Aaron Judge Makes Yankees How Much Better? + Joe Espada On AL West-Leading Astros | The Show Ep. 217

John, we have somebody who's kind of in the news, right? Dana Brown, the GM of the Astros, was fired. Joe Espada, whose contract is up at the end of the year as the manager, was not. And he's got a first place team. So what's going on with Joe Espada? Yeah, I mean, it's great that you got him. We love Joe. It was the Yankee coach. He's been with the Astros for a few years. He's doing a great job. He's in first place. I'm advocating now that they keep him. I hope so. But he's, you know, a lame duck. A team in first place with an owner who expects to apparently win the World Series every year. I don't know. We'll see. But Joe's a great guest. And we hope he continues as a guest next year, no matter what. Yeah. Wasn't Joe Girardi manager of the year and fired? Maybe that's... Is it possible we have that again? I mean, with all the pitching problems. Anyway, we will ask Joe about those pitching problems. We'll ask him about Jordan Alvarez's bid for a triple crown and more. John and I will ask a bunch of questions to each other at the top and answer them. We'll play hit and error at the end. If you stick with us on the show. John, we had come up with a schtick for this A-block, as we call it in the biz, asking a couple of questions that we thought would be big picture. And then Aaron Judge came along and he's going to play on Tuesday night for the Yankees after not being in a game since May 31st after fracturing a rib. Obviously, that's a big news story in New York baseball, the Yankees, but really maybe baseball in general. And we're still going to do questions, and we might as well just begin it with a Judge question, which is the obvious one. Obviously, he's coming back. The Yankees are better. Better to what extent? Can they win the ALEs? Can they win the AL Pennant? Can they win the World Series? Because Aaron Judge is back. John, you have the floor. I'll follow you. First of all, I love that you picked four questions. I haven't done the four questions since 1977. So I appreciate that it's four questions. I don't know how many people will understand what I'm talking about. But anyway, you know, this is big news, obviously, for the Yankees, the best hitter, at least in the American League, probably in baseball. But this is like spring training for him, right? He basically hasn't played since the end of May. That's a long time. I mean, more than half the season of games that have been played, he's missed. And I give the Yankees credit. They're six games over, 500 without him, which is amazing, particularly because they didn't hit for months in that period. They pitched very well, and that's what enabled them to be six games over. But it is huge for the Yankees. I don't expect him to be as great as he normally is at the beginning. But he's got, what, close to 20 games now to get right for the playoffs. And really, that's what counts in my mind. And if he can get right for the playoffs, and he was great last year in the playoffs, and I know some people will say, well, he hasn't been very good in the playoffs overall. I think he figured it out last year. And I think this is huge for the Yankees. Yeah, John, can I offer that I think the most important thing that Aaron Judge does, he's one of the greatest hitters who's ever lived, is bat five times a day. But I do think there's two important fringe benefits that Judge brings. I think he takes the weight off of others. I do think especially Ben Rice began to feel it. And I think, you know, it's just human nature. You could say, oh, we're not trying to compensate for Judge. Of course you are. There's no Aaron Judge. You're trying desperately to score runs when you're not scoring runs. I thought it had an impact. I think when a weightlifter like him comes back, it makes it easier on everybody else to just be them. The other thing is, I think if he is going to go to, we'll see what the plan is, DH, outfield, how much outfield, how many innings in the outfield for every game. But once he goes back as a full-time right fielder, it improves their defense. The left field, right field of Bellinger and Judge is exceptional. It makes life easier for anyone in center. And the fact that the center fielder is usually going to be a rookie in Spencer Jones, I think that that helps. And John, I do think, though, that I agree with you. Hitting major league pitching if you're playing every day is tough, not doing it since May 31st. And yet the Red Sox haven't gotten the memo that they're just supposed to at least concede second place to the Yankees. So the Yankees have some business to do, even if it's not specifically catching the raise. So they really need Judge right now and they need him to be good. And they like the balance too, right? I mean, everybody's looking for right-handed bats. This is certainly the best right-handed bat in baseball. I would say that's by far right. The other guys in competition for best hitter, whether it be Soto, Alvarez, Otani, PCA at the moment, you know, they're all left-handed. So, I mean, he is the best right-handed hitter in the game. And you saw how valuable right-handed bats are. I mean, the