THE LEFT TURN

Five high-octane questions for Ryan Truex

Five high-octane questions for Ryan Truex
Be sure to listen to the entire interview below. Photo by WikiCommons.

I am joined today by NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular Ryan Truex. We talked a little bit about the 2021 season and how everything came together at Niece Motorsports. We also discussed last week's Bristol dirt race, his experience, and what races he looks forward to this year.

SportsMap: I am joined today by one of my favorite drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Ryan how are you?

Ryan Truex: I'm great thanks for having me on!

SM: It's an honor to talk to you. I have been following you since your K&N East days and am glad to see you at Neice Motorsports!

RT: I appreciate it! It's been quite a journey, I am happy to still be doing it.

SM: It's been great to see you sign with Niece Motorsports. Talk a little bit about how that deal came together.

RT: Yeah, the big thing for me was I wanted to go back to racing full-time, and I figured this team would be a good fit for me. I talked to owner Al Niece about it, and they were willing to commit to it and my sponsors were willing to commit to it, so it was good to get a deal done early. Usually deals get done for me in January.

SM: So, I wanted to talk about that Bristol dirt race. What was your take on the race overall?

RT: Yeah, I had a lot of fun. It was really a big unknown for me, I didn't know how I would do. I have never raced dirt, so I really didn't know exactly what the track would do but luckily my spotter, Steve Reeves, is a champion sprint car driver, so he's been a big help with the track conditions. We really had a lot of issues with overheating and had to go to the back twice which really hurt us. And we ended up finishing twentieth but speed wise we had a really good truck, so I had a really good time and things look promising.

SM: Another big story that came to light yesterday was the announcement that NASCAR would be testing the rain tires at Martinsville. Do you think it would be possible to run rain tires on an oval?

RT: It's definitely possible. It just depends on what kind of race you would want to see. If you gotta go out there, and you're going 70 miles and hour and nobody can pass anybody, then I think you can do it anywhere. But that's not really a good show for the fans, but I think Martinsville is flat enough to where they can get it done.

SM: This 2021 truck series schedule is very diverse with many varieties of tracks, is there a race you guys have circled that you look forward to going to?

RT: Well our big focus is the mile and a half stuff as that's the bulk of our schedule and I felt like we had some work to do on those tracks speed wise and handling wise, so that's really been our big focus.

You can hear the rest of the interview below:


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Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman are hot names at the Winter Meetings. Composite Getty Image.

The woeful state of the Astros' farm system has made it very expensive to continue maintaining a good team, prohibitively so (in part self-imposed) from having a great team. Even if they re-sign Alex Bregman, trading Framber Valdez and/or Kyle Tucker for prospects could snap the Astros' run of eight straight postseason appearances. But if they KNOW that no way do they intend to offer Framber five years 130 million dollars, Tucker 7/225 or whatever their free agent markets might be after next season, keeping them for 2025 but getting nothing but 2026 compensatory draft picks for them could do multi-year damage to the franchise.

The time is here for the Astros to be aggressively shopping both. It doesn't make trading them obligatory, but even though many purported top prospects amount to little or nothing (look up what the Astros traded to Detroit for Justin Verlander, to Pittsburgh for Gerrit Cole, to Arizona for Zack Greinke) if strong packages are offered the Astros need to act if unwilling (reasonably or not) to pay Valdez/Tucker.

Last offseason the Milwaukee Brewers traded pitching ace Corbin Burnes one season ahead of his free agency and then again won the National League Central, the San Diego Padres dealt Juan Soto and wound up much improved and a playoff team after missing the 2023 postseason. But nailing the trades is critical. The Brewers got their everyday rookie third baseman Joey Ortiz and two other prospects. The Padres got quality starter Michael King, catcher Kyle Hagashioka, and three prospects.

Back to Bregman

Meanwhile, decision time approaches for Alex Bregman. He, via agent Scott Boras, wants 200-plus million dollars. Don't we all. If he can land that from somebody, congratulations. The Astros' six-year 156 million dollar contract offer is more than fair. That's 26 million dollars per season and would take Bregman within a few months of his 37th birthday. If rounding up to 160 mil gets it done, ok I guess. Going to 200 would be silly.

While Bregman hasn't been a superstar (or even an All-Star) since 2019, he's still a very good player. That includes his 2024 season which showed decline offensively. Not falling off a cliff decline other than his walk rate plunging about 45 percent, but decline. If Bregman remains the exact player he was this season, six-156 is pricey but not crazy in the current marketplace. But how likely is Bregman to not drop off further in his mid-30s? As noted before, the storyline is bogus that Bregman has been a postseason monster. Over seven League Championship Series and four World Series Bregman has a .196 batting average.
The Astros already should be sweating some over Jose Altuve having shown marked decline this season, before his five year 125 million dollar extension covering 2025-2029 even starts. Altuve was still very good offensively though well down from 2022 and 2023 (defensively his data are now awful), but as he approaches turning 35 years old in May some concern is warranted when locked into paying a guy until he's nearly 39 1/2.

Jim Crane is right in noting that long contracts paying guys huge money in their later years generally go poorly for the clubs.

Bang for your buck

Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez is heading into the second year of a five-year, $124 million extension. That's 24.8 million dollars per season. Jose Ramirez is a clearly better player than Alex Bregman. Ramirez has been the better player for five consecutive seasons, and only in 2023 was it even close. It should be noted that Ramirez signed his extension in April of 2022. He is about a year and a half older than Bregman so the Guardians are paying their superstar through his age 36 season.

Bregman benefits from playing his home games at soon-to be named Daikin Park. Bregman hit 26 home runs this year. Using ball-tracking data, if he had played all his games in Houston, Bregman would have hit 31 homers. Had all his swings been taken at Yankee Stadium, the "Breggy Bomb" count would have been 25. In Cleveland, just 18. Ramirez hit 41 dingers. If all his games were home games 40 would have cleared the fences, if all had been at Minute Maid Park 47 would have been gone.

Matt Chapman recently signed a six-year 151 million dollar deal to stay with the San Francisco Giants. That's 25.166 million per season. Chapman was clearly a better player than Bregman this year. But it's the only season of Chapman's career that is the case. Chapman is 11 months older than Bregman, so his lush deal with the Giants carries through his age 37 season.

The Giants having overpaid Chapman doesn't obligate the Astros to do the same with Bregman. So, if you're the Astros do you accept overpaying Bregman? They would almost certainly be worse without him in 2025, but what about beyond? Again, having not one elite prospect in their minor league system boxes them in. Still, until/unless the Seattle Mariners upgrade their offense, the Astros cling to American League West favorites status. On the other hand, WITH Bregman, Tucker, and Valdez the Astros are no postseason lock.

For Texans’ conversation, catch Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me on our Texans On Tap podcasts. Thursdays feature a preview of the upcoming game, and then we go live (then available on demand) after the final gun of the game: Texans on Tap - YouTube

The Astros are always in season for discussion. Our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts drop Mondays: Click here to watch!

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