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Astros Notes: Verlander, France, Framber, Bullpen

By Steve Adams | February 22, 2024 at 4:50pm CDT

Astros camp kicked off last week with the revelation that right-handers Justin Verlander and J.P. France were both slightly behind schedule due to shoulder troubles. Both, however, have been progressing nicely over the past week-plus. Verlander tossed a bullpen session today, after which manager Joe Espada told reporters he’s “encouraged” with his ace’s progression from that shoulder issue (X link via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). France, meanwhile, pitched off a mound Wednesday — his first time doing so after being limited to flat ground work at the beginning of camp (X link via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).

It’s a positive step for both pitchers, though the team still hasn’t declared with any certainty that both players will be ready for Opening Day. If he’s healthy, Verlander would be the presumptive favorite to start Opening Day. France, meanwhile, figures to compete for a spot at the back of the rotation after impressing as a 28-year-old rookie in 2023. Houston manager Joe Espada has raised the possibility of a six-man rotation this year, which would allow France to continue starting alongside Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Hunter Brown and Jose Urquidy. That’s not set in stone at this point and will of course be dependent on how both righties continue to progress.

On the topic of Valdez, Chandler Rome of the Athletic wrote earlier this week that the left-hander says he has not yet received any sort of extension offer from the team this winter. Houston general manager Dana Brown listed Valdez as an extension target last offseason not long after being hired, and while the team and Valdez discussed parameters last spring, there was a sufficient enough gap that no deal was reached.

Valdez, 30, is controllable through the 2025 season. He and the Astros agreed to a $12.1MM salary for the upcoming season, avoiding an arbitration hearing in doing so. He’s finished ninth or better on each of the past two Cy Young ballots and touts a 3.13 ERA, a 23.5% strikeout rate, an 8.3% walk rate and a massive 63% ground-ball rate in 534 regular season innings, dating back to 2021. Valdez’s name briefly surfaced in trade rumors earlier in the winter, but a deal never seemed especially likely and now feels even less plausible with Verlander and France behind schedule. If anything, Brown has spoken frequently about his desire to constantly be adding to his pitching depth.

Elsewhere on the pitching staff, the Astros are set for an unusual amount of competition in the bullpen this spring, Kawahara writes in a full column. Josh Hader, Ryan Pressly and Bryan Abreu are locked into late-inning roles, and Rafael Montero’s three-year, $34.5MM contract (covering the 2023-25 seasons) assures him a spot as well. But the Astros lost Phil Maton and Hector Neris to free agency already, and they don’t seem especially likely to re-sign Ryne Stanek, either. They’ll also be without Kendall Graveman, who’ll miss the season due to shoulder surgery.

Among the options to step into prominent bullpen roles are righties Brandon Bielak, Ronel Blanco, Dylan Coleman, Shawn Dubin, Seth Martinez, Forrest Whitley and Oliver Ortega. All are on the 40-man roster, as are southpaws Parker Mushinski and Bennett Sousa. Righty Wander Suero is the most experienced non-roster invitee in camp.

Brown, the team’s general manager, tells Kawahara that the team will “take a close look” at Coleman in particular. Both Espada and pitching coach Josh Miller praised Coleman’s raw stuff and cited a belief that the Astros can get him back to his 2022 form, when he posted a 2.78 ERA, fanned nearly a quarter of his opponents and sat just shy of 98 mph with his heater. The 2023 season was a disaster for Coleman, however, as he posted an 8.84 ERA and walked 19 batters in 18 1/3 innings with Kansas City.

Sousa, too, will get strong consideration. Brown noted to Kawahara that if he’d been acquired prior to the Sept. 1 postseason eligibility deadline last year, he’d likely have been on Houston’s playoff rosters. Espada indicated that he doesn’t feel compelled to have a second lefty in the ’pen beyond Hader and is focused primarily on just carrying the best group the team has, regardless of handedness. Still, Sousa posted interesting strikeout, walk and swinging-strike rates in a small sample last season (29.4%, 5.9% and 12.9%, respectively) and has fanned nearly a third of his career opponents in parts of three Triple-A seasons.

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Houston Astros Notes Bennett Sousa Dylan Coleman Framber Valdez J.P. France Justin Verlander

White Sox Rule 5 Pick Shane Drohan Undergoes Shoulder Surgery
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Albert Pujols Interested In Future Managerial Role
View Comments (22)
Post a Comment

22 Comments

  1. mlb fan

    1 year ago

    I would have passed on Hader, signed Neris & Maton instead and used the tens of millions saved towards the resigning of either Bregman or Tucker.

    3
    Reply
    • User 1939973770

      1 year ago

      They will have Verlander’s salary coming off the books in 2025, so the savings from that should be favorable to signing Tucker.

