Astros Outright J.P. France
The Astros announced that right-hander J.P. France cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Sugar Land. He had been designated for assignment a week ago when Houston acquired Kai-Wei Teng from the Giants. France will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee.
France, 31 in April, had an exciting major league debut a few years back. He gave the Astros 136 1/3 innings in 2023, allowing 3.83 earned runs per nine. However, the past two seasons have been mostly lost. Shoulder problems plagued him early in 2024 and eventually required surgery, which put him on the shelf for most of 2025. He only made seven big league appearances over those two seasons. He was healthy by the end of 2025 but posted a 6.59 ERA in Triple-A.
The lengthy injury situation and poor results last year bumped France off the roster. He still has one option remaining but the other 29 clubs still passed on the chance to give him a 40-man roster spot. Players have the right to reject an outright assignment if they have at least three years of service or a previous career outright but France doesn’t qualify on either account. That means he sticks with the Astros as non-roster depth.
Houston goes into 2026 with a rotation that looks to have a lot of talent but also question marks behind Hunter Brown. They will hope to get more from Cristian Javier and Lance McCullers Jr., who each had underwhelming seasons in 2025 after lengthy injury absences. Tatsuya Imai will be making his major league debut after years pitching in Japan. Ryan Weiss is coming to North America after a decent stretch in South Korea. Mike Burrows still has less than 100 big league innings.
France will try to position himself to get the call if the guys in that group struggle or get hurt. He will have a steep path back to a roster spot, however, as the Astros have Spencer Arrighetti, AJ Blubaugh, Miguel Ullola, Jason Alexander, Colton Gordon and Teng on the roster as optionable rotation depth. Over the course of the season, some guys will get hurt but Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter will be working back from surgeries performed last year.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Astros To Designate J.P. France For Assignment
The Astros are designating right-hander J.P. France for assignment, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. That’ll open a 40-man roster spot to finalize their acquisition of righty Kai-Wei Teng from San Francisco.
A 14th-round senior draftee who signed for $1,000 as an amateur, France overcame significant odds to reach the majors at all. Injuries pushed him into a more prominent role than anticipated as a 28-year-old rookie three years ago. France stepped up with a 3.83 earned run average across 136 1/3 innings. He started 23 of 24 appearances and was included on Houston’s playoff rosters.
Unfortunately, France hasn’t been able to contribute much over the past two seasons. He battled a shoulder injury during Spring Training 2024. France pitched through it but was hit around in five starts and optioned to Triple-A. He suffered a setback while pitching in the minors and underwent surgery in June that came with a recovery time longer than a full calendar year. He remained on the injured list until last August.
France made it back to the mound at the end of the season. He was tagged for 17 earned runs across 24 innings in Triple-A. The Astros called him up in September as a low-leverage reliever. He tossed a scoreless inning in mop-up work on September 14. His only other appearance consisted of three innings of one-run ball to pick up a win once the Astros were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
The Astros have five days to trade the 30-year-old France or expose him to waivers. He has a little over two years of big league service and one minor league option remaining. If the Astros get him through waivers unclaimed, they’ll be able to keep him in the organization as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.
Astros’ Brandon Walter, John Rooney To Undergo Elbow Surgery
Astros left-handers Brandon Walter and John Rooney will undergo season-ending elbow surgery this week, the team announced. Houston did not specify the sort of procedure either pitcher will require. Walter landed on the injured list due to elbow inflammation back in late July. Rooney also hit the IL due to inflammation, though his original placement was just a couple weeks ago.
In an additional bit of ominous news, the Astros announced that right-hander Spencer Arrighetti is slated to receive a second opinion on his elbow this week. Arrighetti, like Walter and Rooney, was originally placed on the IL due to inflammation in his elbow. (It’s common for elbow injuries to be originally diagnosed as inflammation and for a more specific diagnosis to become apparent once the swelling/inflammation dies down and a better look at the joint’s structural integrity is available.) A second opinion will conjure up fears of a worst-case scenario, though Houston has not yet suggested that surgery is on the table.
