TEXANS "CULTURE" TAKES ANOTHER HIT
Texans' Brandin Cooks has been traded so many times, and maybe we're starting to understand why
Nov 3, 2022, 2:10 pm
Extending Brandin Cooks clearly looks like a huge mistake. Composite image by Brandon Strange.
Making sense of the extreme Vegas projections for Houston Texans
According to multiple reports, Texans WR Brandin Cooks will not be playing Thursday night against the undefeated Eagles because of, get this, "personal reasons."
Texans’ WR Brandin Cooks will not play tonight vs. the Eagles, per ESPN’s @WerderEdESPN. Cooks has missed practice for what the team has described as personal reasons. He had hoped to be traded to a playoff contender.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 3, 2022
Yeah, you read that correctly. Cooks is upset he didn't get traded and went on social media this week to express his frustration over his situation.
Don’t take a man’s kindness for granted. Covered for the lies for too long those days are done. Crossed the line with playing with my career 🏹
— Brandin Cooks (@brandincooks) November 1, 2022
The guy that was brought in as a great culture fit, is seemingly refusing to play in the Texans' only prime time game of the season because the team couldn't trade him and his massive contract before the deadline. And to go a step further, the Texans' only other legit WR, Nico Collins, is out with an injury. Yeah, great culture guy. The Texans had to get rid of DeAndre Hopkins who was rumored not to be a culture fit and bring in this dude? Plus, all this comes after Cooks defended Jack Easterby in his media session shortly after Easerby was fired. It's pretty easy to read between the lines here.
For years many have wondered, why has Brandin Cooks been traded so many times? I think we're getting our answer. The Saints traded him, so did the Patriots, the Rams too, and he's not even thirty years old. And I firmly believe the Texans would have traded him if it wasn't for his massive salary and cap hit.
It will be interesting to see if the Texans go after his money if he continues to refuse to play. One thing is for sure, GM Nick Caserio's decision to not trade him at the deadline last year, and give him an untradeable contract extension in the offseason looks like a huge mistake. Cooks knew he was signing up for a rebuilding team when he took the money this offseason. Deal with it! Now, things could change in the coming weeks and maybe the Texans get Cooks back in the fold, but it looks bad right now.
Here's to Nick Caserio not handing out any more contracts that make trades nearly impossible once the player decides he doesn't want to be in Houston anymore. Because, unfortunately, players want out of Houston way too often to not expect it to happen again.
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The Houston Astros have looked like one of baseball’s most dangerous teams in recent weeks, riding a hot streak fueled by dominant starting pitching and a red-hot offense that’s erupted for double-digit runs in four of their last eight games. But behind the current success, there are fair questions about whether this pace is truly sustainable as the grind of the season continues.
Yes, the Astros are winning — and winning big — but context matters. Many of their recent victories have come against struggling clubs like the White Sox and Athletics. Even matchups against the Twins and Guardians, while respectable, don’t exactly represent championship-caliber tests. That soft stretch of the schedule has certainly helped Houston pad its win column, but it may not be the best predictor of long-term performance. Houston will be tested in the upcoming series against the Phillies and Cubs.
On the pitching side, the numbers have been impressive, but how repeatable is it? With Lance McCullers Jr. sidelined for at least a couple of weeks, the Astros are relying on a patchwork rotation that includes unproven arms like Colton Gordon, Ryan Gusto, and Brandon Walter. While each has shown flashes, asking them to shoulder the load deep into the summer may be a tall order.
Offensively, Houston is firing on all cylinders. But scoring 10 or more runs every other game simply isn’t sustainable over a 162-game season. Regression is inevitable; the question is how the team responds when the bats cool down or the bullpen is asked to carry more weight.
Amid all this, rookie third baseman Cam Smith continues to shine. Just a few months into his major league career, Smith is producing at a level that suggests he’s not just a key piece of the future — he’s already one of the team’s most valuable players. His batting average sits just a point behind Jose Altuve’s, and his OPS is even higher. If the Astros were forced to choose two players to build around long-term, factoring in youth and contract status, the logical duo might be Smith and breakout pitcher Hunter Brown.
So what about the big picture? Is this team a true World Series contender?
Oddsmakers currently have Houston with the seventh-best odds to win it all, and only the Yankees and Tigers rank higher among American League teams. The core is still there, the experience is undeniable, and if the pitching continues to hold — especially with the anticipated return of Spencer Arrighetti and a healthy McCullers — the Astros have every reason to believe they’ll be in the mix deep into October.
But that’s a big “if.” The ceiling is still high, and with Cam Smith emerging as a star in real time, this team might just have another gear. Whether they can reach it when the competition stiffens, that remains to be seen.
There's so much more to cover! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
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