The Athletic's Chandler Rome Joins The Show!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Channel of Rome of the athletic joining me as joining
me in WEX, I should say, is we get ready
to watch the Astros and the Kansas City Royals? Is
it fair to say that both of these teams are
not exactly having the type of twenty twenty fives that
their respective fan bases and organizations thought they would to
start the year From.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
An offensive standpoint, yeah, I mean the Royals have been
worse than basically every offensive category than the Astros, which
is hard to believe. You know. Obviously, the Royals have
Bobby Witt Junior, who's, if not the most exciting player
in baseball, in the top three or four, and he's
kind of being himself. He's being Bobby Wit that really
no one around him is doing much. So, given the

(00:42):
way the Astros offensive has gone the first twenty five
or so games, I'd imagine these are going to be
low scoring games. The one thing the Royals can do
is they can pitch it really well. Their rotation is
really good one to five, and yeah, I would imagine
that these are going to be some low scoring quick
games because neither of these lineup that's are hitting right now.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
We often try to pick apart some of the things
we maybe this can get better. Are we seeing a
guy turn the corner? We'll save that maybe for later
in the conversation. And rather, this has been an unbelievable
start to their season. From a pitching standpoint, the Astros
have been flat out sensational.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
On this past weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
It was on full display, you know, two starts from
Augusto over the course of the six game homestand completely
embarrassed the Blue Jays from a pitching standpoint. And for
the second straight year, what is it attributable to any
one thing in particular, and that so many of these
guys are clearly following an Astro's plan of how to pitch.
If they're like Weznsky and Ochred who came aboard, and

(01:39):
then the other group of pitchers are basically Astros lifers.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, I mean, I look, I think they felt really
good about their pitching staff coming into the season. I
don't think this is surprising to them, you know, they
did they expect to have, like, I don't know what
they have in the last ten games. I think it's
like almost a sub two era, like that's obviously not sustainable,
Like what they did against the Blue Jays and what
they did against the Padres is probably not sustainable. That
they're not going to pitch to a sub two eral season,

(02:05):
But they felt good about their rotation and the bullpen.
Coming into the year, they knew that pitching was going
to have to carry this thing, especially after they traded
Kyle Tucker this winter. So to say their surprise is
probably not true. But there's also you know, look that
there's some there's some regression bound to happen. I mean,

(02:25):
if you watch Ryan Gusto's start against the Padres, and
this is no disrespect to Ryan Gusto, who got through
five good innings, I mean he was giving up rockets
all over the place, just right. Two guys, you know,
kind of the same thing against the Blue Jays. They
swung early a lot, they were hitting, you know, I
think they had a ninety three average, a ninety three
mile an hour exit velocity against him. You know, look,
there's some days and some stretches where the balls bouncing

(02:46):
your way. There's some days and some stretches where you
run into a club that's not hitting very well. That
was with the Blue Jays, and you know, the Astros
just got them at the exact right time. So pitching
is going to carry this team. Pitching is always going
was always want to be the thing that carries his team.
Are they going to pitch this well all season? Probably not,
but I don't think it's that far off. Like they're
gonna be, you know, top three four in the r

(03:09):
in the American League pretty much all year. And as
to how they're doing it, I mean, look, Ryan Gusto,
it's simple to say it, but he just throws strikes,
man like, he just attacks his own with his stuff.
He gets guys to swing early because it's a little
like watching Ronel Blanco because neither of them have stuff
that jumps off the page. They don't have Hunter Brown stuff,

(03:31):
they don't have fromber Valdez is electric stuff. But they
command it well. They're not afraid. They throw strikes and
you know, hitters just can't find ways to square them
up and and it's working well for him. So you know, look,
like I said, pitching is always going to carry this thing.
The bats have to come around to support them a
little bit. But yeah, they can't ask for more of

