Astros Outright J.P. France
The Astros announced that right-hander J.P. France has been outrighted to Triple-A Sugar Land. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. France has the right to elect free agency but the club announcement didn’t say whether or not he would do so.
A player has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency if he has at least three years of service time or a previous career outright. Houston outrighted France in February, an assignment he had to accept since it was his first. A number of injuries led them to select him back to the roster earlier this month. Now that this is his second outright, he could look for opportunities elsewhere.
If he did head for the open market, he would likely be limited to minor league offers. Every club just passed on the chance to give him a 40-man spot, even though he is still optionable and could have been stashed in the minors. Perhaps he will simply stay with the only organization he has ever known, but he can roam if he wants to.
France’s best season was back in 2023, when he debuted and tossed 136 1/3 innings, allowing 3.83 earned runs per nine. There were some asterisks there, as his 17.4% strikeout rate was subpar and his 76.7% strand rate was high, which is why ERA estimators like his 4.66 FIP and 4.96 SIERA were a bit more bearish.
He hasn’t been able to pitch much in the majors since then. Shoulder problems nagged at him in 2024 and ultimately required surgery. He made seven big league appearances over those two seasons, with a 6.75 ERA. As mentioned, he cleared waivers coming into this season and was briefly back on the roster.
If he sticks around, the Astros may need him again in the near future. Their injured list features starters Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai, Cody Bolton, Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter. Their big league rotation currently features Mike Burrows, Spencer Arrighetti, Ryan Weiss, Peter Lambert and Lance McCullers Jr., with Colton Gordon also on the roster and capable of eating some innings. Apart from Burrows and McCullers, those guys only just entered the mix recently due to the injuries, so they probably don’t have firm grips on their current roles.
Miguel Ullola and Jason Alexander are also on the 40-man roster. Brandon Bielak and Miguel Yajure have recently been added via minor league deals. If France accepts his outright assignment, he would join Bielak and Yajure in the non-roster depth category.
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Astros Select Braden Shewmake
The Astros announced that they have selected the contract of infielder Braden Shewmake. He’ll take the active roster spot of infielder Nick Allen, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to back spasms, retroactive to April 19th. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Cristian Javier has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Shewmake, 28, was just acquired from the Yankees yesterday. The Yanks had outrighted him off their 40-man roster in February, so he wasn’t immediately added to Houston’s roster at the time of the trade. It seemed possible at the time of the deal that Shewmake was acquired to replace Allen as the club’s bench infielder and that has indeed come to pass.
The players have similar profiles as glove-first guys with light bats. Shewmake has a .118/.127/.191 batting line in 71 big league plate appearances. His .241/.305/.384 line at Triple-A is better but still not good, translating to a 78 wRC+, indicating he has been 22% below average at that level. But he has other attributes. Over his 303 Triple-A games, he has stolen 52 bases, while getting caught only four times. He has extensive shortstop experience, with plenty of time at second and third base as well.
The Astros came into the season with an infield logjam but shortstop Jeremy Peña is now on the IL, which has alleviated that. Carlos Correa has moved from third base to shortstop, which has allowed Isaac Paredes to take over at the hot corner. The Astros can use Shewmake as a late-game defensive replacement or bounce him around when they want to give guys days off, which is how Allen was being used. When Peña and/or Allen get healthy, Shewmake is out of options and may not be able to hang onto his roster spot.
Javier was initially placed on the 15-day IL due to a shoulder strain a little over a week ago. This transfer means he is ineligible for reinstatement until early June. Just yesterday, general manager Dana Brown said he expected Javier and Hunter Brown to return from their respective shoulder strains in late May to early June.
Today’s transaction closes off the possibility of Javier being back in the majors in late May, but if he is healthy by then, he could go out on a minor league rehab assignment. Such assignments come with a 30-day maximum for pitchers.
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Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier Projected To Return In 5-7 Weeks
In an interview on SportsTalk790 radio today, Astros general manager Dana Brown said right-handers Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are tentatively expected to return to Houston’s rotation by late May or early June. (Hat tip to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart for the link.) The timeline for both pitchers is still fluid, so the GM thinks their returns could “hopefully…be a little sooner.”
