The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Saying A Prayer For Amen Thompson and Christian Walker, NFL Salaries Are WILD, Gerrit Cole Checks In

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Matt Thomas and Ross Villarreal of "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" give an injury update on Rockets guard Amen Thompson and Astros first baseman Christian Walker. Matt and Ross also:preview the Rockets hosting the Magicreact to the latest NFL offseason headlines and new contractsget a live interview with "Gerrit Cole"play "To Tell the Truth" and more.

Launch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. All right, we're going to try this again. Good morning, everyone. It is 1007 on Sports Talk 790. Matt Ross with you here. Ross, good morning to you. Can you hear me, Matthew?

Yes, sir, I can. Clear his a bell. Okay, great. I can hear you. Yeah, nice. Yeah, we have some glitches, and that's going to happen, unfortunately, from time to time. Including my clock still saying 907. That's fine. We get that worked out.

Hey, the show must go on, and we're going to continue with great radio here on the program. We had a little prayer for you by the great Aretha Franklin ready to go, and our efforts to play that word was somewhat successful. But we were saying small prayers for a man Thompson. We were saying small prayers for the one and only Christian Walker as he came back to Houston. And the quote I got from Brian McTaggart was okay, not great. Would it be fair to say? I thought it was mostly positive. Mostly.

No strain. We're all good. Ramp him back up. He says he feels relatively, or the news, the diagnosis was relatively pretty good. Relatively pretty good. Yeah.

I mean, I hate when somebody says relatively on something. Like the dinner was relatively good. Well, something obviously went wrong at the dinner. You know what I mean? I had that meeting go with your boss. Relatively well. Relatively. good. Yeah, yeah.

It's one of those situations. I was like, okay, that's fine. So, we are relatively on the air, I think? No, we're firm. No, I think we're fully on the air. Fully. Okay, that's good. It's good. Connor Dima Governor is our producer through no fault of his own. Just again, a few glitches here and there, but I think we're all settled and we're

going to take you until 1150 this morning for Astros baseball on Sports Talk 7. I mean, as the Astros are back in action, spring training game today, and we'll have it for you. with Cam Smith. The Astros are playing in Dunedin against the Blue Jays. And look forward to having that call. That'll be an 1150 start time. We still have at 10.50 today.

I didn't think we're going to do this and hear from him because now he's a Yankees. He's doing well. But Garrett on the mobile is going to join us on the show today. Because apparently Garrett Cole Sports RV, yeah, you didn't see the pre-show tweet. And that's fine. Garrett Cole is going to have Tommy John surgery, allegedly. He's going to have Tommy John surgery and we're going to get him on the air? Yeah, there's a very, we get the best guess on this radio show.

Wow. We don't get Texans, but we get everybody else on. That's true. Garrett Colomobile will join us today on the radio show. And then we have to tell the truth at 1130 and then we'll send you over to Astros baseball. Lots of things to get to on the show today, including a man Thompson. Hope he's feeling okay. The news on him, I thought, was relatively good, as I was a little nervous.

about it being definitely bad. Relatively. Yeah. Relatively good. I almost got him a triple double. Yeah. 10 to 14 days, sounds like he is out with the left ankle sprain.

I tend to, when I hear those numbers, I tend to go on the higher end of that just to be super, super safe. So you're looking at probably about, I don't know, seven games, give or take. I feel like the Rockets are playing games every other day for the next couple weeks,

including four this week, and then a road trip to Florida, but hopefully have him ready for those meaningful games against the West Coast teams in the final two weeks of the season. But no structural damage on the MRI, which is a good sign. Again, we talked about Christian Walker

not swinging a bat for a few days. He was running with his teammates yesterday. He's got to keep himself in physical shape. Got to keep the cardio going, sports RV like we do. Duh. And that's good on that. We do have the Rockets against the Orlando Magic tonight. We have the University of Houston.

finishing off a 19 and one conference schedule, beating the Baylor Bears in Waco late Saturday night. We have the Texans getting a new contract with one of their old players. Sheldon Rankin's has a one-year deal worth $7 million. How about a guy Ross had played seven games last year? Because of illness and apparently a hamstring of some sort of some of their injuries. and you're looking around trying to find jobs. Like, if you've been let go from a place of employment

and you're just lucky to have a job, you know what I mean? Yes. He gets a job and he gets $7 million. Get your kids to play football. Just have one or two great seasons. And you can feed off that for many, many years after. It's almost like... You can just be a world-class athlete and beat up your body for years.

Yeah. It's almost like... like if you're a singer and have five or six hits, you can put a casino beat for like four or five years after that. Yeah, it takes a little bit of singing talent as well. Well, I mean, I'm thinking about going on tour myself. You are? Yeah. What are you going to do? Um, probably cool. A daredevil act? No, no, I'm not evil, Kniebel, Ross. Sorry about that. Uh, NFL free agency is underway, and there is some serious money being spent on wide receivers. on cornerbacks, which has a local angle to it.

And then Josh Allen got ridiculously rich over the weekend, too. Yes, he did. Was it 250 guaranteed? That's pretty good. Deshawn Watson's like, hold my, wait a minute, what happened to me? I thought I was the highest guarantee guy. And then, of course, you have him hurt and not very good and hurt and not very good, and then really hurt.

And it sounds like he may even miss the entire next season. So, man, it's, you know, there's a lot of greatness to owning a sports franchise, namely because you make incredible amounts of money, even if you make baffling terrible mistakes. But you have to understand if you're a sports owner, you're going to pay a variety of athletes. Hundreds of millions of dollars, hopefully to be successful and help you win. But it's also going to, you're also going to pay hundreds of million dollars, Ross, for those guys never to play again. Like, for instance, when the rockets were in stage one, the early stages of the rebuild, remember when John Wall was here? Yes.

I think Tillman paid John Wall over $40 million, never to step on the court. The second year, yeah. You have to, yeah, that's right, he did play some. You have to basically just swallow your pride and just don't even look at the books. Well, more so, yeah, NBA owners and baseball. baseball owners like Jose Abraeu and Raphael Montero? Well, Montero is at least given in a college try. I think he's going to have a shot to make the team, right?

I mean, it sounds like the bullpen is still very much up for grabs here. Well, the bullpen is thin. Just say it. Yeah. It's thin after the eighth and ninth guys. Yeah, and you are at a new left-handed of the mix, says the Astros picked up a late acquisition. I'll tell you more about that.

But yeah, I think you have to know that with all of the perks of being a celebrity and owning a sports team and being able to be in the war room and be able to make decisions. And, oh, by the way, the insane amount of cash that you're making, insane amount of cash, that you're going to have to swallow a bunch of bad deals. Every sports team has to go through it. Deshawn Watson, great example, John Wall, a great example. And Garrett Cole, I mean, isn't it in reality, and we're going to talk to Garrett on mobile coming up a 1050.

But don't you think, Ross, it's going to take two years for Garrett Cole to get back to where he was as long as everything works out well in his rehab? Pretty much. That's basically what it is for Tommy John these days. But people do come back and they're fine. It's kind of out of getting more than a bump in a road, I guess you could call it. That's right. But for the most part, guys come right back.

