Astros Rumors

AL West Notes: Evans, Seager, Tucker, Athletics

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2024 at 6:23pm CDT

A few players from the 2023 draft have already made their MLB debuts, and Mariners prospect Logan Evans could potentially be coming soon due to his recent move to relief pitching. As Adam Jude of the Seattle Times writes, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently called Evans with the idea of shifting from the Double-A rotation to the bullpen, since the M’s are currently in the enviable position of having a loaded rotation. Working as a reliever could put Evans on the fast track to the Show, and give the Mariners an extra hard-throwing arm in an injury-depleted pen.

A 12th-round pick out of Pitt, Evans has a sparkling 1.16 ERA over 54 1/3 innings for Double-A Arkansas this season, with a 23% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate, and a 53.6% grounder rate. MLB Pipeline’s scouting report also notes that the Mariners received trade interest in Evans as early as last offseason, after he posted an 0.60 ERA in his first 15 pro innings.

Astros Place Kyle Tucker On Injured List

By Anthony Franco | June 7, 2024 at 11:30pm CDT

11:30pm: Houston will recall Joey Loperfido to take Tucker’s place on the active roster, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (on X). Loperfido debuted earlier this season and hit .333/.381/.436 with a homer in 14 games.

8:36pm: The Astros have placed star outfielder Kyle Tucker on the 10-day injured list with a right shin contusion, tweets Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. The move is retroactive to June 4, meaning Tucker could return a week from now. Houston didn’t immediately announce a corresponding roster move or provide a timetable for his return.

Tucker was injured in Monday’s win over the Cardinals. He fouled a ball off his leg and had to be removed from the game. While the two-time All-Star was on crutches postgame, testing didn’t reveal any fractures. That led the Astros to keep him on the active roster for a few days even though he wasn’t healthy enough to play. He evidently needed more time than the team initially hoped, sending him to the shelf.

It’s probably no coincidence that Houston placed Tucker on the IL just before tonight’s game. A team is allowed to backdate an IL stint by up to three days. Tucker had already been out since June 4. If the Astros had waited into the weekend to put him on the shelf, they’d have pushed back his first possible return date.

The injury halts a fantastic start to the season. Tucker has been a superstar for a few years and has taken his game to new heights in 2024. He has already hit 19 homers across 262 plate appearances. He’s running a .266/.395/.584 batting line with 46 walks against 41 strikeouts over 60 games. If healthy, he should coast to a third consecutive All-Star Game and looks on track to beat last year’s fifth-place finish in MVP balloting.

Despite Tucker’s massive numbers, the Astros head into this weekend’s set against the Angels with a 28-35 record. Their efforts to dig out of that hole will be complicated by the loss of their best player for at least a week. Houston plugged Yordan Alvarez into left field tonight against Griffin Canning, freeing the DH spot for Yainer Diaz and getting Victor Caratini into the lineup at catcher. Trey Cabbage is starting in right field for the second consecutive game.

In other injury news, the Astros announced this afternoon that starters Cristian Javier and José Urquidy each underwent Tommy John surgery (X link via Chandler Rome of the Athletic). Rome had previously reported that Javier would be undergoing TJS on Thursday. Urquidy’s status wasn’t as clear. While the team announced on Wednesday that he was headed for a season-ending elbow procedure, it wasn’t known whether he’d require a full Tommy John or a modified internal brace repair. Both pitchers seem likely to be out past the 2025 All-Star Break. Urquidy, who would be a free agent after ’25, could be non-tendered next winter.

Astros To Select Nick Hernandez

By Darragh McDonald | June 5, 2024 at 1:35pm CDT

The Astros announced they have selected right-hander Nick Hernandez to their roster, with left-hander Parker Mushinski optioned in a corresponding move. Righty José Urquidy, who is slated for season-ending surgery, was be transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Chandler Rome of The Athletic relayed the moves on X prior to the official announcement (link one and two).

