The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 1-30-20

Episode Date: January 30, 2020

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 1/30/20Former NBA Player Stephen Jackson (0:00)Hall of Famer Charles Haley (10:46)Former NFL DT Marlon Favorite (19:22)Astros Press Conference Introducing Dusty Baker as Manager (1:20:19)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 12 o'clock. Yes, sir. Or a little bit after here on Sports Talk 790. Normally. And he was simply right now in Miami on Radio Row.

Ross Villarreal, it is the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. We're getting a Port Arthur, Texas man right here. Mike Connor is there. Yes. What's up, family, y'all. family man. It's a PA representing right now. Stephen Jackson is in broadcast in Houston, Texas. Stephen Jackson. How are you? How y'all doing, man? Thanks for having me. We're good. Sign your helmet? Yeah, sign that helmet, absolutely.

We left the basketball back in the hotel. Yeah, I played football too. We are the home of the youth. Oh, what'd you play? I played receiver. Really? Oh, you're tall enough. Yeah, I was pretty nice. You could just throw it up to you in the corner and you got it, right? I tried to play in ninth grade basketball coach pulled me off to build a trial. I was like, uh, no, we know you go into the NBA, sit your butt down. down over here bro. It's probably good move. So we're the home of the Rockets. What have you made of the rocket season to this point with the transition into the Russell Westbrook air? He's been playing his butt off this month, but James is going through something

right now where he's just, he doesn't look like himself. But what have you made of their season overall to this point? It's kind of hard to predict. If they can get on the same page where Russ is averaging the triple and James is still getting his 30, that's the team we want to see. Yeah. But it's going to be hard to get to that because it's only one. basketball. That team has definitely not been the same since Trevor Reza has been gone. That's hurt the defense. They got to, and then to me, honestly, Dan Tony's not the coach. You know, they need a different coach. Don't Tony's not the coach for those guys. And when, when has he ever won? Crickets. Every time I ask that question, it's always crickets. He's never won

anything. He's one. Coach of the year, but yeah, he's not a championship. Right. You know what I mean? So I honestly don't think he's the coach, but I think when Russ and James can get to plan how they both play at the same time, then that's when that team going to be the team that they need to be. How do they get to that next level during a season? We're watching Russ right now in the middle of the season change the way that he plays by. He's stopped taking three-point shots. I would too. He's been extremely effective getting to the rim and getting a bunch of points.

And James is not getting his typical numbers. Would the Rockets be better off as James is scoring 30 a night and Russ is doing what he's doing now or James still scoring the 36 and Russ doing a little less? Well, I think they need to try something that they have. haven't tried before because with James just scoring all the points of the job on the ball that hasn't won you a championship so obviously you need to kind of take some of the responsibility of James and let Russ take over at times but like I said they have to find a defined balance where they're both doing it

at the same time you know the Lakers are good because Anthony Davis and LeBron dominate the whole game they both dominated I think when they can find a way to do that and not just on offense because James don't play no defense if they can find a way to dominate on offense and defense then the Rock is a bit better team But they sugarcoat too much stuff, bro. They sugarcoat too much stuff over there. They don't hold James accountable for his bad defense. You know, and you wonder why you're not winning.

You know, it's just fact that they don't want to, that they want to cater to people, but they won't speak to real facts. They're not winning because Dan Tonys is not the coach, and James have to be a better defender. You have to go out in the league. You guard in the best players every night. So you have to know how to defend them. And that's just the truth that they don't want to address.

I think he's just not, I mean, me personally. I think something like, I think the criticisms were a lot more fair a few years ago when the videos were coming out. He's just like losing guys on the perimeter, which he still does. But to me, he's better just because of the way he's built. He's 6'5, but he's just like an ox. And so when he gets switched on to the post, he does a lot better defensively there. I think he's just a guy who's not a good perimeter defender just because the way he is.

A lot of guards, they get him switched like last night. Damien Lillard was switched on to him. He can't hold Damien Lillard even if he tried. That's just not the way he's built. I think the defense, it's, and one of the way, you were talking about the Trevor reason the 2018 defense, they were switching everything. And he ended up in the post and he was doing good that year. It's just on the perimeter. It's just, I just think he just doesn't have that skill set. I think what, and then too, you have to realize that defense effort. That's true. You can't

teach defense. It's just effort. So when you're not playing defense, you're not playing hard. And the people don't want to say that. I've been in the NBA 14 years. I've seen it. I've been on teams with guys. They just go through the motions. And a lot of guys, especially a lot of some guys that make a lot of money when they know they're going to be on the team anyway. They don't play defense. But nobody never say something. I was always on team where from the top player to the worst player, everybody was held accountable. And that's something in the NBA that they don't do now.

They don't hold each other accountable at all. Long time NBA veteran. Port Arthur, Texas, native, Stephen Jackson. U.C. All day. We had Bunn was on with the ND the other day. Nice. He comes up to our studio sometimes.

He does. You're with us here at Radio Row in Miami. Click Capella. Yes. What do you think about Clint Capella? It's been a weird year for him. The pick and roll game has been gone, basically, from the Rockas on the offensive side. He's not a guy that you're going to pound it.

In today's game, you're not pounding it down to the post, but what do you think of Capella's game and where it's been? He seized his opportunity. He, I mean, without James, what would he be? I think James needs to get half his contract. I mean, where would Capella be without James? Just be real. Where would he? D-League.

I'm just being real. He's not that bad. How many guys? It's guys in the D league that can do what he does. Facts. There's guys in college can do what he does. The kid that's supposed to be the number one draft pick coming from Memphis. He's better than him right now.

So it's all situations. If he wasn't with James, we wouldn't even be talking about him. But he's the side. Like I said, he sees his opportunity. He played well at the right time, got his contract at the right time. But if he was on any other team, he would not have a $100 million contract. And that's just the facts, man. Y'all don't have to like it.

It's just the truth. Hey, no, it's your repeat. I'm talking about the fans. Yeah, absolutely. Respect your opinion. You're a long-time guy in the NBA. Absolutely. In the West, who's the favorite to you right now?

Well, especially with everything happening to Kobe. I feel sorry for the NBA. LeBron from to be on the tear. They're already the best team in the league. I think he's really going to turn up and make it a point to play harder and give more effort just to bring that championship home back to L.A. Obviously, they still have to go and win it. I can say this until I'm blue, but they still have to go out there and play the game,

but I got the leg is pulling it off. I see them making another move too. For who? Jamal Crawford. Jamal Crawford. He's sitting at home, right? That's easier a move to make. You don't have to get rid of nobody.

It is an easier move to make. If they're clicking at their best, though, who's the better overall team, them and the Clippers? Defense win championships, so I'll go to Clippers. Okay. I think I'd be with you there. In the East, you gave anybody a chance over there? Besides the Bucks?

No. Philadelphia, they got worse since they lost Jimmy. Butler. You see how better Miami got since they had you? Yeah, they top 14 in the east. Nobody's beating the Milwaukee though. They just rolling right now. Kobe Bryant, you mentioned it. It's been a hard week for the sports world in general. A moment for you as a player in the league with Kobe that, you know, stands out more than any of the others and just what he meant to you as a player? You know, I just, I hold the high school days. McDonnell's an All-American game, ABCD campus stuff.

like that when a lot of people had nobody knew he Colby was but we knew he was going to be great at that time you know even my mom my uncles everybody was taking pictures with him when he was 16 17 because he just had that aura of greatness you know he he carried himself like mj as a teenager and the one thing i hold tight is every the last three times i seen him he told me the same thing because i was one of those guys when i play basketball i get like technical files and i play like i'm angry he's always he told me this after we shot the last show a couple weeks ago and he told me before I saw him when I was playing. He was like, Jack, whatever you do,

I make sure you enjoy it. So I'm holding on to that for the rest of my life. Everything I'm doing, I'm going to make sure I'm enjoying it. And that's just the person he was. He wanted to see everybody happy. He wanted to help as much as he could. And he was doing great things after basketball. And I just hate people not going to be able to see

that same tenacity that he brought to the court that he was going to bring to after basketball. It's basketball missing mentalities like Kobe right now in this world of the game today? You know why he's as good as good. you asked me that question, it's easy to see that because you have so many players, Mamba mentality, Mamba mentality, you got to be born with that. You can't just be, you can't just wake up and see, oh, I'm going to put, I'm going to put

POMM mama mentality and I'm a habit. It don't work like that. You have to be born with that. Kobe was born with that. Kobe didn't make that up. He had that as a teenager. Kobe had a kill list at 13. That's different.

That means you're different. What do you mean? Yeah, that's a different level. I just thankful I wasn't on it. Okay. He had a kill. I don't know any other basketball. basketball player that had a kill list of 13.

That's your job dedicated he was to game basketball. Stephen Jackson with us here at Radio Row down in Miami. So with all the Rockets, though, that we're talking about. And, you know, if we're looking to a spot where the team needs something in the middle of the season, what's the best place for them to get some sort of addition to possibly give them a chance to beat a team like the lake? What team they did they get from? What kind of player? What are they missing?

They need a small ford that can defend and knock down a wide open shot. That's what they need. It's too much pressure on PJ Tucker. There's too much pressure on him trying to stop the best player. When they was rolling, him and Areza was taking turns on the best guy. It's too much pressure on the PJ Tucker, and they need another guy that they can throw the ball down to it, like a small for it that they can post up. And when James and Russ is doing ISO, he can spot up at him to three. That's what they need.

I don't think he's wrong. I don't know who it is. Yeah. Those don't grow in trees, unfortunately. You got any, you got any game left? Oh, no. Man, hey, man, I'm 24-hour cannabis guy. I might not even play Big Three this year.

I don't know if I had that left. So what's going on with you? I mean, just hanging out and doing the TV stuff. Yeah, all the smoke, of course, and I'm in the cannabis business with Al Hanson, with Viola. We released my first movie called Candy with a, My guy Boomtown is on Amazon Prime. Wow.

And that's it, man. I got a couple movies I'm going to do this year. Matt Barnes got a movie he's in. And that's it, man. I'm full-time with this All the Smoke Show. This is Sports Talk 790. Live from Miami, presented by Low T-Setter and Twin Peaks. Super Bowl.

Bringing you coverage of the big game from our little tiny booth, where deodorant is mandatory. And by... What his smell of it, Michael Connor left his deodorant in Houston. Wonderful. One, two, three, three. I cannot confirm or deny the rumors that Michael Connor left his deodorant. I don't know why I'm being singled out of somebody that wouldn't wear deodorant.

I think it's pretty awesome. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show here live from Radio Row in Miami, thanks to the low T center and Twin Peaks Lodge. And you know what? One of the beauties of being out here is sometimes you just get a Hall of Famer plopped into your lap, And that just happened to us, five-time Super Bowl champion. And now Hall of Fame where we can say it. Charles Haley on the show. Charles, how's it going?

Hey, what's going on, guys? Y'all having a good one? Think so? Yeah, we're in Miami. And why your arms crossed, man? I've been up since like six. He's combative, isn't he? Six?

Yeah, I do the morning show, and now I'm here. Oh, okay. You've been partying hard a lot out here in Miami, Charles? I don't party. I'm old now. Hey, this old dog, this old dog will partied enough. Well, even if you're doing crosswords on your table in your hotel room, that counts as partying. It is?

Yeah. Well, I got a book open, and I try to read that. Okay. But I read slowly. Okay, so what do you have, you been following the games, the Super Bowl and all that type of stuff? You watch a lot of football? I looked at the Super Bowl team really hard. I watch some film on them.

I want to get a feel of deaf strengths and weaknesses and how teams going to take advantage of it. How good is Patrick Mahomes? Like, from all the years that you've seen quarterbacks, where does he rank already for you? Like if you're looking at him, like he has the potential to get to. Brett Farr, he reminds me of Brett where he can throw five interception, but he knows he's going to throw seven. He broke the seventh touchdown. You know, he's like Brett. Brett never try to run the ball.

But he'll move around enough so he can get the ball off. And that's what he does. You know, the offense line is not particularly strong, but Patrick McHole makes him look good. He's as good as it gets. You played obviously for the 49ers forever. What do you think of Garoppolo? Oh, I love Carapola, man.

I go up there, harass him all the time. It's too pretty, man. Huh? He's too pretty to be a quarterback. What does that mean? I don't know. He just, he looks too good. I ain't never met a man that's pretty.

I haven't either. I'm just saying, like. No, hey, dog, you just said to me. You know what I mean? I don't know what you mean. Hey, I think he's pretty. You want your quarterbacks to be bad looking, you know? Hey, bro, that's on you.

