Astros outfielder Michael Brantley still hasn’t played this season, repeatedly struggling to get fully back to health after last year’s shoulder surgery. Now manager Dusty Baker tells Chandler Rome of The Athletic that Brantley has “plateaued” in his attempt to come back (Twitter links). “He’s plateaued somewhat,” Baker said in response to a question of whether Brantley had increased his workload. “We want to increase it, but then we don’t want to have to go backwards either. I’d rather have it plateau for a while then increase it.”
Brantley, now 36, underwent the shoulder procedure in August of last year. He reached free agency at the end of last season and re-signed with the club on a one-year, $12MM deal with performance bonuses. Since then, he has made repeated attempts to get into game shape but has continued to hit speed bumps along the way, with the timeline continually pushed back.
He once seemed like he was going to be ready for Opening Day, but in early March, the expectation changed to “a week into the season at the worst.” He began the season on the injured list and the timeline then became that the club was hoping for a return in the “next couple of weeks.” He was sent out on a rehab assignment in late April but was shut down in early May due to inflammation. Since then, he has attempted to some baseball activities but hasn’t yet progressed enough to start another rehab assignment.
At this point, it’s very difficult to know what to make of Brantley’s current status or the likelihood of him returning to the field at all this year, let alone at his previous level of performance. The Astros are arguably the most evasive club in the league when it comes to providing health updates on their players and the ongoing Brantley saga has often been difficult to parse from the outside. While the long-term picture remains murky, today’s update seems to indicate that Brantley isn’t close to a return in the short term, since he’s still struggling to push his activities into another gear.
It’s undoubtedly frustrating both for Brantley and the Astros, who were surely hoping he could return as the consistently above-average hitter he’s been in his career. As recently as last year, prior to the surgery, he hit .288/.370/.416 through 277 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 127. But the club has been without that production at any point this year and has also seen Yordan Alvarez miss almost a month at this point due to a strained oblique.
Those two injuries have left Kyle Tucker the only left-handed bat to feature as a regular in the club’s lineup over the past few weeks and general manager Dana Brown has repeatedly highlighted another lefty bat as a deadline target. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the club is expecting Brantley to miss the remainder of the season, but perhaps the continual setbacks have made them realize that they can’t be wholly reliant on his return either.
The trade deadline is now effectively four weeks away, giving the club some time to gauge the market and continue to monitor Brantley’s progress. They are currently in possession of a Wild Card spot and figure to be making additions at that point regardless. They might also need some time to figure out who is available in trade talks, since few teams are clear-cut sellers at this point thanks to the expanded postseason and weak Central divisions.
Jeimer Candelario is a switch-hitter and should be available as an impending free agent on a rebuilding Nationals club. The Astros would likely prefer someone who can play the outfield, which Candelario has never done, but he could play the infield corners and serve as the designated hitter. Cody Bellinger could be available, though he’s struggled since coming off the injured list about three weeks ago and the Cubs are only six games back in the NL Central right now. Yasmani Grandal and Carlos Santana are switch-hitters that could be available, though both are hitting around league average so far this year, in addition to being in their mid-30s, making significant salaries and not being options for the outfield. Both of their clubs are also just 5.5 games back in their respective divisions.
The market will undoubtedly change quite a bit in the next few weeks as the on-field results push clubs in one direction or another, but the Astros seems likely to be shopping in this aisle. A return from Brantley could impact how aggressive they are in that pursuit, though it seems as though that’s not something they want to be banking on.
Might be done, unfortunately. I hope that’s not the case, but you’re seeing the signs here
This is like watching a rerun of a couple of his seasons in CLE. Had shoulder surgery, started rehab, and just when it seemed like he was making progress there was a setback, and the whole cycle started over again. At this point in his career he might as well hang it up. HOU did get a few good years out of him, though.
The Astros should have known better considering his shoulder issue but if someone was happy to give me $12 million dollars and struggle to get in baseball shape, I’d happily oblige
The hitting is coming around without Yordan in the lineup. The Astros need 2 starters and 2 new relievers.
They can run the risk of being blackballed by a club or MLB. Gotta play their politics if you like your job.
@isob
Cue Mark Knopfler…
Lemme tell ya!!
Money for nothin’….and gets his chicks for free?
Makes his money playing on THE MTV
I can’t stand it when clubs are all secretive & paranoid about giving out any kind of injury report or health status on their players. Not really sure why it needs to be classified information. If I was a beat reporter for the Astros I would bypass Crane & Brown and go straight to the player and ask him how he’s doing. Ridiculous.
Hey dude, you think there’s another deal coming after they dumped $4 mil in dead money today? Imo Only reason why they dealt Gott is to shed Flexens salary. So….why? They aren’t hurting for it right now at 18th in the majors in terms player payroll.
I smell trades!!!
@SODO oh, I’m sure something will happen. But at this point I have ZERO idea what could transpire. The Astros, Yankees, Twins, Angels all need the same offensive pieces we are seeking; for the most part. (And I’m not even going to the NL side of who needs what.) What the Mariners have going for them is we still have the better trade pieces and should outbid anybody going for the same player. (Yanks being the closest to having similar trade chips as us.) Loved that Tampa Bay series. I am hoping it’s a corner turned, but I have had that hope before.
… and the beat reporter who does that will then have limited access to the clubhouse and eventually be shut-out. The Media does not run the Show. Players are smart enough not to run their mouths to reporters either as it rarely helps their careers.
I don’t really see this as them being “secretive”. He’s could still got some discomfort with certain baseball-related activities, hence the answer.
