HOUR 1 - McCullers Trade Thoughts + Is Texans O-Line Actually Improved? + Headlines

Summary

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Payne & Pendergast – Hour 1 (July 16, 2026)

Main Theme:
This episode dives into three primary Houston sports stories: the Lance McCullers trade from the Astros, a debate over whether the Texans’ offensive line is genuinely improved or just older and pricier, and top headlines from across Houston sports. The hosts bring their trademark blend of sharp analysis, humor, and deep Houston sports insight, welcoming Cole Thompson as a guest contributor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Lance McCullers Trade: End of an Astros Era

• Overview:
  News breaks of Lance McCullers, often-injured but beloved Astros pitcher, being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers along with Colton Gordon. In return, the Astros receive Jaden Fielder and cash; the Brewers pick up $2 million of McCullers’ salary.
• Hosts’ Reactions:
  • Surprise at the Trade:
    Both Payne and Pendergast are candid about the unexpected nature of the deal, given McCullers’ injuries and contract status.
    • “I thought there's a better chance he'd be DFA'd than they would get something for him in a trade.” – Pendergast (15:53)
  • Contract Intricacies:
    McCullers had a no-trade clause enabled by MLB’s “5-and-10” rule—10 years in MLB, five with the same team.
    • “I didn’t realize this. It's because he has 10 years of service time and he's been with the same team.” – Pendergast (14:40)
  • Mixed Emotions for McCullers:
    There’s happiness for McCullers’ fresh start, but trepidation at the prospect he could thrive elsewhere.
    • “My God, if he goes to the Brewers and he just has an unblemished second half of the season... I’m going to be a little pissed.” – Pendergast (15:02)
    • “If he's still around doing things in October for the Brewers... that'll be frustrating.” – Payne (15:53)
  • Mentorship Angle:
    The Brewers may be as interested in McCullers’ veteran presence for their young staff as his performance.
    • “He’s one of those baseball junkies that probably does serve a purpose, just sitting in the dugout talking to guys.” – Payne (17:10)
• Cole Thompson’s Take:
  He cautions the Astros not to get burned if McCullers has a “Garrett Cole 2.0” resurgence in Milwaukee.
  • “My biggest fear, though, is that he turns into Garrett Cole 2.0 with the Brewers – like a 2.25 ERA… I know, I'm already pissing people off.” – Thompson (18:02)
• Memorable Moment:
  The hosts joke about aging when learning Jaden Fielder (the return in the trade) is Prince Fielder’s son and Cecil Fielder’s grandson.
  • “Which makes you feel older – that Cecil Fielder has a grandson in MLB, or Prince Fielder, who feels like retired two years ago, has a son that plays baseball?” – Payne (13:40)

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2. Is the Texans’ Offensive Line Improved, or Just Older & More Expensive?

([23:21] Onward)

• Main Question (Cole Thompson):
  “Is the offensive line improved or just older and more expensive?” (23:21)
• Discussion Breakdown:
  • Starting Five vs. Depth:
    Pendergast draws a line between improvement in the starting group and the total depth, highlighting recent injuries and rotational chaos.
    • “The sixth offensive lineman on average is playing 75% of the snaps in a season. So, like, depth really, really matters.” – Pendergast (24:33)
  • Evidence of Upgrades:
    • Improved experience, depth, and more veterans. The team isn’t relying on borderline starters now; last year's backups are this year’s true depth.
    • “They've got guys that have taken the guys that haven't been good performers and kind of push them, push them to the level of the depth chart they're supposed to be at.” – Payne (26:45)
  • Can the Line Be “Good Enough”?
    Payne is skeptical improvement means excellence, but even “average” would be a big win for the offense and for QB C.J. Stroud.
    • “I think it's going to be improved because it's hard not to improve off of what it was last year. Do I think they're going to be average? …That's all they need to be...” – Payne (27:14)
  • Health Remains the Wild Card:
    Injury and unproven talent across new additions remains a concern.
    • “Both those guys (Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith) are damn good run blockers… Neither have played a full healthy season in the last three years.” – Thompson (29:22)
  • Running Game as an O-Line Litmus Test:
    Hosts see RB David Montgomery’s performance as a proxy for progress—the running game’s improvement would confirm true O-line gains.
    • “If David Montgomery makes the leap, it means the offensive line has probably made a leap.” – Payne (29:10)

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3. Houston & National Sports Headlines

([31:45] Onward)

• Janice McNair’s Passing:
  Pendergast and Payne reflect warmly on the Texans’ co-owner, praising her philanthropy, personal warmth, and role in Houston’s football rebirth.
  • “Most of my interactions … were always with a Texans charity event or, you know, building a youth center somewhere…” – Payne (32:08)
  • “Whatever stereotypes you have about billionaires, they just seemed to be a really, like, happily married [couple].” – Pendergast (34:59)
• Lance McCullers’ Career Retrospective:
  The hosts contextualize McCullers’ Astros tenure: 12 seasons marked by postseason heroics and injury woes—he’s pitched only 142.1 innings since the 2022 World Series.
  • “He’s on the strong end of the scale of guys I will root for in other uniforms. I like Lance McCullers a lot…” – Payne (38:26)
  • “His body of work with the Astros is way better than you expect if you just condense it all down into one chunk.” – Pendergast (38:02)
• World Cup Final Preview:
  Argentina’s late comeback over England, Messi’s assist record, and lighthearted banter about Payne learning Spanish dialects for the Spain vs. Argentina showdown.
  • “Spain and Argentina. And Seth is going to be all painted up and wearing his… kit for each team, each half.” – Pendergast (39:45)
• Houston NHL Expansion Hopes:
  Thompson passionately advocates for an NHL return to Houston, hoping Austin doesn't beat them to a franchise.
  • “I can tell you how much I’ve been begging for the Arrows to become an NHL team…” – Thompson (40:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On McCullers’ Injury History & Trade:

  • “My God, if he goes to the brewers and he just has an unblemished second half of the season… I’m going to be a little pissed.” – Sean Pendergast (15:02)
  • “If he's still around doing things in October for the Brewers... that'll be frustrating.” – Seth Payne (15:53)
  • “My biggest fear, though, is that he turns into Garrett Cole 2.0 with the Brewers…” – Cole Thompson (18:02)

• On the State of the Texans’ O-Line:

  • “I think it's going to be improved because it's hard not to improve off of what it was last year. Do I think they're going to be average? Because I think that's all they need to be is average. And this is going to be a better running game.” – Seth Payne (27:14)

• Remembering Janice McNair:

