Headlines

  • Pirates Fire Manager Derek Shelton
  • Mariners Claim Leody Taveras
  • Rangers Hire Bret Boone As Hitting Coach
  • A.J. Minter To Undergo Season-Ending Lat Surgery
  • Blue Jays Sign Spencer Turnbull
  • Blue Jays Sign José Ureña
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2025
    • Free Agent Contest Leaderboard
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Michael Brantley Going For Second Opinion On Injured Shoulder

By Anthony Franco | August 10, 2022 at 11:12pm CDT

The Astros have been without Michael Brantley for six weeks, and there’s no clear timetable for his potential return. Acting manager Joe Espada told reporters this afternoon that the veteran outfielder was currently away from the team as he sought a second opinion on his injured right shoulder (via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). Espada declined to elaborate when asked whether that meant surgery was on the table.

Houston hasn’t revealed many specifics about Brantley’s injury — the Astros tend to play things close to the vest when providing health updates generally — but the announcement of a second opinion certainly seems alarming. It comes just days after general manager James Click acknowledged that “with every passing day, you have to kind of take an honest look” at whether the five-time All-Star will be able to make it back at all in 2022. At the very least, it doesn’t seem he’ll be back imminently.

Owners of an 11-game cushion in the AL West, the Astros can certainly afford to play things cautiously with their injured players. They’d obviously love to top the Yankees for home field advantage in the American League playoff field, but Houston’s a virtual lock to hold onto one of the top two seeds in the Junior Circuit to earn a first-round bye. Still, it’d be ideal to get Brantley some at-bats late in the regular campaign to get back to game speed before the playoffs. Whether the 35-year-old will be able to make it back at any point, regular season or postseason, appears murky.

Losing Brantley for the postseason, if it comes to that, would be a tough blow to the Houston lineup. He’s remained one of the game’s preeminent “professional hitters,” carrying a .288/.370/.416 line across 277 plate appearances. Brantley only has five home runs, but he’s picked up 14 doubles and walked more often than he’s struck out (11.2% against 10.8%, respectively). He’s in the waning months of the two-year, $32MM contract he signed to return to Houston over the 2020-21 offseason.

Since Brantley went down, the club has relied on Chas McCormick and Aledmys Díaz as its primary left field options. Both players are having nice seasons, but Díaz is the top depth infielder while McCormick would be in the best position to take center field playing time if the team were to move away from the struggling Jake Meyers. They’ve rotated Yordan Alvarez into left field on occasion, but keeping him primarily at designated hitter could be the best way to ensure he’s holding up physically to have his bat in the lineup on a daily basis. Rome tweeted yesterday that newly-acquired Trey Mancini was taking some pregame reps in left field as well. Mancini started 13 games in the corner outfield with the Orioles this season but spent the bulk of his time at either first base or designated hitter. He’s not logged substantial outfield playing time since 2019.

While the club awaits further word on Brantley, they are set to receive one notable reinforcement over the next few days. Lance McCullers Jr. will be reinstated from the 60-day injured list to start Saturday against the A’s, Espada announced (via Mark Berman of Fox 26). It’ll be the righty’s season debut, his first appearance since he suffered a flexor strain in his forearm during last year’s postseason. Houston will need to create a vacancy on the 40-man roster, although that can be achieved by transferring Brantley to the 60-day injured list (a procedural move since the outfielder certainly won’t be ready for an MLB return within the next two weeks).

McCullers has made four rehab starts over the past couple weeks. He topped out at five innings and 86 pitches with Triple-A Sugar Land on Sunday. It’s unlikely the Astros will throw him right back into a typical starter’s workload out of the gate, but he should have plenty of time to build into that role before the postseason gets underway.

It’s another addition to a rotation that already boasts the majors second-best ERA (3.18). McCullers was arguably the team’s top pitcher in 2021, tossing 162 1/3 innings of 3.16 ERA ball with a quality 27% strikeout rate and an excellent 56.4% ground-ball percentage. If he recaptures that kind of form after nearly a year of rehab, he’ll add another high-octane arm to a playoff rotation that’s sure to feature Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez and could also include any of Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier or José Urquidy.

Share 0 Retweet 10 Send via email0

Houston Astros Lance McCullers Jr. Michael Brantley Trey Mancini

Marlins Sign Josh Rogers To Minor League Contract
Main
Tigers Fire General Manager Al Avila
View Comments (20)
Post a Comment

20 Comments

  1. bucsfan0004

    3 years ago

    Isn’t this why they acquired Mancini? Obviously the Astros know he’s not coming back anytime soon, if at all this year. We don’t know, but they know.

    2
    Reply
    • thickiedon

      3 years ago

      Kinda, but more likely because of lack of offensive production from Yuli

      1
      Reply
      • Astros Hot Takes

        3 years ago

        I think it was primarily certainty that Brantley wouldn’t be back any time soon, and secondarily plan B to relieve Gurriel a bit, if necessary.

        Reply
  2. Dogs for Hire

    3 years ago

    CHEATERS!!!

    1
    Reply
    • coupofthecentury

      3 years ago

      Your cup overflowing with resentment only strengthens their powers.

      5
      Reply
    • Highest IQ

      3 years ago

      Trashtros

      Reply
      • Memphis Kong

        3 years ago

        Is your life so shallow that you search out Astros articles just to use a hackneyed phrase?

        1
        Reply
    • stroh

      3 years ago

      You must be a fan of one of the two sore loser teams that will never ever beat the Stros. You wanna guess who I am talking about?

