Counting Down to Astros and the Trade Deadline 2024

Chris Gordy and Ross Villarreal talk all things Houston Astros ahead of the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline. What's realistic for Dana Brown and the Astros to acquire? Will they add a pitcher? A first baseman? We discuss it all, as well as a discussion with Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. 

Episode Transcript

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(00:30):
Here's Chris Gordy and Ross via Reel. It is a trade deadline edition of
the Crawford Box Cast presented by CarboxBrewing. Chris Gordy, Ross Viiel here
with you talk at all things Astrosat least once a week on the Crawford
Box Cast presented by Carbok Brewing.In the Crawford Bok make sure you guys
get your hands on plenty of Crawfordback on this homestand with the Dodgers and

(00:50):
the Pirates in town counting you downtill the MLB trade deadline, and we
expect the Astros to be making somemoves. And man, oh man need
a pitcher. They could use twopitchers. They could use a bullpen arm.
They could use a hitter, theycould use a first basement an outfielder,
whatever it is. The Astros coulduse some upgrades and Ross over under.

(01:11):
If I just gave you odds totalnumber of players the Astros will acquire
prior to Tuesday's trade deadline. Youwould say this set a line, yeah,
I would do. I feel likethey're gonna get two players, Okay,
so one and a half, Somaybe i'll set the line right at
too. I'm trying to get actionon both sides, which is what the

(01:33):
books try to do. Maybe Iwould make it two two and a half.
I don't think they get three players. I think it's I feel like
a reliever, like a small movewhat you've seen in the past for Kendall
Gravemen or others. You can alwaysacquire a reliever, and it's not like
they necessarily need relief help right now. But as far as the guys who
are racking up innings, it'd benice to have another leverage arm. And

(01:55):
then I think a mid line startingpitcher. So one and a half I
think is a pretty good line.And if I had to bet, I
would bet the over for the Astros. I don't think you're getting any sort
of the ace type of pitcher thatare on the market as far as the
Trek Scoogles and the Garret Crochets andthose guys. But I think you can
find the right deal for those twotypes of deals as far as a mid

(02:21):
level starter like a two three fourguy and then a decent enough leverage reliever.
Yeah, and just to give yousomething obviously some of the biggest trade
deadline moves in recent years. Youknow, you were able to reacquire Justin
Verlander last year. That was big, yes, you know. To me,
none bigger than the Verlander acquisition intwenty seventeen, which helped propel you

(02:42):
to win a World Series that year, probably a close third. I would
put Zach Grank in twenty nineteen.That would happen after the deadline had passed.
I remember the A team was onAdam Clanton and Adam Wexler, and
it was literally they went to breakand they during that first break came out
right after the tea, they cameout. Zach Ranky has been traded to
the Astros. So those are big. Then you had like Ryan Presley traded

(03:05):
by the Twins to the Astros,yeah, twenty eighteen, and then some
other, you know, lesser moveslike the Miles Straw for film Aiton.
Janar Dinez ended up being part ofthat. So that was that was nice.
But just trying to think of sometrade acquisitions here in recent years,
they're not all going to be stellar. You know. I think we go
back to even fifteen where they hadthe the Mike Fires trade, which included

(03:29):
uh, well was the the outfielderwell, it was the Carlin was the
go go trade, it was CarlosGomez trade, and it turned into the
Mike Fires trade and then it wasreally bad. It's as how far as
the trade came with the whole well, but kind of under rags whistleblower that
was made a week prior to that, they got Scott Kashmir, And that's
where I kind of look at thistrade deadline. Is there a Scott Kasmir

(03:50):
esque type picture. You really needbottom line rush. You need somebody who's
gonna eat up innings because all theseguys are going to be taking a toll
Arragheddy Hunter Brown, Brono Blanco,these guys are all gonna be hitting innings
pitch thresholds, and you really needsome just some inning eaters. Yeah guys,
Yeah exactly. And that's the thinglike if things were as they were
now, we'd be fine. Butyou still have two more months of this

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season to go. You do havethe guys that you're relying on. Hunter
Brown's been spectacular, but he startedto wear and tear physically at the end
of the year last year. RenelBlanco. I know some people have been
like, oh, he's thirty yearsold. He's totally fine. It's not
about how old he is. That'sjust because you're thirty years old, doesn't
mean you can go out there andthrow two hundred innings. It's not about
age. It's about being built upand being physically ready to endure what it