Yankees jumped on Elliot Ramos like he was, you know, the next coming, right? So Joe Adele became a star of the trade deadline. It is huge, particularly with the Red Sox, with all that left-handed pitching. Other than Sonny Gray, they're going to throw all lefties at the Yankees. So, you know, the fact that he's right-handed, another bonus, it is certainly big. And yeah, the Red Sox are not going away. I know the Yankees have the tiebreaker, which is big, but a two-game lead is not big. So they better win the games against Colorado, and they better do okay against the Mets, who, you know, I'm down here in Miami, watched the Mets yesterday. They're 19-12 since they waved the white towel or threw in the orange and blue towel, whatever you want to say. They've been pretty good. So that's not a gimme at this moment. Yeah, and look, there's a lot of emotion this weekend because it's the 9-11 game on Friday and Subway Series. I mean, I hate to use something as trite as you could throw away the records. We know these games are played in a different way. And it's, John, thank you. You made life, setting up these questions easier. Let's do a Met question right here. I threw one out. There is, we're going to have to answer the bigger question of who's the NL rookie of the year, and a year where there's a lot of interesting NL rookies, right? JJ Weatherholt, Sal Stewart, TJ Rumpfeld. I think Didier Fuentes, even though we gave up the homer yesterday to Schwarber, has had a really, really good important year. But who's the rookie of the year on the Mets? Carson, Nolan McClain, as we think about where to put them on a ballot for the National League itself, who would you, who do you think? It's basically a dead heat, but I'm going to break that tie by saying that the Mets kind of rigged it last year. I think they purposely gave McClain one or two innings and one or two days short of, so he could be the rookie of the year. He was already basically proven. He was so proven that he was one of our pitcher, main pitchers and the deciding game pitcher of the WBC. I know it's probably not fair. We certainly count all the players who come over from overseas. We should count somebody who pitched almost as much as it would take to disqualify you. But I mean, Benj is a true rookie, you know, made the team in spring training. That arm from right field, amazing. I mean, he is an arm like McClain. You know, they probably can't spin it like McClain, but Benj has been really, really superb with a lot of pressure on him as the rookie starting with, you know, with two superstars on the team, a difficult situation. So I'm going to break a tie in my mind with the two and give that to Benj. I do, and I'll show here how old and old school I am. Maybe. I don't know. I kind of think Sal Stewart's probably the MVP with a hundred plus RBI. I'm sorry, rookie of the year. Thank you. With a hundred plus RBIs on a poor team. You know, J.J. Wetherholt has got the big lead in war, but we'll see how much the new school people are going to say, well, it's war. That shows you how good you are and that's it. And he's the guy. So I don't know. I'm with Stewart. I don't know where you are. No, I'm with Stewart. You know, look, how good can your defense be at second base? I mean, I'm old school, but like literally there's three guys who have a hundred RBIs right now. Bizarrely, it's Stewart and two guys from the Cardinals. Right. That's who has a hundred RBI. So like, they're hard to get. They're homers. It's a legitimately strong year. I think I would go with McLean and just somewhere different also. Look, one of the things I like about both McLean and Bench is neither started the season well. And I like that they both, like, if you're thinking about the Mets moving forward and as well as they've played, obviously everything is about 2027 and afterwards, hopefully we'll have some baseball in 2027. And the fact that both guys overcame poor starts says something. I think Bench might have a very interesting triple-double this year. He's got 16 homers, 21 steals and nine outfield assists. He's one outfield assist away from the 10. Obviously, it's an interesting triple-double. I like everything about his season. You know why I'm going to take McLean and I hear what you're saying that they kind of rigged the system is McLean hasn't just, I mean, you could probably make a case for McLean getting some down-ballot Cy Young votes. Most impressive, he's eighth in the National League in innings. Like the Mets haven't really pulled back on him heavily. He's got over 160 innings. He's going to qualify for the ERA title. He's seventh in ERA in the National League, seventh in strikeouts and third in batting average against. He's just been playing one of the better pitchers in the league. And it would give me a little bit on that. Let me talk about another rookie, John, with question three. It's how much do you trust Spencer Jones in center field and playing every day for the Yankees? Like if Grisham doesn't come back, I guess it's conceivable. You met and the fact that the Red Sox will throw a lot of lefties in the division series so that you're going to really put Elio Ramos in the big left field at Yankee Stadium. He's