Hey, I don't judge another man, dog. You know what I'm saying? I do I'm judging this talent level. I ain't judging that look. Well, he's got some game too. That 49ers defense has some games. Yeah, now we're talking. Now we're talking. How much you enjoy watching them? I love watching those guys play rush or pastor. I like to see that determination, man. I just think that I only put together a great team. Yeah. One of the teams that you played for as well, of course, is for visiting with Charles Haley's the Dallas Cowboys. A new coach. up there in Dallas. What do you think of the McCarthy hire? I think it's a great hire. I think

that he has a reputation of developing quarterbacks, and I think that's going to be great for him. What's been missing up there in Dallas? We had Emmett Smith on this morning. He said identity. Accountability for me. I think that the guys can hold each other accountable. I don't think it's gone. I don't think coaches help people accountable enough. But, you know, all it takes is one person to change the culture, man. Then you can see a difference. And they're hoping that's the difference up there. Jack Prescott.

They've got to pay him a lot of money. I think that's a good idea. They should have been to pay them. Should they pay him before they paid Zeke? They should have better paid him. They could have paid both of them. Yeah. The money is there.

You know what? They wanted to see him play. And, hey, look at, look at the passive things he does. I just think, for me, you take things off the table. You know, you don't have a guy going through the whole year worrying about a contract and playing when he's your franchise quarterback. So, you know, in my mind. In my mind, Dak is super special

and that he deserves everything he gets. When you're watching the NFL today, as a guy that played in a game that was a lot, wasn't as filled with rules that hurt defenses. How do you take that in as a former defender on that side of the ball? How the game has changed today? I don't like all the celebration.

I think that it's a waste of time. It's a lot of showboating. And that's not what I think football is involved. I think that, you know, helping each other up and kneeling and all that crap, amen. They said sportsmanship is an additionary, but I never saw it. And I tried to find it the other day, and I couldn't find it in there. but somebody said they did. But I think if guys hold each other accountable,

you're going to see a different cowboy team. Charles Haley with us here on the Mad Tommis show. Charles, your tier for Sierra Delta, is that correct? Sierra Delta, right? They are raising money to provide service dogs to wounded military guys. The service dogs is not an emotional dog. It's just a dog that provides the needs for the owner. And, you know, they kill about 100,000 dogs a year,

so they just want to try to control that and be able to use those dogs to help wound the warrior. You a dog guy? I'm a big dog guy. I have five doublemers. Wow. Dolomids? Five doublemers.

I got three at home. You do? Yeah. What kind? One's a pit and pointer mix. The other one's some sort of hound mix, and then we got a chihuahua. Oh. It's a little small for me.

The chihuahua is your dog, huh? Nope. Why do you think it's my dog? I can see it in your eye. Nope. I can see it in your eyes. You're going like, damn. That dog loves me, but that's not.

I didn't pick out. That dog don't love you. Dog, you love that dog. That dog loves me because I feed it. You feed it? I feed the dog. Hey, I'm responsible for that. I got five dogs.

only two like me. Really? The only two of them. Why is that? I feed them all. Hey, I got the bill to prove it. But they're younger. Yeah.

I don't have time. I don't have time. And my daughters, it's really dad dogs. They just, my son and daughter, they just dropped it off at my house because they can't take it with them. And so I don't have a relationship with those dogs growing up as puppies. But you're, your dad, man. You're not, they're supposed to be, you know, taking care of dad now.

You're not supposed to be taking it in the dog. This generation, man, is all about, they'll never get off the payroll. Hey, I don't think my kids ever got out of the payroll. I'm going to like, good Lord. All right. Well, Sierra Delta.com is the website, Sierra Delta.com. Thanks a lot, Charles Haley. We've got to take a quick break here.

Appreciate your time. Hey, no problem. Thank you, God. Charles Haley, Hall of Famer, five-time Super Bowl, The biggest game of our career. It's time to celebrate. Welcome to Miami. This is Sports Talk 790, live from Radio Row, presented by Low T-Center and Twin Peaks.

And let the fans enjoy this great moment. Go to it right now. And welcome back from Radio Row. It is the Matt Thomas show without Matt today. Chris Gordy, Michael Connor, Ross Villarreal, and we've been having all kinds of different guests here on Radio Row. and very rarely do I get to see a guy that I went to college with and played ball. A guy who played ball when I was in college, a guy who played at LSU. It's my buddy Marlon Favreye jumping all with us, who's getting into the broadcasting world.

He's been doing stuff. I saw you on NFL Network. You've been doing all kinds of stuff, man. Yeah, I've been super busy, man, but I want to let the listeners know right now. Part of it started on the Chris Gordy show back at LSU, baby. Let me see. Chris was one of the first people to say, you know what, let me go into the studio with Marlon when he's recording songs. And then I got some football clips for him already.

So, hello, somebody. We're going back like Full Flats. Did he record songs with you at any point? Have you heard him sing? Have you seen Chris Gordy karaoke? Well, he dropped a couple of verses. They're so exclusive. I can't really run them to you.

Well, he did one in Minneapolis a couple years ago, the Super Bowl. What was that song? Oh, yeah. Performed a song, yeah. Your own original song. At a bar. I'm known for doing the shaggy impression of karaoke. That's what I do.

What was the song you did? What was the name of it? Butter My Toast. That's a song I wrote. He did in front of a whole bar. Butter my toes. Butter my toes. That's important, right?

When you eat breakfast, you got to make sure you get some butter on that toast. It wasn't really about that, but we won't go into what it was. Watch out there now. So, Big Fave, as he's known to me, after LSU, you won a national championship at 07 under less miles and all that. Then you start going to all these different NFL teams and you're on these different practice squads and you're cashing those checks and you're putting in the work and you end up on the Saints at 2009. End up getting a Super Bowl ring too. Yeah, yeah, man, I couldn't.

Man, it's blessed. It's a huge blessing. I'm not asked for a better picture or a movie to be painted, our picture to be painted a movie to be shot. You paint a movie. True, you really can. But no, that whole situation was surreal to me. It was one of those deals where you put a lot of hard work in.

And I started that year off with Carolina. So, bounced around from Carolina, St. Louis, Kansas City. Ironically, Kansas City, right? And then Seattle picks me up. And then I don't sign a futures with Seattle, which makes me available as an unrestricted free agent. And I get a call from Ryan Pace. And he's like, hey, Marlin, you're in town?

I was like, yes, I'm on the West Bank. David the Best Bank. How you doing? And he was like, hey, well, we got a roster spot over here on the practice squad. You come work out. Everything goes well. You can possibly get signed. So, you know what I did?

I just, you know, turn my car around and boom! Put the pedal to the medal. Shout over to our airline and the rest is history, man. Just a blessing to be a part of that in our hometown. It's just huge. How many different NFL jerseys did you? put on uh 10 you played for 10 different teams 10 different NFL teams in four years and this like every team's got its own unique playbook its own terminology and all that how to how the

hell do you adjust to that just adjust like it's like overload see folks really they undermine how smart football players are like you are expected to learn like everything that's your response some other guys don't know that's just rude he's a guest Special guest, though, we go back, baby. Chris could do that. But no, but in all honesty, it was just adapted and adjusting, you know, and put it in the simplest form, adapt, adjust it, and just make sure that you, if you mess up, you mess up at 100%.

But, you know, it was cool. And later on in life, now that all those defensive philosophies are engraved in my mind through our Concordesports.com deal with us training the players and everything, We also were able to implement some of that stuff to the linemen. So it just really came full circle for me. You spent time with the Patriots. What was Bill Belichick and company? How different were they from some of the other teams you played for?

Well, surprisingly, Bill Belichick was extremely nice to me, man. My entire time, I always thought, I guess his public persona always put me in a space that, oh, man, this guy is going to be mean. Let me not mess up. And I remember we were coming back from OTAs, what a lockout. and we were doing the conditioning. So I did my conditioning test. You had like skill guys out there that was out of shape.

And I knocked out my conditioning test. I made it all under the time frame I had to make it in. And I can remember walking through the tunnel after the conditioning test. And it just so happened to be walking right alongside Coach Belichick. And I was like, hey, coach, man, when the last time you talked to Coach Saban? I just wanted to crack the ice because we never really had a real conversation. I was already on the team for like a few months,

but still hadn't really talked to him. And he was like, oh man, he's doing fine. I spoke with him the other day. But hey, Marlin, you came in in a really good shape. You look nice out there. That was one story, right? I'm like, okay, cool. I'm in shape.

I might have a shot. And then, you know, we would have fun in training camp. You know, training camps is a stressful moment. So it's about the fun you can have where you're there. So Patrick Chung started freestyling, and he wanted me to do the beat. So I'm... That's not bad. I'm busting in the beat.

And then Coach, Coach, out of the beat. The other check was like, hey, Patrick Rap was all right, but I think Marlin's beepop is more impressive. I'm like, oh, this dude is cool, man, but he's super professional, man, and obviously the winning pedigree is there. A lot of similarities with him and Saban, you could tell her buddies. You should have got a, how'd you not end up on a hard knocks? With all the different teams you're on there, it should have been a hard knocks.

You'd have been a star, Hard knocks. Hard knocks. How old at your boy, man? No, it's too late now. You're out of not to play it anymore. Well, you know, you know what? Broadcast boot camp hard time. You know what I'm saying?

You know what I'm saying? Hard knock. What, how'd you never end up in Houston? It could have used you on the Texans. I know, you know what? And I thought that would have been a good thing. That would have been dope. That would have been pretty dope.

It would have been cool to play in Houston. I have a lot of family in Houston, five hours away from New Orleans. So it would have been cool, and they're running a three-four defense. I enjoy being in a three-four defense when I was with the Redskins, too, sidebar, by the way, because noz-garde you don't have that much responsibilities. Really, no way you could go wrong. So I thought that that was cool. But I think Houston would have been a decent fit.

And have you been like this guy lately? sufferable after the LSU title. Oh, yeah, man. He's walking over. He'd been walking around nothing to LSU stuff on. It's my first day not wearing it at LSU shirt. Oh, yeah. Well, I have my ring on a day, and I had, look what I did.

Chris, I wanted to tell you this. This year, normally I will go to different, you know, press conferences or we'll do, like, broadcast. And I'll wear my ring, you know, just kind of wear it. It's very conversational, right? This year I says, you know what? I'm not going to wear this ring. None this year.

Worked out like a charm and won a national championship. And right after the Natty, boom, I put it on my wrist, baby. I mean, my pinky ring. What did you make of the season Joe Burrow had? I mean, the guy's going to be the number one pick. Did anybody predict that a year ago? Nobody predicted at all. But I knew something was special about that kid,

because this is my third year with LSU Sports Network, and in the second year we got Joe. So we had two talented quarterbacks there, and Justin McMillan and a Lowe, Narcisse. Both guys are doing well. Loel's out in Texas, San Antonio, and then Justin had a phenomenal year with Tulane. And what I like most about Joe Borough's story is this kid just kept getting better. You could see it week by week, even towards the end of the season, just taking a step and getting better.

And you, Coach Ed Ogeron, right, the genius coach he is, he thinks, let's make this passing game much better. Let's go, hey, Coach Sean, look, I need you to let me get one. of your offense. Now look, it don't have to be you, but I want you to get one of your. And he's hired Joe, Joe Brady, best thing happened. You know, a guy 29 years old, you know, he's dressed in suits with J's on and stuff like that, relatable to the kids. And I was talking with Justin Jefferson, Jordan's little brother. And he was telling me, when they got the playbook, they saw all the past plays that they had. And it was like, each installed that he was like, oh, this is going to be fun. Wait, I'm doing this.

this way and they saw it and then Georgia Southern happened and from that it's like wow like I remember Mike's goable from tiger bait.com came up to me said I've been following LSU for 50 years I've never seen them come out in the office it felt like it should be illegal for LSU to have that kind of office because I used to dog him all the time about the less miles pitch it to the running back and die the pitch dive was the funniest thing to me ever it's like why you keep doing this but it was like it was you came to the new age how do you sustain that though Now, how does Coach O sustain that? Because he's lost a lot from this team, including the coaching staff.

Well, one guy he didn't lose, Steve Innsminger. He's still there, that mindset. People don't realize he was calling the play. Like, Joe Brady was with him, but Ensinger was still executing and calling the offense. Yes, he was. And I don't, okay, so let's do this, right? I leave my notebook right here, right? And in my notebook is all of my plays.

And I just leave, but I don't bring my notebook with me. I mean, that's LSU. I don't think the offense is not going to forget what Brady instituted this year. It's already been instituted, so it's there. Now, as far as hires, I don't know if he brings in another like-minded person to do that. I don't know if he goes back. Hey, Sean, I know last year I asked you to let me get what he got.

You got anybody else for me? I don't know if that type of this. The Saints cabinet for anymore. So, oh, no, buddy, he can come over here. But or you find an analyst on there that worked side by side with Joe, and then he gets an upgrade. Or he could take the Bill O'Brien approach in Houston and just say, I'll run everything. I'll be the play caller. I'll be the quarterback coach.

I'll be the GM. That wouldn't be a good move. I'll just oversee everything. And I'll be honest with you with Ed. He is a defensive line coach, period. That's his deal. Now, he's an amazing head coach. He knows how to manage a team.

But what I like about him is his intelligence. He's like, you know what? I'm not going to, I'm not the smartest guy. Let me find somebody. The smartest guy in the room knows to find other smarter guys than you. And that's the approach he took to his hires. Relationships, too. Greg McMahon.

