HOUR 1 - 5 Biggest Astros Questions + Internal Confidence Level in Texans WR Room + Headlines

Summary

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Payne & Pendergast Podcast Summary

Episode: Hour 1 – 5 Biggest Astros Questions + Internal Confidence in Texans WR Room + Headlines
Date: July 17, 2026
Hosts: Seth Payne (C), Sean Pendergast (B), with Cole Thompson (D)
Network: Audacy / Sports Radio 610

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Episode Overview

This episode of Payne & Pendergast dives deep into Houston sports, focusing on the Houston Astros as MLB resumes after the All-Star break and the Houston Texans as NFL training camp approaches. The hosts discuss the Astros’ biggest issues going into the second half of the season, particularly around pitching, and analyze the internal confidence in the Texans’ wide receiver room beyond star Nico Collins. The hour wraps with fast-paced headlines on key Houston sports stories.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Astros Second Half: The Big Questions

A. Astros Starting Pitching Woes

• Confidence in the Rotation: The group laments the current state of the Astros’ rotation, with Peter Lambert—waived earlier in the year—now the “one guy you can really feel good about right this moment” (04:19-04:22, C).
• Offseason Misses: Brown’s six pitcher acquisitions are mocked as having a “combined ERA around six… some nice symmetry,” with the only successful one being the first almost DFA’d (04:49-05:03, C).
• The Pitching “Car Wash” is Closed: Houston’s former prowess for improving acquired pitchers is gone: “The car wash seems closed now” (08:07-08:09, B).

“Two years ago… bringing in an arm, I’m like, oh cool, get the guy in the building… Good pitchers, great pitchers were getting better coming here. That’s just disappointing to me right now.” — Sean (08:06-08:53)

B. Trade Deadline Needs: Bat or Arm?

• Payne: Strongly favors a starter: “I’m still just… PTSD over just, you know, Imai going out there and lasting one and a third inning…” (07:05-07:41, C).
• Thompson: Counters that if only a low-tier starter is realistic, maybe focus on an outfield bat (06:29-06:56, D).

C. Astros’ Analytical “Edge” Erosion

• Anecdotes about Data Loss: Discussion on how the Astros used to set the trend in analytics and development, but now feel behind: “I don’t know if the Astros even have their iPads plugged into the WI-FI” (09:33-09:45, C).
• Loss of Key Personnel: “It feels like the brain drain… with Jeff Luhnow, Brent Strom… the pitch and car wash…” (08:55-09:29, C).

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2. Jose Altuve’s Decline & Legacy

A. Altuve After the All-Star Break

• Aging Curve: The hosts rundown his steady OPS+ decline from 2022 (161) to 2026 (98), noting: “It’s kind of freakish how consistent he’s been declining” (13:18-14:00, C).
• Legacy over Output: All agree he’s no longer unplayable but also no longer central: “He’ll have big hits here and there…but I did not put a circle of trust in for today because I didn’t want you… deal with the internal debate over whether Jose Altuve should…” (12:57-13:16, B).
• Extension Talk: Altuve’s contract is structured with lower salaries at the end. Hosts debate whether to bring him back just to chase 3000 hits, with Sean firmly against “artificial milestones” (21:45-22:09, D/B).

“[Altuve] is way better than Jose Abreu was when Jose Abreu got old…” — Seth (17:32-17:50)

B. Trade Value and Sentiment

• “Zero. And number two, they are not trading Jose.” — Pendergast, on any Altuve trade rumors (17:50-17:59, B).
• Sentiment and loyalty “engineered” into his deal—he’s an “Astro for life.” (18:22-18:45, C/B/D)

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3. Texans’ WR Room: Internal Confidence (Training Camp Question #9)

A. Assessing the Room Beyond Nico Collins

• The hosts probe what the real confidence level is inside the building for young WRS Jaden Higgins and Jalen Noel.
• Payne: Sees excitement, but actual confidence at a 6 out of 10: “There’s confidence…they did substantial things… but they still have to make a lot of strides.” (23:32-24:24, C)
• Pendergast: “Their confidence level is incredibly high… they haven’t done anything [new] with that room in the offseason” (24:45-26:07, B).

B. Why Not Add a Veteran?

• Fan Texts: Keenan Allen and Stefon Diggs are brought up.
• Payne: Rejects the idea due to salary cap and stunted youth development, despite Digg’s productivity. “Jalen Noel at this point has way more burst and potential for separation than Stefon Diggs does.” (31:49-32:33, C)

C. Higgins and Noel’s Upside

• Jaden Higgins tied Nico for the team TD lead (27:52, D); Noel’s value seen in return game and offensive burst.
• Higgins called a “young Nico Collins” by Steve Smith Sr., highlighting optimism (28:16-29:02, C).

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4. Houston Sports Headlines

Astros’ Return & Schedule

• Astros resume play vs. Orioles, 3 games out in AL West (34:00-34:32, B).
• Hosts call for a strong second-half surge: “Win 10 games in a row… win 12 games out of 14.” (34:43-34:45, C/B).

MLB Cracks Down on AI in Dugouts (38:08+)

• Story on MLB banning in-game AI aids; discussion turns comedic, doubting the Astros are advanced enough to be part of the issue: “Zero chance the Astros are doing this under this regime.” (38:36-39:02, C/B)
• General skepticism about outlawing tech advancements: “The genie’s out of the bottle… Every six months there’s some new innovation…” (39:02-39:16, C)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Astros’ decline in “secret sauce”:
  “I don’t know if the Astros even have their iPads plugged into the WI-FI.” — Seth Payne (09:33-09:45)
• On Altuve’s steady regression:
  “It’s kind of freakish how consistent he’s been declining…” — Seth Payne (13:19-14:00)
• On the wisdom of bringing in washed vets:
  “Bring Stefon Diggs in, Bring Keenan Allen in… and because there’s so much damn propaganda about the cap, people feel like ‘just bring them all in.’” — Seth Payne (31:06-31:49)
• On hype vs. reality of the MLB schedule:
  “The NFL does things so much better than Major League Baseball… the Astro schedule—I got in an email from the team.” — Sean Pendergast (35:28-36:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Baseball returns & Astros pitching – 02:56-08:55
• Trade deadline needs: bat vs arm – 05:12-08:55
• The lost Astros analytical edge – 08:55-10:46
• Jose Altuve post-break prospects – 11:40-16:22
• Altuve’s decline by the numbers – 13:18-14:00
• Altuve’s contract & 3K hits milestone – 21:20-22:33
• Texans’ WR Room: internal confidence – 23:11-26:07
• Young WR upside: Higgins/Noel – 27:06-30:25
• Veteran WR debate (Keenan Allen, Diggs) – 30:58-32:33
• MLB schedule & marketing critique – 35:28-36:48
• MLB cracks down on in-dugout AI – 38:08-39:51

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Episode Tone & Style

The tone remains light, humorous, and candid. The hosts blend deep sports analysis with plenty of insider anecdotes and Houston homerism, as well as running jokes (e.g., “Astros iPads aren’t even on the WI-FI”). Banter and friendly ribbing are ever-present, especially in the first few minutes and when discussing offseason fashion and former players.