All right. 713-21-2-5-7-90 is how you reach our show today. We have a short show today just to 1150, so please come in and say hello to us on a variety of things if you like to, whether it be Christian Walker, whether it be a man Thompson, whether it be rockets, whether it be the Texans making some moves. And there is a move in the NFL for agency from a team named the Charlotte, the Carolina Panthers, that a certain Texan is going to love to hear about. 713212-5-790 is how you reach a show. 713212-579. I want to tell you about total grader.com. That is a website that I want you to look at.

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How about the Josh Allen resigning? Okay. What you get? I think it's great. I think $250 million is pretty insane. 330 is the whole deal is worth? That's correct. 250 of his guaranteed. So if he never takes a snap ever again for the Buffalo bills. He's got $250 million coming his way. And remember, I think the highest guarantee before that was DeShahn, right, or among them all-time guaranteed highs?

Yes. Man, it's... He had four years left on his deal. This shows me, A, that the NFL revenues are about to go astronomically higher than they already are. Probably. Maybe bills are trying to catch him before we're talking about

$75 million a year for a quarterback. I mean, we're getting close, aren't we? It feels like it. Dak Prescott, now this deal still isn't higher AAV than Dak Prescott, which is crazy to say. Yeah. Which was, what, he's $60 million

a year. This is $55 million AAV for Josh Allen. So still Dak Prescott is making more per year than Josh Allen. Yeah. So I wonder why, Jack, I wonder why Josh said, well, I'm better than Zach. I mean, Dak, why can't I get that money?

I mean, I would say the most guaranteed money in NFL history probably didn't hurt. Well, I mean, the reality is this. And I know that people get turned off by money conversation. But we're talking about the number of people in this world that get that kind of money or what at in sports, less than 1% of the sports world population, correct? Yes, very much less. And so we have, I mean, less than 1% of the world are mega billionaires. and make incredible amounts of money running Fortune 500 companies. I mean, if you're running Coca-Cola Ross, aren't you making obscene money?

If you're running an airline, you're running in, if you're running an investment firm, I mean, aren't you making just insane money? We just don't happen to care about that kind of stuff because we don't talk about financial stuff. We talk about sports. Correct. So I don't really necessarily go, oh, my God, this world of sports in which we live in sucks. It's terrible. I don't want to watch it again.

I tend to do this, and maybe I'm guilty, is that if somebody's good and successful, and they win, I mean, put it this way. The Buffalo Bills are going to pay $250 million in guarantee money. The Buffalo bills are getting a brand new stadium in Buffalo after waiting for decades to get it, where they're going to be cash rich with all the festivities and all the things that come along with that stadium. I'm sure they got a pretty good sweetheart deal because they wanted to keep the bills in Buffalo long term. Yeah, they're doing okay financially. I'm not overly concerned. I'm just not.

And remember, if they get the Super Bowl, do you think anybody in Buffalo is going to care that Josh Allen makes $250 million in guaranteed cash? No. Now, if things go south, here's the reality. If you do, if he does get hurt, or he does not perform up to expectations, i.e. Deshaun Watson in Cleveland,

it cripples your franchise. Yeah, but Josh Allen's a safer bet. But as I say that, And I go, well, this move right here could cost, you know, the, the Cleveland Browns for franchise. Guess what happened over the weekend for the Browns? Miles Garrett gets a long, a long-term deal. $40 million a year. Miles Garrett, like four days ago, Ross, like, I don't know if I want to go in Cleveland.

I want to meet with the owner. The owner's like, nah, we don't need to meet. I'll let the general manager handle it. He said, you can meet this checkbook. Yeah, channel manager says, here's a blank check. Miles, enjoy it. Write it out for what you want. Yep.

Look, we don't care if George Clooney makes $30 million a picture, if the picture's good, right? Hmm. Hmm. Well, he can make a few bombs. I mean, we don't care if Bradley Cooper's doing his bit. He makes money with Lady Gaga and nobody's complained about it. Okay. By the way, Bradley Cooper on the season premiere of Righteous Gemstones last night. Oh, really?

Yeah. I thought you gave up on that show. I did, and I went back, and I'm disappointed that I did. They did a prequel episode yesterday. Okay. I don't want to spoil because people probably haven't seen it yet. I watched the first couple episodes. I liked it, but I didn't fall through with it.

I guess it didn't hook me enough. You're not missing anything. Danny McBride to me, and this is the character that, you know, he pays basically the same character. He's one note, yeah. Yeah. But there's a great note. But it's like eastbound and down Ross to me was,

insanely funny. Yes. Vice principals kind of got tired after a while. I kind of live with that. The righteous gemstones just how do jump

and all people know what jump the shark means. It's just way out of whack. It's so, the comedy of it is so gone that it's not just. It's just trying to gross you out. Farshal?

Yeah. Farshal. I don't believe if I've ever said that word in my 52 years of my life. You haven't? No. Okay. There's always time. You know, farce is, I don't know, seventh grade word?

Um, I don't disagree with that. I'm just saying I haven't used it. I try to keep it to two syllables or less, sports are. Okay, I'm sorry. It, comedy, bad, crazy. Too much. Just, I guess it's just too over the top. All right.

713212-579 let's talk to Anthony and Deer Park on the Matt Thomas showed Ross. Anthony, good morning to you. Hey, good morning, guys. Hey, I was just curious on your thoughts with the cost of quarterbacks increasing. Just curious if you guys ever see the NFL getting away from their hard salary cap and going something more similar to what the MLB does. You pay a threshold, you pay a tax if you go over the limit. Right.

You know, it's funny. It had to be collectively bargained. I know the players would like to see that happen. I just don't know. I don't know. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I guess. It would be the case. I like the hard cap.

I mean, you keep smaller markets can have great team. Like Kansas City has been a dynasty. I mean, you've had the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers. It's not all New York and L.A. Right, right. Not that it all is in the NBA or, in major league baseball but there is that ability for it to happen i i think every league should be hard capped my opinion yeah i from a fans perspective you want you're a smaller market team you are

rooting hard for hard cap because as good as the royals are and i know they signed bobby wood junior to a long-term deal but they don't do a lot of that i mean when was the last mega deal that since any reds ever signed with anybody uh king griffy junior you have 30 years 20 years ago like johnny bench got a deal back in the 70s, but that's, Pete Rose got his deals, but yeah, you, there's strange things about the NFL and it's hard to figure out what is a cap and what's guaranteed and what's a salary,

what's a signing bonus and on renegotiations, but it feels like that everybody's got a puncher's chance. Or in the NBA, you don't. Because you've got teams that are willing to pay thresholds, and you also have situations where free agency, nobody wants

at Utah very few players want to go to Sacramento hardly anybody wants to go to Charlotte I kind of like the fact that Green Bay is as appealing of a free

destination as say Charlotte is as as Los Angeles as is what's another town that wouldn't be I don't know what's uh

I mean Kansas City is a good example yeah yeah so yeah I if it ain't broke don't fix it and I think the NFL is the most successful league financially They have a good rhythm between what the owners can collect and the percentage of money that has to go back to the players.

