The heartbeat of Houston and what happened to the Astros?

When the Astros come to Baltimore we always reach to longtime Houston sports voice Matt Thomas of Sportstalk790 to update us on the once-mighty (and trashcan banging) franchise to get us current. And in the land of the Rockets playoff misery and aftermath of the Texans draft to rebuild C.J. Stroud’s offense, the current last-place and unfamiliar misery has settled into the Astros reality this spring for Houston sports fans.

Nestor Aparicio and Matt Thomas discussed the current state of Houston sports, focusing on the Astros’ struggles due to injuries and underperformance, with key players like Kyle Tucker and Carlos Correa no longer with the team. They compared the Astros’ payroll strategy to the Orioles, noting the Astros’ reluctance to offer long-term, high-value contracts. Matt highlighted the Texans’ recent draft picks and the challenges of managing a high-salary cap with players like CJ Stroud and Dani Hunter. They also touched on the Rockets’ playoff exit and the upcoming World Cup in Houston, which is driving local infrastructure developments.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Pizza John’s on Friday and bring the Maryland Treasures treasure collection (all four items) to give away to attendees.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Planet Fitness on the 7th.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Fay Lee’s downtown on the 13th.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Fishmonger’s Daughter on the 21st.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Find an excuse to visit Houston, potentially around the World Cup matches, for a future trip.
• [ ] Travel to Los Angeles tomorrow to cover Game 5 of the Rockets–Lakers series.

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, mentioning past events at Koco’s, Fay Lee’s, and Pizza John’s.
• Upcoming events include a visit to Planet Fitness on the 7th, Fay Lee’s on the 13th, and the Fishmonger’s Daughter on the 21st.
• Nestor mentions sponsors GBMC, Farnan and Dermer, and the Maryland Lottery.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the current state of Orioles baseball, including the rotation, hitting, and fielding.

State of the Houston Astros

• Nestor Aparicio checks in with Matt Thomas about the current state of the Houston Astros.
• Matt Thomas discusses the Astros’ recent struggles, including injuries and underperformance of key players.
• Matt mentions the Astros’ history of consistent playoff appearances and their current downturn.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the Astros’ spending habits, with Matt noting that the Astros avoid mega deals and focus on shorter contracts.

Player Departures and Ownership Decisions

• Matt Thomas talks about the segment “Missing You” on his show, highlighting former Astros players who are not performing well elsewhere.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the impact of player departures and the Astros’ strategy of not overpaying long-term contracts.
• Matt mentions specific players like Josh Hader, Justin Verlander, and Hunter Brown, and the challenges of long-term deals.
• Nestor compares the Astros’ approach to the Orioles’ new ownership and their spending on players like Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins.

Comparing the Orioles and Astros

• Nestor and Matt discuss the similarities and differences between the Orioles and Astros, including the impact of former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow.
• Matt praises Mike Elias’s work in building the Orioles’ farm system but notes the challenges of competing with larger market teams.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the broader implications of the Astros’ approach and its impact on the Orioles.
• Nestor mentions the challenges of the current Orioles season, including injuries and underperformance.

Houston Sports Teams: Rockets and Texans

• Nestor and Matt discuss the current state of the Houston Rockets, including their recent playoff exit and the challenges of the Western Conference.
• Matt talks about the Texans’ recent draft and the potential of players like CJ Stroud and David Montgomery.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the Texans’ history of playoff appearances and the challenges of building a competitive team.
• Matt mentions the impact of ownership and management on the Texans’ success, including the role of GM Nick Caserio.

Future of the Astros and Orioles Management

• Nestor and Matt discuss the potential changes in Astros management, including the lame-duck status of manager Dusty Baker and GM Dana Brown.
• Matt notes the pressure on the Astros to perform well this season to avoid significant changes.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the challenges of managing a team with a limited payroll and the impact of injuries on the Astros’ performance.
• Matt mentions specific mistakes in player acquisitions and the challenges of building a competitive team with a limited budget.

