Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. underwent Tommy John surgery today and will miss the 2019 season, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.
It’s a brutal blow for an Astros rotation that was already faced with the possibility of losing both Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton to free agency. The loss of McCullers for the upcoming season now gives the Astros a third rotation piece to potentially replace. Houston does have some internal options who’d likely be starting for other organizations; righties Collin McHugh and Brad Peacock have both proven to be viable multi-inning relievers and could potentially slot into the starting five next year depending on the moves that president of baseball operation Jeff Luhnow and the rest of the Houston front office put together.
Luhnow, in fact, spoke today about the possibility of McHugh returning to a starting role next season (Twitter link via Rome). “I’d say we have three spots fairly well locked up, if we choose to go down the path of putting (Collin) McHugh back in the rotation,” he said. “With Lance not being there, it probably increases the odds of that happening.”
That’s not quite a proclamation that McHugh will start in 2019, but it does suggest that the ’Stros are comfortable with that outcome should it be necessary. Houston also has top prospect Forrest Whitley not far from the big leagues, and it’s possible that he could emerge as a rotation piece at some point in 2019.
But Houston’s long-term rotation outlook is now murkier than ever. Beyond the loss of McCullers and the fact that Keuchel and Morton are already free agents, each of Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and McHugh will be free agents at the end of the 2019 season. Viewed through that lens, it’s all the more critical for the Astros to add some arms that are controlled for multiple seasons this winter, be they top free agents (e.g., Keuchel, Patrick Corbin, J.A. Happ, Nathan Eovaldi) or trade acquisitions (e.g., James Paxton, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Michael Fulmer).
The Astros will still owe McCullers a raise on 2018’s $2.45MM salary — a raise they’ll gladly pay despite the fact that McCullers won’t pitch next season. That raise will be based on his 2018 results — 3.86 ERA, 10.0 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 10-6 record through 128 1/3 innings — and he’ll likely earn that amount in both 2019 and 2020. Houston controls McCullers through the 2021 season, so while agreeing to pay a player who is known to be out for the season isn’t an ideal situation, the fact that tendering him a contract also entitles the Astros to his 2020-21 seasons makes it a lock that he’ll be retained.
Oh now this is something
Damn that sucks
who didn’t see that coming. i hope he comes back strong.
Great, CC and Gardy are leaders on the team, they know how to win. Both contracts are good for the Yanks. Now Cash can now go after Kluber and Corbin, if he lands them he can fill the infield positon with either Lowrie or Donaldson or both.
Wrong thread buddy
oops
Ha
WDYKH
Good comment, too bad it’s in the wrong thread.
Ugh, F***!!!!!
Didn’t we hear this morning they were awaiting word on his status?
Now we hear he’s already had the surgery?
Talk about escalating quickly
That’s Lyin’ Lose-now and Judas Crane for ‘ya… Tried to cover this up just like the hi-jacking to the AL back in ’11.. Should have shut him down in August, and had the Surgery back then.
Wow what a ridiculous comment. Won a WS last year and you are sitting here whining like a 3 year old girl. You compare an injury to something that happened 7 years ago? Ridiculous
McCullers gets to make the call. He wanted to pitch through it for a shot at repeating. It was going to require surgery either way.
Suuuuuuuuuck. Heal up quick and best of luck through the recovery.
Definitely a bummer for baseball. An exciting player to watch
This certainly has an impact on their plans in Free Agency.
This means that Josh James is going to have a monster season.
Bummer for Lance Mac. Hope he heals well and quickly. James will fill one vacancy. I’m betting Whitley will fill another.
I wonder if the Astros will circle back to Morton now. They certainly can use him with McCullers being out
I’m pretty sure they’ve known about this being a very likely possibility for a while so I don’t think it changes much of their plans (SP has been a priority since the beginning of the offseason). Morton not getting a QO also makes you wonder if he’s healthy. He probably is since he said he’d likely retire if he wasn’t healthy, but I’m just speculating here
So many pitchers are getting tjs the last 6 to 8 years without barely pitching the amount of innings guys pitched even just 15 20 years ago. Is there something in the way they’re training them or pushing them when they are too young to throw the nasty curve, slider, cutters. This is just way more rampant than it should be, at least from the outside looking in.
I think it’s all of the increases in velocity and movement. I also think medical staffs have gotten better at diagnosing the issues, and thus pitchers don’t keep throwing and wreck their careers. Combine all that with the success of TJS in saving careers, and it becomes a viable early option instead of a last resort.
Pitchers used to just gut it out before TJS was a thing, and those pining for the good old days forget about all of the flameouts, only remembering the guys who threw 350 innings a year without their arms falling off.
Full disclosure: I grew up watching in the late 80s, and it still pains me a bit to see starting pitching evolve. I loved Orel Hershiser, I pitched in my own glory days, and I loved watching Clayton Kershaw continue to go deep in games up until a few years ago. But perhaps he’d not have the back issue if he hadn’t been pitching 7-9 innings most nights. Who knows? But I love baseball because it evolves, and I love seeing what changes to strategy come out of it.
Josh James looks ready to fill in as a #5. Astros will probably resign Morton for 2 years and add another sneaky pitcher to replace Kuechel until Whitley is ready.
Address the rotation now and convert LMJ to closer/setup when he comes back