Hernandez, 29, was just acquired from the Padres last night in a cash deal. He had signed a minor league deal with the Friars in January and has been pitching well this year. He tossed 23 2/3 innings for Triple-A El Paso with a 1.90 earned run average, despite the hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League. He may have benefitted from an 84.5% strand rate and 4% home run to flyball ratio, but he also struck out 34% of batters faced.

The Astros were intrigued enough to send some cash to San Diego and bring Hernandez back to his original organization. The Astros drafted Hernandez back in 2016 but he reached minor league free agency after the 2022 season, eventually pivoting to the Padres.

He’ll now have a chance to improve his small-sample major league stats. He tossed three innings for the Friars last year but allowed four earned runs, leaving him currently sitting on a career ERA of 12.00. He was outrighted off the roster before re-signing on a minor league deal coming into this year.

The Astros essentially had a free roster spot to use with Urquidy set to miss the rest of the year. The same is true of Cristian Javier, as he’s slated to undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow. He’ll eventually be transferred to the 60-day IL as well, giving Houston another roster spot to work with, which could lead to another small deal or waiver claim in the near future.

Jose Urquidy To Undergo Season-Ending Elbow Surgery

By Steve Adams | June 5, 2024 at 9:47am CDT

The Astros announced that right-hander Jose Urquidy will undergo elbow surgery, ending his 2024 season. Houston also confirmed that righty Cristian Javier will undergo season-ending elbow surgery, as was first reported yesterday by The Athletic’s Chandler Rome. The team didn’t specify the nature of either surgery, though Rome indicated in his original report that Javier will require Tommy John surgery. Urquidy’s surgery is being performed today, so more details will likely be available once it’s completed. Javier is slated to have his procedure performed tomorrow.

Urquidy, 29, opened the season on the injured list with a forearm strain and will now miss the entire campaign. He did pitch a bit in the minor leagues on a rehab assignment last month, but he was lifted from what’ll be his final outing of the year after experiencing renewed pain in his forearm/elbow. The Astros subsequently announced that Urquidy was seeking a second opinion, which is frequently an ominous sign for injured pitchers.

When he’s been healthy enough to take the mound, Urquidy has proven himself to be a reliable rotation cog in Houston. Outside of an ugly 5.29 ERA last year in a season that was plagued by shoulder troubles, he’s posted a sub-4.00 ERA in every season of his career, leaving him with a lifetime 3.98 mark in 405 MLB frames. His 19.6% strikeout rate is three percentage points below the league average, but Urquidy has offset that with a terrific 5.8% walk rate in his career. Home runs have been an issue, as is the case for many shorter righties with average fastball velocity, but his changeup has been an excellent pitch that’s helped him keep lefties at bay (.203/.255/.364).

Alden Gonzalez and Jeff Passan of ESPN reported earlier this week that Urquidy could be headed for Tommy John surgery — which would be the second such procedure of his career. He previously had Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer in 2017. Urquidy has also missed time in both 2021 and 2023 due to shoulder injuries. Whether this new procedure will be a standard Tommy John operation or a newer iteration that includes augmentation from an internal brace remains to be seen.

Either way, if this indeed proves to be a UCL-related surgery, it’s quite possible it’ll end Urquidy’s tenure with the Astros entirely. He’s being paid $3.75MM this season and is arbitration-eligible for the final time this offseason. Houston would likely need to commit the same salary to Urquidy again for a 2025 season that would be mostly spent on the injured list.

Even if Urquidy were to agree to the maximum 40% pay cut permissible under the arbitration system, that’d still be a notable price to pay for a pitcher who might not make it back until late in the season — if he returns at all. If Urquidy had multiple seasons of club control remaining, the ’Stros might make that concession, but the right-hander is slated to become a free agent following the 2025 campaign anyhow. It’s always possible they’ll come to some kind of agreement on a two-year deal that’s backloaded with most of the salary falling in 2026, but the injury unfortunately renders Urquidy a clear non-tender candidate.

With regard to the 2024 season, the official losses of both Urquidy and Javier is a gut-punch for a floundering Astros club. Houston sits at 28-34, placing them seven games behind the division-leading Mariners and six games back of the third AL Wild Card spot.

