Astros right-hander Kendall Graveman underwent shoulder surgery last week and is expected to miss the 2024 season as a result, the team announced Tuesday. The team did not specify the nature of the procedure.
Graveman, 33, missed the 2023 postseason due to shoulder troubles. Doctors recommended a rest-and-rehab approach to the injury, and that proceeded well enough for the right-hander to begin throwing from flat ground as he ramped up for spring training. However, Graveman experienced renewed discomfort at some point upon resuming a throwing a program, leading to last week’s surgery.
Houston reacquired Graveman in a deadline trade that sent young catcher Korey Lee back to Chicago. The veteran Graveman had thrived with the Astros down the stretch in 2021 before signing as three-year, $24MM contract with the ChiSox in free agency. He returned to Minute Maid Park and posted a 2.42 ERA over 22 1/3 innings down the stretch. The performance wasn’t without its red flags, however; Graveman maintained a strong 25% strikeout rate but also posted an uncharacteristic 16.7% walk rate following the trade. Whether that was just an anomaly in a relatively small sample of an indicator that he wasn’t pitching at 100% can’t be fully known, but the end result is the same regardless of when the shoulder troubles initially became apparent.
The loss of Graveman is significant for the Astros. His acquisition was expected to fill a key role both in the 2023 and 2024 bullpen, but their relief corps will now be depleted further than anticipated. Houston has already seen righties Hector Neris, Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton become free agents this winter. With Graveman shelved, the setup bridge to closer Ryan Pressly becomes murkier. Bryan Abreu was brilliant in 2023 for a second straight season, but the rest of the setup corps is suspect.
Rafael Montero is entering the second season of a three-year, $34.5MM contract that looks regrettable after he limped to a 5.08 ERA in 67 1/3 frames during year one of the deal. The veteran righty did improve in the season’s second half, but it clearly wasn’t the year owner Jim Crane envisioned when signing Montero early last offseason before he had a general manager in place to take over for James Click.
Other setup options on the 40-man roster lack an established MLB track record. Each of Ronel Blanco, Bennett Sousa, Seth Martinez, Dylan Coleman, Oliver Ortega and Parker Mushinski has some MLB experience, but there are no proven options among the bunch.
For an Astros club that has seemingly been operating on a tight budget this winter, the Graveman injury is all the more problematic. General manager Dana Brown candidly acknowledged earlier in the offseason that he wasn’t working with much payroll flexiblity.
Graveman is set to earn an $8MM salary this coming season, and that money will still count against the team’s luxury ledger. Houston is right up against the luxury-tax threshold and ostensibly prefers not to cross that line. Perhaps that’ll push the team more toward the trade market if the plan to is to bring in some bullpen help from outside the organization, but an $8MM hit for a player who likely won’t pitch at all in 2024 is an unwelcome development for a front office that’s already been dealing with budgetary restrictions.
Bummer
Bum shoulder.
No, Graveman. (Aaron) Bummer is with Atlanta.
The situation is grave.
It’s Graveman, thanks, a superb 1990s horror comedy.
Though that might be Cemetery Man. Or was that Grassman, the unrated, unseen Ohio-based cheapie?
Karma
Unfortunate. Hopefully he has a complete recovery but shoulder surgeries if pitchers are problematic.
Does this increase the Astros appetite to bring back Nerris?
Lord – I think Jansen with one year (2024) left on his contract would be the best way to go.
Jansen isn’t too expensive no? Cubs could use another arm behind Alzolay if the Red Sox want to keep trimming payroll. Jansen doesn’t have to be the primary closer if that’s been issue with his time in Boston.
$16MM for a single reliever? The stros are great at getting the more out of less. They don’t need a closer. I’d almost guarantee they’d manage to find 2 effective relievers for that price tag.
16 million for 2024 for Jensen? Hmmm Boston would need to eat some of it…
Staying in the AL will help my Roto team. I approve.
