The Astros are going to add right-hander Joel Kuhnel to their roster, with Chandler Rome of The Athletic among those to relay the news. Left-hander Parker Mushinski will be optioned to open an active roster spot while Wander Suero has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot, per Rome.
The Astros haven’t had an off-day since last Thursday and their bullpen has been getting heavy use of late. On Monday, the injury of Framber Valdez led to the club sending out Blair Henley to make his major league debut, but he couldn’t make it out of the first inning. Cristian Javier had a fine start on Tuesday but then Spencer Arrighetti made his major league debut on Wednesday and was only able to log three innings. Then Hunter Brown was pummelled yesterday, allowing nine earned runs on 11 hits while only recording two outs.
Amid all of that, the relievers have had to grind through innings, which included Mushinski throwing 54 pitches over 2 2/3 on Wednesday. He was likely looking at being down for a few days after that so the club has optioned him out for a fresh arm.
Kuhnel, 29, has 83 2/3 innings of big league experience. Most of that was with the Reds, though he joined the Astros in a cash deal in June of last year. His 6.02 earned run average for his career is obviously not impressive, nor is his 19.3% strikeout rate, though there are some more encouraging numbers to look at. His fastball averages in the mid-90s, he’s limited walks to a 6.5% clip and he’s been able to keep 52.5% of balls in play on the ground.
The Astros designated him for assignment in January and the righty elected free agency but the Astros brought him back via a minor league deal. He’ll now get a chance to join the beleaguered bullpen and hopefully give them a boost. He has an option remaining and can perhaps be kept as a depth arm if the club needs yet another roster move in the days to come. He also has less than two years of service time and can be retained for future seasons if he continues to hang onto that 40-man roster spot.
Suero, 32, has been on a similar trajectory to Kuhnel in that he also signed a minor league pact with Houston in the winter and had his contract selected to help out the staff this week. He was added on Tuesday and put into that night’s game against the Royals. He came to the mound in the bottom of the 10th and allowed a single to Salvador Perez, scoring the free runner from second and ending the game without Suero recording an out.
He was optioned the next day to get Arrighetti onto the active roster and has now lost his spot on the 40-man as well. The Astros will have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he will have the right to elect free agency, both due to his three-plus years of service time and a previous career outright.
He has a 4.75 ERA in 193 1/3 major league innings in his career, striking out 25.4% of opponents with a walk rate of 8.6%. But he had a 4.10 ERA from 2018 to 2020 and a 6.57 ERA since then. Despite the shaky results of late, plenty of clubs need pitching right now and Suero’s option means that he won’t require an active roster spot.
astros cant cheat their way out of it this time! pitchers are dropping like flies. and the AAA garbage they bring up arent good enough for the diablo de los rojas in the mexicali league
So they cheated their way to a WS win in 2022?
I can’t wait to see what your evidence is to support that.
7 years ago. There are almost no players from that team left. Move on
They can’t move on. It’s not about logic or facts to a lot of people. People spend how much money every year on tabloids to mock people richer and more successful than they are. It’s entertainment for people who need to feel better about themselves.
Surprised they haven’t signed Greinke, with all their injuries. Just to eat some innings while they weather the storm.
This is the year the bottom drops out for the rays and Astros. Both 75 win teams
“Bottom drops out”…I believe the Astros will win 80+ games but not contend and will surely rue the day they decided to sign a 95M closer with thousands of miles on his arm. They could’ve had a better bullpen by spending 30M+ on 2 good relievers and using the other 65M to help retain Tucker or Bregman.
@fan
thousands of miles?
hader has 390 CAREER major league innings
i think cy young threw that many innings by the AS break one year
@Johnny Utah.
Yes, thousands of miles. All miles are not created the same. Hader has thousands of HIGH LEVERAGE, pressure packed miles on his arm and is already showing signs of wear and decline.
its been 6 games brah
It’s not anti Hader, but I wouldn’t give ANY reliever(not named Mariano Rivera) that type deal because you don’t have to. 90% of the best relievers in the game are getting no where near that type money. I just think spreading the $ around is a far better way to go. I just believe the Hader and the Abreu contracts were serious missteps. It’s probably going to cost them both Bregman & Tucker.
Could be.
Yikes….do they really not have a better option lol? Reds fan here who painfully remembers Kuhnel and his stats don’t look any better than I remember
With 5 starting pitchers and 1 reliever all injured, we are desperate.
Another trash AAA player being brought up. Guy’s gonna get destroyed. Astros falling apart.
Bauer & Greinke are still available.
It’s been a long time since the Astros had pitching woes like this. Brent Strom is missed.
I think some people spend more time hating the Astros than they do rooting for their own team lol. Must have been a terrible 7 or 8 years for them.
Bauer on Line1
I think the Astros will be fine once they get their pitchers back off the IL. But it could be tough until then.
Yeah, they may get some guys back, but they’ve already dug themselves a pretty deep hole. This may not be our year. I’m optimistic that they’ll ĝet it together soon, but I’m not sure how.
The Astros made a good run and see the team to beat for this last decade. Could this season be their first losing season. Multiple injuries to a talented starting pitching staff can burn out their organizational pitching depth. MLB hitters are very good a picking out any weakness. The Bullpen will get overwhelmed and burn out at this pace.