The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 1-13-20

Episode Date: January 13, 2020

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 1/13/20Bill O'Brien will Never Lead The Texans To A Superbowl (0:00)Full Bill O'Brien Press Conference (20:18)Astros Suspensions and Fines Come Down (41:09)The Darkest Day In Houston Sports History (47:02)Brian T. Smith joins Ross to talk about the Astros' Punishment (1:09:33)Jim Crane Addresses MLB Punishment and Releases AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow (1:33:32)

So much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 12-02 in H-town. What's happened, lunchtomers? It's a Monday edition, Matt Thomas show, right here on Sports Talk 790. The rain falls.

Sports rave. responsibility today between now and three o'clock although I'll be litting me a little earlier to get on to Memphis but it's our responsibility as major market radio host friends and confidence to tens of people here in the Houston area to men broken hearts is is heartbroken the word we're going with I'm okay with that yeah because there's other ways to describe it I mean we could come on here and scream and yell and we could you know say you know, it's AFC champions

four years out of six, three, two out of the last three, you know, all that crap that you don't want to hear. We could be traveling Texan fan and paint our face and put a bunch of chains around our neck and say, let's go to Union Station in downtown Kansas City and scream and yell

about how great the team. We're not going to do that. We get too many people that are, that have brains, that are just continuing to hope. I mean, think about it, Ross. the optimism about the city of Houston after the Buffalo win was immense. And you and I all week, and we saved our predictions until Friday,

we just couldn't buy into it. And I told you I even thought about, you know, maybe leaning a little bit more to that direction. But at the end of the day, I couldn't do it. Not because I thought the defense was going to give up 41 consecutive points. They did. not that the fact that J.J. Watt was just a guy out there. He was.

Not that Lonnie Johnson Jr. has never covered a tight end before in his life. Well, he didn't on Sunday. Not that Travis Kelsey is going to get his own spot in the Ring of Honor at Energy Stadium next to T.Y. Hilton's. But it's because of the fact that I have told you this, and you even called me out on it several times last week. Bill O'Brien is never ever going to lead the Texans to the Super Bowl Bill's got some strong opinions on that

Ross, yes Matthew I'm telling you what I just told you and I told you that last year and you made me and I was I wasn't hedging I was like you know what if I got to eat crow in a couple weeks I'll do it Yeah, you were nervous as an alley cat, Matt. I was nervous as a cat, not an alley cat.

There's no such thing. Because cats are generally speaking of nervous. Okay. It's never going to happen on his watch. And I'm not even sure it ever will happen on the McNair watch, to be brutally honest. I'm not ready to do that yet because I'm hoping that Cal is going to make the right decision that someone is going to wake him up this morning. I know he's still in a deep slumber.

Because, I mean, he doesn't have a nine to five job. He's running a multi-billion-dollar organization with very good. business people behind underneath him. You just collecting money. I don't know how I could disagree with you, Matt. We ran through the scenarios through the week. We talked about it, like you said, we held off on our predictions until Friday. And one of the things we talked about, nobody, we said 10-point dogs, but we said that doesn't mean 0% chance, right?

We said some things have to break the Texans way. They have to get some lucky plays. They have to get some splash plays. They have to get some chunk yards down the field. They have to, I don't know, say, get a big touchdown to Kenny Stills to start the game. Or say, I don't know, get a punt blocked for a touchdown. Or say, have the other team in the Kansas City Chiefs have a couple of drops or misplays when it comes to key third downs. You know, every single thing that could have gone the Texans way that we said, this is how they're going to win.

It went their way and they still blew it. Blown out. How? And they lost by 20. How? How did this happen? Y'all got mad at me. Matt, they're not going to lose by 20.

I think I had it 37-17. I was off. Yeah, you were. I'm going to tell you this right now. I'm going to tell you this right now. And I put this out on Twitter, and it got one of the most liked retweets. Not that I'm looking to get that,

but this is just, you know, you're making observations. The first 15 minutes of that game were the most incredible, unbelievable, and I forgot to put, The best 15 minutes in Houston Texans football history. You're on the road in a divisional playoff game with a chance to go to the AFC championship game, and you're at 24-0. I want to ask a question to the audience early on, and you're going to have to be, you're going to have to tell me the truth. Because Ross, all we believe on this show is telling the truth, right? Yes.

Except for the three lies that I tell on average per day. It doesn't necessarily mean it happens on the show. I'm just lying three times per day. When the Texans got up 24-0, if you did any of the following, I want you to call me and tell me this right now. 713-212-5-790. Did you go to Stubhub and start looking at prices for the AFC championship game? I want to know if he did that. I want to know if you did anything in order of trying to make your plans for next Sunday,

either to be getting buddies together for a trip of golf and maybe watching it at a hotel or something, or maybe you were going to plan a party at your house, or maybe you were going to the neighboring watering hole bar to have a couple of pops and get like a couple of groups at tables of 10. But how many of you got to your computers and started looking up prices for the AFC championship game at the end of the first quarter? I want the truth and I want it now because I bet you did. I did not, Matthew.

You and I were, I saw what you did all yesterday. Matter of fact, there's a picture of us staring in each other's eyes. Yes. And I had people actually try to glance. I said caption this and none of you got it right. Funny results.

Y'all are funny. But none of you are captioning accurately what Ross and I were talking about it. And we'll never tell you. because some things just meant for secrets. It will be highly inappropriate, Ross, what our topic and conversation was when that photo was taken. The most inappropriate.

Just so inappropriate. So I'm telling you right now, I'm calling you out. If you went to go look at ticket prices, your ass better be calling my show right now. Because I want you to tell me, I want you to apologize, and then I'm going to say, I'm sorry back to you, my friend,

because that's why we open the show with broken hearts because you were already thinking about how you were going to spend that money to get to the game, how you were going to pay for those tickets, Ross. Ross, you know what it's like when you're up at the blackjack table when you've won 10 or 11 hands on a row and you're up a couple hundred bucks and you're thinking about how you're going to spend that money the rest of the trip and then you lose one hand and another hand and another hand and then you're down $150 before you know it.

There were people, Ross, throughout Southeast Texas, going to stub a hub to buy AFC championship tickets. And you should have, because it was 24 to nothing. Rossi, fourth and one, they go for the field goal. I got zero problem with that. It's a four-score game. Again, I know three, eight-point conversion touchdowns would have made it three. but that wasn't how it was going to work.

The fact of the matter is, you are going to have to, under all circumstance, Ross, score as many points as often and as many opportunities you have got to go. So get the three, that's fine. You want to put a foot on the throne on fourth and one? I could accept that too. Either way, I was cool with that. I would say I'm like 55% go for it, 45%. I totally get.

You just want to bank points. And at that point, it was unthinkable that you were just going to yak up the 24 point lead the way that they did. Yep. All right. Quick time out, and I got five people on the line. Like, Rossi, I knew this was going to happen. I knew y'all did it. Y'all went looking for tickets. And it's okay. We accept that.

That's only men broken hearts on a Monday edition of the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. By the way, Bill O'Brien should be fired. I don't know if it's going to happen, but he needs to go. For multiple reasons. He's not going anywhere. He's boorish. Two, he thinks he's a lot better than he is. and three, he's a terrible game day coach.

I don't care what Deshawn Watson said about that's his guy. He was saying that because he's being politically correct. 713-212-5-790. He's how you reach our show. 7-13-212-5-790. Matt Thomas continues. On Sports Talk 790. I'm not really disappointed.

I mean, like I said, it's NFL football. We just didn't go our way. The ball didn't bounce our way in the second half. more from the second quarter to the rest of the game so no need to be disappointed like i said i'm i'm very courage for this organization for this team for the city and uh i mean you might be disappointed but i'm not um as long as i'm in this organization i'm in the city we're definitely going to be in games like this so uh we're just going to keep pushing forward and and keep moving two things first of all it is absolutely fully a lot of be disappointed second he's

He's a really good ambassador for this organization and for our city. I'm a huge Deshaun Watson fan, but he doesn't believe with what he's saying. It's almost like Ross, you know, when you get out of surgery, you're so groggy, you just say a bunch of things that don't make any sense. I suppose, yes. That's exactly what Deshaun was. He's just completely out of it and groggy and his head is spinning. Correct. I could buy that there is some truth to Deshawn Watson thinking that Texans can win with Bill O'Brien.

There's no chance. chance. You think he wants him out? No. Well, I mean, publicly, I'll never say that. So, okay, probably, yeah, we're speculating here, right? Yeah. I don't, I mean, because that's the alternative. Here's what it is. Publicly and privately, he likes Bill O'Brien. And he would like, and he's very comfortable with his coach, because Bill gives him a lot of latitude because Deshawn's awesome. But if, but if Cal McNair came and said, look, we got to, we got to change this. I don't think Deshawn's

going to be like, uh, this, that I went out of here. He ain't, he ain't going to fall on the sword for him. Trust me on this. He ain't falling on the sword. No chance. No way, no how. He was saying all the right things yesterday because Deshaun is a good human being. He just is.

But I don't believe it. And at the end of the day, when he's in, when he got home last night at midnight and put his head on his pillow, he's like, good God. We're never going to get there. But I appreciate Deshaun's attempt to be, to put a smiley face on this bad boy. In that quote we played, this was, I think, a key moment in it. As long as I'm in this organization, I'm in a city, we're definitely going to be in games like this. Games like this.

I don't want to be in gambling that ever again. All right, we got people to get to. Let's say hi to some folks. Don and West Columbia on the Matt Thomas Show 1222. Hi, Don. Hey, how you guys doing? Good. What's going on?

Well, those three things that you mentioned, I didn't do any of them because I'm a Chief fan. So I was kind of hurting there until the second half. But I like the Texans, but for 20 years, just to have been the same old crap. I tell you when it's going to change is when the owner looks out of his, the expensive field box and goes, wow, there's only 5,000 people here. Where's all the season ticket holders? Well, there ain't going to be no more because they don't make a change. And I love the Texans. I really do.

But I'm a Chiefs fan. And I'm a Texans fan when they don't. don't play the Chiefs, okay? I get it. Thank you, Don, for the phone call. It's all right. Hey, thanks, buddy. You guys have a great day.

You as well. I can't, you know, it's a little weird to be a Chiefs and a Texas fan, but, you know, family things where you grew up, that's okay. Now, you can say it, Matt. It's unacceptable. No, let me tell you something. Okay, no, it's not right. I don't want to be one of those stupid-ass talk to people that tells you how to fan.

That tells you how to fan. You fan the way you want a fan. Let me let's talk about some really stupid stuff Okay Going kicking the field goal In my mind not stupid Fake punt Super stupid

Especially on that end of the field Giving Giving a KC 35 yards of score Okay super stupid Not the dumbest move ever As someone said But it was really stupid I will say it is defensible

In that if Bill O'Brien is saying, I'm looking at my defense and saying there is no way in hell. We are going to be able to stop the Kansas City Chiefs for four quarters. I have to do what I need to do to get us the ball and keep the ball for as long as possible. Then, I mean, it makes it slightly defensible. But I'm with you. But the situation, the timing, the side of the field, the where you are and the repercussions if you miss it, it is 10,000 times worse if you don't get it than if you do.