(03:51):
what they're getting right now.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Uh, you mentioned it's not sustainable overall, but I know
the answer is no as far as what he's been doing.
But Hunter Brown is overall is that sustainable? Just the
electric delivery and just being able to count on him
as if he's a second ace, because that's what he's
pitched like so far.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
I mean, he's pitched like the ace I would hit
the second ace. I mean he looks like he looks
like the best pitcher in baseball right now. And that's
not hyperbolic. I mean he looked. And maybe I'm just
jaded because I watch him. I've watched every start, but
just the stuff is electric, and you just it's a
different you see, kind of a different mindset with him.
And everyone wants to talk about Verlander and have the

(04:32):
constant Verlander and I understand why. But there's a little
bit of Garrett Cole to him too, and that I'm
thinking that starting against the Blue Jays, when George Springer
got to third base with no outs and I mean
he just baared down. He threw ninety nine nine nine
miles an hour down the middle to Alejandra Kirkins and
try to hit it and he couldn't hit it. And
that's kind of the stuff that Garrett Cole used to

(04:52):
do when he was in his prime and with the
ash shows. So it doesn't even have a one one
six eral season. No, but even if like you double that,
what is that like a two five two six era?
I mean, yeah, I could see that. I mean, they've
got to keep him healthy and he's got to you know,
keep this run going. But i mean, look, you're looking
at a front of the rotation, like best pitcher in

(05:15):
baseball type of guy. You're looking at a guy that
could win the Cy Young this year if he keeps
if he keeps it up like this, and it's something
that you know, there was some talk about it in
the in the offseason that he was a sneaky Cy
Young candidate. I don't think it's sneaky anymore. I Mean,
this guy is he is a top He is pitching
better than anyone in the American League right now, and
it is and it's pretty been pretty uh fun to watch.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Astros made a shift. Joe Spotta made the shift. With
the lineup, it is yard On Alvarez batting second. It
appears like that will stay that way regardless of what
they end up doing behind him permanently.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
But it's peretis now at three.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
It seems rather alarming that Christian Walker had a couple
of good games after his off day, and now his
ops is six forty and Jordan's is six sixty one.
Jordon's going to be great again very soon, right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
I mean I had this stat on my podcast this morning.
You know, he's got the difference between his three I
believe he's got like a three ninety eight slugging percentage.
His expected slug is over five hundred. So you look
at the bat Bald data, you look at some of
the peripherals, it does suggest that he's getting a little

(06:26):
bit unlucky. You don't want to blame that. You don't
want to say that for everything. It's not a broad
statement that everything about what's happening is bad luck. But
the quality of the contact, the launch angles and everything
suggests that there should be some more extra base hits
coming just if he keeps this quality of contact up.
You know, I think one thing that's being overlooked when

(06:46):
you talk about Alvarez's slow start is I mean, you
don't want to blame at all on Christian Walker and
Jiner Diaz. But before Joe moved into the two hole,
Jordon was hitting third, Christian Walker was hitting fourth, Diaz
was hitting fifth. You're not got nothing to hit because
he had no protection behind. Like the guys saw how

(07:07):
badly Walker and Diaz were scuffling and just said, look,
we're not even gonna throw him anything, and we'll just
go after these two guys who were in far deeper
funks than Alvarez. And that don't scare us as much
as Jordan Alvarez. So look, your gun's got to pick
it up him self. He knows that. But I think,
you know, the moving the line up the way Joe
did probably gives him some more pitches to hit, probably

(07:29):
gets him in a better situation to get some pitches
to drive. And now it's just a matter of swinging
good pitches and and seeing if they can fall.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
We're talking to Chandler Roma the athletic here on Sports
Talk seven ninety Astros in Royals, beginning a weekend series
up in k C. By the way, I haven't ever
asked you this before. What's your favorite barbecue up there, Chandler?

Speaker 2 (07:52):
None of it really Houston barbecue. I'd rather Houston barbecue.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Are you are you playing a role? Are you being
diplomatic or do you really mean that?

