Poll: Which Team Has Been Most Impacted By Injuries This Year?
Every year, teams that are widely expected to succeed at the outset of the season stumble due to injury woes. Teams that look strong on paper can often perform much less impressively if even one or two key players are removed from the mix, and even the very best teams can look vulnerable with a long enough string of tough-luck injuries. 2026 has been no exception to this so far, with several teams facing substantially tougher roads in the months ahead thanks to an early injury or three putting them on the back foot. Which team has it worst when it comes to the injury bug? Here’s a few of the leading contenders, in alphabetical order:
Atlanta Braves
One look at Atlanta’s list of injured players makes it easy to see why they’re in this conversation. The Braves’ injured starting pitchers would be a respectable starting rotation when taken together: Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Hurston Waldrep, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Joey Wentz are all currently on the shelf. While Wentz is more of a back-end starter or swing man, the other four would all be in the conversation to start playoff games for the Braves alongside future Hall of Famer Chris Sale if they were healthy. In addition to the starting pitching woes, the Braves are without two key members of their lineup: catcher Sean Murphy and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. Despite this deep group of talented players on the shelf, it can be argued the Braves haven’t been too impacted by those issues: they’re actually leading the NL East at the moment, and scorching hot starts from Drake Baldwin and Mauricio Dubon have helped fans to forget about the losses of Murphy and Kim.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles could be easy to overlook on a list like this given their considerable depth all over the diamond, but that depth has been tested a great deal already this year. Zach Eflin is out for the year as he faces UCL surgery, but unlike other teams on this list the rotation is the least of Baltimore’s woes. A lineup that is currently without Jordan Westburg (elbow sprain), Jackson Holliday (hamate surgery), Adley Rutschman (ankle inflammation), Tyler O’Neill (concussion), Ryan Mountcastle (foot fracture) and Heston Kjerstad (hamstring strain) has been rather resilient in the face of those many losses thanks to the team’s deep positional corps. The bullpen has not been so fortunate, as last summer’s loss of Felix Bautista has been compounded by injuries to Keegan Akin and Andrew Kittredge to completely upend the Orioles’ late-inning mix outside of Ryan Helsley.
Chicago Cubs
While some teams collapse under the weight of several injuries piling up, the Cubs have struggled to stomach just one major loss. Star right-hander Cade Horton looked like an up-and-coming ace with the club last year, but just two starts into what would’ve been his first season in the majors, the right-hander was sidelined for UCL surgery. That’ll leave the Cubs without their best pitcher for the entire year, all while Justin Steele is still rehabbing from his own UCL surgery last April. The loss of Horton isn’t the only injury the Cubs have faced this year, either. Seiya Suzuki missed the start of the season after getting hurt during the WBC, though he’s since returned to the lineup. Matthew Boyd is currently sidelined by an arm injury of his own, and the team’s top two bullpen additions from the offseason (Phil Maton and Hunter Harvey) have both recently gone on the injured list as well. Losing Horton might be the biggest individual blow any team has faced so far this year, though other teams surely have it worse than the Cubs when it comes to volume.
Houston Astros
The Astros have had a brutal run of injuries so far this year. Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are both sidelined with shoulder strains. Tatsuya Imai (arm fatigue) joined them on the shelf and Cody Bolton (mid-back tightness) is also banged up. Things aren’t much better outside of the rotation. An outfield mix that was already looking thin before the season began lost its best starter in center fielder Jake Meyers to an oblique strain. The infield lost Jeremy Peña to a hamstring strain. The bullpen has also struggled badly without star closer Josh Hader, who has been sidelined by biceps tendinitis without much clarity on his timeline for a return to action. Other, smaller loses include outfielder Zach Dezenzo, lefty Bennett Sousa, and right-hander Nate Pearson. That’s on top of the continued absences of players like Hayden Wesneski and Ronel Blanco due to surgeries underwent last season.
