TANKS FOR NOTHING?
The Texans could play their way out of a good draft pick
Oct 25, 2018, 8:11 am
Deshaun Watson could be ruined. Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
The Texans find themselves in a nice perch at the top of the AFC South with nine games left in the season. After the first three weeks, I don’t think anyone would have said they could reel off four in a row like they have. Of course, now everyone wants to know if they can keep the momentum and win the division. With the schedule they have ahead of them, it’s not impossible.
On the rest of the schedule, they face only two teams that currently have a winning record; the Dolphins tonight and the Redskins in Week 11. I went through the schedules of the remaining Texans opponents and can find only the Eagles in Week 16 and the Jaguars in Week 17 as teams this might be at or above .500 when they face Houston. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then yes, that means the Texans are entering a 7-game stretch that could define their season.
It’s not unreasonable to think that this team, the way they have played the last month, can win five or six of these games. The only bumps I see are at Denver next week and at Washington two weeks later. The other five games are very winnable. The formula will continue to be solid defense and an offense that manages drives without getting the quarterback killed. I know that sounds like a lot, but it’s what they did last week, and it resulted in a 20-7 win on the road in Jacksonville.
This is all great news for Texans fans. I mean, who isn’t excited about another trip to the playoffs.
But, really though?
As I watch the offensive line I wonder: is it a good idea to do so well? And before you say anything, I’m not talking about tanking. That’s never a good idea. I’m just saying, maybe they don’t catch a few breaks here and there like they have been. This division is so bad, the Jaguars were picked to win because they did it last year and they seemed to be the team best suited to survive a 16-game season ready for the postseason. It might be nice if the Texans just let that play out like it was supposed to.
The biggest problem is that winning this division will rob the Texans of the draft picks they need to right the ship. They need help on the offensive line. The priority to protect Deshaun Watson is not always easy when you’re picking 21st. There are 20 spots ahead of them in which the top offensive tackles can be selected and every year there are only about 2-4 that are worth a first round pick.
All four teams that drafted a top quarterback this year (Browns, Bills, Cardinals, Jets) are going to have draft picks high enough to steal those offensive tackles. And they just might. The Colts and the Giants are two more teams that desperately need help at the position. So, if Houston winds up with a later draft pick they could miss out on some top talent.
OK, so they don’t get a top offensive tackle in the first round. They can take a cornerback, right? Absolutely. But that still doesn’t mean a ready to play tackle will be there when they pick late in the second round.
It’s a position with potential for a huge drop off in skill level. The difference between a first round or early second round tackle and one selected later can sometimes become a long-term project. I’ve watched the Texans this year and they can’t afford a long-term project at tackle. They really need to be closer to the front of the draft board.
I know it’s not ideal when they have a chance to hang another banner in the rafters of NRG Stadium, but it might be for the best. The next seven games will either propel this team into the playoffs and make the fans crazy or they will have the season they should have and play themselves into the draft position they need for the future at offensive tackle. I’m thinking long term and would like to see them with a higher draft pick before Deshaun Watson’s career gets ruined for good.
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How mounting mistakes make Astros setbacks harder to ignore
Jul 10, 2025, 3:10 pm
The late ex-catcher and longtime broadcaster Joe Garagiola wrote a book called “Baseball is a Funny Game.” He wasn’t kidding, whether he meant funny as amusing, peculiar, or both (he meant both). The Astros lived it this past week, following a very satisfying three-game slap down of a previously red-hot Dodgers team in Los Angeles by having a Cleveland Guardians squad that staggered into Houston on a 10-game losing streak sweep the Astros three straight. As I put it during one of our “Stone Cold ‘Stros” podcast episodes this week: baseball, like a word that rhymes with spit, happens. The Astros try to clean it up this weekend with a chance to kick dirt on the Texas Rangers’ presently extremely faint American League West hopes. While no fun to endure, the Astros getting swept is no big deal. They weren’t going the rest of the season without any more bumps in the road. Unless they falter badly and/or Seattle has a huge rest of the way, the Astros' 29-10 surge before the Cleveland series is the stretch that will most define them making the playoffs for the ninth year in a row. The Astros hadn’t lost a home series since early April. Their longest losing streak all season remains just three games. They have to beat the Rangers Friday night to keep it that way.
Erratic starting pitchers Lance McCullers and Jack Leiter match up in the series opener, then it’s a pair of humdinger matchups. Saturday Framber Valdez goes to battle opposite Jacob deGrom. Sunday Hunter Brown starts on four days rest for just the second time this season countering the Arlington team’s Nathan Eovaldi. Framber tries to bounce back from his worst showing in over two months. Brown tries to rebound from his worst start since July 6 of last year. deGrom is quite a story. There has been no more dominant starting pitcher in his generation. It’s just that deGrom almost makes McCullers’s injury history look not so bad. Jacob deGrom won National League Rookie of the Year in 2014. He won back-to-back NL Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019, then finished third in the short 2020 COVID season. In 2021 he was off to what if maintained would have been one of the greatest seasons ever. 15 starts with a 1.08 earned run average. 92 innings pitched, a comical total of just 40 hits allowed, with only 11 walks, and 146 strikeouts. Sicko stuff. Then his shoulder fell off. deGrom missed over a year, came back and made 11 starts in 2022. All of that as a New York Met. The Rangers then crossed their fingers and gave him a five-year 185-million dollar free agent contract. DeGrom lasted six starts in 2023 before needing his second Tommy John surgery. The Rangers of course went on to win the World Series without him. deGrom returned to throw 10 innings late last season and looked good. With everyone around the Rangers holding their breath, deGrom has not missed a start this season. While not striking out batters near his rate in the past, deGrom has been fabulous. He’ll take the mound against the Astros sporting a 9-2 record (for a losing team) and 2.29 ERA. deGrom's career ERA is 2.50. He is 37 years old.
Options dwindling
All you can ask of players is that they prepare well, be mentally focused, and play their best. There is only so much juice to be squeezed from lemons. Zack Short, Cooper Hummel, and Taylor Trammell each played every inning of the Guardians series. They are 30, 30, and 27 years old respectively. Short has the highest career big league batting average of the three. That average is .169. Hummel sits at .167, Trammell at .165. Short went zero for 11 with seven strikeouts. Hummel went one for eleven and struck out in his last six at bats. Trammell actually had a good series going three for eleven including a three-run homer and a double. Bigger picture, manager Joe Espada is filling out a lineup card with one hand tied behind his back.
Espada’s task got no easier with the latest seemingly Astros-nomically inept medical work. It is mind-blowingly ridiculous that Jake Meyers further damaged a calf muscle while taking the field Wednesday night, just three days after he left a game with that calf ailing him. Organizationally the Astros look like a clown show on this (pretty sure Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez would co-sign). At least the All-Star break arriving after play Sunday will cover four days of Meyers’s absence, which is a good bet to extend beyond that, maybe well beyond that. That absence will be sorely felt. Beyond his elite patrol work in center field, Meyers’s offense this season made the leap from atrocious to well above average. About to come off the injured list, Chas McCormick gets one last chance to revive his Astros’ career. Decent prospect Jacob Melton is a center fielder who remains out injured. Kenedy Corona was called up this week when Christian Walker went on paternity leave. Corona also plays center field but is not a meaningful prospect. If Meyers is to miss months not weeks, general manager Dana Brown almost has to pursue an outfielder via trade.
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. Click here to catch!
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