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Summary Takeaways

• Astros:
  The rotation is wobbly and the front office’s past innovation edge feels lost. Houston needs another arm, but there’s skepticism that trading for one will yield the improvements it used to.
• Altuve:
  Still solid, no longer a star, and likely to finish an Astro even if he isn’t the player he once was.
• Texans:
  Internal belief in young WRs is high, which explains a quiet offseason at the position. Fans want big names, but the hosts see promise in the youth.
• Around Houston:
  Astros’ schedule drops with little fanfare; MLB tightens AI rules in the dugout, to hosts’ amusement.

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For Houston sports fans, this episode offers a smart, personable, and data-backed look at where the city’s favorite teams stand as summer heats up.

Transcript

[A]

Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B or a C plus life? Because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming youg People Think. Okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming youg wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

Sports Radio 610 presents Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast.

[C]

We coming to eighth time. Let's get to work in, man.

[A]

Let's go.

[B]

Great day. Great day. Oh, give me some juice, baby. Oh, yeah.

[C]

Let's do it.

[B]

Hey, what's happening, everybody? Happy Friday to all of you. We made it nice to be with you. Appreciate you getting up with us. We are with you until 10am this morning. I am Sean Pendergast. He is Pope Zaza. Seth C. Pain. He is Cole Thompson in with us again today. Good morning. Good morning, gentlemen.

[C]

Seth Cole's the only guy that's dressed for summer.

[D]

Hey.

[C]

Looks like he's ready to go to a cookout.

[D]

To be fair, I have done Hawaiian Friday every day since my junior year. This is like a tradition.

[B]

That's a theme.

[D]

Oh, yeah, it's every Friday.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[C]

Every Friday, year round.

[D]

Every Friday, year round. I have. I think I have two dozen Hawaiian shirts that I go through.

[B]

It's branding. Right there.

[D]

It's branding, literally. Someone sponsor me. Let's go.

[B]

Nice. Nice. Yeah, Get Cole at Tommy Bahama sponsorship or something.

[D]

Just don't give me the pineapple that comes with it.

[B]

No, no, no, no, no.

[C]

So, yeah, try to get fatter. The. I say fatter. That sounds. You should try to get fat. You're not fat at all.

[D]

Is it weird that I'm like, a skinny guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt?

[C]

Because I think fat guys probably get pissed at you, bro. Stay in your lane.

[D]

They give me scorn looks. I will say that when we were on vacation last month to the Bahamas, I wore a Hawaiian shirt every single day. And there was at least two fat guys that would stare me down.

[B]

Why do the fat guys have a. They. They kind of corner the market.

[D]

It's their stick.

[C]

Yeah, there's something. It's. I don't know what it is. Weird. It's. That's kind of a common, like, cliche or whatever. Like a fat guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt and I don't know why. Like, I don't think. I don't think fat guys do it because they're like. Like they think it's slimming or anything. I don't know what they do it.

[B]

Cuz it's comfortable. I used to be a fat guy. Like, I used to be much fatter. Yeah. When I was. I didn't wear Hawaiian shirts, but this is like back in the like mid, early mid 2000s when the Sopranos were a big deal, I would wear a lot of those Tony Sopranos style, like kind of like bowling shirts, right? Yeah, well, yeah, not straight bowling, but

[D]

like the way the fabrics made.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like kind of a silky fabric untucked. And it was. They were super comfortable, man. They were just loose and they breathed and it hid the discomfort that was going on with the waist of whatever pants I was wearing at the time, you know, so is. Yeah, yeah, so I can see that. I can see where the fat guys have. The. Have kind of cornered the market on that.

[D]

Go ahead and fight me over at fat guys.

[B]

Let's go. Yeah. Bring it on. Bring it on. So we get actual baseball again tonight. That's good. Have you guys missed this over the last few.

[C]

Know what this. It actually, I get discussed it with myself that honestly, we act like the All Star break is this huge deal in terms of like the time spent without baseball or whatever. And it's. It's a week or less. Plus you have the All Star game added in and at least, you know, at least one of your players, Jordan Alvarez, gets. You get to see him. So. No, if anything, I always feel a little disappointed that it wasn't longer than it was.

[B]

Really.

[C]

Not that I don't miss having baseball. I just. I feel like. I feel like a wimp for having complained about no baseball.

[B]

Yeah, well, I think we did a good job of. Of not complaining. This. I just like having it back. You get. You get in this groove where you can count on it every night.

[C]

It doesn't feel like it's actually been gone is the whole thing.

[D]

Yeah, it's the dead period of no sports is why you miss it so much.

[B]

Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. I'm forced to watch the ESPYs and whatnot. I'm going to the game tonight, so I'm going to be there to make sure that everything is in line for the second half of the season. Have my clipboard out, ready to go

[D]

see if not ready.

[B]

Checking all the boxes. Yeah. So, scouting report. Yeah.

[D]

What's your M.O. for tonight's? Game.

[B]

Me?

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, I honestly. Well, I'm going. I'm going to be sitting in a suite, so it'll involve a lot of eating and drinking, if I'm being honest. There will be no clipboard. There will be semi. Paying attention to the game, especially because tomorrow's Saturday, so I don't have to come in with hot takes. Hot takes on the game.

[C]

Well, and you've got, you know, Lambert's pitching, so that's the.

[B]

Is that who's pitching?

[C]

Yeah, the one guy that you can really feel good about right this moment pitching.

