The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - SiriusXM’s JIm Bowden Joins The Show Talking MLB & Houston Astros

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

SiriusXM’s JIm Bowden Joins The Show Talking MLB & Houston Astros

It is 101 on Sports Talk 790. We are very pleased to be joined by a man you can hear on Sirius XM radio on the baseball channel that does a great job. It's MLB Network Radio. Also, a contributor for the athletic and has a terrific perspective because he's a former general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Longtime baseball executive, Jim Bowden, with us here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Jim, it's Matt and Ross. Thank you for the time. We appreciate it.

Let me ask you right off the get-go. We know, look, we live through the, world of the Astros, and we are completely stunned at what they're able to do, five-game lead in the American League West, tied for the second best record in the American League. Are other cities doing this with their teams, or are the Astros just this incredible one-off of injured players that are just pulling off this miracle story so far this year? Well, you've got a great general manager in Dana Brown who has done incredible things, and I think you have to start there, right?

I mean, you know, it's really hard to move on from a superstar player like Kyle Tucker, but he was able to pivot and turn that into Cam Smith and he sock Paredes. That was an amazing trade for the Houston Astros to allow them to continue to contend. And he has done an incredible job of drafting since he's been there as well. He has a keen eye on prospects and talent. He's not afraid to promote prospects. He's not afraid to pull that trigger if he thinks the prospect is ready to. to compete and help win at the major league level.

And credit ownership, too. I mean, you know, the ownership of the Astros is the one that continuously makes these moves, right? And moved on from AJ Hinch to Dusty Baker to Joe Espada, moved on from Jeff Luno to Dana Brown. I mean, he's done a really good job in that seat. And he gives his GMs the finances it takes to win, the creativity, not afraid to walk away from giving a bad contract. and, you know, I think it's just a well-oiled, well-run organization. And I think one of the things that stands out about this year's Astros team is how good they are against good teams.

And I always look for that. That matters, especially when you start to look ahead to October. The Astros are 14 and 4 against the first place teams. All the teams are in the first place right now. And they've got two aces in Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez, which means an impact closer and hey, they're in a great setup guy in the Bray, which means you can run the table in the playoffs. pretty easily. And they're not done. I mean, look, I think Dana Brown's either going to get a

big starter or I think he's going to get a big left-ean and bat at the deadline. We'll see. We're a week away. But Houston, you don't have a problem. You brought up the ownership, and one of the things that we have to fight here with some of our naive Astro fans is that Jim Crane doesn't spend money. The Astros are always top seven, top eight in payroll, and it's been that way for about seven or eight years now, especially as a team has been good. What he won't do is he won't do those super mega contracts. let's not use Miami maybe your former team

maybe some of the bottom third teams that just haven't had a history of spending it but like the top 20 teams are other cities fighting for their players to get seven, eight year nine year contracts or is Jim a one-off on this? No, everyone's fighting for the same thing

and I think if you give them you've got to make sure you're giving it to the right guy. Now let's go back in history. Did they make a mistake and not paying Carlos Correa? No, they didn't make a mistake. The right decision was to walk away. Jeremy Pena, before he got injured, was the best player on the Astros this year. So they were able to replace him.

But if you had given the Correa the twins contract or what the Giants and Mets had offered before the medical nix those deals, you know, everyone would regret it. Minnesota doesn't want to have that on their books right now. I'm sorry. He's a good player. I love Carlos Correa. Help win a world championship for Houston in 2000.

2017. I get it. But walking away was the right movement. And I know George Springer is having a fountain of youth season for them, but anyone that watched them the last two years has to be happy that the Astros didn't give him that long-term deal. You know, I would say the one that the one that he didn't do that I think he should have done was Kyle Tucker. That's just my opinion, because I think he's going to age extremely well. And I think at one point they could have given him the Austin Riley deal that the Braves gave to Riley. And that's the one I would have done, but I give them credit. And, you know, look, if you have a GM that can turn Tucker into Cam Smith and Parades and keep winning, you know, it's hard to sit there and argue that Jim Crane

didn't make the right decision. You know, you're going to have six years of Cam Smith. And by the way, you know, were you going to pay Tucker $600 million? No. See, when you could have signed them at the Austin Riley deal, that would have been a good investment. You can't sign Tucker now. That's why they had to trade him because otherwise he's going to be 600 million. And, you know, you're not, you're not New York, Philadelphia, or L.A. You know, you're a top eight market, but you're not,

you know, you don't have the revenues that they have. So, you know, to put 600 million on one player, no, you go you go trade for Camp Smith and Parades. Jim Bowden with us here on Sports Talk 790. Ross with you as well here, Jim, and I had a question for you about the Astros having a lot

of pitchers on the IL, but a lot of these guys rehabbing. What do you think, philosophically, if you can put yourself in Dana Brown's shoes, where you've got guys like Spencer Arrogati, Christian Javier, Luis Garcia, possibly coming back, but you need starting pitching. What is it like for you trying to weigh when guys are coming back and addressing the need at the deadline? You always have a need. Go get as many as you can.

