The Astros' Yusei Kikuchi trade is looking A LOT better

and he hits this ball hard out to right center field that's trouble it's gone well he just lined one out of here 22nd of the year for Alvarez and he makes it two nothing Houston Goodness Me Goodness Me indeed because the Houston Astros for the eighth straight year possess the coveted Silva boots they get it with a win over the South Oklahoma Arlington Rangers yesterday six to3 the final score I believe six to four whatever they had a five nothing lead at one point they hold on for the Victory and everything is right in the world once again Joe George yeah as long as you know silver boot stays home that's what matters right now yordon Alvarez goodness me what a way to end a call just he's so sad such a sad man I I feel bad about this because I believe that Dave Raymond lived here in Houston for a while calling Astros games but over the last couple of years when I discovered that my fubo TV subscription includes the calls of Texas Rangers broadcast there is a very very small part of my brain that that lives to hear Dave Raymond be miserable when the Astros do something to the Rangers so I guess something if like bases are loaded are you're you're flipping over so you can hear the sadness if the game gets out of hand no offense to Todd Callas Syracuse guy Jeff Blum close personal friend Julia Morales we've interacted before I flip it over to watch the Rangers broadcast cuz it tends to get a little bit whiny yeah it's very it's very sad boy yeah it's not soft boy it's just it's just sad boy goodness me I I I think we we should start using goodness me more often just start working that into the show Deal smal regularly yeah just I'll give a bad take and you just go Goodness Me Goodness Me is a very white way to say oh my yes it's a very very white way to say it but hey you know what they won the game M year yordan Alvarez two games in a row with the home run thing was a line drive right out the Park yeah I didn't think that was going to leave it that was a laser and that's the deepest part of the ballpark the low trajectory with which alare has hit that bad boy truly impressive to make it leave the yard so the Astros are now back in first place by more than just percentage points now by a full half game which doesn't make any sense but it's more than 0.1 so now we take a look at what happened yesterday and once again it was us Kikuchi with a almost quality start not quite six Innings eight punch outs or as Joe esot calls them punchies along the way here he is wrapping up a strike out of the side in the fourth inning got him Ki with another fist pump after an inning ending strikeout Simeon struck out to end the third and now Kikuchi with three more strikeouts in the fourth no one liked the US Kikuchi trade when it first happened giving up three prospects for a rental was our biggest issue people fell in love with Joey L peredo it was a Summer Fling the first couple of months of his major league career Jake Bloss I mean he only was drafted last year maybe he has potential past what we saw from him at the major league level if he's already pitching less than a year into his professional career and then you got rid of will Wagner to be honest no one really cared about that one sorry will we in the moment I would say collectively people who follow the Houston Astros freaked out about 16 to 24 hours later I think we were all a little bit more measured for the most part and now we're seeing Joe people start to change their tune whether it's Ben Verlander who had a strong reaction to the trade in the moment and is a national baseball analyst maybe not a great sign for baseball analysis that the little brother of a good major leager is a great major leager a Hall of Fame major leager one of the best pictures of his era is a go-to source of analysis some are doing Victory laps I I saw our friend uh Charlie pillo for the sports map which is in our building essentially saying that Joey lero is not Joe dagio yes in as many words all of a sudden are we all okay with the USA Kikuchi trade which for now is a rental I think you have to be you you have to be more okay with it you don't have to be fully on board still you can have your reservations about trading the prospects but still at the same time be very very happy with the results that you've gotten cuz it's still just two starts you know if we just assumed everything was the way it was after two starts then Ronald Blanco would have won the sa young this year um Hunter Brown would have been cut last year at at some point like things can go good and bad but this trade has worked out really well for you so far you say Kikuchi has been awesome the way that they've changed his delivery not not his delivery but what his pitch usage has clearly helped him tremendously and and the reason you know it's there's nothing wrong with flipping on it when everyone like you said had the had the negative reaction any moment everyone was mad you looked at the athletic or espn.com every single trade deadline grade reaction was C minus D just a normal C for this trade it was not well received across locally nationally anywhere there there were a few measured people I'll give credit to Todd the show on our twitch but for the most part the reaction range from what the hell huh all that for a rental with an erra close to five to what are they doing Dana brown socks fire him it was that kind of range and I mean through two starts no quality starts yet but he's getting close to Six Innings which is much more Than Jake