Impact of Player Salaries on Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Matt discuss the impact of high player salaries on team dynamics, including the challenges of managing a team with multiple high-paid players.
• Matt mentions the pressure on the Astros to perform well to justify high salaries for players like Dani Hunter and Will Anderson.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the challenges of managing a team with a limited payroll and the impact of player salaries on team performance.
• Matt mentions the potential for a quarterback salary cap in the NFL to address the challenges of managing high-paid quarterbacks.

NFL Draft and Team Building

• Nestor and Matt discuss the recent NFL draft and the challenges of team building in the NFL.
• Matt mentions the Texans’ strategy of focusing on specific positions and the potential impact of new players like David Montgomery and CJ Stroud.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the challenges of building a competitive team in the NFL, including the impact of player salaries and team management.
• Matt mentions the importance of finding complementary players and maintaining a strong defense to build a competitive team.

World Cup and Soccer in Houston

• Nestor and Matt discuss the upcoming World Cup and its impact on Houston, including the construction of new hotels and facilities.
• Matt mentions the excitement around the World Cup and the potential for transforming Houston into a soccer hub.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the challenges of hosting the World Cup and the impact on local communities and infrastructure.
• Matt mentions the potential for increased tourism and economic benefits from hosting the World Cup in Houston.

Final Thoughts on Sports and Baltimore

• Nestor and Matt discuss the broader implications of sports management and team performance in Baltimore and Houston.
• Nestor mentions the challenges of managing a team with a limited payroll and the impact of player salaries on team performance.
• Matt discusses the importance of smart management and strategic planning in building a competitive team.
• Nestor and Matt express their excitement for the upcoming sports season and the potential for positive changes in their respective teams.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Astros, Orioles, Houston, Baltimore, injuries, payroll, farm system, Jeff Luhnow, Mike Elias, Texans, CJ Stroud, Lamar Jackson, World Cup, sports radio, baseball.

SPEAKERS

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Matt Thomas, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive, positively. Get the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road this week. We had so much fun at Koco’s last week and cost us the week before that, fadeleys. Before that, we’re going to be at Pizza John’s on Friday, which means french fries and gravy for me. Also means a Hawaiian pizza with proper pepperoni on there. I will have the Maryland treasures treasure collection, all four of these to give away pizza John’s. We’re also going to be at the Planet Fitness next week on the seventh. We’re going to be at Fay Lee’s downtown on the 13th, and then out at the fishmonger’s daughter on the 21st also brought to you by GBMC and Farnan and Dermer. They are the comfort guys. No one is comfortable with Oriole baseball right now, not the rotation, not the way they’re hitting the ball, and certainly not the way they’re throwing the ball around. The Houston Astros are Next up on the dance card, and it gives me a chance to sort of check in with some of my Houston mafia. I got to catch up with with John McClane, and I’m like, I wonder how Matt Thomas is doing. I mean, the rockets in peril right now. Texans drafting, you’ve done sports radio there at 790, 4 million years, but are certainly on rockets duty. But the Astros used to be like a big deal in Houston. I don’t Is it teetering a little bit right now?

Matt Thomas  01:13

Matt, well, we were all trying to figure out when the downturn was going to happen, and it obviously didn’t have it happened a little bit. Last year, they retired for the last wild card spot and did not make it because they lost the season series Detroit, you know, but before that, it was one playoff appearance after the other. It was a dynamic baseball town. It’s still a really good baseball town. You just can’t take one subpar start and all of a sudden ruin it. But the reality is this team has been beset by injuries. It’s had a terrible run in terms of acquisitions. They’re key. Some of the key stars on team are hurt, and they’re underperforming right now. There’s no question about it. So this is going back the first time, probably since 2014 since the city of Houston has not watched a competitive baseball team

Nestor Aparicio  01:58

so far. Are you a critic of them not spending money, big money, on players, because we’re at that. Listen, there’s going to be a strike next year or lockout labor, all of that. We have new ownership here. They spent all this money in Alonso. They went in on besayo, they’re in on Shane, Boz, they’ve signed the guys. They can sign gunner Henderson might not be signable. Correa, some of those guys might not have been signable to a still there, right? But some of the pictures they didn’t get in on in Houston or ways that you could look back and maybe the folks in Kansas City could say the same thing and say, what if this, had we done that or not done that? We had Chris Davis here, right? So I would just say, you’ve hold it together longer than other little empires and other places that haven’t spent $300 million a year have.

