Aledmys Diaz will be activated from the 10-day injured list prior to Monday’s game against the Mariners. The utilityman has been out of action since his left hand was fractured by a Ross Stripling pitch on June 5, though Diaz will indeed return within the original rehab window of six to eight weeks. Diaz has been a very valuable part-time player over his three seasons with the Astros, hitting .269/.338/.460 in 432 plate appearances and playing multiple positions. Diaz is likely to slide right into third base duty while Alex Bregman is still on his own minor league rehab assignment.
More from Houston…
- Josh James restarted his Triple-A rehab assignment today, The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan tweets. The right-hander has yet to pitch this season after undergoing hip surgery last October, and then suffering a hamstring injury back in June. Just when it seemed James was working his way back from that hamstring issue, he re-aggravated the problem last week, which required a check-up from team doctors. It isn’t yet known when James might make his 2021 debut for the Astros, but he does seem to be once again making progress after this latest setback. James has recorded a lot of strikeouts (34.1 K%) but also too many walks (13.4 BB%) over his 101 2/3 career innings in the big leagues, posting a 4.60 ERA with the Astros since the start of the 2018 season.
- Ryan Pressly hit a notable benchmark with his appearance in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over the Rangers. It was Pressly’s 40th game of the season, and as Chandler Rome of The Houston Chronicle notes (Twitter link), Pressly’s 2022 club option has now hit its maximum value of $10MM, as reaching an increasing number of games pitched this season gradually raised the reliever’s option from its original $7MM figure. Should Pressly hit the 60-game threshold this season, that $10MM option will automatically become guaranteed. Given that the right-hander has excelled at Houston’s closer, it seems like a pretty good bet that Pressly’s option will vest, and the Astros won’t mind retaining an All-Star reliever for $10MM.
Is Trevor Bauer a good fit in Houston?
No one in the club house will fall asleep.
Will not happen.
In fact, it will be MANY years, or never, for him in MLB.
Couple years tho and he’ll be tearing it up in Mex league.
They already have 7 quality starting pitchers, not including Verlander. Even if they let both him and Greinke walk after the season the Astros will still have McCullers, Valdez, Garcia, Odorizzi, Urquidy, and Javier (who is doing well in the bullpen).
Any local chatter about the Astros potentially re-signing Justin Verlander this off-season?
None
Although Verlander himself mentioned returning to pitch out of the bullpen in late September/October. Although he himself admitted its a long shot.
That was months ago and there has been no updates recently