  • “She was a huge driving force behind the charitable component of the team… There's nothing in that realm that I can say that hasn't already been said by hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people…” – Seth Payne (33:07)
  • “Whatever stereotypes you have about billionaires, they just seem to be a really, like, happily married… a Norman Rockwell version of a married couple.” – Sean Pendergast (34:59)

• On Texans’ O-Line Depth:

  • “Last year during training camp, I mean… These are the guys competing for a starting spot.” – Sean Pendergast (25:13)
  • “They've got guys… they've taken the guys that haven't been really good performers and kind of pushed them… to the level of the depth chart they're supposed to be at.” – Payne (26:45)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• McCullers Trade and Reactions: [12:42] – [19:21]
• Texans O-Line Debate: [23:21] – [31:28]
• Janice McNair Remembrance: [31:45] – [36:05]
• McCullers’ Astros Legacy: [36:05] – [39:27]
• World Cup Talk: [39:27] – [40:42]
• NHL Expansion/Houston Hopes: [40:42] – [41:21]

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Tone & Style

• Relatable Banter: The hosts riff about aging, minor league baseball mascots, and the challenges of learning soccer or hockey fandom as adults.
• Candid & Opinionated: Willingness to voice difficult truths about beloved players or team weaknesses, tempered by empathy and local pride.
• Insider Perspective: Practical insights into locker-room culture, play-by-play impacts (especially on the O-line), and Houston sports history.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode:

You’ll come away with a grounded, nuanced sense of both the hope and skepticism around the Texans’ O-line rebuild, a heartfelt send-off for Lance McCullers, and a reminder of the lasting legacy of Janice McNair on Houston’s sports—and charitable—scene. You’ll also enjoy the hosts’ trademark blend of humor, deep-dive stats, and personal storytelling.

Transcript

[Sean Pendergast]

Football is fun.

[Seth Payne]

Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same?

[Cole Thompson]

Follow and listen to Heed the Call NFL podcast with Dan Hanzas and Mark Sessler. Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Seth Payne]

Sports Radio 610 presents Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast.

[Sean Pendergast]

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

[Seth Payne]

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

[Sean Pendergast]

Let's do it.

[Seth Payne]

Hey, what's happening, everybody? Happy Thursday to all of you. Nice to be with you and I mean that in the most sincere way possible. Nice to be with you. Appreciate you getting up with us. We're with you till 10am this morning.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm so glad you're not dead, dude. I was a little bit worried about it. I know I didn't call and ask you or anything, but, you know, just know that I was concerned. Quietly. I was really, really worried about you.

[Seth Payne]

I. It was really unsettling for me to be out the last couple days, especially having been out on vacation last week.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know what you were like? You were like a baseball player that doesn't want to take a day off. And like that you get forced into it.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it was. I got load managed basically because I could have been back yesterday. For those who don't know, and you know it's that time of year if you. If you didn't dip in on Monday. I was back from vacation on Monday, but my throat was shredded from dry air throughout the entire vacation. I don't know. It was bad. And by like 7:00 clock on Monday, I was having some serious voice issues. They kind of worked out the kinks throughout the show, but not great. So I texted our boss, literally like seven. I'm like, I may have a voice emergency here. And so he was kind enough to schedule subs the next couple days. I told him, seth, I told Parker, like, on Tuesday, I'm like, I can be back in tomorrow if you need me. He's like, no, no, take another day. I'm like, okay, well, I can't make fun of Kawhi Leonard anymore. Thanks a lot. I got load managed for the first time in my career. I'd never called in sick before since ever.

[Sean Pendergast]

And you were. It was forced upon you.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, that's. You know what? And I blame myself because I'm the one that usually if I have any kind of voice, like, I. When I get a voice issue, it ends up lasting a week.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I try to fight through it and it's not good for anybody. The listeners hate it because I sound like death. I sound like they're visiting their great grandmother in the nursing home.

[Seth Payne]

You and I. Right. But you and I are kind of cut from the same cloth that way. Like, I don't. I don't like taking days off, man. It was very unsettling. Very unsettling.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, we're glad to have you back.

[Seth Payne]

It's good to be back, man. It's really good to be back. And I would like to. If you're watching on the YouTube, I would imagine you're seeing this already. Watching on the Twitch. You're seeing it already. People are looking and going, hey, there's Cole Thompson. There's Cole Thompson right there.

[Josh Radner]

Hey.

[Seth Payne]

Good. How are you, man?

[Cole Thompson]

I am great. I do not sound like a cassowary, probably the way that you did a couple days ago.

[Seth Payne]

I did. Yes.

[Cole Thompson]

By the way, I'm shocked that neither of you knew what that bird was.

[Seth Payne]

No. Can I. I did.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, I know. I know. I knew. I was vaguely aware of it. I hadn't done the research.

[Cole Thompson]

Fighting turkeys, basically what it is.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. It's. Well, it's like a turkey had sex with, like, a Tyrannosaurus rex. That's. It's a cassowary. And people are wondering, like, why are you bringing this up? Why are we bringing it up? Because of the. Oh, the Bison. The Bison, dude, into the air.

[Cole Thompson]

The one that turned to Tess Johnson afterwards on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers social page.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Tampa Bay got in on that. I. Seth, I bounced the whole cassowary thing off of, like, four or five people later that day. None of them had heard of a cassowary before.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it doesn't. It's a. It's a dramatically underrated bird.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. They were like. It should be on lists of most underrated. Like, if it's not even. You don't find it on power rankings or anything.

[Seth Payne]

It should, at the very least be the logo of some minor league baseball team. You know, in Idaho.

[Cole Thompson]

Someone would get in on that one, wouldn't you?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

At least, like, if you're able to have the. The fighting sandals or if you're able to have the banana slugs. Cassowary's got to be at least in the top five of options that are available.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. We're bringing awareness to the cassowary.

[Sean Pendergast]

There's. There is a. Okay. There are some soccer. Soccer clubs in Australian. Australian league football teams, like some minor league teams that are named the. The Karanda Cassowary Football yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Okay.

[Cole Thompson]

That sounds like a cricket club more than anything else.

[Seth Payne]

Well, I know I'm going to Amazon during the next break to try to find some of their gear. Where are they from, Seth?

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't know. The other hemisphere.

[Cole Thompson]

That's a fun part that nobody goes to because they don't want to die going out there.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it is. Oh, it's Queensland, Australia.