Here's what you can't control. And you haven't been able to control it for six years. For six years, you can't make waiver trades in August. So if you get two more injuries in October, August, what are you going to do? You can only bring up the guys in AAA. It's not like you can do what you did in 2017 when you traded for Justin Burland on August 31st and ended up winning a world championship, right? It's not going to be like, you know, when the Rangers, Chris Young went out and traded for Jordan Montgomery when everyone else is trying to get them and he won a

world championship with Jordan Montgomery. So you can't, you know, you don't know who's going to get hurt in August and September. All you have to do is look at the Dodgers injury list. They have 11 guys on the injured list. A lot of their star pitchers on the injured list, right? Take a deep breath and let's understand that's part of baseball in 2025. Because we're doing such a great job of teaching pitchers how to maximize velocity, maximize player movement, maximize grips, guys are going to get hurt. Because the body, the pitching body, when you're born, was not meant to do this.

It wasn't meant to throw 100. It wasn't, the elbow wasn't meant to be bent at the angles that were bending. it now. Pitchers are going to blow out. You can't get enough. You just can't. So don't count on guys. Just keep trading for as much pitching as you can. And when you're done doing that, go get some more. And when you're done doing that, get more than that. You'll never have enough. It's interesting you bring that up because I was actually going to talk about that with you as well. Is this just the new normal? This is just how it's going to be? You just build teams and get as much pitching and guys are just going to blow their arms out?

Yeah. And then we've got to help the medical team continues to find ways to improve the surgeries. I think this new brace surgery is working. Look at Lucas Gialito in Boston. It's working. That's exciting. And we've got Brandon Woodruff coming back from the shoulder surgery at a level where it looks like he hasn't missed a beat. He looks like an ace right now in Milwaukee. You know, back in the day when I was a GM, there's no chance you come back from that shoulder.

But the medical profession is really figuring out how to get guys healthy. But you're still going to have to – you've got to imagine. that every picture you have at some point is going to miss a year and a half with Tommy John surgery. You just got to ban. Every time you sign a guy, you've got to tell your own, if you're going to give Corbin Burns eight years, you've got to tell them you're only going to get six, and you're only going to get four good years. And you're going to get two years where he regress and two years where he's on the injured list. And that's just what you have to expect.

That's where we are right now. That's where the industry is until someone can figure out a better way to do it. That's what you're looking at. A couple more minutes here with Jim Bowden with us from MLB Network Radio and Sirius, Jim, speaking of pitching, what's the market going to be on Framber Valdez next year? He's going to get paid. And he's a man. They're not out there.

He's going to get paid. He won't be an astro. I mean, I don't see how Jim Crane and Dana Brown are going to be able to pay him. I really don't. So, I mean, I'd like to be optimistic and say it's going to happen. But, you know, when you're competing with the Yankees' checkbook and the Dodgers checkbook and the Mets checkbook, it's, you know, it's hard to keep these. guys and they all get overpaid. And as I just explained, once you sign them, everything you've seen for the last five years, don't think you're going to see it the next five years.

Some point he's going to get hurt and he's going to miss time. It's going to happen. At some point, he's going to regress. That's the way it happened. So the question is, do you want to go and take the $220 million gamble or do you want to do what the Mets are doing? I mean, look, it's risky. but you also have to understand if you're going to commit the $220 million, you might have to do what Arizona is doing and look at them on the injured list, which doesn't feel good at that money. Yeah. All right, crystal ball time.

And don't worry if you're not, since you're doing the show in Houston here, you do MLB Network Radio for a huge audience. But give us your crystal ball assessment of how this American League playoffs is going to end up here in 2025. Well, the Astros are going to win the American League West, and they're going to get into the playoffs. And then from there, it's a total crap shoot. I think Houston has as good a chance of any of getting to the World Series.

If I had to pick a team today, I would pick Houston getting there, but that's subject to change. We've got a long way to go. But I do like how they're set up with two aces, two impact relievers at the back, and a team that grinds the way they grind every day. But, you know, I don't think there's a lot of difference between Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Tigers, Mariners. I think the Rangers are going to get back in this race, too. I mean, I think we're in for a really fun October. Because I don't think you look at the National League. I think they have six teams in the National League literally can get to the World Series.

I believe that. And if I look at the playoffs in the American League, which you're asking me and say, okay, which playoff team has no chance of getting to the World Series? There isn't one. They all have a chance. We don't have, in my opinion, the team in either league right now today that is so dominant that they should be the clear favorites. And very last question.

We're watching a certain very talented third baseman for the Arizona Dymabacks play the Astros this week. And he has been named up, Mr. Suarez, as we're speaking of, where do you think he ends up here in the next 11, 12 days? I don't know. That's a Mike Hazen question, the GM of the Diamondbacks. I talked to Mike on Sunday and asked him, and he is hoping he doesn't sell at the deadline. He said, I hope we have a really good week, and I hope I can choke the supply and help. the sellers out by just taking Arizona out of being a seller. That's what he's hoping to do. We'll see how they play. You know, they're five and a half games out. If we're sitting here next

week and they're three and a half out, he's not going to trade him. So he'll be a diamond back. If we're looking at it next week and he's seven and a half games out and loses a couple more games, he's going to get traded. And then I think you have to look at Yankees, Seattle, Cubs as the most likely landing spots. Jim, I enjoy your work on MLB Network Radio. Thank you so much for the time. We hope to bother you again down the road, and we really appreciate your perspective on things, and enjoy the rest of your day, and enjoy this trade deadline coming up next week. Thank you very much. I appreciate you having me on. Thank you. Jim Bowden joining us. Your excellent guest here on the Matt Thomas Show.