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Matt Thomas  02:47

Well, the reality is, the Astros are not cheap. They’re just not going to go to the mega deals. They’re not going to give Kyle Tucker eight years. They’re not going to give Carl’s career many years ago, 10 years. They’re not going to give Garrett Cole the crazy money that he wanted to to the Yankees. Bregman, I could go on and on and on. And every Monday, on my show at 130 I do a segment called Missing You, where we talk about five players that are no longer with the Astros. Nobody’s really crushing it from her. Valdez is pretty good with Detroit. You know, bregman’s been just okay in Chicago. Kyle Tucker has been just okay in Los Angeles. I don’t even count. Hey, Sue Sanchez with the Toronto Blue Jays. It was just a but no he, he being Jim crane, the owner, spends four or five year deals, paying some fair market value, but he ain’t going six. He sure as hell ain’t going seven, and don’t even bring up eight or nine. And that’s the reality that, well, none of those

Nestor Aparicio  03:39

deals are any good in the end anyway, right?

Matt Thomas  03:41

But it’s hard to continue to see players leave left and right. Because of that, they did pay Josh had a couple of years ago, big time money to be the closer they have brought back Justin Verlander, not once, but twice. I think they would like to keep Hunter Brown, their number one starter on a long term deal, but long again, what Hunter wants and Scott Boris’s agent want is different than what Jim Crane’s willing to pay now, they did get tatsui Imai, a Japanese player that was a Scott Morris client, signed into a three year deal with two options. So they’re just they’re not going to try to get into a bidding war. So I think some fans get bent about that, but the reality is, when I do my missing a segment every Monday, there ain’t anybody going, Oh my god. Would this team be so much better if those those five guys were

Nestor Aparicio  04:25

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on the baseball team? Well, we had Machado here, right? So things would have been a little different around here. But, I mean, our ownership was such garbage forever. These new guys are in. They don’t really know what they’re doing. I mean, they really don’t. The stadium still empty. The woman running the team doesn’t have any they got no feel for any of this, and they’re betting on the All Star game. But I think the fan base was betting on Elias and Joe espada came. You know he was next up when they hired Brandon Hyde. Now Hyde’s been fired a year. They’ve got Albernaz here from that vote, Cleveland, Tampa. Tree, you. To some degree, but I’m looking around. We are your tree, right? We are the Houston tree and the Elias and sigma del and all of that. Do you still sense that the Orioles are the little Astro world engine that could, that didn’t, that hasn’t, because we’re getting to the point where under 500 things aren’t going well right now in a lot of ways for the franchise, including getting holiday on the field and one one rushman, all of this injuries, big problem here. But if it fails, this might be the end of Astro world for the Orioles that the experiment here maybe didn’t work the same way it did in Houston. I hate

Matt Thomas  05:39

to say this, we don’t spend a lot of time looking at the Baltimore Orioles organization, although Mike Elias was part of the Jeff Leno tree. That’s not an astro tree, that’s a Jeff lunault tree. Sigma Giant was a luno guy. So with Jeff being gone for as long as he has, because he was fired because of the cheating scandal, there isn’t much communication. There isn’t a lot of buzz about where are the luno disciples. I like Mike Elias a lot. I would say we’re friends, but I would see him four or five times a year in the clubhouse or in the press area. And I thought it was a magnificent hire, as long as you build a farm system, which Mike was very good for, and then you spent money reasonable, did not overpay, you had what I thought was a good fan base you could sell. You had your you had your TV network, which at the time was okay, but now all those regional TV networks are going away. Now the reality is, you got to be really, really smart. You got to be really, really good with your modeling system. And I can say this about the orals, like I said, it’s about 20 other teams. You’re damn well you’re gonna outspend the Yankees or the Mets or the Dodgers. So if you go to the Astro way, which was what this team did to become a eight or nine year success. It’s a pretty good system to have, but it’s definitely not what I thought it would be, and it certainly has been a different change of things since Jeff Leno was unfortunately let go several years ago.

