The Astros made a few transactions before tonight’s series opener in Seattle. Houston placed starter Cristian Javier on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 24, with forearm discomfort. They also recalled José Abreu and reliever Alex Speas from Triple-A Sugar Land, optioning out Joey Loperfido to clear an additional roster spot.
Javier heads to the IL for the second time this season. The right-hander missed a couple weeks between April and May with neck soreness. Forearm discomfort is naturally a more concerning development, but there’s no indication the team believes it to be a serious issue at the moment. It’s nevertheless a frustrating setback for Javier, who has been limited to seven starts this year after avoiding the IL between 2020-23.
Around the injuries, Javier has gotten off to a middling start. He has a reasonable 3.89 ERA over 34 2/3 innings, yet he’s carrying an 18% strikeout rate that would easily be a personal worst. Javier has also walked nearly 13% of opposing hitters and is averaging only 91.7 MPH on his fastball, the softest velocity of his career.
Even a diminished version of Javier has played an important role for a Houston rotation that has battled numerous injuries. He rejoins Lance McCullers Jr., Luis Garcia and José Urquidy on the IL. Urquidy was expected to make his return from forearm discomfort in the coming weeks, but he felt renewed soreness during a rehab start last Friday.
Houston has tried to lean on a six-man rotation to navigate an ongoing stretch of 29 games in 30 days. That hasn’t really worked as planned, as Ronel Blanco served a 10-game foreign substance suspension before Javier’s injury. Houston has a five-man starting staff of Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, Blanco, Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti at the moment. Recently-signed lefty Eric Lauer is at Sugar Land as an experienced non-roster depth option.
Abreu is back on the MLB roster after spending nearly a month in the minors. The former MVP is in the lineup at first base tonight, hitting eighth against Seattle right-hander Bryce Miller. Abreu has worked to rediscover his timing after hitting .099/.156/.113 over his first 77 big league plate appearances this season. Lefty-swinging Jon Singleton has been Houston’s primary first baseman since Abreu was optioned; Singleton is at designated hitter tonight.
How Abreu performs over the next two months could be a key storyline as the front office considers its deadline approach. Houston has played their way back to the fringe of the playoff picture after an atrocious start to the season. They’re 24-29, sitting in third place in the AL West at three and a half games behind Seattle. If they’re in contention by late July, the Astros would certainly try to bolster a veteran roster that has won at least one playoff round in seven straight seasons. First base would be an obvious target area unless Abreu authors a remarkable turnaround in the coming weeks.
Abreu’s stat line during his stint in the minors does not instill much confidence.
Down in the minors for a month but played 1 week.
With zero hits.
Not an Astros or Mariners fan, but will be following this 4 game set. Only in May, but meaningful games. Each team has an opportunity to make a statement.
Where the Astros made a mistake with Abreu was signing him for three years. Wonder why foreign born players tend to tail off younger than American born ones? Abreu is probably 40-41 years old. He’s been a real slow starter that heats up with the weather. Expect an improvement now. However not to the level of what he’s getting paid for. That was money thrown away.
A decline in mid-late thirties is plenty natural for me. Any later and I’m beginning to assume he’s found a cocktail the league fails at testing
Can you actually back up that assertion about Americans lasting longer or is it just the arrogant observation of a cheat-lover?
More of this age nonsense ? He was playing in the Cuban league at age 16.in 2003/04 According to you he must have been only 12 at the time. Quite a feat.
you have your numbers crossed.
It would have made him 20, not 12
Some dummy had mentioned that Abreu was actually 10 years older. So must’ve began his pro ball career at 6 y.o.? *crickets*
Blame Bagwell
What was even the point of optioning Abreu if they’re just gonna bring him back after one week of playing in the minors?
He was actually gone for about a month. He tinkered his swing for a couple weeks, then played a week of rookie ball and two games at AAA. Still, I hear ya. I imagine we’ll see more of the same paltry production.
He’s been down in the minors since April 30th working on his swing.
After working on his swing, he will work on his slides, then his playhouse, then his monkey bars.
Stros and Braves should team up and exchange Tucker for Acuna.
So now that Abreu has all the bugs worked out of his swing, he can bat .199 instead of .099 – right?
And that somehow justifies taking away at bats from Singleton and demoting Joey Loperfido (.333/39AB)?!?
I guess they just need to do the process and let the rest of the team and fans suffer through it.
Abreu went 1-for-3 with an RBI on Memorial Day, bringing his season avg. up from .099 to .108. Still …
We’ll see. We can throw away the numbers at rookie ball. If you count the seven bats at AAA and the three bats last night he is 1-10 with four strikeouts. Which is about what is batting average is for the season. I would love to be wrong about this, but in my opinion he needs to be set loose for the good of the team and the organization. They don’t want to lose money, but better to pay him his salary just to go away at this point.
His plate appearances in the minors don’t count when it comes to his season avg. Abreu had been 7-for-71 on the season when he agreed to be sent down.
Oh yes, of course. I was just making a point
Sending down Joey Loperfido doesn’t make sense.
Keep Joey release Chandler
Except for the fact that he has three options. I also think it’s a shame for Loperfido to be on the roster and not play. I’m sure he will be recalled when the team is finally convinced that Abreu is toast.
I recall Jose Abreu he used to be good
Loperfido does have options. He was being used for Chas as he was out. Now outfield is Chas, Meyers who is hot, Dubon and Tucker. Loperfido May not be looked on at first. But if is then needed to go down for work. Chas is not doing that hot either. Yordan is in slump. Not showing the power and more. Diaz at catcher not the offense hype from him either. Nor Carratini. Just a couple of walk offs.. Rotation is a disaster. Verlander is up and down. Javier is hurt. Whether he returns quickly as team thinks his issue not a big issue. JP is also out but he is in minors. Urquidy out as has not started this season. Javier does concern me with strikeout rate 18% and walks 13. Urquidy as well after his injury time last season. Garcia and McCullers not back till deadline like late July or into August. I doubt any sooner for them. Brown and Spencer in rotation when have not been great. Both get into trouble or throw too many pitches. But for next month all we have. But if Urquidy or Javier are out that long we will have to do something. Javier has not pitched great since return from IL the first time. Hitting needs to ramp up if going to go anywhere. But if have lineup with Singleton and Abreu like game last night. Be lucky. Abreu not banking on yet. But with Joe managing this team and Dana inexperience as well. Who knows. What will we be like as June goes
Wordy