Joe Espada says Peter Lambert is their ACE

Summary

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Payne & Pendergast – July 23, 2026

Episode Title: Joe Espada says Peter Lambert is their ACE
Theme: Houston Astros' surprising pitching leadership, trade deadline drama, and future projections

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Episode Overview

In this episode, hosts Seth Payne (former NFL player) and Sean Pendergast (longtime Houston radio personality) take a close look at the state of the Houston Astros as the MLB trade deadline approaches and the team faces a pivotal portion of the season. They discuss manager Joe Espada's surprising declaration of Peter Lambert as the team's "ace," the implications for the pitching staff, and what the upcoming trade deadline might mean for the franchise. They also put the Astros' current struggles in historical context, contrasting the present roster to the dominant 2019 squad, and briefly touch on the playoff chase and competitiveness within the American League.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Peter Lambert: The Unlikely "Ace" of the Astros Rotation

• Espada's Assessment:
  • After a 5–2 win over the Marlins, manager Joe Espada praises Peter Lambert's consistency and competitiveness, calling him their "ace."
    • Notable Quote: "He has stepped up, and he's been our ace, and he doesn't back down from a challenge. He goes after these hitters, he throws strikes... he's very competitive, and he is. He's been really, really good..." (02:50–03:00)
• Hosts' Reaction:
  • The declaration surprises the hosts, given that Lambert was DFA'd (designated for assignment) at the beginning of the year and only returned as something of a reclamation project.
    • Pendergast: "He called Peter Lambert their ace right there... On a staff with a guy who finished third in the Cy Young last year." (03:25–03:45)
• Contextualizing "Ace":
  • The panel debates the usage of the term "ace" – is it too generous, or simply a nod to performance?
    • Sports Analyst/Commentator: "I also think that the term ace is just being used a little bit too liberally... His point is he's been our best pitcher this year, our most consistent, our most reliable." (04:13–04:22)
  • Lambert’s stability is contrasted with teammates Hunter Brown (battling injuries and command issues), Spencer Arrighetti (brief excellence), and Tatsuya Imai (adjustment to MLB).
• Roster Management Insight:
  • Discussion on GM Dana Brown’s role in assembling (and briefly discarding) Lambert, and how even "lightning in a bottle" stories partially reflect on the front office.
    • Quote: "He cut the guy, but he brought him in to begin with... There's no way he thought that this is the Peter Lambert that he was getting." (05:45–05:59)

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2. Astros Trade Deadline Position: Buyers, Sellers, or Both?

• National Perspective:
  • Hosts reference analysis from Buster Olney and Jeff Passan, highlighting the Astros as a "swing team" at the deadline—able to shift the market if they decide to move key pieces.
    • Pendergast: "[Olney] says… the one team that could change that equation dramatically would be the Houston Astros, who have a bunch of interesting players who would shift everything. Some rival executives believe Houston would absolutely crush it in this market if they dangled Jeremy Peña, Isaac Paredes, and others." (08:22–09:09)
• Who’s on the Table?
  • The hosts mention Jeremy Peña, Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker, and even Brian Abreu as potential trade chips, acknowledging the Astros possess several valuable right-handed bats.
• Team Direction & Playoff Odds:
  • At 50–54, with just a 16% shot at the postseason (per FanGraphs), the Astros’ front office insists they’re still contending—though results don’t always support the rhetoric.
    • Pendergast: "All the rhetoric coming out of Houston is about charging ahead, which is 100% true… I think that this team legitimately thinks… they envision a path to contention." (09:23–09:52)
• Tough Schedule Ahead:
  • The team faces the White Sox (stronger this year) and would need an extraordinary run to match historic win totals.