[B]

That. That's really interesting. I mean, that's. That says a lot about where the Astros are kind of trustwise right now with the starting rotation.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Is it Lambert's the guy that. Lambert, the guy who in the first half of the season at this time was DFA'd, is the first guy out to shoot in the second half of the season.

[C]

It's the whole. I mean, remember there, Dana Brown brought in six pitchers.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

They've got a combined ERA of about six right now, which is some nice symmetry. And the guy, the one guy who's actually been performing well is the guy that they actually tried to get rid of first. So that's how bad the off season acquisitions were for starting for starting pitchers 8 and 5.

[B]

And he's got an ERA of just barely over 3. He's been awesome. He deserves to be the guy starting the first game out of the shoot in the. In the second half of the season.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So Matt Kawahara had five big questions for the Astros heading into the second half here. So as we set the table for the second half of the season for the Astros, this is probably the biggest one here, is with the trade deadline coming up, what's the biggest deadline? Need bat or arm? Seth, what would excite you more right now if this were the day before the trade deadline or if this were the day of the trade deadline? What would excite you more if Dana Brown went and got a bat or an arm?

[C]

An arm. And specifically a starting pitcher. Yeah. Like, hey, right handed reliever. Great. I get tired of talking about platoon splits and everything these days when like. So there's so many guys, especially on the Astros, where it just doesn't matter whether they're facing righties or lefties. Yeah, I look, look how many different. Like it's, it's not complicated math or anything. You look at the various games over the last, over this season, and even including it since they've made their resurgence that you're simply not going to win because your starting pitcher goes out and gets shelled, and then the trickle down effect of your release being worn out, it makes it really hard to where the Astros could add a bat who might be super productive, but there's going to be a lot of wasted efforts if you don't have good starting pitching.

[D]

But let me counter argument this. It's a low tier starter versus a decent power bat. Because if you're just getting a low tier starter, a guy that's like a number four or number five because you can't afford like the. The San Diego Contras of the world

[B]

or something like that, they're not getting one of those guys.

[D]

So it's like that's where I think that you go back and forth of can you win with Hunter Brown turning the corner with maybe Christian Javier giving you a little bit more Spencer, Eric Getty finding himself again because of. I at least know you need to be able to get something in that outfield right now.

[C]

Yeah, you got to get. You've got to get something in the outfield, but you do have guys at the top of the order that it can at least do something. I'm still just, you know, we went through that period where Joe Espada was basically heaping praise on Mike Burroughs. If he just went five innings, even if he allowed seven runs, it was like, hey, look at that. I don't have to make hard decisions with my relievers today or tomorrow. That. I guess that's maybe it's a little bit of PTSD over just, you know, Imai going out there and lasting one in a third inning that I just feel like it's all for naught. No matter who you have in the lineup. If. If you just got all these guys that just flat out can't. They just. They can't give. Like, we need. We don't need the batters to support the pitchers. We need the pitchers to support the batter.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

The thing that.

[B]

The thing that is just. I don't know if this sways me one way or the other on what they should do, but just in general and looking at the team, the thing that's disappointing is that if this were. If this were two years ago, like when they traded for Kikuchi for. You say Kikuchi, and he was having a disappointing season, where was he? Toronto. It was Toronto. That was a low profito trade. The first low profito.

[D]

I said the first one everyone hated.

[B]

Yeah, the right.

[D]

I remember the DMS for that one.

[B]

People losing their mind yeah, so. So they get Kikuchi and Kikuchi comes here and he goes 9 and 1. The car wash was still open back then. The Astros pitching car wash. I. The car wash seems closed now. Like, if the car wash were still open, then Imai wouldn't have a six something era. You know, Spencer Arrighetti would. Would be much more consistent than he is. You know, that there's. That, that's the thing that's just overall disappointing. Like, like normally two years ago, bringing in an arm, I'm like, oh, cool. Get the guy in the building. And whatever he was, he's not going to be anymore. Even good pitch. Like, even, like Verlander, when they traded for him, got better. Even Garrett Cole got better. Good pitchers, great pitchers were getting better coming here. That's the thing that's just disappointing to me right now is I feel like, yeah, they're going to make deals. I don't know what version of these guys you're going to get.

[C]

Like, I feel like the Astros, in terms of all of those edges that they used to have in either the. The data side of things or in the development side of things, it feels like the brain drain over, you know, of guys just getting siphoned off from other organizations over time. And really obviously with Jeff Luno, but also with Brent Strom and just the guys who are the architects of all of that, the pitch and car wash. And then on the data side of things, on the analytics side of things, there's that story we're going to talk about later where they're cracking down on AI in the dugouts.

[D]

I know.

[C]

Yeah. They said a third of the teams are doing it. And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, you know what?

[B]

I don't.

[C]

Five years ago, if I saw this report. Oh, I'm like, oh, people are. They're mad that the Astros are using that effectively. I don't know if the. I don't know if the Astros even have their iPads plugged into the WI fi.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

I don't know if they know how to operate it or not.

[B]

You and I read that article with the exact same. With the exact same point of view on that.

[C]

Yeah, I control. I command F looking for Astros. And no mention of the astronauts.

[B]

Nothing. No, that. I thought the same thing reading that, Seth, I'm like, man, like during the. Just certainly during the Jeff Luno era. Yeah, like, you know, that would be 2019 was last season. Jeff Luna was here. Like, if this story were 2019, the whole thing would have been, there would have been a book about it already, about the Astros using AI in the dugout.

[C]

I think they. Now they, you know, because one of the things they always used to do with pitchers so effectively was they would change up their pitch selection when they came in. And now I feel like you still get that bump a little bit from your younger guys and from veterans that come in. But then I think, I feel like they haven't. They forgot to write something into the program about, like, hey, let's also be sure that these pitches aren't going to tear their UCLs. So they're like, they're like, oh, these guys are going to be magnificent for three. For three weeks. Then they're going to tear their ucl and that's the last we'll ever hear.

[B]

I thought the same thing. I'm like, like, nat, like, like your, your comment about the iPads even being, like, connected to the Y. I'm like, they're playing Angry Birds on the iPads of Friends. Candy Crush. Words with Fred. Yeah, wordle.