Poor starting pitching has been the most prominent reason for Houston’s decline in the AL West. In addition to Urquidy and Javier, the Astros have seen Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez both spend time on the injured list. Right-handers Hunter Brown and J.P. France — the latter now on the minor league IL due to a shoulder injury — have both taken significant steps back in 2024. Rookies Spencer Arrighetti and Blair Henley have been hit hard (the latter in a single MLB spot start). Even with Ronel Blanco in the midst of a surprise breakout during his age-30 season, the Astros’ collective 4.71 rotation ERA ranks 26th in the majors.

Reinforcements should be on the horizon in the form of righties Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr., though neither pitcher’s return is imminent just yet. Garcia, on the mend from Tommy John surgery performed last June, is facing live hitters and could soon head out on a minor league rehab assignment. He’d presumably require several starts before being deemed an option for the MLB rotation, however. McCullers, who had flexor surgery last summer, is a few weeks behind Garcia in his recovery process. In theory, Garcia could be back around the All-Star break, with McCullers not terribly far behind him — but that’s assuming no setbacks. And by that point, it’s also fair to wonder whether the Astros would feel the urgency to rush either pitcher.

Houston general manager Dana Brown said recently that he doesn’t envision any scenario where the Astros end up as trade deadline sellers, but it’s difficult to see how they’d be aggressive buyers if they fall much further back in the standings. There are just under eight weeks for the team to right the ship, and while a course correction is hardly implausible, the current paper-thin rotation depth means Houston will need its rotation to hold things down and perform much better while waiting on Garcia and McCullers.

Verlander, Valdez, Blanco, Brown and Arrighetti will carry on as the starting five for now, but the aforementioned Henley is the only other healthy starter on the 40-man roster. The Astros did sign lefty Eric Lauer to a minor league deal last month, and they could easily open 40-man space for him by putting Javier or Urquidy on the 60-day injured list. But Henley has been tagged for a 5.44 ERA in Triple-A this season, while Lauer was torched for seven runs over three innings in his first start with Triple-A Sugar Land. Houston can ill-afford another injury of note on the big league staff at the moment.

Astros Acquire Nick Hernandez From Padres

By Anthony Franco | June 4, 2024 at 9:19pm CDT

The Astros announced they’ve acquired minor league reliever Nick Hernandez from the Padres (link via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle). San Diego receives cash considerations in return. Hernandez was not on the Padres’ 40-man roster and will not immediately occupy a roster spot in Houston.

It’s a homecoming for the 29-year-old Hernandez in a few respects. He’s a Houston-area native who attended the University of Houston. Hernandez also began his career with the Astros, who selected him in the eighth round of the 2016 draft. The 6’1″ righty played in the organization until 2022, topping out at Triple-A Sugar Land. He qualified for minor league free agency after the ’22 season and signed with San Diego.

Hernandez got to the majors with the Padres last fall. He appeared in two games, allowing four runs in three innings. The Friars outrighted him off the 40-man roster at the start of the winter but circled back on a new minor league contract in January. He has been pitching at Triple-A El Paso, where he’s turned in excellent results.

He owns a 1.90 ERA across 23 2/3 innings despite the difficult pitching environment in the Pacific Coast League. Hernandez has punched out 34% of batters faced and has a near-31% strikeout percentage over parts of four Triple-A campaigns. He has typically issued a few too many free passes, but this season’s 9% walk rate isn’t far from league average. Hernandez has a full slate of options remaining, so the Astros would be able to move him between Houston and Sugar Land if they add him to the 40-man roster.

Cristian Javier To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Anthony Franco | June 4, 2024 at 5:41pm CDT

The Astros are losing right-hander Cristian Javier to Tommy John surgery, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. He’ll undergo the procedure on Thursday and will likely be out at least into the second half of the 2025 season.