And so that's why it's a bad call. It's inconsistent, Ross, with then not going forward on fourth and one then. If you think you can't get enough points, then you go for seven more. Right. But that isn't even the dumbest thing. I went to play by play, because I want to make sure I was right about this. And, you know, again, in the fourth quarter, I had had four or five McAultras, so I don't know if I was all the way there.

Fourth quarter, they're down. Matter of fact, let me pull this out here. By the way, if you want to join us, 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7. 790. Fourth quarter, Rossi. They are down 38 to 48, 31, okay? First and 10 at the Houston 25, Watson short pass to Thomas. Second down, pass deep to DeAndre Hopkins, gets it first down. First and 10 at the 48, second and eight, four of the 42, third and fourth to 42. That's an incomplete pass to Kenny Stills. They tried DeAndre Hopkins before that. It was fourth and four. Okay, imagine this if you're driving. Close your eyes if you can.

If you're driving the dome. Rossi, fourth and four at the Kansas City, 42-yard line. There's about 11 minutes left to go on the game, maybe 12. You're down 17. What does Bill O'Brien do? He sends the punt team out. Pun. Yes.

The punt team out. And then as the clock is going and they're running out, Bill O'Brien has to burn a timeout because he didn't realize what a jackass he is by going and sending the punt team out. Fourth and four, 12 minutes left to go in Kansas City territory, down 17. That's why you fire him. That's incompetence. He's not elite. He's not top level. You can win with him, but that would be you wouldn't win because of Bill O'Brien.

A Bill O'Brien, right? You win. The Kansas City Chiefs are winning in part, of course, because of talent, but also in part because of Andy Reid. And it seems like a lot of times the Texans win in spite of Bill O'Brien. He does not elevate the team. I don't think he hurts and kills the team and he's a, you know, a bumbling fool like we've seen. I just think he is just mediocre. That was a bumbling.

That was a bubbling full ball. Well, yeah, he makes bubbling full moves for sure. But I don't think overall he's a dumb coach. I just think he's just not elite. And he's exactly what the... He is the exact quintessential, the quintessence of what everything Houston Texans has been in their history, he is purely average. So if you are purely average, you don't last for purely average for six years.

You don't. It's going to be even longer. Al-Tubei pokes one to left field fairly deep. It sends back guard. They're looking up. Let's go! Sports Talk 790. Jose Al-Tube puts the Astros up.

Your home of the Stroes. 1232, Matt Thomas Show continues. Sports Talk 790. Let's go to Frank in Cyprus. Hi, Frank. Hey, how you doing, guys? Good, Frank. What's going on?

Well, I was ready to buy tickets until the second quarter started. I'm sorry. How much are you looking for? What were the prices? We're, uh, it wasn't cheap. I think it was like 3,000. Oh. Oh.

Yeah. Yeah. I was, uh, I was in my second, uh, do secchi, so, uh, I was still there. Well, you, so you were somewhat sober when you decided not to purchase those things. That's good calling your part. Frank, how did you spend the fourth quarter? Tell the truth. Walking back and forth, I was at a place, uh, where, uh,

they sell wings. And it was loud, but it was because there was a few chiefs fans there. Oh, bad, bad decision on your part. Thank you, Frank, for the phone call. I appreciate you dialing in. Thanks for the phone call. Rossi, we were at Lucky's the yesterday. First quarter, everybody's jumping around.

Second quarter, I turn around and take video everybody, and they're like, it was depression mode 100, as the kids would say. first of all, it was a great atmosphere out there at Lucky's because the place was packed and people were ready and there was a lot of buzz and the way the game started, it was unbelievable and it was fantastic, but yeah, it was, I don't even know how to describe it, the highest of the highs and the lowest and the lowest. And that's what I just keep continuing to have trouble wrapping my head around. Like, we can handle, right? The Texans losing, I don't know, 27 to 21 or they just couldn't get anything going on offense and they lose.

a game. Like losing doesn't really, it comes and goes in sports. But the way that the Texans lose, the way that they seem to always do this, or these types of things always seem to happen, not even with the Texans, and maybe even Houston sports in general, the way that that game happened, we will never see an NFL game like that. We've never seen an NFL game like that. Certainly not in the playoffs to get up 20 and then lose by 20. And we'll probably never see it again in our lifetimes. How about the fact that there's only one coach in the AFC South, or only, excuse me, one team in the last six seasons

that's not going on an AFC championship game in the AFC South. And that would be your fighting Houston, Texans. Fighting. 713. I wish I would fight each other. 713-1-2-5-790. Let's go in terms of longest wait. Chuck, northwest side.

Hi, Chuck. I'm just going to hire you all today. Great. Thank you for calling. What's going on? $379. for Section 600. Oh, you poor.

I didn't buy them. I had made the deal with my son last week. I said, if by the grace of God, this happens, I will make an effort to get tickets. And when they went up 24 to nothing, I pulled it up on StubHub. I did. I didn't pull the trigger on them. Thank you. Because I also sat through 35 to 3 in 1993.

So I temper every game I watch when it comes to Houston's football. now that debacle back in 93 has pretty much made me have connectivity issues with any Houston sports franchise if you know what I mean I cannot bring myself to get emotionally invested in them because of the heartbreak of 93 yeah I get it thank you for the phone call and nice story Ross the difference in 93 and today yesterday for me was is that the bills just it was just a slow progression. The Chiefs wanted to make sure they wanted to ruin our lives by the end of the

second quarter. Was there anybody that was really thinking that the Texans were going to go in the locker room rally and come out all guns of blazing like they did? They'd scored seven points after being up 24-0. That's funny you mentioned that, Matt, because I remember at half when it was 28 to

24 and I was sitting there I was thinking, I don't think I said it out loud to you, but we were watching the game together. I don't think I said it, but I was thinking, if If I told you before the game, they'd go to the half down 28 to 24, you'd probably be like, okay, wow, the Texans are in this thing. Maybe they're really going to rally. But I don't think there was a soul.

Yeah, we've got to go Bill Bryant here. Let's go to Bill O'Brien right now. Exit physicals, exit meetings, all those different things. So don't really have a whole lot to tell you. What I will say is probably will haven't even met with the coaches. You know, really haven't met with the coaches that much. I haven't met with Cal. So don't have a lot to tell you.

but I will say that maybe at a later date, we'll have another press availability and be able to answer maybe some of the questions that you may have that I won't be able to answer as well today. So with that I'll open it up to questions. You know, Dr. again, you said on that when you keep the field goal instead of going forth in one, if you thought about the childhood environment, you said you didn't really have a great play for that situation. Yeah, I think with any decision, John, you're always in the moment, you're trying to make the best decision for the team. And sometimes those decisions are the right decisions, and sometimes they're not. And I think that's the nature of coaching. I think that throughout the year, there were times where we made really good decisions.

There were times where maybe the decision could have been better. I don't want to really comment on one specific decision. You know, it's just something that we've got to work hard to keep improving on. I feel like we did a lot of good this year relative to some of those decisions, but, you know, there's some things we need to improve upon. But I think there's a bigger picture to it, you know, relative to, you know, what you're thinking in that moment. In the short term, how much is a difficult lock like this take away from what you feel like you've accomplished?

Yeah, it's hard, Mark. I mean, there's no doubt about it. I mean, you know, we feel like over the last, you know, a couple of years here, we've done some good things. You know, we've won four division titles. We've won 20 plus games in the last two years. We want a playoff game this year. We've got a great young quarterback.

We've got a lot of good core players. But, you know, yesterday was not good, and we understand that, and we want to really work hard to try to, you know, improve that and get beyond that. And that's what today is. It starts that process today, really, just kind of seeing where the players are at, talking to them, reviewing the season a little bit as much as we can today. Exit physicals, things like that, see where they are health-wise, and then move forward. Will the DJ Reader shown over here?

What's the power of you guys? DJ is definitely in that category of smart, tough, and dependable. He's been a really good player for us ever since the day he walked in here. And so, you know, we're going to sit down with DJ. We're going to talk and, you know, we're going to try to do what's best for both sides. We'll see where that goes. But DJ is just, he's an awesome guy, a guy that has played a lot of great football for us. And, you know, that's it.

Last off season you targeted the offensive lag. What do you expect to do to get better this off the season? Yeah, I think that's something that we're, again, you know, we start that process today a little bit, get going on that, what the coaches are doing right now after today, after they meet with their players. Now we'll start the postseason evaluations of everything, you know, player evaluations, scheme evaluations, all those different things. And that'll help us determine where we need to go relative to your question. So I wouldn't be able to answer that right now, John. But, you know, like I said, maybe at a later time, I would be able to answer that more clearly.

Let's use both tags. How likely would you say that that is that you actually do that? It's hard to say, you know, I wouldn't be able to put a percentage on that, Aaron. I would just say that, you know, anything that's available to us relative to what we believe would be best for our team, then, you know, we'll talk about it and see if that's the right thing to do. You guys picked up Vernon. You mentioned kind of the situation a lot, and just to be a close of evaluation of what you think of what you're Vernon came in here.

You know, we claimed him. He came in here. He worked very hard. Very hard worker, guy that really showed up to practice every day, learning the system. I don't think that's easy, you know, to be able to come in in the middle of a season and really later than that and play that nickel position is not easy. So I give a lot of credit to Vernon.

There's a lot of things that he's going to work hard to improve upon. We're going to help him with that. But I think Vernon stepped into a tough situation. really made the best of it. What are the overall season that Deshaun had in the development he's made since he got here? Deshawn Watson has gotten better

every day, every year, every minute that he's here. We're better because of Deshawn Watson. DeShon Watson works very hard. He's a student of the game. He loves the game. He's the ultimate competitor.

He just does a great job. And so because of his work ethic, because of the type of person that he is, he will continue to get better. And there's no substitute for experience. You know, with all the experiences that he's had early in his career here, you know, plus his work ethic, plus his talent, all those different things, plus his, who he is as a man, he's going to just keep getting better. How much would you guys like to see? Oh, yeah. No, I mean, you know, look, we, we want Laramie here. Laramie knows that. I think, you know, relative to contracts, and all those different things.

It really wouldn't be fair for me to comment on any of those things, Aaron, just because I don't think that's fair to, you know, the player or the organization. You know, I just think we've got to keep those things in-house. But I can unequivocally state to you that we want Laramie here for a long time. You always say players have to throw them in some of the coaches. What do you think, you say every year you have proven as eight cuts. What do you think you need to believe in? I think that's something, there will be things, definitely, John.

