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Jermaine Every: A look at some potential bargain free agents for the Texans

Texans GM Brian Gaine has an important off-season ahead. Houstontexans.com

Last week, I told you guys the moves I felt the Texans need to make this offseason. This week, I want to follow up on that same thought with a more detailed look into some free agent signings I feel they should make.

In an ideal world, they would sign the best guys at every position of need and voila! No more holes! In the real world, that’s not exactly how it works. Free agents would have to want to come play for your team, sign for the money you’re offering, and be happy with the role he’s being given. The money paid has to be the going rate for a top five guy at his position whether he deserves it or not (see Jimmy Garoppolo).

Going into free agency, the Texans have approximately $52 million dollars in cap space. More space should be coming as guys are either cut, traded, or retire. With that being said, here are some free agents that can not only fill some holes, but fit as bargains in positions of need:

Guard Senio Kelemete (27 years old)

Kelemete filled in admirably in spot duty for one of the league’s most prolific offenses last year in New Orleans. He’s never been a full-time starter, but has improved year after year and really showed what he can do last year playing in all 16 games, starting 7 of them, for a total of 639 total plays last year. He’s coming off a two-year/$2.7 million dollar deal with $300,000 dollars guaranteed. I suspect he won’t be commanding much more than a slight bump on his next deal. Four years, averaging $2.5-3.5 million per and around half of the deal guaranteed should do.

Wide Receiver Bruce Ellington (26 years old)

Bringing back Ellington would be a wise decision. He’s not in a position to command top dollar, and played very well in this system last year. Listed at 5’9, 200 pounds, Ellington’s size won’t strike fear into the hearts of opposing defenses. However, his speed is underestimated, as well as his toughness. Look for a deal averaging around $1.5 million dollars to lure him back considering that’ll be double what he made last year.

Quarterback Chase Daniel (31 years old)

Being a backup quarterback takes a special guy. He has to know his role involves staying ready in case the starter can’t go, which could be at any given moment. Daniel has played that role since he came into the league. He’s backed up Drew Brees and Alex Smith in his career. He’s a veteran who still has some athleticism, so running a similar offense to Deshaun Watson shouldn’t be that difficult. Besides, he ran a spread style offense in high school and at University of Missouri. Knowing Taysom Hill is Sean Payton’s new favorite backup for Brees may make Daniel look elsewhere for clipboard duty. A deal averaging $1-3 million dollars per should be enough to lure him away from New Orleans.

Cornerback E.J. Gaines (25 years old)

Gaines’ one interception last year isn’t the sexy stat most want to see when looking into free agent corners. However, the fact that he’s 25 years old, would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-30 million dollars less overall than Malcolm Butler will (or what A.J. Buoye would have last year), certainly makes him more attractive. Gaines is a solid starter who performed admirably on a Bills defense that traded away Ronald Darby (arguably their best corner) to the Philadelphia Eagles and brought Gaines in when they traded Sammy Watkins to the Rams. Total contract value in the neighborhood of $30-40 million dollars over about four years would do just fine here.

Safety Tre Boston (25 years old)

Sure, Boston is coming off a career year in a contract year with five interceptions. But the woes at safety have been well-documented for the Texans and it’s time to put an end to it. Boston made plays last year on a team that had a great pass rush. If guys like Whitney Mercilus and J.J. Watt come back somewhat healthy, the Texans will have a good pass rush as well. Boston will cost in the neighborhood of $7-9 million per year on average, but should pay off nicely given what could potentially be playing in front of him.

Offensive Tackle Cameron Fleming (25 years old)

Here’s another ex-New England Patriot to bring to town to help make the Texans “Patriots South.” Fleming played in 12 games last year, starting 6 of them for a team that could’ve won the Super Bowl. He won’t command top tackle dollar, so a middling deal averaging around $5-7 million per year should be enough to get him to sign. The Texans have done things in the past to make them “Patriots South,” why not bring in a decent young offensive tackle from the team they so desperately want to emulate?

Notice a trend much? All these guys, with the exception of Chase Daniel, are under 30 years old. All of them would be relative bargains compared to what top guys at their position would command. Boston may be the one guy here who might command near top dollar for his position, but reference back to the Seattle Seahawks or Patriots games last year if you need convincing. Just because the team has an estimated $52 million dollars to spend doesn’t mean they should blow it all in one offseason. Structuring contracts will be one of general manager’s Brian Gaines’ toughest jobs. Maintaining a competitive roster while keeping a decent amount of cap space is more of a magic trick than a balancing act, but it can be done. Offseasons like the one facing the Texans now are why drafting is so important. It creates depth and can help your cap space for three to four years if you get a starter in the middle to late rounds on a cheap rookie deal. Let’s see what the Gaine/Bill O’Brien partnership can bring this team now that the general manager and coach are “philosophically aligned.”