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3. Measuring Up: Astros Now vs. Astros Then

• The 2019 Gold Standard:
  • The hosts compare the current Astros to the iconic 2019 squad, widely regarded as the best Astros team in history, even though they fell short of a World Series title.
    • Pendergast: "If you want to gauge for how far apart we are… If the Astros lose on Friday to the White Sox… they would have to win the rest of their games this year to match the record of the 2019 Houston Astros." (10:23–11:04)
    • Sports Analyst/Commentator: "That's how good that team was, and that's how far we’ve fallen." (11:20–11:28)
• Path to the Playoffs:
  • Breaks down what’s required for even a wild card berth (~85–87 wins), noting that the field is more crowded and competitive than in years past.
    • Sports Analyst/Commentator: "If your eye is on the prize, your eye needs to be on the division… [the AL West] is a bunch of mediocre baseball at best. So can you be the best of the mediocre is a much better question…" (12:23–13:10)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Lambert's Rise:
  • Espada (relayed by hosts): "He has stepped up, and he's been our ace, and he doesn't back down from a challenge." (02:50)
  • Sports Analyst/Commentator: "Calling him an ace is a stretch, but he has been your best and most consistent pitcher… that's stats. That's the numbers." (06:20–06:23)
• On Historical Comparison:
  • Pendergast: "They would have to win the rest of their games this year to match the record of the 2019 Houston Astros." (11:04)
  • Analyst: "That’s how far we’ve fallen." (11:28)
• On Playoff Hopes:
  • Sports Analyst/Commentator: "If you're going to make it, you probably have to win at least 85 games at a minimum to get in." (12:19)
  • On the AL West: "Can you be the best of the mediocre is a much better question…" (13:04)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Start of sports content, opening remarks: 01:32
• Recap of Astros' win & Lambert praise by Espada: 02:34–03:26
• Hosts and analyst debate on “ace” naming: 03:26–05:42
• Front office and GM Dana Brown's credit discussion: 05:42–06:20
• Lambert’s consistency, staff performance: 06:20–06:28
• Trade deadline scenario, Olney/Passan’s analysis: 06:28–09:12
• Current playoff odds and team rhetoric: 09:12–09:51
• Historical comparison to 2019 team: 10:21–11:28
• Playoff picture, AL West, and win threshold: 11:28–13:10

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Takeaways

• Peter Lambert’s emergence as the best and most reliable Astros starter is the surprise story of the season, reflecting both his own progress and the struggles of the rotation.
• The Astros are at a crossroads, with assets to sell but a stated intent to contend, even though their path is steep and uncertain.
• Comparisons to past success highlight the team’s current mid-tier status and raise questions about future direction and expectations.

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This summary delivers the essence of the episode’s sports-focused discussions, offering valuable context and key moments for those unable to listen firsthand.

Transcript

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[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Sports Radio 610 presents live from the West Point Lincoln and West Point Lincoln of Sugarland Studios. Here's Payne and Pender. We got big things looming on the horizon obviously. We got training camp starting next Wednesday with the Texans. We've got the trade deadline coming up on August 3rd with the Astros. We've got our own big stuff coming up here at the station. August 13th is when we make the move over to FM will be 95. 7 the fans. We got some big things coming up on the calendar. It's a really exciting time of year. Just to dial in on the Astros for a little bit, let's start with last night. They beat the Miami Marlins 5 to 2 last night. Jordan Alvarez with the big hit. A tie breaking two run home run in the eighth inning to make it four to two. Isak Paredes hits a home run the very next at bat and the big story I think in addition to Jordan Alvarez is Peter Lambert with another really good start. Literally another quality start. Six innings, two earned runs. Here was Joe Espada following Last night's game on Lambert.

[Marketer/Advertiser]

No. You know, and there's always someone during

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

the season in the years that I've been doing this, that there's someone, this one pitcher that gets an opportunity and

[Marketer/Advertiser]

just runs with it, or last year was Jason Alexander. And Peter is kind of being that guy for us.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

He has stepped up, and he's been our ace, and.

[Marketer/Advertiser]

And he doesn't back down from.

[LinkedIn Advertiser]

For a challenge.

[Marketer/Advertiser]

He goes after these hitters, he throws strikes.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

He's very competitive, and he is. He's been really, really good boy B. Scott. That sailed past me the first time we played that audio earlier today, earlier in the show, I think we played it in headlines. Espada talking about Peter Lambert. Because when Espada started in on that quote, I started going in trivia mode in my head. I'm like, yeah, there have been a lot of guys like that. So I was only half listening to him. He called Peter Lambert their ace right there.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

He said he's been. He has been our ace. Yeah, I caught on that the first time, too, and I actually. I think I just skipped over it because I agreed so much, so wholeheartedly. But it is noteworthy. Worth sitting with for.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

On a staff with the guy who finished third in the Cy Young last year. The manager just called a guy they DFA at the start of the season.