      1
      Reply
  3. Ignorant Son-of-a-b

    3 years ago

    Why do they have to be so tight-lipped on the severity of Brantley’s injury? That should be public information. Why be all secretive and hush-hush…no reason for that. It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s not like they are missing him. I haven’t even given him an afterthought…the Astros kick the Mariners from one side of the street to the other with Brantley or without Brantley.

    Reply
    • astros_fan_84

      3 years ago

      The Astros, under Click, never disclose anything regarding player health unless it’s required. It’s pretty much a leak proof front office.

      3
      Reply
  4. whyhayzee

    3 years ago

    Fixed it:

    They’d obviously love to top the Blue Jays for home field advantage in the American League playoff field, but Houston’s a virtual lock to hold onto one of the top two seeds in the Junior Circuit to earn a first-round bye.

    Reply
    • Dustyslambchops23

      3 years ago

      You mean orioles ?

      Reply
  5. bravesfan0618

    3 years ago

    What took so long???

    Reply
  6. rememberthecoop

    3 years ago

    “Acting manager”? What happened to Dusty?

    Reply
    • thickiedon

      3 years ago

      Covid

      Reply
  7. Astros Hot Takes

    3 years ago

    “He’s remained one of the game’s preeminent “professional hitters,””

    This is SO little-appreciated around here, it seems like to me. VERY few things, if any, more important to offense. If the Yankees had had one or two of those to open the season last year (and better defense) they would have been much scarier.

    Reply
    • whyhayzee

      3 years ago

      I don’t know if too many people understand that expression. On the Mets, McNeil is a professional hitter. But people want to criticize his defense.

      1
      Reply
    • BeforeMcCourt

      3 years ago

      So if a team improves on offense and defense, they’ll be better?

      Let me go grab my notepad for your other nuggets of wisdom

      Reply
  8. thickiedon

    3 years ago

    Wish McCullers would’ve taken another start at Sugarland based off his recent comments… he ain’t ready

    Reply
  9. Jarred Kelenic's Beer Can

    3 years ago

    “Yep, that’s definitely a shoulder.” -2nd opinion doctor, probably.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

  • Top Stories
  • Recent

Pirates Fire Manager Derek Shelton

Mariners Claim Leody Taveras

Rangers Hire Bret Boone As Hitting Coach

A.J. Minter To Undergo Season-Ending Lat Surgery

Blue Jays Sign Spencer Turnbull

Blue Jays Sign José Ureña

Ross Stripling Retires

Rangers Place Leody Taveras On Outright Waivers

Triston Casas Likely To Miss Entire 2025 Season Due To Knee Surgery

Orioles Recall Coby Mayo

Dodgers Recall Hyeseong Kim

Triston Casas Suffers “Significant Knee Injury”

Angels Place Mike Trout On 10-Day Injured List

Rangers Option Jake Burger

Tigers Designate Kenta Maeda For Assignment

Reds Option Alexis Diaz

Orioles Move Charlie Morton To Bullpen

Astros To Activate Lance McCullers Jr. This Weekend

A.J. Minter Could Require Season-Ending Surgery

Braves Sign Eddie Rosario, Option Jarred Kelenic

Chet Lemon Passes Away

Pirates Fire Manager Derek Shelton

The Royals’ Rotation Looks Stronger Than Ever

Mariners, Casey Lawrence Agree To Minor League Deal (Again)

Orioles Designate Matt Bowman For Assignment

The Opener: Greene, Doubleheader, Dodgers, Diamondbacks

Fantasy Baseball Subscriber Chat With Nicklaus Gaut

MLB Mailbag: Red Sox, Alcantara, Cubs, Nats, Tigers, Mets, Jays

MLBTR Podcast: Replacing Triston Casas, A Shakeup In Texas, And The Blue Jays’ Rotation

The Astros’ Second Ace

ad: 300x250_5_side_mlb

MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

Latest Rumors & News

Latest Rumors & News

  • 2024-25 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
  • Nolan Arenado Rumors
  • Dylan Cease Rumors
  • Luis Robert Rumors
  • Marcus Stroman Rumors

 

Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

MLBTR Features

MLBTR Features

  • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
  • Front Office Originals
  • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
  • MLBTR Podcast
  • 2024-25 Offseason Outlook Series
  • 2025 Arbitration Projections
  • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
  • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
  • Contract Tracker
  • Transaction Tracker
  • Extension Tracker
  • Agency Database
  • MLBTR On Twitter
  • MLBTR On Facebook
  • Team Facebook Pages
  • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

Rumors By Team

  • Angels Rumors
  • Astros Rumors
  • Athletics Rumors
  • Blue Jays Rumors
  • Braves Rumors
  • Brewers Rumors
  • Cardinals Rumors
  • Cubs Rumors
  • Diamondbacks Rumors
  • Dodgers Rumors
  • Giants Rumors
  • Guardians Rumors
  • Mariners Rumors
  • Marlins Rumors
  • Mets Rumors
  • Nationals Rumors
  • Orioles Rumors
  • Padres Rumors
  • Phillies Rumors
  • Pirates Rumors
  • Rangers Rumors
  • Rays Rumors
  • Red Sox Rumors
  • Reds Rumors
  • Rockies Rumors
  • Royals Rumors
  • Tigers Rumors
  • Twins Rumors
  • White Sox Rumors
  • Yankees Rumors

ad: 160x600_MLB

Navigation

  • Sitemap
  • Archives
  • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

MLBTR INFO

  • Advertise
  • About
  • Commenting Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Connect

  • Contact Us
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feed

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top

Register

Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version