the worst defender than Dominguez and play Bellinger in center and judge and right. I wonder about that. So Jones is going to play big games, the stretch. What have you thought? And what do you know? Well, trust is a big word. I do like Spencer Jones. I like him in center as much as Grisham. Grisham, I think, has been below average this year. I don't love the way Grisham plays center. Seems like he's styling all the time. I mean, that's just me. I guess I'm showing I'm old school again. But to style, I think you better be at least above average. I do like Spencer Jones very much. Certainly going to be a lot of pressure on the kid. You know, a couple of scouts who I trust very much really were really dubious about his potential because of that unusual setup and swing that he has. And I think he is proving them wrong right now. Now, there may be more peaks and valleys. There usually are. He's going to have to probably make adjustments, do something different at different times. But he has been outstanding since Judge went out. His OPS is over 800. That's pretty good. 767 overall. That's good as well. He has outperformed Grisham to this point. So I'm good with him. I mean, trust to me is a big word. I mean, you know, there's no guarantee he's a rookie who's played two thirds of a season at this point. You know, John, first of all, I'm with you on Grisham. I have no problems if you're going to cruise and be smooth. The two greatest center fielders I ever saw are Devon White and Andrew Jones certainly were cruising and smooth. The thing is, they caught all the balls, you know, while doing that. They certainly had style. They certainly did not look hurried. But somehow they were standing underneath the ball all the time when it landed. If you're going to do it, you can't do what Trent Grisham is doing and coolly have the and go to the outfield wall and then lob it in and lose bases. So I'm there. So I feel like even though Spencer Jones hasn't played really well in the field, it's still better to me than Grisham. And really, I think that you have to take Spencer Jones returned on July 22nd. You know, he went down twice. It feels a little bit. And again, the comparison is so problematic because it's a judge. But like, you know, again, lasted till late in the round size. Yankees took him because they love the size and potential and the athleticism that came with it. And people could forget that judge had a 2016 cameo where he struck out over 40 percent of the time. I think it was 44 percent of the time. And I would say that was Jones first two times up. It's 32.6 since July 22nd. It's kind of in line with where like Kyle Schwarber is. And then like, what do you do in exchange for 32 percent strikeouts? Well, he's hit for some power. He's hit lefties. He's stolen bases. He has over an 800 OPS since he returned in July. He's gotten a bunch of big hits, a lot of them left on left hits. I think it's been impressive this time around. And I certainly if you're telling me, even if Grisham got healthy, who am I playing? I don't know there. I think I'm getting more more out of Jones. John, let's finish up the segment. We're going to do the last of the four questions. And I did get your thing about 1977. Well, I figured you'd get it. I'm just wondering if the. Well, you have to understand that I haven't asked those four questions in even longer than you. But my question is, should the playoffs be receded, you know, like like either to begin one through six or at least after the first round where it's, you know, like whatever, because it's going to be a big deal this year. Right. John, if I could just jump in. My problem this year is the one that highlights it is you could finish fourth in the AL East if the Blue Jays get in and have an easier road to the ALCS than the three teams in front of you, because the Yankee, the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox are in the same bracket. Only one of them can make it to the ALCS. It should be the Rays, if they finish with the best record, play the team with the worst record who survives that opening round. What do you think? I'll say this. They all have an easy road in the American League. Right. I mean, we're not going to change that. The biggest difference is the National League versus the American League. It's not playing the White Sox versus playing the Red Sox. You know, they're both good teams, but neither one is great. I'm not too worried about it. I kind of like the quirkiness of it. It doesn't bother me, particularly since, you know, I would say, you know, the Yankees, as things stand now, would be the second seed if you re-seeded them. And to me, you know, they're a big market. So I think we're giving a little bit extra advantage to the Whites. You know, the White Sox, I guess, are not that small market, but they are a small revenue team. And all those other teams in that Central are small revenue. And so I'm OK with it. I'm OK that, you know, the big market Blue Jays and the big market Yankees and the big market Red Sox get a little bit of a disadvantage there. It's certainly more than balanced out by the fact that they're in the American League and have the incredible break of not having to play