Walter’s injury is particularly deflating. The left-hander missed all of the 2024 season due to a strained rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He wound up being cut loose by the Red Sox, signing with the Astros on a minor league deal, and emerging as a key member of the 2025 staff.
In nine starts, the 29-year-old Walter pitched 53 2/3 innings and logged a 3.35 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and immaculate 1.9% walk rate. That breakout performance, even if truncated by this elbow injury, proved pivotal at a time when the Astros were reeling from injuries to Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Arrighetti (who, at that point, was still on the mend from a fractured thumb rather than his current elbow concern).
Rooney, 28, made his big league debut with Houston last month. He tossed 1 1/3 innings, allowed a run, and seemingly suffered an elbow injury in the middle of that debut effort. It’s unfortunate for any player to incur an injury, though if there’s a silver lining it’s that Rooney will pick up major league service time and pay for the final four-plus weeks of the season, dating back to his Aug. 24 promotion. Had he not sustained the injury, he might’ve been optioned back to Triple-A Sugar Land at any point.
That’s probably not much consolation to Rooney, a former Dodgers third-rounder who grinded through the better part of eight professional seasons before finally getting to the majors with his third organization. He’s split the 2025 season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Marlins and Astros, pitching to a combined 2.56 ERA with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but a clunky 14.9% walk rate.
As for Arrighetti, it’s a most unwelcome development for a pitcher who hasn’t seemed to catch any luck this year. The 25-year-old’s previously referenced fractured thumb occurred when he was playing catch in the outfield during batting practice early in the season and was struck by a line drive from a teammate. He returned from that injury in early August and made five starts, struggling through the first three before appearing to turn a corner in the fourth. In his final two starts before going back to the IL, he logged 12 innings and held opponents to three runs on seven hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts.
Manager Joe Espada had already conceded that Arrighetti’s injury might cost him the remainder of the season. Word of a second opinion from an external source only serves to increase that likelihood.
In the meantime, the Astros will turn to righty J.P. France to help deepen the staff. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that France is with the club in Toronto and is expected to pitch out of the bullpen. The 30-year-old France had shoulder surgery last summer and missed much of the current season rehabbing. He’s been pitching as a multi-inning reliever in Triple-A recently, though his last outing was a start: five innings of one-run ball against the Dodgers’ top affiliate.
France has an unsightly 6.59 ERA in 27 1/3 innings of Triple-A work overall this season, but he’s pitched better of late, including a pair of five-inning appearances with one combined run in his past four trips to the mound. He’ll give Espada some length at a time when Houston has eight pitchers on the big league injured list.
Astros Reinstate, Option J.P. France
The Astros announced that right-hander J.P. France has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land. The 40-man roster had a vacancy from Tayler Scott being designated for assignment earlier this week, but it is now full. Houston also announced that outfielder Taylor Trammell has been placed on the 10-day IL due to a cervical muscle strain, with infielder Brice Matthews recalled as the corresponding move.
France, now 30, gave Houston some solid work a few years back. In 2023, he logged 136 1/3 innings with a 3.83 earned run average. Unfortunately, he couldn’t carry it over into 2024. He posted a 7.46 ERA in five starts before requiring shoulder surgery.
He got back on the mound a month ago, beginning a rehab assignment on July 21st. He made five rehab appearances, logging 13 innings with an 8.31 ERA. That’s obviously not a nice number but teams usually focus more on health than results when it comes to these long layoffs.
A rehab assignment for a pitcher comes with a 30-day maximum and France was at the end of that window. Despite all the injuries Houston has suffered this year, their rotation is currently in a decent spot. They have Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Spencer Arrighetti and Jason Alexander currently taking the ball. Lance McCullers Jr. is about to come off the IL and jump back into the mix, with Luis Garcia nearing a return as well. That will leave France squeezed into a Triple-A depth role, where he can continue shaking off the rust.