The Astros are probably due some good health news, given how the team has been hit hard by injuries in the season’s first month. Houston’s injury list consists of 14 players, and Brown and Javier are two of 10 pitchers on either the 15-day or 60-day IL. The depleted and makeshift rotation is down to Mike Burrows, Lance McCullers Jr., Spencer Arrighetti, and Peter Lambert, whose minor league contract was just selected on Thursday (Lambert then allowed four runs over five innings in Friday’s 9-4 loss to the Cardinals.)
Brown and Javier were each sidelined by Grade 2 shoulder strains. Brown posted an 0.84 ERA over his first two starts before being placed on the 15-day IL on April 2, while Javier joined him a week later after struggling to a 12.54 ERA over his first three starts and 9 1/3 innings. No tentative recovery timelines were given at the time of the IL placements, and neither pitcher has resumed throwing, which is why Dana Brown’s projection was fairly broad.
Assuming no setbacks, Brown and Javier each face the standard build-up process of playing catch, bullpen sessions, live batting practice sessions, and surely at least a couple of minor league rehab games given the length of their IL stints. Even if the best-case scenario is late May, however, that still means the Astros will be scrambling for rotation innings for upwards of another month.
All of the injuries have unsurprisingly led to a rough start to Houston’s season, as the team is now 8-15 after today’s extra-innings 7-5 loss to St. Louis. The Astros are 10 games into a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, and some relief may come for the pitching staff in terms of off-days on April 23 and 27.
Astros Sign Daniel Johnson To Minors Contract
The Astros have signed Daniel Johnson to a minor league deal, according to the outfielder’s MLB.com profile page. Johnson became a free agent earlier this month when he was released from a previous minors contract with the Marlins.
A veteran of four big league seasons, Johnson hit .189/.246/.302 over 57 plate appearances with the Giants and Orioles in 2025. His 31 games marked a new career high, topping Johnson’s 30 appearances for Cleveland in 2021. Johnson only has 67 games on his MLB resume, with a .196/.243/.322 slash line and five home runs to show for 152 plate appearances.
Johnson is both a left-handed hitter and capable of playing all three outfield positions, making him a useful depth addition for the Astros on a couple of fronts. Houston’s active roster is overloaded with right-handed bats, and Joey Loperfido (one of the few lefty swingers) was just placed on the 10-day IL due to a quad strain. Loperfido, Jake Meyers, and Zach Dezenzo are all on the injured list, depleting an Astros outfield core that was already thin coming into the season.
Houston selected Taylor Trammell‘s contract earlier this month in the wake of these outfield injuries, and Dustin Harris was just claimed off waivers from the White Sox yesterday. This duo, Cam Smith, Brice Matthews, and Shay Whitcomb comprise the Astros’ makeshift outfield mix, plus Yordan Alvarez can chip in as a left fielder when he isn’t the designated hitter. Johnson can add some speed and defense at least at Triple-A to back up this group, though his roster flexibility is limited since he is out of minor league options.
Yankees Trade Braden Shewmake To Astros
The Yankees have traded infielder Braden Shewmake to the Astros. Minor league right-hander Wilmy Sanchez is heading to New York in the deal. Both teams have announced the swap.
The Astros have also placed Joey Loperfido on the IL. The move was expected after the outfielder left Friday’s game with a quad injury. Right-hander Jayden Murray was recalled to take Loperfido’s spot. The Astros had been rolling with 12 pitchers, but will now be back to a more traditional 13-man staff.
Shewmake could provide some infield depth to a Houston squad missing multiple shortstops. Jeremy Pena is on the IL with a hamstring injury. Nick Allen left with back spasms on Friday. He’s yet to return to the lineup. Shewmake would be an option to get called up if Allen is forced to the IL.
The Astros are Shewmake’s fourth organization since the start of 2025. After getting designated for assignment by the White Sox, he was claimed by the Royals. Kansas City DFAed him shortly after, and he was scooped up by the Yankees. Shewmake posted an 82 wRC+ in 72 games with New York’s Triple-A affiliate last season. He hit .250 with a couple of doubles and a stolen base in 10 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year.
Sanchez came to Houston as an international free agent in 2022. He steadily worked his way up the system, with generally solid results at each stop. After splitting time as a starter and reliever to begin his pro career, Sanchez transitioned to the bullpen full-time in 2024. He notched a 3.50 ERA across 54 innings between Single-A and High-A. Sanchez pushed his strikeout rate up to 33.9% in his first year as strictly a reliever.