the Dodgers, the Phillies, the Cubs, the Brewers, and the Braves, who, you know, they may have the best five teams in the National League anyway. So I'm OK with it. I get your point. I see the other side. But, you know, if there's a little disadvantage, just a couple of big market teams who are lucky enough to be in the American League, I'm going to live with that. But one of those big market teams, the Blue Jays, is going to get a real advantage because they play in the other side and they play the White Sox or the Astros in this. Like, remember, it's Red Sox versus Yankees. Winner gets a raise. Only one of those teams. I don't think the Red Sox and the Yankees have distinguished themselves that much that they are so much better. None of those teams are 600 percentage teams. None of them are going to win 100 games. They are better, you know. But the raise, again, the small market raise instead of facing one of the weaker teams has to play the Yankees. Since April, the Reds have had a bad break the whole time. They've overcome it by doing a great job. I mean, yeah, I don't think there's a small market, by the way. I don't consider Tampa small markets. I don't consider San Diego small market. Tampa is an above average market in terms of market size. They're just a very low revenue team, kind of like the White Sox. They've had the unfortunate happenstance of being in the division with the Red Sox and the Yankees. And through their, I would say, brilliance at this point, they've overcome it to this point. So they've overcome bigger problems than having to play other teams in the American League, which isn't good this year. Yeah. The Rays and the Yankees have been 1-2 with the two best records in the American League since April 22nd on every day except for May 23rd. I think they've really distinguished themselves from everybody else, and that they should be the top two seeds. But I hear you. You know, if you want to create almost the salary cap here where it's like, let's give disadvantages to the bigger market teams, fine. But I actually think the Rays- If you want to re-seed the whole thing, the top six seeds would be the Brewers, the Dodgers, the Braves. Yeah, let's just do the NCAA tournament. If you like that, that would be fairer, right? Yes, I would too. You know, the teams in the National League who are 4 and 5 are, you know, they're all better than everybody in the American League, probably. And, you know, debatably. I guess you've got to give the Rays credit. The record is fantastic. But- Is it possible the five teams in the- now the Orioles have really fallen. Is it possible the five teams in the AL East are the five best teams in the American League? Well, not by record now with the way the Orioles have fallen. Not by record. But like, would you- like if the Orioles played the White Sox- The Orioles aren't very good. I don't know. I mean, they may have the four best teams. They may have four playoff teams, which I- that has not happened, I don't think. So that's pretty amazing. But they are big market teams other than Tampa and Baltimore. The three very big, very big market teams. So it's not shocking, but it is surprising. You know, I think some of the teams in the American League are, you know, maybe better than they've performed. Seattle should have been good, right? Detroit should have been good. To me, they- I know I saw your listing of disappointing teams. I think Seattle has overtaken the Mets and they're the most disappointing team at this point. Yeah, with second- with another week of thinking about it and some second thoughts, I think you might be right. You know, that's a team that's never even made it to the World Series. A team in their division that's actually leading the division and in playoff position is the Houston Astros. Their manager, Joe Espada, joins us next on the show. We're joined today by Joe Espada, third year as the manager of the Astros. He's dealt with a lot of stuff this year. Injuries. His general manager was just recently let go at the end of August. And yet, 73-71, leading the AL West by two games. Really, three games over Texas because they've already won the season series over the Rangers. Joe Espada, thank you so much for joining us on the show. Yeah, thank you for having me, guys. Joe, I'm wondering if we could just talk about the situation a little bit. You know, the general manager whose contract is running out at the end of the year, Dana Brown, was dismissed at the end of August. Your contract is up at the end of the year. Jim Crane, the owner, came out and said, you're safe. Well, you're safe until the end of the year. You still don't have a contract beyond that. And you are, again, leading a winning team as you have the past two years and a team in first place. How does this all feel for you? You know what? I just go about it the same way I've gone the last two years. I focus on my players, on our team, on our mission, on our goal. Don't really think about my contract at the end of the year. We can take care of that at the end of the season. But right now, it's just trying to win this division. We have gone through a lot. And I'm proud of our players, man. We have stayed together. We have found ways