THE PALLILOG
Texans' latest move shows us exactly what they have planned for this season
Sep 10, 2021, 9:54 am
THE PALLILOG
2021 Houston Texans Football: Here Goes Nothing! Not their chosen marketing slogan as the Texans enter their 20th season, but it could have been. Nothing in terms of expectations. Nothing in terms of anything to be excited about. Unless maybe their new animatronic bull head gets your juices flowing? It's no fun as a fan grinding through a season where losing benefits future seasons than winning week to week does good in the current season, but that's the Texans' reality. Being a spunky squad that overachieves to finish 7-10 or something would only damage their draft slotting next spring when the Texans finally again have their full complement of top picks. Bumbling to 3-14 and having the first pick or darn close to it is best.
Trading off the best of their underwhelming cornerbacks is further proof that the Texans want to lose quite regularly this season. They should be up (down?) to the challenge! In agreeing to pay the bulk of his salary in dealing Bradley Roby to the Saints, the Texans essentially bought a third round draft pick for seven million dollars.
As the Texans open their season Sunday at NRG Stadium vs. the Jaguars, healthy, under contract, obvious best player on the team Deshaun Watson begins collecting approximately 600 thousand dollars per week to not play. Theatre of the absurd.
As sign of the times, the Jaguars are three point road favorites Sunday coming off a 2020 season in which they won opening day then lost their remaining 15 games.
Astros' magic number
For the eleventh time this season, the Astros start a series having just missed an opportunity to sweep a three or four game series by losing the finale. That's an oddly high number, but means the Astros won those eleven series in addition to the ones they have swept this season. At 81-58 they're on pace to win 94 games and closing in on their fourth American League West title in five years. Their magic number to clinch over both Seattle and Oakland is 18. So barring a major collapse, the Astros' real race now is holding off the White Sox for home field advantage in their highly likely best of five AL Division Series matchup. The Astros enter the weekend a game and a half up on the ChiSox and hold the tiebreaker. Of course the Astros can win without home field (see 2017 World Series), just as they can lose with home field (see 2019 World Series). You definitely want home field if you can get it. The White Sox are 46-24 in their ballpark this year, 34-36 everywhere else. At minimum, last licks is an advantage always preferable.
Astros and Angels this weekend at Minute Maid Park. While the Astros pursue another World Series run, the Angels as usual are playing out the string. Friday night it's Shohei Ohtani pitching (and hitting) for the Angels as he continues an unprecedented season. As Babe Ruth transitioned from a great pitcher to the most awesome offensive force in Major League history, he never spent a full season as both an everyday player and pitcher in the starting rotation. Ohtani is doing it and at exceptional levels on both fronts. His bat has faded since the All Star game, though he still leads the big leagues with 43 home runs, but his pitching has improved. Since the break in seven starts Ohtani is 5-0 with a 2.20 earned run average. The Angels are mediocre, but Ohtani is the best player in baseball this year and deserves the AL Most Valuable Player award.
NCAA
For most of the 20th century they were Southwest Conference rivals. In the not too distant future they will become Southeastern Conference rivals. Saturday, Texas and Arkansas play a mere non-conference game in Fayetteville. The Longhorns enter off of new Head Coach Steve Sarkisian's solid winning debut over Louisiana, the Razorbacks off of being tied starting the fourth quarter with Rice before scoring three touchdowns and winning 38-17. Almost seems too obvious that the Horns should hook the Hogs.
After the Houston Cougars' second half collapse against Texas Tech, Dana Holgorsen's record at UH sits at seven wins 14 losses. The Coogs make the shorter than five mile trip to Rice Stadium Saturday. The Owls might be frisky this season but a UH loss would be a state of the program embarrassment.
Buzzer Beaters
1. More fun: Having the Yankees continue falling apart and they miss the playoffs completely, or have them advance to the ALCS and lose again (whether to the Astros or White Sox)?
2. Tennis is a niche sport, but the U.S. Open has been sensational this year. If Novak Djokovic wins two more matches to take the men's title and win the Grand Slam it's the individual sporting achievement of the year. On the women's side, British 18-year-old Emma Raducanu had to win three qualifying matches to even make the main draw. She's ranked 150th in the world with career earnings of about $300,000. Saturday she plays for the title against 73rd ranked Canadian Leylah Fernandez who turned 19 Tuesday with career earnings of about 800K. The loser Saturday cashes a check for 1.25 million. The winner, 2.5 mil.
3. Texans' final record prediction if these are the only options: Bronze 0-17 Silver 6-11 Gold 3-14
The Houston Astros entered the 2025 MLB Draft with limited capital but a clear objective: find talent that can help sustain their winning ways without needing a full organizational reboot. With just under $7.2 million in bonus pool money and two forfeited picks, lost when they signed slugger Christian Walker, the Astros needed to be smart, aggressive, and a little bold. They were all three.
A swing on star power
With the 21st overall pick, Houston selected Xavier Neyens, a powerful left-handed high school bat from Mt. Vernon, Washington. At 6-foot-4, Neyens is raw but loaded with tools, a slugger with plus power and the kind of bat speed that turns heads.
He’s the Astros’ first high school position player taken in the first round in a decade.
If Neyens develops as expected, he could be the next cornerstone in the post-Altuve/Bregman era. Via: MLB.com:
It’s possible we’ll look back at this first round and realize that the Astros got the best power hitter in the class. At times, Neyens has looked like an elite hitter who’d easily get to that pop, and at times the swing-and-miss tendencies concerned scouts, which is why he didn’t end up closer to the top of the first round. He was announced as a shortstop, but his size (6-foot-4) and his arm will profile best at third base.
Their next big swing came in the third round with Ethan Frey, an outfielder/DH from LSU who was one of the most imposing college hitters in the country.
He blasted 13 home runs in the SEC and helped lead the Tigers to a championship.
Filling the middle
In the fourth round, the Astros grabbed Nick Monistere, an infielder/outfielder out of Southern Miss who won Sun Belt Player of the Year honors.
If Kendall likes the pick, I like the pick. https://t.co/NQKqEHFxtV
— Jeremy Branham (@JeremyBranham) July 14, 2025
He doesn’t jump off the page with tools, but he rakes, hitting .323 with 21 home runs this past season, and plays with a chip on his shoulder.
They followed that up with Nick Potter, a right-handed reliever from Wichita State. He projects as a fast-moving bullpen piece, already showing a mature approach and a “fastball that was regularly clocked in the upper-90s and touched 100 miles per hour.”
From there, Houston doubled down on pitching depth and versatility. They took Gabel Pentecost, a Division II flamethrower, Jase Mitchell, a high school catcher with upside, and a host of college arms, all in hopes of finding the next Spencer Arrighetti or Hunter Brown.
Strategy in motion
Missing multiple picks, Houston leaned into two things: ceiling and speed to the majors. Neyens brings the first, Frey and Monistere the second. And as they’ve shown in recent years, the Astros can develop arms with late-round pedigree into major league contributors.
The Astros didn’t walk away with flashy headlines, they weren’t drafting in the top 10. But they leave the 2025 draft with a clear direction: keep the farm alive with bats that can produce and arms that can fill in the gaps, especially with the club managing injuries and an aging core.
If Neyens becomes the slugger they hope, and if Frey or Monistere climbs fast, this draft could be another example of Houston turning limited resources into lasting impact.
You can see the full draft tracker here.
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