Nestor Aparicio  06:53

Well, I mean, we were all following the Astro way, the luno way, until the trash can banging and all of that that I can lean into for stick, but I won’t, because it was a while ago. But either way, it does feel like Elias has to be next up as ownership looks at this and says, what’s gone wrong? Where are we spending the money and the whole sport? And Matt, this is probably the weirdest part, because you’re very associated with the rockets and have been for a long time, and the NBA, where the players sort of run the show in that league. I’ve come from a hockey background where I’ve talked a lot of hockey and covered it and went through the cold year where they shut the sport down to get control of it. Baseball’s going to try to break the union again. And in football, we just had this draft this weekend that turns into this, this complete QVC flea market for stuff for three days. But out of it, there’s no fan that says Texans or ravens or anywhere that says we can’t afford this, or that team’s going to spend more money, or we’re going to have to lose our best players, even though we lost our center and Tyler Linder bomb, but there’s no thought that we were going to lose Lamar Jackson or the CJ Stroud turns into Tom Brady, that somehow the Texans can’t afford that player. Baseball really becomes this arc. We have to speak about it in both of our cities. And you have a huge city and a huge market, a lot of people there, a lot more people that could give money to the Astros and three other sports. But like, I don’t know what baseball’s plan is, and you and I being guys that have talked about this a long time, it is very odd in the modern era that we have to talk about always losing our best players and Scott Boris because we’re singing the same song, except you had a couple of parades, cheating or not, we have been in the World Series in 43 years. Here. It’s a whole different song when the ravens are on the other side of the parking lot with Lamar Jackson.

Matt Thomas  08:45

It was so weird. I was watching the Boston, Baltimore game, ironically enough, Joey Alex Cora’s last game, when the Red Sox destroyed the Orioles. And there’s Cal in the crowd. And Matt grew up watching Cal, and he’s aging, and like all of us age, and he was just sitting back, and I’m thinking, damn, the Orioles have not been relevant since he was patrolling third base. It’s been that long. I mean, I know there’s maybe a couple other stints in between then, but when I think of the heyday of Orioles baseball, even with the ballpark change, I still think of Cal Ripken. And so I what I think about from the outside of the Orioles is you had what, two 100 yard, 100 win seasons, or at least two wild cards, whatever it was, and you bounce out of the playoffs. The first time around that, to me, was and hides the firing. I thought was kind of split second and not thought of very properly. You gotta, you gotta stay patient the course, especially if you’re not gonna go with the Dodgers do and spend huge money on Kyle Tucker and the Shohei otanis. And say, hey, we’ll pay a million dollars this year, and we’ll pay you $80 million in 2056

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Nestor Aparicio  09:45

what’s the temperature in Houston on all of this? I mean, I know the rockets have been disappointing here this week, and that’s near and dear for you, certainly the Texans. And I’m an old oiler fan, and it’s so hideous that they’re putting on the oiler jerseys. It really cheapens the whole thing. For me. I’m. Or for a lot of people in Houston who call you, it’s like that, but the Texans, to me, D’Amico rhymes like I’m I’m, I’m buying what they’re selling. And they’ve gone farther than the ravens, ever further further, further. My English teacher Miss miles will get on me about that one way or another, but either way, they’ve been the better franchise lately, and they feel like they’re building into something, and if they can protect him a little bit, and if they got some help in the draft over the weekend to do that, the Texans are going to be more trouble than, let’s say the Steelers, Bengals or browns are for the ravens to get to us. What year