to win games through injuries. And, you know, we find ourselves with 18 games left of the regular season in a position to win this division. So I'm really excited where we are playing meaningful games in September. That's what you want to do when you're in this job. You want to be playing meaningful games in September. You have gone through a lot, as you mentioned it. So I want to ask you, how have you and they done it? I'm shocked that you are winning that division. I think everybody was looking at Seattle. And then, you know, obviously, you guys try to win every year. You did stuff in the winter. It's kind of been mixed at best, what went on. There have been a number of injuries. How are you in first place? Yeah, well, you know, I think it goes down to the character of our team. These guys, they stay together. We have a core of veteran players who have been here for a long time. They know what winning looks like. They know what to ask from the rest of the group in that clubhouse. They lead by example. And I lean on that heavily. You know, I believe that we have a winning culture. And we have done a really nice job protecting that. How we prepare ourselves. How we take the field. Our commitment to winning. And that has really paid off. And again, we've had players who come up. I've done some contributions. And they know that once you go in there, there's only one mission. One goal is to win our division. And we find our team in that spot. And I'm just happy that we continue to push forward. And we have a pretty busy week here. We're in Philly and Tampa. So looking forward to playing good baseball here in the next couple of weeks. Joe, appreciating that John and I actually are sold. We covered George Steinbrenner when he was George Steinbrenner. We're used to things that don't look quite as weird as the George days. I've got to say from a distance that once Dana Brown is gone, you know, the owner says, yeah, I'm going to be involved in decision-making the rest of the way. Jeff Bagwell, who kind of feels like the off-camera whisperer of the team, is involved. And then three assistant GMs are involved. It feels chaotic from a thousand miles away. How is it for you? Well, it's not chaotic here in Houston. I have a good relationship with the AGMs, like you mentioned, and Jeff Bagwell and Jim. We have a processing place where it hasn't altered at all how we communicate. And my mission continues to be the same. If I need something from when it comes to a player perspective or transition or transaction, the AGMs are there to communicate and we get our work done. But it's not as chaos as it looks to you guys. I've been here for nine years, and I always find I have a really good relationship with Jim and his staff. So as you guys can see, we continue to move forward and not really concerned about things that might be perceived or anything like that, because that's not the case here in how we operate. You know, I actually admire the fact that Jim Crane tries to win every year and does spend to win and does expect to win. But expecting to win is nice. But are expectations too high when you think you're going to win a division every year? I mean, everybody else thought Seattle was going to win this division. I mean, are these expectations, are they fair? Yeah, I think they are. I think you want to go to the ballpark and want to win. If not, why are we doing this? I think that we have the team to win it. And I truly believe that Jim, every year, he puts all the resources in play for us to put a winning team on the field. And we're doing that. And we got to continue to move forward. And we have three more weeks to go to win this division. But I think the expectations have been here. That's the way it's been since I've been here. I don't know any other way. And I am not going to change the way I feel about our team and our purpose and commitment to winning. We're going to do everything in our power to do that. You know, you guys were 20 and 31 in late May. It's 11 under 500. And somebody close to this podcast, me, started wondering, should you break this hole up? I got a text message from the manager of the Houston Astros who suggested they shouldn't. That would be you. It was the second time in three years we had this conversation with each other. I didn't believe it last year. I thought you should have gone for it last year. But two years ago, when you were struggling, and this year, I kind of was like, shouldn't the Astros think, like, this has been the greatest 10-year period in the history of the Astros. Two championships, lots of playoffs, other World Series appearances, really renewed the brand, fan base, everything. But you have a whole bunch of guys coming up on free agency this year, next year, the year after. Is this the moment to regenerate and think about trading Alvarez, or Peña, or Paredes, or Walker, or Hayter? Really good, by the way, all outstanding players. And that's what I'm saying, I think that those are really good players. Those are winning players. Those are championship players. I don't want to, that's why I didn't agree with you, because we have the talent to win the division. Now, those conversations are for people in the front office and