[Seth Payne]

Queensland. Okay. Queensland cassowaries. I'm going to go buy some during the break. So everything went smoothly the last couple days, then, Old Sethers?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, for the most part. You know, one thing. You know, Luke has mentioned this a couple times. So Luke Morrow was in yesterday. And, you know, people. I. I've never picked up on this from Luke, that he's got a reputation for just crapping on things. And I never really. I had never really picked up on it. And then I realized after the show yesterday when Brandi texted me and said, hey, how come you're talking so much smack about Will Ferrell? You love Will Ferrell. And I was like, you know what? You're right. Luke. Luke got me to crap on Will Ferrell.

[Seth Payne]

He influenced you.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, Yeah. Y. His introduction at the All Star Game or his little bit that he did at the All Star Game.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But then Will Ferrell pops up again at the ESPYs last.

[Seth Payne]

He's at the ESP. He was much funnier at the ESPYs last night.

[Cole Thompson]

Well, the bar was not that high, let's be real. Compared to what it was in the home run.

[Seth Payne]

Dude, did you. Did you happen to catch.

[Sean Pendergast]

I only saw. I saw a little snippets once. I saw Bryce Harper jumping up on the ropes or whatever at the All Star Game. You were out.

[Cole Thompson]

You set yourself at least 20 minutes of pure agonizing pain of unfunny Will Ferrell, which is probably the worst version of any comedian that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, he was out there for a long time.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah. Were this. And I saw you had this topic yesterday, Seth, the Netflix ification of sports. But he. And. And one of the Wilsons, the dark haired Wilson, I think that's Luke.

[Cole Thompson]

Luke. Old school.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And then. And then a third guy, Jimmy Tatro or whatever his name is, they were out there promoting their new Netflix show. So they had them doing the introductions for. Or like, chiming in on Michael Buffer's introductions for all the Home Run Derby participants. And it was so bad, and it was really awkward. And then Will Ferrell pops up at the. At the ESPYs last night. Oh, by the way, he's gonna be On Good Morning America this morning.

[Cole Thompson]

Is he playing the same character?

[Seth Payne]

I don't. I have no idea what the show's about. I didn't know there was a Netflix show.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's a golfer of some.

[Cole Thompson]

Yeah, it's like. It's like an even dumber down version of the Owen Wilson Apple TV show.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, okay. Yeah. So he was there last night, and I'm like, oh, God, here we go. And he was actually. The bit they did was kind of funny last night. I watched most of the. I watched most of the ESPYs last night. I wouldn't normally watch the ESPYs, but it's like the deadest sports day on the calendar, so I'll pop it on tv.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's why it is. When it is.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Do it specifically because of that. Usually do it right after, like, during the All Star break, right?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, they do. Yeah. The day after the All Star game, they do it the.

[Cole Thompson]

Among.

[Seth Payne]

Among my observations, non Will Ferrell. Marcelo Hernandez of SNL was the host. His monologue was pretty. I thought it was pretty good. I'm sure the Internet crapped all over it because they crap all over every monologue, it seems like. Except when Ricky Gervais comes on the. The. The Emmys or the Oscars or whatever it is and just takes a flamethrower to every Hollywood celebrity. People seem to like that. Yeah, they do like that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Negativity tends to play on social media.

[Seth Payne]

Fernando Mendoza won one of the awards. I think it was like college athlete. It was college athlete.

[Cole Thompson]

College.

[Seth Payne]

Thank you, Cole. He was dressed like a waiter from a Carnival Cruise steakhouse. He had the dark pants and the white tuxedo going.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So it looked I was ready for him to seat me at my usual table when I saw him on there. I am. I am really looking forward to seeing how his shtick plays on a 3 and 14 football.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right. That's where. Well, if anything, I think that's why. That's why Kirk Cousins is there. It's not as much even to mentor him. I think it's to be the. He's to be the bullet catcher for that first season, and Fernando Mendoza can kind of come in if. It's almost like a weird situation where I think he's got a better chance of playing if they're winning football games than the classic. If Kirk Cousins is playing and they may still suck. I think Kirk Cousins is the quarterback the entire time.

[Seth Payne]

They just don't. Don't even throw him out there, huh?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. But if they feel like, okay, you Know what? The rookie can do some things, and it looks like this is an okay environment. Then maybe they put him in, like, within reason. Obviously, if they're undefeated or something, they're not going to do it.

[Seth Payne]

Does the whole hand thing when he's talking, like he's giving me a TED Talk or something.

[Sean Pendergast]

Checks off all the boxes, Sean.

[Cole Thompson]

Dude, politician, of course he's got to check off all the boxes early in his career.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he does. Like, he's. I boy. If he ever went into politics, though, I mean, it's just. That's immediately. Just abandoning. 50% of the people who love you are going to despise you.

[Cole Thompson]

What I thought was so interesting is I saw this on Twitter last night. Somebody said he looks like George McFly at the under the Sea dance party. To fight.

[Seth Payne]

That is what he looks like.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that's a good call.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The white. The white.

[Cole Thompson]

Full white tuxedo getting ready. Get ready to sucker punch Max Crosby, who's pretending to masquerade as Biff Tannen.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, he's all defending the ring.

[Cole Thompson]

There we go.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's a good. That's a good visual right there. McAfee was dressed like Woody from Toy Story. If Woody had undergone, like, a heel turn in an image change. Like, he had on, like, the kid, he had on, like, the whole cowboy outfit without the hat, but all black. Like the little, you know, like the little designs that it has at the top of your chest.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's wearing a western shirt.

[Seth Payne]

Western shirt. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

He just, like. I'll tell you what, this is the thing about McAfee that's kind of freaking me out lately is that, you know, he's gone out and said that he wants to be a Hollywood star, at least he's gonna take a stab at it. And, like, Hollywood people tend to be pretty gaunt and emaciated with. When you meet him in person, the men are always, like, freakishly skinnier than you thought they were.

[Seth Payne]

Shorter. Shorter, too.

[Sean Pendergast]

And he's doing that because he goes all in on everything. But he looks a little unhealthy right now.

[Seth Payne]

You think?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Ariana.

[Cole Thompson]

Grande level unhealthy or like.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think he's headed there.

[Cole Thompson]

Is he that bad?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I'm. I don't. Maybe it's just the. Maybe it's just the clips I saw or I'm. I'm looking at a still photo right now, and it's just not. It's a gaunt look, which is great for Hollywood. Remember. You know what? This is Though this is when the Rock. When he went super Hollywood and it felt like, oh, he was going to try to go, like, be a dramatic actor and everything he looked.

[Seth Payne]

He lost.

[Sean Pendergast]

He lost some of his, like, on screen Persona and charisma because he was just way too skinny.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And he ended up bulking back up and just being what he was. I feel like McAfee. Part of his appeal is he's just kind of like a lovable everyman. And now he looks a little bit like a gaunt Hollywood d. Bad.