The 2025 campaign was a rough one for Sanchez. He made the jump to Double-A and stumbled to a 6.05 ERA in 46 appearances. After working around some control issues at previous levels, Sanchez’s walk rate spiked to a career-worst 17.5% with Corpus Christi. He’s trimmed that number back to 14.8% through five Double-A outings this year. The results have improved, as Sanchez has allowed just one run over seven innings.
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Astros Notes: Harris, Loperfido, Allen, Sousa
Outfielder Dustin Harris is expected to be with the Astros “soon,” manager Joe Espada told reporters, including Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Harris was nabbed off waivers from the White Sox on Saturday. The 26-year-old appeared in six games with Chicago.
Harris was off to a decent start in a part-time role. He got on base at a hefty .438 clip and chipped in two steals to open the season. The 26-year-old was called up when Austin Hays went to the IL in early April. Harris was squeezed off the roster after the White Sox called up infield prospect Sam Antonacci.
The lefty-swinging Harris was drafted by the Athletics but has spent most of his professional career with the Rangers. The outfielder debuted with the club in 2023. He totaled 50 plate appearances between the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Harris hasn’t had an extended chance to flash the power/speed combo he showed in the minors. He put together a 20/25 season between Single-A and High-A in 2021. Harris has swiped 30+ bags in the minors in each of the past three years.
Harris would seem to be a replacement for Joey Loperfido. The outfielder is expected to land on the IL, per Espada, as relayed by Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. Loperfido was removed with a quad injury in the sixth inning of Friday’s loss to the Cardinals.
Houston acquired Loperfido from the Blue Jays straight up for Jesus Sanchez in mid-February. He broke camp with the club and has appeared in all but two games so far. Loperfido has spent time at all three outfield spots, with the majority of his work coming in left field. He’s slashing .259/.333/.345 across 66 plate appearances.
Shortstop Nick Allen was also knocked out of that game against St. Louis. Isaac Paredes replaced him due to back spasms (h/t McTaggart). Paredes himself was then removed from the contest with a leg injury. Shay Whitcomb replaced him in the infield. Whitcomb started at third base on Saturday, with Paredes returning to the lineup at DH. Allen was not in the starting nine.
Allen joined the organization following a trade from the Braves in November. The glove-first veteran had made five starts since shortstop Jeremy Pena went down with a hamstring injury last weekend. Allen’s absence would lead to more time at shortstop for Carlos Correa, with Paredes slotting in at third. The Astros are already rolling with that configuration on a semi-regular basis. Paredes has also picked up starts at first and second base.
On the pitching side, left-hander Bennett Sousa is nearing a return. The reliever’s last obstacle in the minors is pitching on consecutive days, which he’s in line to do next week, per Kawahara. Sousa went down with an oblique strain near the end of MLB Spring Training.
After brief stints with the club in 2023 and 2024, Sousa emerged as a key member of the bullpen last season. He delivered a 2.84 ERA across a career-high 50 appearances. The lefty secured seven holds and four saves. Houston entered the 2026 campaign with Bryan King and Steven Okert as the left-handers in the bullpen. Once healthy, Sousa will give them another option from the left side, as will the eventual return of Josh Hader.
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Astros Claim Dustin Harris, Designate J.P. France For Assignment
The Astros announced that outfielder Dustin Harris was claimed off waivers from the White Sox. To create space for Harris on Houston’s 40-man roster, right-hander J.P. France was designated for assignment, as reported by The Athletic’s Chandler Rome shortly before the team’s official announcement.
Houston has 10 pitchers on the injured list, so it is a little surprising to see the team part ways with France when he has a minor league option remaining. Lack of pitching depth aside, however, France didn’t do much to hang onto his spot by posting an 8.10 ERA over 6 2/3 innings and three appearances for the Astros this season. The Astros also already designated France and subsequently outrighted him off the 40-man roster back in February, before selecting his contract again on April 10 when Cristian Javier went on the IL with a grade 2 shoulder strain.
Because of that past outright, France has the ability to elect free agency if he clears waivers again. Given how he wasn’t claimed last time around and he hasn’t done much to improve his stock since Opening Day, France may well clear waivers and then decide on either testing the open market or accepting another outright to Triple-A. Given how the Astros are in such dire need of pitching, France might feel comfortable biding his time in the minors until Houston gives him another look.
