OFF THE TOP OF MY BALD HEAD
Barry Warner: What's next for the Texans and other assorted sports takes
Feb 27, 2018, 5:54 am
Barry's back with a variety of takes. Barry Warner
Now that Brian the cheater Cushing is off the Texans books, who is next?
Look for them to waive Jeff Allen, brought in when they lost Brandon Brooks to the Eagles. Allen looks like a fat, out-of-shape construction worker, not a pro athlete. Couple that with his injuries and concussions and he has no future here
That would free up $4.875 million of cap space.
They will not break the bank with a Monopoly Money deal for Xavier Su’a Filo, the left guard. He is a terrible pass blocker, who is the best pulling offensive lineman on the team. But how many pancake blocks do you see him make at the second level?
Look for seventh round pick Kyle Fuller from Baylor to get a lot of work in OTA’s and training camp. He was drafted a a center, but with his size -- 6-5, 310 pounds -- and average feet, he is better suited for guard. But the kid needs to get stronger.
Say goodbye to tough guy right tackle Breno Giacomini, the human turnstile as a pass blocker.
He will be replaced by last year’s fourth round pick, Julian Davenport. The 6-7 tackle from Bucknell is green as grass, but needs to play now. Sure, he will make mistakes, part of on the job training, but with his size is worth coaching up.
The biggest difference this off season is in the leadership of GM Brian Gaine. Rick Smith never lifted a finger last year to get help for Bill O’Brien in this all important offensive line. Slick Rick failed to even buy a plane ticket for a single offensive lineman to visit.
Gaine has made this a priority. The problem is this year’s free agent class for lineman stinks.
Big money for QBs
Deals for quarterbacks have become like salaries of Wall Street hedge fund managers. Here are three salaries:
A.J. Mc Carron $19 million (projected). Not bad for a guy with four career starts.
Deshaun Watson: $3.463 million. Slotted rookie deal from 2017, as the No. 12 pick.
Dak Prescott: $680,000. By rule, he can’t sign a new deal until after 2018. What a bargain for Mr. Plastic Face, Jerry Jones.
More on the NFL
By signing John Pagano as linebacker coach, Bill O’Brien got Romeo Crennel’s replacement when the legend retires...The NFL Draft on Fox from Dallas will be the first over air free programming of the draft. It was a little present to the Foxies for overbidding on the Thursday Night Football package. They will compete with the NFL Network and ESPN. Yet another example of the white cartel known as the NFL ownership is squeezing every dollar they can. Just what football fans need, another set of talking heads for three days.
Semi-pro hoops scandal
Where there smoke there is fire. Cheating in semi pro sports goes back to the days of party line telephones, to be shared with your neighbors. Greed did not just now jump into the news. The legendary John Wooden, UCLA guru, was a religious man who checked on his players academic grades as well as the box score.
But always lurking in the background was a self-made millionaire, sleazy, slimy Sam Gilbert.
According to the LA Times, Gilbert held dinners at his home, provided UCLA players with advice, counsel and much, much more. He was "Papa Sam" to UCLA's parade of All-Americans — he even negotiated contracts, usually taking only a dollar, when the NBA beckoned various Bruins.
Now some of the biggest programs and coaches in the nation are under the watchful eye of the feds.
The holier than though hypocrites, the suits at the NCAA
hide behind an outdated rule book and greed.
But like the owners of Major League baseball teams during the steroids era, acted like an ostrich, burying its head in the sand.
It is not quite as simple as paying the so called “student-athletes,” but clearly something must be done to clean up this cesspool.
But understand something else:
Paying the jocks won’t stop the cheating any more that it is stopping hurricanes. Boosters and sneaker companies will not vanish into thin air. The same with the group with no conscience: agents. Football and hoops generate the revenues to carry all other sports, including Title IX for women.
Around MLB
The so called national pastime wants to cut the time of the games by limiting mound visits. They could cut several minutes, but that would eliminate new streams of revenue, which has put a price tag on everything but the marketing departments rely on...Even though it just spring training, the untouchable first round pick three years ago, Kyle Tucker is turning heads with his powerful left-handed swing with two home runs in the past two exhibition games. He’ll start the season in Triple A Fresno.