Matt Thomas  10:33

are we talking about? What year are we in? Are we in 2026 we are someone I checked. All the Texans do is go the divisional playoffs and lose every single year. This franchise is about to celebrate 25 years of existence. Not one AFC Championship Game now we have stars, Neil Hunter and will Anderson are your best ends. You’ll find maybe in the NFL that aren’t talked about. Will Anderson got a big fat paycheck. Uh, CJ stroud’s waiting for that check. He had his fifth year option, but he ain’t gonna get it this year. It’s gonna be hard for the Texans to put that kind of crazy money behind the quarterback. But did you know you kind of have to do that, unless you want to start from scratch. As far as the Texans landscape is concerned, still a football community. Love it’s every Sunday. It’s full of 72,000 people, and they have been in. The fans have been extraordinarily patient. The ownership has as well. Nick cassario, the general manager, didn’t have to go to the draft to find any one particular position. So it was really best man up, whatever you want, if you want to believe him on that. But it’s about CJ. It’s about David Montgomery, the offseason move from the trade from the Detroit Lions. It’s about finding a complimentary number two opposite, Nico Collins. And it’s just hoping to maintain this, what I think was Super Bowl caliber defense. The defense was ready to play on Super Sunday. The offense is ready to play in the UFL.

Nestor Aparicio  11:48

Well, you know, for me with the ravens, got our coach fired first time in 18 years. We’ve got all of that going on. Still don’t have a center. So we’re still talking football, even though we’d love to be talking Oriole baseball. Matt Thomas is here. He’s done sports radio down in Houston for a long, long time. Give us a little look at the Astros as the Orioles take them on. And I guess everybody there’s in peril too. Espada, man, I mean, if this year turned into that for the Astros like it, it’s on the wrong track for both of these franchises right now, I would say, well, the Astros,

Matt Thomas  12:23

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Joe spotter, the manager and Dana Brown the general manager, on lame duck contracts. So if you go off the past history, the previous General General Manager, that was Dana Brown, and before that, won the World Series and got let go. So there is not much allegiance. It’s win right now and win the right way, and the win with the payroll I’m going to give you, or I’ll find somebody else that’ll do that. Dana Brown was brought here as a quote, unquote Scout, town evaluator. Never really negotiated contracts, whether he was with Atlanta or Toronto. First time General Manager, so maybe the owner said, hey, I’ll let you know you can do your thing, and I want to still get involved. I think, I think I think Jim is very hands on. I think he was intimate in the Verlander moving twice. I think he was intimate in Josh hater. I think he gets involved in contracts, whether that’s good or bad. I mean, really, the buck stops with the owner, no matter what team it’s with. It depends on how much. But there have been some moves that did not work out. Well, we signed Jose abrade or three year contract when we had no general manager that was a disaster. Signed Rafael Montero to a three year contract after having one good season as a mineral reliever, and the Astros got buried by that. And the number one thing that probably hurts Dana, two things. One, he was known as a talent, by the way, let’s build the farm system up. Farm system Nestor is probably 2728 29 to 30, depending on baseball America or ESPN or baseball prospectus. And secondly, we added all this depth to the pitching group. And we’re talking about cow a tang starting tomorrow, and game, the series opener against the Orioles minimum labor, where we’ve been decimated by injuries for the second consecutive year. People were worried about the medical system. They changed the trainers out from last year. It hasn’t made any difference. And so yeah, when you have had nine or 10 years of superlative, awesome postseason talk baseball to sitting here at the worst record in the American League West, people were kind of jumpy, and I think Jim crane probably feels that pressure, so lame duck is not a great way to go, but I wouldn’t be surprised if both go. I wouldn’t be surprised if one stays, and I wouldn’t be totally shocked at both state. I will say this, if they don’t win, at least a wild card spot, I would expect wholesale changes, both on the field in the front office.