      6
      Reply
      • Nolan Cross

        1 year ago

        Mets are paying majority of his salary for 2024.

        7
        Reply
        • User 1939973770

          1 year ago

          Correct.

          Reply
      • Nolan Cross

        1 year ago

        Should his option kick in for 2025 the Mets will be paying half his salary.

        Reply
    • StudWinfield

      1 year ago

      How does signing Hader impede the signing of either one? It didn’t seem like they were interested in signing both before Hader. If anything Hader gives them leverage in coming to an agreement with one of them. The team is going to remain competitive.

      4
      Reply
      • mlb fan

        1 year ago

        “How does signing Hader impede the signing”….The answer to that is easy bro. Money. There’s almost always a finite amount of it. Hader has an awful lot of stressful miles on him, because like all elite relievers managers go to them a lot. I remember how quickly Dellin Betances went from elite, high leverage reliever to out of baseball.

        1
        Reply
        • YankeesBleacherCreature

          1 year ago

          Betances had shoulder problems and averaged 70 games a season and often threw more than one inning. He was overused for sure. Hader’s career high is 61 games.

          Signing Hader doesn’t preclude resigning Bregman nor extending Tucker.

          2
          Reply
        • mlb fan

          1 year ago

          “Betances had shoulder”..Hader’s had years where he’s pitched up to 80+ innings and another where he pitched 75 ip. That’s a lot and nothing against Hader(he’s excellent)but it’s not wise to go 5 yrs with these premium reliever guys because with their high miles it’s only a matter of time before something breaks or ineffectiveness creeps in. No reliever not named Mariano Rivera should ever be given a 5 year deal in my opinion.

          1
          Reply
      • nosake

        1 year ago

        Signing Hader was a mistake. Pad’s fans know all-too-well what Hader pulled last season. Now you can, too.

        khon2.com/sports/sports-illustrated/18d8ed8b/padre…

        2
        Reply
    • clubberlang

      1 year ago

      Remember that after next year when Framber and Tucker are FA’s, Abreu, Montero, and Graveman will also be FAs which is roughly 40 million coming off. The following year McCullers and his $18 mil come off. That’s close to $60 mil in money that isn’t really helping this team win.

      2
      Reply
    • Salzilla

      1 year ago

      Hader made that pretty much the best bullpen in baseball so I disagree on that part.

      Just like anywhere else, they’ll have the money to sign the guys they want and won’t for the guys they don’t.

      3
      Reply
  2. spudchukar

    1 year ago

    Ok.ok, the Astros have options. Now totally unrelated but an arguing point. I say no team will win 100 games. Reasons to follow.

    Reply
    • Ignorant Son-of-a-b

      1 year ago

      Following

      Reply
    • PiratesFan1981

      1 year ago

      Dodgers hit 102 wins. They did quite a bit this offseason. Ohtani, Kershaw is back, Yomanto(I believe this is his name) a SP, and some others I can’t think of at the moment. Outside of Ohtani, most of the Dodgers moves have been under the radar. Ohtani signing drew the attention away from other signings or moves. Dodgers will be 102 wins for sure. Houston might be close but may see 98 wins. No other clubs give me that 100 win season.

      Reply
      • Ignorant Son-of-a-b

        1 year ago

        Dodgers will be able get mucho wins just from beating up on the Rockies and Padres all season. Those two teams are going to be really bad.

        Reply
      • Blue Baron

        1 year ago

        You believe Yomanto is Yamamoto’s name? How curious.

        Reply
        • PiratesFan1981

          1 year ago

          Oh look, the spell checker arrived. There is always one in every bunch. Just because I couldn’t remember the proper spelling of the name, doesn’t mean you didn’t know who I was referring too. I don’t have time to google names of individuals. But clearly this was a motive for you to feel superior to another. *rolls eyes*

          Reply
        • Blue Baron

          1 year ago

          You don’t have 5 seconds to Google and show the basic respect of correctly spelling his name, and yet you have time to write and post comments, including one attacking someone who tries to help you with that?

          That takes longer, Mr Self-Important.

          Reply
        • PiratesFan1981

          1 year ago

          No, there are other things I can be doing. Plus I don’t care to be honest.

          Reply
  3. 178iq

    1 year ago

    This guy is being watched for all the illegal “medical” treatments so, progress will be slow

    1
    Reply
  4. MLBTR needs to hire editors

    1 year ago

    Steve Adams is TERRIBLE at writing. What on earth is this??? “Sousa, too, will get strong consideration.”

    You call that syntax? “Too” goes at the END of the sentence, not at the start. And you can’t just replace “also” with it because you feel like it.

    Then there’s the other classic blunder of his. “Meanwhile” has to START THE SENTENCE. It can’t come in the middle between commas.

    Fire this clown.

    Reply

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