I mean, Greg McMahon. He was on the Saints team with him. Coach Bill Johnson. He was on the Saints team with him. I would DeLine coach with the Saints. You know, you're bringing Steve Engsming or someone you're familiar with you have a friendship with. You start looking at these hires and you're like, yeah, he's headed the right direction. Most head coaches like my assistant coach is not going to get paid close to what I'm getting paid.

Now, let's break Dave. Randolph whatever he wants. So that type of attitude as a coach is going to take him far in this game. Talking my buddy Marlon, favorite. A couple more for him. We're on Houston. A couple of quick thoughts on Deshawn Watson. What have you seen out of him in his development? And I mean, he just won his first playoff game this year. What's the sky the limit for Deshawn Watson? Oh man, a guy fearing man, a good teammate you could tell from a mile away that that's his deal. What I like about Deshawn Watson is, man, his ability. to run. I mean, that's the obvious thing, right?

Noticing when that defensive end may have cheated in a little too much and you have the edge on the outside, high football IQ for a young player, he's skilled. In my opinion, man, two years ago, he was very close to being the MVP of the league just off his play. So I think, you know, moving forward with Deshaun Watson in Houston, man, he's going to, you continue to put more targets around him improve the offensive line and it'll be a ride.

Real quick before we'll let you go. You're doing, you start doing the broadcast thing. You've been on NFL network a little bit. You're doing this broadcast, boot camp, and all this stuff. What's you got going on? So right now we're going to finish out the radio road this week. Probably have some more NFL total access obligations that I'll have to do and just really take it inside the trenches podcast to the next level as well.

We're about to do our 200 episode. So I'm bucked up about that And I'm gonna really take the content from here And go ahead and put it on that episode Who was some of the guys you've done the boot camp with? What, Mark Sanchez you were with? Mark Sanchez, Vante, I mean Vernon Davis He was there, Brandon Flowers, which he's here right now.

Shane Vareen? Shane, he was there. It was like 36 of us at broadcast bootcamping. All former players getting into the broadcast world. Formal and current. Like Jason Cabrida, he's still playing in the elite. He's with the Detroit Lions right now. So I think it's a unique approach that the NFL is taking with this broadcast, boot camp,

and all of this stuff just to really take the former and current players and make that transition much smoother. For a guy like me, I don't have any accredited seasons, right? I bounced around a league for four years, but I never made anyone's active roster, but I'm still a part of the family. How could we get this guy involved? And I think that's what they did really well this year more than anything else, just kind of help guys hone their craft and just support the NFL family.

It's very cool. Of course, you got to give some credit like you said to this guy, unfortunately. Oh, yeah, I do. I do. And let me tell you something. No, no. Let me give him credit what's credit is due. The NFL has been watching me very close since the broadcast boot camp.

And this man here allowed me to host his entire two-hour show three times this football season. LSU is the hottest thing on the market, right? And he's like, Marlon, you got the keys to the Ferraris. So thank you, Chris, for giving me more content for these guys over here to say, say, Marlon, down there working, baby. Wow, we're going to see Marlon a whole lot real soon, NFL network and all those family networks. My buddy Marlon favorite from LSU join us here at Radio Row. Interviews and a ton of hype.

It's quite a magical moment. Coverage you won't hear anywhere else in H-town. Get ready for the Super Bowl. One, two, three. This is Sports Talk 790, live from Miami, presented by Low T-sitter and Twin Peaks. Matt Thomas Show continues from Miami. Super Bowl.

Not a big of the roll. You okay over here, Michael? I was leaning back in the chair. I almost knock that guy out. It's tight fits around here sometimes. You know, you've got to watch yourself during these rows. It's true. It's true.

Dusty Baker press conference is coming up in just about an hour. Two o'clock central. We will kick into Dusty Baker talk here in the next hour to get you ready for that, where the new Astros manager will be announced. But, yeah, we're here at Radio Row and some good guests along the way. The A team will have some really good guests that we're going to be on this show that they will record here in a few minutes. So keep it locked all day.

And, of course, again, Dusty Baker coverage as well throughout the day here on 7-9. Yeah, 8-team's going to have some real good stuff. Who's the – I just saw Derek Henry running through here. Yeah. It didn't look like that huge. I think I could take him. You could not take him. He's like all of 6' 5'3-250.

And he's a running back. I think he has literally not an ounce of fat in his body. You would die if he ran you over full speed. Oh, I wouldn't die. I think you'd be in a hospital. What am I landing on? The ground. Oh, yeah, I'm dead.

Yeah. If you give me like a pillow or like maybe a... Oh, the hit alone would knock you unconscious. If he could knock me under a mattress, I might be okay. He would knock you out. Yeah. But I wouldn't die. You would break a lot of things.

Now, if we're going to the ground, then fine, I'm dead. Yeah. That's unfortunate. It was a good run. I would go ahead and suggest to not do that get in his way or get into any NFL. Oh, no, I wasn't looking to get in his way. Yeah, I was just saying. Former Texan Cream Jackson is standing over here?

Yes, he's going to be with the 18th. Yes, Texans. Very soon. Texans could have used him this year. Texans could have used a lot of secondary players. Well, Justin Reed was solid. Yeah. Outside of that, it was a very hit or miss.

Roby was good. And you know what? I've been talking to people about this, Michael, since we've been doing a lot of these football interview, It's like, okay, yeah. Bill O'Brien is the GM now of the Texans. He's the head coach. He's the play caller, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But I'm looking at like the landscape of the AFC, right? Because that's the goal, right, to make the Super Bowl and to win the Super Bowl. Yeah.

To win the Super Bowl, you have to get out of the AFC. Correct. Where you have Patrick Mahomes, you have Lamar Jackson. Uh-huh. You have, I mean, Ben Rothers is going to come back. and that pitchwork, he only needs to be good enough to where he doesn't cost them games at this point in his career, because that defense is nasty. Yeah.

I mean, the Tennessee Titans are up and coming. I'm not a big believer. I know they're playing the NFC championship game. That's credit to them, but I'm not a huge believer. I just don't believe in their quarterback. They played more than the Texans have ever played in. It's true. But, no, I'm mostly focused on Mahomes and Jackson.

Yeah. So, I mean, the Texans defense is going to need to be special over the next few years for them to be competitors. in the top-end level. At the top tier of AFC championship contenders, that defense is going to need to improve and improve quickly. How do they do that? Well, good news. They have draft picks to use.

Oh, wait a second. They have cap space to use. They could use that. They've sat on that the last couple of years. They need to probably spin to keep DJ Reader. They need to probably spend to keep Roby. They need to probably spend on some guys on the free agent market to add to it. And then they're going to have to find gyms along the way

because they don't have the ability to supplement. inside the draft. It's just going to get more difficult because they have decisions to make on, well, I mean, you don't have a decision to make on Deshaun Watson's contract. You're going to have to give him a huge extension here soon. You're going to have to make a decision on Will Fuller and what you're going to do there. Eventually, you're going to have to make a decision on DeAndre Hopkins in his situation because he's not getting any younger. He's 27, and he's got a couple of years left on his deal before it's up. And it's like, they've, they've... Redo him now. Oh, by the way, Laramie Muntzel. Yeah. You're going to have to pay him, and guess what he's.

He's going to get top left tackle in the league money. There goes your cap space is what you're saying. Correct. So, good stuff. I just feel like the more I think about the future and what's going to be happening in the next few years, the more bleak I think I think about it. Well, it's not that bleak, though, overall, right? Because you still have the quarterback.

But it's, yeah, it's bleak from the standpoint of thinking that they're going to take the next step, make that next leap as a team and a franchise, especially when you give them, given the fact that none of us trust the guy in charge. I mean, after watching that Chiefs game, I'm completely, I finally was my last draw with Bill O'Brien. I'm out. I have no desire to continue watching him be the head coach even though I'm going to have to do it. And I do not think that they will ever get past where they have been with him running things. Prove me wrong.

I just, I can no longer give him any benefit of the doubt. I think they could get lucky one year and make a championship game. I just don't think they're going to see. That was the year. This was the year. Well, yeah, they did get lucky to get up. But in all honesty, we should be sitting here preparing for a Houston Texan Super Bowl. I mean, look, they'd have to beat the Titans, but they were going to be playing the Titans at home.

It's true. They were 24-0 in the second quarter of a football game. Would it made for a better week. It would have been a lot better. But you know what? We got to switch to greener pastures, and that's a team that's going to be good this year, no matter what. That's Houston Nationals. We'll talk about them. We're going to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show as Matt Thomas is traveling from Portland back to Houston. You got Ross v. Realty. You got Michael Connor. You got Chris Gordy. It's like a, you know what? Matt goes out. You like nine people to replace Matt because that's just how great he is.

This is the Matt Thomas Show. Okay, this is not the final hour. The second hour of the Matt Thomas show. You know, I was looking on my clock and I saw 2 o'clock. We're 2 o'clock Eastern, correct, which means 1 o'clock, Central. You can't tell Matt's not here, which means noon mountain and 11 o'clock Pacific. There you go. So there are two hours left.

Correct. Of the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790, but still without Matt Thomas as he's traveling from Portland. You got Michael Connor. And you got Ross, Villarreal, Dusty Baker. Officially official. For the next hour, we will not be taking live guests from Radio Row. So if you want to discuss the hiring of Dusty Baker, you're more than welcome to do so at 713. 212-5-790. Of course you find us on Twitter, MC 790, SportsRV,

but Dusty Baker press conference coming up 2 o'clock. Start here on Sports Talk 790 for the introduction of the new Astros manager who is getting a one-year deal with a team option for a second, 70 years old, the oldest manager now in Major League Baseball with this hire, a 22-year career as a manager at the big league level with the Giants, the Cubs, the Reds, and a couple years of the nationals, the last one coming in 2017, but a respected voice, a guy that is going to come in and be able to handle the storm, that it is, that is the Houston Astros and what has been going on.

I get the hire. I know that there's some that don't love it. I don't think that there's any reason to hate the Dusty Baker hire. It's just not what you would expect, given that the Astros have been so analytically driven and had a younger manager in A.J. Hinch. At this time, it makes a lot of sense to me to go with this guy, given the state of all the craziness around the franchise. Yeah, so like Michael said, we want to hear from you, 713, 2,1, 2, 1,000, 790.

So I was going to ask you, Michael. Obviously, the hire has been made, and we'll have the press conference coming up, and we want to hear you guys' opinion on it. But just take me, like, obviously there was the huge shock of the A.J. Hinch and Jeff, Fluno dismissals as as Jim Crane called them and I believe was it was it was it Buck Showalter was it dusty the very first name mentioned it was one of those showalter okay was showalter first Dusty second Dusty didn't get initial mention and the Chronicle ran a story where they quoted him and because somebody

reached out to him and got a hold of him about you know has he heard from the Astros he said no and that was about a weekend right that's right and then he got the interview so when you like when you first heard his name come up what was your first reaction and your first thoughts? I didn't take it all that serious. I agree with you. I thought it was just doing the courtesy of giving a veteran manager

who's been around forever who would take an opportunity if he got it giving him the interview. It just felt like it was like Jim Crane was like, all right, let's get the the ball rolling. We'll get some vets in here, talk to them, and then we'll go get some more serious candidates, and then we'll evaluate after. Yeah. So, I mean, either

one of two things happened. Either this was obviously more serious than we thought, or Dusty Baker just completely blew Jim Crane away. I would guess that a lot of it had to do with the interview when Jim sat down with him because everybody that talks about Dusty Baker says that when you talk to him, you really love him. He's awesome.

And we'll hear his press conference and hear what he has to say. I'm sure that we're going to think that. He just want to sit on his knee and have him tell you stories. And they just say he's a very personable guy that connects with people very well. And he's been there and he's done that. There's nothing that he was going to go into an interview and fail at or be phased by.

he was going to win an interview no matter what. I think for me it became, it became my thought when we saw Jim Crane at the Houston Sports Awards before it, given the comments to the media about Dusty Baker specifically saying that he's, when he said he's at, you know, near the top of the list, I'm like, okay, this is, I can read the tea leaves here. Dusty Baker's going to be as, he's going to be as higher. So I started to, you know, try to get myself into it. And again, it has nothing to do with, with Dusty Baker. I mean, I just, I would have gone ahead, and I get it from their standpoint.

You do a one-year deal with a manager with an option for a second, and if it hits all the way, and he wants to come back for another year, you do it, you give him another year, and then you eventually make your long-term hire, but you feels like your next long-term hire, which A.J. Hinch was always going to be. To get through this, though, now, and I just, I would have preferred to go find a more analytically driven. I'm not saying that Dusty Baker, and we'll see what he has to say about Annalism. analytics and everything. They're keeping the staff in place. He's only going to bring in one guy to add to it. Joe Espada stays as the bench coach, and he is absolutely the guy that is going to drive home the point. He's been around. He knows it.