Toronto Blue Jays
The reigning AL champs have struggled badly with injuries all over the roster this year. The most obvious are those in the rotation, where all of Cody Ponce, Bowden Francis, Jose Berrios, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage are currently shelved with only Yesavage likely to return any time soon. That’s left the Jays to rely on Patrick Corbin and an injured Max Scherzer in the early going. While the lineup hasn’t been quite as damaged as the rotation, there’s still been significant losses. Alejandro Kirk is in the midst of six-week absence due to thumb surgery. Anthony Santander was sidelined before the year even began by shoulder surgery. George Springer (fractured toe) and Addison Barger (sprained ankle) are facing injuries of their own. While the bullpen has remained intact, the number of injuries in the rotation and lineup have left the Jays looking very different than they would when healthy.
Other Options
Those five teams aren’t the only ones facing injury woes, of course. The Mets have an argument given that Juan Soto is probably the most impactful talent on the injured list all throughout the league at the moment, though he’ll be back in a few weeks and they lack other significant injuries. The Yankees are currently without players like Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, and Anthony Volpe, but those injuries were known during the offseason and the club was able to construct their roster around them. The Dodgers’ losses of Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman, and Blake Snell are certainly significant, but it’s hard to say they’re being impacted too much when they have the best record in baseball. The Brewers have a strong argument for this list in the event that Christian Yelich joins Quinn Priester and Jackson Chourio on the shelf, though that isn’t yet certain. The Reds have stayed healthy in the lineup and bullpen, but the losses of Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo are obviously a big blow to their rotation.
Which team do MLBTR readers think has been most impacted by injuries this year? Have your say in the poll below:
Which team has been most impacted by injuries in 2026?
Astros Place Jeremy Peña, Tatsuya Imai On Injured List
The Astros announced that they have placed infielder Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a grade 1 hamstring strain. Right-hander Tatsuya Imai has been placed on the 15-day IL due to right arm fatigue. Both of those IL placements are retroactive to April 12th. Right-hander Jayden Murray has been optioned to the Triple-A Sugar Land. In corresponding moves for those three, Houston has recalled left-hander Colton Gordon, right-hander J.P. France and infielder/outfielder Shay Whitcomb. France was just optioned and would normally have to wait 15 days before being recalled but an exception is made when someone is going on the IL.
At this point, there hasn’t been anything to indicate that either injury is particularly serious. However, the double blow is notable when considering the larger context. The team has already suffered a number of injuries and two more won’t help.
Peña departed Saturday’s game with an injury. The team initially announced the issue as right posterior knee tightness, though it appears further testing has found a hamstring strain. The Astros lost their center fielder a few days earlier, as Jake Meyers suffered an oblique strain. Now they will be without their everyday shortstop as well.
Losing Peña isn’t a good thing but the only silver lining is that it will be easier to spread playing time around to the club’s other infielders. Christian Walker has played almost every day at first base and the same is true of Jose Altuve at second base. Carlos Correa has been at third most days but has also taken over at short a few times to give Peña a day off. Isaac Paredes has slotted in at third when Correa has been at short and has also taken some time as the designated hitter when Yordan Alvarez is the DH.
With Peña now on the shelf for a bit, it’s possible the Astros could stabilize things by having Correa at short regularly, allowing Paredes to cover third on an everyday basis. That would mean less time in the field for Alvarez.
Losing Imai is potentially more impactful, even though he’s less established in the big leagues than Peña. Most of Houston’s injuries have been on the pitching side, so another domino falling there is worrisome. Both Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier have been felled by shoulder strains in recent weeks and now Imai is also on the shelf.
Losing three starting pitchers in quick succession is never good but it’s particularly poor timing in this case. The Astros are three games into a stretch of playing 13 in a row. They had planned to use a six-man rotation to get through that stretch, at least in part to accommodate Imai. Pitchers in Japan normally pitch once a week, as opposed to the five-day rotation that is common in North America. Using six starters for the 13 straight games would have helped Imai stay on a schedule he’s accustomed to while he’s still new to Major League Baseball.
Imai started on Friday in Seattle but didn’t make it out of the first inning. He walked the first two batters, allowed a single, threw a wild pitch, walked another batter, hit a guy with a pitch, induced a groundout and then walked another batter. He had already thrown 37 pitches and had recorded just one out when the Astros pulled him. The next day, he left the team for Houston to undergo testing for his fatigue. There’s no real information about his status but the Astros will proceed without him for at least a couple of weeks.