how they view and how they plan for the present and the future. But as a manager of this team, I want those players on my team. I want to continue to win, and I need that not only their talent, but their leadership to win, and that next generation of younger players that are coming up to continue to teach these guys how to win at the major leagues. So that's why I think that this window continues to be open, and as long as we continue to have the type of players that we have, I think we have a really good chance of winning. You were right, it was a good idea to disagree with Joel on that one. It almost always is, by the way. I didn't want to say that. You told me in my last question that you're used to the high expectations and you wouldn't have it any other way. But is this fair to you, to be a lame duck from our perspective, and maybe we're biased and we're not your employer, obviously. We think you've done a great job. You're a candidate for manager of the year with the job that you've done. Should you be a lame duck at this point? You know what, fellas, I love coming to work every day. That will take care of itself. I don't really honestly think about it. I really want to help these players win. I love this team. I love my players. I respect every individual that is in that clubhouse with me. We have been through a lot for nine seasons, and there is nothing more that I enjoy as being the manager of the Houston Astros. Every single day, my family, we love the city. We love our fans, and that's what drives me. That's what motivates me. So if we continue to win, I truly believe that that will be taking care of itself. My status, my contract will take care of itself. But right now, fellas, I'm just trying to win some games. That's all I care, and I owe that to my players. Yeah, you know, just on John's point, Kevin Cash, Will Venable, I'm sure Chad Tracy, the job he's done as the interim in Boston, it's all going to be decided. Who knows? Maybe people even will like Aaron Boone playing most of this year without Aaron Judge and Garrett Cole and Carlos Rodon. But you're certainly there considering the devastation of your pitching staff, you know, who you haven't had. And in the last month, really, limited offense, and yet you're still there. It just leads to one bigger question. You mentioned you love being the manager of the Houston Astros. I just want to be clear. You want to continue to do this with the Astros moving forward? And an even bigger picture, do you want to continue managing no matter what? Yes, I love what I do. I love putting the Astros uniform on. I mean, with that city, the way we've been embraced in that city, you know, my family and how much we love the connection that we have created with a city. Of course, of course, you know, we have a group of young prospects that are being developed right now in the minor leagues. And I would love to be part of that of the future. There's no doubt about it. But again, it's one day at a time. I stay, you know, I stay in the present. The president is today, you know, here in Philly and managing this team and help them win some games. But I do love my time here. And there's nothing more that I would like to do than just continue to be the manager for the Houston Astros. And I'm sure that, you know, we'll have we'll take care there at the end of the season. But again, I, you know, it's tonight all that I'm concerned about. And you should continue to be the manager of the Houston Astros. We will stop badgering you with questions about you for a second. You are Don Alvarez. I mean, what more could he do? I mean, it's been amazing, right? Yeah. No, I, you know, I, I, man, the I've had the the greatest front row seat to one of the greatest offensive seasons of of of any player. I would, you know, I've seen Hanley Ramirez have incredible seasons in Miami when I started my career. I saw Aaron Judge in 17 have that incredible season. But what you're done is doing is is it's phenomenal. Just how he uses the whole entire field, how he's a hitter above is always a hitter first and then a power hitter, how he's been able to play every single day and and put the numbers that he has put it surround himself with, you know, you know, how he shares information and how it makes everyone better. I I'm really pulling for him. I, you know, I'm not so much on the individual stats, but I'm really praying that he gets an opportunity to finish his off because it's been incredible how hard he's worked. So really, the whole entire team is behind him. And, you know, he's he's for me the best the best hitter in the American League. Yeah, you know, just to put a final point on it, you know, Triple Crown, he's hitting 314. He's leading Chandler Simpson by six points. He's tied with Junior Caminero with 38 homers, and he's tied with Pete Alonso with 95 RBIs. So he's either leading or tied in 2020. Look, I like the Triple Crown categories because you can follow them. I I don't know. Like, I get a if he steals a base, it makes a good defensive play. Can he lead in war this year? Like, we are actually tracking something. Does it still matter? Does it matter? Do you think to Jordan, the Triple Crown, does it matter to you? And should