In terms of the analytics, you know, I make the comparison to it. We were talking with Gordy's buddy a minute ago. And, you know, I don't want to call him a figurehead, but like the CEO type of hire. Doesn't this feel like the CEO type of hire? Dusty comes in to be the guy at the top. Is Dusty making all the decisions in terms of analytical shifts and stuff on the field and all that? And pitching decisions. I feel like Joe Spott's hands probably going to be pretty heavy in those areas. So Chris Sims just came by, so you're like a Mac Brown. Mac Brown wasn't out there, you know, calling plays.

Yeah. Like I don't think that Dusty's going to be sitting down. And I don't know per se. I mean, whoever ends up being the general manager, that's the most important hire of the two for me at the moment is and they've been interviewing candidates that don't necessarily fit what they. They cannot go away from what they've done. And I think at the end of the day, Jim Crane deserves our trust

that he will be a guy that sticks with what has worked in terms of the vision. The vision that Jeff Luno and A.J. Hinch had works. It is today's baseball. So finding guys that can come in and keep that same sort of vision going is very important. So finding that type of GM is huge. and some of those names haven't fit that to this point, but there have been a couple that have popped up that absolutely do. So getting that in place and who is sitting down with the numbers guys on a daily basis

and running through the specific stuff that AJ used to sit down with, Jeff and with the other guys in terms of all the analytics that they had in terms of matchup-based situations and shifting and all that. That was all predetermined before games. That was hours of advanced scouting basically in terms of numbers from AJ on a day. basis. So I doubt that Dusty's going to be sitting down doing that. He might surprise us and tell us that he does. Can he work a computer? I'm not, I mean, you know, I don't know, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that in terms of all of that stuff, that's left to, and I think it is important again to why you keep Joe Espada around. And, you know, maybe you feel that Joe Espada still needs some seasoning on the bench before you make him the next manager. Who knows? That's actually, was a thought I was just having, continuing with the college football analogy, the coaching waiting situation. Do you think maybe, I mean, because if you're Joe and you're, you're, you're, you're, you've been here and you feel like you've probably, I mean, even if he maybe hasn't put in his dues, he probably feels like he has, he probably feels like he deserves this shot. I mean, he did get two interviews.

He interviewed with the Cubs and the Giants and got to the head two interviews with both of those teams. So you think Jim was like, all right, look, we're going to give him this short term deal. You're going to be our guy. We just want you to stick with us for a little bit and you'll be the Astros manager sooner rather than later. Maybe. I think if he was going to have gone, I knew that I always thought that just transitioning into a Spada would have been a very smooth move in terms of the players because the players do love Joe Espada. And that's, again, that's nothing about the Dusty Baker part of it.

Like the players are going to love Dusty Baker when he comes in. It's a different sort of relationship than they've had with their manager in recent years, but they're going to love him. I think that the transition to Joe Espada would have been easy, but I do think that if they were going to have hired Joe Aspada, they just would have done it immediately. And maybe part of that thought process was we don't want to immediately promote AJ's bench coach, who was here during part of what the investigation said that the scandal was going on in 2018 still.

And obviously he was here in 2019, but there was nothing about 2019 that is part of this investigation. So that was part of my thought too was maybe they just didn't feel comfortable with going to that. having Joe a spot of having to go up there and answer all these questions because he was here. He was privy to it. Like they all were. They knew it was going on.

Yeah, that makes sense. Just kind of keeping him out of the line. Or maybe it's a more of a bad look. Not necessarily to the fans. I don't think the fans would have cared, but perhaps the league? Yeah. Or Ron Manford, if you just promote.

Like, how, okay, AJ Hinch has gone going to promote his bench coach. Yeah. So I get that. I mean, I get why maybe that could have been part of the thought process with that. Or you go with the big fan conspiracy theory. One year of Dusty Baker, and then he comes back out from the fog.

AJ Hing. From the ashes. He rises above A.J. Hinch, Astros Manager, 2021. He is not coming back in 2021. I hate to break it. If I'm wrong, I will. I'm going to make a shirt, AJ 2021. What do you think?

You want one? No, I'm going to pass. It would be funny. I mean, it would be funny, but it has no chance. Can you imagine how. how crazed Yankees and Dodgers fans would go if they did that. That would make it worth it alone, in my opinion. How about that?

Does AJ manage in 2021? No. I think he does. I think there's no doubt. No, I think he'll start off in a smaller role somewhere. I think he's back in leading somebody's club next season. I think he'll be some kind of quality control or consultant or even a bench coach. I think he'll be in that kind of role for a couple years.

I think, I don't know if one year is enough to heal all the wounds of this fresh off the suspension. and teams not wanting to take the PR hit. I think he'll be back manager next year. I think it'll be a couple years. We'll see. All right. On that note, we've got to take a break here. What do you guys think?

Dusty Baker, Astros manager. I say that sentence. How does it make you feel? 713. 21, 2.125, 790. 7.13.2.125. 790. Michael Conner, Ross, via Real.

Continuing with you, continuing with you live from Miami after the short break. Big game. Big guests. Complete coverage. Anything can happen. Judging from past broadcasts, you know that to be the case. It's Sports Talk 790, live from Miami, presented by Low T-Sitter and Twin Peaks. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show.

Sands. You son of a. You know me a Coke. Sands Matt Thomas here on Sports Talk 790. Connor. Ross Villarreal with you. And we are here at Radio Row, but we are currently in a baseball mode. Michael Connors. We talk about Dusty Baker. Yeah, press conference coming up live, 2 o'clock from Minutemade Park where the Astros will introduce their 24th manager, technically. I think 19th full-time manager overall. So Dusty Baker, taking the reins, 70 years old.

been there done that world series appearance just one time if there's okay so we'll bring him a box of toothpicks to the i i would guess that dusty baker has has toothpicks a plenty you think he just buys bulk from amazon or something or like a like a restaurant he goes to Costco just gets to like a restaurant level a big box of toothpicks if there's one thing i can guarantee you during the dusty baker era it is toothpicks and sweatbands Dusty will have the sweat bands on. And like randomly just eating oranges on the bench. Yeah.

He sticks to what he does well. And credit to him. But World Series appearance back in his last season with the Giants, was at 03, I believe. Got close with the Cubs and the NLCS. Of course, that was the Steve Bartman incident. That team there in 2004, I believe. No, that was 2003.

I got my years all picked up. But yeah, so he's getting one more shot at doing it. We've got some phone calls, though, if you guys want to talk, Dusty Baker at 713-2125-790. We can do that, correct, Ross? That's right. Let's go ahead and go out to Jerry in Friendswood wanting to talk about the Astros and their manager situation. Go ahead, Jerry. All I wanted to do is I want to tell you something, all right?

And I got this from the horse's mouth. Please don't ask me where. but I got it from the horse's mouth. AJ will be the coach next year. And I, you might say the man, okay? Well, I mean, I mean, thank you for the,

thank you for the phone call, Jerry. Is that right? Yeah. I think if AJ Hinch was going to be the manager next year, they just wouldn't have fired him. Maybe. And they could have just names. They could have hired Dusty Baker as the interim.

Maybe Jim Crane is just showing some level of remorse and regret. He says, you know what? I made a mistake. AJ, you're suspended for the next year. Appreciate you. I got you back. AJ Hinch is coming back. It'll be like that video from Wolf of Wall Street.

Yeah. He's banging his chest. No, Jerry, and again, yeah, if you want to get in, 7-1-3-212-5-7-90 is the number to do so. I'm going to go ahead and say that Jerry's theory, though, is incorrect. What you have now is the dusty bag. He didn't have a theory. He said he heard from the horse's mouth. I'm going to go ahead and call, you know what, on that.

I'm just saying, nothing against you, Jerry. I don't know you, but you probably wouldn't be calling the radio show and telling us that. It could be like A.J. Hinch's real estate agent. And AJ's like, hey, man, I got to sell this house. I'm going to go ahead and guess Jerry's sitting around at home retired. And what? Drinking up malt liquor? No, I didn't say any that.

I'm just thinking he's sitting at home retired. He sounded like an older film like Dusty Baker is. If there's any concern that you have with Dusty Baker, it's what, Ross? I don't really, I'm with you from the standpoint. I mean, he's going to be there to talk to the media, fill out lineup cards, and just be judicious when it comes to making bullpen decisions. I mean, outside of that, that's been his thing in his career, is his pitching decisions that people have harped on.

He is, like, there's something that we watch, and they're coming off of a year where, oh, that thing's screwing up again. Yeah, I was doing that to me earlier today, too. Yeah, I can't hear. You got a wiggle on it. It's fine now. The, excuse me? You got a wiggled cord. It's not wiggling on anything. There's one thing that we watched happened last season, specifically, and this is a very important piece. And Christian, and Randall, we'll get to you in just one second. I just want to mention this. We watched the season go along with Verlander last year, and he was incredible, all regular season.

I mean, Sy Young for a reason. He was awesome. I think we watched him in the postseason, though. That workload from the last few years hit him. I think he hit the wall. Physically, at the end of the season. And he wasn't horrible in the postseason. But he wasn't great. You need that kind of guy, like more than ever without Garrett Cole now.

That guy has to be your ace. And if there's one thing with Dusty Baker that I do not sit here and can tell you for sure that he's going to be able to do, which is manage the workloads throughout the season. Justin Verlander done to be going out there. I mean, look, Verlander's going to come out when Verlainter wants to come out. They got to dial it back though this season. They got to keep that kind of guy fresh for the postseason because they're going to be playing there. Wasn't his first start solid and then after he did?

Yeah, he was really good against Tampa. His first shut out innings. And then there was a three days rest and then that's, I feel like that's when the rails came off. Yeah. But I think there were some signs even in the Tampa game, the first one, that something was a little bit off. Even though he was great. He didn't have the strikeout numbers. He had 8Ks and 7 innings.

The ball was hit hard that day, though, to a lot of guys. I was sitting in the stands the day at that game. It was just, I think there was a little bit. And he was actually, after the first couple of endings on the three days rest, right? He was fine. But I felt like he never recovered. It was the first inning issue. It was like Dallas Keikl Oliver.

Getting to the first inning, the game suck, and then he'd settle and be all. I mean, the New York game up in, up in Yankee Stadium, terrible first inning. Cruz's shutout ball the rest of the night. Yeah, first start on regular rest. It was no-runs-one-runs one hit. Eight strikeouts. After that he gave up four runs, two runs, four runs, four runs, three runs. Not horrible, horrible, horrible. But you need him to be. But not what you need him to be. Yes, you need Tsai Young guy. So dusty handle in those type of situation. For a pigeon staff that still has question marks is going to be interesting to watch.

Let's get to Christian and Lamarck. Up next, here on Sports Talk 790. Hello, Christian. Oh my God, Connor. And back at Houston, Fronek, oh. Hello. look, I just want to ask one question about the Dusty Baker thing. I know that he's the 17th full-time manager and Astro's the 3-second manager of color for this franchise. But let's just say, if this thing works, if the Dusty Baker experiment works for the Astro, could we potentially see him in the long run with this team? I just, I mean, he's 70 years old. I do not think it's more than, like, say the best case scenario plays out.

He doesn't have a long run left of anything. Let's say the best case scenario plays out he wins a World Series this year. If he wants to, it's going to be on a yearly thing. Like, he could come back if he wants to. But no, I mean, like, this is a, in all likelihood, this is probably a one-year thing, in all honesty. And then they reassess and give themselves the ability to go find a new manager once the season ends instead of rushing and doing it in the middle of January. That's my, that's my opinion on it.

All right, Christian. I think we covered it for Christian. I appreciate you weighing in. Dusty Baker is not, I don't think he's here for the long run. I don't think he's doing much of anything in a long run because, I mean, like you said, he's in his 70s, so you talk. Let's get to Randall, Westside next as we're taking your phone calls on Dusty Baker. What's up, Randall?

Yes, sir. You know, I'm going to go and call my shot, but I've been right on a lot of things. I'm telling you, this could be a perfect, this could be a perfect, this could be a perfect storm, a perfect storm. I say that because, as you know, Dusty is lacking that championship, all right? The Astros, the only way they can redeem

themselves to fight through this is to win. It's to win a title. And this team, I mean, keep in mind, guys, like, you know, this team is so loaded. It is so stacked, you know, and they have so many young hitters that

did not perform too well last year, a few, like Tucker, who is expected to explode this year. I'm telling you, it's going to come down to an Astros and Yankees American League Division title again with Gary Cole on the mound, with Artouvae at the plate. It's going, it's happening, fellas, it's happening. I'm telling you, I'm calling it shy.

And the Astros, again, they will be so hungry to get to the world, the world championship again because of what is at stake. You know, their legacy. Their legacy is tainted, and the only way to get through this is to win. Bottom line, guys. What do you think? You're right. What do you think about that?

Thank you for the phone on. Jose Al Tuve walks it off on Gary Cole in relief and rips his jersey off to show that he doesn't have a buzzer. They did not have a lot of guys that were young that struggled last year. Kyle Tucker was actually good when he came up and actually had some hits in the postseason. When did he struggle at first? Was that last year? Two years ago. He came up and hit last year.