[Seth Payne]

He does. I see. I thought he looked. I looked at him like, oh, he looks like he's in pretty good shape. But he. But you think he's. He's hitting dangerous.

[Sean Pendergast]

He might be on the Ozempic.

[Seth Payne]

That could be. Because it's happened. The transformations happened fairly, fairly quickly.

[Sean Pendergast]

He's on the Peptides. Like, it seems like every guy is these days. Anybody in Hollywood. But Because I think he's open about that.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I wouldn't be surprised if he was on the Ozempic.

[Seth Payne]

My only other thing on the ESPYs. I was glad I stayed up to see this. I did not realize. Maybe I haven't been on the Internet enough. I didn't realize that Simone Biles has two new friends.

[Cole Thompson]

Really?

[Seth Payne]

I didn't know that. I didn't realize.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't even know what you're talking about.

[Cole Thompson]

So I gotta look this up.

[Seth Payne]

Her friends are actually inanimate objects. Well, inanimate, maybe. Anyways, she had some work done. Yeah, she had some work done. And I'm like, okay. Am I late to the party on this good morning? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I. And I. Turns out I was late to the party. She's made other public appearances with her two new friends.

[Sean Pendergast]

See, now she. I'll say with sweet Simone Biles. It's funny, in that documentary they did on her a couple years ago.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Which is an awesome documentary. She talked about how, you know, people always criticize the gymnast for their hair and makeup. And she's like. She's like. People don't realize, like, we have to do that ourselves. We're sweating. We're doing, like. It's just. Yeah. She has her overall appearance. Is she opposite of Pat McAfee? Her face and everything looks like she. It's incredible. She's really like. She's. She's positioned herself well for making that transition into either influencer, Hollywood, whatever it ends up.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. I want to be very clear. She looks fantastic.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, she looks great.

[Seth Payne]

She looks great. I just didn't Realize that this would. This would be the signal that she. She ain't coming back to gymnastics, I don't think, anytime soon.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah, that messes up your whole gravity and everything. The aerodynamics have been thrown off the

[Cole Thompson]

flip are going to be a little bit more challenging. Yeah, yeah.

[Seth Payne]

It's a little top heavy. Yeah, yeah. So that's how that goes. Hey, did the. Seth, did the Lance McCullers trade come down while you and Luke were on the air yesterday?

[Sean Pendergast]

No, I think only it came down right at the very end. We talked about it at the toss, so we had zero details other than their admitted trade. We didn't know about what this, how the salary was going to be handled, what the Astros were getting back in return. We got none of that.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, so I've got the details on, and I'm sure people were listening yesterday. They've got it by now. But just in case, if you're just tuning in, Lance McCullers, when I am told. Amy was the one who told me, like, I wasn't. You know, she goes, hey, did you just see Lance McCullers got traded? And I, And I feel bad saying this because I like Lance. I'm like, who's trading for Lance McCullers right now? Yeah, but the Milwaukee brewers are trading for Lance McCullers now. Colton Gordon and Cash are also going to Milwaukee in exchange for Jaden Fielder. And I'm like, oh, is this. This is how. This is where you can tell somebody's in denial about how old they are. Me, for example, I'm like, oh, Jaden Fielder. I didn't know Prince Fielder had a much younger brother. Oh, that's. That's cool. That Cecil Fielder had another son that plays baseball.

[Cole Thompson]

That's a second cous.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no. Yeah, it's Cecil Fielder's grandson and Prince Fielder's son, Seth. Which makes you feel older that Cecil Fielder has a grandson that plays professional baseball or that Prince Fielder who feels like retired like two years ago.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

And I know it's been longer, has a son that plays baseball.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's a Cecil Fielder part of it. Yeah. Anything with grand in front of a grandson. There's a lot. There are a lot more children of major league players and NFL players and everything in their respective leagues than there used to be.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So it's not as much of a shock to my system because I now I've got. There's so many guys in the NFL, guys I played with whose sons are now five year veterans in the NFL. The grandson part, though, like the first time I find out that one of my teammates has a grandson in the NFL, I'm just. I might just go ahead and end it.

[Seth Payne]

I'm with you on that. I'm with you on the grandson thing. Now, to the trade itself, the other thing that shocked me is Lance McCullers had a no trade clause in his contract. I'm like, it's. I think that usually gets given to guys. And now, granted, when he's.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know what, it's not a no trade clause. I didn't realize this. It's because he has 10 years of service time and he's been with the same team.

[Seth Payne]

5, 10 rule. Yep. 5, 10 rule. Okay. So that. So that's. That was collectively bargained. All right, so that makes sense. That makes perfect sense. What was your gut reaction when you got the Lance McCullers news yesterday?

[Sean Pendergast]

Two things. One, I was. I was actually happy for Lance. Yeah. Because, look, there was nothing, like, there was nothing that was going to probably, most likely be good about anything this year with Lance, because even after he came back, if he played, even if he pitched well, probably going to get injured again. But then immediately followed by my own self interest, which is, my God, if he goes to the brewers and he just has an unblemished second half of the season of immaculate starts and plays well in the playoffs and never gets injured, I'm going to be a little pissed. And I can't be pissed at the Astros if it works out that way. This is the. This is the smart and rational thing to do. And yet it feels like that would be the ultimate. The ultimate blow to the head from the. Oh, dude.

[Seth Payne]

If he's good. Oh, my God. If he's good. Well, this.

[Sean Pendergast]

If he's good and stays healthy, I wouldn't be surprised if he goes in and gives three good starts, but then, yeah, drops a dumbbell on his right.

[Seth Payne]

If he's still around doing. If he's still around doing things in October for the brewers, that'll be. That'll be. That'll be frustrating. I was. I'm just surprised they got anything for Lance McCullers. I thought there's a better chance he'd be DFA'd then they would get something for him in a trade. Just because. For all the reasons you said, Seth, like, he's. He's injured all. He's never available.

[Cole Thompson]

See, my first thought was, how much are the Astros paying back on the contract to go ahead and get him off?

[Seth Payne]

The brewers are picking up 2 million. The brewers are paying him 2 million bucks. His salary is like, 15 or 16, so he's got, like, 40% of the season left. So it sounds like the Astros are probably picking up the lion's share of what's left on that.

[Cole Thompson]

I still think it's more so in favor of the Astros, but the fact that somebody's willing to take on any bit of that contract is impressive.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, I think the brewers, for where they are as a team are just like, hey, it's a little bit of a nice little $2 million gamble on a guy that's got upside, and they're a very competitive team.