France, Ryan Weiss and Steven Okert combined to absorb 6 2/3 innings after Imai departed, with Enyel De Los Santos throwing in an inning as well. France was then optioned with Murray recalled. Lance McCullers Jr. took the ball on Saturday and lasted 4 1/3, with five relievers pitching after him. Yesterday, Cody Bolton started but only lasted one inning before he was removed due to back tightness. Murray pitched two innings in relief and Christian Roa took on 2 2/3, while two other relievers pitched shorter outings.
It’s already been quite a taxing few days for the club, with still ten games to go before their next day off. Mike Burrows is starting today’s game. After that, it’s fairly up in the air. Weiss, France and Roa are somewhat stretched out from their recent long relief work and could chip in. Spencer Arrighetti, Miguel Ullola and Jason Alexander are on optional assignment and could be recalled, though Alexander just threw six innings at Triple-A yesterday while Ullola threw 2 2/3 on Saturday. Arrighetti’s last outing was six innings on April 9th, so he could be next up.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Phil Garner Passes Away
Former three-time All-Star and longtime manager Phil Garner passed away on Saturday at age 76. A statement released by Garner’s family praised the medical care given to Garner during his fight with pancreatic cancer, and said that “Phil never lost his signature spark of life he was so well known for or his love for baseball which was with him until the end.”
Debuting with the Athletics in 1973, Garner hit .260/.323/.389 over 6136 plate appearances and 1860 games with the A’s, Pirates, Astros, Dodgers, and Giants during his 16-year career as a big league player. He became Oakland’s everyday second baseman in 1975 and received his first All-Star nod in 1976, but he was dealt after that season as part of a nine-player trade with the Pirates.
Garner played both second and third base (with some appearances at shortstop) during his four-plus years in Pittsburgh. His best season in terms of both personal and team accomplishments came in 1979, when Garner had a career-best 3.9 fWAR while hitting .293/.359/.441 with 11 homers and 17 steals for the Pirates’ World Series-winning team, which remains the last Buccos club to win a championship. Garner was a huge part of that title run, delivering a phenomenal .472/.537/.722 slash line over 41 PA during the postseason.
The Pirates traded Garner to the Astros partway through the 1981 campaign, and he went on to have several more successful years in a Houston uniform before his production declined in 1987. The Dodgers acquired Garner in a trade partway through the 1987 campaign but the change of scenery didn’t spark his bat, and Garner then played 15 games with the Giants over his final year as a player.
Garner’s gritty and grinding playing style made him a fan favorite, and perhaps all you need to know about Garner is that he was known as “Scrap Iron,” a nickname coined by former Pirates announcer Milo Hamilton. The blunt and tough-but-fair approach stuck with Garner in his post-playing days, as he went onto a successful second career as a manager over 15 seasons with the Brewers, Tigers, and back in Houston with the Astros.
As a skipper, Garner posted a 985-1054 career record, beginning with a 92-win season as Milwaukee’s manager in 1992. This was the only winning record Garner would post in eight seasons with the Brewers and three seasons in Detroit (from 2000-02), but he broke through in 2004 after being hired to take over an Astros team that had a 44-44 record.
Houston went 48-26 the rest of the way under Garner, and fell just short of a World Series appearance after losing the NLCS to the Cardinals in a memorable seven-game battle. The Astros beat St. Louis in a rematch the next season for the first pennant in Houston franchise history, though the Astros were swept by the White Sox in the World Series.
We at MLB Trade Rumors extend our condolences to Garner’s family, friends, and many fans.
Cody Bolton To Undergo Imaging For Mid-Back Tightness
Right-hander Cody Bolton only recently stepped into a beleaguered Astros rotation, but his spot already appears to be in danger. As noted by Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle, Bolton was removed from his start for the Astros today in the second inning due to what was described as “mid-back tightness.” That’s the same spot where Bolton was hit by a pitch during a spot start against the Rockies last week, and while he underwent imaging on the area in the aftermath of that incident he’s now set to undergo another round of imaging after the injury resurfaced tonight.
While the Astros haven’t said yet whether or not Bolton will require a trip to the injured list or how long he’ll be out, it certainly seems to be trending that way. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported this evening that right-hander J.P. France is headed back to Seattle to re-join the Astros just one day after being optioned to the minors. As Rome notes, that’s only an allowable transaction if France is replacing a player on the injured list. That would certainly indicate that the Astros expect Bolton (or another pitcher with an as-of-yet unknown ailment) to require a trip to the shelf, though it’s at least possible that France is rejoining the team purely as an insurance policy against the possibility of Bolton heading to the IL.