Javier landed on the 15-day injured list last week after reporting forearm discomfort during a bullpen session between starts. While the team initially expressed optimism he wouldn’t be out for too long, testing has evidently revealed damage to the UCL in his elbow. It’s the second tough blow in as many days for Houston; righty José Urquidy also could be headed for Tommy John after leaving a recent minor league rehab start with forearm discomfort of his own.

Losing Javier is an even more significant development. The 27-year-old has blossomed into a quality mid-rotation arm over the past few seasons. He had a breakout year in 2022, working to a 2.54 ERA while striking out almost a third of opposing hitters over 148 2/3 innings. The Astros signed him to a five-year, $64MM extension — a record guarantee for a pitcher with between three and four years of service — headed into the 2023 season.

Javier had a relative down year, allowing 4.56 earned runs per nine with a 23.1% strikeout rate that was only a little better than league average. He stayed healthy and logged 31 regular season starts and a trio of postseason outings. His efforts at a rebound in 2024 were unfortunately wrecked by injury. Javier lost a couple weeks between April and May with what the team called neck discomfort. He returned on May 11 and pitched three times before suffering the elbow injury. His season concludes with a 3.89 ERA over seven starts.

The Astros opened the season without Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia, each of whom are working back from elbow procedures they underwent in 2023. With Javier and potentially Urquidy joining them, Houston is down four MLB-caliber starters. That has predictably taken a significant toll on the rotation, which looks quite thin beyond Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander.

Ronel Blanco has stepped up with a 2.44 ERA over 10 starts after winning the fifth starter job in camp. He’s now an integral piece of the rotation, but he’s 30 years old and entered the year with seven major league starts under his belt. Hunter Brown and rookie Spencer Arrighetti occupy the last two rotation spots. While they each rebounded from terrible performances in April to turn in strong numbers in May, their season lines are still poor. Recent minor league signee Eric Lauer is essentially the only starter with notable MLB experience in the organization at Triple-A. J.P. France is on the minor league IL with a shoulder problem.

Houston’s rotation struggles have been perhaps the biggest factor in their underwhelming 27-34 start. General manager Dana Brown reiterated last night that he anticipated approaching the deadline as a buyer. Whether Brown knew for certain that Javier was headed for surgery isn’t clear, but he was surely aware it was a possibility at that time. The Astros may be one of upwards of a dozen teams that could try to add from a limited pool of starting pitching available this summer.

The Astros can move Javier to the 60-day injured list when they need to create a 40-man roster spot. They must reinstate him over the offseason before putting him back on the IL next spring. The righty is making $7MM this season and will earn a $10MM salary in 2025. He’s under contract for $21MM apiece between 2026-27.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Dana Brown: “Don’t See Any Scenario” Where Astros Sell At Deadline

By Anthony Franco | June 3, 2024 at 11:21pm CDT

The Astros came back to beat the Cardinals tonight. They’re now 27-34, seven games below .500 and as many back of the Mariners in the AL West. Houston has yet to fire on all cylinders as they seek an eighth straight trip to the AL Championship Series; they’ve yet to climb above .500 after starting the season with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees.

Even as the team has floundered, general manager Dana Brown has painted an optimistic picture in his public comments. Brown told the MLB Network on May 7 that he “couldn’t envision” selling at the deadline. He doubled down on that assertion before tonight’s win. “I don’t see any scenario where we’re sellers,” the GM told the Houston beat (link via Chandler Rome of the Athletic). “I think we’re going to be buyers.”

On the one hand, it’s not surprising that Brown reiterated the stance he expressed a month ago. Even if the front office were privately beginning to consider selling scenarios, it’s far enough from the deadline that Brown is unlikely to publicly declare as much. Houston has a veteran roster that certainly entered the season with championship aspirations. That said, the Astros haven’t done much to change their fortunes in the four weeks since Brown’s last declaration.

Houston held a 12-22 record heading into play on May 7, placing them seven games back in the division. They’ve been better over the past month, going 15-12 over their last 27 contests, but it hasn’t been the kind of resounding play they’ll need to eventually pull out from the hole they dug with a terrible April. Houston’s division deficit hasn’t changed in the last four weeks (though Seattle has jumped the Rangers for the top spot).