[Seth Payne]

Obviously, playoff experience, too.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Play. Oh, that whole part of it. Yeah, maybe as a. Like, the whole. I know people. I know it's overrated sometimes, talking about the mentor facet of it, but going back to Justin Verlander and what guys like Lance McCullers said, how valuable it was to have. Have Justin Verlander as a veteran presence with the pitchers, I think, yeah, the brewers might be looking at that a little bit with Lance, and Lance is

[Seth Payne]

one of those baseball junkies that probably does serve a purpose, just sitting in the dugout talking to guys. They could be looking at this as worst case. We're paying 2 million bucks for an assistant pitching coach.

[Cole Thompson]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know what? Yeah. There is that part of Lance that, you know, people have been loath to acknowled because it's just been all negative in terms of on the field. But, like, he's the rare guy that even when he's injured, even when he's not coming back, all that, he's in the dugout, he's working, he's talking to guys. Like, he's always around. So I think this is one of those instances, kind of like with Alex Bregman, where. No, it's a. It's a real thing. The veteran mentorship part of it is probably a big part of it.

[Cole Thompson]

There was a positive yesterday. Dana Brown was talking about it, saying that he believes eventually Lance will be working in a front office somewhere.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

Maybe even with this organization in the future. So it's like if you give him to Jacob Mizorowski, dude that's on fire right now, helping him work out the mechanics going into October.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

My biggest fear, though, is that he turns into Garrett Cole 2.0 with Bruce, like a 225 era, 7.7 segment, and you're doing stuff. I know. I'm already pissing people off.

[Seth Payne]

Shut your mouth, man.

[Sean Pendergast]

I already brought it. Yeah. But, no, that's equally my fear and it should. I should. I will still be happy for Lance. Yeah. And yet at the same time, there's

[Seth Payne]

a whole lot of.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, this. This is when you decide to come in and be. Be completely healthy.

[Seth Payne]

No, that. That's a good question for later. Seth, maybe we can revisit this later in the show because you and I was talking about this. Where does this depart now? Departed Houston athlete fall on the will you root for them elsewhere scale. And Lance is a very complicated one. Not for anything he's done, but just because of the injuries and the money he's made for to pitch very few innings. There's a lot to unpack with Lance McCulloughs. We'll do it later in the show. Baseball Talk on Sports Radio 610, presented by Xfinity. Score. The most reliable Wi Fi 1 price, five years guaranteed Xfinity. Imagine that. All right, 10 days, 10 radio days until Texans training camp. So we're going to do one big question about the Texans per day. Cole's going to lead Seth and I on this one. One big question per day leading up to training camp. Cole, what is the question for today that we're going to attack?

[Cole Thompson]

Next segment, Is the offensive line improved or just older and more expensive?

[Seth Payne]

That's a good one. I like that. Okay, a little O line talk. We'll do that. Coming up next, How We Made youe

[Sean Pendergast]

Mother is a rewatch podcast that looks back episode by episode at the hit TV show How I Met yout Mother. It's hosted by me, Josh Radner, along with series co creator Craig Thomas.

[Seth Payne]

In seasons one and two, we were joined by Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Bryan Cranston, Ashley Williams, Wayne Brady, Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey, Joe Manganiello, and my brilliant co creator, Carter Bayes. And now we are diving into season three.

[Sean Pendergast]

So whether it's your 50th rewatch or your first time through, follow how we made your mother wherever you get your podcasts.

[Seth Payne]

All right, training camp is going to be here. We are under two weeks away from the Texans first practice at 2026 training camp. Seth, I feel like we've said this the last, like three or four years. This is the most anticipated training camp in the history of the Houston Texans. It is for me. Said that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it is.

[Seth Payne]

Well, you're good.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. You. You. You love to. You love to get hyped up about. Yeah, I'm a hyperbole at heart.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think there might be other people that are feeling like, yeah, this feels like exactly the same as it's been the last three years. And we're wondering exactly if the offensive line is, is, is going to be at the very least average or above average. And can all these other things fall into place?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, because they've tried. I mean they've done the tear down and build up multiple times with the offensive line now. So given that it's. We've got 10 radio days till training camp, the last radio day that we do this exercise will actually be the first day that Seth and I are out at training camp on Wednesday, July 29th. So we figured 10 days, 10 questions, one question a day. Cole Thompson is in studio with Seth and I today. Just chopping it up with us here on the, what they like to call like the, the, the, like the deadest week of the year and yet I still find it hard. We still leave a bunch of meat on the bone on the rundown every day.

[Cole Thompson]

Does it help that you have the World cup to be able to talk about?

[Seth Payne]

No, we don't talk about it at all on this show. It doesn't help one bit. Yeah, I mean we, I, like I've been enjoying the World cup, but I, I, we, we haven't been like breaking down the games or anything like that.

[Cole Thompson]

You know, it's, it's like out of sight, out of mind, but just enough for you to be able to enjoy.

[Seth Payne]

It's nice to have on room during the day.

[Cole Thompson]

That's, it's great.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I caught myself Chris Partee on Tuesday asked if about asked that same question about the World cup. And I, and I started saying, you know, I've tried really hard to get into it. And I realized like, no, I, if I had tried really hard, I would, I would be more into it and I would know I haven't tried nearly hard enough.

[Seth Payne]

You got one game left, buddy.

[Sean Pendergast]

I wasn't more intrigued and now it's like kind of a. I'm waiting to see. I more than anything, I was just excited to see so many people, foreigners be excited about having a good time in America.

[Seth Payne]

Yes. That was really fun.

[Sean Pendergast]

There's already probably been a few anchor babies dropped in their early stages of those pregnancies.

[Seth Payne]

We're gonna have a spike in international air travel like nine months from now. Yeah, I gotta visit my kid. I gotta be there for the birth of my anchor baby.

[Cole Thompson]

I gotta go hang out in Amsterdam for some reason. What's the, what are you doing out there, Bill? A kid?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that's a whole nother side topic that we, these international games with the NFL. I guess there's gotta be, got to be, got to be a couple babies out there, right, in England or Germany or something.

[Seth Payne]

Gotta be 100%, gotta be.

[Cole Thompson]

No, Seth's gonna go though full American style. He'll buy the jersey, he'll buy the kid. He'll have a whole watch party for Sunday and that is when he will get fully invested in World cup coverage.

[Seth Payne]

This Sunday.

[Cole Thompson]

Sunday. Okay. As he's watching the finale, he'll be like, ivan, this is the greatest singer watches.

[Seth Payne]

You ready, Seth?

[Sean Pendergast]

Ready.

[Seth Payne]

Ready.

