Falcon Points
With busy day of trades, O'Brien's transformation to villain is now complete
Aug 31, 2019, 11:37 am
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
We all love super heroes and comic book movies. A hero fights for good, does his or her best to protect us from evil and those who would destroy our world. They keep the villains from eliminating all we love.
In reality, super heroes don't exist. But sadly, super villains do.
Bill O'Brien's transformation to the latter is now complete.
With Saturday's trade of Jadeveon Clowney to the Seahawks for basically a warm bucket of spit was the final step in his transformation from slightly above average coach to a Chip Kelly-type destroyer of worlds.
O'Brien basically sold Clowney off for a pair of fringe players and a third-round pick. The simple question is why? Why not just keep him this season, when you claim to be a contender? Especially considering the other moves the team made, this makes little sense.
Bullying the bully
O'Brien, the ultimate bully, allowed himself to be bullied into a bad trade because he was too stubborn to suck it up and realize for the now, they were better off keeping Clowney. If you were going to trade him, it should have been on your own terms. Or done months ago. But what happens when someone bullies a bully? He folds.
So the Texans give away an asset for next to nothing.
No offensive tackle to protect Deshaun Watson. Not even a running back. Not even a premium draft pick. O'Brien's rise to the top of the power structure has put the Texans in a precarious position. He has basically solid off assets for almost nothing, simply because he believes he knows better than anyone else.
A real super hero - or, even a GM - would have stepped in and stopped it. But O'Brien has consolidated all the power. In Dark Knight, we learn you die a hero or live long enough to be a villain. O'Brien should have been fired - or at least had his wings clipped - two years ago. Instead he has lived to be the villain.
Tearing it down
There really is nothing positive to pull out of this trade, The Texans are not better. O'Brien dismantled Gary Kubiak's talented offensive line, letting Ben Jones and Brandon Brooks walk in free agency and dealing Duane Brown for nothing. He has yet to rebuild it and they have suffered ever since. Now he has given away a solid if slightly overrated defensive asset for nothing.
Why? Uncontrollable ego? Stubborness? The idea that he knows better than everyone else? That has not worked out very well so far. Short of winning a Super Bowl, which seems incredibly unlikely, O'Brien has once again set himself to look like the bad guy.
Every villain tries to get on your good side
O'Brien finally landed the much-needed left tackle later in the day when he picked up stud Laremy Tunsil from Miami. But the price was incredibly high. Two first rounders, a second, Julien Davenport and Johnson Bademosi for Tunsil and receiver Kenny Stills. He also dealt Martinas Rankin for running back Carlos Hyde. While adding those two was a huge positive, the price just makes the Clowney trade look worse. Rankin becomes yet another failed third-round pick. They could have gotten a Tunsil like haul for Clowney before the draft and failed. And if they had never traded Brown, this isn't even necessary...so even the good moves make him look like a dictator. A coach who is playing GM (again, see Kelly) does not look ahead.
And thus here we are
He might not be the villain we wanted. But he is the one we have.
And there are no heroes left in the world. We have to hope it all works out.
What looked like a minor blip after an emotional series win in Los Angeles has turned into something more concerning for the Houston Astros.
Swept at home by a Guardians team that came in riding a 10-game losing streak, the Astros were left looking exposed. Not exhausted, as injuries, underperformance, and questionable decision-making converged to hand Houston one of its most frustrating series losses of the year.
Depth finally runs dry
It would be easy to point to a “Dodger hangover” as the culprit, the emotional peak of an 18-1 win at Chavez Ravine followed by a mental lull. But that’s not the story here.
Houston’s energy was still evident, especially in the first two games of the series, where the offense scored five or more runs each time. Including those, the Astros had reached that mark in eight of their last 10 games heading into Wednesday’s finale.
But scoring isn’t everything, not when a lineup held together by duct tape and desperation is missing Christian Walker and Jake Meyers and getting critical at-bats from Cooper Hummel, Zack Short, and other journeymen.
The lack of depth finally showed. The Astros, for three days, looked more like a Triple-A squad with Jose Altuve and a couple big-league regulars sprinkled in.
Cracks in the pitching core
And the thing that had been keeping this team afloat, elite pitching, finally buckled.
Hunter Brown and Josh Hader, both dominant all season, finally cracked. Brown gave up six runs in six innings, raising his pristine 1.82 ERA to 2.21. Hader wasn’t spared either, coughing up a game-losing grand slam in extra innings that inflated his ERA from 1.80 to 2.38 in one night.
But the struggles weren’t isolated. Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort, and Steven Okert each gave up runs at critical moments. The bullpen’s collective fade could not have come at a worse time for a team already walking a tightrope.
Injury handling under fire
Houston’s injury management is also drawing heat, and rightfully so. Jake Meyers, who had been nursing a calf strain, started Wednesday’s finale. He didn’t even make it through one pitch before aggravating the injury and needing to be helped off the field.
No imaging before playing him. No cautionary rest despite the All-Star break looming. Just a rushed return in a banged-up lineup, and it backfired immediately.
Second-guessing has turned to outright criticism of the Astros’ medical staff, as fans and analysts alike wonder whether these mounting injuries are being made worse by how the club is handling them.
Pressure mounts on Dana Brown
All eyes now turn to Astros GM Dana Brown. The Astros are limping into the break with no clear reinforcements on the immediate horizon. Only Chas McCormick is currently rehabbing in Sugar Land. Everyone else? Still sidelined.
Brown will need to act — and soon.
At a minimum, calling up top prospect Brice Matthews makes sense. He’s been mashing in Triple-A (.283/.400/.476, 10 HR, .876 OPS) and could play second base while Jose Altuve shifts to left field more regularly. With Mauricio Dubón stretched thin between shortstop and center, injecting Matthews’ upside into the infield is a logical step.
*Editor's note: The Astros must be listening, Matthews was called up Thursday afternoon!
The Astros are calling up Brice Matthews, their top prospect on @MLBPipeline
via @brianmctaggart pic.twitter.com/K91cGKkcx6
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 10, 2025
There’s also trade chatter, most notably about Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, but excitement has been tepid. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but compared to who the Astros are fielding now, Mullins would be a clear upgrade and a much-needed big-league presence.
A final test before the break
Before the All-Star reset, Houston gets one last chance to stabilize the ship, and it comes in the form of a rivalry series against the Texas Rangers. The Astros will send their top trio — Lance McCullers Jr., Framber Valdez, and Hunter Brown — to the mound for a three-game set that will test their resolve, their health, and perhaps their postseason aspirations.
The Silver Boot is up for grabs. So is momentum. And maybe, clarity on just how far this version of the Astros can go.
There's so much more to discuss! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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