The upcoming few weeks could offer that opportunity. Houston has series against the Angels, White Sox, Rockies and Mets in June. They also have two more against St. Louis and three games apiece with the Giants, Tigers and Orioles. Asked whether a poor performance over the next six to eight weeks could force the Astros to sell, Brown said the team “would have to really fall apart” to change direction. “The pitching would have to be struggling. The hitters would have to be struggling. If there’s any sign of hope, I can’t see us doing it,” he added.

To that end, Brown said the front office would like to bring in another bat, preferably a left-handed hitter. Houston is down to Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez and Jon Singleton as lefty hitters on the MLB roster. Backup catcher Victor Caratini is a switch-hitter, while lefty-swinging rookie Joey Loperfido was optioned to Triple-A when José Abreu returned to the MLB roster last week.

Brown’s comments came before Tucker left this evening’s contest when he fouled a ball off his right shin. The star right fielder, who is playing at an MVP level, was on crutches in the clubhouse after the game (noted on X by Adam Spolane of SportsRadio 610). Tucker fortunately told reporters that x-rays came back negative, but that’ll be a situation worth monitoring over the next few days.

First base still stands as the biggest question mark in the Houston lineup. Abreu has only collected three hits in six games since being recalled. His season batting line sits at .115/.170/.161 in 94 plate appearances. Singleton has drawn enough walks to be a roughly average hitter against right-handed pitching. That’s far superior to Abreu’s work but still not imposing at a bat-first position.

The Astros’ biggest need is arguably on the other side of the ball, however. Houston’s rotation has been hit hard by injury and poor performance from their back-end starters. While the club could welcome Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia back midseason, they’re in danger of losing José Urquidy for the year. Cristian Javier’s status remains up in the air as he evaluates treatment options for forearm discomfort. Depth starter J.P. France is on the Triple-A injured list with a shoulder concern.

Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti make up Houston’s current rotation. The latter two righties have had particularly rough seasons. Arrighetti has allowed nearly six earned runs per nine through his first nine MLB starts. Brown’s ERA sits narrowly above 6.00. Both pitchers (especially Brown) have looked better in May after being rocked in the season’s first month, but the Astros have very few options behind them if anyone else suffers an injury. Left-hander Eric Lauer is their only upper minors starter with much MLB experience.

Tony Scott Passes Away

By Darragh McDonald | June 3, 2024 at 10:01pm CDT

Former major league player and coach Tony Scott recently passed away, per various sources, including Brent Maguire of MLB.com. Scott was 72 years old. A cause of death was not provided.

Scott was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1951. He attended Withrow High School in Cincinnati and the Montreal Expos selected him out of that school in the 71st round of the 1969 draft. He eventually made it to the big leagues with the Expos in 1973, the first of 11 major league seasons he would play in as a speed-and-defense outfielder.

That first season saw him get into 11 games but mostly as a pinch runner or defensive replacement, as he only stepped to the plate once. It was fairly similar in 1974, as he got into 19 contests but only receive eight plate appearances.

He finally got somewhat regular playing time in 1975, getting 159 trips to the plate over 92 games for Montreal that year. He stole five bases but was caught six times and hit just .182/.258/.238. He was kept in the minors in 1976 but performed well for Triple-A Denver, slashing .311/.361/.503 while stealing 18 bases in 24 tries.

In November of that year, he was traded to the Cardinals alongside Steve Dunning and Pat Scanlon, with Bill Greif, Sam Mejías and Ángel Torres going the other way. Scott got fairly regular playing time in St. Louis, getting into 487 games during the 1977-80 seasons. He hit .258/.313/.343 in his 1,663 plate appearances and also swiped 77 bags.

