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Laremy Tunsil
It seemed like an innocent enough story that broke late last week. "Redskins trade rumors: Trent Williams move interests Cardinals, Texans."
Williams is a left tackle, and a damned good one when healthy. He has not been that for several years, but players of his ilk are hard to come by. Still, the Texans being interested does not make a lot of sense. They already have a Pro Bowl left tackle who they gave up two No. 1s and a No. 2 for in Laremy Tunsil, and a promising young right tackle that they drafted in the first round last season in Titus Howard.
Why the rumors?
For the first time in years, the Texans will have some stability on the offensive line, with both tackles, second-year guard Max Scharping and veteran center Nick Martin locked into starting roles. Zach Fulton, the other guard, is also under contract for another season. The story above seems to imply the Texans would want to keep Williams and Tunsil. In that scenario, Howard would presumably move inside to guard.
Why that seems silly
However, Howard was playing his best at tackle, so moving him does not seem to be a positive. In addition, Williams will have to be paid top tackle money, and Tunsil is already in line for that. Plus the Texans have little to offer in the way of trade. So Williams being on their radar in that scenario does not really add up. Investing $20 mil per year apiece in two tackles when you already are set there and have other needs? Not to mention giving up assets to get the second one?
Unless...
The other scenario is the Texans have decided they aren't going to pay Tunsil, which would be a huge mistake considering the investment they made to get him. He is also under contract for this season and can be franchised next year, so even if they can't reach a longterm deal, they would have him for two more seasons. But if they are choosing to move on from him and that would somehow be part of the deal for Williams...well, that is senseless too.
Williams is 31 years old, has not played as many as 12 games since 2016 and did not play at all last year. He will want a contract in the $20 million per year range, which is what it will cost to keep Tunsil, who is only 25 and has missed just six games in four years, just made his first Pro Bowl and has a year in the system under his belt. Not to mention the draft capital you invested to get him. Punting on him now for Williams would be just plain dumb.
Surely it is just a rumor...
And while the organization's direction under Dictator Bill O'Brien remains unclear, this is not something that seems feasible. So it has to be just a rumor, right? The Texans should be focused on getting Tunsil locked up long term, and filling some holes on defense in free agency. Another big OL contract - or replacing a younger player with a similar deal to what he is looking for - is beyond baffling. It would be by far the worst move of the O'Brien GM era and could set the franchise back years.
And let's be fair; as GM so far, O'Brien has not been bad. The Tunsil move looks good assuming they get him signed. The trade for Carlos Hyde was a win. Adding Gareon Conley for a third was a solid move. Trading away Jadeveon Clowney for pennies on the dollar was his one move you could look at say it was a bad decision.
This one would be significantly worse.
So far, in four big moves, O'Brien is 3-1. So the hope is this is all just speculation and the Texans have no real interest in Williams.
The top priorities should be a No. 1 cornerback, finding another running back to replace Hyde and trying to add to the pass rush. The Texans invested heavily in the offensive line last season, and that group looks promising. Why mess with it now?
Texans fans can only hope it is just a false rumor, one that has no basis in fact, because either Williams scenario would be a mistake, one the Texans can't afford and don't need to make.
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How Astros advanced metrics tell puzzling story about Houston's start
Apr 17, 2025, 5:21 pm
Major League Baseball’s regular season is 162 games long. You can think of 18 games as the first inning of the season, 18 times nine equaling 162. While the Astros 8-10 record is not good, it’s far from disastrous. Think of it as them being behind 1-0 after the first inning. It is pretty remarkable that they have yet to win consecutive games. Even during last year’s 7-19 stink bomb of a start the Astros twice managed to win two in a row.
The Astros’ offensive woes are plentiful. Oddly enough as impotent as they’ve been, the Astros have yet to be shutout. But in half their games they have scored exactly one or two runs. Basically, most of them stink thus far. Exemptions go to Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes, but it’s not like either of them has been outstanding. It’s still early enough that one big series can dramatically alter the numbers, but the Astros badly need Yordan Alvarez to pick up his production. Yordan enters the weekend batting just .224 with a .695 OPS and just four extra base hits. Yainer rhymes with minor. As in minor leagues, where Diaz belongs at his current level of performance. That is not saying Diaz should be sent down, just that any random AAA catcher called up couldn’t have done much worse to this point. Diaz isn’t hitting Altuve’s weight, a woeful .130 with seven hits in 57 at bats. Diaz simply remains too undisciplined at the plate swinging at too many balls. He’s drawn three walks. And now to Christian Walker, who thus far has delivered return on investment for his three year 60 million dollar contract about as strong as the stock market’s performance in Tariff Time. Walker’s .154 batting average and .482 OPS are very Astro Jose Abreu-like. Walker’s23 strikeouts in 65 at bats jump off the page. He has often looked befuddled in the batter's box. Walker is definitely pressing and frustrated, wanting to perform better for his new team. Jeremy Pena goes into the weekend batting .215 and has one hit in 13 at bats with runners in scoring position. Brendan Rodgers, Jake Meyers, and Chas McCormick all have weak stat lines, with little reason to expect quality offensive output from any of them. Cam Smith is at .200 with a yucky .591 OPS but he’s obviously a young stud work in progress thrown into the deep end of the pool.
All batting orders are top-heavy, the Astros’ on paper more so than many. As I set forth on one of our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts this week, the first inning should be a team’s best offensive inning. It’s the only frame in which a team gets to dictate who comes up from the start with the batters lined up just as the manager slots them. Add to that, the first inning is a good time to get to a starting pitcher before he settles in. The Astros have scored a pitiful three first inning runs in 18 games, and in two of the games they pushed one across in the first, it turned out to be the only Astro run of the game. Improvement needs to come internally from the big league roster. It’s not as if the Astros have a meaningful prospect at AAA Sugar Land who looks ready to help. Entering play Thursday the Space Cowboys’ team average was .186. Second base hopeful Brice Matthews is nowhere close, batting .180 and striking out left and right. Outfielder Jacob Melton opened three for 17 following the back injury-delayed start to his season.
As exasperating and boring as the offense has been for so many, grading needs to occur on a curve. So, while the Astros’ team batting average is a joke at .216, know that at close of business Wednesday the entire American League was batting just .232. The American League West-leading Texas Rangers scored eight fewer runs over their first 18 games than did the Astros, though that is skewed by the Astros’ one 14-run outburst against the Angels.
Familiar faces return
This weekend the Astros play host to the San Diego Padres at Daikin Park. The Friars are off to a fabulous start at 15-4. The Padres being here creates a mini reunion as both Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel are on their roster. In a telling fact, Maldonado would have the third-highest batting average on the Astros if on the team with his current numbers. Maldonado is hitting .250 with seven hits in 28 at bats. The last season he finished above .200 was 2020. The only season in his career Maldonado topped .234 was his rookie season with a .266 mark in 2012.
Gurriel was last good in 2021 when he won the American League batting title at .319. He fell off a cliff from there, though perked up to have a fine postseason in the Astros’ 2022 run to World Series title number two. “La Pina” is batting .115 with just three hits in 26 at bats. Gurriel may be released soon, and approaching his 41st birthday June 9, that would probably be the end of the line. Short-timer Astro Jason Heyward is also on the Padres, and batting .190.
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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