Brewers right-hander Adrian Houser recently departed a spring outing with some groin tightness and manager Craig Counsell provided an update on that situation to reporters today, including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Houser will begin the season on the injured list with an estimated return timeline of three weeks.
Houser, 30, has made 76 starts for the Brewers over the past four years, in addition to some relief appearances. Overall, he’s tossed 428 innings in his career with a 3.97 ERA. His 18.8% strikeout rate is a few ticks below league average but he’s kept the ball on the ground at a strong 53.8% clip.
Being without Houser for a few weeks isn’t a devastating blow to the Brewers, as he was likely going to be their #6 starter behind Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Eric Lauer and Wade Miley. However, it’s still a notable development as their rotation depth has taken some other hits recently.
Aaron Ashby has a shoulder injury that is going to keep him out until roughly the middle of May. Jason Alexander has a shoulder strain and has already been been placed on the 60-day injured list, meaning he can’t return until late May at the earliest. The Brewers once looked to have so much starting pitching that a trade of Houser seemed plausible, but they will now have three fewer arms in the mix for the next few weeks at least.
As mentioned, the top five options are still healthy, though another injury will leave the club with diminished depth to choose from. Some options still on the roster include Ethan Small and Janson Junk. Bryse Wilson has plenty of starting experience but is out of options and seems ticketed for a bullpen job in the big leagues to start the year.
Houser has always been solid from what I’ve seen him pitch against the Cubs. He’d be on any other team’s rotation but Milwaukee has good depth.
Take a chance on Robert Gasser. He might end up being better than Ashby or Houser. That was nice work by Stearns and co extracting a diamond in the rough from the otherwise agonizing Hader trade.
They have five years of team control of A “all star” caliber catcher and gasser, that’s a haul!
Agonizing is an appropriate term. Still way too early to make a judgement on a trade involving a top 2 or 3 closer in MLB at the time and we don’t know how Ruiz will turn out for the A’s (along with the other ancillary pieces extracted with that 3-team trade). Those are baseball moves small market teams have to make to get value from stars they lose (or will lose) to free agency. Always a roll of the dice.
“Being without Houser for a few weeks isn’t a devastating blow to the Brewers”
Actually, it’s addition by subtraction.