Midway through the 1981 campaign, the Cards traded him to the Astros for Joaquín Andújar. Scott played a fairly similar role with the Astros for a few years before being released in 1984. He returned to his original organization by signing with the Expos in June of that year, spending a couple of months with them in what eventually turned out to be his final stint as a major league player. He finished his playing career with 991 games played and 699 hits, including 17 home runs. He batted .249 and stole 125 bases.

After his playing career ended, Scott pivoted to coaching. He worked as a minor league coach in the Phillies’ system from 1989 to 2000 and was a part of the major league coaching staff in 2000 and 2001.

We at MLBTR send our condolences to Scott’s family, friends, former teammates and coaches and all those mourning him at this time.

Jose Urquidy May Require Season-Ending Surgery

By Darragh McDonald and Steve Adams | June 3, 2024 at 2:48pm CDT

Astros right-hander Jose Urquidy will soon see Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas and may need a second Tommy John surgery, per a report from Alden González and Jeff Passan of ESPN, relayed by González on X.

The 29-year-old Urquidy has yet to pitch this season, opening the year on the injured list with a forearm strain. He went out on a minor league rehab assignment last month, but he was pulled from his latest appearance after experiencing renewed discomfort in his forearm area. Houston skipper Joe Espada said late last week that Urquidy and fellow right-hander Cristian Javier were seeking opinions from other doctors for their respective forearm issues — always an ominous development for a pitcher when dealing with a forearm/elbow injury.

This marks the third time in four seasons that Urquidy has spent time on the injured list, though this would obviously be the most significant injury of the bunch. Shoulder troubles limited him to 20 starts and 107 innings back in 2021, and he missed more than three months of the 2023 campaign with another shoulder injury.

When healthy, Urquidy is a solid big league arm. He was tagged for a 5.29 ERA last year, perhaps due to that shoulder injury, but has otherwise posted a sub-4.00 ERA mark in every big league season he’s pitched. He’s totaled 405 MLB frames and logged a 3.98 ERA. Urquidy’s 19.6% strikeout rate is about three percentage points shy of the league average, but he’s also posted an excellent 5.8% walk rate in the majors which has helped him to offset the relative lack of whiffs. He’s been prone to homers, as one might expect from an undersized right-hander with average fastball velocity, but his changeup has been an excellent pitch that’s helped him to hold left-handers to a woeful .203/.255/.364 slash in his career.

Urquidy is one of several Houston rotation options who’s missed time this year. Both Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez are healthy now but have had stays on the injured list. The aforementioned Javier just landed on the 15-day IL recently. The ’Stros have also been without righties Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. all season, with the former recovering from Tommy John surgery performed last May and the latter on the mend from flexor surgery performed last June.

The litany of injuries, paired with major steps back for right-handers J.P. France and Hunter Brown, has left Houston in what’s been an unfamiliar position for them in recent years: one of possessing a clear deficiency in the starting rotation. Starting pitching has been a hallmark of recent Astros clubs, but Houston starters rank 26th in baseball with a 4.69 ERA in 2024.

Brown has begun to right the ship after incorporating a new two-seamer into his repertoire, but he opened the season with 26 runs in 23 innings, so he has a ways to go before his numbers look respectable once again. France posted an ERA north of 7.00 and was optioned to Triple-A, where he’s since gone on the injured list with a shoulder injury. Rookie Spencer Arrighetti has been knocked around for a 5.98 ERA in his first nine MLB starts.

The quartet of Verlander, Valdez, Javier and breakout righty Ronel Blanco has combined for strong results this season, but Javier’s outlook is up in the air at the moment. Brown is holding down a rotation spot and can hopefully continue his recent stretch of productivity, but the depth behind the current group is suspect. Expected returns of Urquidy, McCullers and Garcia have been viewed as critical to the Astros as the summer wears on, but it now seems there’s a real chance Urquidy won’t make it back to the mound at all in 2024. Lefty Eric Lauer recently inked a minor league deal with the Astros but was hit hard in his first Triple-A start with the organization.