(04:35):
takes to go deep into a majorleague season. And he's never done it
before. So you also add ina sports of course, spent to arraghetty
and pitching more innings than he everhas, So you add that all up.
You need some guys. One ofthe buzzwords I think we've heard from
both Dana Brown and Joe Aspata,whether it be on our shows on Sports
Talk seven to ninety or in mediaavailabilities is six man rotation. That's a

(05:00):
word they've said multiple times. Rightnow, love Jake Blass and want him
to develop, but he's not readyand he's your fifth guy. So if
you're going to a sixth guy,I mean, is it going to be
Luis Garcia and then Justin Verlander.It feels like you can't count on either
of those guys. Luis Garcia withthe recent setback. Justin Verlander, and
we love what he's accomplished, butthe reality is this year he's forty one

(05:20):
years old and he's been on theiel twise, So you need to it's
just a must address. You don'tonly talk about must wins or must this
or must that. You must addressthe starting pitching situation in some form or
fashion if you're going to win thisdivision. And thankfully the Seattle Maris continue
to collapse and they've lost what likeeight of the last nine games or whatever

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it is, and not even winthe division. But also keep up with
the Orioles who are going to makemoves, the Yankees who are going to
want to make moves. I don'tknow about the Guardians. The Mariners might
try to make some moves as well. So you don't even have to just
talk focus internally and on yourself.You have to keep up with the Joneses
in the American League as well.I know that's gonna be my next point
before we even talk about guys thatcould be traded. Think about this.

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I mean, you talk about divisionraces, the Yankees still sit just two
games back of Baltimore in the EastMinnesota four and a half back of the
Guardians, but still within I mean, look, you sweep them in a
series, suddenly you catch up tothem, and then there's three horse race
between the Astros, Mariners, andRangers. And as we speak right now,
yes, their asters lead to Als, Mariners one game back, but

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the Rangers they're a four game winstreak. They're only as we're recording this,
they're winning the game. They're winningto playing today so that they could
change this to a two and ahalf back of the Asteroids at the end
of today. So they're still verymuch in it. And all these trade
deadline scenarios I saw of them maybetrading Max schurz Er and stuff, I
don't think they're doing any of thatbecause they see themselves as we're the reigning

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world champs. We're gonna get ourselvesright and we're gonna make a run.
And if you look at the wildCard, even Tampa Bay, who is
back in the AL like ten gamesback in the AL East. Yes,
but they're only four and a halfback out out of a wildcard spot,
any thought of them trading a piece. I just wonder. You know that
with these extra walkcard spots, teamsmay say we're in this. And so
when I saw names like Randy orRose Arena being thrown out though or essek

(07:11):
paratus estesac paratus for the for theRays, you know, I just wonder
if that's even doable. The onething I do think, though, ross
is Garrett Crochet from the White Soxand Eric Fetti from the White Sox will
be moved. I wonder. Iguess I think it was it Jeff Pass
and he did kind of a primerfor all thirty teams. I think it's

(07:31):
gonna it's gonna take a king's ransomto get Garrett Crochet because I think he's
under control to like at least twentytwenty eight or something like that. Fetti
I think is maybe more a littlebit more realistic because I think it's one
more year of control for him.But it wouldn't be shocking to cause you're
talking about who's definitely sellers obviously.I mean the Chicago White Sox are on

(07:55):
pace for like forty five wins orsomething like that, so they're definitely,
definitely gonna be sellers. There aname out there, if you could have
any of these names being thrown outthere, you'd love to have on the
Astros. Who would you want?That's reasonable? Well, sound was gonna
say, then you go to reasonable. I mean, I don't know is
Jack Flaherty going to be attainable?Is Eric Fetti going to be attainable?
Both those guys sound good to me. I mean, they've got eras hovering

(08:16):
around three. They've got a littlebit of control. That's also something else
as far as tea leaves to readfrom the Astros organization, Dana Brown saying
I don't want to sell the farmfor a rental, so I don't think
that we are going to be seeingsome of those guys who are rentals.
So I mean we'll have to seethe Uh. Let me throw out a

(08:39):
scenario here, because I think somebodyin ESPN it might have been passing.
I had a piece up saying,you know what, rip the band off
Flat Guerrero Junior Blue Jays, you'regoing nowhere. Trade him And if you're
the Astros, if you could getVlad Guerrero to fill in in your first
base spot, who crushes bombs andhits close to three hundred, and you
would have him for another year dollarfigure, But have him for another year,

(09:03):
what would you be willing to giveup? See, that's the thing,
because it's going to cost you.Is probably gonna cost you. Melton,
who may be untouchable in the ASTROSsystem, just got in their MLB
dot Com racking their top prospect,Bryce Matthews. Is it going to cost
you him? I mean, Imean, do any of these pictures look
attractive? Arraghetty was your top pitchingprospect, and look, he's kind of
been just a guy so far,and I think he's how many starts they