I think that, you know, and again, just again, and this is no excuse, and this is why I say maybe I'll have a better answer for you a later date, but, you know, that's what this process is all about. I think we're going to work here for a while. We're going to take some time off. And those are things that I'm going to really think about, you know, what we can do better, what I can do better, what we can do better as a coaching staff, what I can do better, and we'll work hard to try to improve.

in a lot of areas, but I wouldn't be able to answer that specifically right now. I've got to really, you know, put more thought into that. You get input on that from other people about what you need to improve on. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no. I mean, I, you know, I think when you have a coaching staff or you have people around you that, you know, are not shy about telling you the truth, just, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of truth and honesty in our meetings. And, you know, we're not ready for those yet because I think today is a big player day. relative to wrapping up with the players here before they're out of here for a while.

But we'll get to those meetings and we'll talk and we'll think about things that we need to improve upon. Bill, after the game, Deshaun, showed supreme confidence in you, and he says he's always going to be rooting for you. All the meanings that you have and the relationship that you develop with him, what does it mean for you to hear something like that from your quarterback? Yeah, I mean, you know, I think when you spend so much time with somebody and you have so much respect for who he is, for how he works, I know he respects the way we work and what we try to do to help the team win.

And he's just a great person. You know, we're fortunate to have him here. You know, he's, I think, you know, he really understands what we're trying to do here. He understands the work that it's going to take. And, you know, we have so much confidence in him. And, you know, so relative to what he said or all that, I'm not really sure about all that. I just know that I have a tremendous amount of confidence in him, and I think he's a great, great person. How much does it benefit you to be in charge from today forward as opposed to last year when you've got this person out late?

I think that relative to like being in charge, again, I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of people that help. I just really want to try to do the best I can to make that clear. I mean, there's, there are a lot of people, whether it's the coordinators or Jack Easterby or Matt Bazzrigan or whoever, that are involved with decision making. And so it's definitely, it's a consensus. You know, we try to build a consensus. You know, that's one thing that Bob talked about a lot, Bob McNair. That's one thing that Cal talks a lot about is we try to build a consensus. That's what we try to do.

And I think that starts today, you know, with some of the information that we'll get today, and then we'll move forward with that. Jerome had a question. I assume there was some hyperbole in you said yesterday that you thought you needed to score 50 to beat them. Is their offense in that scheme that much better than what your defense could do? Yeah, yeah. I mean, there probably was a little bit of hyperbole in that that I said, but I felt like we had to score more than, you know, 24.

I really did. I really thought that they had an explosive offense. That's nothing against, and I'm not saying anything. I just think the way that their offense is constructed and the way that they could generate points, you know, I just felt like we were going to have to score points. And, you know, that's just the way I felt. You know, I know our defense was going to play hard and going to do everything they could to keep them out of the end zone. But I just, at that point in time, I just felt like for that game, for that game yesterday,

that we were going to have to score more than 25. 50 would be a hyperbole. You're right about that. You can think of Titus Howard's development, obviously had the injury, but before that happened, which you saw from him in the future. Yeah, Titus, you know, had a really good rookie year. I mean, the guy was really playing well for us. Very tough, very physical, very athletic,

great guy, great teammate. And then he was injured in the Kansas City game in October, and, you know, it was a tough injury. You know, he tried to come back. He played with it. And then, you know, just we decided to shut him down because it wasn't going to be good for him. It was better for him to begin that rehab process and all those things. So, but he's got a really bright future.

You made the flurry of moves before the season started. You get the kind of payoff that you want from those. And maybe as a follow-up, I would ask, was that, in your view, a long-term move or was that a short-term move for the franchise? I think that those moves did pay off. Those guys came in without mention in each guy specifically, but I do believe that those guys came in and really, you know, entered into our culture of what we're trying to do, learn the systems, tried to go out there and those guys played well. I'm sure there's always plays that each one of them wish they could have back, but I think that those guys helped our team win this year when we won. I think any move we make, you know, we try to think about the long term. Now, you know, you could probably pick and choose some moves where maybe contractually it doesn't seem like it's long term.

But, you know, within the building and within the meeting rooms, we think about it more for long-term purposes as we move forward here. But, yeah, I think all those guys came in and contributed. Is the plan for the front office set up to stay the same way by committee or do you envision Cal hiring a GM? You know, I haven't even met with Cal today, to be honest with you. I would be remiss by answering that question. but I feel like where we are right now, the way that I see it right now, it stays the way it is. And we have, we have, again, a great group of people that meet daily, that, you know, talk about the team, the roster, all the support, you know, the sub-programms that we have here and try to make the best decisions for the team. Deshaun's eligible for that in this third year.

That's something that you want to undertake as soon as you can this offseason at any point and try to make. sure that he's secured here for very long time? Aaron, another great question, but relative to those things, I really don't want to talk about those things publicly. I can tell you publicly, though, that we obviously want to Sean Watson here for a long, long time. We want him to be a Houston Texan for his career. He is a great person.

He's a great football player, and he means a lot to this organization, to this city, to this league. and so I just don't want to get into the nuts and bolts of when you would do that and all those different things. You know, those things take time, but we want him here for a long time. You have choices? Do you anticipate to ever other than your first one? Yeah, I don't, I don't, you know, John, there's so much that can happen between now and the draft to say how many I would anticipate happening or having, excuse me, is hard. I mean, that wouldn't be fair to say we're going to have this many, because I just think between now and draft time,

there's so many things that can happen. So we'll just, we'll see how it all plays out. Big story things or trades? Anything. Anything. Anything's possible. A couple of your players said they felt like team, Texans left their fans down.

How do you address that? Yeah, I think any time you lose, you know, you may get to the final eight and you lose, you know, the way we lost. Yeah, we definitely, look, we love our fans. But we want our fans to know that, you know, we're working very hard. We feel like we have a really good culture here. We've got a good group of core players here.

We're working hard to get to make the next step to get to where everybody wants us to get to and where we want to get to. But, you know, it just didn't go that way yesterday. And, you know, we want to tell our fans to stay with us, to understand that we have a great group of core players here that we really believe. believe in. We've got an excellent young quarterback that's just completed his third season. And we feel like we have a really bright future here. And we think our fans are a huge part of that. And so we want our fans to know that we're going to work very, very hard to get back to that game where we were yesterday. And then, you know, obviously try to do better. And that's what we want our fans to know.

It comes to that improvement that you're talking about, John, how likely is it that you might relinquish some of your duties so you can I think you've got to look at everything, Jerome. I think you got to every year is different. I think, you know, you have to look at yourself first before you look at anything else. And I think that that's what we're starting to do today with me, you know, relative to me, myself, just looking at some of the things that went on, whether it was yesterday or the whole year. We start that process right now. And I think you have to, you have to look at everything.

And you have to decide what you're doing is what you're doing the best for the football team. can you help the team in another way? And that's what we'll do. And I think everybody needs to do that. I really do. I think every player needs to do that. I think every coach needs to do that. I think you have to be, you have to look at yourself a little bit.

And that's what we're going to start that process today. Thanks. All right. That was Bill O'Brien live over at NRG. I would like to be able to say there was a lot to digest on that, but realistically there wasn't. We'll discuss it. next. 713-212-5-790. If you heard anything you wanted to comment on, good, bad or indifferent.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. First of all, he's a great guy. He's a hard-working guy. It's Matt, and he's back. Brings his lunchtime, Houston Sports Talk. The Matt Thomas Show on 790. All right, we've got another short segment for you here. Our clock for the hour is all just joining because of the press conference. but you know what sometimes you have to hear it directly. It's compared to conjecture and what we clip into sound bites.

It's important for you to hear it. This is the Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. Ross is back over at our 790 studios. I'm here at Hobby Airport with you for a few more minutes before I head off of the Rockets to Memphis. Ross, he was, oh, Ross is gone. Okay. He says there's a good culture there. I can't give you an answer yes or no on that.

All I can tell you is, I don't care what the culture is. There's not a culture of winning, and I don't know if there's a culture of accountability. When asked about whether or not there was going to be a new general manager, O'Brien would say the way I see it right now, it stays the way it is. He admits that he's not met with Cal McNair. Nick, I'm going to give you an example. Nick, you say, hey, Matt, did you get in trouble for what you did at home this weekend? I say, no, I don't think I did, but I haven't talked to my mom and dad yet.

Yeah, I guess I see your analogy. It's kind of, it is very similar to that. But from what I've seen from Cal McNair, I don't expect anything to happen. We have not heard publicly from Cal McNair since Brian Gain was released, or not released, fired. We don't, we don't know what his pulse is. We can only go on the actions of what he does in terms of letting people go and who he gives power to. He gave that power to Bill O'Brien. He did.

Gang, I wish I could. come to you today and say that Cal McNair is so upset about what happened yesterday that he's going to fire O'Brien, he's going to hire a real general manager, and he's going to change the culture of this football team. But according to Bill O'Brien, it's a good culture already. There is a, using his term, building a consensus with people in the office, meaning the general manager, the Jackie, whatever he is, support staff, flatter structure. It's just a bunch of Mamby-pamby crap.

You want wins. That's what you want. And that room should want wins. And how they're doing it and how they've been doing it isn't working. So I ask the Larry and Staffords. I ask the Texan Cairns. I ask that, and look, every team's going to have that diehard fan base. And remember, again, we in sports,

there is way more failure than there is success. The Houston, I mean, the Houston Astros finally got to the World Series and won the damn thing in 2017. Before that, there was one World Series appearance, and there was 40 years of close but no cigar. The Houston Rockets are putting together unparalleled success in their organization with the terms of number of regular season wins. 50 plus, year, 60, year, deep-seated playoff runs. And there's still no ring. So there is more frustration than there is the time of excellence and the time of we are the champions and we are the best and no one can beat us. But yesterday, my God.

I mean, there are ways to lose games and then there are ways to really lose games. And you did it with a coach who said he wanted to put the foot on the pedal, so to speak. So he goes and gets three points when he could have gone for seven, which again, I'm not going to kill him on that. but the horrendous fake punt deep in Kansas City territory giving them on 7th, 8th, the 9th live. And then

just being a sieve, no one on the Texan side of things could possibly stop Travis Kelsey if he was hopping on one leg. They wouldn't have been able to stop him. Matt, big breaking news. Go ahead. Place of doom and

Bloom, Nick. Jeff Passon. What? What? What? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes. Big breaking news. Go ahead. Houston Astros, General Manager Jeff Luno and AJ Hinch, manager

AJ Hinch, have been suspended for one year after an MLB investigation final team used technology to cheat during its World Series winning 2017 season. Sources familiar with the punishment tell ESPN. What a great day. Additionally, the Major League Baseball will find the Astros $5 million take away their first and second round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts.

Sources tell ESPN. Okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to put the headset down, walk the other end of the office, and I'm going to scream. Can I do that? Yeah, go ahead. Okay, here we go. Keep me on air because if I can't scream in microphone. Yeah, that wouldn't be good radio.

I just knew this was going to happen. This all seems about right to me. We knew it. Told you all. Let's take a short timeout and come back and just start drinking heavily. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. It is the Matt Thomas Show.