Nestor Aparicio  14:33

Yeah, and I wouldn’t have, you know, put that forward, because it felt like an engine that wasn’t going to shut down at any point. It felt like it was going to be ongoing. And certainly the Ravens feel that way after an eight, nine season too. That, you know, once that settles in that you don’t make the playoffs for a year or two or three, it becomes easier to say, Oh, well, the Texans are this year’s flavor. But, you know, you got three chance. We only have two around here if the Orioles go in the tank. We got to sit here and wait till. September for Lamar to do something. Matt Tom, is there anything you want to say about the rockets in the NBA, just in general, about playoff time? Because it’s a hard championship to win the NBA championship. It is hard. The West

Matt Thomas  15:13

is filthy. The West has been better for about 25 or 30 years. Unfortunately, Nestor, you your local NBA team is horrendous and has been that way forever. So I’m sure your great audience just tunes out to basketball because you had nothing really to rally about. You know, Kevin Durant has been magnificent. He’s been hurt in this playoff series. We won a game last night without him play game number five of the series in Los Angeles on Wednesday. I’ll be leaving tomorrow for that. We should have won Game Number three, and we had a six point lead with 25 seconds left, and couldn’t hold on to that. It’s been frustrating. And you know, there was the burner count stuff, and there’s the what is, is Kevin Durant a leader on the floor? Is he a leader by scoring? I’ve had nothing but a great relationship with Him. Not that I have much of one, but he’s been very pleasant. I love the scoring that he brings. He wakes up Nestor scoring 25 points a game. He just does. Albert and shingoon is a solid number two. Amanda Thompson’s number three. And the frustrating thing about it all is you’re taking on a Laker team that Luke is not playing the series for sure. Austin Reeves, the second leading scorer, may may play in the game five on Wednesday, but he hasn’t played in the first four, and you let guys like Luke canard, Rui, achimura, Marcus, smart beach up and that’s been very aggravating for rocket fans here in Houston. Well, tis

Nestor Aparicio  16:27

the season for NBA playoff drama and NHL drama. Hey, we got our own thing here with the Preakness derby. This week, Preakness got moved down the Laurel. Only 5000 people going. So we got local drama here, above and beyond the baseball team, but it’s always great to spend time with you and visit I miss my trips down to Houston. Eat my face off with my cousin down there, get some good Tex Mex, but I will find an excuse. Is World Cup playing Houston, did you guys? But I know they’re

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16:54

being here. They’re here, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  16:56

Why? I wonder how it’s going to transform some of these towns in this country, and because it’s blink in five weeks, we’re here. We’re playing soccer games in Houston. So hotels cannot pop up

Matt Thomas  17:06

fast enough. Put it that way, that’s what we’re hearing. They have a new 17 story downtown hotel going up within this week. So it was built exclusively for the for the World Cup. When it came to Houston, I looked

Nestor Aparicio  17:17

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Philly’s got games, right? And they’re $850 to see like Ivory Coast play Ecuador. So nobody got in that game match. Excuse me, um, the one in the blue jersey. I don’t know. I’m making that up, and I’m sneezing anyway, but, and I’m not sneezing at the World Cup. I love the World Cup. I just politically what this has become. It’s a circus at this

Matt Thomas  17:38

point, really. All right, I’m gonna throw something. You’ve wrapped things up. Yes, if I was to listen to your shows and why, and talk to your fans how they feel about all that money that Lamar Jackson’s paying, because there’s a lot of people wigging out here about CJ Stroud. His time is coming next year.