1028 on Sports Talk 7.9. We have a short show today, so come on and say hello to us. We're with you to 1150. It's 713212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. If you're on Twitter, want to follow us. It's at SportsMT, at SportsRV, and at Connor D. McGovern. We have Garrett Colonel Mobile joining us in about 20 minutes from now.

he can't be in a very good mood, can he, Rossi? He's going to be really surly when he joined the show. I imagine so. Yeah, I just don't think it's going to end well because apparently he's headed for Tommy John Surgery. I want to tell you about Uptown Appliance Repair right now at 713-212-570. That's our number to join the program if you want to get in. Uptown Appliance Repair.

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Garrett-Colon Mobile joining us in about 15 minutes from now. You may join us at 7132-2-1-2-1-2. 57197-1-3-212-5-790. Ross, J.C. Horn, you know who that is? Yes, the cornerback. Of the Carolina Panthers. Four-year contract today worth $100 million. $70-milly guaranteed. Do you know who's really, you know who negotiated that?

Derek Stingley Jr.? Well, I think he probably agrees with the negotiation. I don't know exactly he did it himself. Now we know what the price of keeping on all prox. Because Horn has been that. It's basically Horn, Stingley Gardner and that small group of super elite cornerbacks. Patrick Surtain, Jr's in there. Some might put Joey Porter Jr. in there.

Not many guys. Oh, Derek Stingley is. I mean, he is sleeping like a fat baby right now, Ross. He's going to get paid. whenever he went, he's eligible now for an extension. I don't know if the Texans are going to do it now. David Mulligetta, by the way, is the agent that is so exciting. Okay.

But I tell you what, do you think, and the agent power rankings that Mulligetta is more powerful than Drew Rosenhouse these days? I would have to look at their rosters. I would say on first glance, no, but you could be right. I'm not sure. I mean, I think probably Rosenhouse has more clients, but my guess is more per athlete. Mulligetta's winning. Mm-hmm. No, we have no exact number of that unless you just chase out every single player.

But, oh, now again, I don't, it's unfortunate when Nick Asser and I go out and have dinner and have beverages, that he never tells me what the salary cap situation is with the Texans, but they had to have planned for this. This is, I mean, this money that is ultimately going to go towards an extension towards Stingley, they had to know what the range was. So this is probably no huge surprise. That's a market thermometer, temperature check. Yeah.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, they've got to pay it. Stingley's good. Stingley is really, really, really good. He's elated his position. He's a top five in his position, and guys that are in the top five and he can pay like their top five. And he very well will.

Shelton Rankins, one-year deal or $7 million against seven games last year because of injuries and illness. Okay. Good to have them back. They need help in the interior. Yeah, that is more like, that's much more of a, Nick Casero type move than going out and spending crazy money on a cornerback, but they're going to have to. Yeah.

A corner, you mean? Well, I'm talking about the money that he's going to spend. Yeah, it's going to be much more of a difficult pill for Gassero to swallow spending crazy money on Stingland than it was signing the Sheldon Rankin's deal. That's like, oh, you know, this guy was pretty good for us a couple years ago. Yeah, he moved on, got a nice contract from the Bengals, didn't work out, we got him back. Yeah, a 30-year-old defensive tackle who can play on a one-year deal. That's Nick very, that's up Nick Asario's out. It is Nick Asario.

He dreams of making those kind of deals. Yeah, he's like, man, I cannot wake up to find a 31-year-old who was good three years ago and pay him two years, $9 million and see what happens. Yes. And honestly, sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle. Sometimes you're like, this guy was old and you fleeced him. Yeah, you can end up with, like, I don't know, like a Blake Cashman who has a, had a great year pro bowl level, then he got signed away, that type of deal.

That's what Nick Casario likes. He's like, it's the one year prove of deals where guys play extremely well, and then you can move on. Yeah. You know, it's, you have to have, I mean, honestly, if you're going to manage a salary cap, you can't just overspend that every position. You've got to find values. You've got to fill the roster.

And that's what I think Dana Brown is trying to do with the Astros. You know, he's going to make sure I'll res is taking care of an Altovae. And, you know, you sign Christian Walker for good money and a short of him. short term deal, you got to find value somewhere. Paul, did you see the Cam Smith stuff just won't die about him making their major league roster coming out of spring? It keeps going.

I don't know if that's because social media is pushing it, if it's because somebody's whispering to somebody else. Jim Bowden's like, I think he's going to make the team. In matter of fact, he might have playing right few, which if I'm Chazy Fizz, I'm looking at it's like, man, what you, I mean, I'm

trying, what am I? You got to give me a shot. Yeah, but if you're Chazy Fizz, You're also just Chazzy Fizz. I mean, he's like, I caught that ball in right center field in the World Series. Doesn't that get me something in terms of leverage? What is he? Like 28 or 27? It is fine.

There must be a situation where the aster's thinking our off-field offense is going to be atrocious. Chaz McCormick is 29. He will be 30 on April 19th. So it's not like we're waiting for some spring chicken low, you know, top blue chip prospect. Yeah. And people, I put that out there yesterday, and people are like, oh, you move Chaz's center field. I mean, if you're going to go with two light hitting outfielders and keep one and put in the bat, I mean, at least Myers gives you this incredible range.

I'm not in a saying that Chas can't give it to you, but Myers just has exceptional range. Yeah, Myers is a better defensive centerfielder. Yeah. But Chas, in theory, has a better bat. Their bats were comparable last year. Yes. If Chaz's bat was available of two years ago, he probably takes Jake Myers' spot in centerfield and they give up the range. Because at this point, neither one of them have a good arm.

And here's the thing we've got to talk about, too, is if Chas McCormick is playing right field and is getting it for any length of time, is he going to be able to get runners going and trying to advance him first or third? No. But Kyle Tucker didn't have an elite arm, so. No, no, but at least people, I wouldn't say we're fearful of it, but at least respected it, I think you're going to see, at least early on teams trying to test it almost immediately.

I think you will. All right. I don't know if he's going to pass that. test. Yeah. Trust. We were going to have serious AOs, aren't we? Can't wait.

This could be an all-time A-O season. No, no. Well, yeah. You know, last season was all A-O's, and they won 88 games in the division. Yeah, but remember they opened your own Ford? It was like Fire Dana Brown. Joe, a spot is over his head. Yeah.

Alex Breggen can't hit in April. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, oh, my God. Mm-hmm. Aos exclusively on sports. sports talk 790. Biscuit, 1040 on 790. Biscuit, good morning.

Cougar Mac, Cougar Mac. Back to back, baby. You can call me 19 and 1, Cougar Matt. Back to back, baby. And, hey, I think my, Ross, I know you wrote it down, man. I said early on that my good feeling was the back-to-back big 12 champs. I think that one came through, Ross. I think that Rockets winning 51 games.