[C]

They're over there. A spot is looking at the iPad and it makes it look like he's got sunglasses. You know, playing jokes on. Playing jokes on the, on the other managers. They're like, it makes it look like he's got a mole. Yeah. It's going to freak him out.

[B]

Oh, my God, I miss the good old days. So, okay, come here.

[C]

You look at the Mastro's iPad and it's. It's Yordon and Altuve making themselves look like bodybuilders. Like, make it look like I've got 2%. While those guys shouldn't use those.

[D]

Taking silly photos of themselves while playing Angry Birds.

[B]

Yeah. Doing all the, all the superfluous iPad stuff. Second question from Matt Kawahara. Speaking of Altuve, can Jose Altuve heat up after the All Star break at age 30? Was he now 35, 36? Can he? Can he heat up after the All Star break?

[C]

There's one thing I know about aging. It's that you get stronger and better as you get more and more tired.

[B]

Definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

I almost booked a red eye the other night. I was like, what? What am I doing that's going to ruin my next two months if I take a red eye.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

I beg you, as your co host, do not take a red eye. I don't need sleep deprived. Seth, what's the confidence level that Jose Altuve can catch fire after the All Star break for you?

[C]

It's not all that high.

[D]

No.

[B]

And that's Depressing.

[C]

I mean, the thing Altuve, to his credit, I suppose, is that he's not pulling a Jose Abreu. You know, he's aging like he's had a steady decline over the last three seasons.

[B]

He's not unplayable.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, it's just. He's just, he's not the peak version of himself. But unfortunately, if you just look at his stats over the last three years, it's just a steady and gradual decline, the way you might expect that somebody's getting a year older every single year. So it's very. It's certainly very possible, but it's not. It's not one of the things that I'm banking on.

[B]

He'll have big hits here and there, as he's done recently. Like, he'll, you know, he's. I just. Seth, I did not put a circle of trust in for today because I didn't want you on a Friday to have to deal with the internal debate over whether Jose Altuve should or shouldn't be in the circle in a bad mood or something. I don't want to send you into the weekend in a bad mood. Seth, having.

[C]

Thanks. Appreciate that.

[B]

Altuve, outside the circle.

[C]

I mean, just by. I mean, it's, It's. It's kind of freakish how consistent he's been declining like he was 2022. I'll just, I'll read off his ops for me. I'll do ops plus because that's easier to grasp.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So for those who don't know OPS plus is the average major league hitter is a 100. Yeah. They standardize it. So 2022, Jose had a 161.

[B]

That's really. That's really, really, really good.

[C]

Next year. 151. Still very good.

[B]

Very good.

[C]

Yeah. 2024. It was a 124.

[B]

Still not bad.

[C]

Not bad. No. Still above average last year. 113. Okay. So slightly above average. And this year so far, 98. I mean, it's just, it's been very steady and gradual.

[B]

And his salary has steadily stayed at $30 million a year and will continue to stay at. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

The ones that start dropping off next year.

[D]

Two years.

[B]

I think it's the last two years of the deal. I know that he goes down to like, 10 or 13 million or something

[C]

like that, which, again, thank you for that. Thank you for aging and planning for aging. He's like, when you build a house and plan for when you're old, you have, like, wider doorways to fit a chair and everything. You would probably did that in the clubhouse. We're like, yeah, we got to widen some of these door frames because Crane's probably going to give Altuve a 10 year extension all of a sudden. Yeah. So 2000. His salary starts to go down in 2028. That's $13 million. I know.

[B]

It's 2020. That feels like it's 10 years away.

[D]

Keep thinking. What?

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Is it wrong for me to say that I put a four on the confidence level? Because I think that knowing who he is at this point, you're more so worried about everybody else stepping on up around him.

[B]

So when you say that, do you, do you feel like four is being generous for him?

[D]

I think it's fair because there, because you already said it. There are some moments where he is going to have a clutch in. He is going to have that big play, he's going to be able to drive in the run that everybody reminds yourself of when he was the mvp. But he's not a guy who I'm looking at at 36 years old as the future of this franchise that I want to see a foundation on. I, I care more about seeing. Hey, Cam Smith, can you wake up and have a whole week of hitting?

[B]

That would be great.

[D]

Yeah. Hey, Jeremy Pena, can you not find your way onto the IL for the rest of the season? Hey, Christian Walker, you were at one point viewed as an all star first baseman. Let's get back to that noggin. I care more about that at this point.

[B]

The one thing about Altuve is I think he's, he's pretty self aware. There have been times where when he's been slumping before, he doesn't make any. He's gone to management before and said, hey, you should move me down. That kind of thing. Like when it was with Jose Abreu. I hate even having Altuve and Abreu in the same conversation. But it's, it's appropriate because while they're aging, Abreu is an aging veteran whose stats were going down. You, you needed the jaws of life to get a Brave out of the middle of the order. When Dusty and then Joe Espada were the manager, for whatever reason, they felt like he had to be batting 4 or 5. Just for psychological reasons. I don't think, I don't think you run in. I don't think you. Hopefully we don't have to have this conversation about Altuve. Hopefully he does. And heat up. And by heat up, I mean just, just get to get Back to your 113 OPS Plus.

[C]

I just call. I'm going to read this one more stat. I try not. We. I try not to do too many stats during baseball because it's too easy to just all of a sudden just start reciting 29 million different stats.

[D]

Find yourself down the laundry list of just data that does not matter.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Which. Which is what a lot of baseball writing has become, by the way. It's like, here's. Like, here's. So we told you average OPS plus is a 100 across baseball. It's standardized to be 100 average baseball player. Sean loves these ridiculously OPS pluses. Jose Abreu, in that final 35 games that he played in 2024. Those that he played, 35 games, OPS plus three.

[D]

Okay, so he's nowhere near Jose Abreu level yet.

[C]

Yeah, not even three.

[B]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[D]

You haven't even broken into the ozone layer. You suckatude yet.

[B]

So that was. Was that the lead up to him going to Florida to bat by himself in the rookie league?

[C]

Yeah, that was that year. Because 2020. Yeah, because 2023 played 141 games and he was.

[B]

And he was good at the end of the year in 2020. That's the problem.

[C]

That's okay. You know what, though? Okay. Light at the end of the tunnel.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Altuve is way better than Jose Abreu was when Jose Abreu got old. Way, but about the same age. Ray was 36 years old in that 2023 season, but he did. If you're looking for some positives, like, hey, even Abreu wasn't nearly as good as Altuve did. End up having a really good September and October that year.