This is Sports Talk 790. Is the Matt Thomas Show. Okay, 106 Sports Talk 790. The Houston Astros. Hello darkness, my old friend. According to Jeff Passenity, SPN, have been punished and punished severely as we expected. Jeff Leno, General Manager, Manager, A.J. Hinch, have been suspended for the 2020 season. In addition, the Astros will face a fine of $5 million.

They will take away their first and first. second round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts. Awful. Awful, awful. They came after him. We were afraid they were going to be harsh, and they clearly were. Ross and I have been all fair. We didn't want to say it on air because it was unfair, but we had done some kind of guessing.

I had predicted off air, and Ross you can verify this, I thought Leno was done for the 2020 season. That seemed like almost a gimmick. Yes. I didn't know the Hinch situation. I had originally thought 80, and then I bumped it to 100 games. The Hinch one surprises me a little bit the entire season. That doesn't. Why does it surprise you?

It doesn't. I'm just saying that because here's what I think could have been. It could have been a lot. Well, I didn't help make this happen. Now, granted, I was on my watch, but when my front office tells me this is going to happen, what am I supposed to do? And that maybe he could have said that I was just following orders.

And maybe that would have given a little bit of leeway. I'm just the conjecture. Right. I mean, it happened under his watch. There was no way he didn't know about it. So, I mean, I felt like I thought actually, I guess the Luno one may be surprised me a little bit more, not that much.

Because, I mean, just, just, okay, as you like to say Matthew, first blush, just thinking, how do they monitor that Jeff Lunoz has nothing to do with the Houston Astros? I mean, where does he do? What does he go? What does he do? Does he just go off to, I don't know, Maui for a year and just go on vacation and go Whittlewood? And I don't know. Like, what does Jeff Luno do for this year? And how do they make sure that he's quote unquote, quote unquote, suspended? I don't know. I mean, you would have to probably monitor a computer, a cell phone, but again, you can go get burners of all of the things I just said, right? Yeah. Jeff Luno's burner account? I mean, it would have to, I guess it'd

have to be random audits, my guess. How do you, it be like, you put an ankle bracelet on him? Well, it would be like a father telling his daughter's boyfriend, you can't see her for a year. well if they want to see each other they're going to figure out a way to do it i don't i don't i don't i don't know what jeff can't literally leave the country jeff's going to have a computer he's a human being this is a this is a this is not a federal offense this is a job holy crap i mean i mean i'm i mean i'm going to be really honest with you holy crap i thought this might happen but when you see it and it's announced i don't mean to be uh over embellish with you here.

But this is one of the darkest days in Houston sports history. The Texans lose at Kansas City the way that they did. And not even 24 hours after that, a World Series team loses its general manager and its manager for an entire season and gets fined and loses multiple draft picks. They crushed the Houston Astros. crush them. Jim Crane is supposed to speak at 2 o'clock.

We cannot go to it live, correct? That's correct. We're going to have to play it after the fact, but we'll get that to you as quickly as possible. Okay. They are telling us we cannot carry it live. This is one of those days. I wish I could just fly at 530 and just tell the rockets I'll catch a later flight, but Ross, this is going to be one of the most important shows in terms of you being a therapist of the city of Houston.

There's no sports takes. This is cathartic. You have to be the therapist when I leave here in 20 minutes. Because this is a wig out. I'm wigging out. I'm looking out that the team that I cover, the Houston Texans, with so many of you that loved them, had a 24-0 lead, and the elation of that lasted about 30 minutes.

and then the baseball team, which we are very proud to carry. And I have been a Houston Astero, and I don't mean to overuse this card a lot, but I was an Astro buddy in 1979, Ross. I only know of one fandom as a Houston Astro. And the field manager, who I've grown to respect and appreciate, and we communicate, and we've had a good relationship. And I get to ask him some tough questions, and he gets to answer those tough questions.

We get to have a lot of good fun and have a good time. Jeff Leno and I have done radio shows together. So there's a lot more coming out about this, Matt, and there's some more coming on Hinch. Yeah. This from Jeff Passon. He is quoting or he is putting up pictures or screenshots of, I guess, some kind of report that the MLB has laid out.

And on A.J. Hinch, it does say Hinch disagreed with the use of video, even going so far as to damage a monitor used in the scheme multiple times to show his disapproval, but he was still suspended for a year. So basically, the only way he would have not survived

getting suspended is if he would have gone and acknowledged publicly. Go ahead, sorry. He would have acknowledged publicly that this is going on and he would have thrown his organization, his boss is under the bus. He believed the country,

conduct was wrong and distracting, he attempted to signal his disapproval of the scheme by physically damaging the monitor on two occasions necessitating its replacement. But Hinch admits he did not stop it and he did not notify players or Cora that he disapproved it even after the Red Sox were disciplined in September of 17. Wow, this is going to be a lot to unpack. He physically damaged the monitor twice? Like he broke it or threw it on the ground or beat it with a bat? And they kept replacing it?

the way that's worded where it says he did not notify players or Cora? Is that throwing Cora under the bus that Cora was actively participating in it? Oh, let me tell you something. Yeah, Cora was involved. Cora is getting a hook too. He's going to get punished. There's no doubt in my mind. Let's do this.

We've got to get a break in. 113 is at time. I'm here at Hobby, and holy smokes. Holy, holy, holy smoke. the darkest day in Houston sports, period. Houston Sports Talk for lunch. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. Let's hear from you guys right now.

I don't even know where to go with this. Let's start with Josh in Cyprus. Josh on Sports Talk 790 at 121. Hi, Josh. Hey, Matt. Hey, Ross. How you doing? Wow.

I didn't think I'd get on with all the new Astros news now. Jesus. Jesus is right. You shouldn't use the Lord's name in vain, but, I mean, oh, my God. Sorry. That's okay. Well, I'll call on about, I didn't do anything that you said. I did something far worse, took it above and beyond, and just randomly texted Kansas City phone numbers until I got a hold of some people

and had fun and talk trash and then looked like a sudden. stupid idiot. So it's kind of my fault. So you basically just called random people in Kansas City? Yeah, I looked up the zip code or area code and just started calling until I got a hold of some people. And it was fun. And then they called me back after half time and had their fun with me.

So it was not a, not, it's not something I wanted to hear. Yeah. That's the most people. peculiar way to deal with a 24-0 lead. But Josh, thank you for the phone call, my friend. I appreciate it. Ross, have you ever dialed up a random set of numbers in a different city just to give them crap about the football teams?

That's an interesting way of doing that. I don't know how that would come across your mind. But Josh, we appreciate you, and thanks for calling in. First of all, Josh, thank you for that. Thank you admitting that. Now, what I would do as far as I would go. I'm going to guess the copious amounts of alcohol and or other substances were involved. Yeah.

guess is you probably could go to a message board and say something. That'd be as far as it would go, but that'd be about it, right? I don't think I would start dialing. I don't even know what Kansas City's area code is. Andy and Katie on the Matt Thomas

show. Andy, good afternoon. I have to follow that. I guess. Yes, you do. It is what it is. It's area code 816. Josh just admit he doesn't know nothing about football. Anyway, I could talk about a text. all day long, but I'd like to talk about the Astros.

Yeah, I believe Alex Kores should be gone a whole year as well. You know what? This is what happens. You know, I coached my boy growing up, and now he's a Marine, but I coached doing basketball, not much basketball, but a lot of baseball and football. And I always told the kids, you know, baseball and sports are a whole lot more than just winning and losing. It teaches you how to be a gracious loser, a humble winner, teaches you how to,

They had to deal with people and laudan all that stuff. I've never once told him it taught you how to cheat and not get caught. Look, the bottom line is, this is a big black guy on the Astros organization. Jeff Ludo's got to go. Cut him loose. Amen for hints. I love hearing the news about hints. At least somebody had to gut to step up and say, this is BS.

And yeah, if he would have went against management, he'd have been fired. If he would have went out and got outspoken, it would have, you know, wreck the whole team and an organization is probably even worse. But this is, this is outrageous. Jeff Luno, what a sad, pathetic man to do this to this organization. He's got to go. And guess what?

Bill O'Brien, Crenel, you guys got to go as well. Have a good day. Thank you for the phone call. Ross, there is a question that has to be asked. Is Jeff going to survive this period? And I think Jim Crane will be asked that when he meets with the media and a half an hour from now.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, Matt, we're just got a lot going on. We're just thinking out loud here, right? I have to think he would probably stay as a Houston Astros, General Manager. I think he would serve as a suspension and then you would keep him, and then you would just kind of keep him going on from there.

But I will say this. There is a, in Manfred's report, there is a very strongly, I would say strongly worded paragraph talking about the Houston Astros culture and how they valued winning over everything else. And it has a lot to do. Talking about how it basically stems from Luno. The baseball, here it is.

The baseball operations departments in Sillar Culture, one that valued and rewarded results over other considerations combined with the staff of individuals who often lack direction or sufficient oversight, led at least in part to the Brandon Tobman incident, the club's admittedly inappropriate and inaccurate response to that incident, and finally to an environment that allowed the conduct described in this report to have occurred. Yeah.

Manfred just basically said that the Astros have a toxic professional culture stemming from basically because of Jeff Luno. Yeah, I don't know if he survives this, actually. Man, this is a kick in the gut, gang. This is the beauty of live radio is that we're speaking as raw as we can. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. If that is, how does a owner of any sports franchise allow that to be, any organization, forget sports business.

If we had employees at IHeartMedia that conducted themselves a way they would, I don't think our bosses and their bosses would allow that. Let me get one more call before I get out of here. Let me say hi to Jimmy. and the hobby area at 126. Hi, Jimmy. Oh, let me punch him up here one more time. Jimmy, you there? Go ahead.

Yeah, hey, Matt. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Go ahead, please. Hello. Hey, guys. Bad, bad day to Houston sports, man. Meld down yesterday.

I was really couldn't get any worse. You know, now we got Astros, the best team or the only team, the winning team in Houston, with this. Talk about kicking a man down, you know, stomping on a man's grave. You know? Well, I can tell you this, Jimmy. They weren't worried about, Major League Baseball weren't worried about the Texans' result yesterday.

It's just, we're all, it's just a pile on. But, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, when it rains and pores, that's the problem. You know, a Houstonian as myself, born and raised. Yeah. gave up on the tensions yesterday. I shut the TV off because I couldn't watch another meltdown. Thank you, Jimmy, for the phone call.

Thank you, buddy. I understand. We're all kind of speechless. And, Ross, you can't be speechless because you're going to finish a show for it. Yes. So you're going to have to speak. Let me remind you get a lot to get to, a lot of chew on, so to speak. Elijah won.

Back to Kenny. Another three. Kenny tries one more. Yeah. Clutch City. This is Kenny the Jet Smith. And you're listening to Sports Talk. 790. The hammer drops on the Houston Astros.

Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show, Ross Villarreal with you. Matt has to travel with the Houston Rocket, so he'll be off the rest of the show and just go ahead and let it all out. How are you feeling right now? I feel like me personally, my head is spinning right now. 713, 212-5-790. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-9. Your phone number tweets to ad Sports.

So Jeff Passon coming down with the report about a half hour ago. AJ Hinch suspended for a year. Jeff Lunoz suspended for a year. $5 million fine levied against the Houston Astros. First and second round pick 20 and 2021. All gone. The hammer comes down on the Houston Astros. how are you feeling about it?

It's funny because this is one of those stories where it seemed kind of like nothing at first, and then it became a much bigger deal. And then there was so much time going on with the investigation. And not necessarily that Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball were just drawing it out too long or anything like that. I mean, they were doing their due diligence. They interviewed 68 players. They talked to a lot of officials and, of course, former players, A.J. Hinch, they had to do a lot of stuff and they had to compile a report and then they had to

figure out from there, this is what happened. What punishment are we going to put against the Astros? And now it has come down. And now this is, I mean, this is a historic day. Not only in Houston sports, in national, the national sports realm, this is all over a sports center right now, and ESPN and basically every sports outlet you can think of. Houston is the center of the sports world right now with these unprecedented sanctions

that are coming down on them. And I think, I just, the way I feel about it right now, the Astros got what's coming for them. The Astros got what they deserved. I mean, you can't look at all this stuff that's coming out and say that this is happening, this is unfair against the Astros,

and this is some kind of witch hunt or anything like that. Now, I understand there are some of you who are feeling like, of course, the Yankees did some of this and the Red Sox and what about them and what about them? It's not about what about them. If you committed a crime and you get caught, you don't point at the other guy. You deal with your own punishment, and that's what the Astros are having to do. It's going to be, I can't remember at all any team ever, right, in any sport, going into the season without a general manager and without a manager or head coach or, whatever you want to call it. I mean, I guess the Bountygate stuff from the New Orleans Saints,

who's going to manage the Astros? What's going to happen with Jeff Luno? Is he going to keep his job? How much can he be involved with the team? How do they even monitor him not being involved with the team? Can't he just get like some kind of a burner email account? Hefe Luno, 123 at gmail.com, and then go from there? I don't even know.

will he keep his job? I don't know. We'll get some of those answers. Jim Crane is going to speak to the media at 2 o'clock. So we are not allowed here on Sports Talk 790 to bring you that live, but we will turn that around as quickly as possible. So look, there's no reason to change it off of here. We're going to be talking. Of course, we got the Texan stuff. And of course, I'm sure Bill O'Brien isn't upset that the hammer drops on the Houston Astros today as well. And I want to talk to you guys. How are you feeling? Where's your head right now? as a Houston Astros fan. 713, 2,1, 2,1, 5, 797, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. Let's go to Cecil on the southeast side.

What's up, Cecil? Yes, I want to talk about the Texans, but before I go into that, I think the punishment that is going to be given to the other teams as a result of certain violations would be relevant what's happened to the Astros.

I mean, that's just the way I mean. But, look, I was an English major in college, so I hope I'm not elucidating superfluous hyperbole. But I suffered incessant trepidation yesterday as a result of the extreme ineptitude of our coaching staff. Whenever you're leading 24 to nothing and a football game at the first quarter, and you get beat 51 to 7 down the stretch. Is that bad? staff, I'm sorry,

the coaching staff did a horrible job. Just a horrible job. And there's no way to give, I'm not saying fire bill, O'Brien, but there's no way to not put this on the shoulders of all 10 coaches or whatever. Because obviously there was

nothing but chaos from that point forward. We never did anything right. I mean, the decision to not go in, of course, hindsight is 20-20, but the decision to not go for it on fourth down when you needed one yard and kick the field goal, the decision to fake the punt. When you just didn't have to, you didn't need that. The price of failure outweighed the price of success.

So I've had my rant, so what are you going? All right, Cecil, thanks a lot, man. We've got to get to a break. I appreciate that. Look, I can't even address all that, but thank you. I agree with most of what you said. All right, time for a break here. Coming up, we're going to have Brian Smith, Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle,

talking about these Astros sanctions that the MLB has handed out. With a quick break, don't go anywhere. Hey, it's Coach Dan Tony. Step back three, and the corner is good. Matt Thomas, my favorite voice in Houston. Now, that's the Lord's Azarin. Back to the Matt Thomas show. on Sports Talk 790.

All right, a lot going on here. A lot to process, a lot to think about. So that's why we bring on the thinkers here on Sports Talk 790. The Matt Thomas show, Matt Thomas, traveling to Memphis to beat with the Houston Rockets. Ross, Veer, we are with you at 713-1-2-125-790. And right now, please to be joined by Brian T. Smith

of the Houston Chronicle. I guess let's just go ahead and start with it. Brian, how do you think things are going in Houston Sports? so far this last couple of days. Ross, it's funny you asked that and not funny, obviously. My first thought

was I just, I love, I love Houston, right? I mean, I'm not a, I wasn't born in Houston, but I've been here since 2012 and I, writing for the Chronicle, covering these teams, being on everything, seeing what has happened. And I'm talking about the news. You know, just the Astros rebuild,

the World Series, Harvey, You know, I know, I feel like I know pretty damn well and right about it a lot. We know what this baseball team means to the city, means to the fan base, and then you have the Texans. And the last 24 hours, really 15 hours, heartbreaking, painful, destructive, and I'm not making light of anything. This is not, you know, and honestly, this is not the time for jokes. but who could have ever imagined that the Texans being outscored 51 to 7 by Kansas City in a playoff game would immediately be forgotten and ignored. And there's no reason to even talk about it right now. There's no reason to talk about the Texans because of just what happened to the Astros.

And it's going to take us weeks to figure this out, months to process it. And I'm going to be honest. And this is in the moment, but, I mean, it feels true. It's going to take years to really wrap our arms around this. This is the darkest day in Astros history. I know some fans are going to absolutely hate it, and they're going to start picking apart Major League Baseball. But for Major League Baseball to suspend Jeff Luno for a year,

A.J. Hinch for a year, $5 million fine, lots of first and second round draft picks in 20 and 20. that is unprecedented in the history of baseball, which means a Major League Baseball and Rob Manfred fully believe that the Astros completely cheated during their 2017 World Series season, and that is a damning report. Yeah, and, you know, Brian, I think you put it in a good light there.

We are sitting right now in the middle, in the thick, in the midst of sporting history that happened right now. So while we try to process this, let me say this first. Do you, your thoughts on the punishment, too severe, not severe enough, just right, just what you read, a lot of it, I mean, we've already thought that was going to happen. We thought there could be draft picks. We thought there would be a fine. We thought there could be a suspension. So all the suspensions and all that stuff that you just laid out, what do you think about the way the MLB came down on the Houston Astros?

Yeah, here's my honest response to that, Ross, and it's a great question. I'm at the Kansas City airport, right? I was in, you know, Kansas City covering the Texans. I've been stuck here. I have read parts of the report. I have not been able to read the full report, and I think I do. And I'm not trying to pass this one along. It's going to take all of us.

You, me, Chandler Rome, Astros, Beat Writer for the Chronicle, fans, bloggers, national writers. Everyone is going to have to sit down and thoroughly read this thing. And the other part is, what's going to happen to Alex Cole? I mean, the initial look at this report is the name that stands out the most other than Hensh and Luno, and they're obviously being suspended because of their overall ties to the organization. But Alex Cora, with everything that's been reported that happened in Boston, with his ties to the 2017 team with him being so strongly linked to the cheating accusation in 2017, if Hinch gets one year, does Alex Cora get two? right? I mean, in terms of too harsh or too light and where the punishment's right,

that's a huge component of it, but all I know right now is when the Astros dropped, game seven of the World Series in their park, and that was a painful loss, right? No one in the world was saying that AJ Hinch was going to be suspended for the entire season. Jeff Luno would be suspended for the entire season.

That would have been unthinkable. You would have been last out of the building, and not only have they been, but there's a very detailed report attached to it. So there's no way MLB doesn't hand out these suspensions, which are unprecedented in baseball history, if baseball doesn't

believe they're warranted. Right. Yeah, the Alex Kora thing is definitely going to be something to keep an eye on. But on the Hinch thing, you said you kind of hadn't necessarily caught up on everything. So they mentioned or part of the report that was published

or Jeff Passon was tweeting out, A.J. Hinch, apparently, did not approve of this. He believed the conduct was wrong and distracting. He attempted to try and damage the monitor two different times, and it was replaced every time by Astros players. So, I mean, it sounds like obviously he didn't go to the authorities with that because, I mean, you're the manager and these are your players.

You're not going to do that. A.J. Hinch would lose all credibility in every clubhouse for the rest of his life if he did that. So, I mean, it is interesting to me that it seems like A.J. kind of did what he could have. He tried to do everything that he could. hood, he couldn't just physically restrain these players, and then he still got dinged and got suspended for a year. Yeah, it's a great point. And look, I can, I'll say this on talk radio, I'll write in The Chronicle tomorrow,

and there's another component to this. A.J. Hinch, and I have a lot of respect for A.J. Hinch. I don't have a personal bad word to say about A.J. I don't have a professional bad word to say about A.J., I'm also not trying to vindicate him here, right? I'm not in the Astros Clubhouse. I don't play for the team. I'm not in, you know, team meetings with AJ. But AJ, for years, I know for a fact, has been at times, just like Bo Porter was in a lot of ways.

AJ has been stuck between kind of a rock and a hard place at times with this organization. And I believe we all have to make compromises. You do with your job. I do with mine. You do in pro sports. You do in college sports, right? That's how you get these jobs. That's how you keep these jobs.

Mike Dantone has to do it, Bill O'Brien has to do it. But it is interesting that A.J. does appear, according to the report, to look like he was kind of caught in the middle of this. I mean, that doesn't absolve him. But it's clear reading the report that Manfred and baseball is basically saying, hey, you are around this. You didn't end this. You didn't come to us. You are the manager. You know, that the team falls under your responsibility.

but it doesn't appear like AJ was leading and directing this. So that's a very fine line to walk. And maybe if anyone got hit harder than they should have, it could be AJ Hinch. Right. And talking with Brian Smith, Houston Chronicle here on the Matt Thomas show. And Brian, let's just go on to the Luno thing. I mean, there's a lot to unpack.

Look, there's a lot to unpacking this whole thing. And the Jeff Luno situation, of course, is interesting as well. he is suspended for a year and very strongly worded by Rob Manfred in this paragraph talking about how the culture of the Houston Astros and putting winning above everything else were rewarding results

over other considerations was the exact wording and him gone for a year I mean what how do I mean this is like we said this is unprecedented so what happens does it Tobman is gone is there some other assistant general manager is he going to run the operations, can Jeff Luno just not be involved with the Houston Astros at all?