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The Astros are utilizing a 6-man rotation. Composite Getty Image.

The Astros should schedule an Old-Timers Game, if not annually maybe every other year. Only the Yankees have regularly played Old Timers Games and it’s a highlight in the Bronx every season. The Astros have plenty enough history to welcome back an ample number of guys to make for a fabulous event. Maybe they could tie it into their now annual Hall of Fame Weekend. Anyway, don’t you feel that if Jose Altuve took part in an Old Timers Game in 2050 he’d bang out a couple of hits, and then if the Astros played him in the regular game he’d line one more hit somehow, at age 60?

After missing the first 43 games of the season while recovering from his broken thumb, Altuve went 0 for four in his first game back, but has since been generally fantastic with his OPS through nine games played at 1.013. It won’t stay that high, but Altuve is a direly needed upgrade to the Astros’ offense which has been utterly mediocre. Offense is the reason the Astros continue to look up at the Texas Rangers in the American League West. The Rangers’ offense has been fantastic, outscoring the Astros by a whopping 100 runs through the first third of the season.

As the regular season entered its middle third this week, the Astros are in the middle of playing a game in 17 consecutive days. It’s their longest stretch of the season without an off day. They are inserting Ronel Blanco as a sixth starting pitcher in the rotation for a couple of turns. The point of mixing in a sixth starter isn’t that the Astros are teeming with guys who belong in a big league rotation. The 29-year-old Blanco is not a notable prospect. This is about lightening the load a little on two guys: Cristian Javier and Hunter Brown.

In becoming a rotation mainstay last season, Javier blew past his previous biggest season workload by nearly 50 innings. He’s on pace to go another 25 innings beyond that this year without even accounting for the playoffs. Hunter Brown last year set his professional high with 130 innings pitched encompassing work with the Space Cowboys and Astros. Brown is on pace for about 170 innings this regular season. That’s a significant jump, and of course the Astros are hoping for another postseason of multiple rounds. Javier, Brown, and Framber Valdez are the three most critical pitchers on the staff, and the Astros hope they remain healthily so for several more years.

Lance McCullers’s latest recovery setback makes his plight increasingly sad. Well, except for him on payday. The odds now lopsidedly favor McCullers never again pitching a near fully healthy and effective season. His only one to date was 2021 (until he broke down in the playoffs), the year before his five year 85 million dollar contract kicked in. McCullers pulls down 17 mil this year (And again next year. And in 2025. And 2026), exactly two and a half times what Framber Valdez makes. I reckon Framber’s representation is aware of this, as it is of the five year 63 million dollar deal the Astros struck with Cristian Javier. Framber is more than three years older than Javier, but has been better, and can hit free agency after the 2025 season, the same time Javier could have gone to market.

Timing isn’t everything but it darn sure can matter. The Astros’ two best relief pitchers through May were Hector Neris and Phil Maton. Neris enters June with a 1.19 earned run average, Maton even better with a teeny-weeny 0.68 ERA. Maton has been especially amazing, given that last year while not pitching very well he posted his career best ERA at 3.84. His 2022 ended ignominiously when after giving up a hit to his brother Nick in the regular season finale, Phil took the ding-a-ling of the week award by breaking his pitching hand punching his locker, sidelining him for the postseason. The Hurt Locker won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2010. Now Maton is up for Best Pitcher (per inning worked). Both Neris and Maton were James Click acquisitions. Both become free agents after this season.

Up next

Four games with the Angels at Minute Maid Park through the weekend mean the amazing Shohei Ohtani is in town. It’s “Sho-time” on the mound Friday night in a doozy of a pitching matchup with Framber, with Ohtani batting in at least three of the four games. In one player the Angels have a pitcher as good as Cristian Javier and a hitter better than Kyle Tucker. And the Angels will probably miss the playoffs again anyway. And then lose Ohtani in free agency. After the Angels series the Astros are on the road next week. They start with four games at Toronto against the Blue Jays’ very potent lineup, then it’s three at Cleveland vs. the Guardians whose offense has been pathetic so far this season.

Walk this way

Geek Astro factoid of the week: Jeremy Pena drew two walks in Tuesday’s win over the Twins. In his rookie season, Pena had only one two walk game, also in May, also against the Twins. Tuesday’s bases on balls finally got Pena into double digits for the season. He has just 11 walks drawn (largely explaining his weak .307 on-base percentage) vs. 50 strikeouts.

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Stone Cold ‘Stros is the weekly Astro-centric podcast I am part of alongside Brandon Strange and Josh Jordan. On our regular schedule it goes up at 3PM Monday on the SportsMapHouston YouTube channel, is available there for playback at any point, and also becomes available in podcast form at outlets galore. Such as:

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