France has just one option year remaining. If he spends 20 days or more on optional assignment, then he will burn that option this year and be out of options heading into 2026. If the Astros want to preserve that option, they could recall him for a long relief role when roster expand in September.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Astros Designate Cooper Hummel For Assignment
The Astros have designated catcher/infielder/outfielder Cooper Hummel for assignment and placed righty J.P. France on the 60-day injured list as he recovers from last summer’s shoulder surgery. That pair of moves opens two additional spots on a 40-man roster that already had two vacancies. The four openings will go to righty Rafael Montero, lefty Steven Okert, second baseman Brendan Rodgers and top prospect Cam Smith, all of whom have been selected to the 40-man roster and are on the Opening Day club.
Houston also placed outfielders Pedro Leon and Taylor Trammell on the 10-day injured list due to a knee strain and calf strain, respectively. Right-handers Shawn Dubin, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., Kaleb Ort and Forrest Whitley have all been placed on the 15-day IL.
The Astros had telegraphed all these moves. They’d already announced that Montero, Okert, Smith and Rodgers were making the team. Houston had previously informed Hummel that he would not break camp. Since he’s out of options, that made a DFA or waiver placement inevitable. France, who’ll be out into at least July rehabbing last year’s shoulder procedure, was an obvious 60-day IL candidate to open the final roster spot.
Houston claimed Hummel off waivers from the Giants last spring. They outrighted him off the 40-man roster a couple weeks later but reselected his contract in June when they released José Abreu. He spent most of the season in Triple-A, exhausting his final option season in the process. Hummel went 0-8 with a pair of strikeouts in his big league work. He had a solid year in Triple-A, hitting .277/.419/.454 with a massive 17.9% walk rate through 442 plate appearances.
The Astros will have five days to trade Hummel or place him on waivers. He’s not viewed as a regular behind the plate, but he can catch on occasion while playing first base or the corner outfield. His patient plate approach has translated to a .285/.419/.480 career slash in Triple-A. He owns just a .159/.255/.275 line with a 31.9% strikeout rate over 82 major league games.
Trammell, Whitley, Ort and Dubin are all out of options themselves. Their Spring Training injuries delay the Astros’ need to make a decision on any of them, as they’ll begin the year on the major league IL. Ort has the best chance of holding a roster spot once he returns after pitching to a 2.55 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate last season.
Players Who Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins
Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move these days. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
Per R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, most clubs have a report date of February 12th or 13th. The Cubs and Dodgers are a bit earlier than most, on the 9th and 11th, respectively. That’s due to the fact that those clubs are heading to Tokyo, with exhibition games in mid-March, followed by regular season games against each other on March 18th and 19th. All the other teams have Opening Day scheduled for March 27th.
It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until end of May or later. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.
There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, as well as Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney, David Robertson, Randal Grichuk, Kenley Jansen, Harrison Bader, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana and many more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together in the next week or so. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment.
Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time and could find themselves transferred soon.
Angels: Robert Stephenson
Stephenson underwent a hybrid Tommy John surgery with internal brace in late April. Given the 14-plus months required to recovery from such a procedure, he’s not likely to be ready in the early parts of the 2025 season.
Astros: Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Bennett Sousa
Javier underwent Tommy John surgery in June and is targeting a return in the second half of 2025. France is recovering from shoulder surgery and hoping to return in July. Sousa’s timeline is less clear but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in April. Other possibilities include Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr., who are expected to start the season on the IL but returning in April or May still seems possible.
Athletics: Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk
Medina underwent Tommy John surgery in August and Waldichuk in May. Medina might miss the entire season while Waldichuk is likely to miss a few months at least.
Blue Jays: Angel Bastardo, Alek Manoah
The Jays grabbed Bastardo from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft in December, even though he had Tommy John surgery in June. Manoah also had Tommy John around that time and is hoping to be back by August.
Braves: Joe Jiménez
Jimenez had knee surgery in November with a timeline of eight to twelve months, so he might miss the entire season. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. are also possibilities, though those will be more borderline. Strider had internal brace surgery in April, so returning in May is somewhat possible. Acuña is recovering from a torn ACL last year and it’s possible he’ll miss the first month or so of the season. Given how important both of those players are, Atlanta probably won’t put them on the 60-day IL unless it’s 100% certain that they can’t come back in the first 60 days of the season.