Yeah, he came up and hit for sure. He wasn't perfect, but it made you believe again that Kyle Tucker's going to be a part of this team and be a part of a lineup that's so great. I mean, look, at the end of the day, the hiring of Dusty Baker, it didn't matter who they're going to hire. You just have to kind of have a guy come in. You're dealing with the PR and keeping the clubhouse from, you know, imploding in terms of all of the distractions that come with what spring training will bring with all the media. coverage and everything.

Like that's the most important thing here. The manager has to just get out of the way for the most part with this baseball team. Even if you have some concerns with the pitching staff, which are legitimate to have outside of, I mean, you have Verlander, you have Granky, you have McCullors, but returning off of Tommy John, you wonder what the workload and the limit will be on his type of innings all season long. You have Jose Orkitti who really flashed at the end of the season,

and then, of course, went in full beast mode in the World Series, and really made you think like, okay, this could be a dude. But right now you're sitting there wondering who's the fifth starter is. You're wondering who replaces Will Harris in the bullpen. You know, there are a few things that you worry about there, but this team is going to walk into 95 wins this season. And there's too much talent there unless they all go out and hit 215 to where they should. That shouldn't happen.

Do you think of how much of a disaster that would be? It won't happen. It's not going to happen, but no. I want to say their Vegas total is around like 96-97. Well, they pull them off the board there for a minute. Oh, that's true. But, yeah, that would make about saying the Yankees are going to be the favorite for everybody in the American League. And I think you can make the argument when you go player for player position to all of that,

that it's very, very close, even though they make the addition of Garrett Cole. At the end of the day, it's going to come down to me to those two teams, like I think many will believe, to win it all. And it's on Dusty Baker to just continue what's going on. with this team moving forward. It's on, I mean, also, I mean, you're talking about, I mean, Verlander, we understand ages, ageless fountain of the use, same thing for Grinky,

but I mean, are they going to continue to do this basically forever? No. I would be surprised, though, if either of those guys suck this year. When do we start seeing the downhill turn is what I'm wondering? I think that both of those guys are such smart pitchers. And Verlander still has 95 plus in the tank when he needs it late in the game.

He knows, we watch it. him all season long, he comes into games throwing 92 for a reason. He knows how to dial it up. He has learned, and that's why I think he's taking that jump back to being a Cy Young winner as his career has moved along. As he came back to, he came to Houston. They worked through stuff with him and mechanics and everything on, you know, pitch grips and some particular things got better, but he learned how to be an even smarter pitcher. He's just efficient. So like, To me, I just don't see, unless his arm literally falls off, him being a horrible pitcher anytime soon.

It would literally take injury, I think, for him to be bad. Same goes for Zach Granky. He's never, he continues to actually become a better pitcher as he moves along as his stuff continues to diminish, and it's not what you love in today's game, and there's not going to be a massive number of strikeouts and miss bats. There will be games where he does that against particular lineups, but he is so smart and has such both of those guys have such pinpoint control when they are rolling. Welcome to Miami.

Hello, Super Bowl. Big game, the ultimate game. This is Sports Talk 790, live from Radio Row, presented by Low T-Center and Twin Peaks. One, two, three, three. Even though we're at Radio Row on the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas, Ross is here. Ross V. Reall. Michael Connor with you. It is Astros.

hour ahead of Dusty Baker, the press conference for him coming up at 2 o'clock right here on Sports Talk 790. Live coverage of that, as we are not taking any guests this hour from Radio Rosa. You can get on in here at 713-212-5-790 to discuss the hiring being official of Dusty Baker, who again introduced today as the Astros manager of one-year deal with an option for a second, that being a team option. I will go ahead and guarantee this for Dusty. His last two seasons as a manager, those were with the Washington Nationals. I think it was 95 and 97 wins.

He will have a 95 plus win season once again this year. I would think, same to think so. I mean, the talent is there. We do have the questions in the bullpen like you mentioned, and I mean, a few questions at the end of the rotation, but the talent, I mean, unless. And you still look at the division? Yes, I think that's the biggest thing.

Who's going to be your biggest challenger? with the A's again? You think the angel? I mean, the Angels got, they got Rendon. They're, I mean, you're looking for a healthy Otani. Mike Trout as well. I've gotten to the point with the A's to where you look at their pitching on paper and it tells you that

they should not be that great. But for two straight seasons now, they've won 97 games. They're just some scrappers, man. They have a really good deep lineup. If their guys now, if Marcus Simeon takes a step back from being the third that'd be great. You know, finishing third

the AL MVP vote, then that could be a problem. But they got young bats that are really good. That's probably the biggest competitor, like you mentioned. They got a couple good mats. The Angels have the guy that's on track to be the greatest player ever, Mike Trout. That's a good start. They have a talent, Shohayotani, that if he ever can put it together for a season at both spots, like, he is filthy good.

Well, apparently, who are we talking to in this? They're saying they think that they're going to go to a six-man rotation. They are going to a six-man rotation. With Shoahe Tani. Yeah, they hired Joe Madden as the manager out there. So Atani can D.H. And pitch once a week, like in Japan, he would pitch once a week. So that'll keep him to a once a week.

It makes it different. But especially for a team that you go look at their rotation, you're like, there's nothing here to fear. I think it was Dustin Garneau. We had a fan fest. Because he'd come from the Angels. He was talking about how that guy is just like a freak of nature, unlike anything he's ever seen.

Correct. So you don't like their pitching at all with the Angels, but they do add Rendon, who's an incredible bat. It's going to be a tough lineup to get through. But it's a team that to me, like high-end, no more than 90 wins unless they go out there and get a bunch of pitching. But they're more likely to be about a 500 team. The Rangers, I don't know what they're doing. They add a bunch of nice, solid pitchers.

They have a rotation full of guys that are at best, like a three-in-a-rotation, and they're praying to God that I guess one of them's a one, and then the rest of them are threes instead of fives. So you don't worry about them, of course, Seattle's. You go ahead and mark the Astros down for at least. They were 18 and 1 against Seattle last year. You can probably put them down for at least 18 wins again this season. But, I mean, at the end of the day, though, the Rangers improved, right? I mean, they're not going to be great.

Yeah, I think they're going to, I mean, they're going to battle to be 500. Right. That's the type of team they are to me. All right, 713, 2125-790 is the phone number here on the Matt Thomas show with Michael Conner and Ross via. Let's go to Bob in Beaumont. Want to talk about Dusty Baker. What you got, Bob? Hey guys, I love the hiring.

I think it's a great situation for the team for this one year. The distractions are going to be huge, but they've got a seasoned vet who can handle, who has maturity to deal with all of it, who won't be fazed by it. The one-year situation is good. And just my opinion, I think they like the spot up, and I think they're setting it up for him to take over from this point forward. but for this season, it's just a blessing for the team to have something like Dusty Baker to guide that chip. And, hey, you know, Dusty, he may only want to do just one season.

So all in all, it's a good situation. Enjoy yourselves in Miami. I'll hang up and listen to you. Thank you, Bob. We are having a good time down here in Miami Radio, right? I mean, there's a lot of elements to this, Michael, that make it intriguing. And the age factor, the short-turn deal factor, I mean, there's a number of ways. I mean, do you see a scenario where Dusty Baker is the guy after more than like two years? I think that's very unlikely.

I think it's unlikely that he's here for more than a year. You think you think it's one year and then that's it. I think so. I mean, what if they, I mean, obviously the games have to play out. I mean, if they win the World Series, you say, okay, he rides off into the sunset then, I guess. Yeah. What if they win like 95 games and lose in? I don't know, the ALCS or something like that.

I mean, it's not his decision, though, at that point. You don't think so if the team, well, he's a team option, so if the team is happy with it and they want to give it one more run with him, and they don't like the candidates out there, then sure. That's what I'm saying. At that point, I mean, there would be no reason not to keep him if they play well and they're successful. And I don't think that it's about, if it's only a one-year thing about Dusty,

you know, not wanting him back or anything, I think it's just about maybe they get to a market in terms of managers available to them. And with more time to interview guys again, where your pick of the litter might not have necessarily been available, clearly, when you've made this dusty decision right now. So that's to me what it's about more than anything. Yeah, because, I mean, at the end of the day, the list was,

it was almost out of the 10. Like, nine deep. How many of those were retreads, though? John Gibbons, Buck, Showalter, Jeff Bannister. Rested, Retray. Dusty Baker. I think Mark Katsay was like the only one that wasn't a... Brad Osmus.

Joe Spada. Yeah. So I mean at least five. Maybe like a spot... I think like a Spada in, uh... Cotsay were like the only ones that weren't necessarily... And to me, I have a hard time dealing with the thing, retread and baseball. I don't think it matters as much.

I agree with that. Because there's so little that a manager does overall that makes... And I'm not trying to belittle the position, but again, like... Go ahead. It becomes... It becomes what your team is. is more than the other sports, like the talent on your team. And you could put, we're going to see Joe Madden this year.

Well, see, I argue with Matt about this all the time. He says he thinks it matters less than others. I think it's baseball. As far as the big three sports. The least of the three? As far as strategizing and all that type of stuff, yeah. You think it does? It matters least.

I agree with you. Yeah. Especially in the American League where there's a DH. Right. You're not making the double-switch decisions and all that type of stuff. and there's less, there's a lot involved, of course. I think more, I mean, it clearly comes down to the word manager. You're managing a group of now 26 guys getting through a season together

and making the right call when you need to make the right call at times. And Dusty's been there and done that. So, like, I'm with you. I don't think that there's, and that's why I go against the whole, you know, you can't have a guy that's been there, done that before, been somewhere and maybe failed. I think the guys that have been somewhere and failed before are for a situation like this at times, couldn't be your best options because they know what they did wrong.

AJ Hinch was a great example of that when he came here. He was in Arizona for a year and a half, and it went miserably. And he learned from what he did wrong and came here and did opposite stuff, and it kind of worked out for him. He did okay. Yeah. But I'm with you. The decisions aren't as, I mean, the daily effect the manager has on a game

is the least amount for this sport than the other two. Definitely a lot to think about. Dusty Baker is the manager for the Houston Astros. He will have the press conference coming up at 2 o'clock right here on Sports Talk 790, the only outlet carrying it in the city. So you do not want to go anywhere. We're going to take a quick break here. Michael Connor, Ross Villarreal, with you from Super Bowl Radio Road.

But we're talking about Dusty Baker and the Astros. If you want to get in, 713-212-5790, 7-1-3-21-5-7-90. Congratulations, 49ers. Cheese. Exclusive coverage, interviews, and a ton of hype. The Super Bowl. This is Sports Talk 790, live from Miami, presented by low T-sitter and Twin Peaks. Back to the Super Bowl again.

And we're about almost 10 minutes away from the live coverage of Dusty Baker's Press conference here on Sports Talk 790, introducing him as the manager of the Astros. Of course, we are your home for Houston Astros baseball and Houston Rockets basketball. Connor, Ross Villa Real here on the Matt Thomas show from Radio Row in Miami. We'll be again covering the press conference live. But some thoughts. We'll start wrapping up our thoughts ahead of it right here. But we'll get to the phone lines real quick as we go to Sugar Land and talk to Gordon.

What's up, Gordon? Hey, good show to those guys. Good show. Thank you. You spoke very wisely about Dustby coming in as the manager who had failed elsewhere, never made the top. And I had some experience to that. I think he's just the right guy for the Astros now.

There was a manager in my hometown, New York City, guy named Joe Torrey, who came to manage the New York Yankees after he had failed elsewhere. And Joe had the chemistry with the team, took them to the top, to the series a couple of times. It's a great move. Great move on a one-year basis for the Astros.

I love the Astros, the most fun team in the world to watch play. I agree with that. Thank you for the phone call, Gordon. We appreciate it. I think it's a good point. I mean, you know, having any kind of worry about a manager that, again, yeah, like you said, has had some failures in the past and never gotten over the top.

I mean, it's so hard to do, but you are so dependent as a baseball manager on the talent that you are given. And he is being given. If you go back and look through all his teams, he had some teams maybe overachieve. You can have teams that do that on any given season. And it's such a hard sport to predict every single year. Most guys are going to play to their numbers, but there are years where some guys just stink. Of course, we all know about injuries. And then you have the years where you have guys having career years that they typically go out of body experience.

And that elevates you. So to me, it's so dependent on your talent as a manager that you have. And this is probably the most talented situation he'll ever be in and has ever been in, period. All right, let's keep it going on the phone lines. Kurt. Oh, sorry. Gordon? Are you still there?