What a time to do such nonsense
What nonsense, repairing a shoulder injury? He hurt it doing his offseason work, a plan he and the team undoubtedly collaborated on putting together.
He was hurt and missed the playoffs.
I imagine whether he had the surgery several months ago or today, he would have likely missed the entire season either way. So really nothing to lose to try rehab and see if there was a chance to pitch this year.
I wonder when the surgery would have been if he would have been a Free Agent after the 2023 season? Whether the team doctors held him back trying to rehabilitate and strengthen or waiting until after the first of the year to start the throwing program. Length of contract and guaranteed money allows the player to have the leverage to protect themselves in these instances.
Shoulder surgery is always concerning for pitchers. Never know how they’ll come back.
Too bad. He pitched well for the Astros on several different stints too.
Great Gogly Moogly, Graveman is in Grave condition, but he will be okay
I’ve been dying to use that in a comment. Well Played!
I don’t get it
I thought it was Great Oogley Moogley (although I have seen the alternative Great Oogedley Moogedley). I guess it’s all about your preferences for more syllables.
That means the Astros may lose 4 relievers this year! Graveman (2 months), Neris, Maton, and Stanek are all possible roster subtractions, especially with them being bear the tax threshold and facing rising arb costs.
@deGrom/Kershaw Texas Ranger
And people on here were laughing at me claiming last year that the Astros dominance is coming to an end.
Buh Bye!
This along with the rise of Rangers and to some extent Mariners could be their end. Maybe they need a new cheating system to stay on top
@ohyeadam
Mariners won’t be doing much. Their ownership isn’t willing to spend so they’ll probably be a .500 team or even below .500 in 2024. I think they had a decent window in 2022 but they avoided investing in the team that winter going into 2023.
@Old York- I’ll take that bet. The past 3 seasons, people have been yelling for Mariners regression and it’s yet to happen. They have a top 10, maybe top 5 rotation in Castillo, Kirby, Gilbert, Desclafani, and Miller/Woo with Hancock, Dollard, and McCaughan as 3 other solid fill-ins.
The lineup hinges on health, but subtracting Geno Suarez is not nearly the negative people are acting like it is, and JD traded an injured pitcher who wouldn’t contribute until July at the very earliest for a guy we know has an ability to rake in the Seattle marine layer. The lineup doesn’t look sexy, but there are two solid platoon options for 2B or 3B, and people should expect a bounceback season from France given his underlying numbers last season.
York: You’re way too pessimistic for 2024. They are looking like right where they were last season. Yes they need another bat. Astros are diminished and regression in store for Rangers, AL West is definitely in play.
All three will make the post season. .500 wins the ALC and the ALE is down from normal. No way both the Astros and Mariners have such bad starts to their seasons.
Astros won the AL West in 2023 and they will win again in 2024.
Still laughing at you – you guys have been saying it for years, yet the continue to get to the ALCS.
Barely backed their way in 2023. Only by Mariners beating the Rangers. Not because of any superiority in talent.
LMJ was out all year, Urquidy had a shoulder issue, Garcia was shut down in May and had TJS. They didn’t have 3/5th’s of their rotation. Abreu didn’t hit until September, their manager didn’t play McCormick or Diaz and relied upon Singleton’s .200 OBP in September/playoffs.
You can spin the narrative as if they barely got into the playoffs in 2023, or you can recognize that despite all the injuries, all the managerial poor choices, and all the underperformances they still won the west… that speaks volumes more than an artificial opinion like you have.
Astros 2024: Third Place in AL West
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
good one
I will come back to this one. Lol. I could see Arlington winning, but it is houston and the Rangers at the top. Nobody else is near them.
*near
Thoughts and prayers that he survives the surgery.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7217804/
While every field continues to make significant technological advances, the medical field seems to be lagging way behind.
That will continue until humans agree to start designing more reliable bodies.
At least it won’t be the White Sox Doctors operating on him. Reinsdorf hires the same guys for the Bulls that did such fine work on Lonzo Ball’s knee. Graveman and Liam Hendriks, The Sox can ruin them can’t they? Katz is the worst Pitching Coach in MLB.