Brewers: Robert Gasser
Gasser had Tommy John surgery in June and will be looking at a late 2025 return even in a best-case scenario.
Diamondbacks: Kyle Nelson
Nelson’s timeline is unclear, but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in May and missed the remainder of the 2024 season.
Dodgers: Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, Emmet Sheehan
Stone underwent shoulder surgery in October that will cause him to miss the entire year. Graterol also underwent shoulder surgery and isn’t expected back until the second half of 2025. Each of Ryan, Hurt and Sheehan required Tommy John surgery in 2024: Ryan in August, Hurt in July and Sheehan in May.
Guardians: Sam Hentges, David Fry, Shane Bieber, Trevor Stephan
Hentges required shoulder surgery in September, with an expected recovery timeline of 12 to 14 months. Fry underwent UCL surgery in November with a more fluid timeline. He won’t be able to throw at all in 2025 but could be cleared for designated hitter action six to eight months from that surgery. Bieber is perhaps a borderline case, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April. Given his importance, the Guards may not transfer him to the 60-day IL until it’s assured that he won’t be back in the first 60 days of the season. Stephan underwent Tommy John surgery in March and perhaps has a chance to avoid the 60-day IL, depending on his progression.
Mariners: Matt Brash, Jackson Kowar
Brash underwent Tommy John surgery in May. Given the typical 14-month recovery timeline from that procedure, he would be looking at a midsummer return. However, it was reported in November that he’s ahead of schedule and could be back by the end of April. That’s an optimistic timeline but the Mariners will probably hold off moving him to the 60-day IL until the door is closed to an early return. Kowar underwent Tommy John in March, so an early return in 2025 is possible for him, depending on how his recovery is going.
Marlins: Braxton Garrett, Eury Pérez
Garrett just underwent UCL surgery last month and is going to miss the entire 2025 season. Pérez underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year and will miss at least part of the beginning of the 2025 campaign.
Mets: Christian Scott
Scott required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in September and will likely miss the entire 2025 season.
Nationals: Josiah Gray, Mason Thompson
Gray required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in July, meaning he’ll miss most or perhaps all of the 2025 season. Thompson required Tommy John surgery in March, so he has a better chance to make an early-season return if his recovery is going well.
Orioles: Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells
Bradish and Wells each required UCL surgery in June, so they’re both slated to miss the first half of the upcoming campaign.
Padres: Joe Musgrove
Musgrove had Tommy John surgery in October and will therefore miss the entire 2025 season. However, the Padres only have 36 guys on their 40-man roster at the moment, so they’ll need to fill those spots before moving Musgrove to the 60-day IL.
Pirates: Dauri Moreta
Moreta required UCL surgery in March, so an early-season return is possible if his rehab is going well, though he could end up on the 60-day if the club goes easy with his ramp-up or he suffers any kind of setback.
Rangers: Josh Sborz
Sborz underwent shoulder surgery in November and is expected to miss the first two to three months of the upcoming season.
Rays: Nate Lavender, Ha-Seong Kim
The Rays took Lavender from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, even though he had Tommy John in May and will miss the start of the season. Kim’s status is more up in the air after he had shoulder surgery in October. Various reports have suggested he could return anywhere from April to July. The Rays made a sizable investment in Kim, their largest ever for a position player, so they probably won’t shelve him until they get more clarity on his status.
Red Sox: Patrick Sandoval, Garrett Whitlock, Chris Murphy
Sandoval had internal brace surgery in June of last year and should miss the first half of the season. Whitlock had the same surgery in May, so he could have a bit of a better chance to return in the first 60 days of the season. Murphy underwent a fully Tommy John surgery in April and will certainly miss the beginning of the upcoming season. Another possibility is Lucas Giolito, who had internal brace surgery in March, though he expects to be ready by Opening Day.
Reds: Julian Aguiar, Brandon Williamson
Aguiar underwent Tommy John surgery in October and Williamson in September, so both are likely slated to miss the entire 2025 season.