[Sean Pendergast]

I said the first, the first month of the tournament kind of caught me by surprise.

[Cole Thompson]

But this last day, but this last day, we are fully convinced.

[Seth Payne]

I've been hearing, this is it. I've been hear it's now.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was just waiting for Argentina to do something.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, now. All right, so let's start with question number 10. And Cole, you came up with this question. So you lay it out and Seth and I'll chop it up and you jump in as well here. So what is the question of the day about The Houston number 10 question about the Houston Texans counting down here,

[Cole Thompson]

is the offensive line improved or just older and more expensive?

[Seth Payne]

Okay, hopefully all three of those things. We know it's older, we know it's more expensive. Those are just numbers, right?

[Sean Pendergast]

I think if. Okay, so there's two levels to it. There's the starting five and then the, the sum total of the offensive line. So if you think about the starting five last year, one, you had Ariante Ursary, a second round pick, Cam Robinson, who was to be no more, and you, you know, from the very get go Lake and Tomlinson and Juice Scruggs, was a doomed experiment. I think that the starting five, even if we just isolated the Ariante Ursary and him not have it like if Ariante Ursary doesn't have to start the season at right tackle all of a sudden instead of left tackle. I think just in addition to having more veterans on the offensive line, Ed Ingram being in the system for one more year, I think it's going to be better at the beginning of the year than they were at the beginning of last year. The big part for me is really, as Casario has said about, you know, you're going to have to have at least 8, 9, 10 guys play at some point during the season. And then that, that new analytics guy on Twitter, Ryan, what's his face. Yeah, he pointed this out the other

[Seth Payne]

day that I saw this. This was a really good point.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, the sixth offensive lineman on average is playing 75% of the snaps in a season. So, like, depth really, really matters. The seventh offensive lineman for most, like on. On the average NFL team plays a really big chunk of snaps during the season because of injuries, like several hundred snaps. Yeah, yeah. And I think that they've probably addressed the depth of the offensive line way better this year than they have in the last couple of years. Because last year, Sean, during training camp, I mean, when we were in West Virginia, we're watching, and you're. You're looking at these interior offensive linemen just get destroyed, and you're thinking, these are the guys who are competing for a starting spot.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like, these guys, we've got guys who are going to be. Would be backups on a lot of teams competing to be the starter and the backup to a backup. Like, your backup is a guy that should be a. Your starter is a guy that should be a backup. Then your backup is a guy that might not even make the team on a lot of other places. I think that's a lot different.

[Seth Payne]

It's a hundred percent. I saw that same tweet and I actually had it bookmarked. I'm like, this would be a great thing to talk about. Like, and. And Ryan and I. His last name escapes me. He followed both of us.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But he.

[Sean Pendergast]

He.

[Seth Payne]

Because people were talking about running back depth, and he's like, no, no. It's way more important. You got a sixth and seventh alignment than a third running back. If you're going to use resources for something. The reason I think it's going to be, I. I think it's. I think it legitimately is going to be improved.

[Cole Thompson]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

A.

[Seth Payne]

Because it's not like we're working off of a baseline that's really hard to. It's not a high bar to clear. You know, it wasn't a good offensive line last year. I do think it was improved over the year before. So I think this will be a second consecutive year of improvement. The question is, is improvement good enough or do they need to be legitimately at least average or good? That's a bigger question. And that I think there's a lot that factors into that, health factors into that, all those things. I think the one thing I would illustrate that I think I feel very confident it's going to be an improved offensive line. Blake Fisher was the anointed right tackle at the beginning of training camp last year. Now it's a question, does he make the team right. You know, now it's a question, does he make the team. So they've got guys that have taken the guys that haven't been really good performers and kind of push them, push them to the level of the depth chart they're supposed to be at, which is competing, which is competing for their

[Cole Thompson]

job to not be on practice squad.

[Seth Payne]

Right, right, right.

[Sean Pendergast]

The one. Just as a quick clarification, the sixth offensive lineman averages 408 offensive players. Caps proceed. So almost, almost 50% or so. But like and then the seventh offensive lineman as well. And we know with the Texans it's been worse than that. It's been, it's been, it's been a lot of injuries and you just have to account for that. And in any given year you're going to have, you're going to shuffle guys through there.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. Keelan Rutledge factors big into this too.

[Cole Thompson]

True.

[Seth Payne]

Keelan Rutledge. Keelan Rutledge is going to have a spot on this offensive line now. We'll see if he's the starting center or not. That'll be one of the more intriguing position battles to watch when training camp comes around. Is Jake Andrews and Keelan Rutledge presumably at center. But I think, I think it's, I think it's going to be improved because it's hard not to improve off of what it was last year. Do I think they're going to be average? Because I think that's all they need to be is average. And this is going to be a better running game. I think C.J. stroud is going to be. Be a little more comfortable back there.

[Cole Thompson]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

And, and I think that to me that comes down to health.

[Sean Pendergast]

We don't even that. I just realize as we're talking to Cole here, we'll have to get in through the rest of the show. We don't really know Cole's stance on any of this. Like is whether he, whether, whether he's a, whether he's a believer in CJ Stroud, whether he despises him. Like exactly. Where, where are you on just if, if C.J. stroud gets a competent, good offensive line in front of him, does it make a huge difference this year for CJ Stroud? Personally?

[Cole Thompson]

No. I mean, but I also thought that CJ Stroud was over hyped after his rookie season. I want to wait and see what he was going to do from year one to year two. That was the big question mark. And everyone decided to anoint him as the next Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson in that upper echelon of categories. And it was like, okay, let's learn our mistakes from the past because then we did it again with Jaden Daniels the following year and I wasn't that high on Jaden Daniels to come on out. So it's like you throw that together. I agree that the offensive line is going to be better, but Seth brought up a really good point on Monday when I was listening to the show that the most important player could be David Montgomery. And that's because of the fact of if you have better offensive line, you can run it more efficiently.

[Seth Payne]

When we were doing the whole Seth, when you and I were doing that exercise of pick one guy on the offense, that was this year and Seth very, very astutely pick David Montgomery because

[Cole Thompson]

for the price of one, he makes the leap.

[Seth Payne]

It means the offensive line has probably made a leap.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, but it's a. I mean like so. Which means the offensive line is more important. But yeah, the David Montgomery might be the most accurate indicator of it.

[Seth Payne]

Seth had a cheat code.