it matter to go after it? Because he's currently an MVP runner at this. Sure, sure. All those things matter. We, you know, we are trying. If you ask Jordan, Jordan, all he cares about is helping the team win, and I have respect that of Jordan. But listen, I'm the first one with Pom Pom cheering for him in that dugout to get that hit, to get the homerun. I am, you know, I'm checking the box for to see Caminero hit a homer or Bryce. You know, like I am. I am really pulling for him because this is really difficult to do. And if there's someone who can do it is Jordan Alvarez because he's got the ability to, you know, get hit and walk to keep his average up. He's got this sweet swing that he can hit the homerun. You know, he's got players to run away. Get the RBIs and he knows he just knows how to hit. But it's a very difficult accomplishment just based on how tough they're pitching him right now. I think teams are aware that he is in the race for a triple crown. You know, we playing teams right now that they're, you know, in a position to make the postseason. So there, so there's all these elements that are planning to, can he get there or not? I, I really truly believe that he's got the ability to do it. But time will tell. It's going to be fun to watch the last two weeks. Now I want to ask my final questions on two other long time Astros superstars, Altuve and Correa. Altuve looks like he's finally, I think he's a Hall of Famer, but he looks like he's slowing down a bit. What's his contribution? Still, still pretty scary in the box, I think. And, and Correa, what are we, are we going to see him at some point soon? Yeah, well, let's start with Carlos. Yeah, Carlos is in West Palm. He is going through his, through his progression. I truly believe that if there's no issues, we'll see him towards the end of the season, the regular season. I think we'll see him, but he's doing really well. We have him running the bases. He's taking BP on the field. We're going to start adding some, some sliding and trying to really test that ankle and try to put him through game, game-like situation. So he's progressing very well. When it comes to Altuve, he's still a threat. When, when game is on the line, you know, Altuve has a way to, you know, scare your opponent pitcher and, and, and make you wonder if, you know, should we pitch him around now? He's still, he's still a threat. You know, so I still have a lot of confidence in Jose Altuve that in big moments, big games, he still has a way to race up to, to, to the moment and get big hits for us. So we continue to lean on him. He's the leader of our clubhouse. You know, if he's not doing, if he's not doing on the field, he's doing it inside the clubhouse, having conversation with players. So he brings incredible value to our organization. Let's give some credit here to Correa also. When this injury struck and he needed ankle surgery in May, it was described as season ending surgery. The fact that he's coming, he's potentially in play for you coming back, probably says something about the player, the man, as well about wanting to get back on the field. And as a way to end it, can I do anything more than put you on the spot again? If, and when he comes back, I just watched you play a lot of games. You were in New York for a week and you know, after Alvarez, I mean, Paredes, when he comes to the plate, really looks hitter-ish for a word. Like, like he's, he's your third baseman. Obviously Christian Walker is your first baseman. Alvarez is your DH. Where's Carlos Correa going to, how are you going to work it? And let's make a little news today. Yeah, no, you know, and, and I'll be holding it, you know, because I really want to give Carlos time to heal and, and, you know, but going into the season, you know, I, I was very open about, you know, there, there's opportunity for these guys, you know, we're going to be towards the end of the season. Jordan has, you know, we're going to be, you know, there's Seattle. We've got, we've got some, some games at home. He'd be able to get back when we come home. There's places where Jordan can play some outfield. There is, there is, you know, some of these guys are going to need potentially DH. We, towards the end of the season, I can, I can DH somebody else and move some of these guys around and, and give them a little blow towards the end. So there's opportunity. It's a good problem to have. I just don't want to commit to anyone because I really want to give Carlos the opportunity to be healthy and come back. And then once we get there, I'll sit down with the, you know, with all the infielders and we'll, we'll come up with a, with a plan and a strategy to make sure that we all are in a position to win. And we all on the same page to accomplish our goal. Uh, Joe, look, uh, we always appreciate having you on the show. Uh, because, uh, but we understand this is a tricky time for Joe Espada considering what's going on with your contract, what happened with Dana, where your team is in the standing. So we're particularly appreciative that you took the time, uh, and offered us the insight you did, uh, joining us on the show today. Thank you so much for doing that. Appreciate you guys. Always a