Then I'll be two for two. we'll see. I was looking good early, but it ain't looking good now. But let me say this, Matt, and you said it earlier. If the players are getting the numbers that they're getting, like Josh Allen and Garrett, what that tells me is, man, we better get the use of watching Netflix and Amazon Prime. And the NFL is about to make some money on some of these TV contracts, man. So, you know, if you know that, why wouldn't you get out in front?

of it. You keep throwing out the Dak Prescott contract. Well, that's because Jerry John, wait to the last second. Get out in front of it. Listen, if you want to get a receipt, like, how you think the Cowboys feel now about signing Michael Parsons? Now they got to go above what Garrett got.

You know what I'm saying? And the Texans, hey, man, don't let Stingley be the last one to get a contract because then you're going to pay more. You know what I mean? Get out in front of it, man. the money's going up. Sala crap went up, what, 20-something this year? Next year, probably going to go up 30.

Get out in front of it, man, if you're a smart DM. Like they did with Nico. Yeah, thanks, Zabiscuit for the phone call. Here's the issue, Ross, is that with this Carolina cornerback horn getting his money and getting ahead of it, then they basically said, let's go on the negotiating table.

I'm eligible for an up for a new extension. Let's get this done now. If you wait one more year, could you create a little, I mean, I know you're thinking, well, okay, if you waits one more, yeah, I'd make more money. But do you also put yourself a position where you create some hard feelings because you don't go to negotiating table this year? It's possible. You could all, I mean, it takes two to tango, whether the, you want to get in front of it as an organization or whether the player wants to bet on themselves and try to make even more money and wait until the cap goes up. I guess it just ultimately depends on who you are as a person.

If you're like, okay, if J.C. Horn's getting this, and I'm better than J.C. Horn, whether he is or not, whether the metrics tell you that or not, or whether pro football focuses, you could say, well, all right, let me give you another good season and look at the money I'm going to make. Or do I say, you know what, I know what Horn's getting? I think my comps are close to his. We get in front of Casario and say, here's what we here. Here's what the value is. let's get a deal done and be done with it. I am more of the belief. Again, this is everybody's just, is that if I know what's out there

and I've done my best, my best, coming off on best season, let's sign now. Let's get this done. I just don't know if the Texans have the cap flexibility right now. Yeah. What was, I guess the question is, there's only other recourses to hold out.

What's putting them in cap hell right now? What contract is? I don't know if they're in cap hell. they have cap space. It's just not an abundant. Okay, so let's think about it. What is costing him so much? You got CJ and a rookie deal.

Yes. But he's still making, what, like over $10 million a year, right? Or somewhere on there. But there's got to be somebody that's really holding the Texans back. Who are the more expensive players? Nico's got a new deal. That's really good money for a receiver. Laramie Tunsell's making big money.

Here, I got your highest cap hit players. Okay. Laramie Tunsell's cap hit 28, basically 29 million. 24 million for Daniel Hunter. Titus Howard is 23 million. Oh, there's where it starts to get painful right now. Shaq Mason and Christian Kirk will probably, Shaq Mason's gone and Christian Kirk has reworked.

Dalton Schultz is a $14 million cap hit. Oh, Stingley is 10. Even though Stingley is like, oh, okay, he's on a rookie deal. He's making $11 million. $10 million. Because they're very high picks, so they get high money. Right, right. Makes a lot of sense.

All right. More on this coming up. Plus, prayers for amen. And we continue the Matt Thomas show. Also, we'll do that coming up at the top of the hour. We've got to hear. We've got to hear from our friend Gary, Colin a Mobile. joins us next here on the program after I tell you about two creeks crossing resort.

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This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross on Sports Talk 790. Major guests always appear here on the Matt Thomas show Ross, Sports Talk 790. There's so many songs about rainbows and what's fun. joining us today and we weren't expected to talk with him until the astros played the Yankees later on this year but uh garrett colonel mobile is with us on the program garret um we thank you for joining us today sorry we're calling you on such an occasion apparently you're about to have Tommy john surgery uh what are your motions right now hi not good I don't know why I don't know why I picked up the phone

How are you doing, Matt? Good, because you are a friend of the show. We like to have you on occasionally to talk all things, Yankees, baseball. You know what? Yes? Just beat me down. That's fine. Yeah, I sound like Kermit the Frog.

Make your Miss Piggy jokes. Talk about how I signed a huge contract and left. And now my elbows falling apart. It's all hilarious, Matt. Keep it going. Boy, this thing is interesting. injury yours is a real onker. I'm sorry to hear about it. What exactly happened? Oh, yeah, you're so funny. Big jokes about my beautiful wife, Amy. She doesn't look like a pig.

All right, so tell us what happened. How did you suffer the injury? What do you mean what happened? The UCL in my elbow gripped, Matt. Of course that's what happened, and now I need surgery. And now I'm going to miss all this time for the New York Yankees. And you have these people like, you talking about how the Yankees just spin their way to championships, but I'm a real human being, Matt, and my elbow is not going to be the same ever again. And sure, I'm going to make $35 million to just sit around, but it still hurts. I'm sorry. I think I've caught you a bad time. What's so funny? Nothing. Um, okay. Yeah, I got a major injury. They're going to take a knife

to my elbow and slice me up like pork and then you're just going to sit here and laugh. Garrett with his son, Garrett, Columobil. Garrett, what about the fish? You know, I wish I could hit you in the temple with a four-seem fastball. Yeah, but your arm doesn't work anymore, so you can't do that. Sorry, though. I'll do it with my left hand. Sometimes you have to do that, Matt.

So do you use your left hand as often as use your right hand? No, I'm a righty. What about the facial hair relaxation policy? That's going to make you feel bad. You can go a full frothy beard if you want to. I don't care anymore. I usually get all upset. I wanted to have my beard.

I think it makes me look real fierce on the mound. Now they're relaxing, but I think I look pretty good, clean-shaven, and my wife Amy loves it too. So when are we going to see you next pitch for the Yankees? Well, the swelling has to go down. I'm going to say probably 18 months or so, Matt. All right. Last question, I'll let you go.

What will you do for the next 18 months besides recuperate? And to get over this, what if you're trying to be a very serious injury for guy your age. Well, I'm hoping I can still play Spanish guitar. That's one of my favorite hobbies. I also like to play video games. I like to play the piano. And I like to construct Legos, but you need your hands for all of those, Matt. Yeah.

I guess I'm going to get into bite. bicycling. Can you play the piano with one hand? Can you think of any leg? What are leg activities I could do? You could be a unicyclist. Yeah, but I can't juggle. You can't juggle, no. No. Maybe I can do one-arm juggling.

No. Garrett just want to wish you the very best. I wish you were able to... Whatever. You just want to make fun of me. I'm having major surgery, and you bring me on your show in Houston, which I'm don't even like Houston anymore. Right.

And you just want to make fun of me. Now, will you wear your Yankees cap for the next 18 months or you wear a Scott Morris cap for the next 18 months? I'm going to wear the Matt Thomas sucks cap. Okay. All right. You know what? I've actually caught you in a raw emotional time.