How do you monitor that? And the biggest question to me, Brian, is do you think Jeff Luno is in danger of losing his job? Well, Crane speaking in eight minutes, right, to reporters. And so I'm sure that will be brought up at the address. You know, obviously, Chandler will cover everything you can for The Chronicle. you know, AJ didn't join the Astros at the start of the rebuild. You know, AJ came in at the end of 14 and really the 2015 season. There are only two people, Ross, who have been, you know, tied to the Astros at the core since the rebuild started.

One of them is the owner, Jim Crane. The other is Jeff Luno. And we have all, I mean, Astros fans love the show. Astros and the highs have been incredible. I mean, incredible. The best in franchise history, the best in the city's history. People have, you know, fell back in love with the Astros. But they're, you know, since I started covering the team in the end of 2012, and this has been covered nonstop, nationally, locally, regionally. The Astros have also alienated and hurt and pissed off and crossed lines and broken lines and all those things. And ultimately, I mean, it's on your resume, and there's no one other than Crane that's been attached to it than Jeff Luno. And so whether it's organizational, whether it is control, whether it is a mentality, I go back, I always go back to what Luno said in 2012 when I met with him in his office. And it's kind of how the world's run. It's business.

Hey, it's a zero-sum game. So somebody's winning and somebody's losing, and we want to win basically at all costs. and what this feels like right now is that the Astros won at all cost. You know, the Astros, it doesn't mean that everyone else isn't doing it, but Major League Baseball came down as hard as they could. It's unprecedented in the history of baseball because the Astros were playing a zero-sum game. Jeff Luna is the architect of it all, and they won at all costs. And it is a damning report, and there's no one it's more directly attached to,

and Jeff Luno. Right. Brian Smith, Houston Chronicle here. And Brian, just lastly, before we let you go, it's obviously hard to speculate and put a finger on this, but I mean, how much the draft picks and the long-term is, are we just going to feel reverberations from this incident from throughout the years? Because, I mean, the old school of thought was,

okay, draft picks don't matter that much in Major League Baseball. but one of the guys who was the spearheading the movement to say actually top-in draft picks matter a ton, and we want all of them, and we want to harvest them is Jeff Luna. And now he doesn't have those for the next couple of years. So, I mean, this is something that can really affect the organization and possibly keep them from having top-level talent for years to come. Yeah, here's the other part, and I know you have to wrap it up and move on, but, Ross, I mean, I mean, it's going to play out for months.

It's going to play out for years, right? The Astros haven't done anything in free agency. Obviously, that's part of their free agent plan, but if you're a free agent, why would you want to sign with this team right now? How are we going to look? And it's not about me. It's not about, I mean, it's more about you,

but it's about the fan base. It's about the people that love this team, that live through this team, Houston becoming a baseball city again. You know, nothing carries a city more than a baseball team because they're with you every day. How do you view the 2020 season? and how do the astros handle, you know, adding a pitcher.

I mean, yeah, you still have Bregman, you still have Altuva, you still have Correy and Springer. But Ross, they basically, baseball basically gave them an aster's for their 2017 World Series title. And so that affects the franchise, that affects the legacy, that affects the day-to-day product on the field. And this whole thing is supposed to be about the dynasty, right? So they fell short in the last two world series. And now that doesn't even matter anymore,

Because now you're talking about serious cheating. You have an official report. You have your field manager suspended for a year. You have your GMs suspended for a year. You've been fined $5 million. All right, that's pennies and cranes pocket. But you have the draft ticks, the kind of the stench that comes with this, that doesn't go away when spring training starts. That's going to be felt the entire year.

And the last thing I'll say is, and I hate to say it, but it's true. Every other fan base, I mean, all you're going to hear about the Astros, from here and out. Cheaters, cheaters, cheaters. And it's going to be attached to Boston, too. But we've never seen anything like this in Astros history, really, and baseball history. And the closest link I could have would be the Metro report. And that was a report that, you know, took months and you were kind of waiting for it. This thing just drops. And bam, AJ Hinch, Jeff Luna, suspended for a year. It's going to take a long time to really get our arms wrapped around this. all right Brian well we'll go and let you go on that no appreciate you uh joining us and go texas

all right thanks for having me on rog right brian smith houston chronicle there i mean look we are we are right there here in the middle in the thick of it in the eye of the storm and i just want to know where you're at right now look i'm not going to put i'm not going to hold you to anything you want to say that you think will be irresponsible like like i feel like anything that brian says or that i say like we are our heads are spinning we are trying to process this right now. How are you feeling about the Astros and the MLB

and these sanctions that they have put up with the fines, docked draft picks, and the year-long suspension of A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luno. 713-21-2-5-790. 7-13-1-2-5-7-90. Matt Thomas Show. Final hour

continues next. Is the Matt Thomas Show. Final hour of the Matt Thomas Show here on Sports Talk 790. Ross V. Real with you. Nick Lowe with you. And well, look with the cat just shrug in. One Adam Wexler with you as well. Jim Crane is speaking to the media right now. We will have that for you. Look, just keep it right here. Jim Crane is talking to the media right now. We're going to have that for you as soon as possible.

So keep it right here on Sports Talk 790. We're your home for the Astros. So we're where you want to be when it comes to talking about and breaking down the biggest story in the sports today as now if you have not heard Jeff Luno suspended for a year AJ Hinch suspended

for a year okay and this is also coming down just now Jim Crane is saying it Jeff Luno is no longer the Astros general manager and Hinch is gone as well Oh my goodness.

I don't even know what to say, Adam, you speak. Well, in reading through the report, Wow! Jim Crane proclaimed innocence. The commissioner believed that he was really distraught by what was happening within his organization. That's what it says in this nine-page report. Wow.

And so as Jim Crane meets with the media as we speak, he's made it clear that they're not just suspended for the year for Major League Baseball by Major League Baseball, but he's fired both of them. So the Astros will have a new manager, and they will have a new general manager, and most likely they'll have a brand new structure to everything, because clearly Jeff Luno has reconfigured everything. They had lost their assistant general manager, Brandon Taubman, who was also cited in this report, not additionally punished because, as the commissioner said, he's already going to be punished for the other things that he was involved in. Mike Elias and John Stearns had also left the organization within the last couple of years. it'll be a total overhaul

and that is obviously even bigger breaking news than once initially thought earlier this morning Jeff Luno and A.J. Hinch fired. I don't even know what to say. I am speechless right now. Jim Crane is speaking to the media.

We'll have it for you in just a little bit. I think the as I thought about it, when I thought, especially the Jeff Luno part and now you're going to have to replace A.J. Hinch, I guess. what Joe Espada what is going to have to be the manager

for the entire 162 games or whatever. That's the expectation. That is being reported currently that Espada will be named the interim manager. Jim Crane saying this is something that will not happen

again, calling it a very difficult day for the Astros. And again, as indicated in the report from Crane's point of view, and as it was the perception from management of Major League Baseball and the DOI Department of Investigation that went through all this,

they believed in what he said. They were fully cooperative on his end. And even with A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luno, there was cooperation from both of them also. And he says they fully accept their decisions, findings, and penalties. And obviously they've taken a step internally saying that Luno and Hinch have been dismissed. Yeah, it's funny because, well, it's not funny, but the paragraph in the report. So it's a nine-page report from, is it, Manfred, does he does the whole? the whole report is in his voice.

Yes, it is. So I don't know if it was like somebody reporting, and then Manfred is like, hey, this is my forward. The thing that made it made me think that there was an inkling in my mind that Jeff Luno was going to be dismissed was the part in there that basically talks about how the culture with the Astros has not been healthy. And at the end of it, it says, I'm trying to find it here. the baseball operations department's insular culture, one that valued and rewarded results over other considerations combined with a staff of individuals who often lack direction or sufficient oversight

led in part to the Brandon Tobman incident, the club's admittedly inappropriate and inaccurate response to that incident, and finally an environment that allowed the conduct in this report to have occurred. One other thing that Jim Crane said is neither one of them started it, but neither one of them stopped it in talking about A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luno. You were just talking about the bigger picture culture perception that Major League Baseball is now believing what was going on inside the Astros organization, specifically citing Luno and those that worked under his watch. Again, just inside the ops department in general as it led to the Tobman incident. But again, that is separate from the findings of Major League Baseball, the findings that basically a banging scheme, which obviously we didn't talk about

for the last couple of months, they believed it. Major League Baseball's investigation determined that they believe it happened during the 2017 season, approximately two months into the season, and orchestrated by current Red Sox manager, Alex Cora, bench coach at the time for the Astros in 2017, but his punishment has been withheld by Major League Baseball because their investigation on Cora is ongoing. And I would expect a very similar, very harsh punishment for Cora that could, also result in the Red Sox saying he's fired. Relieved at this time, no longer working for the Astros, the term that Jim Crane said for his baseball ops department, AJ Hinch, Jeff Luno

were suspended for the year by Major League Baseball, and as Jim Crane is now speaking with the media, he's announced that A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luno have been fired. And just a thought here, what do you make of, we talked about, of course, Korah and Hinch and Luno No players being involved. Do you think that's part of, you know, you cooperate with us and we're not going to do anything to you? Why aren't any players involved in this? I know a lot of people haven't had a chance to read the report, but I think if the name Cora was replaced by, just pick a player, anybody, if the player was perceived to have orchestrated it, devised it, put in place the system they were going to use,

it might be a little different. but I think the belief is this is an organizational issue. The way to hurt the organization is to punish the organization. These particular gentlemen who've now lost their jobs, these suspensions were without pay. Now they're fired. So I think pinpointing which players, I think that was the difficult part they tried to get information on

because Jeff Luno, in this report, full denial. He denied his involvement, he denied his knowledge of it, and yet he was still punished in this way and now subsequently fired to put it on, A specific player or a group of players, I don't think, based on reading it, the evidence supported this should go. These players were orchestrating this versus Cora. And Beltron was mentioned in it as well, orchestrating certain things. And that's why the punishment eventually will fall on that too.

And AJ even apparently tried to stop it. Multiple times he damaged the monitor that they were using. All right, let's get one quick call in here. I want to hear from you guys. 713, 1, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. Ben, and the Heights, your reaction. Oh, wow. It's a good one. Ben, okay, that's fine. Rodman, in Memorial. Go ahead.

Yeah. Well, Ross, Adam, I was going to, before you guys broke the firing news, I was going to try to kind of put things a little more into perspective and say, well, for one, it's, you know, it's only baseball. I mean, you know, I love baseball. I love watching baseball, but, you know, the whole country doesn't watch it as much as basketball and football. So I was hoping maybe this would kind of go away as the playoffs and the NBA started and Super Bowl and all that stuff. I mean, I was just now I'm kind of shocked with the whole – I didn't expect Jeff Loon out of the rain after hearing about the kind of the work environment situation. But I for sure didn't see A.J. Hinge getting fired.

That kind of just threw me off. But I was just going to try to calm everybody down and just let people know that, look, at the end of the day, the players play the game. It's only baseball. It's not football or basketball where we shouldn't be headline news every day or in the off season except for maybe this next few weeks.