Tigers: Sawyer Gipson-Long
Gipson-Long underwent internal brace surgery in April. On top of that, he underwent left hip labral repair surgery in July, with the club hoping to address both issues at the same time. It seems likely that he’ll miss some of the early 2025 schedule, but his IL placement will depend on how he’s been progressing.
White Sox: Jesse Scholtens
Scholtens underwent Tommy John surgery in early March. Whether he goes on the 60-day IL or not will depend on how he’s progressed since then and when the White Sox expect him back.
Yankees: Jonathan Loáisiga
Loáisiga underwent internal brace surgery in April, so he could potentially be back on the mound early in the 2025 season. It was reported in December that the Yankees are expecting him to be in the bullpen by late April or early May, so he’ll only end up on the 60-day IL if he suffers a bit of a setback.
J.P. France Targeting July Return From Shoulder Surgery
Astros righty J.P. France underwent surgery to repair a capsule tear in his shoulder last July. There wasn’t much initial specificity about the timeline beyond the fact that it would end his 2024. France tells Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that the procedure came with a 12-14 month recovery window.
He’s now at roughly the halfway point. France tells McTaggart that he hasn’t encountered any setbacks thus far and hopes he’ll be on track for the earlier end of the rehab window. “I feel like the way it’s going right now, hopefully I’m looking more about the 12-month mark, so that will be me [back] in July. Hopefully that’s the case,” France said. “There’s a fine line because it’s a shoulder surgery and you’re not trying to rush it back, either.” He tells McTaggart that he began a throwing program last month and will progress to working from 90 feet this week.
Even the earlier end of France’s timeline means he’s likely to be shelved until around the All-Star Break. He figures to land on the 60-day injured list if the team needs to opens a 40-man roster spot in Spring Training. In an ideal scenario, France could bolster the team’s rotation depth as they’re weighing whether to buy at the trade deadline.
France was a capable back-end starter during his 2023 rookie season. He overcame a middling 17.4% strikeout rate to post a 3.83 earned run average through 136 1/3 innings. Opponents teed off during his five starts early in the ’24 campaign. France posted a 7.46 ERA over 25 1/3 innings before Houston optioned him to Triple-A. Between that and the injury, he has dropped down the rotation depth chart.
Cristian Javier and France are locks to open the season on the IL. Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. are more borderline candidates to return by Opening Day. The Astros are set to begin the year with a front four of Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti. Swingman Hayden Wesneski would probably be the fifth starter if Garcia and McCullers are unavailable. Colton Gordon and Ryan Gusto, neither of whom has pitched in the majors, are also on the 40-man roster.
Astros Claim Ben Gamel
The Astros have claimed outfielder Ben Gamel off waivers from the Mets, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic on X. Gamel had recently been designated for assignment by the Mets. To open a 40-man roster spot for Gamel, the Astros have recalled right-hander J.P. France and placed him on the major league 60-day injured list. They will need to open an active roster spot for Gamel once he reports to the team.
Gamel, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He had a strong run for Triple-A Syracuse, getting into 45 games and slashing .314/.423/.538 for a wRC+ of 150. At least some of that production was related to a .400 batting average on balls in play that he wasn’t going to maintain, but he did hit seven home runs and was drawing walks at a strong clip of 16.3%.
The Mets called him up near the end of June with fellow outfielder Starling Marte going on the injured list. Gamel didn’t get much playing time but carried himself well whenever the Mets put him in there. In almost two months on the roster, he got into just 18 games and received just 30 plate appearances. But he walked in seven of those, a huge 23.3% rate, and slashed .217/.400/.261 for a wRC+ of 110. When Marte returned from the IL on the weekend, Gamel was nudged off the roster and onto the waiver wire.
Gamel now has nine major league seasons on his track record, a lengthy run of serviceable major league performance. Since his 2016 debut, he has played for the Yankees, Mariners, Brewers, Guardians, Pirates, Padres and now the Mets. In 703 big league games, he has a line of .252/.333/.382 and a 96 wRC+ while playing all three outfield positions and a bit of first base.
