Every-Thing Sports
Texans finally trade Clowney, and it is yet another bad move
Aug 31, 2019, 11:56 am
Photo by Michelle Watson/Catchlight Group
The saga that was Jadeveon Clowney versus Bill O'Brien has finally come to an end. Word came down that the Texans have moved the talented edge rusher to the Seattle Seahawks. They get a third round pick, linebacker Jacob Martin, and edge rusher Barkevious Mingo in return. The will he/won't he back and forth has played out over the last couple seasons. Clowney played last season under the fifth year option on his rookie deal and was franchise tagged for this coming season. He refused to sign the tender after not coming to agreement with the Texans on a long-term extension. This was among the rumored reasons Brian Gaine was fired. But why not make this move earlier to get back a bigger haul?
Playing checkers, or really bad chess
The Texans organization has a history of playing checkers, or really bad chess when it comes to making moves. This trade is no different. I said this over a year ago that they need to trade Clowney if they know they don't want to give into his potential contract demands. But what did they do instead? Sit on their thumbs and wait until the situation was a total cluster before they made a move. that's how you lose at chess and checkers.
Stubborness and ego
Bill O'Brien now holds the most power in the Texans buiding by anyone not named McNair. That's a scary proposition for Texans fans. His ego, stubborness, and feelings are going to drive this team into the ground. Where have I heard that before? Anyway, moving on. To say he's a spaghetti noodle over .500 for his career and has won a terrible division a couple times, he sure is full of himself. Those types of things lead to your downfall. While I didn't like the hokey aww shucks persona of Gary Kubiak or the robotic mannerisms of Dom Capers, O'Brien has rubbed me the wrong way on another level.
Waiting on the payoff
While Texans fans sit back and wonder when their team will actually be a legit contender, they'll have to do so in hopes it gets done before they waste more stars. DeAndre Hopkins and JJ Watt aren't going to be All-Pros forever. Deshaun Watson will be up for a massive contract extension soon. The window is closing and closing fast. Time waits for no man. Cal and Janice McNair may have some tough decisions coming soon, and I'm not talking about contract extensions. What do they do if this season is an abject failure? They need to take advantage of Andrew Luck retiring NOW! Moving one of the best young edge rushers for peanuts on the dollar is not a sign of going for it.
Fortunately the season is upon us. Fans no longer have to worry about when Clowney will report, or what shape will he be in, or if he'll return next year. He's gone now. Off to the land of Texans rejects in the great Northwest. This will be a turning point season in franchise history I believe. Either O'Brien will finally show off his "smarter than everyone else" mantle he's given himself with his actions, or the McNair's will clean house and start over from the ground up. I don't see this going any other way. Wait a minute...there's always historic precedence to consider. There's an extreme high probability they could go "9-7 and win the AFC South" again. To which I say to Texans fans: enjoy purgatory.
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As of 9:42 Central Daylight Saving Time Friday night, the Astros (and all other baseball players) are officially the Boys of Summer, officially so far as the season is concerned anyway. When the summer solstice arrived last year the Astros were nine games off the lead in the American League West. So in addressing the rhetorical axiom “what a difference a year makes,” the difference in the Astros’ case is a whopping 14 games as they start the weekend atop their division by five games. At this point in the season last year the Astros’ record in one-run games was a brutal 5-14. In 2025 they are 13-7 in games decided by the narrowest of margins.
That the Astros are just 4-5 in road games against the two worst teams in the American League is no big deal, other than that every game counts in the standings. Still, just as was losing two out of three at the pathetic White Sox earlier this season, it is no doubt disappointing to the Astros to have only gotten a split of their four-game set with the Athletics. The A’s had gone 9-28 in their last 37 games before the Astros arrived in West Sacramento. The former-Oaklanders took the first game and the finale, as the Astros’ offense played bi-polar ball over the four nights. Two stat-padding explosion games that totaled 24 runs and 35 hits were bookended by a puny one-run output Monday and Thursday’s 5-4 10-inning loss. Baseball happens. Nevertheless, as the Astros open their weekend set versus the Angels, they have gone 17-7 over their last 24 games to forge their five-game division lead.
The New York Yankees’ offense has been by a healthy margin the best attack in the American League so far this season. The reigning AL champions snapped a six-game losing streak Thursday. The Yankees mustered a total of six runs over those six losses, including being shutout in three consecutive games. The baseball season is the defining “it’s a marathon not a sprint” sport. With 162 games on the schedule, combined with the fact that the gap in winning percentage between the best teams and the worst teams is smaller than in any other sport, making much about a series, or week or two of games is misguided, apart from all the results mattering.
The future is now
Without context, statistics can tell very misleading stories. Cam Smith is having a fine rookie season and has the looks of a guy who can blossom into a bonafide star and be an Astro mainstay into the 2030s. But it’s silliness that has anyone talking about the big month of June he’s having. Superficially, sure, going into Thursday’s game Smith’s stat line for the month read a .321 batting average and .874 OPS. Alas, that was mostly about Smith’s two monster games in the consecutive routs of the Athletics. Over those two games Cam went seven for nine with two home runs and two doubles. Over the other 14 games he’s played this month Smith is batting .213 with an OPS below .540.
Cam Smith is a long-term contender for best acquisition of Dana Brown’s tenure as General Manager. If his career was a single game Smith is still in the first inning, but if his career was a stock it’s a buy and hold. If the Astros were for some reason forced to part with all but two players in the organization, I think the two they would hold on to are Smith and Hunter Brown. Jeremy Pena would be another strong candidate, but he turns 28 in September and is two seasons from free agency (unless the rules change in the next collective bargaining agreement). Smith is 22 and under Astros’ control for another five seasons, he’s not even presently eligible for salary arbitration until the 2028 season. Brown turns 27 in August and is currently ineligible for free agency until after the 2028 season.
Angels in the outfield
Hunter Brown pitches opposite Yusei Kikuchi Friday night. Kikuchi was Dana Brown’s big in-season move last season, and Kikuchi was excellent with the Astros which set up to get the three-year 63 million dollar deal he landed with the Halos. After a slow start to his season Kikuchi has been outstanding the past month and a half, with a 2.28 earned run average over his last nine starts. Brown’s 1.88 season ERA is second-best in the big leagues among pitchers with the innings pitched to qualify in the category. Only Pirates’ stud Paul Skenes has a better mark, barely so at 1.85.
Kikuchi was a stellar rental who helped the Astros stretch their consecutive postseasons streak to eight. There was an absurd amount of vitriol over what Dana Brown gave up for him. Joey Loperfido is 26 years old and having a middling season at AAA. Will Wagner is 26 years old and back in the minors after batting .186 with the Blue Jays. Jake Bloss is the one guy who maaaaaybe some day the Astros wish they still had. Bloss is out into 2026 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
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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