I don't know what's happening. Let's get to Kurt. Give us somebody, Nick. Who's this? Yeah, go ahead. Hey, Kurt. Michael, I'm a little surprised that your take on the MLB guy, the manager, not being as important, when you got NBA teams that are literally running themselves. Oh, I mean, I think that the NBA and basketball needs the coach more, but you're right that NBA players are probably, like, the NBA coaches are probably.

doing less now than they ever had. I think that that sport needs more coaching than it gets on a daily basis. Like there needs to be less freedom out there. I just think that in baseball, you're less dependent on the manager doing, you know, making decisions on the result of you winning and losing at times. Well, I think that's something that's more to do with how they're playing the game now, which has been a change from where there was more hit and run, more more, more bump, more steel, more stuff like that. If you watch the deal on MLB network the other night about the 80s Cardinals, it would give you a little bit more insight to the aspects of how the managers are actually thinking through this when they had a bigger part of the game.

Now, you can sit back and, you know, wait for your three-run homer if you want right now, that's fine. But the guys that are still putting things in motion, adjusting defenses throughout the game, adjusting their shifts, all that kind of stuff. There's way more on the baseball side of the basketball. That's just an argument that I don't think I could never be convinced the other way. I would be that sounds, I just, you're a baseball guy. would think more into that aspect than the NBA being that big of a deal. Yeah, come on, Michael.

You're a baseball guy. I'm just saying, I think at the end of the day at the major league level, there is less decision-making throughout a 162 game season, like critical decision-making than you're putting the onus on. This is all so, it's not managerial decisions to position players anymore. It's a numbers thing. they strictly position players based off of numbers. And they don't hit and run and all that stuff because of numbers.

They don't steal bases anymore because of what the numbers say. That's how the game is managed today. And I mean, and also I want to, to Kurt, we're not saying that the managers don't do anything. Right. We're not saying they're not involved and they'll matter and they don't make any decisions. It's a big deal. I think, yeah, what the managers do is a lot. It's a lot more than, of course, like a player or the responsibility there.

just to me, and to say that NBA teams are running themselves, I don't, I don't buy into that either. Right. I just think that there's less construction in terms of coaching, like, inside the game. But there's still, I mean, there's like out of timeouts, there's just another kind of sets. There's adjustments that need to be made in-game with an NBA coaching and all that type of stuff. So, I mean, it's, you know, half a dozen in one hand and six in the other, but I think the game of baseball has managed so much now. and it's just determined so much by pre-game prep in terms of analytics and advanced scouting, and that's what's utilized to manage it. You know all these things that you're going to do.

I'm telling you. Ahead of games, A.J. Hinch knew exactly where he was going to play guys every single day defensively against every single batter because of what the numbers told them. That's my maybe not concerned, but just question moving forward. is with Dusty, with Jeff and AJ gone, how much do the remaining guys still embrace? Here's what the numbers. Because we know before every game, Jeff and AJ and whoever else would meet in a room. That's what I was saying.

I think that Joe Espada being here is what, and I think Ken Rosenthal made the point about it yesterday, or maybe was Jeff passing. It retains their analytics by keeping Joe Espada, who's been in on all that, and he is going to drive the ship on, I think basically, I mean, you're talking about defensive coordinator with analytics. I think it's going to be Joe Spott's job to do that. And we'll see if Dusty Baker acknowledges anything like that. Will Dusty be anti-shift? No, I don't think that you can get this job.

He wouldn't have been hired. Yeah, you can't get this job if you come in and say, stop all that shift in foolishness. Get back. Like Buck's show walked or walked in and said, I'm not going to shift like he did in Baltimore. Guess with the Astros said, thanks for coming in. We just wanted to do the courtesy of interviewing you. Like, wanted to give you a nice dinner and a, plane ride.

All right. Let's go up quickly, guys, before the top of the hour. Let's get Matt in spring here. Matt. Hey. Hello, and sorry for the clearing of the throat,

but thanks for having me on the air. I'm the transplant. I call on every now and then, Cardinal fan. But the one thing I like about Baker is, Dusty Baker, is that, I mean, he's,

you can intimidate the guy. And I think Tony LaRoussea was probably as demanding a tough manager in the last, you know, 20, 30 years in baseball as anybody. and Dusty would, you know, get in his face. And my point, my point is right now I think the Astros need a personality, like a Dusty Baker, to deflect the road trips this coming year. It should be tough on the Astros.

A lot of it is simply unfair. And I agree with the analytics. He'll adjust to it because he'll take the lead from the other bench coaches for the Astros. But I think, again, you know, my final comment is, Dusty's perfect. I mean, he's kind of like a refined Mike Leach, so to speak, from the football side. Yeah. We've got to get to our top of the hour break, so we've got to get rolling on that one.

Now, I do agree with you. I think this is a good spot for Dusty Baker at this very given moment. Who will be hearing from next? Our top of the hour break, the Dusty Baker Press conference, being introduced as the Astros manager next right here on Sports Talk 7.9. And here's Dusty Baker, your new Astros. manager his press conference. The Dusty Baker is the new manager of the Houston Astros. We hired Dusty for two reasons.

He's a person of high integrity. He's respected leader. He has great baseball experience, and he will earn the players' trust. The second reason, Dusty has one of the most impressive records in baseball. He had a storied career on and off the field. He's the best person to lead this team to a championship. His gold is our gold. On January 13, MLB made a decision on fines for the Astros.

We took that to a higher standard. We are holding the Astros to a higher standard. This is today is a reinforcement with hiring Dusty to live up to that commitment. hiring Dusty Baker is one big step for us to move forward. And I believe Dusty is the right person at the right time. We're absolutely thrilled to have them here. Please join me and welcome me Dusty and his family to the Astros family. Yeah, go ahead.

We're going through the Dusty Baker Press conference. They're doing the picture taking at the moment. Pretty brief statement there from Jim Crane, but I think a lot of good points from him about Dusty Baker being the right fit and a credentialed manager. Here's Dustin. I left this morning very early from California.

Set my alarm at 2 o'clock in the morning. And I beat the alarm up by an hour because I was excited about getting here. And I'm very thrilled to be here, seeing so many faces that I've seen for so many years. And I had no idea that I be sitting in this seat on this day. You know, God has truly been good to, you know, to me and my family, you know, throughout my life. And especially, you know, this is my last hurrah.

And I didn't, I thought my last hurrah was in Washington, actually, because I gave all my stuff away. I went to, I went to find my shoes. I went up in the attic and I found the empty bag. I didn't even have underwear. I didn't have anything in that bag. So, you know, this is a new beginning for me. My wife's very excited. My son is extremely excited.

And so I got to bring him some gear back, you know, today. I just, I didn't know which player he wanted because he usually, he's a frontrunner because he likes the best players. And so, you know, we got quite a few best players on this team. It's an outstanding organization. I've been coming here for years and years. I actually got my first hit in the Astrodome, 1972 against Jerry Royce. And I have some great battles here with Enos Cabell and, you know, Jose J.O. Cruz, and Nolan Ryan and J.R. Richard.

I mean, we had some outstanding battles here. I always respected people that lived here. My former wife, all her family was from here, spent a lot of time here. And a lot of my players still live here. I got calls from everyone. I even got called from Shane Reynolds, you know what I'm saying? Hey, may you need to come join us,

and Charlie Hayes and Mike Jackson and Trinidad Hubbard, you'd be surprised how many guys have called me, you know, welcoming me, you know, to the city. My past list might be a little long, Jim. But I'm excited to be here and excited to win because this is, you know, my last chance that, you know, to accomplish the goal. I was happy, but I wasn't satisfied where I was and what I was doing because, you know, something's missing.

And I think the Lord gave me the best chance to accomplish, you know, to accomplish, you know, what I need as a person, as a father, and as a man. All right, thank you, Dusty. Please raise your hand if you like to ask a question. Okay, Francisco right here. Mr. Baker, welcome, welcome to Houston, sir. I mean, your past is prologue.

And I have one question for you, and one question for you, Mr. Crane. Mr. Baker, you obviously know what happened here. the past and the prologue of the Houston Astros and the future of the Houston Astros. What do you identify as the greatest challenge that you have and where your experience, your vast experience is going to help you to overcome those challenges? And for you, Mr. Crane, why Dusty Baker? Well, I think, you know, in life, all of your experiences of your past, you know, should help you in the present.

And, you know, I've been through a lot of things in my life. You know, I feel that I can help the players. I feel like I can help this organization. I feel like I can help the city. You know, I wasn't here, you know, when a lot of this happened, but I followed it. And I felt very, very badly for, you know, the city and the organization. And then, you know, whatever players were involved. But, you know, this is a new beginning.

It's a new beginning for us, a new beginning for me. And I think that the thing that we have going for us is, the amount of love that I see that the players have for the city and the city has for the players and also the cities have for each and the players have for each other. And so it's going to be very, very, very, very positive. You know, I knew it was going to be challenging when I, you know, when I took the position. But, you know, I've always raised to the challenge and I know I'm going to do great and the team's going to do great. Yes, on Dusty, you know,

As you all know, we interviewed a number of great candidates. It became clear right away that not only Dusty wanted to help, he wanted the job, and I went over his credentials. They're extremely impressive. And he's been noted. I hadn't met him before. We talked about three hours. I thought we were old friends when we got done.

So he was very easy to visit with. I know we'll get along well together. But he's a great player's manager, and we need some help there. right now and he can step in to do the job so we're very happy to have them okay Kim right here hi Dusty welcome to Houston thank you you mentioned that you thought you were done like it was you know you were you were finished what what made you decide to come back and what excites you most about this opportunity well you know number one I got a call from you know from mr. crane here and you know that I got my juices to flowing and I discussed it with my wife and

discussed it really with my with my family And they said, Dad, you know, you got to make yourself happy. And they said, you've done so much for everybody else in your life. And, you know, we want you to, you know, to be happy. And they know that what makes me happy is competition and the quest for, you know, for winning. And, you know, then when I got the call, then I said, hey, man, I'm going to do whatever I can and be as honest as I can, you know, with Mr. Crane. I knew I got a call from Enos Cabell,

my old longtime partner, and he had told me that he had talked to Baggy and some of the other Astros ever here before. Some of the guys that I had tremendous amount of respect for. And, you know, that made up my mind right then. Plus, man, this is a great team. I mean, you know, this was a great team before I got here. And, you know, don't tell us.

the nationals, I was rooting for this team to beat the nationals. You know, and so, you know, I'm very excited. And, you know, I love this. I love the city, actually. I mean, I spent probably more time here than I have any other city other than where I was living. Okay, Barry over here. Question for both of you. Jim, why only a one-year deal with a club option?

We don't discuss our contracts on our managers. But Dusty's here. His goal is the same as ours to win a championship, and hopefully there's more than one. So that's all I can comment on that. Dusty, it's been nearly 50 years since you were taken under the wing by the hammer. During the course of that time, your role is both the player and the manager into analytics and how you've embraced it. Well, you know, something, I'm always about change. You know, I'm a guy that how many men, 70 years old, have a 20-year-old son. And I just had my first grandchild 15 days ago.

So, you know, like I enjoy and embrace, you know, being modern but also being old school at the same time. And I don't see why we can't combine the both of them. I mean, the other day I was listening to B.B. King. and he was playing with Eric Clapton. I was listening to the Stones, and they were playing with Muddy Waters. So, you know, I'd like to think that I can, you know, combine the two.

Plus, you know, but forever, since I've been in the game and since I've been managing, there's always been something similar to analytics that just didn't have a name. You know, every day I would write down first batter efficiency out of the bullpen, left-right match up, who hits in a double plays, who's going to strung to a strikeout. So see this isn't really new. It's just we just put a name on it compared to what it was before. Okay, Christy. Dusty, are you disappointed that you're only one of two

African-American managers in the big leagues right now? Yes. And it's been the last two since since before, but I'm hoping that what we do and what we, you know, could motivate, you know, other, other coaches and players to, you know, to try to strive to get to where I am. And also, hopefully this will incite other owners, you know, to say, hey, man, I mean, these guys are pretty good at what they do and these guys are the best. So, you know, you have to persevere. I mean that and and and my dad taught me a long time ago you know you never quit and you know perseverance You know breeds character and and long as this character then you got a chance for hope and this is what

I think this has been missing sometimes in our in our world so I'm here to give some hope Okay Brian the second room. Dusty the team's gonna go city to city and there'll be people who are yelling things at him screaming things at him accusing him stuff Jim's talked about the team making a statement at spring training. How do you plan to navigate this team, this clubhouse, through everything they're about to face? Well, I don't really know yet. You know, I have to learn the personnel.

I have to talk to the guys, because, you know, communication is the key in anything, especially in a team. And, you know, I've been, you know, a victim of similar things myself. You know, I've had played. on my teams in the past. And so I'm just going to have to talk to them and make sure that they stay together

and make sure that they continue to love each other the way that they have. Because it comes across the screen. I don't really know them other than a couple guys, but it comes across the screen that this is a tight group of guys. I mean, it comes across the screen that this team doesn't surprise me the fact that they win. Because I remember I asked Bill Russell.

I said, I asked Biggues. Big Bill, I said, Bill, how did the Celtics win all those championships? So I thought he's going to say Red Arbock. I thought he's going to say this and that. And he simply told me because they loved each other. And I think that that would take you a long ways. I think this team certainly loves each other. Okay, Chandler's next.