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The NFL Draft, NBA playoffs, and NHL playoffs all dwarf baseball in the sports pecking order this week, but that doesn’t detract from the Astros playing their best stretch of baseball in the still young season. Following up taking two of three from the previously sizzling hot Padres by sweeping the Blue Jays three straight has the Astros’ record at a just fine 13-11 as they open a three-game weekend series in Kansas City. 13-11 may not sound special, because it isn’t, but having come home from St. Louis last week with the record at 8-10 makes 13-11 a quality leap. Plus, a 13-11 pace over 162 games extrapolates to 87 wins, which last season were enough to win the American League West and for an AL Wild Card spot.
Batter up!
While no one will be confusing the potency of this Astros’ lineup with those of the 2017 or 2019 juggernauts, some welcome perking up may have kicked in, despite Yordan Alvarez still not getting rolling. After Joe Espada gave Christian Walker a “mental rest” game off Monday, Walker produced a three-hit game Tuesday and a two-hit follow-up Wednesday, including a home run. Walker’s .202 batting average and .640 OPS are still lousy, but a much lesser grade of lousy than the statistical abyss he was in starting the Toronto series. Yainer Diaz has been much worse than Walker to this point. Diaz managed at least one hit in all three games of the Jays series. Baby steps. He is still sitting on an unacceptable three walks in 78 plate appearances.
Speaking of hits and walks, Jeremy Pena carries a 14-game hitting streak into the weekend. One-quarter of the way to Joe DiMaggio’s big league record! Willy Taveras set the Astros’ record with a 30-gamer back in 2006. Pena hasn’t been crushing it during the streak, during which he has just two multi-hit games. He’s had stretches where he has hit better and slugged harder (2022 postseason anyone?), but while too small a stretch to declare a leap has been made, it is noteworthy that over the 14 games Pena has drawn six walks. That gives him eight free passes in 24 games this season. More math fun! That’s one walk drawn per three games, which over 162 games would make for 54. Last season in 157 games played Pena drew a paltry 25 walks. Add in that his defense has been superb so far this season with a number of fabulous plays made and just one error committed, and Pena could be making modest offensive improvement that makes him a meaningfully better player.
Furthermore speaking of hits and walks, it’s been a struggle on both fronts the last couple of weeks for Jose Altuve. A two-week funk does not represent a crisis, but there are troubling trends that bear watching as Altuve sets to turn 35 years old May 6. Over his last 14 games, Altuve’s OPS is a sub-Maldonadian .547. In this stretch he has two doubles as his lone extra base hits and drawn just two walks. Altuve has struck out 22 times in 24 games. Setting aside the short 2020 COVID season when Altuve never got it going, last year he had the worst strikeout percentage of his career, while his walk rate was his worst since 2015. So far this season, Altuve’s strikeout rate is more than 20 percent worse than last year’s, with his walk rate down 30 percent from 2024. He is hitting line drives at a much lower rate than ever before, and struggling to get the ball in the air. The season still isn’t 20 percent old, but since Altuve last season finished with his lowest OPS (.790, again, exempting 2020) since 2013, and his current .728 OPS is 62 points lower than that, the antennae of at least mild concern are up. This is the first season of Altuve’s five-year 125 million dollar contract extension. Remember, the Astros would not offer Kyle Tucker a contract that took him to age 35.
Bringing the heat!
Hunter Brown makes his next start Sunday in Kansas City. Good luck Royals! Until getting a doubleheader against the pathetic Rockies Thursday, K.C. was averaging under three runs per game. Brown's earned run average through five starts is 1.16! It's waaaaay early to focus on this, but the best season ERA for an Astro pitcher who qualified for the statistical lead (one inning pitched per team game played) belongs to Nolan Ryan who posted a 1.69 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. Over a full-schedule season, Justin Verlander's 1.75 in 2022 is the standard. Brown has fired 24 consecutive shutout innings. Ryan Pressly holds the Astros’ record with 38 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Orel Hershiser set the Major League record by finishing the 1988 regular season with a ridiculous 59 straight shutout innings. Yes he won the National League Cy Young Award. The Cy Young is strictly a regular season award. Hershiser in 1988 also won the League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award, and World Series MVP.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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