[Cole Thompson]

But to me, what's so interesting is that, yeah, you bring in Braden Smith and Wyatt Teller and both those guys are damn good run blockers and that's efficient. And what you need for this team to be better in a Nick Haley offense. You also have to take into consideration neither have played a full healthy season in the last three years. And so you're throwing in the fact of, okay, Keelan Rutledge, we're going to try him at center, but all we know of him is that he's taken snaps in practice at the Senior bowl and then here. And then you got two injured, plagued guys in the past that were paying not an important amount of money to. But there's a reason why they were on a cheaper type contract when maybe you could have splurged a little bit more to get a more pro prolific name out there that you would trust is going to come on in and be a guaranteed bonafide starter. Like thank God that the Texans will no longer be saying number 57 as reported as eligible at tight end. No, that's true that. But that's where we are.

[Seth Payne]

That's true. No, but to Seth's point, like this year they signed Wyatt Teller and Braden Smith and yet if in week one the starting offensive line has Keelan Rutledge at left card and Trent Brown at right tackle because they won the competition. I'm totally cool with that. You know, I'm totally cool with that.

[Cole Thompson]

But you're cool with that as long as they won the job.

[Seth Payne]

They won the job. Braden Smith and Wyatt Teller didn't look like garbage or got hurt. You know, they didn't. Yeah, they won the job legitimately. They didn't get it handed to them because of injury.

[Cole Thompson]

Because what I thought was interesting is that you guys were talking about West Virginia last year and there's times when you just watch the Texans defensive line go up against players and you say, you know what, it's the Texans defensive line. Nobody's blocking them. You didn't feel that way. It was good. God, get these offensive linemen off the field. We don't need to see them ever be playing snaps meaningful again.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, more competitive reps at training camp would be a godsend this year. The ones versus the ones, I'm saying. Yeah. All right, Headlines. Let's do them. We'll do them coming up next. Not a ton of headlines to get into Cole Thompson in with Seth and I here today, but we will get into those headlines. We'll revisit some of the headlines from yesterday, too. We got a World cup final. We'll dig into Lance McCullers a little bit. I've not had a chance to discuss the passing of Janice McNair as well, so we'll talk about that for a little bit in Headlines as we roll on here on a Thursday. We'll do that coming up next.

[Sean Pendergast]

Make money from your podcast with the Odyssey Creator Lab. You create the show, we bring the advertisers.

[Seth Payne]

Apply now at creators.odyssey.

[Sean Pendergast]

pain and Pender Gas with today's headlines. Here we go.

[Seth Payne]

Headlines here on Pain and Pender Gas. Cole Thompson in with us today. I want to start with I wasn't here yesterday, so I'm going to be a little self indulgent here. Seth, I'm guessing the topic of Janice McNair's passing was something that you and Luke discussed yesterday, especially with you being an original Houston Texan and whatnot, being here when the McNairs actually started the team up back in 2000.

[Sean Pendergast]

And you know, everything that you've seen from former players is 100% correct. She's just an awesome lady. And I think just kind of, you know, one thing we talked about yesterday was that is you watch the Seahawks and their fan base kind of, you know, wringing their hands over these last couple years about what the New Orleans are going to look like because Paul Allen was a local Seattle guy that was very philanthropically minded but was also willing to spend on what they needed to do and let the on the football side of things and let the football people do their things. I think that's what. That's what over the course of 20 years, we've seen the Texans. They've always been very philanthropically minded. I think they've become more of an aggressive spending team, and it feels very similar to that. And it's a good place to be. Not all NFL teams are like that. Janice McNair was a huge part of that from the very beginning. Most of my interactions with Janice McNair were always with a Texans charity event or, you know, building a youth center somewhere, all of those things. She was always involved in that.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. She, she was a huge driving force behind the charitable component of the team. And, and there's nothing in that realm that I can say that hasn't already been said by hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people over the last 48 hours since she passed earlier this week. Tons of good videos from players tweets. Go out of your way to find them if you haven't had a chance to do that yet. I the one thing I I will say this. After Bob McNair passed away in 2018, from a personal standpoint, I'm thankful for the McNairs bringing football back to Houston because I wouldn't have a job if they didn't bring football back to Houston. My first four Dale always says that

[Sean Pendergast]

to you when he sees you.

[Seth Payne]

He said, hey, listen man, I heard you talking about the team the other day and just know I'm my family's the only reason you got a job right now. Very on brand for Cal just to point his finger and poke me in the chest and say, listen, pal. But, but my start in radio was with what at the time was the fourth sports station in town without an NFL team. There's probably not even a need for two sports stations in this town, let alone four. And so the the presence of NFL football, I think is something that back in the early 2000s led to 6, 10 going from being the only game in town to within six years being one of the four games in town. And I'm thankful to be over here now, obviously been here for almost 13 years, but there's no fourth station for me to cut my teeth. And if I don't get to cut my teeth, I'm not over here.

[Sean Pendergast]

So I'm very thankful for that. And you know, with in as far as Janice McNair being a part of all that, that was I think that's one of those things where I was still a relatively young man. I just been freshly married right when the I got married right before the first season of the Texans existence. And I always looked at Bob and Janice McNair as.

[Cole Thompson]

Wow.

[Sean Pendergast]

Whatever stereotypes or preconceptions you have about billionaires, they just seem to be a really, like, happily married. Like, you might have found them out in Davenport, Iowa, or something.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Sean Pendergast]

Just. Just like a happy, like, Norman Rockwell version of a married couple. It was. It was kind of. It was refreshing and educational. It's. At the same time,

[Cole Thompson]

Iowa is my.

[Seth Payne]

Huh.

[Cole Thompson]

Just randomly, like, Davenport, Iowa. Like, Seth had that queued on up somewhere.

[Sean Pendergast]

Danny, it sounds like a boring place. I don't know.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it is.

[Sean Pendergast]

I've been there.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it's.

[Cole Thompson]

It's.

[Seth Payne]

It is.

[Cole Thompson]

Oh, it's a real place.

[Seth Payne]

It's a real. Yeah. Davenport, Iowa. Hell, yeah. Hell, yeah. All right. So, yeah. So, obviously, thoughts and prayers to the McNair family and rest in peace, Janice McNair. Lance McCullers was traded yesterday. It happened just as you, Seth, and Luke Morrow were going off the air. So it's worth putting in headlines here. Lance McCullers traded to the Milwaukee brewers along with Colton Gordon, who, by the way, I think was just the Astros minor league player of the week last week. Like, he is the ultimate quadruple. A guy, like, every time. Every time.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dumping high, Sean.

[Seth Payne]

Every time he comes up here, every time he comes up to the major leagues, he.

[Anna Garcia]

He.

[Seth Payne]

You know, he's got a 5.62 ERA, and they send him back to Sugar Land. And I feel like I get, like, one press release every month about how amazing Colton Gordon is in Sugar Land.

