The Texans need more from Lamar Miller. Andy Lyons/Getty Images
As the Texans gear up for training camp there are still concerns about the group of running backs they have assembled. The group is mostly the same; led by Lamar Miller with back-ups Alfred Blue who was re-signed in the offseason and D’onta Foreman who will probably be on the Physically Unable to Perform List to begin the season. That leaves room for holdovers Tyler Ervin and Troymaine Pope as well as rookies Lavon Coleman or Terry Swanson to step up and earn some snaps. Competition will be fierce and there should be plenty to go around.
As a team the Texans finished the season just inside the top half of the league in rushing yards and just outside the top ten in attempts. But they were firmly near the bottom of the league with only eight rushing touchdowns for the season. An improved interior offensive line and a healthy Deshaun Watson will contribute to an improved running game but it might not be enough to make the run game a scary aspect of the offense.
Lamar Miller will still be the starter but a disappointing 888 yards with a 3.7 yards per carry average demonstrated a real need for improvement. That’s why D’Onta Foreman was a third-round draft choice last year and by Week 11 was ready to break out. His season ended that same week and it was up to Miller and Blue to finish it out.
Speaking of Blue, it was a little bit of a head scratcher when he was re-signed this offseason. In his four seasons he has demonstrated that he can be nothing more than a third or fourth option in the backfield. Maybe it was the injury to Foreman that caused the Texans to sign a familiar face but his one-year contract is cheap to get out of if he doesn’t out-perform those behind him on the depth chart.
Tyler Ervin played in only four games last year, almost exclusively on special teams before a torn patellar tendon ended his season. At the time he was averaging 18.6 yards per kick return and 7.5 yards per punt return. He will have a tough road ahead but he should be ready for the start of camp. If he can show the injury hasn’t slowed him down he might still make the roster as a kick returner, leaving the door open for one of the two rookies to fight for playing time.
Houston brought in undrafted free agents Lavon Coleman and Terry Swanson to round out the group this offseason. These might both be long shot guys when it comes to offensive carries, but special teams can always use players with their size and speed.
Coleman is a big guy with some ability to get outside and enough elusiveness to make a move. He will need to adjust to the size and power of NFL defenses but a good camp could get him in the role that Foreman was meant to play behind Miller.
Swanson is more a match for what Miller brings. He is a speedy guy with great vision who was a priority signing for Houston as soon as the draft ended. He shared his college backfield with last year’s breakout rookie Kareem Hunt and the Texans hope they can get something similar. It’s not out of the question for a good camp to jump him ahead of a player like Alfred Blue or Tyler Ervin.
What we know so far is that there is at least one more year of Lamar Miller leading this group. He is still in position to get a lion’s share of the work because the depth behind him is either unable or unknown. That’s not a good position to be in if you’re the Texans. There are still a few free agents who can help available to sign, the most notable being Adrian Peterson. I’m not sure I can even posture a guess at what they might do. There’s upside with the two rookies and a sense of patience with the recovery of D’Onta Foreman so all they need is to stay near the middle of the league and hope that the improved offensive line and return of Deshaun Watson make up the difference.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.