Bolton, 28 in June, entered this year with a career 5.79 ERA in the majors but had been pitching rather well with the Astros in his limited opportunities. In 7 1/3 innings of three-run ball this year entering today, Bolton had struck out ten while walking just three. That all unraveled today, when he surrendered two runs on one hit and four walks before exiting with manager Joe Espada and a team trainer. France, 31, made his big league debut with the Astros back in 2023 and enjoyed a strong season at the back of Houston’s rotation. Since then, however, he’s pitched to a 7.31 ERA and 5.19 FIP in 32 innings of work at the big league level, including 2 2/3 innings of four-run ball earlier this year.
This potential switch comes against the backdrop of a litany of major pitching injuries for the Astros. Ace righty Hunter Brown is currently sidelined with a shoulder strain, and right-hander Cristian Javier was sidelined with the same ailment not long after. With Tatsuya Imai now back in Houston to be evaluated due to “arm fatigue,” that leaves the Astros’ rotation in tatters. If Bolton and Imai wind up on the IL, that will leave Mike Burrows and Lance McCullers Jr. as the only healthy starters on the major league roster. France could join that group, as could depth arms like Spencer Arrighetti and Colton Gordon.
Jeremy Pena Leaves Game Due To Knee Tightness
Houston’s 7-2 lead on Saturday turned into an 8-7 loss to the Mariners, and the tough loss also contained yet another injury concern for the struggling Astros. Shortstop Jeremy Pena left the game in the fourth inning due to what the team described as right posterior knee tightness, and Pena told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters postgame that he’ll undergo imaging today.
The knee tightness first arose on Friday in a more limited fashion, Pena said, and he didn’t let the training staff know about the issue since it faded as Friday’s game went on. “I didn’t tell anybody, which I probably should have,” Pena said. “I woke up today feeling pretty good, went into the game feeling really good, and then it tightened up on me.”
The issue resurfaced when Pena was running the bases on Saturday. After reaching on a single, Pena advanced to second base on a Yordan Alvarez fly ball, and then to third after Isaac Paredes singled. Once he reached third base, Pena indicated some discomfort in his knee and was removed for pinch-runner Nick Allen. Pena downplayed the severity of his injury and felt his removal was just a “precaution,” though “we’ll have a better understanding…after we get some imaging done.”
Injuries have already been a factor for Pena in 2026, as he sustained a small fracture in the tip of his right ring finger while playing in an exhibition game for the Dominican Republic’s team in advance of the World Baseball Classic. Pena was able to avoid the injured list, though the Astros have played him in only 10 of the team’s 15 games as a way of allowing some extra rest and recovery time until his finger was fully healed.
Houston’s next off-day isn’t until April 23, so Pena don’t have the benefit of any built-in schedule help if he needs a day or two to rest up his knee. The Astros are deep enough in the infield to get by if Pena only misses a bit of time, or has a minimal 10-day IL stint — Carlos Correa can slide over from third base to shortstop, and Paredes can then take over at third base.
That being said, the last thing the Astros need is another injury situation given how the club has already been plagued by poor health. Most of the hits have come on the pitching side (Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and closer Josh Hader are just three of the eight pitchers on the IL), and the lineup is also missing Jake Meyers to a Grade 2 oblique strain.
Astros Outright Roddery Muñoz
April 11th: Muñoz was outrighted to Triple-A Sugar Land and pitched for them today. That seems to indicate he cleared waivers and then the Reds declined to take him back.
April 6th, 4:00pm: Muñoz has been designated for assignment, the team announced. Reliever Enyel De Los Santos was activated from the IL to take Muñoz’s spot on the roster. Infielder Isaac Paredes is also back from the bereavement list. Shay Whitcomb was optioned to Triple-A.
1:45pm: The Astros have placed Rule 5 pick Roddery Muñoz on outright waivers, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Players can be placed on waivers while remaining on the 40-man roster but it seems likely that the Astros plan to cut the right-hander. If any club claims him, they would also be bound by the Rule 5 parameters. If he clears waivers, he would have to be offered back to the Reds, who could assign him to the minors without putting him on the 40-man roster.