[B]

He did. He did. Someone's asking on the text page, what do you think Altuve's trade value is right now? Two things on that. Number one, zero. And number two, they're not trading Jose.

[D]

Well, I mean, for multiple reasons.

[C]

Yeah, he would have a. He would have trade value as long as the Astros ate some of the salary. And just because those teams just like.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Just like the brewers probably want Lance McCullers in all of his playoff experience and everything. I think there'd be teams that. There'd be teams that'd be interested in Altuve for all of those reasons.

[B]

There's. Altuve is just. He's too sentimental a guy here.

[C]

Yeah, no, they gave him that contract specific. I mean, the contract was engineered to acknowledge that he probably wasn't going to be that good in the last couple

[B]

of years and that he would retire an Astro. I mean, that's.

[D]

That was the thing.

[B]

They were actually publicly saying that when he signed that extension. Like, ah, now Jose Altuve gets to it. Which I thought was silly to say that at the time because you don't know what's going to happen.

[D]

Well, remember the graphics that came on out? Astro for life.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[D]

Really? Really. Did anybody think that 27 was going anywhere else?

[B]

Dude. Well, and. But you never know how sports work either. You know, like he. Who knows? Like, that's a five year deal. Like, he may want to go see. He may want to go. The astros are winning 62 games a year by the third year of that deal. He might. He might have wanted to go place.

[C]

Well, one of the. One of the just extremely unique twist of fate with Altuve was that ESPN and other outlets decided to make Altuve the face of the scandal.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, and like, so there's a part of it from Altuve standpoint that, you know, he. He very unjustly was basically made that this is the guy. This is the guy that's going to get booed more lustily than anybody else coming out of the scandal and all of that. So, like, it makes it that you add that dynamic to it and why the hell would he want to go anywhere else?

[B]

Seth, there is a take a mania take today about Altuve that is going to. That is going to. Yeah. Scorcher. It involves everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Does it say anything about buzzers?

[B]

I don't think so, no. It accuses him of steroids, though. Oh, really? Yeah.

[C]

You got a bad bat.

[D]

I say, don't worry. With the.250 batting average, this guy's got that PED going.

[B]

Yeah. Not on stage. The numbers would indicate he's not on steroids.

[C]

There. There's still now and then you see somebody that really, really, really should know better, basically throw out the buzzer stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

As if there's any validity to it whatsoever. There might have been. Take a walk.

[B]

There might have been in that take. I don't remember because I was still trying to process the steroid accusations. Baseball Talk on 610 Sports Radio 610 is presented by Xfinity. Score, the most reliable Wi Fi One price, five years guaranteed Xfinity. Imagine that. All right, up next, question number nine. As we count down to the first day of training camp. Cole, what is the question for today for Texans training camp?

[D]

What is the internal confidence level of wide receivers not named?

[B]

Nico, we talked about this a Little bit yesterday. Oh, good. So we'll do a deeper dive on the wide receiver room. We'll do that when we come back next. Stay there. Are you looking for a podcast about

[C]

pro football that doesn't put you to sleep with an avalanche of analytics or insult your fandom with brainless hot takes?

[B]

Well, hi, I'm Dan Hanzas.

[D]

And I'm Mark Sesler.

[C]

Oh, hi, Mark. And we're the hosts of Heed the Call, the NFL podcast you've been waiting your whole life for.

[D]

Heed the Call covers every game, every storyline, everything that matters, and we do it all with a touch of mirth.

[C]

Football is fun. Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same?

[D]

Follow and listen to Heed the Call NFL Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

All right, texter, do not do this to us early in the. Don't make us math early in the morning. How close does Altuve need to be to 3,000 hits to get an extension? He's got three years left on his deal. I'm not here to talk about a Jose Altuve extension, nor do the arithmetic to know the whole 3000 hit dynamic right now. Thankfully, Cole Thompson is here, and he did it for me. What's he need? 185 hits a year.

[D]

If he finishes today with where he is in hits, he needs to average 185 hits over the next three years.

[B]

Okay, well, that sounds kind of daunting, actually, right now. I don't know that he's going to get there, get to the 3,000.

[D]

Do you give him the extension on, like, the vet minimum? Just let's say he's like, 20 hits away for that last year. Here, go finish it out.

[B]

He knows this about me. I'm not. I. That would. That would feel like you're manipulating the record just to bring him back on a minimum deal to get 22 hits to get not the record, but to get to the milestone.

[D]

So no Bernie MacKinnon, right?

[B]

I don't like artificial milestones or records. You got to get him through the normal course of playing the sport.

[C]

Yeah, I'm a little torn on that, I guess, because he would have value, though, also, as long as it was just some kind of deal where he's coming in as a pinch hitter late in games, maybe even in meaningless games.

[B]

And he's fun to have around, too.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. And veteran leadership.

[B]

Veteran leadership.

[C]

Veteran leadership.

[B]

He talks me into it. Yeah. Let's go. Don't make us math early in the morning.

[C]

That's just got more experience at all ends of the spectrum than Jose.

[B]

That's true.

[C]

He's been on the worst teams in baseball. He's been on the best teams in baseball and everywhere in between.

[B]

Yep. All right, so training camp is nine radio days away. So starting yesterday, we are counting down to training camp with a question of the day. Cole Thompson sitting in with Seth and I today and on Monday as well. If you want to go back and listen to question number 10 yesterday, it was about the offensive line and are they just more expensive? Are they actually improved? We're going to do it in this segment each day so you can make an appointment. What is today's question?

[D]

Cole, what's the internal confidence level of wide receivers not named Nico Collins?

[B]

Okay. It's a great question.

[D]

Case in point. You strapped down Nick Kaylee into a lie detector test.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

He is forced to answer truthfully to save his job. What's the honest answer of the wide receiver room makeup if you don't have Nico Collins?

[B]

Okay.

[C]

I think they're like, you just never know with younger players, but you can feel confident that they're doing things the right way and you can take what the good things they've done and know that you can build on him. I think he's very confident in Jaden Higgins. I think Jalen Noel is a little bit more of a wild card still. And. But the upside of Jalen Noel is gigantic. So I think that, okay, there's confidence and there's excitement. So, you know, with excitement, hopefully usually being a little bit higher. But I think the possibilities of those two, I think he might be at a 7, 8, or 9. I think that actual confidence level, like, like a 6. They still have to. They still have to make a lot of strides, but they. They did much. They did some much more substantial things than maybe sometimes it feels like when you're discussing the wide receiver room.