Speaker 2 (07:59):
No? No, no, no, I really mean that. I'm like
I I'm kind of out on Kansas sitar with you.
It's not really my thing. I rather, I'd rather I'd
rather Texas. I'd rather Texas Barbecue Houston barbecause I think
it's a lot better.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
He's endearing himself to the listeners here. I didn't I
did not think you would say that. I wanted to
ask you about Christian Walker and just him coming around seemingly.
I think I asked you about this earlier in the year.
If it was more of a mental thing for him,
just with the pressure to perform, especially in light of
a lack of production at that position. Seems like he's

(08:34):
kind of back to normal at this point in your opinion,
or is he still trying to get the cobwebs out.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
I mean, it's two games. You don't want to overreact
to two games. But yeah, I mean, it looks better,
and I think more than anything, he just needed to
see some hits fall. He just needed to and he
has said this. You know, he needed to contribute to wins,
because that's one thing, you know, when I talked to
him in Saint Louis, when he was kind of at
the lowest of his lows. He said, you know, I
feel like I'm not contributing to win, which is why

(09:00):
I was brought here. And I mean he is acknowledged
of putting pressure on himself signing a big contract, being
the guy that was in the four hole from day one.
The bats have looked better in the last two days,
but I mean he's still got an ops with a
six that starts with a six, so we still got
some work to do. But yeah, I think just seeing
seeing Bald over the fence, seeing the team win a

(09:23):
few games that he had a hand in, I think
that's going to help him just to settle down and
just to like stop pressing and stop kind of feeling
like the weight of the world's on his shoulders. Because him,
probably more than most baseball players I've covered, he like
really wears it, and I think you can see it
on the field, like when he's not having success, like
he it's visceral that he's that he's in pain, he's

(09:45):
anguish that he's not coming through. So I mean, you
could tell it was weighing on him and it was
grading on him. So from a human perspective, I guess
it's nice to see him having success because you don't.
He doesn't look so sad all the time. I mean,
that's nice to see.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
One thing we're saying now, and it's not necessarily a
full blown problem yet, but it's something that certainly could
become a how do we figure this out? Jose al
Twove is at second base today. Jordon Alvarez is still
the DH, but that allows for Zach Dezenzo to be
in the lineup tonight along with cam Smith. Deceenzo and
left camp Smith in his usual right field. The last
twelve games for the Astros, camp Smith's that started eleven

(10:21):
of them, He's got an ops of better than eight hundred. Obviously,
Zach had some a real nice stretch with six hits
and eight at bats around the thumb injury. Do you
think they will continue with this until the performance says
they need to not force Zach into the lineup or
do you think he can play well enough to have
them consider every day? How do we find spots for

(10:42):
those two Jordan and Jose. You know, what else do
we do? Because obviously they're trying to find something to
get a more consistent production from their offense.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Well, it's a little bit of those. It's kind of
what you just said that if Zach Dezenzo keeps hitting,
they're going to find places to put him in the lineup,
and it's contingent on him being able to produce. And
you know, look, as I reported this week, you know
they are exploring Cam Smith in center field. They're hitting
him fly balls in centerfield. As I wrote in that story,
it is not imminent. We're not talking about a total

(11:13):
position change. We're not talking about him becoming the primary
center fielder. But it would give them some flexibility if
they'd want to run an outfield out there of let's
say how two van left, Smith and center and Dezenzo
and right. Now. Again, this is all contingent on if
Zach Dezenzo's hitting, because I don't think they're going to
weaken themselves defensively that much in the outfield if he's

(11:35):
not hitting. If he if he maintains this production, he's
going to force their hand. But I think it would
be interesting to see what Cam Smith looks like in centerfield.
He has exceeded my expectations and basically everyone in the
Astros system their expectations for how he has handled right field.
It's why they feel comfortable at least giving it a

(11:56):
look in center field to see if he could see
what he could do there. The athletic, he's a freak
of an athlete, and you guys have seen that. It's
not look the technical like routes aren't perfect, some of
the reads aren't perfect, but he is so athletic that
he can kind of compensate for that just by pure
speed and instinct instinctual awareness and athleticism. Putting him in