I can't even cook anymore. I can't even make Eric Cole's famous pasta primavera. What is the secret ingredients in that? Maybe you pass a recipe along to the audience if you don't know. Why would I broadcast secret ingredients on a radio show, Matt, even though you don't have any listeners. I think you're letting the emotions of the arm injury affect your politeness towards me. This is ridiculous. I'm going to go cry in the shower.

We mentioned nothing but the very best. Thank you. Goodbye. That's Garrett Cole, a mobile joining us. Connor, was he kind of edgy when you called him to get him on the show to see if he would join us? Was he, was there already in a bad mood to begin with? No, he was very polite to me. I don't know what that was all about.

So he got on there talking to you, he had a problem. He was like, hey, Connor, nice to see. Have you called on? What's going on? Our thing? Yeah, we were chopping it up like old pals. So I don't see, you must have angered him. I don't know.

God, I feel terrible now. I mean, I don't feel that bad, but it is what it is. All right. Garrett Cole, exclusive Houston interview right here. Sports Talk 790. And we will start the second hour here. We've only got 50 minutes left for the show. Come on and join us, please.

713, 212, 5, 790. Was I too rude to Garrett? I'm bringing up the fact he's going to be gone at least a season, if not longer. By the way, he's looking for a second opinion. I forgot to ask him about that. Is that only going to delay the process? 1057 on Sports Talk 790 with a word for Berkeley Eye Center. I want you to call 713-5-26 eyes.

Wait until after we're off the year, but call them and say, hey, my friend Matt from 790 has been talking about getting Lasic laser vision correction. The procedure itself takes a handful of minutes. The recovery time is less than 24 hours. And if you want to get rid of your glasses, if you are tired of contacts, and you want to see like basically 20-20, how about getting with BECLASIC.com or calling 713-526-I's for the incredible folks at Berkeley Eye Center. Mentioned me, you'll get a really nice preferred appointment time, locations all throughout the Houston area, best technology, amazing staff.

And my entire family uses Berkeley Eye Center for their eye care. You should too. So for LASIC or for anything when it comes to any sort of optical care, let it be known that Berkeley Eye Center is the place to go. 713-526-E-I's or BECLASIC.com for all the details of what's happening today at Berkeley Eye Center. Lunch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. Tari, lost the basketball, that's a steel, got it back on the ground,

bounced past the Thompson down the lane, and then chams it down. My goodness. Eason saves it on the floor and then Thompson with an infantic throwdown. Another one's on its way. Christian Walker at your stadium. There is no explanation for this. It just goes on and on and on. It's amazing.

He's not even cracking his smile. This defies all logic. My goodness. Stay in that bubble. Two men Thompson down the lane. Richard launches to end the game. It's no good. Off the top of the Beckett's win.

In Boston. Right down the middle of the goodness. Everybody, put your hands together. Palm to palm. Put it in front of you. Put your head down. And say a little prayer for a man, Thompson, and Christian Walker. God, Aritha Franklin is so good.

Ross. God, we, oh, I miss. Oh, she's no Kendrick Lamar, but God, she's close. She still lives on through the beauty of song, Matt. That she does. That she does. All right, we tried that a little hour ago, but we had issues. By the way, is Twitter having a tough thing? She's no Barry Manilow, but... I didn't say she was. I'd take

Eretta for the win. Are you having troubles with your Twitter account today? Yeah, Twitter's been problematic. It's been going off and on, and I don't think it's working at all now. To threads we go. Yeah, I can't do it. I don't do, I don't have done the other ones, blue sky, threads, any of that stuff. Just got to keep it simple.

All right, 1104 on Sports Talk 7-9. We have to tell the truth coming up at the bottom of the hour. Ross, did you hear Garrett Cole? He was very early. Very surly. But Conner said he was very nice to him when he came before he came out with me. Maybe he just doesn't like you. Maybe he's like Taylor Scott.

Taylor Scott's a friend of the show. That's true. Tell all the audience how great Taylor Scott was at AstroFest. He was really good. He was nice. He gave your phone number. He said, let's go have some pints. I was like, I felt the warmth of that conversation.

True. All right. Amand Thompson probably out my guest two weeks, but you know, in the NBA, that means quite a few games. The Rockets, by the way, are home the rest of this week and including next Monday. Five straight home games coming up. Wow. My wife's like, are you sure you can't go on the first? road for some games just go on a road trip or something i'm like i mean i've been talking about me

being gone all this time let's see how she is all right 713 212 5779 if you want to jump in our conversation 713 212 5790 we've had a variety of things on the on the agenda today including a man thompson christian walker running with his team but not swinging a bat for a few days ross i got a christian walker gut feeling tomorrow oh boy i don't like to hear this Well, you're going to have to hear it tomorrow at 1130. Maybe I'll just tune out. It wouldn't be the first time. Yeah.

Yeah. So I've got to, yeah, we've got to, I don't know. I am just of the belief, and I'm not trying to give you too much of a tease here, but spring training time missed usually means something's going to happen for the, you're going to be behind. And I do believe, I do believe Major League Baseball players are on a calendar. and I also believe that you don't want to force you getting back into the end of the batters box and going into the cage, you've got to let things naturally heal.

So as much as Chris Walker probably wants to get back out there and playing some games, getting ready for the start of the season, his body's telling him otherwise. We're going to be all right. It's going to be okay. Yeah, May 1st will be fine. Oh, come on. April 5. 15th will be fine.

Yeah, that's better. It's March 10th. Think about all these additions the Astros are going to have later in the year. You're going to have Christian Walker playing. Lance McCuller is going to be throwing. I mean, it's like inheriting new baseball players all at once. Yeah, the big question will be if Lance McCullors can still get outs. He could throw, he could throw bullpins and live BP's all he wants,

but is he going to be able to get outs at the major league level? That's the biggest question that's going to remain. And for me, changing speeds, being able to use his second and third pitches. Because, I mean, you can be able to hum fastballs so you're blue in the face. But the problem is, basically baseball players can hit fastballs. What made Lance McCuller's as good as he was back in the day was his ability to shift that curveball and make it utterly unhittable. He'll be fine.

I choose to be positive about Lance McCuller's Jr. Okay, so let's recap things so far. here. Okay. You have, and I'm talking about you, not the rest of the audience. Okay, just me. This is just you. Uh-huh. You've been positive about Jose Altovae and left field. Yes. You've been positive about Lance McCuller returning.

Yes. You have been positive that Christian Walker, this is just a blip on the radar, nothing more than that. It's going to be fine. Relatively good news, I heard. You have been positive that Forrest Whitley is going to finally make an addition to this major league team. I wouldn't say that, but he's been pitching well. Okay. All right. Um, you have been positive that, what else have been positive? I'm positive that Rodney Terry is going to be fired this offseason.