Nestor Aparicio  17:53

It’s fascinating. Well, I mean, one of them’s a three time MVP, right? Like, I mean, Lamar got sort of robbed, not robbed. I mean, Josh Allen played well, but Lamar could have been a three he is a two time MVP. Could have been a three time MVP. I think there’s a different level of productivity as well. As you mentioned, the rockets taking an early nap in the playoffs. Same thing with the Texans. This Lamar group, the whole group, Marlon, Humphrey, Ronnie, Stanley, roquan Smith, just put them all together. They have not zay flowers. They’ve not won these kinds of games in January. And until that happens with Lamar, doesn’t feel like bad money. It just feels like he’s going to be less utilized as a running quarterback. He’s now 29 I mean, he’s not a kid anymore. They brought Derek Henry in. They’re trying to fortify the O line. They don’t want to see him running in the linebackers 1214, times a game, the way Harbaugh was doing five years ago. And all that being said, he’s got to be successful in the passing game, and they have to figure this out with a 29 year old offensive coordinator in Declan Doyle. So they’ve made massive changes here. After 18 years of Camp har ball, I’m fascinated to see the changes, because we haven’t seen that here generationally, and see what kind of players are going to put on the field with Jesse Minter. So there’s a lot of change here, and I think that makes it, from the sports media perspective, a lot of questions, and we won’t get answers till they hit the field September 13,

Matt Thomas  19:21

you know? Yeah, the reality is this, your argument about Lamar getting to the Super Sunday is the same argument they’re having in Buffalo, to a lesser extent, with in Cincinnati right now, because they’ve already gone once, but you’re about to put $60 million in the piggy bank of CJ Stroud next season, if he has any kind of decent season. So I think the pressure will be on there, and that’s why. And I’m sure you agree with me on this. You if you can strike it rich while you get good by a rookie quarterback like what Joe Boro was in Cincinnati, you are blessed. But once you start putting that big money, think about this. Danil Hunter is making crazy money. Will Anderson’s making crazy money. Nico Collins, very good receiving money, although he’s probably due for. Another raise, and then you’re going to be in the CJ strong $60 million Club. That’s intense pressure for four or five guys basically taking up 40%

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Nestor Aparicio  20:07

of your payroll. Oh, there’s no question about it. And we saw that when Flacco, after the Ravens won, Flacco had a salary cap issue, and they’re like, why don’t we have wide receivers? Well, if you miss in the draft, and that’s what’s make the draft this weekend so pivotal for every team to find three or four players they’re gonna get on the field, because the Ravens have bigger needs than they’ve had when they were a 12, 1314, win outfit, and as the quarterback ages next year, Lamar is gonna be a $75 million cap number. And nobody’s really sure that there’s Kumbaya, but I tell you this, you don’t want to live life without him. You don’t want to play with, you know, Snoop Huntley, you know, you don’t want to play with the backup. So like Malik Willis is

Matt Thomas  20:48

getting crazy money. I mean, my gosh, what has he done, except maybe have a game and a half that you’d put on a resume? I I’m stunned at the quarterback discrepancy. That’s why I think, at the end of the day, I gotta go on this, I think we’re gonna get a quarterback salary cap. I really do. You’re just seeing these teams go nuts. So with overpaying of quarterbacks now, Malik isn’t in that category, but there’s going to be 10 or 15 teams. I mean, how much Dak Prescott’s contract hampered the Dallas Cowboys attempt to fill the defense. It just has.

Nestor Aparicio  21:18

Well, it made their best player a packer, for sure, Matt. Matt Thomas is here. He covers sports in the Houston area better than anybody. Make sure you’re following him out there at 790 as well. And all things rockets, red glare. And, yeah, you mentioned the basketball team in Washington around here. I think you’re the only one that’s mentioned in a long time, other than my buddy Dave Johnson, whom I love, yeah, but it is. It’s slim pickings for the leonsis family right now in the nation’s capital. Matt, thanks for the time, as always, great to visit with you. All right. Call anytime. My friend. All right, man, get down. The original nymphas for me. Get down guacamole. Perfect margarita. I am Nestor. Speaking of perfect, that things would be perfect at Pizza John’s on Friday, we’re doing the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. GBMC, lottery, GBMC and Farnan and Dermer. Luke’s got you in the loop for any breaking news the Orioles ups and downs, trying to get Jackson holiday back. Some other guys, all that brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy. We are wnst am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. You.