Muñoz was an unusual Rule 5 selection. Most guys taken in that draft have been in the minors for a few years without getting a big league shot. Muñoz had already seen a notable amount of time in the majors, having tossed 93 2/3 for the Marlins and Cardinals. He didn’t have much success, however, with a 6.73 earned run average in that time. He exhausted his option years over the 2023 to 2025 seasons.
The Cards put him on waivers in November. The Reds claimed him, non-tendered him and re-signed him to a minor league deal. Shortly thereafter, the Astros grabbed him in the Rule 5. He had a good spring, striking out 16 opponents in ten innings. He did allow five earned runs but the punchouts were enough to get him an Opening Day roster spot. Unfortunately, he has been lit up to start the season. Through four innings, he has allowed seven earned runs. He racked up six strikeouts but also gave out six walks and threw two wild pitches.
Even if Muñoz weren’t out of options, he couldn’t be sent to the minors as a Rule 5 guy. It seems the Astros have run out of patience and will make a move. As mentioned, teams are allowed to place players on waivers while keeping them on the active roster, so it’s possible Muñoz could still be with the club tonight. However, it’s also possible he gets designated for assignment before game time to make way for someone else.
Rule 5 guys can be traded or claimed off waivers. If any other team takes a shot on Muñoz, they would be bound by the same Rule 5 parameters. If he clears waivers, he’ll be offered back to the Reds. That club could send him to the minors as non-roster depth.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Astros Option J.P. France, Recall Jayden Murray
The Astros have made a pair of minor pitching moves after Tatsuya Imai exited his start with right arm fatigue. According to Chandler Rome of The Athletic, the team has optioned right-hander J.P. France to Triple-A and recalled Jayden Murray to take his spot on the roster.
France’s contract was selected from Triple-A two days ago. His selection was mostly to give the Astros a fresh bullpen arm, and he was ultimately used for 2 2/3 long relief innings in the team’s 9-6 loss to the Mariners yesterday. Although he did not earn the loss, France walked four batters and allowed four earned runs, including the game’s deciding runs. With France having thrown 59 pitches and likely being unavailable for a few days, the team opted to cycle in Murray as another fresh arm.
That the club is keeping France on the 40-man roster means is a good sign for him. He was designated for assignment back in January, but it appears he’ll get more big league opportunities this time around. That may be partly due to Cristian Javier‘s uncertain status after he incurred a shoulder injury on Wednesday. It is also due to the fact that France is now healthy after missing significant time in 2024-25. In 24 innings at Triple-A last year, the righty posted a 6.59 ERA while striking out 21.9% of opponents and walking 17.2%. While his ERA and walk rate were eyesores, some rust was expected after a long layoff, and the club was probably happy just to have him pitching in games again. For his part, France has a more manageable 4.49 ERA and 8.9% walk rate in 168 1/3 big-league innings.
In the meantime, the 29-year-old Murray joins the active roster as the last man in the bullpen. Since joining the Astros organization in a trade with the Rays in 2022, Murray has mostly pitched at the Triple-A level. He threw 64 innings in 50 relief appearances there in 2025, posting a 4.64 ERA along with a 10.6% walk rate. He made his major league debut last year with a small sample of 11 2/3 innings, although his peripherals were less impressive than his 1.54 ERA. Given his age, minimal track record, and three remaining option years, he’s probably due to cycle on and off the roster when the club needs a fresh reliever.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Tatsuya Imai Dealing With “Right Arm Fatigue,” Undergoing Examination
5:04 pm: The official wording from the team is that Imai is experiencing “right arm fatigue,” according to Rome. He remains on the active roster as of now.
2:47 pm: As the Astros prepare for tonight’s game with the Mariners, Tatsuya Imai has left Seattle to return to Houston to undergo examination from team doctors. MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reported earlier today that Imai was heading to Houston, and The Athletic’s Chandler Rome adds the detail that Imai is dealing with a “tired arm,” in the words of a team source.
More will be known once the Astros’ in-house medical staff gets a look at Imai, and it is possible the righty is just dealing with a bit more fatigue than usual. Some adjustment time was probably inevitable for Imai in his first season in the majors, first and foremost because he is pitching with a bit less rest than usual. Starters in Nippon Professional Baseball usually start just once per week, as opposed to every-five-days approach of MLB clubs. Imai hasn’t even been on the five-day schedule yet, as he has had five full rest days between his starts.