But now that I hear this stuff with the firing, I'm not sure. I'm my head spinning even more. Yeah, that's all of us, Robin. Thanks a lot. We've got to get to a break. When we come back, Jim Crane addressed the media.

He has dismissed Jeff Luno and A.J. Hinch. You will hear from the Astros owner next here on Sports Talk 790. This is Craig Ackerman. The rockets are certainly popping the polypropylene. I know Matt Thomas, all too well. Hey, by the way, this is my new catchphrase. Nothing but nylon.

Matt Thomas, Joe. Without Matt Thomas continues here on Sports Talk. 790 Ross v. Real Adam Wexler, in with you on an historic day in Houston sports history in the United States, sports history. The world. sports history Astros and Jim Crane is continuing to speak with the media.

We will have that for you as soon as possible. In the meantime, we want to hear from you, 7-13-21-2-5-797-190. 1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. Adam, I guess, you know, I didn't necessarily host a show with you, so I didn't know. Where do you come on? I mean, where were you thinking about the... Is this about what you thought was going to happen?

because this all seems about in line from where I didn't think that the firing was going to happen. Right. Right. Everything else, it seemed like that was about what was going to happen to the Astros. I figured that neither, I didn't expect both to be suspended for the entire season. I thought it would be a significant suspension for one and a slightly less significant suspension for the other, depending on the findings of the commissioner and the DOI. And then assuming that neither was something that Jim Crane felt,

this way about, like you said, I never imagined the punishment would result in their firing, because that's what's happened. He didn't decide to fire them a week ago or a month ago or when all this came to light that they were being investigated. He's made the announcement that he's firing them when the punishment came out. And very shortly after, clearly there's been some internal discussion about it, but I expected probably 100 days, I think, is what I was looking at. And then a year maybe for Luna. But again, their involvement was unknown. All right, well, let's go ahead and hear from Astros owner, Jim Crane,

addressing the media today after the MLB has handed down the fines and the suspensions and the draft picks. Here's Astros owner, Jim Crane, just minutes ago. Working good. First, let me start out. Thank you all for coming on short notice. Today is a very difficult day for the Houston Astros. MLB did a very thorough investigation and the Astros fully cooperated.

We accept their decisions and findings and penalties. We very hard to build this organization for our employees, fans, sponsors, community, and the city to all be proud. With that being said, there's two very important points I want to make today. I have higher standards for the city and the franchise, and I'm going above and beyond MLB's penalty. Today, I have made the decision to dismiss A.J. Hinch and Jeff Loonow. We need to move forward with a clean slate, and the Astros will become stronger, a stronger organization because of this today. You can be confident that we will always do the right thing and will not have this happen again on my watch. With that being said, you guys have a copy of the commissioner's report.

I'll be glad to answer questions. Okay, raise you here and David Barron right here. Was the decision to fire Luno or not to retain, bring them back Luno and Hinch after their suspensions made, after the receipt of the report, it was this a decision that you made prior to today? Yeah, we didn't really find out about the decision, the final decision until on the weekend. And after I had their findings, I decided to make that decision today. Okay, Chandler, right here. Jim, who will run baseball operations and who will run the team in the interim?

Well, we'll quickly look for someone to manage the team as soon as we get out of here today. Certainly we have possibilities internally. We'll also look outside. The baseball operation, I will oversee. We have a number of capable guys that can run that operation. A number of them were interviewed for GM spots, one in particular. And so we'll sit down today and start working on that and move as quickly as we can. Next question.

Jim, how did both AJ and Jeff take your decision when you told them? Hi, I just spoke to both of them just a few minutes ago. got their letters from baseball. You know, AJ was upset. I think he understands the consequences. And, you know, he said, I'm sorry, and, you know, I'll do whatever I can to help the team. Jeff was a little bit shorter. He was traveling, and so I just informed him, and he said, okay, and he'd get with me when he gets back. Okay, Christy right here. Do you think that any of the players should have been suspended for this incident? No players will be suspended from this.

Okay, Mark, up here. Can you just go into why you decided to go ahead and fire Jeff and AJ? Well, I felt that with what came out in the report, they both had responsibilities, Jeff running the baseball operation, and overseeing AJ and all of those people associated with that. and AJ on the bench and was aware if you read the report, it's pretty clear. AJ didn't endorse it, and neither did Jeff. Neither one of them started this, but neither one of them did anything about it, and that's how we came to the conclusion.

I know that you said at the start that you've accepted what baseball has done. Do you feel like the punishment fit the crime? Listen, it's the stiffest penalty that any team has ever taken or given, and we accept that. We're going to move forward in a positive way. I'll let the commissioner determine how he handles the rest of it. You stay in order. Kim, you're next.

Jim, can you talk about how soon you think that all the changes you'll be able to be up to speed as an organization? How much of a drop-off of any you expect with this? I've been sitting in a few meetings last week in particular on the mediation and the contract. so we don't have signed. So I don't think it's going to take long. We've got a short window here.

We've got to get ready for spring training February 15th or sooner. We'll work very hard to try to take care of the team first and then look at the baseball operations. As I said, we've got good leaders in a number of those spots. And so it's just a manner of organizing and managing that staff for the next 30 days. And hopefully we can get someone to take the point. Okay, Bob. Jim, does this taint the World Series Championship?

And what do you say to the fans right now? Well, I think absolutely not. I think, you know, we've had a very good team for a number of years before 17. We were turning the corner, 18, 19. We have a very good team on the field this year. You know, I think we'll have a great season. We've got a lot of great players still. And I don't think it taints it.

Okay, Jake and then Jerome. Jim, in the report, Rob Manfred described the culture of the baseball operations department as very problematic. What was your reaction to reading that assessment? I think, you know, I don't agree with that. I think we've got a lot of people here. We've got a lot of great people. We have over 400 people working here, and they work hard. And I think there was some isolated situations.

that led to that. We have one of the best business operations in baseball. And, you know, I think if we did have any problems, we'll quickly define those problems and move forward in a very positive way. I don't think there's anything difficult. We had one of the best baseball operations in, you know, in the business and got a lot of great results. So that didn't happen with one or two people. That happened with a lot of good people. And so we'll move forward to handle that. very professional manner. And it's not an extremely big organization. So I think if there's any problems, we'll root them out and we'll fix it. Okay, Jerome and then Jesus. Hey, Jim, you've always said you take pride in doing things the right way and having an organization

that runs in a certain way. And you've also talked about AJ and Jeff as two of your greatest hires and what they meant to you. How personally disappointed are you in that they allowed this to go on? Listen, when I found out I was very upset. You know, we want to be known as playing by the rules. We broke the rules. We accept the punishment. And we're going to move forward. It's very unfortunate.

As I said earlier, if you read the report, neither one of those guys implemented this or pushed it through the system. It really came from the bottom up. It's pretty clear in the report how that happened. but neither one of them did anything about it. And that's unfortunate and the consequences are severe. Okay, Jesus and then Brian. Jim, you're a self-made man.

Your organization rose from the top almost in your image. How disappointing was it to you that they did take these shortcuts that season? I didn't hear the last part of that. How disappointed is it to you that they did take these shortcuts in that season that you won, that did the title? Well, it's upsetting. I think, you know, there's nothing that's clear to suggest it affected the outcome. I think you could be all over the place with this. But listen, it's, again, as I said before, we've got a great team. You know, I feel we had the best team on the field then. I thought we had a great team in 18. Things didn't fall away. We got down to the last game in the World Series, and that didn't fall our way. So baseball is tough to win. And again, I think we have a great organization. We have a great team still. We'll continue to work on that.

But listen, none of this is fun, and I'm not happy that it happened, but it happened, and we're dealing with it. Okay, Brian. Jim, about your search for a manager. Do you expect to have a full-time manager by the time spring training starts? Could you have an interim manager up to that? I think that could go either way. It just depends. As I said, I really haven't worked on that.

we've been focused on visiting today and getting this behind us, it could go either way. I mean, certainly we have a bench coach that's capable. We'll certainly look outside, but we know we've got to have somebody in charge when we go to spring training, so that could be interim. I don't have the answer yet, but we'll make it work. Okay, Adam, go ahead. Excuse me, Jim. Did the Brandon Tubman incident in the fallout from that play any factor in the dismissal of Jeff?

No, I think those are totally two separate incidents. You know, Brandon was here. We dealt with that when that story went down. It was unfortunate we didn't have all the facts when we made a decision. We apologized for that. And Brandon's no longer an employee. Okay, Christy. Going forward, do you think there can be anything like an accountability system

or anything you're going to implement so something like this could never happen again? Yeah, I think, you know, With the technology coming into the dugout, as it did with the replay system, you know, that kind of triggered some of this. And with the replays very close and sometimes even in the dugout, we're going to put some checks and balances in. We're going to study the rule book, and we're going to have a compliance program in place to make sure, as I said earlier, that this doesn't happen again. Okay, David. Then Chandler. There's a reference on the report to several junior employees who may have had knowledge of this scheme. or will any discipline be taken for them

or has any discipline been taken in that regard against them? We're still reviewing that. You know, lower-level employees, we're taking direction from senior, either players or coaches. And so, you know, my opinion is going to be difficult to hold them to the same standard we hold to the leaders, but we'll review that after today and deal with that shortly. Okay, Chandler.

Jim, Jeff hired a lot of the people below him and the organization, same with AJ on his coaching staff. Given the drastic action you took with those two, does that make it, for lack of a better word, would you want to clean house? Would you want to just start with a brand new foundation to kind of get rid of everything that transpire? Well, I don't think it's a big number of people in the baseball operations that were engaged with that on a daily basis. So I don't think it's a house cleaning. I think if you want to talk about house cleaning, I don't think, the manager and the general manager have gotten fired in the same day. So I think that's a pretty big house cleaning, and we'll work from there.

Go Francisco next. Mr. Crane, you talked about the fact that this is obviously not a very happy day for you in an organization, a personal level, but at the same time, being that Mr. Luno was an architect of this transformation, almost bringing this team from the National League to the American League, does it also concerns you about the uncertainty that the future has in the immediate future of the And if so, why? And if it doesn't concern you, why it doesn't concern you? Well, certainly it concerns me.

I'm losing two key people that are very bright and did a lot of great things here. Whatever you want to say, you know, AJ had five unbelievable seasons here. And Jeff put in the foundation, it really changed how baseball operations work around the league. And, you know, people can talk about the people that left or weren't hired back. but there's also a lot of people out there that got promoted into GM jobs that came out of this environment. So I don't think it was all bad. I think it was a lot, a lot of good and some unfortunate things that happened here. When you really break it down, didn't make a lot of sense to why we were even doing it.

So I'm optimistic. As I said, this thing is deep here. There's a lot of smart people here. I think we'll have a speed bump here. not to make this light, but this is a tough day. But can we recover? Absolutely. And we'll have a great team next year. Okay.