[Marketer/Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

And he decided. Lambert, he decided to come back to the Astros to pitch in their system for whatever reason. And obviously, it's worked out tremendously for him. He's put himself in real good position to hopefully continue to be an Astro or whatever the case may be. I have no idea what his contractual situation is, but that just hit me that second time listening to him, like, wow. I mean, it says a lot about Peter Lambert, and also I think it says a lot about Hunter Brown, too.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Yeah.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

The opposite direction.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

I also think that the term ace is just being used a little bit too liberally. But I don't want to go through the semantics of the term ace. I understand his point. His point is he's been our best pitcher this year, our most consistent, our most reliable. And I think Hunter Brown, honestly, if he doesn't have the injury, the hiccup there where he's not playing for a while and he's back pitching, and he's just trying to find his fastball. I mean, Hunter Brown, we got to be real about it. His deadliest pitches, forcing fastball is the one that he's having the most trouble commanding. And that's just not a way to live and so that completely changes what Hunter Brown is. Meanwhile, Peter Lambert has just been a model of consistency all the way through. We've had Hunter Brown for a minute, right, to start the season. He's the ace to start, right? Spencer Arrogetti had the month where he wins AL Pitcher of the month. He's pitching at a Cy Young level at one point, right?

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Oh, yeah.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Tatsuya Imai is struggling to adjust to the American lifestyle and pitching in the big leagues in America, and he's tired, he's fatigued, and then he gets it back. But nobody, everybody.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Don't even get me started on Burrows.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Oh, and he's just a complete guy. I mean, a complete, complete waste. You know what's funny about that? That you mentioned it. Burrows and Tatsui. My as well. But those two were supposed to be Dana Brown's crowning achievements of the off season in terms of bringing in the pitching. He also kind of has to get credit for the Peter Lambert thing, even though that's lightning in a bottle, I don't think.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Kind of. I mean, he cut the guy, right?

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

He cut the guy, but he brought him in to begin with, Right? So, I mean, Peter Lambert, partial credit only partial credit, not just because he cut him, but because there's no way. And I guess because he cut him, this is obvious of. Or evidence of that. There's no way he thought that this is the Peter Lambert that he was getting. Right. Otherwise he would have never cut him and he would have probably signed him to more money. Yeah. Yeah. So. So when you think about, like, just all of that and what you've gotten from your pitching staff, Peter Lambert, calling him an ace is a stretch, but he has been your best and most consistent pitcher.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

That's. That's. That's undeniable. That's just. That's stats.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

That's the numbers.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Yeah, that's the numbers. No question.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Team leading eight Quality starts.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Yep. Yep.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Speaks for itself.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Okay, so Buster only and Jeff Passon did kind of an overview of the trade deadline. Boy, maybe I'm just being biased because the Astros are such an intriguing trade deadline team, because I think on paper, I think he could go either way. They could be a buyer or a seller. You can make a case for either one. And I think Dana Brown is probably conducting himself like a buyer, but maybe getting approached like a seller by some teams, which makes it very busy for him for sure. And it's new territory for the Astros, definitely. But Buster only and Jeff Passon did kind of an overview sort of a superlatives I guess of the trade deadline. And my question in reading what I'm about to read to you would be do the Astros?

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Cause no matter how you sauce your sausage burrito, it's still just $2. Limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher for delivery. Told the keys to the trade deadline the weakest position available is, and Buster Only says lists, a bunch of teams that are in the playoff hunt. Good teams could all use a right handed hitter, but even as more teams drop out of contention, it doesn't appear many options will emerge. The one team that could change that equation dramatically would be the Houston Astros, who have a bunch of interesting players who would shift everything. These are Buster Only's words. Some rival executives believe Houston would absolutely crush it in this market if they dangled Jeremy Pena, Isaac Paredes and others. I guess I would add, if I were to add others in there, I would add Christian Walker would be the others.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Brian Abreu, potentially.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Right. But as far as right handed hitters.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Oh yeah, that's right, of course. Just stay on topic. Right hand hitters, yes.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Right handed hitters, yeah. But I think a bray is a name worth dangling to, no question. Yeah, Houston went into play on Tuesday six games under.500, and according to fan graphs, the Astros odds for making the playoffs stand at 16%. But so far, all the rhetoric coming out of Houston is about charging ahead, which is 100% true. Rhetoric would Imply that it's. There's an emptiness to it. I don't think there's an emptiness to it. I think that this team legitimately thinks that even at 50 and 54, that they envision a path to contention. Here's the crazy thing. They're off today, if I'm not mistaken. The Astros, I think, are off today.

