The Astros figure to enter the season plagued by a number of rotation injuries this winter. Both Cristian Javier and J.P. France underwent season-ending surgery last year and are locks to start 2025 on the injured list, while reporting yesterday revealed that both Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. are also slated to miss at least the start of the upcoming campaign. France indicated earlier this month that he was targeting a return from shoulder surgery in July of this year, while Ari Alexander of KPRC2 reports that Javier suggested during the club’s FanFest event yesterday that he’s eyeing a return at some point in the second half.
That’s a somewhat vague timetable, though it could still fall within the 12 to 14 month timeline that’s typically associated with UCL surgery. GM Dana Brown indicated back in October (as noted by MLB.com) that Javier could return as soon as late July. That would be shortly after the All-Star break and roughly 14 months after he went under the knife, though Javier’s more general second half timetable suggests at least some possibility of him returning later than previously anticipated. It’s surely not how the Astros were hoping things would go when they signed Javier to a five-year, $64MM extension prior to the 2023 campaign. The righty is due to make $10.4MM in 2025 as part of that contract before his salary jumps to $21.4MM for the final two years of the deal.
The Astros are surely hoping the right-hander will be able to return to the form he flashed in 2022, when he posted a 2.54 ERA (150 ERA+) and a 3.16 FIP in 148 2/3 innings of work before turning in a strong performance during the club’s championship run in October. He hasn’t been quite the same pitcher in the years since then, with a pedestrian 4.44 ERA (95 ERA+ and 4.61 FIP in 38 starts since the start of the 2023 season, but it’s not hard to imagine the soon to be 28-year-old hurler getting things back on track once he’s fully healthy. With Framber Valdez set to hit free agency following the 2025 season while both McCullers and Garcia are schedule to enter the open market the following winter, it would make sense if Houston decides to take things slowly with Javier as he works his way back from surgery given his importance to the long-term outlook of the club’s rotation.
Fortunately for Houston, they figure to be reasonably well-equipped to handle an extended absence for Javier should his time on the injured list bleed into August. The club’s projected Opening Day rotation figures to feature Valdez, Hunter Brown, Spencer Arrighetti, Ronel Blanco, and freshly acquired youngster Hayden Wesneski. Reinforcements should become available to the club throughout the season, as well. While Garcia and McCullers are no longer expected to be ready for Opening Day, Alexander notes that the latter has already resumed throwing off a mound and GM Dana Brown indicated yesterday that Garcia has resumed throwing as well. That would make a return early in the season feasible for both players, with France also seemingly likely to return over the summer and buy Javier extra time to rehab if necessary.
JV was there and they just let him walk. Lame.
Astros weren’t going to offer $15 million.
What’s lame is you following me from another website that I haven’t posted on in years and then pretending to be me. Thats lame.
Could we please ban this troll????
Maybe?????
What’s lame is you pretending to be me and logging into multiple accounts at once for likes fella. I don’t know any site. I’ve been on Mlbtr for 20 years. Since the Brian Robert’s rumors. You haven’t. You get banned from everywhere dork. lol.
So we should ban someone from the website because of your opinion? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Maybe you could just mute him if your so upset.
What opinion? This loser has multiple accounts. His user name was created to troll me. It’s not an opinion.
Get a life guys.
You’re the one with multiple accounts loser and multiple personalities. Stop trolling me fella
Verlander threw 90 innings with a 5.48 ERA, 4.78 FIP, a 1.384 WHIP, and he’s turning 42.
If he wanted to come back for 1/2m on a split contract and agree to proving himself in ST or work it out in the minors, I’m sure Houston would have been happy to take the flyer.
Instead, SFG signed him for a ridiculous $1/15m rather than pick up the equivalent of three Griffin Cannings for that money (they’re in desperate need of a 4.25-4.50 ERA in 300 innings), or taking a flyer on a starter with some realistic chance of being actually mediocre and keeping them in games, or adding $5-6m to that amount and getting a decent #3 6 to 10 years younger than JV on a 2 year deal.
1/15m for a 42 year old JV was about the dumbest thing SF could have done with the money. It bodes very, very ill for the Giants under Posey. Truly abysmal, and good for Houston for knowing when to let it go.
That $15M gets them a premium game every 5th day. It very well could be a farewell tour for a future first ballot HOFer. There will be quite a few fans wanting to see an All Time great one last time. It also adds a huge veteran presence that could be of benefit to most if not all of the other pitchers on the roster.
Too often people are hung up on onfield performance alone. MLB is a business built upon a sport, without the business aspect MLB does not exist, likewise without baseball MLB does not exist.
As for JV signing a 2 way contract, was that a poor attempt at humor?? JV and Scherzer currently are 10th and 11th All Time in total strikeouts. Neither wants to bow out and not solidify spot in the top 10, especially with the other being the one that kept them from that exclusive list. They both have a legit shot to get upto 6 on that list this season. There is no way whatsoever either would sign a 2 way deal with their legacies in the balance.
Red Sox mouths are watering
A lot of Astros news lately, what’s going on?
But why would he make two half-returns instead of a full return?
The Astros got 28 bWAR from their starting 9 in 2024—and it was an old lineup. Ages are for the 2025 season.
26, (33, now 34), 35, 27, (31, now 27), 30, 29, (28, to Cubs–who’s their RFer for 2025?), 28.
That’s three players in their prime, four if you want to reasonably stretch the definition, and nobody pre-prime, What does their turnover and prospect cache look like?
—-‘AI Overview’ thinks Paredes is the Astros RFer for 2025. Hm. I wouldn’t trust it with the nukes just yet.
Statistically it’s actually 5 players in their prime. That’s not any stretching of the definition, that is the # of players who are what is proven statistically to be in their prime. Data shows that ages 27-29 are typically when MLB players peak.
monster-baseball.com/2024/02/24/aging-curves-in-pr…