The Houston lineup has taken a few hits in the recent weeks and months. Kyle Tucker hasn’t played since the first week of June due to a shin contusion. Alex Bregman hasn’t played in almost a week due to an elbow injury. José Abreu was released earlier this year after a dismal performance. They also traded away some depth in the Yusei Kikuchi trade by sending Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner to the Blue Jays.
That has led to playing time going to guys with fairly uninspiring results. Jake Meyers has strong defensive grades in center but is hitting .228/.293/.387 for a wRC+ of 93. Mauricio Dubón has been bouncing around the diamond but is slashing .252/.284/.362 for a wRC+ of 82. Jon Singleton has taken over Abreu’s job at first base and has been passable but his .234/.316/.362 line leads to a subpar 96 wRC+. In the group of Trey Cabbage, Chas McCormick, Zach Dezenzo, Aledmys Díaz and Pedro León, no one has a wRC+ higher than 65. León was recently optioned and Díaz released. Shay Whitcomb has done well covering third for Bregman but in a small sample of just three games.
Dubón and McCormick have been getting regular playing time in the corners lately but Gamel could perhaps factor in there, as well as in the first base mix with Singleton and Dezenzo. Both Cabbage and Dezenzo have options and were just recalled in the past week, so perhaps one of those two will be optioned whenever Gamel can link up with the club.
As for France, he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in June, so it’s unsurprising to see him now landing on the 60-day IL. He had been optioned at the end of April and was on the minor league IL. By getting recalled now, he’ll get major league service time and pay for the remainder of the season. He had already crossed the one-year service mark earlier in the season, but will add a few weeks to his tally here at the end of 2024.
Astros’ JP France To Undergo Shoulder Surgery
Astros right-hander JP France will undergo surgery on his throwing shoulder, according to his agent Nate Heisler of Klutch Sports (X link). Details of the procedure, which will be performed by noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister, aren’t clear. France will miss the rest of the 2024 season.
It doesn’t come as a huge surprise. France last pitched in a Triple-A game on April 30 because of the shoulder injury. He’d ramped up to long toss as he tried to rehab. General manager Dana Brown said over the weekend that France had a setback and no longer had a clear timeline for a return.
This will be a nearly completely lost season for the 29-year-old. France opened the year in Houston’s big league rotation. He was tagged for a 7.46 ERA across 25 1/3 innings spanning five starts. The Astros optioned him to Triple-A Sugar Land in hopes of getting him back on track. France only made it through one outing before the injury.
It’s another hit to an Astro rotation that has been torn apart. Houston lost José Urquidy and Cristian Javier to Tommy John procedures. They’ve been without Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. as they rehab from 2023 surgeries. Justin Verlander has had a pair of injured list stints. He’s on the 15-day IL with neck discomfort. In part because of the injuries, the Astros hurried last year’s third-round pick Jake Bloss to the majors. Bloss left his MLB debut with shoulder soreness and went on the IL himself, though that’s expected to be a fairly brief absence.
France struggled during the first month of the season, but he entered the year as a key depth arm. He’d emerged as a somewhat surprising contributor as a 28-year-old rookie. France logged 136 1/3 frames with a 3.83 earned run average during his debut campaign. While he had a pedestrian 17.4% strikeout rate, he showed good control and did a solid job avoiding hard contact.
Since the injury occurred after he was optioned, France has spent the last couple months on the Triple-A injured list. He’s not entitled to a major league salary or service time while he’s on the minor league IL. The Astros could recall him and place him on the MLB 60-day injured list if they want to open a 40-man roster spot (at which point France would be paid at the major league minimum rate). The Astros would need to reinstate him onto the 40-man over the offseason or put him on waivers.
Astros Notes: France, Bloss, Caratini, Graveman
Rotation depth has been an issue for the Astros throughout the season, and they’re still getting unwelcome updates on that front. General manager Dana Brown said yesterday in an appearance on SportsTalk 790 AM that righty J.P. France, who’s on the minor league injured list due to a shoulder injury, had a recent setback after building up to long-tossing (X link via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). There’s presently no timetable for France’s return to the mound.