If Urquidy does go under the knife for the second Tommy John surgery of his career, he’ll miss the remainder of the 2024 season and likely the majority of the 2025 campaign as well. It seems quite possible that a surgery would end his tenure in Houston. He entered the 2024 season with 4.049 years of MLB service and will be paid $3.75MM this season, potentially spending the entire year on the injured list. He’d then be arbitration-eligible one final time this offseason before qualifying as a free agent post-2025. However, if Urquidy is going to miss the bulk of next season, the Astros would likely non-tender him rather than pay him what’d likely be a repeat of this year’s $3.75MM salary just to pitch the final couple months of next season in a best-case scenario.

Astros Notes: Alvarez, Abreu, Rotation

By Steve Adams | May 30, 2024 at 2:29pm CDT

Jose Abreu’s return from an optional assignment to the minor leagues will indirectly further crowd the the team’s outfield mix, writes Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. Manager Joe Espada said yesterday that with Abreu back on the roster, Yordan Alvarez is likely to see more time in left field, allowing both Abreu and Jon Singleton to be in the lineup at first base and designated hitter.

Alvarez has made consecutive starts in left field after previously appearing in only three games at the position. Espada noted that Alvarez picking up outfield at-bats will come at the expense of Chas McCormick and Mauricio Dubon, adding that he’ll still work to keep everyone involved in the mix for playing time. (MVP candidate Kyle Tucker and center fielder Jake Meyers, in the midst of a breakout showing, naturally don’t appear as though their playing time will be impacted.)

Abreu is 1-for-6 with an RBI single since being recalled from a monthlong sojourn to the minor leagues — a rare assignment for a veteran of his status but one to which the former AL MVP consented after a disastrous start to the season. He went 7-for-22 with a homer and a pair of doubles with Houston’s Rookie-level Arizona Complex League affiliate. Abreu then played a pair of games in Triple-A Sugar Land and went 0-for-7 with a walk and three strikeouts.

The Astros are trying what they can to get Abreu back on track after a disappointing debut campaign in 2023 and a calamitous .099/.156/.113 slash through his first 77 plate appearances of the current campaign. It’s not clear what kind of leash Abreu will have, particularly with Houston sitting 6.5 games back in both the AL West and in the AL Wild Card chase, but Abreu’s three-year, $58.5MM contract gives the team plenty of financial incentive to try to turn things around.

Between Abreu and the 32-year-old Singleton, who returned to the majors after a seven-year absence last season, the Astros’ first base mix has been woefully unproductive. Singleton has turned in a .221/.327/.359 slash — roughly league-average offense (102 wRC+) that’s been accompanied by poorly rated defense (-4 Defensive Runs Saved, -4 Outs Above Average in 293 innings).

That lackluster output from the team’s first basemen is just one of many reasons the Astros find themselves staring at a 24-32 record with more than a third of the season in the books. The rotation’s health — or rather, the lack thereof — has also been a prominent factor. On that front, Espada provided a mixed bag of updates.

On the positive side of things, right-hander Luis Garcia is continuing to progress well in his rehab from last year’s Tommy John surgery. He threw off a mound at Minute Maid Park last week, and MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart tweets that the right-hander is now slated to throw to hitters in his next throwing session. McTaggart adds that righty Lance McCullers Jr., who’s on the mend from flexor surgery, threw a bullpen session this week but is still “a few weeks” from facing live hitters.

Facing live hitters and pitching in simulated game settings are often the last steps before an injured pitcher is cleared to set out on a minor league rehab assignment. Garcia will presumably have multiple live batting practice sessions before progressing to a rehab stint, which could last up to 30 days itself. A return isn’t right around the corner just yet, but he’s on track for a midsummer debut this year. McCullers, it seems, isn’t terribly far behind him.

Less encouraging were Espada’s updates on injured right-handers Jose Urquidy and Cristian Javier. Both are “getting opinions from other doctors,” according to Espada (via McTaggart). Seeking second opinions is always an ominous step for a pitcher, particularly when both are dealing with this type of injury. Urquidy has yet to pitch this season after suffering a forearm strain in spring training. Javier went on the injured list last week with forearm discomfort.

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