Oh, man. I did see a tweet yesterday and said, would it be too much to ask Chris Spirit if he wants to come back? Oh, that would be pretty crazy. You would take him in a heartbeat, I know you would. In a millisecond. No, I just gave pause, so not a millisecond. Okay, one and a half seconds. How about that?

Is that being fair? it's slimy. It's very slimy. It's not happening. The charges were dropped. Yeah, I mean, it was hashtag rough sex. I mean, it is. Okay.

That's, see, why did you go there? Because it was the rumor in the innuendo, and it wound up being pretty accurate. No, nobody calls the police for that. Well, but people confuse violence and with rough sex. No, the story was there was a, I mean, it was about, somebody got the glasses knocked off their face, and then there was strangulation and stuff like that, Matt.

I think there was a confrontation. Okay, well, thankfully nothing. But the woman had released a statement that it was all her doing, and he was just trying to restrain her. Did that happen over the weekend with the Chiefs' Wide Receiver, too, by the way? Oh, you mean another Longhorn legend? Xavier Worthy. Yes.

He gets arrested right. away. Yes. Charge was terrible. It was like holding a family member down against their will with the intent of, I don't know the exact term was, like basically not a line. Domestic challenge, violence, yeah. And then, I mean, like six or seven hours later, it was dropped.

Like, yeah, he was trying to defend himself. Right. Apparently, she found out that he was having a, he had a side piece, and she was not particularly happy about that. So that's when it became physical. And, yeah, the worthy's attorneys say that she had not vacated their household for two weeks, even though he was trying to get her out. So I, so I guess please and thank you didn't.

This again, we don't know. I mean, it didn't work, yeah. It was terrible. Yeah. How do we go from that to Chris Beard? I don't know. What were we talking about? Oh, I brought up Roddy Terry and then you brought up Chris Beard.

I know, I know, I know, I know. All right. So largely you have been Mr. positive in the asteros. And I'm right there with you. I mean, I want all the things you have been positive about to be accurate. Yeah. I'm not a doctor. I don't know how much time Christian Walker is going to be missing, so I'm going to be positive

about it. All right, I'm going to be positive. I think Cam Smith is going to be a special player for this organization. How about that? Okay, let's go. There's no breaking news on that bad boy, is there? I like that one too. All he does is slug, seriously. It's all he does. I don't know about his, I'm not

seen him played defensively, so I don't know what that's like. It doesn't matter. You can be a butcher over there as long as you can hit. That's Raphael Devers. It depends on where that is. Is it right field? Is it at third base? Does he sneak on the roster in one of those two capacities? He doesn't play outfield.

Or he hasn't played outfield. So, yeah, I want to say, has he even played any right field yet in baseball in the spring training this year? I don't think so. let me look at the lineup for today and see where he has. Because I do think he made the trip over. No, I can't. Oh, the Twitter is working now.

Okay, here we go. Astros will send, let's see here. Oh, I don't, is Kim. Oh, Smith is playing third base today again. He's bat in second. Ooh, goodness. He played three games and left in the Cape Cod League in 2020. Everything else?

Third base. So if he makes his team, he's going to do it as an infielder then. One game at short at Florida State. So he's got a deep, he's got a deep, rich history of playing on the left side of the infield. By the way, the Astros are playing the Toronto Blue Jays today. Will Wagner, former Astro Farmhand, batting seventh and deaching. You see who's batting ninth today for the Blue Jays? I did not.

Is it one? Does it rhyme with Moe Moe Profito? It does rhyme with Moe Moe Profito. He's batting ninth in playing center field. Good for him. So the future, the savior of the Astros offense is batting ninth for the Blue Jays today. Correct.

It feels like maybe there's a little bit of embellishment from people. A little oversold. You know how we get all caught up with prospects, Matt? In baseball. Yeah. is how Cam Smith's already in the Hall of Fame. No, he's got his, first of all, he has his orange jacket before he, soon the moment he got traded.

That's true. And then he is getting, and then he'll be in the, getting his jersey retired. They're going to retire his jersey as he's playing, like the Aggies did with that one guy. Oh, who was that? They're the basketball player. What was his name?

Oh, Wade Taylor the Fourth. Yeah. Or the third. I think he knows he's Way Taylor the Fourth. By the way, Aggies in the tournament? Texas Tech in the tournament. All right. Houston Cougars in the tournament?

Baylor? Sam Houston's SFA? One of those teams probably. Yeah, I mean, there's got to be a Sutherland team getting in from Texas. And, of course, the University of Texas is in a rightful spot in the NIT. I was reading that they were going to decline the NIT invitation. All right. Why?

I don't know. I guess, don't teams feel like it costs them money more than it makes them? Oh, by the way, Dan Matthews says that Worthy's girl was two-timing him, not she was. Oh. Okay. And he's like, please leave. She said, no, Biatch, I'm staying. And then they said, please leave.

Okay. So we'll figure something out. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-2-2-7-90. To tell the truth, bottom of the hour, you may join us next. at 713. 212.12. 790. Matt and Ross return.

Return. On Sports Talk 790. All right. It is 1119. On Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas Show with Ross. We're with you till 1150 today. We have Astro Spring Training today.

Tomorrow full four-hour show. And then a short day, Wednesday. And then a short day on Friday as well, as we are getting closer to the start of the 2,025. of a regular season and very excited again, of course, to be your home for Astros baseball. So headlines of the day, we've continued to go through a variety of things. NFL Frangency period starts today. I think it's really where they call it legal tampering.

Why don't you just forget rid of that phrase entirely and say, hey, call us, we'll talk to you, you talk to us, let's go. I mean, that's just like legal tampering is a dumb term. Yeah. I don't know what they could come up with to call it. It's like no crime stealing. Yeah, they do that decriminalized. They have decriminalized drugs.

Like it's illegal to, you know, sell or whatever marijuana, but up to a certain amount. And then you just get a ticket or something like that. They do decriminalize things that are still illegal. But every year it's like, if the NFL network's like, ladies and gentlemen, walk into legal tampering. This should call it decriminalized tampering. Yeah, it's just really weird.

It's really, really weird. So we got that going on. We have the Rockets and Magic tonight inside TOTA Center. We have Christian Walker not swinging to bat for a few days. I meant Thompson out probably two weeks. Garrett Cole has got Tommy John coming up. Kind of little little things going on. We have the NCAA tournament starting not this week, but the week after.

It is college tournament week. and there continues to be this run of let's add another bracket to the tournament and that's had 16 more teams to it I don't know to me 68's plenty it's going to happen it's going to happen because they're going to get more money

well it's funny because everything in sports Ross it's not just we're plenty happy with what we have let's add more and at some point does And in college basketball, honestly, to me, if you really wanted to add more, Ross, I think you keep the tournament as it's 68. You just let these college teams go to 40 games. Me real, I mean, I know they can't know, 35 somewhere in that range before tournament. Oh, okay.

