Astros right-hander Luis Garcia will have some sort of elbow surgery and miss the entire 2026 season. Manager Joe Espada relayed the info to reporters, including Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
It’s a devastating blow for Garcia, who has already had a rough go of it in recent years. He has hardly pitched at all since the 2022 season. He made just six starts in 2023 before requiring Tommy John surgery. His attempts to return to the mound in 2024 repeatedly hit setbacks and he ended up missing that entire season.
He still wasn’t healthy to begin 2025 and he repeatedly hit more setbacks. He finally made it off the injured list in September. His first big league start in over two years went quite well, as he allowed three runs over six innings against the Angels. But in his second start, he didn’t make it out of the second frame. Facing the Blue Jays in Toronto, he called for the trainers and quickly departed. He was then placed on the 15-day IL due to elbow discomfort. He was transferred to the 60-day IL a few days later.
Given all the stops and starts of the past few years, it’s not especially surprising that something is amiss. Espada didn’t provide any specifics about what kind of surgery Garcia will require, but the fact that the procedure will wipe out his 2026 points to another ulnar collateral ligament operation. More details will likely be revealed after the procedure takes place.
The big question now is what’s over the horizon. By the time the 2026 campaign is done, Garcia will have essentially missed four seasons. Even if he does eventually get back to something resembling full health, there will be natural workload concerns after so much missed time.
Garcia is currently in his second arbitration season. He made $1.875MM both last year and this year. He can be retained via arbitration for 2026 but he’ll be non-tendered now that he’s going to miss the entire season.
Once he becomes a free agent, it’s possible that some club will sign him to a two-year deal. Such pacts are common for players rehabbing from notable surgeries. With such arrangements, the player get to bank some money while rehabbing. The signing team knows it won’t get anything in the first year of the deal but hopes that the investment pays off in the second season. Garcia does have a decent track record in the big leagues, with a 3.60 earned run average in 359 2/3 innings, but the exhausting extent of his recent time in the wilderness will surely make clubs hesitant to put money on him.
For the Astros, they already knew they weren’t getting anything out of Garcia this year, given that he was quickly put on the 60-day IL a few weeks ago. They probably didn’t have too much hope for him in 2026 but he’s now officially ruled out of next year’s plans as well.
They are about to lose Framber Valdez to free agency, so their on-paper 2026 rotation consists of Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier, with guys like Jason Alexander, Colton Gordon, AJ Blubaugh, J.P. France and others potentially in the mix. Spencer Arrighetti should have a spot if he’s healthy, though he is currently gathering opinions on his elbow. Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter each required Tommy John surgery and will be sidelined into next year.
Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images
Friggin’ RIP.
They need to do a deep dive into their pitching department.
Seriously… Word to Hunter Brown: buy arm insurance.
They need a deep dive into their team doctors.
Man. Gonna be a tough road back for this guy. That’s basically 3 years in row of nothing but surgery and rehab. All before 27.
More like 4 yrs
Made only 6 starts in 2023, missed all of 24, 2 starts in 25, out all of 26
Then hits FA
Thats what i call a ROUGH patch
Yikes.
Non tender there. Sucks for Luis because that’s probably it for his career. If you can’t come back fully from a TJ surgery you had two and a half years before, you’re done.
Surgery doesn’t work anymore?? Guys are right back under the knife immediately. Feel bad for these guys. It’s very common now.
We’re getting to a place where whole staffs, essentially, are out for the season. It sucks for the building of a fan base.
Building of a fan base?
That’s quite rich talking about fanbases especially from you
teams are stressing velocity. nasty stuff with hard bite. It all rips apart the elbow. Gone are the days of Greg Maddux.
Yeah and then they wonder why so many pitchers get injured. It doesn’t take a doctor to figure that out.
He started getting hurt when they made him change his windup because it “took too long”. That was a very stupid rule that the MLB implemented
A change like that isn’t for the time rule, it’s to keep base runners from stealing. If you take too long to throw the ball, you’re basically gifting them a free base
He never pitched from the windup with runners on base. He pitched from the stretch like literally every pitcher does
@raregokus right, that’s why i made that point that the reason you would make a change due to it taking too long is only for baserunners. The OP’s statement that he only got hurt bc he changed his windup is pretty nonsensical
There are no rules about how long a windup can be. The pitch clock stops the moment the windup initiates, at first motion, not when the ball is released.
Ugh. The Astros are going to need to find a few pitchers this off-season. Like around 4 or 5.
The new Lance McCullers Jr, on the same team as lance
The Mets can use an Ace Valdez, if they don’t trade for DeGrom or Skenes next season. If no DeGrom or Skenes, 2026 Mets rotation: Valdez, McLean, Manaea, Sproat, Tong and Scott, with Peterson, Holmes and Senga going into the BP.. With the $$ that they free up from Marte, Winker, Mullins, Stanek, Helsley and Diaz if he opts out, sign Schwarber and Valdez
Mets trading for degrom would be wild I don’t think he wants to have zero run support again
It all went downhill when he switched from a sick pseudo-Jerry-curl to braids. Arms don’t suffer as much when you’re dancing on the ceiling.
But OHHHH what a feeling.
The best bet is to make him a relief pitcher when he gets back
Rays-esque pitching injuries here. Stros are in a tough spot with the $ commitments on the books. They’ve been on an incredibly long successful run but you have to think that is nearing its expiration date.