Don’t forget Derrick Rose’s knees as well.
At least Kendall is dealing with the Astros medical staff, he’s safe from the godawful White Sox organization…
Yeah damn Sox medical staff gave Liam stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma. How dare they. You sure put the clown in clown car
I was talking about the Torn UCL they gave him for a consoltion prize doorknob. Figure it out. Dolt. Hopefully he went somewhere else to fix that. When just having cancer isn’t enough……Don’t let the W. Sox fix it.
Anyone remember the A’s-Blue Jays Josh Donaldson trade?
If you forgot the Donaldson trade—they managed to execute similar stinkers for Chappy, Olson & Murphy!
Limiting relievers to 1 and 2 year contracts is the right way to run a baseball team. It may cost the chance to sign an elite reliever here and there, but will save a lot of heartaches, headaches and disappointments down the line.
Setup guys are bit of a use them up and spit them out role like rb’s in football. The team that pays handsomely for them in FA often gets the worn out version.
Free agency in general provides the worn out version. I think MLB needs to drastically revamp their MiLB club control/MLB club control terms to allow for players to reach free agency sooner. It’s dumb having teams pay $30 million for a guy who will produce less WAR than someone 4-5 years younger on the 3rd year rookie deal or 1st arb year.
That’s what killed Rick Hahn. Playoff team on the precipice. Instead spends his resources on multi year deals to Graveman and Joe Kelly. Contrast the way Rays cycle through arms like as this wise poster notes, RBs.
Sure, if MLB also installed a salary cap.
Why would teams want to spend to draft and develop players, then watch them depart sooner? Doesn’t sound like a good model, especially for those teams in small markets that rely on the cheap players to survive, and who traditionally have to watch their best players depart once they grow too expensive.
“Worn out version”..Dellin Betances on line 1. I couldn’t agree more and have been saying it for years now.
The Astros slowplaying the offseason just bit them in the a**. Hopefully McCullers and Luis Garcia can come back quickly and be solid so they can move Hunter Brown, JP France and Ronel Blanco to the pen to make up for these blows.
Budgetary restrictions? Houston’s one of the largest markets in the country. What’s with this penny-pinching nonsense from Crane?
Good thing the Astros gave up Korey Lee, their #2 catching prospect for absolutely nothing. That trade was a complete waste.
Dems the breaks. This could really backfire if Corey takes the next step under the fine tutelage of Martin Maldonado
Working with Maldonado pretty much condemns him to mediocrity..
Tough loss for the Houston Cheaters
Do you say the same about the Dodgers/Red Sox/Yankees cheaters ?
When they are stripped of draft picks for cheating the same way the Astros were, I’ll consider it.
The Astros need to re-sign Maton or Neris, or both.
Hopefully Kendall will contact the Roger Beshens Football Slider lab in Arizona. Roger know’s any pitcher just needs to know his Grip,Tilt and Wrist action taught the correct way so it’s an Elite swing and miss pitch and the pitcher won’t get injured. Other organization like the Rays can’t figure that injury part out from that football slider.
Korey for nothing. And your chicks for free
About right. Was injured with White Sox. They peddled him back to Houston and he was able to throw 22 more innings before he couldn’t throw anymore. I watched him get torched in Chicago before the trade. Was 5-8 mph off. Was a free catcher plus salary relief.
Meh. Never heard of that. Wgatsabout Tom Emanski. Crime Dogg approves
That’s rough. I like Graveman. Speedy recovery. That does make the ‘Stro’s players in the RP market, though a probable reunion with one of their free agents would probably be the easiest means to an end.
another timely blown out arm after receiving a nice raise.
Kendall should contact Roger Beshens football slider guy. Too many watered down football sliders and injuries. He can fix that bad grip, tilt or wrist action in 22 seconds. Dr Neal ReAttachment loves when they dont.