[B]

So the question is about the internal confidence level. We talk about our confidence.

[C]

Yeah, no, I'm talking about Nick Kaley.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. I'm not correcting you.

[C]

I got you.

[B]

I'm repeating. So the question is about the internal confidence level.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

So the, The. I, I would. I always judge it by. We don't. Honest, Honest. Obviously, we can't climb into their brains. We don't know.

[D]

We're not a fly on the wall.

[B]

I'm just judging by the behavior of the team. And I'll expand it from Kaylee to d', Amico, Ryan's and Nick Casario as well. It would seem to Me, their confidence level is incredibly high right now. Not only in Jaden Higgins and Jalen Noel, but maybe even in Tank Dell coming back from an injury because they haven't done anything with that room in the off season. They've done zero with that room. They're rolling with the same five guys they had.

[C]

Well, they're rolling with Louis Bond, but I mean that's a six round pick.

[B]

Yeah. Anything of substance, right? Yeah. Bill o' Brien special like last year they got Christian Kirk and I would say I would. In the Pittsburgh playoff game, I would say that didn't work out, especially for the price they paid for him. They paid him $16 million. But they, they haven't done anything that says they haven't done anything that shifts who the top four or five guys are. Louis drafting Lewis Bond doesn't change the dynamic of the first four or five guys. I would say their confidence level. And Higgins and Noel are the two big wild cards in all this because I think Nico is what he is, which is great. I think Xavier Hutchinson is what he is, which is a back of the rotation wide receiver. The huge floor and ceiling guys are Noel and Higgins. And it would seem to me, based on what they've done or not done this off season, their confidence level from coordinator all the way up to GM is pretty high in these guys.

[C]

And I think that the whole thing with, the whole thing with Jalen Noel especially, but both Jaden Higgins and Jalen Noel is. You could see the progression last year where early in the season there were times where Higgins and Noel just simply weren't in the right spot at the right time within the offense. Which is something that happens when you've got young guys in a brand new system with a brand new coordinator and the receivers are running option routes and they have to make adjustments based on coverage and all that that's going to happen. And it's frustrating just looking at it in hindsight, like, okay, yeah, like all the, all the obstacles that you could have predicted. Yep. Those ended up being obstacles. The, the feeling would be that, man, now that they're integrated into the offense, now that CJ's got better command of it and all that, those things aren't as much of an issue. On the physical side of things like the measurables and the reasons that those guys got drafted, I thought we saw boatloads of evidence of those guys being worth the draft picks. That Chargers game alone.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

And Jalen Noel being shot out of a rocket on that one touchdown play. But you could see the potential there. It's just that, yeah, it's hard to utilize all of that even by that point in the season when the O line really still isn't. You go back and watch that game. I get so disgusted with people saying, like, hey, Blake Fisher didn't let up a sack. Like, yeah, but he got beat a lot. Yeah, he didn't let up a sack. He got his butt whipped.

[D]

What's the pressure rate? Let's talk about that.

[B]

The pressure rate. Yeah.

[D]

What I thought is so interesting is that, like, Jaden Higgins quietly last year put up six touchdowns. And like, when you compare him to some of the other rookie wide receivers because of. He only had four games where he finished with over 55 receiving yards. It's like, okay, most of his production came in these certain gains, but he still was a factor inside the red zone.

[C]

And.

[D]

And he actually tied Nico Collins for the team lead in receiving touchdowns. You got to throw in that one rushing touchdown for Nico against the Indianapolis Colts, which is why he loved the team.

[B]

Yep. Are you surprised that three and a half is Jaden Higgins touchdown number for the upcoming season? I think there's some money to be.

[C]

I was really so. I thought that was a misprint. I thought that. I thought the. Cole wrote that wrong when he wrote that down.

[B]

That was. I put that.

[D]

Yeah, he put that.

[C]

Oh, you did?

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah, that makes more sense. No, no. 100%. You know that. You know, Steve Smith senior loves Jaden Higgins. And it's funny because when you hear him talk about Jaden Higgins, it sounds a lot like the same reasons you would get excited about a young Nico Collins. There's a. He's got an ability to really just like, get in, out. Get in and out of his brakes and lower his pads that. That not a lot of really tall guys do. And I mean, the measurables and everything with those two, there's so many of those things that just look similar. And I think in just it's. It's a little. It's too easy to say, oh, all he's got to do is what Nico Collins did. But there is a little bit of truth to that.

[B]

Become the seventh best wide receiver in football.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

No problem. No pressure. Yeah. Simple as that.

[C]

Well, you know, like Cole, this is one thing. I've talked to Sean about this a bunch, but when. When Jaden Higgins was in the draft process last year, they had asked him who he likes, which receivers he likes to watch, and he said Kenan Allen was one of those guys. And. Which I liked. And it Was interesting. But the dangerous thing with that, with young receivers is sometime that, okay, Keenan Allen's got. He's a little bit of an unorthodox route runner, and sometimes, like, that's dicey if it disrupts the timing and the rhythm of a play. And that's what happened a lot of times early on in the season. There was a play in the preseason where it looked like CJ overthrew Jaden Higgins, and it was actually that Higgins had kind of thrown in a little hesy step, and it got clean, but he ended up being a step short of where he was supposed to be. It was a Perfect pass by C.J. stroud. But when you watch it in real time, you're like, oh, boy, CJ's inaccurate. What's going on here, like, now?

[B]

Well, it's so much easier to blame the quarterback.

[D]

That's why.

[C]

Yeah, right, right. But I think that was a lot of. That was. Some of the process for Jaden Higgins is like, yeah, you can do some of that cool and funky stuff, but first and foremost, you got to be. You got to hit your spots on time and in rhythm, and that was one of the things that improved as the year went along.

[D]

Would you say both that while Jaden Higgins, you feel confident, can be a quality wide receiver, the bigger wild card right now is Jalen Knowles?