Some more regular season games? Yeah. I mean, tell me, these kids are playing twice a week. you know it's usually a Saturday Monday or Thursday Saturday I mean they're still getting plenty of time who knows I don't know it just I don't want the I don't want the tournament to mean something I want people to feel like it hurts when you don't get in and when you when you add another bracket of 16 teams

aren't you basically saying unless you suck you're going to the tournament well I mean you could argue I don't even think it should be 68. I'd be down to 64. Maybe even more. I mean, it's a 64th? What's the lowest seed to win at all? I guess it's happened recently,

like an 8 seed or something like that? Lately, I don't know. I know that Villanova did not in the 80s one is a 10th seat, if I'm not mistaken. They had a huge upset over Georgetown. Yeah, I just Googled it. They were 8 seed. Okay.

Usually. That's still the lowest seed to win. win at all. It's usually ones and twos unless the tournament is played in Houston and then you got a bunch of randos that nobody knows about. Hey, Yukon won that one year. Oh, the last one was pretty bad. It was a Florida Atlantic.

Florida Atlantic. Florida Atlantic. San Diego State. Who else was the final? It showed you how little memories we have about these things. Was it Yukon? No. I thought they were not, there were four schools you were calling meh. Yeah.

I'll try to find it. Okay. Point being is I just don't know that you're going to be in a spot where adding more teams is going to add another element. I guess it's more betting. It's more games on television. You open it up to another television network. That's what it is. When you see these expansions of sports, all you're seeing basically is an opportunity to put more games on television.

It's where the NFL is going to go to an 18th week. It's going to happen. Let's open up another slate of games because either you're going to make sure CBS and Fox get their number of games because you're taking so many of the way to put on Netflix and Amazon Prime and whatever ESPN new deal is going to happen. So, you know, I don't know what to think on this. But I love the NCAA tournament. I love tournament week. I'll be honest with you. I love watching the American East Championship when some never school I never heard of beats under school.

and they want to get to go to the tournament. Is there anybody? Is there any fan? Like just us regular Joe's who are not the presidents and the NCAA officials and the people negotiating these TV deals. Is there anybody who says

that we want more teams in the tournament? I would say probably those would be smaller Division I schools. Like how many Division I schools are playing basketball? About 350 give or take? Somewhere around there. So the percentage of, so you're basically saying one out of every

six schools. Gets a shot at a national championship. That's a lot. Yeah. And the tournament, even though you have the, you know, you have the top-end schools, you've got your Kentuckies and you have your U-Kons and you have your other schools, there are also a lot of school, you know, every other school has a chance. Like, for instance, even if Miami of Ohio goes to a perfect 12-and-0 during the course of the year

wins the Mac Championship. the chance of them running the table in a football tournament, even if they're the group of five champion, it's probably minimal. You can catch Miami-O-Ohiole basketball playing really, really well and play for six amazing games and won a championship. I mean, it's more probable for a lesser-known school to win a college basketball national championship

than it is to win a football national championship. Yes. so maybe there's a group of those people that are like, you know what, Bowling Green, you were so awesome this year, you won 21 games, you just need to get in the dance and prove them how good you really are. Where I don't think anybody is going,

man, I really, really wish Colorado State was in the football college playoff because I think they can beat Alabama one week. I think they can beat Notre Dame the next week. I think they can beat USC the following week. Yeah, but even if that team does that, the smaller team, that doesn't mean they're the best team in the country.

No, it means they just won the tournament. They got into a big tournament But you have to do it that way You don't have enough of a season You can't play best of sevens against everybody you play They should actually Instead of adding more games That makes series

Let's go 16 best teams best best of three You'd have a true national champion You would But you'd also eliminate just about I mean You think the power fives Or non-power fives get mad about not getting the tournament

now and the football tournament imagine when they're no chance they're getting these bad boys. Yeah, the 23 final four had Yukon, San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, and Miami. Say it one more time? Oh, Miami was the most price I'm going to ask one. Miami, who was

a four? Oh, Yukon, Yukon. Oh, so Yukon was in it. Yeah, they won it. That's right. That was the first of their two national championships, I think, in a row. Mm-hmm. But Yukon, I mean, even though Yukon is a national power, it just doesn't carry a whole lot of

national cashier. Like people aren't on the edge of their seats waiting to see what Yukon's doing. By the way, there's rumors that the Cooper Flag might stay at Duke. He's like, if I'm going to go to the Charlotte Hornets, the hell with that. Hmm. Interesting.

I think Cooper Flag could make millions of dollars next year and stay at Duke. Yeah, but first round pick, I think you get... One dashed run has got to be filthy. I think you get a wrong. around 15 million a year. Let me look.

Yeah. I don't know. I think people are just throwing that out there. If you're Cooper Flagg and you're the best player in college basketball and even close, there's nothing else you could do it, besides just enjoy the college life

for one more year. Four years, 57 million for Zachary Lerichase. Yeah, he's going to the NBA. Let's play to tell the truth next. 1129 here on Sports Talk 790, 713. 3212 5790 But yet I do, ladies and gentlemen

Time for us to Figure out of Connor and Ross know When I'm telling the truth And when I'm not Gentlemen, I want to make sure we're very clear on this Three of the Four Things I believe. You guys ready for that? Three of the four things

We're trying to find the lie The one he doesn't believe. The one lie, Ross. How many lies do I have? One lie. Connor, how many lies? Just one. Thank you.

Here we go. I really do believe that Christian Walker will not be ready for the start of the season. Thus, adding the fact that the Astros are going to be really concerned about right field, Cam Smith somehow, some way, is going to make this opening day roster. And I did not think that was going to be a situation. Not because of Chaz, but more because I think they're afraid about Christian Walker not being ready to go for the 2025 opener. Doesn't mean he's going to be here the whole year. Doesn't mean he can't slump and go back to the minor leagues.

But I think his spring training plus Christian Walker's unavailability makes him a prime guy to start the season with the big league roster. Although, I don't think the Astros want to do this. So that's kind of two takes in one. You got Christian Walker out to start the season and Cam Smith making the opening day off. Yeah, it's all part of one take, right? Okay. It's confusing.

If then. Now, I don't think they want to do this, but I think you just... Okay. It would look a little weird if they didn't bring him up, especially if Christian wasn't ready. Take number two. I think Brendan Rogers has been impressive.

The glove has been with this, has been solid as you would expect it. They're going to give him a shot to play some second base over this course of this year. And at least early on, I think Christian, I think Brendan Rogers makes the opening day roster. That's take number two. Okay. Take number three boys is a little weird one, but just stay with me on this.

The WNBA is threatening a strike, right? They are. Yes. Breaking news! Boys, the WNBA players and the league will not force a strike. The WMBA from a league and the WMBA players cannot afford the negative backlash of having a strike. It will be the crux of every sports joke for however long it goes. And for a league who's fighting for credibility and for a league that's never made a dime yet,

profitability. There is a little bit of positive momentum with Caitlin Clark. There is some positive momentum of Angel Reese and some other people involved. they're going to figure out a way to get this done because if you go on strike for a league that has not turned to profit yet, you'll be made fun of on SportsCenter, you'll be made fun of on every radio show in the country, you'll be made fun of on Tonight Show and the Comedy Centrals and whatnot.