That said, Imai’s 7.27 ERA over his first 8 2/3 Major League innings is a sign that something isn’t quite right. Ironically, his only good start came in the hitter-friendly environment of Sutter Health Park, as Imai tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings against the Athletics on April 4. That impressive outing was sandwiched between two duds — Imai allowed four runs over just 2 2/3 innings against the Angels on March 29, and last night the Mariners torched Imai for three runs in just a third of an inning. Imai retired only one of the seven Seattle batters he faced, as he hit a batter, allowed one hit, and issued four walks.
Imai told reporters (via interpreter) postgame that that he was bothered by both the cooler weather in Seattle and a hard mound at T-Mobile Park. McTaggart notes that Imai had also expressed his issues with getting used to both Major League mounds and the MLB baseball. Again, an adjustment period isn’t unusual for pitchers coming over from NPB for the first time, though the “tired arm” factor now adds an injury scare to Imai’s status.
Imai signed a three-year, $54MM deal with the Astros last offseason, and he can opt out after each of the first two seasons. The contract fell below most projections, as it seemed like several teams had concerns over Imai’s ability to translate his NPB success to MLB. Imai and his agent Scott Boras therefore settled for a shorter-term deal that still locks in some solid immediate money for the right-hander, and allowed him the flexibility to re-enter the market as early as next winter if he pitched well in his first season in the Show.
Losing Imai to the injured list would be another big hit to an already undermanned Houston rotation. Just within the last week, Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier were both placed on the 15-day IL due to Grade 2 shoulder strains. The plan for both pitchers is a re-evaluation after two weeks and a general shutdown period of at least three weeks, though the timelines are still fluid. Even in a best-case scenario, Brown and Javier won’t be back until May, leaving the Astros scrambling for starters even before Imai’s situation arose.
The Astros’ rotation currently consists of Imai, Mike Burrows, and Lance McCullers Jr. Cody Bolton already made one spot start and might be pressed into more rotation duty. J.P. France, Ryan Weiss, AJ Blubaugh, and Jason Alexander are other starting candidates either already in the big league bullpen or at Triple-A, and the Astros could use any of this group or more pitchers in a piggyback capacity rather than in a normal starting capacity. Houston won’t have any time for a rotation reset until an off-day on April 23, as Friday’s game was the first in a stretch of 13 games in 13 days for the club.
Astros Select J.P. France, Taylor Trammell
April 10th: The Astros announced the expected moves today. Trammell and France have been added, with Blanco transferred to the 60-day IL. Javier’s injury was listed as a grade two shoulder strain and Meyers’ is a grade two oblique strain. Both are retroactive to April 9th.
April 9th, 11:13 am: Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports that the Astros are also planning to select outfielder Taylor Trammell. This almost certainly indicates that fellow outfielder Jake Meyers is headed to the injured list. Meyers exited on Wednesday with lower back tightness. Like France, Trammell will require a spot on the 40-man roster, and currently, Houston only has one opening. That means the Astros will have to free up one more space to add both France and Trammell before tomorrow’s game. Ronel Blanco, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery last June, is a likely candidate to move from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.
Trammell, 28, is a five-year MLB veteran. After bouncing from the Mariners to the Dodgers to the Yankees in 2024, he was traded to the Astros ahead of the 2025 campaign. A pair of IL stints limited him to 52 games for Houston, though that was still a career-high for the lefty batter. He slashed .197/.296/.333 with an 80 wRC+, mostly splitting his time between left and center field. He was DFA’d and sent outright to Triple-A after the season. However, a hot spring (.904 OPS, 136 wRC+) and an even hotter start for Sugar Land (1.003 OPS, 177 wRC+) have earned him another chance in the majors. He’s likely to serve as at least the strong half of a platoon in center field while Meyers is on the shelf.
10:00 am: The Astros will select J.P. France’s contract from Triple-A Sugar Land before tomorrow’s game against the Mariners, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. He will be able to take the 40-man roster spot left vacant after Roddery Muñoz was designated for assignment on Monday.