[LinkedIn Advertiser]

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[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

They're headed to Chicago. And the White Sox are a much better team this year, so that'll be a challenge. It's in Chicago. When the Astros lose their next game, they'll be. There'll be whatever. And 55. At that point. If you want to feel how big the gap is between the peak of the Astros golden era and now, I view the peak as 2019, because I think that was the. I know they didn't win the title that year, but that was the best team I've ever seen. This most stacked team I've ever seen.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Definitely the best Astros team I've ever seen.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

That's what I mean.

[Marketer/Advertiser]

For sure.

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[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

The best. Yeah. Sorry. Not the best. Although really talented.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Yeah. Certainly one of the best. To never win a World. To not win the World Series.

[Marketer/Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

That's the articles that I've seen. Yes. Yes. So. But if you want. If you want to gauge for how far apart we are, how distant we are from that era of Astros baseball, the. The next time the ass. Let's say the Astros lose on Friday to the White Sox. Not out of the realm of possibility. They would have to win the rest of their games this year to match the record of the 2019 Houston Astros.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Quite a run. Be quite a win streak could take. Yes, it would be quite a rud.

[Marketer/Advertiser]

Man.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

It would. But how about that?

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Yeah.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

That's how good that team was. You would have to. Starting on July 25th or whatever it is, you'd have to win out in. In late July. You would have to start a streak where you win out to be the same record as that 2019 ash team.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

That's how good that team was. That's how good that team was, and that's how far we fallen.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

That's exactly right. That's.

[LinkedIn Advertiser]

Yeah, that's.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

That's how far we fallen because that's very much in play, as you laid out. That could absolutely happen Friday or this. Sometime this weekend.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

Well, even to get halfway there, to get to 87 wins or whatever. Like, I mean, I don't know if people have looked like the record the Astros are going to have to put together just to. Just to be in an 87 win conversation. And I bring up 87 wins because they won 87 last year and lost out on a tiebreaker.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Right.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

That it may take 87 wins again because I know the AL is very janky right now, but the teams that are in the running for the wild card are really starting to crystallize here and they're all going to be above.500.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Yeah.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

You know, there was a point a couple of weeks ago where, you know, 40 and 42 has you in the playoffs. There's too many teams for a couple of them not to start to distance themselves. The Astros have to be one of those teams.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

Yeah.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

If you're going to make it, you probably have to win at least 85 games at a minimum to get in.

[Sports Analyst/Commentator]

If your eye is on the prize, your eye needs to be on the division. Sure, you could get a wild card, but like you mentioned, that field is much more crowded and it's literally a wild card because now you're throwing in, like, who's that going to be? The Yankees could be in the mix for that because the Rays could win their division. Right. So, like, there's all these different teams that are going to be in the mix, whereas the AL west, there is no hodgepodge. You know what that is? That is a bunch of. And you're part of this. So I don't want to exclude the Astros, but that's just a bunch of mediocre baseball at best. So can you be the best of the mediocre? Is a much better question to ask as opposed to like, you know, can we be better than the Yankees or whoever doesn't win the AL Central.

[Sports Radio Host (possibly Seth Payne or co-host)]

I want to circle back to one other Rockets thing with you and Brandon Scott in for Seth Payne. B. Scott will be in with me tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday. But just some audio that Seth and I played yesterday. I want to get your take on Kevin Durant sitting down with Draymond Green talking about 2018 with the Warriors. Does this draw concern for the 20, 26, 27 Houston Rockets? We will do that. We'll find out what the guy's got going on on in the loop as well. We'll do all of that.

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