Jim, there's been other situations right over here. There's been other sign stealing allegations lobbied against this team. Did you ever ask Jeff and A.J. about those at those times? And what did they say to you about them? Well, first of all, there was a lot of interviews done. I wasn't in the interviews. I think there's a lot of information out there that this was a problem within baseball. Commissioner put out a warning in 2017.

There was a couple teams fined. Listen, it's clear when you hear the guys talk that they were doing, you know, talking about what other teams did and this, that and the other. I have no proof of any of that, and it's not my job to investigate that. The commissioner assured me that, you know, every team and every allegation will be checked out, and he'll conduct the same investigation he conducted on us, and I'm focused on the Astros, and that's all I'm going to talk about. Okay, Mark, over here. Jim, and all your business dealings prior to owning the Astros, not owning the Astros,

is this your toughest day ever? This is a tough day. I've had a lot of tough days over the year. But, yeah, this is a tough one. Astros owner, Jim Crane, dismissing Jeff Luno and A.J. Hinch following other sanctions from the MLB, a $5 million fine,

two first round draft picks, two second round draft picks gone, and now the general manager and the manager gone. A historic day in Major League Baseball history. Matt Thomas Show here, Ross v. Real. Adam Wexler with you. What do you think about it? 713, 21, 2, 2, 5, 7.7.

97-13-1-2-125-7-90. Where is your head? We'll talk about that. And we also have to quickly mention, according to Bob Nightingale, the investigation of Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox is now underway by the MLB. So we'll see what happens that.

Got a lot of stuff to talk about. Quick break here, Matt Thomas Show. We'll get your calls, we'll get your reactions, and we'll talk more about the Astros' cheating scandal as we go along here on Sports Talk 790. This is Deaconseater tackle DJ Reader. The Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790. Real Texans talk here.

Matt Thomas Show continues here on Sports Talk 790. Ross Villarreal with you, Adam Wexler with you. Look, a lot of bad stuff has been happening. All right, you have the Texans getting up 24 to nothing and completely yacking up that lead to the Kansas City Chief yesterday. Jeff Luno and A.J. Hinch getting dismissed. So you know what you've got to do? When times are tough, when you're struggling,

you've got to go have a good time. So why don't you come out to see me? 7 o'clock, the college football playoff final LSU and Clemson. It'll be me on behalf of Dosakis. I'm going to be, look, I'm going to be drinking some ice cold some of those. And we were at Lucky's yesterday for the Chiefs and Texans watch party. I saw a flyer in there yesterday. $3 tall boys of Dosakis on Monday. So guess what?

I'm probably going to have me a couple of Doseckeys tonight as I watch the Clemson Tigers versus the LSU Tigers. We're going to have some giveaways. I have some Bismarkey tickets. I have Los Lobos tickets. I have Monster Jam tickets. So look, just come out, hang out with me, have a couple of brews. Get all this stuff off your mind. Tonight, Lucky's Pub on St.

Emanuel, starting at 7 o'clock with some dosakis. I think it'll feel a lot better. I think the people of Houston will feel a lot better way. I have little doubt they need something and it's nice of you to provide that. Obviously, those of you listening in here to the SportsMT show without SportsMT are aware of what's going on with the Astros, Major League Baseball, drop their report a little bit earlier today and indicated the Astros were out of the 2021 drafts. First and second round picks in 2020 and 2021 were forfeited. and a suspension for a season handed down to AJ Hinch and Jeff Luno,

a $5 million fine, which is the maximum allowable fine, was handed down to the Astros. And then about an hour and change later when Jim Crane met with the media, which you just heard on Sports Talk 790, and you can catch on the blog at Sports790.com shortly. He stepped to the microphone in his opening comments. He said, I've made the decision to dismiss manager AJ Hinch and general,

manager Jeff Luno, looking to move forward with a clean slate. So the Astros have an opening. They have some big openings. I mean, I don't even know where to go with this. Let's go ahead of you guys have been holding patiently, so let's try to get some of you in real quickly ahead of a break. Let's go with Carrie on the north side. Carrie, go ahead. Hey, guys.

How are you? Not too bad. I'm doing better. Yeah. I want to talk about the Astros, and I want to go at a completely different angle. I know from the draft choices and they fall out of pre-agency, I mean, the Astros for, I mean, even the players that's on the team now, and, you know, those contracts, when they expire, they're not going to want to renew.

So they're damaged goods for a while, but I want to go a little further than that. I've been a supporter of Major League Baseball in Houston for 57 years as a little kid. And my team is now solely. It's dirty. It's considered cheaters. And wherever I go and whatever I do, that's going to occur. And I think, you know, when you say wipe the slate clean, the only way that it's going to get clean, in my opinion,

is to take the Astros away from Jim Crane and start all over. As he's holding Loonow responsible and responsible. All right, Kerry, we're having some issues hearing you there, but I appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, Jim Crane is not going to lose the team. He's trying to do what he can. I mean, I don't think that he was involved.

any of this. He's doing right by the fans, in my opinion. And he's going, as he said, his words, above and beyond, Major League Baseball wasn't going to make him fire Jeff Luno and AJ Hinch. He fired both of them today. So he did go above and beyond. He is trying to make a clean slate, and I think a lot of it has to do with so he can hold some credibility with his fans. I mean, why else would you do it? Because you know you can win with Jeff Luno. You know you can win with AJ Hinch. The reason he is dismissing them is because he is sending a statement that we are not going to stand for this type of behavior in my organization, and I'm totally okay with that. And when you go into some of the things, he answered a few of the questions about

had he had conversations with them about it, and he really kind of got down to it that they didn't weren't necessarily involved in it, but they didn't do anything to stop it. And I think that's what he was angry about, that they didn't do anything to prevent this from getting to this point. from telling people that these are against the rules and we need to stop doing it. And since that didn't happen, I think he feels like the only way, and again, as he said, move forward to the clean slate, the only way to do that was to dismiss them both. It's not saving face. It's not scapegoating. I think he believes that the direction of this franchise as led by those two smart people, as he described, couldn't happen anymore because of what had happened. And basically what didn't happen because they didn't stop it.

Yeah, it's funny because when he said smart people, it just made me, like, triggered a thought of my mind of how he's absolutely right. You have this guy, this Stanford grad and your manager, and he knows what he's doing, and Jeff Luno, revolutionizing how people build baseball teams and how he acquires players and spin rate and all that type of stuff. You had everything was perfect. Everything was great. Everything was going awesome. And now they're both fired. It's just, it's just unbelievable.

Okay, we've got to take a quick break. here on the Matt Thomas show. One segment to go, but we'll have you covered the entire afternoon. A team starting here at 3 o'clock with Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton. But the final segment of the Matt Thomas show is next. Hey, it's Eric Gordon. Gordon for three in the lead. Matt Thomas is my favorite voice in Houston. EG for 3. You're listening to the flagship. Sports Talk 790. Home of the Rockets. Matt Thomas Show, Sports Talk 790, with no Matt Thomas. As somebody once said, you have the Texans with their huge collapse yesterday.

You have the Astros getting probably the worst day in the history of the franchise. And Matt's just out doing fancy Matt stuff with the Houston Rockets. So we've got that going here on Sports Talk 790. 719.13, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790, Rossview, Adam Wexler with you. On a historic day, you know what? I'm kind of speechless, so let's go out to you guys. Brian in downtown wanting to talk about this Astro stuff. What's going on, Brian?

Sports RV, man. You think you can get a machine out here to revive my heart? I don't know what happened. Man, this whole thing is in shock. Now, my question is if the Astros were doing this, and they got fined this bad and it all turned out like this, are we to believe that no other team in Major League Baseball is doing it, And if they're going to, did they just make an example out of the Astros?

So nobody does it again. Are we the ones that are going to take the rap? Or are they going to investigate anybody else? In other words, do they really think the Astros are the only ones that did this? No. Did anybody issue a statement saying the Astros are the only one that did this? No, absolutely not. No, they're investigating.

Okay, well, the investigation is starting on the Red Sox. Yes, the Red Sox are being investigated right now by Major League Baseball. man, I don't know. And then the fire, AJ, and I mean, to me, that was the turning out to be the best GM manager, tandem, and all the baseball. And now look at it. I mean, this is kind of, wow. I'm just in shock, man.

I guess I feel like everybody else, so it's nothing new. Anyway, thanks, Ross. Appreciate you always, man. All right, Brian. Appreciate you getting in. Yes, the Red Sox are being investigated. So, I mean, it's happening. Something's going to come down with Alex Cora.

it'll be interesting to see how long he's going to get banned and maybe even fired from his job. And we'll just have to wait and see what happens to the Red Sox. So that means we have an asterisk on the 2017 World Series Championship. And now we're going to get one on the 2018 out? Well, I don't think so. I don't think we're going to see more. And I'm curious, obviously, that's what we have, our conduit to the fans out there on the phone lines and via social media. All right, Bill.

I think we know what everybody else is going to say. I think what we know people outside of Houston are going to say, I'm curious what people inside this city and the fans of this team say. Do they feel that the 2017 season is what is cited here by Major League Baseball, which is pushing these suspensions out, which ultimately result in the firings? Do you feel like the title's not going anywhere? They didn't take the title away. It happened.

They won. Does it feel tainted, though? No. Not to me. I don't know. Maybe we'll have to get further away from this. maybe we'll have to, I mean, it's like when we had Brian T. Smith on the chronic, he said, I mean, we're sitting here today in the middle of this and the thick of this. There's a lot to process. There's a lot to think about and there's a lot that's going to come of this. Not even today or tomorrow or the next day, but years from now, we will not be able to tell the full effect of this, especially when you factor in what's happening with the draft picks. So, I mean, if you're asking me right now at 256, I don't feel like the Astros World Series. is tainted. I don't feel like that there's

anything that you can take away from that team. And part of what the last caller was saying, that's where it all comes into. Do we really, is it tainted because they got caught and they got punished and were to believe nobody else is involved when we flat out know somebody that was on the Astros staff in 2017 is basically the ringleader of it all, the one who devised it and helped put it in place, and then he's been working for the Red Sox for the last two years. One of those two years, they won a World Series championship. and they've been punished before, and they've been caught a second time.

The Astros aren't the only ones to do it, which maybe pulls back the idea of it's tainted. Because if everyone's cheating, how's it tainted? They're all doing it, or enough of them are doing it. But if everybody's doing it, that doesn't make it okay. Right or wrong, it's not the discussion. All right, we'll talk about that and a lot. Oh, well, not me. It'll be Adam Wexler.

It'll be Adam Clanton on the A team. You know what? And I'll probably talk about it some more on the nightcap coming up at six or clock. So look, we got you full Astros coverage here. You guys on hold, stay online. Adam and Adam will get to you. I do have to say thanks to all of you for listening to the Matt Thomas show. Thanks to Nick Lowe, producing doing a great job. Thanks, Adam Wexler, sitting in and helping out the show as well. But you've got him and you've got Adam Klan next here on Sports Talk 790. It is the A team.