[B]

Yeah, I would say so. Just because there we've. There's a little more. Higgins is a little more proven at this point. You know, Noel, I think, had a harder time kind of cracking that rotation last year. I. You know, and I. The thing. One of the things I like about Noel, and this is separate from the wide receiver question, is the juice he gives you in the return game, too. Like, he's gonna have a role on the team. Like, Jalen Noel's gon impact the season in some way. But, yeah, those are the two. Those are the two big variables. Now, Seth, you mentioned Keenan Allen. So we have a text. Please ask Seth if he would consider Keenan Allen a good pickup.

[C]

No, they see, that's like, he's a veteran player. This is the problem. Yes, he'd be a good pickup, except that. But this is the. This is why there's a salary cap. Like, yeah, there's lots of guys out there. Bring Stefon Diggs in, Bring Keenan Allen in. Bring Joey Bosa in. Bring all these guys in.

[B]

Why not? Now you're talking, baby.

[C]

And because there's so much damn propaganda out there about the cap being a myth, people feel like, yeah, just bring them all in. Like, there's. You got to find a balance of believing in and trusting your young draft picks as long as they're showing you evidence that you should trust them or believe in them. And I think that's exactly where they are with the wide receivers right now. Stefan Diggs, for instance, man, look, he was a model citizen when he was here, at least inside the building. And the. Yes, he'd be a valuable addition, but he also probably wants at least 12 million a year.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Where Jaden Higgins and Jalen Noel are on their rookie contracts. Jalen Noel at this point has way more burst and potential for separation than Stefon Diggs does. Stefan Diggs was very productive last year, did an awesome job, but he's not going to necessarily provide you that same burst that he used to have. And he's 33 years old. You know, coming off an ACL two years ago, 33 is a really dicey age for wide receivers. It doesn't make a lot of sense if you feel good about Jalen Noel to say, oh, yeah, let's bring in a better version of Christian Kirk and spend all that money and delay Jalen Knowles development. And it just get. But because there is a salary cap.

[B]

Yeah, well, I gotta spoil everybody's Friday morning by bringing up the cap being real. Seth, what do you know?

[C]

We didn't really delve into it as much yesterday, but I went and read a few articles out of Boston when Stefon Diggs was released and people kind of being skeptical about it. And at that time, I think they were at least pretending like the AJ Brown trade wasn't a done deal. Yeah, but he was like, he did a lot of things last year better than he'd done since his rookie year.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Like his catch rate, his drop rate, some of these. His yardage after catch. Like, he. He performed really, really well in limited snaps.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

And you know, he's 32 years old. He's coming off of an ACL injury. Like, you got to factor all of that into it.

[D]

So what you're telling me is that go get Brandon Cooks. That's what everyone.

[B]

Oh, God, no, no, no. He ditched us, man.

[D]

I saw people actually commenting not too long ago. Brandon Cook says that Wide Receiver 3 is the perfect addition.

[B]

He ditched us. No, I. Man, I hold grudges. No. All right, headlines coming up next. We had a schedule release yesterday in baseball. We'll get you up to speed on everything going on with the schedule next year. Games resuming tonight, the Orioles coming to town. We've got items to get to here in headlines. We'll do that coming up next. History that Doesn't Suck is a legit,

[D]

hard hitting American history podcast told through entertaining stories.

[C]

History that Doesn't Suck, an Odyssey podcast,

[B]

available wherever you get your podcasts.

[C]

Pain and Pendergast with today's headlines.

[B]

All right, let's get to headlines, starting with the Astros. They're back at it. Tonight. The games resume. The Astros, three games out in the AL west game and a half back for the last wild card spot in the American League, hosting the Baltimore Orioles, who are one of the jillions of teams in that big swamp we like to call the American League playoff race. Peter Lambert on the mound tonight. The Astros, four games under.500. They need to stop treading water here at some point. We need a nice little burst here right up from the Astros.

[C]

Well, that's what we've been. You know this, please. They, they had that stretch where they kept winning series, but I need to see one of these awesome, exciting, you know, win 10 games in a row.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Win 12 games out of 14.

[B]

That's what I'm saying.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

A little 12 and two run.

[D]

How about we just start off with the sweet this weekend?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, that'd be good.

[C]

Against the Rangers, who are like. Yes. Seemingly undefeatable at a. With an above.500 record. Yeah. The. You, you just. How do you, how do you even beat a team that's slightly above average? Well, are they above average?

[B]

Well, they're playing the Orioles. The, the. Yeah.

[C]

No, that's. Sorry, I'm saying in gaining ground against.

[D]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Gotcha.

[C]

No, no, no, you're. No, I did.

[B]

Gotcha. Gotcha. Speaking of the Rangers, that is who the Astros will open the season against next year. My first thought when I saw the schedule drop yesterday. Honestly, guys. And Cole Thompson is in with Seth and I today.

[D]

Sup, friends?

[B]

The is. Is that the NFL does things so much better than Major League Baseball. Some things. I think. I think Manfred's done a good job with some of the initiatives that he's had with baseball. You know, pitch, clock, everything else. I think that's been a success.

[C]

Honestly, he's. Every single thing he's done where people say that's not going to save baseball seems to have worked. The sum total of all of it is. Yeah, it adds up. And they've done a lot. They've made a lot of improvements.

[B]

Improvement, absolutely. Now, on the marketing side though, which this is what I'm about to talk about, the NFL schedule release is this build up, it's count. It's almost a countdown to the schedule release. The Astro schedule. I got in an email from the team at 3:00 yesterday afternoon. Like, yeah, I think there's something there where baseball could make a big deal out of the schedule coming out.

[C]

You know, especially with baseball, it's an easier sell for the, I don't know, people that want to take a vacation or something or you're. Yeah, I. Like, there's just so many more. There's. There's more games, there's more angles. There's all of that. That I. Yeah. But. But also part of the problem with baseball is they do so many things that just simply. The time of the year.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That it's. You just.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

It's like, okay, well, I'm still in the middle of this season.

[B]

That's a great point. Yeah, that's a great point. The May. The NFL schedule releases in May when nothing's going on. This is. At least they did it during the All Star.

[D]

It's the day before we go back to baseball 2027.

[C]

Yeah, look, I don't even look there. Actual. Think about the different. Logistically, though, I get it. Like, think about the traveling secretary in baseball. You got all these games. You got. You've got 81 games that you got to figure out for road trips and everything else like that. Football, like, all right, we got. We got eight or nine games we got to worry about. And they don't even have a traveling secretary.