France has spent his entire career in the Astros organization, beginning as a 14th-round pick in the 2018 draft. He broke into the majors with a solid 3.83 ERA over 136 1/3 innings and 24 games (23 of them starts) in 2023, but has since delivered a 7.00 ERA over only 36 big league frames, as shoulder problems sidelined France for the bulk of the 2024-25 seasons.
Beyond all of Houston’s pitching injuries, the loss of Jake Meyers (oblique strain) and Zach Dezenzo (right elbow sprain) also depleted what was already a thin outfield picture. Harris can provide some depth given his experience at all three outfield positions, and his left-handed bat adds some balance to a very right-handed Astros roster. However, fellow outfielders Joey Loperfido and Taylor Trammell are two of the three other lefty swingers on the 26-man, leaving Harris a bit of an imperfect fit in terms of platoon work.
Harris has played in each of the last three MLB seasons, hitting .224/.318/.414 with two homers over 66 plate appearances and 27 games for the Rangers and White Sox. After being outrighted off the Texas roster in November, Harris elected free agency and signed with the Sox on a minor league deal. Chicago selected Harris to the 26-man on April 7 and he got into six games for the team before being DFA’ed earlier this week.
Astros To Sign Miguel Yajure To Minor League Deal
The Astros are adding right-hander Miguel Yajure on a minor league agreement, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The 27-year-old has spent the past two seasons pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He last appeared in the big leagues with the Pirates in 2022.
Yajure’s stateside return comes after he posted a 3.72 ERA across two years in NPB. He had an underwhelming campaign this past season with the Rakuten Eagles, but was productive in 2024 with the Yakult Swallows, delivering a 3.34 ERA across 23 appearances. Yajure tossed 129 1/3 innings with the Swallows, his highest mark as a professional since 2019.
Yajure was once a prospect of note in the Yankees’ system. New York signed him out of Venezuela as a 17-year-old. He worked his way up the minor league ladder, reaching the majors as a 22-year-old in the shortened 2020 season. Yajure was solid out of the bullpen for the Yankees, allowing a run over seven innings with a 27.6% strikeout rate.
The Pirates acquired Yajure in the Jameson Taillon trade, along with right-hander Roansy Contreras, shortstop Maikol Escotto, and outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba. Contreras would become a semi-regular member of Pittsburgh’s pitching staff in the seasons following the deal. Yajure and Smith-Njigba had brief stints with the club but failed to stick around long-term. Escotto topped out at Double-A.
Yajure was blasted for 14 earned runs in 15 innings with Pittsburgh in 2021. He was even worse the following year, notching an 8.88 ERA across 12 appearances, mostly out of the bullpen. Yajure had as many walks as strikeouts in 2022. He was scooped up off waivers by the Giants at the end of that season. After posting an ERA above 6.00 between three minor league levels in San Francisco’s system, he departed for Japan.
Houston continues to deal with a slew of injuries in the rotation. Cody Bolton recently joined Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Tatsuya Imai on the injured list. Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski, and Brandon Walter were already there to start the year. Peter Lambert was recalled to start tonight against the Cardinals. Like Yajure, he was in NPB last year and came to the Astros on a minor league deal. Lambert will be the 10th starting pitcher for the Astros in their 21st game of the season.
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Astros Transfer Josh Hader To 60-Day IL
The Astros announced that they have selected right-hander Peter Lambert, a move that was reported yesterday. To open an active roster spot, they have optioned right-hander Christian Roa to Triple-A Sugar Land. In a corresponding 40-man move, left-hander Josh Hader has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Hader began the season on the 15-day injured list due to biceps tendinitis, an issue that prevented him from pitching in spring training. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he can be reinstated from the IL in late May.
Up until this transfer, his timing wasn’t exactly clear. Earlier this week, he faced live hitters in batting practice for the first time. He told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that this essentially places him at the beginning of a normal spring training ramp-up. At some point, he will start a minor league rehab assignment, which will effectively replace the spring training games he missed.
Given that timeline, it was possible to imagine him potentially being ready by the middle of May. Pitchers normally ramp up for about six weeks in spring but relievers tend to be ready quicker because they don’t need to be stretched out. This move means the Astros will play things safer than that. Rehab assignments for pitchers can last 30 days, so Hader could start one in a week or so if he’s feeling good, and that could line up with his eligibility for activation.