Now if you were a beat reporter, you absolutely could go straight to Brantley and ask him. You’d also probably lose access to the clubhouse the very next day.
The Astros need help From Waste Management dumpster bins. Bang bang
You stay up all night thinking of that? Stick to your day job and quit living in the past that was 6 years ago.
Got any black Sox jokes you want to rehash?
Were the Astros penalized like the Black Sox then?
Have they given back their phony championship, and Altuve his phony MVP award?
Altuve never took part in it.
Drugs are bad mkay
First if you actually read the reports you would have known that Altuve got mad at his teammates when they would do it when he was batting
So since you’re out with your pitchfork do you think the Yankees got a fair punishment for decoding signs 2 years before the Astros in 2015 then having the commissioner cover it up in a sealed letter?
Or have the cardinals performing company espionage did they get punished correctly ?
Just stick to your drugs mrmackey mmmmmmkay
And also mrmackey mkay why don’t you review the Astros stats from that year to see they actually hit better across the entire board away than they did at home.
But again stick to your drugs mmmmmkay
espn.com/mlb/team/splits/_/name/hou/season/2017
Lol. Yeah the buzzer under his jersey was 100% innocent.
Cheating is bad, mkay. And Astros fans are the most deluded of all.
Show some proof. He wore a buzzer so I want 100% evidence not some conspiracy YouTube jerkoff, proof that is backed by any reputable source. Otherwise just walk away from the computer because you’re sounding way dumber than mrmackey mmmmmmmkay
You didn’t answer my question. Okay Astros cheated why didn’t the Yankees get punished for cheating?
What about all the active players who have mentioned ALL teams cheat? Nope just on a witch-hunt for the Astros.
Why not just admit what this is really about. Envy… the Astros have made 6 straight championship series, they’ve been to 4 World Series and have won 2. Meanwhile whatever pathetic team you watch can’t even sniff the playoffs.
No comment on the Astros hitting better in the road than at home in 2017? Hell I even linked to it because I know you’d be too high to find it yourself.
So again mrmackey drugs are bad mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmkay
I dunno who is worse. The guy who made the dumb joke. Or the 8 people who liked it
Probably his burner accounts
Your momma bang bangs.
Welcome to the mute list bang bang
I mean your name is “ignorant Son of a B” so I can expect that. Maybe because releasing medicals of injured players removes any leverage the team will have in any sort of trade talks for new players.
Man you really don’t know baseball. Little lesson for you junior, when players are traded it’s not official til all moving players have physicals by their new team. These physicals are then reviewed by MLB. Doesn’t matter if a team traded for Brantley not knowing his situation, he would fail the physical and the trade would be canceled.
Try watching a baseball game some time. The new rules such as the ghost runner and banning shifts are awful but it’s still the best sport in the world
I’m referring to covering up Brantley’s medicals in case they want to trade for another guy. The Astros want to appear as though they aren’t desperately in need for a player saying things like “one week into spring training at the latest” when we’re damn near the end of the season
I really feel Brantley is done. My feel right now is pitching help. Both starter and bullpen. See ASTROS have called Bielak back up and is starting Tuesday. Javier even struggled again today. Blew an eight run lead. Think 8 runs were charged to Javier. We do need a lefty bat too. But Dana is focused on that and still says our pitching great. Have top in ERA. Our rotation will be Framber, Javier, Urquidy, France and Hunter probably after ASB if he is due to return Urquidy that is. But I wonder if Houston gets rid of an outfielder wonder if could be Meyers. He has fallen and Chas is rising. He can play all outfield spots and Julks is LF only.. But will see what happens.
He should’ve retired. Terrible signing. An old oft-injured AND injured at time of signing, light hitting, no fielding DH. He’s a good guy but it was evident half way through last season that he was done.
I get that they need help and now but this article does not talk about what they can offer another team to get it. Yes, this site ran an article recently about surplus outfielders they have available but talented enough to get the pitching help or added offense they need?
Done probably it’s a shame
Solid hitter.sad to hear.
Dammit Jim! You’re an owner, not a GM!
I think this season they have not been forth coming with injuries. I know with Garcia he knew something was wrong as he called Maldy to mound. I think he knew it was not good. But Dusty said in an interview then hoped was minor not that he would need TJ. I wonder if trainer knew was deeper issue.
McCullers was not a lot saying there either. McCullers said thought they could do things to avoid surgery but feel he may be done. Garcia will not be back till August or September of next season if that. So tells me starters will be a need for next season probably during off season. Bullpen too. Perhaps catcher as well.
With Brantley I remember discussion on him and Conforto. Conforto had shoulder surgery I think. But he had it earlier than Brantley. Brantley kept going till was no choice late last season. Just do not think he had enough recovery time. But he has been a cheerleader for the team. But if Dierden makes team or Gilbert next season. See outfield crowded and see why talk of getting rid of one.
If his recovery has “plateaued” then legally Michael Brantley is now Permanent & Stationary for rating purposes.
Dusty Baker does not appear to understand that.
Everyone gets told they can’t play the kids game anymore. Some of us at 18 some of us at 40, but we all get told.
If they want an OF who can bat lefty the Rockies should be willing to trade them Profar for a middling prospect. But he might not be much of an upgrade.
How about a trade for Verdugo? What would the ask be?
Astros need pitching way more than hitting. Yordan/chaz/tucker with Julks/Meyers as the 4th outfielder
“Plateaued” as in he can only hit fastballs when the trashcans tell em it’s a fastball, cheaters gonna cheat, should rile up sanctimonious stros fans n the drum beats on
Haters gonna hate!!!
He joined the Astros in 2019
He played against the Astros in 2017