[B]

No. No. So open the season against the Rangers on March 25. They will close the season with six big divisional away games against the Athletics and the Angels. So full schedules out. You can go find it on the Astros social media. Major League Baseball. This story yesterday, cracking down on the use of AI in dugouts in helping with. In game decision making. Really interesting article in the Athletic. The memo came down from the league's VP of baseball ops, whose name is Morgan Sword, which is a great name. And apparently the iPads in the dugout that they've been using, of course, you know, you see players using them to take a look at video of swings and things like that. They've got stat cast stuff on there. They've got ABS analytics on the. On the iPad, they've got a custom tab they call it on there, where basically it's all the stuff that would normally be in like gigantic binders 20 years ago or 30 years ago, pre iPad days.

[D]

Right.

[B]

What they're cracking down on is apparently there are some teams that are taking Pitch. Pitch to pitch information and putting it into AI so that their hitters can make better decisions on their subsequent at bats in games.

[D]

So what you're telling me is that everybody is shooting in baseball?

[C]

Yeah, well, only a third of the team.

[B]

30 teams.

[C]

And our biggest concern is that even though this wasn't illegal or anything to begin with, we don't even suspect that the Astros were doing it.

[B]

Zero chance the Astros are doing this under this regime.

[C]

They're playing solitaire on their iPad. It's just, I don't, whatever edge they

[D]

used to Snapchat filters are all they're using on those iPads these days.

[C]

I don't know, there's, there's part of the. Okay. Cracking down on this. It just makes me a little wary because I'm always the. I don't know how you're gonna like, I don't know how you're gonna put the genie back in the bottle on some of this stuff.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Like at some point, with every six months, there's some new innovation in technology that makes it even that much easier to use AI or like a device or your Google glasses that cool. It wasn't hurting my enjoyment of the game.

[B]

No, that's the thing. I, it's, it's a really good point, Seth. I, I, When I'm reading this article yesterday, I'm like, okay, I guess I'm trying to figure out like why and where they're drawing the line on this stuff. And I guess this feels like something like they're, they're, they're, they're hand, they're kind of almost like cherry picking things that they feel like the human brain should still do in the game as opposed to a computerized brain.

[C]

Right.

[B]

You know, it should be up to humans to decipher what a pitcher's doing with them. The chess game. They don't want the iPad playing the chess game between hitter and pitcher for the hitter. Yeah.

[C]

Like the Padres out there though, saying like, okay, well we can't afford $200 a month for chat GPT plus that these other high dollar teams can do it. Right, right. Yeah, yeah, I get that. I, but again, the genie's out of the bottle. Like they're using computers and analytics so much more and spending so much more money on it already. I guess this is kind of that whole the, the arms race to nowhere that you get when you just keep spending more and more and more on technology so you can get a minimal if, or just keep up, you know, you edge from.

[B]

It's the Cold War of 2020.

[C]

Right, right. So all these teams are spending more and more to get less and less of an edge or just to keep up with everybody else that if they Collectively, they probably want to. The owners probably want to tamp down on it and say, yeah, like, if only. Screw the. Screw the integrity of the game. We just got to stop throwing all this money out of windows.

[B]

I guess the distinction here is that this is in game. They're cracking.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Like in the dugout in game. And they can do whatever they want with the arms race of stuff that they do outside of those two and a half hours a night that you got four hours.

[D]

Go have fun with the AI.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But why not go back to just like, let's get rid of the iPads completely.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

And, you know, you want a little bit more offense. I'm guess, like, I'm guessing that. I'm guessing the iPad stuff benefits the batters more than the pitchers, you know, especially when it comes to picking up towels and everything like that. So just. Yeah, just get rid of it. Just don't allow. Don't allow anything electronic in the dugout.

[B]

No. In fact, cut off the electricity in the dugouts altogether.

[C]

You guys use wooden bats?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Nobody uses wooden bats anymore. You tell me you can't get. Keep it dumbed down intentionally.

[D]

Did you guys hear Bryce Harper saying when he was going into the Home Run Derby he wants to use metal bats?

[B]

No.

[D]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Dude, someone.

[D]

You couldn't.

[B]

You couldn't.

[D]

You couldn't have fans in the stands there because if somebody would get drilled in the face.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Well, yeah. Legal, usually illegal. That'd be awesome.

[B]

Oh, that'd be awesome.

[D]

Those hundred and we'd have 175 miles per hour.

[B]

Yeah. 200.

[D]

The Jack Caglion home run that hit the third deck would go out in like two.

[B]

That'd be normalized.

[C]

Dude, I think, you know, you remember, they had that. That enhanced games a couple months ago, like where you're allowed to use steroids if you brought back some of the. Bring back a guy recently retired dudes for a home run derby that's enhanced, you know, or. Or even bring. Barry B. Bonds is in really good shape. You can let him back on the juice right now.

[B]

Oh, my God. Steroid, Home Run Derby.

[D]

Just give him six months. He'll figure it out.

[B]

They used to have a show called Home Run Derby back in like the 60s that had all like Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Like, they. They used to replay it on ESPN like in the 80s, they'd replay it and I would tell my dad, I'm like, this is amazing. They should do this now and do home run derby. But, but I like your idea, Seth.

[C]

If you want to watch a steroid home run derby, just go watch, go to, onto a softball field somewhere and watch beer league games. You can pick out the guys.

[D]

So I know about your kids, but did they ever play Slugfest growing up?

[B]

No.

[D]

So slugfest, you could literally rip like 300 mile fastballs with Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire. And then if you, what is it, a video game? It's okay. And then if you didn't like it, you could go ahead and fight the pitcher on the mound and fight. You could go and get in first base.

[B]

That's my kind of baseball right there. All right, coming up next, the Texans. What is the trade value on the core players? On the Texans, Bill Barnwell had a really interesting piece. There's a lot of woods in here and there. This is going to factor in at some point here in the next couple years when they've got to make decisions on who to sign. We'll discuss this coming up next. The podcast Campus Files is back with

[C]

more stories of scandal, crime and intrigue on college campuses. It is not hard to destroy a college.

[D]

It's almost like a university under siege.

[C]

Listen to and follow Campus Files, available now wherever you get your podcasts.