(12:16):
center field, I mean, that's probably the easiest way for
them to get both Smith and his Zenzo in the lineup. Now,
everyone kind of keeps coming back to the al tuo
by thing they since day one, it's been this, this
is a failed experiment, put him back a second base,
all that stuff like I'm here to tell you, like
that's not happening because they have too much respect for

(12:37):
jose Al two be to yo yo him like this.
And it's one of these things that when they approached
him this offseason and said we want you to do this,
he was all gained to do it. But one of
the things that from what I understand, that was made
clear to him and that he was he wanted assurance
on was that they were going to put him in
one spot and they were gonna let it go. Like again,

(12:58):
he's obviously gonna get some time. Second Day knew that.
He knew he was gonna start second base every now
and then, but they they did not want to and
they don't want to make this a situation where this
is like a week by week evaluation of Oh, this
week will be in left field, and then this week
will be like no, like he's going to stay in
left field. He's gonna get a predominant amount of his

(13:18):
playing time in left field. And as much as like no,
one wants to talk about it, like the experiments working.
Do you know why? Because their infield defense is great
and he's barely getting anything hit to him in left field,
which was the whole point of this entire experiment, because
they knew they could hide him in left field because
left fielders generally don't get a ton of chances out there,

(13:39):
and especially behind this pitching staff that has two of
its best pitchers as big ground ball guys. It is
working the way they wanted it to work, and I
don't think they're gonna mess.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
With that one quick last thing, since you kind of
brought it up, have you been impressed or maybe surprised
at the quality defensive work they've gotten from Esak Cretis
over at third I have.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, And I actually talked to Tony parris Cheek of
the third base, the infield coordinator about that a couple
of days ago, and one thing he said that was interesting.
You know, the book on eastoc Paratus was always that
he would feel anything hit to him, hit in his
little circle, in his little vicinity. The range was always
the problem. And they've done a lot with him. Tony
Parishchka has about quieting him down. Like apparently if you

(14:20):
go look some back at some of his stuff with
the Cubs and the Rays, like he would go to
he would go to get a ball to his left
ors right, and his arms would be out. He would
kind of be very kind of open. Now they made
him more compact, They made him kind of, you know,
scrunch him up a little bit to eliminate some unnecessary movements,
and that helps his first step, that helps his range.

(14:41):
And I think you've seen that, you've seen that the
range is a little bit better than even the Astros
thought it would be. He's not Alex Bregman, He's not
a gold Glover, but he certainly has He's been more
than adequate for them at third base, and it has
been a little bit surprising.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Yes, Texans at number thirty four? Who are they taking?

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Can they take Sugar Sanders? Please?

Speaker 4 (15:03):
Because is wrong with you? I thought he was to
the fans.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
That would be so do you Hey? I got an
actual question. Do you think they turned Cal's computer on
in the draft room last night?

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Come on, man?

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Do you think what do you think like they turned
it on? Or do you think he just sat there
staring at a blanket, like, Yeah, I'm sure he did
think that, dude. Do you think that dude was looking
at a spreadsheet as to like who was on the board?
Do you think do you think Cassario told him that
they were trading out of the first round?

Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, after they did, and Hannah told him.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Think he was in the middle of playing like World
of Warcraft or something? Right?

Speaker 4 (15:42):
What did you think of Hannah's blazer?

Speaker 2 (15:45):
I mean, is that why they can't extend everyone? Is
that what they had to trade Puncil because they had
to spend that money on her blazer?

Speaker 4 (15:52):
I love you so much. That can of worms, all right, Chandler.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Good stuff as always, both baseball and and otherwise.

Speaker 4 (16:00):
We'll catch up again next week.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Enjoy, well, don't enjoy Kansas City barbecue apparently, but enjoy
Kansas City all

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Right, Thanks guys,