HOUSTON — Astros owner Jim Crane pitched in college. He won 21 games, compiled a career 2.42 ERA and still holds the University of Central Missouri’s single-game strikeout record. Such on-field success isn’t lost on the shipping magnate, who spent most of this winter working a side job as the Astros’ general manager.
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Most of Crane’s public comments during his two-month tenure featured the same axiom: “You can never have enough pitching.” Yet none of the baseball operations decisions he oversaw this winter supported his statement. Twenty-nine games into the season, the Astros could be on the precipice of paying for it.
The Astros expected to run out a rotation of Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, José Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. this season. McCullers’ forearm strain in February quickly derailed that plan. Monday afternoon, Urquidy was placed on the injured list with a shoulder issue after departing his Sunday start early. Just a few hours later, it was Garcia’s turn for an early exit, leaving his start against the San Francisco Giants after just eight pitches with what the team described as “right elbow discomfort.”
These unexpected but not wholly unusual events have destroyed any delusion that the Astros and their pitching staff could replicate an anomalous 2022 season. Perhaps Crane and his army of baseball operations advisers believed it this winter, one where their inaction and instability must now be examined with a more thorough eye.
The Astros won the World Series while using eight starting pitchers. One of them, rookie Hunter Brown, made just two regular-season starts. Justin Verlander, Valdez, Javier, Urquidy and Garcia teamed to make 140. The continuity was stunning and totally unsustainable. The Astros thrived last season by shielding their bullpen with deep starts. No rotation in baseball threw more innings than the Astros’ 950. When October arrived, no bullpen seemed fresher or fiercer as a result.
Urquidy, Verlander and Garcia combined to make 28 starts apiece and throw 496 2/3 innings last season. Verlander is now a New York Met while Urquidy and Garcia are sidelined for at least the short term.
Urquidy is shut down from throwing and will be out “a while” after an MRI revealed inflammation in his right shoulder, manager Dusty Baker said after Monday’s 7-3 win against the Giants.
Garcia will go for imaging Tuesday morning to determine the severity of his elbow injury. He described feeling “pain” in his elbow after his fifth pitch of the game and called catcher Martín Maldonado out after the eighth.
Garcia said he did not feel a pop in his elbow, perhaps the only solace his team can take from an otherwise terrible outcome. The team did not place Garcia on the injured list Monday, and Baker described his removal as “precautionary,” but it’s difficult to envision Garcia making his next start on schedule.
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It invites wonder how far the Astros can stretch starting pitching depth that already didn’t exist.
“It tests it a lot, but there are some guys looking for an opportunity to help us and help themselves, and hopefully they’ll come through,” Baker said. “You can’t feel sorry for yourself.”
Of the four depth starters on Houston’s 40-man roster, only Brandon Bielak has thrown a pitch in the major leagues. He threw 81 on Monday in relief of Garcia, a game effort that extracted the Astros from further disaster.
J.P. France, Shawn Dubin and Forrest Whitley are the only stretched out pitchers remaining on the Astros’ 40-man roster. Based on performance alone, France seems like the most logical replacement if Garcia requires a stint on the injured list. France has a 2.33 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings at Triple-A Sugar Land this season.
At general manager Dana Brown’s behest, the team turned reliever Ronel Blanco into a starter during spring training, too — the first indication that either Brown or his lieutenants felt uncomfortable with the Astros’ pitching depth.
Before Brown arrived, it is unclear whether the Crane-led operation explored the starting pitching market, even just for a veteran innings-eater on a minor-league deal or one on a cheap, one-year pact.
No veteran general manager can predict two starting pitching injuries on consecutive days, but refusing to account for Verlander’s durability after his departure seemed misguided. The team also understood that a majority of its starting rotation — including Urquidy and Garcia — was going to pitch for its country in the World Baseball Classic and open itself up to risk.
“I just hate to think that some of our guys, especially the Latin guys, went to the WBC are coming up lame,” Baker said, without prompt, Monday night. “I hope that wasn’t the cause of the problem.”
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During spring training, Baker said he advocated for adding a starting pitcher but wondered whether the team’s unorthodox front-office setup stalled it. Crane “parted ways” with former general manager James Click in November and did not hire Brown until Jan. 26. Crane ran the team’s baseball operations department in the interim, using counsel from assistant general manager Bill Firkus and two Hall of Fame players turned personnel advisers: Jeff Bagwell and Reggie Jackson.
“I got the power, but not the authority,” Baker quipped in February. “That was always a consideration for me … we didn’t have a general manager in place in order to make that move.”
Now the one in place has a mess to clean up.
(Top photo of Luis Garcia leaving the mound Monday: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