As for the 26-man roster, there’s a good chance France is replacing Cristian Javier, who exited his start on Wednesday with shoulder tightness. It’s also possible the Astros won’t be ready to make a decision about Javier by tomorrow, but that they still want a fresh arm for the bullpen, given the workload their relievers shouldered in yesterday’s 9-1 loss. In that case, they might consider optioning AJ Blubaugh, who has given up nine runs on nine hits in his last two outings. Meanwhile, Spencer Arrighetti is the most likely candidate for a call-up if Houston needs a longer-term replacement for Javier in the rotation. Jason Alexander is also available at Triple-A.
France, 31, made 23 starts for the Astros in 2023, his rookie campaign. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury ruined his next two seasons. He made just seven appearances for Houston between 2024 and ’25 and struggled in a handful of minor league outings as well. The team designated him for assignment this past offseason and sent him outright to Triple-A. However, if the early results from 2026 are any indication, France seems to be throwing with a healthy shoulder again. He struck out 13 batters in 11.2 innings this spring and another eight in his first 5.1 frames for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. The righty has yet to allow a run at Triple-A, with just one walk and two hits allowed to the 19 batters he’s faced.
If France can get back to pitching the way he did in 2023 – whether he’s starting or working in long relief – the Astros will surely be grateful. Through 13 games, Houston’s pitchers have the highest ERA in the AL (6.05). Walks and home runs have both been serious problems. What’s more, two of the team’s most important arms are on the injured list: Hunter Brown (shoulder strain) and Josh Hader (biceps tendinitis). Losing Javier for any period of time would only further weaken a beleaguered staff. While the team still has depth arms to call on for the rotation and the bullpen, those options are starting to wear thin.
Davey Lopes Passes Away
The Dodgers announced today that Davey Lopes passed away today at the age of 80. Lopes made his debut as a player in the early 1970s and went on to have a career as a coach and manager, making him a staple of the game for the bulk of five decades.
Lopes was a late bloomer. He didn’t make it to the majors until 1972, which was his age-27 season. Even then, he only got into 11 games for the Dodgers. The following year, his age-28 campaign, he finally established himself as a big league regular. He became the club’s second baseman and showed off the speed that would become his standout trait. He swiped 36 bags that year, his first of what would eventually be a 14-year streak of stealing at least 15 bases.
He stayed on the Dodger roster through the 1981 season, mostly covering the keystone but also with occasional action at shortstop, third base and in the outfield. The Dodgers had a very consistent infield during that stretch, with Steve Garvey the mainstay at first, Lopes at second, Bill Russell at short and Ron Cey at third.
Lopes played in 1,207 games for the Dodgers from his 1972 debut until the end of that 1981 campaign. He hit .262 in that time and launched 99 home runs but the eye-popping stat was his 418 stolen bases. He led the league in steals in both 1975 and 1976, with 77 in the former and 63 in the latter. The second instance was particularly impressive as injuries limited him to only 117 games. In 1978, he won a Gold Glove and also made the All-Star team, the first of four straight All-Star selections.
The Dodgers were quite good in that time but couldn’t quit win a title for most of it. They lost the World Series to the Athletics in 1974, then to the Yankees in both 1977 and 1978. In 1981, they were able to get the job done, topping the Yankees 4-2. Lopes stole ten bases in in 16 postseason games that year.
Prior to the 1982 season, he was traded to the A’s, kicking off the journeyman phase of his career. He would also bounce to the Cubs and Astros, playing past his 42nd birthday. He finished his career with 7,340 plate appearances over 1,812 games. He racked up 1,671 hits, including 155 home runs. He scored 1,023 runs and drove in 614. His 557 steals put him 26th on the all-time list.
He quickly pivoted to his post-playing career by becoming a bench coach with the Rangers. That was followed by stints as a first base coach with the Orioles and Padres. He was hired to manage the Brewers for the 2000 season. The club did not fare well and he was fired early in 2002. He never got another managerial gig and had a 144-195 record in that job. He then went back to being a first base coach, starting with a return to the Padres, followed by stints with the Nationals, Phillies, Dodgers and back to the Nationals. He retired from coaching after the 2017 season.
We at MLB Trade Rumors join the rest of the baseball world in sending condolences to the Lopes family as well as everyone else mourning him today.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images