? Yeah, big because, you know, he finally, you know, he's been hitting the ball hard, but finally see the ball hit, you know, hit the ball in the air, in the gaps. It was very encouraging the home run that he hit. And, you know, on that first pitch, it was like a breaking ball.

And he was able to keep it in the air, stay through it. And that's just a two senses that we, that we went and got from my. amy. That's the history that he's been able to hammer right-handed pitching in his career. Very encouraging. We need that bat. We need that bat in the middle of a lineup

to produce, to drive people in. I mean, you know, we saw him and Christian Walker really put some big swings in that series in Baltimore. Visiting with Joel Spata here on Sports Talk 790. Skip, when you lost Josh, I think the transformation

and moving a bray you to the ninth inning was going to be an easy one. It was going to be who's going to pick up that seventh and eighth inning? And I thought Bennett Sousa would have been the great example for that. And unfortunately, he's now down a little bit. What is the mindset when you talk to your pitching coach about getting some time with those relievers? And you talk to them yourself about you're now being asked to go into a spot that you maybe weren't asked to do, you know, two or three or four weeks ago when you kind of had 7, eight, nine basically set up for yourself? Yeah, you know, those guys, you know, the Brian Kings, the Caleb Ford, the Brian Ocker, those guys have been throwing leverage innings for us, you know, either in the fifth or the

six. They've been in, they pitch some big moments throughout the season. So they're not completely new to these new role. For me, it's just more for them just to be themselves, you know, trust the game plan. their conviction behind their work, behind every pitch, just like they've done the entire season for us to demonstrate, you know, trust and confidence in them because they've been really good. We couldn't be in this position if it wasn't from our entire bullpen. My conversations with them, it just continues to be the same. Hey, we trust you. I'm going to hand you in the ball

in this moment in this spot, in this, against his pocket, because I trust you, you, you're good enough to get these people out and you, you know, we need them to step up. And they're being stepping up the whole entire season. Our bullpen has been really, really good. Talking about a bullpen, you added a new arm to it in Craig Kimbril. We got to see him a little bit work his way out of a jam on Sunday. What did you make of him? What went into the signing?

And do you expect him to have a bigger role moving into this series against Colorado? You know, we like, obviously, we like the experience. This guy is pitching big games for his entire, you know, in his entire career. I like his demeanor. You know, he has this presence about himself. He's still got some power in his fast, but we like the way he spins to baseball. So those are the things that we saw out of him when we sign him that we liked and we can help him, you know, be better and be more consistent in the strike zone. And just like any of these guys, any moment, they're going to be pitching, you know, any time during the game, depending on who's available, depending on who we like.

I don't want to sit down and assign innings for any of these guys because it's all hands on deck. If you're available and this pocket, it's a good pocket for you, trust me. I'm going to give you the ball. Going back to the injured guys a little bit, again, that they were all, I think a lot of folks are energy and excited about. How long do you anticipate Jake being a AAA? Any idea in terms of number of games you think you'll need down there? You know what? I don't know the number of games.

I just really want to get him going and start getting some feedback from him. So, you know, his performance and how he feels determines how many games will leave him down there. So, you know, just to get him going and getting started and the fact that he feels good about where he's at, you know, that's a win for us right now. And lastly, provided that you do put Jordan on the lineup tonight, he gets off the injured list. He has not seen a major league game since early May, not getting too much into coach speak or manager's but what is the message to him? I would presume A, glad to have you back and B, let's not try to reinvent the wheel here. We know what you can do when you're healthy and playing for this team.

100%. I don't think, you know, I don't think Jordan needs a motivation speech from me. He knows exactly where we at. He's playing big, big games here in Houston. He knows exactly where we are in the season. He knows exactly what he will bring to our lineup. I'm just going to see him, give him a hug. and tell him, excited to see him back here with the boys.

And, you know, we have a job to do. And our goal is to win this division. And he's a big part of what we need right now. He brings that, you know, that he provides that injection of energy that our offense needs. And, you know, excited to have him. And I would presume, Skip, without saying that he's the lines of communication to be super honest. If the hands aren't feeling great, a particular I need to day off, he's going to have to be really forthcoming. with you on that, correct? Correct. Correct. You know, he needs to be, and he will be. He will be

honest and will let us know, you know, how he feels, you know, because that's important for us to keep them in the lineup for the next 30-plus games. And, you know, this month of September, we have a lot of games in a row. He will be honest. He'll let us know how he feels. Skip, thanks for the time as always. Best luck tonight against the Rockies, and it was good to see you guys bounce back in Baltimore and look forward to you that lineup car when it comes out in a few hours.

Bye, Ben. Thank you. You got it. Joe Espato with us.