The 29-year-old France was an out-of-the-blue rotation savior in Houston for much of the 2023 season. He started 23 games for the ‘Stros, posted a sharp 3.83 ERA, and wound up finishing fourth on the team in innings pitched (136 1/3) as Houston navigated several injuries. France appeared to fade down the stretch, however, yielding five or more runs in three of his final six starts — including a 10-run drubbing at the hands of the Red Sox in late August. He also turned in an ERA north of 7.00 in his first five starts of the current season, bringing his overall ERA in his past 11 big league starts to 7.71.
That rocky stretch notwithstanding, the ongoing injury trouble for France is a notable hit to Houston’s rotation depth. He was quite strong through his first 17 starts last season, and for a club that entered the year with Justin Verlander, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. all on the injured list, France represented an important fifth or sixth option on the staff. Instead, he’s been limited to just 29 innings between the majors and minors combined, and it’s not clear when or whether he’ll pitch his way back into the team’s plans.
There’s better news on right-hander Jake Bloss, who exited his major league debut this weekend after 3 2/3 innings and was subsequently placed on the injured list with discomfort in his right shoulder. Manager Joe Espada said yesterday in his pregame media session that an MRI revealed only inflammation in the young right-hander’s shoulder (video link via SportsTalk 790). He’ll go “a few” days without throwing, but the absence of any structural damage is a welcome relief for the organization.
The 23-year-old Bloss was Houston’s third-round pick just last summer and raced through the minors — in part because of the team’s litany of rotation injuries but also because of outstanding performance. In a dozen minor league starts between High-A (four starts) and Double-A (eight starts) prior to his promotion, Bloss posted a 1.74 ERA through 62 innings.
Bloss’ placement on the injured list brings Houston back down to four healthy starting pitchers on the 40-man roster, however. He joins Verlander, Garcia, McCullers, Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy on the major league injured list (plus France in Triple-A). Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti are locked into spots for the moment, but the Astros will still need to stretch further to bring up another arm or rely on a bullpen game or two while Bloss and Verlander mend. Verlander, Espada noted yesterday, has yet to resume throwing. There’s no firm timetable for when he might begin a throwing program or return to the Houston roster.
Elsewhere on the injury front, it seems backup catcher Victor Caratini will be out at least three to four weeks (per Brown in that same SportsTalk 790 appearance). He hit the injured list with a left hip flexor strain last week, which prompted the Astros to bring up catcher Cesar Salazar from Triple-A Sugar Land. That timeline from Brown could put Caratini roughly in line with the All-Star break, barring any setbacks.
Caratini has quietly been a solid option backing up young Yainer Diaz. His .248/.287/.400 batting line is right in line with the league average after weighting for his home park (by measure of wRC+). That level of production outpaces even most starting catchers around the league, leaving Caratini looking like a nice pickup on the two-year, $12MM contract he signed over the winter.
Lastly, righty Kendall Graveman tells Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle that he’s not giving up hope of a late-season return following his January shoulder surgery. While Graveman acknowledged the possibility is “remote,” he’s midway through a throwing program and could begin throwing off a mound sometime in early August. He’s currently throwing on flat ground from a distance of 90 feet.
Graveman, 33, also offered further specifics on the nature of his surgery. (The team did not provide any details at the time of their announcement.) The right-hander had a pair of anchors installed in his labrum in addition to a cleanup of his rotator cuff. Graveman provides further details and offers plenty of quotes on his outlook and mindset that Astros fans, in particular, will want to check out in full.
In 66 1/3 innings between the White Sox and Astros last season, Graveman pitched to a combined 3.12 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate, 12.8% walk rate, 13 holds and eight saves. While Brown suggested at the time of the surgery that Graveman’s likely season-ending injury wouldn’t intensify his team’s bullpen pursuit in free agency, the Astros signed Josh Hader to a five-year contract just three days after announcing that Graveman had undergone his procedure.