pleasure, man. Thanks, Joe. We, of course, thank Joe Espada for joining us on the show, John hit or error. I'm going to give a hit to the Mets. Uh, you know, I went and saw them yesterday and, uh, you know, they're looking pretty good, but I got to give them credit for putting Louise Robert on, uh, waivers, uh, and, and four teams. I hear four teams actually put in the claim for Louise Robert. Uh, I don't think they were expecting that they thought they'd give it a shot and maybe one team would do it as certainly the Orioles got him. He is a talented player to get injured. Gamble did not pay off for the Orioles, but we know the Padres did and two other teams that are in contention, uh, tried for Louise Robert. So that was a good move by the Mets that saved them the 5 million bucks plus the, uh, tax, which is 110% this year, presumably will be 110% or more next year. We'll see what the CBA comes to at this point next year, but they have to pay, uh, it was, uh, it is a $2 million buyout as well. So, uh, good job by the Mets to, uh, unload, uh, Louise Robert. And they've done a lot of things, right? I mean, to be 19 and 12, since you traded your whole, basically your whole bullpen and other pieces, including Tyrone Taylor, who's been the third best player on a great Cubs team. Uh, they've done well. They really have done well in the second half. I know people are going to look at this as a very negative season and I agree, I get it, but it's been a good second half. Yeah. What Louise Robert is best at doing is not playing baseball. Uh, the, uh, I'm going to give a, I'm going to give an error, uh, to, uh, let's see if I can make this, I'll get in trouble for this, but who gives a crap? Uh, to everyone who ever hits at me, paywall question mark, like why should I pay for you? I'm doing this because Mike Puma, our friend and colleague who covers the Mets put up a picture yesterday of you and him at the ballpark in Miami and wrote post reporters to everyone else. Unfortunately. And I think I'm not happy that it was to nothing, even though it was to nothing for us, for our paper, it's a terrible time. Obviously part of this reflects that the Mets are non contenders in September, but it means that no other institution in New York sent a reporter to Miami. So when somebody does the, why should I pay for this paywall, go screw yourself or whatever. The Gutenberg press came along in 1450. So from 1450 to 30 years ago, if you wanted news, you paid for it. You bought a newspaper and you supported the ability to be able to send people out and do original reporting, unbiased, original reporting from all these things. The New York post still does this to the point where we had two people on a, if you're a fan, we had two people on a losing team yesterday in Miami, John, who's one of the best baseball writers there's ever been. And Mike who's one of the best beat reporters that we have working in this country right now to the veteran people who are being paid as veteran people. That's what the post still believes. So if you want original reporting, you want original insight from talented veteran people, then if not the post, other institutions, that's why the paywall, because you should pay for it. And for 500 freaking years, you did pay for it. And the only reason you stopped paying for it is idiots in my business decided to put the stuff up online free and give it to you. And we taught a couple of generations of people that they should get this for free. You can't walk into a deli, get a sandwich and walk out. You got to pay for the freaking sandwich. So you got to pay for the freaking sandwich of journalism. Thankfully, we still have people like John and Mike who travel and are willing to do the hard work. If you want that to continue, you want hard questions asked of the teams that are covered and insight, then pay for it. Here, here, excellent point. Very good. I appreciate that. Thank you for the kind words. Yeah, I'll add a hit for the post for having two people there. And right, right. I mean, it's it's not like we were there for free, right? Mike's in a hotel. I mean, obviously, I'm not in a hotel, but there's travel expenses. You know, it's not free, right? They expect a business to take a loss to, you know, it's it's a business. So good for the post that we and every other business decided. Yeah, business. Yeah, we say the paper of Long Island and Queens not there. And they look pretty good. I would say Newsday and The Athletic do good jobs covering the team. You know, they're normally very, very good about covering the team, but they just get quit on the team. You know, I mean, the team is an aggregator and you aggregate a prick who just steal John and Mike stuff. Remember, you need two people there. So you aggregators could barnacle the hell out of your life. Well, very good. I'm with you 100 percent. All right. My rant is over. My compliments begin now. It starts with Tommy Hogan, our great producer, Apple, Spotify, wherever you listen to the podcast. Please rate and review us. I wonder what the rate review will be after that. The New York Post YouTube sports page. Please give us a view and continue to stick with us on the show with Joel Sherman and John Amos.