[Sean Pendergast]

I've liked that about Colton Gordon because it feels like it was back in 2013 and 2014. You know, we had all these guys, and the. The minor league system was so good, and the player development was so good. They had these guys that would be awesome in aaa. And then you get up and you'd realize, oh, they're actually not good major leaguers, but they're doing a hell of a job getting the most out of them. Yeah, I choose to look at that as like, okay, the. The Pipeline instructional program is still really good, and it's just a matter of time until we start getting some. Instead of the John Singleton's of the world and everything, you get more Carlos Correas and George Springers, Right?

[Seth Payne]

God, I hope you're right. So Lance traded to the Brewers. That ends the Lance McCullers era here in Houston. The Lance McCullers era. I was thinking about this this morning. Like, he's in year 12 with the major league team. Likely. He came up in 2015.

[Cole Thompson]

That's crazy.

[Seth Payne]

So he's in year 12, and it just feels like, yeah, I'll give you guys a stat. Since the 2022 World Series, Lance McCullers has pitched 142 and a third innings since the 2022 World Series. So. So in three young three plus seasons, Seth. Well, you and I talk about this all the time. Has a guy pitched enough innings to qualify for the era title or for the, you know, the whip title or whatever? Lance McCullers in three plus seasons has not pitched enough innings to where he would qualify for the ERA title in a single season.

[Sean Pendergast]

The amazing thing about this, and I think we're going to do something with Cole later, because I'll credit Cole for pointing this out because he's barely pitched since 2022. You're a little bit surprised by how his body of work with the Astros is way better than you expect if you just condense it all down into one chunk.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's the thing. That's the part that's really been depressing about the last year or so of Lance McCullers. I forget which. I mean, it's been a litany of injuries. But there was a point, probably before this last, like, real opening up of his elbow, they had to do. There was a point where he is injured a lot. But you go and go, look, when he's on the mound, he's. When he's out there, he's really good.

[Cole Thompson]

Go back to his first start of the season. He had eight strikeouts at home. He was awesome.

[Seth Payne]

He was awesome in that one start. But there was a point, like a couple of years ago where he was out and getting ready to come back. You're like, look, when he's been out there, he's been good. That's been the depressing part about 2025 and 2026 is his era is like seven. He's just not. He's not good anymore, you know? And so I. I hope he gets. He's on the. He is on the strong end of the scale of guys I will root for in other uniforms. I like Lance McCullers a lot, and he was huge for that first World Series champion.

[Cole Thompson]

Do you guys think that he's had one of the weirdest Astros tenures of all time simply because of what the impact was for us winning World Series 100?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Josh Radner]

No.

[Sean Pendergast]

And he's a classic guy, too. Like, if somehow, if he had gotten traded away after. After 2018, I like the way you would feel about him and just what he meant to those early Astros teams and everything. Like, obviously the sum total of how people feel about Lance McCullers would be a lot different. But you can't erase all of that. I think over time, over time and with distance, you know you're going to forget the hard times and remember the good times.

[Seth Payne]

Yep. World Cup. World cup final is set. Argentina beats England yesterday. Late comeback by Argentina. Messi with a couple of assists. He is now the all time assist leader in World cup history. Spain and Argentina. And Seth is going to be all painted up and wearing his. He's going to wear a kit for each team, each half.

[Cole Thompson]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm going to learn Spanish between now and then. Are you going to learn the difference

[Cole Thompson]

between Argentinian Spanish and Spanish Spanish?

[Seth Payne]

The dialects.

[Cole Thompson]

Yeah, dialects.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Specifically requesting Babel Argentina.

[Cole Thompson]

So we got on the text line, somebody say, it's awesome to see Cole Thompson. Very knowledgeable. However, much like maybe you, Seth, I would much rather watch Mike Burroughs pitch than watch a soccer.

[Seth Payne]

That was Ocho who said that. Oh, joins in Mike Burroughs.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is what I acknowledge about soccer is that like, you know, if you actually know soccer and you're watching the set pieces and all of that, that it's not like, it's not just waiting for a goal and waiting for a goal. I just. I need to sit down some off season. I need to take a week of vacation and just. Actually just watch nothing but soccer.

[Cole Thompson]

You need to take a class on studying up on soccer.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

What do you think I'm gonna do? If you think it's an NHL team, I'm gonna take two weeks off.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Go to a hockey clinic or something.

[Seth Payne]

Yep.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

I will spend a weekend with you up in Western New York and hang out and tell you everything you need to know about hockey. That's my go to sport, dude.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, good.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, okay. You got it. You got a mentor.

[Cole Thompson]

Oh, I. Dude, I can tell you how much I've been begging for the Arrows to become an NHL team. I've been willing to say vitriol things just to be able to guarantee that we get a team.

[Seth Payne]

Okay.

[Cole Thompson]

I'm all for the expansion. I will hate Austin if they get it.

[Seth Payne]

Is this. Yeah. No, though, that's. That's a give. I think even people who don't care about hockey are like, they better not give it to Austin.

[Cole Thompson]

They better not give it Austin.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is what should piss you off, excuse my language. About a lot of the arguments you see for Austin over Houston. They're acting like It's Austin from 1993.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

We're saying, like, well, Houston's got really bad traffic. Yeah. Have you talked to anybody who lives in Austin lately? They're not all that thrilled with the traffic.

[Seth Payne]

Oh no. Is this the highest the stock has been on the AFC South? Since when? I don't know. But we've got one article that explains it and also lays out why this could be a better season for the Texans this year even than it was last year in the regular season. We will do that coming up next.

[Anna Garcia]

I'm Anna Garcia, host of True Crime News, the podcast. Every week we bring you in depth coverage on cases making headlines as well as those that go under the radar. Tune in for murders that defy explanation, mystery seeking exploration, and shocking secrets that will leave you breathless. Each week we honor the victims by going beyond the salacious in our search for justice. Crime never stops. And neither do we Listen to True Crime News, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Radner]

What would you do with 30 extra minutes a day with LG that time starts coming back? LG appliances are built to make everyday life feel lighter. With lg, fewer laundry mistakes, fresher groceries, and easier cleanup add up to more time back. 30 extra minutes isn't just time saved. It's breakfast without rushing, dinner without stress. And one less thing to juggle smart performance, sleek style and reliability for real life. That's LG. Get your time back with LG. See the latest models and savings [e-mail] I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey, and together we have the podcast Office Ladies. Just because we finished rewatching the Office does not mean we're going anywhere. Every Wednesday, we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from the Office and our friendship with brand new guests. Plus, you can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode. So follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.