(09:24):
are Getty have? Is he upto like eighteen starts or something. We're
starting to get a pretty big samplesize on him and his excuse me,
era is still still hovering around six. So I don't even know if if
the Blue Jays start fielding calls,you're not going to be able to keep
up with any number of these teamsthat were ahead of you as far as
their their farm systems and where they'reset. I think this low Berfedo and

(09:46):
Arraghetty are not going to be moved. They're up here at the big league
level. I think they're I thinkthey like both those guys. They're not
going to move either of them.Zach Dozenzo, I think is untouchable because
of the looming Bregman free agency.He just got called up to Triple I
think they see the Zenzel as thefallback plan for the future at third base,
so I think he's untouchable. Ido think after trading what their top

(10:07):
outfield prospect for Erlander last year,I think Dana Brown would like to not
give away their first round there thispast year in Bryce and Matthews, so
I kind of think they'd liked holdon him. But their best pitching prospect
is AJ blue Ball. He haspitched very well. Dana Brown has mentioned
his name many many times. IfI told you right now, Ross,
you could package the blue Jay,said, give us Jacob Melton AJ blue

(10:28):
Ball and I don't know Will Wagnerfor Vlaguerrero, would you do it?
I mean, I makes your lineupreally really strong. It makes your line
up extremely strong. You do havethe extra year of of flexibility with Vlad.
Anytime you're going to get a guyof his caliber, you do have

(10:50):
to give something up. I guessI would, just because those guys aren't
thought of. Jacob Melton has.He has popped up in top hundred lists,
but the other guys have not.And that's why I said we got
to be we gotta look at realitiesas far as I mean, yeah,
just because he's top in your systemdoesn't mean he's top in everybody else's system.
Yeah, Ultimately I think that they'regoing to be the probably not gonn

(11:11):
add a bat. I mean,I guess you can get by with John
Singleton in some platoon of whoever elsethere turned to alemis Da. I mean,
it's a dire situation at First Base. You know what I'm saying.
Yes, I mean I love youJacob Melton and whoever else you mentioned,
but I mean we're we're literally offthe bottom of the scrap heap. I

(11:31):
love you Alenasds too, but ineverything to be provided in twenty twenty two,
but no, they need somebody atfirst base. And John Singleton we
love his story and everything too,but the guy, he's just just a
guy. He's he's got a pointtwo war this year. That means he's
replacement level. And if we're talkingabout you know, some of the arms

(11:52):
out there. I'm with you.I would love to see Jack Flaherty another
name of keep an eye on cawQuantrill. I really like h he started
out there starting mess Yeah. Imean he's he's it's it's a tough,
tough you know, it's tough topitchy Colorado. And he's done an okay
job out there. So that's thename I think you could have without breaking
the bank. You know, maybeyou give up your ninth and eleventh best

(12:13):
farm system. I believe so.But I just I need any eaters at
this point, and I can't justsay, well, aj blue Ball,
your turn to come up. It'swe've done this with bloss, We've done
this with the I think we're kindof done with bringing up guys from the
farm. Let's go get some provencommodities and let's make a World Series run.
It actually looks like it'd be onemore year of control with Quantrille.
There you go. But he's alsobeen I mean it's been solid enough.

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I guess. Before we get outof here, you guys caught up with
Brian McTaggart today talking about the Astrosand the trade deadline. Here's what TAGS
had to say. That again.Brian McTaggart with you guys on the Matt
Thomas Show. As we wrap uphere, Ross, give it to me.
How many guys do the Astros acquiredbefore the deadline? One relief arm,

(13:01):
relief farm, Okay, maybe twoand then run middle. You don't
like the job like all those guys, but I think it could maybe maybe
they do feel their pat with withthe guys I mean, but Taylor Scott,
can we count on him for therest of your Maybe Brian King,
maybe he's not break. It's alot of innings for Brian to bray you
and some others who are nearing careerhighs and appearances. So that's why I
think you might want a little reliefhelp. Maybe not like you know,

(13:24):
somebody's clothes or anything like that,but a guy that you can throw in
the sixth, seventh, eighth inningssomething like that. And then I do
think number three ish starter. SoI think two deals made for the Astros.
Does you wrap up here on theAstros Crawford box cast. Reminder to
get yourself a Crawford back while you'reat the ballpark this weekend or at home
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Crawford Bok. It is a homerun every time. Pairs perfectly with Astros
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Talk to you guys next week.Post Astro's deadline, see who they added.