Hader’s injury is just one of many for the Astros. They currently have 13 players on the IL, including 10 pitchers. Some of those are due to issues going back to last year but Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai and Cody Bolton have hit the IL in the past few weeks. That has put more pressure on the arms who are still on the roster. Ideally, Bryan Abreu would have stepped up and replaced Hader in the closer’s role, since he has been so good in recent seasons. Unfortunately, he has allowed nine earned runs through 6 1/3 innings this year.
Thanks in part to those challenges on the pitching staff, the Astros are out to a rough 8-12 start. They will need to keep things afloat in the near term while their injured pitchers get healthy and back in the mix, though they can’t count on Hader proving anything until more than a month into the future.
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Astros To Select Peter Lambert
Right-hander Peter Lambert will start for the Astros on Friday, with Chandler Rome of The Athletic among those to relay the update. Lambert is not currently on the roster, so he’ll need to be formally added prior to the game.
It’s an early birthday present for Lambert, who turns 29 on Saturday. When he takes the ball, he’ll be making his first major league appearance for a team other than the Rockies. Lambert made 74 appearances for Colorado from 2019 to 2024, throwing 243 2/3 innings and allowing 6.28 earned runs per nine.
At the end of the 2024 season, the Rockies outrighted Lambert off their roster and he elected free agency. He then signed with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He gave the Swallows 116 1/3 innings over 21 starts with a 4.26 ERA. That may seem like a passable mark but NPB has been a pitcher-friendly league in recent years. Last year’s league-wide ERA was 2.97 in the Central League and 3.04 in the Pacific League, the two main leagues of NPB.
He landed a minor league deal with the Astros in November. He opted out of that deal at the end of camp but re-signed on a fresh minor league deal. He has thrown 14 2/3 Triple-A innings this year over three appearances, allowing three earned runs via 11 hits, three walks and hitting two batters while striking out 12. In that small sample, his 20.3% strikeout rate is subpar but his 5.1% walk rate and 53.7% ground ball rate are strong figures. His four-seamer has averaged 94.5 miles per hour this year and he has also thrown a sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.
The Astros have been doing a lot of improvising on their pitching staff lately. Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier both landed on the injured list due to shoulder strains. Not long after, Tatsuya Imai hit the IL due to arm fatigue, meaning Houston quickly lost three fifths of the five Opening Day rotation. That forced them to turn to contingency plans but one of those also got bit with the injury bug, as back inflammation put Cody Bolton on the IL.
There’s never a good time for a team to lose four starters but the timing was especially unfortunate in this case as the Astros began a stretch of 13 straight games last Friday. Imai started the first game but lasted just a third of an inning, forcing J.P. France and others to soak up the rest. Lance McCullers Jr. and Mike Burrows are still around from the season-opening group. McCullers took the ball on Saturday and Burrows on Sunday. Bolton went on Monday but lasted just one inning. Colton Gordon was recalled this week and started on Tuesday, giving the club 3 2/3 innings. Spencer Arrighetti was recalled to start Wednesday and went six.
Just now in Thursday’s contest, they effectively did a bullpen game. Ryan Weiss, who had been pitching in long relief, started and went 3 2/3. Christian Roa then absorbed 1 1/3, followed by two frames each from AJ Blubaugh and Kai-Wei Teng.
The Astros still have six more games to get through before their next off-day. Lambert will take the ball tomorrow, followed by McCullers and Burrows. Houston could then perhaps go back to Gordon and Arrighetti in the next two. The final game could again be Lambert, though he is out of options. Depending on how things go tomorrow, it’s possible he may need to be bumped off the roster for a fresh arm. In that case, perhaps another bullpen game headlined by Weiss would be the move, depending on who gets used in the interim.
For tomorrow, as mentioned, corresponding moves will be required to get Lambert onto the roster. The Astros have several guys on the IL and perhaps one of them could be moved to the 60-day IL to open up a 40-man spot if the Astros don’t expect them back anytime soon. The list of pitchers currently on the 15-day IL includes Brown, Javier, Imai and Bolton but also Josh Hader, Nate Pearson and Bennett Sousa. If the club doesn’t want to lock any of those guys into a lengthy IL stint, someone else would have to be bumped off the 40-man. In terms of opening an active roster spot, most of their guys can be optioned, with McCullers, Bryan Abreu, Enyel De Los Santos and Steven Okert the only exceptions.
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