The WNBA will avoid a strike because they are definitely afraid of potential negative backlash from America if a league that has not turned to profit goes on strike. And number four. The money that is being spent on quarterbacks in the National Football League is going to continue to crush salary caps year after year after year. The NFL should go to implement a cap on quarterback spending. And it would probably be something of a formula based off of total cap money spent, percentages, whatever.

But you just cannot continue to see these quarterbacks getting 55, 6. 60, 65, $70 million a year. You will crush caps. The NFL that was smart would put a cap on quarterbacks. So, Mike, let me give you the four takes again. Christian Walker won't be ready. Thus, Cam Smith's making the opening day roster. Brendan Rogers making the opening day roster, that's also take number two.

Take number three, the WNBA players in a league will avoid a strike because they can't afford the backlash. And number four, the money being spent on quarterbacks is going to crush salary caps. The NFL needs to go to implement a cap. on quarterbacks. Which one of the four am I not telling the truth? Ross? Connor, you want me to talk? I think we can, I think he believes three by the WNBA. I'd be hard pressed to believe Matt's going to be stumping for WNBA players.

Yeah. So I'm with you on that. I honestly think I might be between one and four. I think Brendan Rogers has, like, has enough maybe. It's a very vanilla take. I don't think Matt imagines that Brendan Rogers has no shot to play some second base because, you know, Dubon is a utility man and So it's got to be between one and four for me.

I'm with you. I don't agree with either of these, so I guess it's a matter of which one is more believable that Matt believes. That's the thing. You might not agree, and it might be a terrible take, but Matt can still believe. You have to get inside of the head of a man with really bad takes. Oh, this is tough. Not that you guys rude to me, but you're doing it in front of my ears.

It's just the worst. I'm going with one. I think, I don't think Matt really believes that. Cam Smith can make the opening day roster, even if Christian Walker should hurt and can't start. I think Cam Smith, he hasn't even played AAA. Okay, now, Matt, on number four, I must ask, you're saying the NFL will implement a cap on quarterback spending, or you're saying they should. Should. I'll go with four.

All right, I got one. You're right. Brendan Rogers has been a very vanilla take. It's not like Maricio Dubon has done enough in terms of being a powerful bad. I mean, what's the real difference between Brendan Rogers' bad and? And Marisa will do Bondsbat, not much. But you need extra in-field help. And if, again, Christian Walker doesn't make the roster coming out of spring training,

it's going to potentially open a spot for him. The gloves been really good so far in spring training. I think Brandon Rogers can make the roster. The WMBA cannot strike, boys. They just can't. They will be made fun of to levels that even if it's a short strike, it'll be a running joke and why would you want to interrupt any sort of

you got charter flights now you're getting more money I'm sure they want some more things you're filling up arenas good good good good good you don't want to start any possible shot of positive momentum by having a player strike they've got to figure it out you cannot go on strike number one and number four pretty darn close while I think Cam Smith

should make the roster coming out of spring I think they're a little worried about the clock starting early especially because of the fact that he has had no major league experience he has never seen any more than double a pitching I think Campsmith is again May 15th sooner rather than later

but I do believe the NFL needs to put a cap on quarterbacks that's ridiculous bang The salary cap keeps going up. I'm proud of you, Connor. I was down to 1 in 4-2. Now, Rossi...

A cap on quarterback spending. It's the most valuable position in sports. I do believe they're going to say you cannot spend any more than certain percentage in your quarterbacks. That's ridiculous. And the reason why, I mean, it may be ridiculous, but you are seeing... We're going to see a $75 million of your quarterback eventually. If no... If this situation does not get capped off,

You're going to absolutely destroy your roster with second tier players and multiple positions if you continue to spend 30% your cap on one football player. The numbers keep looking bigger and bigger because the cap keeps going up and up. But here's my thought, Ross, and I don't have proof of this. I know you don't. I feel like the quarterback number is going higher at the rate than the cap rate. I don't believe that's true. The cap is $280 million this year.

five years ago is 198. Okay, so the cap is 280, you said? Yes, five years ago it was 198. So if I spent $75 million on one player, which nobody has. Well, we're getting closer, are we not?

No, it's at 60 right now, and Josh Allen just signed for 55 a year. Okay, so let's say it's 60. You're still talking about, what's 28, 280 into 60? 34, 35% on one player? Mm-hmm. It's only going to get higher.

You know what? Criticize me. I'm fully expect this from you. Good. They're going to put a cap on the money that is being spent on a quarterback. You cannot, you're only going to have to spend a certain percentage of your salary on the quarterback. Whether you choose to do that as your own right. It could happen, but I would say it's a very, very, very long shot.

Well, the reason that would help your cause a little bit is that maybe you could say that's, you're colluding against a position. that's not fair to do that. Why cap a position that is as important as you said it was? I understand why you're saying what it is. I'm just saying, I think, for the economics of the sport, for the other players, I'm thinking, man, I'm a number one receiver. Well, we can't pay you like that because we're paying 35% of our salary to one player of our cap. All right.

1143, sports talk, 790. Back to wrap things up, get you ready for Astros spring training baseball after Ross is going to tell you how you feel. about yourself. Yes, it's very easy how to feel better about yourself, how to get your energy back up. If you hit your 30s, 40s and beyond, and you've been slowing down, motivation hasn't been there, you're plateauing in workouts, not feeling the same, libido's been bad. It's getting embarrassing at home. What is going on? I'm in this rut. Centrogenics, testosterone, and weight loss. The true TRT experts that give you the personalized therapy, it's going to go beyond

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The Matt Thomas Show with Ross continues on Sports Talk 790. We have just a few seconds left. Texans Ross signed Braxton Burrios to a one-year. year $2 million contract. If I was on Twitter, Ross, I would say, what was your favorite? Stefan Diggs is a Houston Texan moment. I wouldn't say that necessarily.

Wait a minute. They've already signed Christian Kirk and Braxton Berra? Are you kidding? No way. He's done. Gonzo. We're Gonzo too, are we not? Pretty much.

We got a minute left. You think he's coming back? Braxton Berrios is just a return, man, and like a fourth receiver. This might be what's your favorite, I don't know, Xavier Hutchinson? Oh, is John Mechie in trouble? Maybe.

By the way, is Twitter ever going to work here today? This is not good. What's going on? Maybe hit me up, threads.net at SportsRV. Don't know it. Don't do it. Don't do it. You're a waste of time.

All the big reporters are posting NFL news on there. So I'm seriously. Go to threads.net. There's Jimmy Garapolo is signing with the Rams. Let's see. Devante. Wait, that's already happened. You have a following tab now instead of for you there, too.

Chris Godwin just signed with the Buccaneer. Sorry, go ahead. Get away. Go have lunch specials. $9.99 lunch specials. Side dish, soft drink, main entree. Big City wings. Today, it's also $1 chicken tenders.

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Stand by Astros baseball is up next. Talk to you tomorrow at 10 right here on Sports Talk 7-9.