Matt. Hey, Dusty. I have two really quick. First, are you going to bring any coaches or anybody from the outside in? Are you going to keep the staff intact as it is? Well, it's kind of late. you know, with only 10 games, I mean, 10 days left, you know, before spring training starts. You know, I mean, I think that you can ask Mr. Crane, but I think all the guys are under contract,

best of my knowledge. And so, you know, we're going to go with what we have because it's pretty good before I got here. And plus it takes a long time to learn the personnel when you're coming from the outside. and then we really don't have time, you know, for that because we have to, I want to win. I want to start out hot and get out the gate hot. And then I'm wondering, obviously, with how the Astros have kind of ascended to where they are now, did you have any preconceived notions about the team and how it was run before you came in? And when you interviewed, what did you learn about this organization?

Well, I learned, well, I mean, I knew some of the guys in the organization, you know, but I didn't know, I didn't know Jim Cray. And, you know, it starts at the top. And you got to know what the top is like before you're going to learn what the bottom's like. And to me, I've always thought that, you know, down in the clubhouse, that's, you know, we're in the shop. You know, I mean, we're the blue-collar guys that go out there and work, and the shop is, in every business, the shop is on the ground floor. And that's what we are. We're at the shop. So, no, I didn't have any preconceived.

conceived notions about anything. I try to, you know, have an open mind about everything and then try to make up my mind as I go. Okay, Matt, and then Brian. Dustyman. Jim offered you the job. You said, yeah, I'm interested, but there's one blank concern there. Is there one big concern going into this for it? If there is, if there is, what would it be your biggest concern going into this job? Probably, you know, who's going to take Derek Cole's, I mean, Garrett Cole's spot, spot of excellence. But every team I've been on, I've always looked for a surprise person to come through, a person, a young player that gets to figure something out over the winter.

You don't know why, because I always leave a spot for a surprise. And I really don't know who that person may be or persons may be. but I got my eyes open to try to find somebody that all of a sudden got it together and hopefully he can be as good as Garrett Cole was. Okay, Brian McTaggart and then David. Dusty, how do you go about the next 10 days, just getting to know the players, getting up to speed on everything you need to do, and when you start kind of reaching out to players to get to know it?

Well, not yet. The next 10 days, man, I've got a pack. I mean, you know, have you ever packed for seven months? That's a long time. And then I got to, my hands are sore now from pruning. I got to prune my grapes. You know, I've got to, I mean, I got work to do. You know what I mean?

I got to see my grandchild, which I've only seen a couple times. I've got to go see my son. You know, I got to make sure my dogs don't have ticks or worms or any of that kind of stuff. So I got a lot to, you know, I got a lot to do. And then when I get to spring training, I'll hit the ground running. Great. Dusty, so many of your former players have talked about the relationships that they have with you that extend beyond baseball and how important that is with them, including getting to know their families. Correct.

What's the time's right? Two-part question, why is that so important to you and your success? And then whenever it starts, how do you begin to build those bridges with these Astros players? That's very good question. I mean, that's how it was, you know, back in our time, back in our day. I mean, Tom Lassoder knew everybody's wife, he knew everybody's kid. I mean, and guys like to know that you care about them other than them just being a number on the team. And, you know, I mean, it's still a people business.

And people like to know that you genuinely care about them. And one of my mentors, Bill Walsh, you know, who I learned, you know, so much from. You know, he would send flowers to a guy's mom on her birthday, or he would, if you were married, he'd send something on anniversary or whatever. And these things matter because sooner or later, you realize that the players have the same problems that everybody else has. You know, just you have to go out there on a daily basis and play and act like you don't have problems. but the same problems. Baseball is a microcosm of society. So the same problems that you have in society, the same problems that you have on the field. And that's part of my job. Well, I mean, first I got to get to know the players because, you know, people don't like you to pry either. And it takes time. It takes time for, you know, to see who you can kind of, you know, see the personality changes in a person. You know, I remember I had an old coach in high school, and my parents are getting divorced, and I learned from him.

And I was missing layups and free throws and stuff, and he goes, what's wrong with you? And I says, nothing. He goes, something's wrong. And I wanted somebody to talk to with somebody that I could trust, and somebody that I knew wasn't going to spread what I was about to tell him that could keep it private on what my problems were. And that really helped me in my life and, you know, relieved me of the tensions. that I was feeling at that, you know, at that moment. So you've got to let some of them come to you and see which ones that you could, you know, go to them. Okay, Jason and David Eckler. Jim, when it comes to the analytics, how much did you dive into the Astro's analytics

during the interview process with Dusty? And do you believe that he'll be able to satisfy, I guess, the fan's expectations of the Astro's use of analytics, which we've seen over the past few years. Well, we talked about it. Dusty explained it pretty simply. I mean, the data is available. He'll have help. He's certainly a very smart guy, so he'll get to speed very quickly on how we like to do things and some of the reasons we do things. And, you know, I've worked with the baseball ops on big deals, and when they put the information in front of you, you can get to a result pretty quickly. So I don't think you'll have any problem with it. We've got good people that can deliver it in a concise way and we do it with the players where we we really don't try to

overload them we just work on the things that need to get done so I have no problem that he'll take this and run with it and and apply it how he feels that he can win games and he can help the players and that's what that's what will continue to do okay David and Jerome Dusty the Astros apparently used their signed signaling system several times against the nationals in 2017 based on the information that a person blogging games has come up with. What's your reaction to that?

And do you intend to talk to the players about what was done in 2017 and why they did it? I'll talk to them at some point in time. But I don't know, I don't even know how many players are still here from 2017. You know, so that's remain to be seen. Like I said, I'll address it when I get there. I'm not just exactly sure how I'm addressed it or what I'm going to say.

But, you know, we'll get, you know, we'll get to the bottom of it. And then try to flush it and forget it and go on about what we have to do. Okay, Jerome and then, Mark. Sort of along those lines, Dusty, in the past, you've had strong feelings about sign stealing that wasn't as, you know, high-tech as what the Astros have been accused of doing. What was your feeling from an outsider in terms of what? what was done and how it was done. And do you still feel as strongly about sign stealing

being so against the game and what it's all about? Well, I mean, I wasn't there. And my feelings haven't changed. My feelings haven't changed as far as gamesmanship and playing the game. But at the same time, we have to go forward. We can't go backwards. And you got to go forward and make sure that it doesn't

happen again. I mean it's certainly not going to happen on you know my watch here and I don't foresee it happening ever again because this is this has been an embarrassment for you know for a lot of people. Okay Mark. Dusty when you came to town a few days ago you said people people want to feel wanted and Jim made you feel wanted how important was that? No it's very important I mean I think everybody in this room want to feel wanted you know by somebody and especially you want to feel wanted at your workplace as much as much as anything because then you give your all you know then then you'll work more hours and then then you're scheduled to work and you know I think to feel you know

the need to feel wanted is a very basic human you know thing that we all need so you know it's very important you know for me especially to take me away from you know my family and take me away from my home taking me away from my businesses and so if I didn't feel wanted then heck man out of state in Sacramento given given where you've where you were you told us your last draw where does this moment stack up for you and you think of all the moments you've had as a player and as a manager well well I look at it's already it's already written for me or else it wouldn't have transpired and happen you know

like this. And, you know, my son, I keep talking about him, but he keeps me, keeps me, you know, kind of hip. And so, you know, and then so the other day, you know, he was listening to a, to Too Short. And he said that this is, you may not know him, but, But, you know, and too sure I was singing that this is last album, and this is my last album, except I'm too tall. We're running short on time, a couple more. We've got Adam and Chang. Dusty, this team does not have a general manager right now. This team doesn't have a general manager right now.

What are the qualities that you think make a good GM? Would you like to have some input in that process? And Jim, where does that search stand? You want Jim first? Yeah, I'll do what. Go ahead. Listen, when this transpired, we said we really needed to work hard on the manager. I think we got through that process fairly quickly.

We interviewed a lot of great candidates. We're in the middle of that right now, and we hope to have something done in the middle of spring training maybe in the next couple weeks. But we're going to take our time, just like we did. We're going to talk to a lot of people and do a thorough check on what's available. there's a possibility we could stay pat with the people we have for the time being and there's a possibility we could bring someone new so we'll make that decision pretty quickly and we'll be able to analyze that and you know we're constantly trying to improve the team as I said before we have a very deep staff here they're very capable we've met with them all we've reorganized the department a little bit to be a little more efficient and we'll probably hire a few people down the line but I'm very comfortable with we're at. This team will run. Dusty on the point where the field was our main concern. We'll be in good shape. Okay, Mr. Baseball.

Skipper, as a player and as course as your managerial career, you've always been in the National League. Now in the league play is afforded you the opportunity, of course, to see the American League clubs. Now here you are in the Junior Circuit. Your thoughts on the adjustments and your feeling on going through that schedule now. That's very good question. I mean, like you said, interleague play and spring training, we use the DH, you know, but there are a couple things that you have to learn, you know, like, you know, this year we got the 26-man roster. We got the, you know, the bullpen guy got to face three batters. And so there are some things that, you know, you're going to have to make some adjustments.

But I, you know, I make adjustments, you know, rather quickly. and also the staff that's here has, you know, what I don't know or feel at that time, you know, that's what I have the staff for here because they've been in this American League for a long time. And the thing, I haven't played all the teams in the American League. And so I'm going to really depend on the analytics staff, the staff that's here on the field, you know, to make me abreast and keep me abreast. on the teams that were playing. You know, like I don't know much about Toronto.

There are certain teams I don't know a whole bunch about because I haven't seen them, the White Sox, other than watching them on TV. And, you know, once you become familiar with somebody, now I'll know how to attack them. I'll know what their kryptonite is and I'll know what their strengths and weaknesses are. So that's going to have to, you know, do like I've always done,

you know, do as much studying as possible. Okay, folks, we're running short on time. I apologize. I won't be able to get to everybody, but at least everybody once we could, David, and then he'll ball and then we're done, okay? Does the Astros fans have been through a lot the last couple of months with the World Series and the scandal? What is your message to them moving forward? Well, hey, man, you got good fans here. I mean, great fans.

And, you know, we're all in the process of healing. And just stay together. That's what Bill Walsh told me a long time ago to tell my team to stay together. together and for the fans, you know, to rally around the team and stay together. Because these players, I mean, they love their fans here. I mean, when I'm watching games on TVs, man, I mean, these fans are into it. I mean, they're really into it. And when I was on the other side of the field here, I really didn't like coming here to play

because the fans, you know, are a factor here in this ballpark. And so you got great fans here. And the whole thing is, you know, we'll get through this and, you know, we'll all heal together. Okay, last one, Imbaldo. Hello, Mr. Baker. Hola. Hello. Hello.

Hello. Do you feel comfortable enough to maybe give some words in Spanish to our Hispanic viewers on what it means to you to be here in Houston? I don't know, man. I'm pretty good, but it makes me tired. Okay. You know, so I'll talk to you. I'll talk to you. to the fanaticals

here is in Houston. I have much love and and and he came here to the park and we

we know we're much not tramos how you say together, together, we're together, we're to be a much

to be a lot. Thank you. Thank you. On that note, we're going to wrap it up. Thanks for coming. Just a note for the media, we're going to have our media luncheon next week, so Dusty will be there if you have an opportunity to get more sound bites from him then. But we do have to wrap up.

There it is. Your new manager of the Houston Astros, Dusty Baker, the introduction official, as he will wear number 12 and be the new manager of the ball club. And if you learn some things about Dusty, including, well, he can speak some Spanish there at the very end. We're going to take a quick time out because we have to keep. catch up on one break, but we will be right back, taking you to the top of the hour with our reaction to some of what Dusty had to say right here on Sports Talk 790. You remember who goes, they remember who wins. We are in Miami for the big game.

The champions of the American football conference. NFC champion. This is Sports Talk 790 live from Radio Row. And on our best behavior, presented by Low T-Center and Twin Peaks. I'm excited to be here and excited to win because this is, you know, my last chance that, you know, to accomplish the goal. I was happy, but I wasn't satisfied where I was and what I was doing because, you know, something's missing. And I think the Lord gave me the best chance to, you know, to accomplish, you know, what I need as a person, as a father and as a a man.

That's right. Album number 10. Short dogs in the house. It's getting close to the end, y'all. We're going to kick it like this on the last album. Dusty Baker's getting it. He is. He's getting it while they're getting as good.

Welcome back, Matt Thomas Show. Hope you enjoyed that press conference. I know I did, Michael. It was Dusty Baker. If you don't want to play baseball for Dusty Baker, then bleep you. That was awesome. Awesome. Dusty Baker, your new manager, you heard the press conference there.

