ARLINGTON, Texas — After their 41-year-old ace had a “hiccup” in his right shoulder, after failing to address dwindling pitching depth during the winter and after a failed pursuit of Blake Snell this spring, the Houston Astros could still count on Framber Valdez.
His effectiveness waned in the second half of last season, but he still supplied something so few modern starters can. Valdez has thrown 617 innings since his ascent to acehood began in 2020. Only eight major-league starters have thrown more in that time frame.
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“The one thing with Framber is he logs a lot of innings,” Houston general manager Dana Brown said Monday. “When you do that much, sometimes you’re going to need some rest at times. We go deep into the postseason every year, he logs a lot of innings and sometimes you may have to miss a start.”
That’s all Brown and the ballclub would acknowledge Monday: one missed start for a southpaw so critical to the Astros’ championship aspirations. Instead of sending Valdez to the mound at Globe Life Field in hope of salvaging a series split, the Astros flew him back to Houston for further examinations on a sore left elbow.
Valdez reported the soreness after playing catch Sunday, manager Joe Espada said. It did not abate when Valdez woke up Monday morning, Espada said, beginning a worrisome 48 hours for a team already reeling from a 3-7 start.
“I’m not really concerned at all,” Brown said. “He was throwing, felt it a little bit, a little soreness. I think he’s going to be fine. I asked him, ‘Was it a lot of pain, low pain, medium pain?’ He said it was a little below the medium side. I think it’s going to be fine.”
That the Astros did not put Valdez on the injured list offers at least some modicum of optimism, but Espada and Brown acknowledged they needed to hear the results of Valdez’s examinations before determining his plans.
If Valdez does require a trip to the injured list, he will join four of his fellow starters: Justin Verlander, José Urquidy, Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia. Neither Urquidy nor McCullers is throwing off the mound. Garcia, who underwent Tommy John surgery last May, just started throwing his first bullpen sessions.
Brown estimated the team could hear something definitive on Valdez either late Monday night or Tuesday. Neither he nor Espada would even confirm that Valdez will undergo an MRI.
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Any significant injury would be foreign for Valdez, who has had only one stint on the injured list in his major-league career: a 58-day absence in 2021 after a groundball fractured his left ring finger in spring training. Valdez stayed in Arlington for Sunday night’s 3-1 win against the Texas Rangers but departed for Houston around 11 a.m. Monday, Espada said.
“He was down a bit,” Espada said. “He wanted to get the ball and pitch today. But we’re just going to be smart and do what’s best for Framber and best for the team.”
Espada said Valdez did not complain of discomfort during his first two starts of the season, during which he surrendered three earned runs across 12 1/3 innings and seemed to rediscover the downward movement on his signature sinker. Valdez maintained a velocity in the lower 90s and generated an 82.4 ground-ball rate with the pitch.
Valdez has made the last two American League All-Star teams and made his third consecutive Opening Day start last month. He threw 201 1/3 innings in 2022 and 198 innings last year — a workhorse for a pitching staff in search of one after Verlander’s departure after the 2021 season.
When Houston reacquired Verlander in August, it offered hope for a double dose of durability atop the Astros’ 2024 rotation. Now, it’s worth wondering how they’ll navigate these innings.
Cristian Javier threw a career-high 162 innings last season — and needed multiple breaks for rest en route to it. Neither Hunter Brown nor J.P. France has finished more than 160 innings in their professional careers. Recent revelation Ronel Blanco hasn’t thrown more than 126. Prospects Spencer Arrighetti, A.J. Blubaugh and Ryan Gusto represent the extent of the club’s starting depth in the minor leagues.
The team does expect to activate Verlander after one more minor-league rehab start — a boost for a club in desperate need of it.
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Valdez’s trajectory is far more murky. Pitchers who require elbow examinations and complain of pain generally do not slot straight back into a major-league rotation — no matter how optimistic Brown or Espada seemed Monday. The sport’s recent spate of serious pitching injuries only intensified concern for Valdez, who is two seasons away from his first trip to free agency.
“It goes with the territory and that’s why you have to stockpile your pitching,” Brown said. “Pitching, pitching, pitching, you’ve got to have it in order to be successful and in order to win.”
Brown’s own ballclub might not have enough of it.
(Top photo: Logan Riely / Getty Images)