Voss was giving you and he's also along the way giving you 19 strikeouts and he's been really impressive like it's not even just the strikeouts he's just finding a way to just get outs in in a in a bunch of different manners whether it's and the strikeouts is obviously led the way for him it just he looks like a different player and and part of it is is like I I always reference back to what they shoved on our throat for two years which is back of the baseball card it wasn't just the high erra that he had in 2024 it's what he's done for most of his career he's a four to five plus erra guy his only season so far where he's at set of below four erra is in 2023 for entire season trading for a guy like that when you when you're pitching staff is struggling is not going to come with like a parade of happiness for your organization there's always going to be a sense of pessimism when you trade for a guy who's consistently below average and that's what he has been in his career in two starts here maybe Miller Murphy and the analytics Department like really fixed this guy I we'll see it you hope Miller Murphy first names for everybody uh Josh Murphy and I don't know okay got sorry what they're both the the two pitching coaches this is something this time slot has an issue with not not specifically you I know when whenever we have DJ on DJ will just say guys by the first name and I'm like I'm like hey I I don't know who that is soit coaches the two pitching coaches there we go okay cool but if they fixed them awesome if he's this guy you are you are in a a whole different atmosphere of starting pitching if he can be this guy I don't care about quality starts he threw 100 pitches he struck out eight guys he gives you five and a third your Bullpen should be good enough consistently specifically the back end of it with Presley Abu and hater to where you can you know and Taylor Scott to where that's fine if he's giving you five and a third you should be able to get it done on a pretty consistent basis I'll admit I'm still skeptical same he has had two great starts but the Rangers offense this year it's not the same I don't know what happened and the Tampa Bay Rays they have stripped a lot of parts kikuchi's next scheduled start get this ideal for him is against the Tampa Bay Rays August 13th I don't know if Justin Verlander is going to be back so this will change the math but if you take a look ahead at the schedule and just assume okay five starts from that it's Monday August 19th against the Boston Red Sox who are having a very good season the red Astros are going to play them in Boston this weekend I mean compared to the expectations no one thought Boston would do a damn thing they're actually a pretty good hitting team and then either you fast forward five starts or uh four starts depending on whether or not the Astros go to a six-man rotation the next outing for Kikuchi is going to be against the Baltimore Orioles I feel like we can all maybe properly evaluate what this trade was if it was too much if kikuchi's actually going to contribute after what happens in those two starts against Boston against Baltimore and I do not know what happens in them there's an off chance as well that if the Astros stick to the fiveman rotation that we could see him Monday August 19th against the Red Sox we could see him Saturday August 24th against the Orioles and then Wednesday August 28th against the Phillies then we will really know what he is but it depends on whether or not the Astros go to a six-man rotation there's a part of me that hopes that they don't go to a six-man rotation just so that I can really know for sure three- game sample size against three teams that are good that have good offenses then we will know whether or not us Kikuchi has it because that was always my issue with him when he was in Seattle it wasn't that he could put together amazing stretches it's how did he do against good teams what happened when he gets red ass on himself after giving up a couple of big hits yeah and and even they pass that Paul like even if he is successful in those starts I think a lot of this trade still just matters what happens when you make the playoffs like like this is not a team that has regular season just win the division expectations no matter how the season is gone no matter how much the offense has struggled no matter how many pitching injuries you've had you're the Houston Astros your expectations our expectations everyone in baseball's expectations is that you're going to go back to an ALCS for an eighth straight year you that's what the standard is for the organization it's the standard I don't know if I don't know if it's still the expectation but it is the standard so like what what do so what does he do in the ALDS what does he do if if they get to they got they got to get there like that to me is more will tell the bigger picture of of the story I think a lot of it just goes back to you gave up three prospects for a guy who's not under control who doesn't have great stats if he's this guy this is a home run of a trade honestly if you make the playoffs because the way the season has gone it helps you even more and if he's a big part of that and right now he is like like I where are you without him right now you your offense is struggling mightily and in the two games he's been absolutely dominant and if it's Jake Bloss on the mound instead of you say Kikuchi you've lost those two games and instead of being on first place today you're probably a game and a half out of first right now still