We'll have it all up at our website, sports 790.com. All the reaction from there. And we'll take your phone calls, 713, 2,1, 2,5.790 if you want to react to what Dusty had to say. You hear it, the last hurrah for Dusty. We'll get to the important things here in a second that we heard from Dusty. But maybe the most important question that was answered was preparing, how he prepares for this season some of the concerns in terms of preparing with such a little time left before the season starts Ross. Yeah, he go about the next 10 days just getting to know the players getting up to speed on everything you need to do

and when you start kind of reaching out to players to get to know. Well, not yet. The next 10 days, man, I got a pack. I mean, you know, have you ever packed for seven months? That's a long time. And then I got a, my hands are sore now from pruning. I got to prune my grapes. You know, I mean, I got work to do. So he's got work to do. He's got to prune his grapes, baby. He's got to pack his bags. He's got to prune his grapes, pack his bags for seven months of managing baseball with the Houston Astros.

Check his dogs for ticks. The most important thing, yeah, check his dogs for ticks. And on top of that, Dusty Baker at the very end of the press conference, dropped some Spanish on the people. I didn't know that he knew Spanish. He and Bregman could have a conversation in Spanish. But it was a good press conference. I think the most important thing you're looking to the serious stuff from the Dusty Baker Press conference.

The fact that the Astros are going to keep intact, obviously, the coaching staff that was already in place around AJ Hinch. Dusty didn't mention that. There had been a report that he was maybe going to add one from the outside to his staff, but he did not commit to that, did not give any names. He said that this staff is under contract and it's pretty good and we're keeping them in place. So that's kind of important. Obviously, the question of analytics and dealing with that was brought up, and he, I think, explained it pretty well how it's always been something that's been around and used in the game.

It's just different in terms of how deep it goes now, and the information is available to all of them, and they're going to continue to utilize it because it's what they've done to be so successful now for so long. So, I mean, look, you're looking for a guy that wins a press conference? Overall, Dusty Baker did that today. You feel good about him, just listening to him, talk. Some of the things we talked about before, you know,

just not getting in the way. and what not and doing his thing and managing this team and the talent that they already have in place. I think he's ready for it. I think so and I mean the press conference was good. I mean, he was funny. He was, I mean, himself, he was interesting. You know, Jim Crane talked about at the very beginning about, you know, how just talking to the guy is, is when, and he didn't, you know, they both talked about not knowing each other beforehand. Now, all got moving along quickly because I think we've talked about, as we said, Michael, as we were talking about before this press conference, it's not necessarily about decision making.

It's not filling line-up cards and making all these tough, you know, hit and runs and all that. A lot of times it's personality. And that's what you have to do. That's what you're managing in the clubhouse for 162 game for the seven months like he talked about. You just have to have somebody players can talk to, they can relate to, they respect. And I think that Dusty Baker checks all those boxes. And brought up the point, of course, like you said, the respect, Jim Crane making sure he brought up that and the integrity and the Astros now being, you know, held to, They're holding themselves to a higher standard after what has gone on with the,

after they let go of AJ Hinch and the investigation that has happened. It was interesting to hear the question about, you know, the Astros having that go on and how he'll address with players. And he said, you know, I don't really know how I'm going to address it with them, but we're going to get to it. We're going to get to it. We're going to get down to the business of what we have to do. And, you know, he wants to come out.

And like any manager, an manager inheriting this team and this situation, coming out hot, like he said, and winning early will cure a lot and quiet a lot of the noise that goes on. They're never going to escape it completely this season when they go to other cities and they're going to be booed more than a Houston team has probably ever been booed in just any random city across the country this season. And that's stuff that they'll deal with as it goes. But if they come out and accomplish the things that he has talked about, at least early in the season, which is coming out hot and winning a bunch of games,

that's going to ease a lot of the stuff. And the good news, again, is that this man has the tools in place for him as the manager to go ahead and succeed instantly and do it at a very high level. I agree with that. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number 7-1-3-2-5-790 if you want to get in and talk about anything you heard from Dusty Baker or just your thoughts on the hire in general. And I think one of the key things is what you said, Michael. I think it's one of the beauties of

it's not necessarily a beauty, right? Because this is one of the biggest scandals ever. But one of the things that the Astros have have going in their favor is this is 2020. Yeah. And this is how long, like, for example, we'll even keep it locally here with the Astros, Roberto Osuna.

Remember when he first came over in the Houston Astro? That was a storm, man. It was a huge firestorm. Remember he's talking about it. Well, this is going to stick with them forever and all this, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. How much were we talking about Roberto Osuna and his previous issues during playoff games?

when he came out. We didn't mention word one about it. Really, almost a week after it happened. It's like that across all the sports when the issues and the noise comes about for the non-on-the-field stuff. Once we get rolling into games, time goes and these things fade to an extent, and we just get down

into the playing of the games. I actually expect this, especially if the Astros are winning. If they lose, which both of us don't expect them to do, their schedule early in that first month of the season is fissue. favorable for a lot of early wins. If they're losing, I think this could kind of ramp up.

But if they're winning games and they're playing well, and Dustin Baker is their manager, and Alex Bregman's hitting Holtzail Toeuvie, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We're not going to be talking about this hard. I don't think hardly at all. Yeah. I mean, locally we absolutely won't. Once games start and they start winning games. They, yeah, so that, you know, they're going to be dealing with what comes in terms of the, you know,

other cities and everything. A lot of the stuff that you hear from Dusty Baker was what you wanted to hear. One of the interesting parts of the press conference as well, Astros owner Jim Crane discussing the GM situation as well, because clearly they're in search for that, did point out that they could stay with the people that they have in place now for this season and reassess. They could make a GM decision by the middle of spring training,

So that one might take a little bit more time, and also the availability of candidates for that kind of job might not be great at the moment. Teams can obviously block some of their guys going before a season and interviewing for these sort of jobs. So maybe they have a GM, maybe they just have the guys. I've always thought that maybe you heard the name early on was Pete Putilla, the guy that's been in the organization for a while, young guy analytically driven, who's interviewed for GM jobs recently with the Giants as well. That could happen there, but that hire is so important. They knocked this one out. And again, you gathered it from everything that he said today was the respect side of it.

They're going to get respect when Dusty Baker is the guy that's in front of the microphone, in front of players. There's not something that Dusty Baker can do that's going to bring them any bad PR, let's say. it's interesting being here in miami on radio row and getting a little bit more of a national like there's PR people from all over the country there's athletes from all over the country and we've heard a little trash talking this week from people donnie jones gave it to me twice today oh i mean you know it's it's it's one of the PR guys earlier he's in new york and he was saying like the astro it's it's weird to feel that because we're wearing you know you got an astro sure at all. I didn't ask for us. I'm working on purpose today. Like it's weird that we're getting that,

but my God, I can't imagine. Now, maybe not so much at spring training because I don't know, like maybe the Red Sox and the Cardinals fans if they play them at their facility. But goodness, I just can't imagine the first road trip that this team takes what it's going to be like. They don't go to New York until the end of September. So that one you'll have to wait a while on. But, yeah, they're going to have to deal with that crap side of it as it moves along. Did you see this guy, Tony Adams, is his name on Twitter. He has a website called Sign Stealing. This is the Astros fan, yes.

Yeah, and he basically tracked all the bangs versus pitches. He spent a lot of time on that. He went through 508 of their 61. It was 60, whatever, you know what? He said, what he tracked? It was 1142 bangs out of 82 bangs out of 82. 82174 pitches, basically 13% of the total pitches at the Astros saw all season at home. Only 13% of them had banging on a tragedy.

In the first month of the season had like very little and then it ramped up. It ramped out. So no banging was fastball, though, which I think somebody said 56% of pitches are fastballs. So you kind of add a, that's like the bangs are a third of what's happening. My question though is, has anybody shown it yet? Was there anything in the postseason? Because Rob Manfred's thing kind of alludes to that they did do it in the postseason, but I have not seen or heard any evidence of anything that happened.

Yeah, like the banging in the trash cans in the postseason is... Because Fox puts cameras and microphones everywhere. TBS puts cameras and microphones everywhere. And I don't know how you would have been able to hear the trash can down there in that stadium when that stuff's going on. There might have just been a different way to relay. I mean, we know the allegations in this postseason that were thrown out there were with the whistling and stuff.

You know, they could have been doing something. But again, we can put all these numbers. Like, this guy goes and puts the numbers together on what happened, or at least the number of bangs that he was able to hear on video across the Internet. But we can never put a quantitative number to what it did to improve guys or anything like that. Like, I looked at 2017. Marwin Gonzalez had a career year.

Maybe it helped Marlon Gonzalez big time. That's why he had his career year. And he's never, he hasn't touched those numbers in the two years since. but then you go and look, it's interesting for the guys that got the bangs and whatnot, like Jose Altuve got nothing. He barely was getting any bangs, and Josh Redick got nothing. Well, in 2017, Josh Redick had his best season of his career. So, I mean, like, it's just, it's interesting to see that somebody went and spent the time

and put those numbers out there, but I don't think that it tells exactly how many times it was doing, how deep it was going, and how much, we're never going to completely know how much that stuff would help those guys. It's done now. I just think in my mind it matters because they're blanketed with all you do was cheat the whole time you were there and you know every pitch the whole season's tainted every game you played is tainted because you cheated and I don't know I'm more of a sample size guy if it wasn't happening all the time yeah I think that matters I mean the whole reason they ditched is because they didn't think it was helping and they thought it was distracting yeah they stopped I believe the trash can was only 17 they still did stuff I'm have to go back to the report. They still did stuff in 18, but it wasn't trash can banging. It was whistling or clapping or whatever. It's, it's, there's no, we mean, there's no way to

deny it. They did it. They tried to get themselves in a better spot, but at the end of the day, you just, you're never going to be able to know how much it helps. And you're never going to be able to know until MLB does investigations on others, how much or how rampant it is across the league. There's just a, there's a lot of stuff that we, We just don't know. Want to grab a quick phone call? Sure, why not? Who we got, Chris?

Let's get Matt in spring in here. Matt, what's going on, man? A couple of things. I called in right before 2 o'clock was on the air for just a few seconds. You had to break away. But as I was saying, Dusty Baker is, I think, the perfect pick.

And after listening to the interview, man, I just think he's the right placement. Even if it's only short term of a few years, I think it's a guy that's stabilized the whole thing. And I also agree with one of you two gentlemen. I can't remember which one. I think this is really, in many ways, blown out of proportion. You should talk to baseball players like Pete Rose on the Sean Salfrey show.

He goes, he wouldn't want to know. I wouldn't want to know because if it's wrong, you're really screwed up. And I don't think a World Series was won because of anything. So I'm a cardinal fan, but I'm appreciative of the Astros. I also think, and you guys talk to you. about this. I think managing in the American League is a lot easier than the Nationals

because of the designated hitter. And I think that D.S. you will have the support on the analytics to a degree, and I'm sure he'll embrace it. Well, and it helps having that D.H when you know who it is going into this. They didn't know who the first time ever they have a definitive D.H.

I mean, it is Yordon, and let's move forward. I mean, that spot is solidified. So, so that helps. Look, again, I think anybody being overly critical of the Dusty Baker hire right now, like there's no reason to be. There's no reason to hate it, and there might not be for some a reason to love it,

but there's, again, it's hard to sit here and say that the managerial hire is going to make them better or worse. They're going to be great because of the huge amount of time. that they run out on a daily basis. They're bringing back the same lineup that crushes baseballs and puts up tough at bats and makes life so difficult on the opponent every single night throughout the entire nine innings of a baseball game. And they're going to win with those guys. And Dusty, he's got to just keep things together.

And again, I think it's a good hire for the guy that's got to be the face of the organization at the moment coming off of the storm that you have created yourself. Yeah, so I mean we're talking about how much is it going to matter? Like, what do you think? Like, let's say, like, the best manager in baseball versus the worst manager in baseball. Like, we always talk about wins above a placement with players. What is, like, what do you think the value is of a manager? In the American League?

Well, it's tough to say, maybe. I don't know. You know, John Farrell, he could say probably underachieved. after he won a World Series? I mean, it's hard to say, but he wins the World Series with the Red Sox, and then with all that same talent and everything loaded, they stink to measure. And I think in different cities,

it's different in each city because there's a different amount of he lost his locker room, maybe, and those guys kind of turned on him, and there's different pressure from the outside, you know, and there's different pressures on the inside. Like, there's pressure here in Houston, but let's be honest, there's not an extreme amount of media pressure or anything. There's not a bunch of noise all the time typically. It's pretty much

Once the season gets rolling, we're watching, we're paying attention, but it's not like they're being critical and just crushed when they lose a game on any given day. I just think each situation is a little bit different. Right. Man, he's in a good situation. Yeah, plain and simple. He is. So Dusty Baker.

Good talent base. Division should be the class of the division, no matter what. Houston Atro is going to be okay. Yeah, absolutely. That's going to do it for us. It is going to do it. I guess we'll go ahead and get out here. That's Michael Conchon.

Thanks to Chris Gordy and all the guests we had. And of course, Nick Lowe, back at the station, doing a great job producing with us, with interviews, calls, press conferences, all that good stuff. Thanks to him. All right, that's going to do it here for the Matt Thomas show. My name is Ross Villarreal. We'll talk to you guys next tomorrow at noon as Matt Thomas returns here on Sports Talk 790. Coming up, you've got the A team.

So keep it right here.