While the Houston Astros have two aces in Spencer Brown and Framber Valdez, the rest of their rotation is a bunch of question marks. A huge reason why is that the Astros have been dealing with a litany of injuries to their starters.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic revealed in a question-and-answer session what vibe the team is taking in their approach to managing their starting pitching as the trade deadline approaches. He expects the Astros to be patient and not make any moves until they know more about their starters coming back from injury.
“I get the sense that it is very much in a golding pattern.” Rome writes. “If each of Lance McCullers Jr., Spencer Arrighetti, Luis Garcia, J.P. France, and Christian Javier return on schedule and at peak effectiveness, the Astros aren’t going to prioritize pitching at the deadline.”
With a full rotation’s worth of starters on the injured list, and all expected back at some point over the next few months, the Astros could be looking at an abundance of pitchers on the roster. Compared to their current dilemma, where there isn’t enough pitching, things could drastically change in the future.
That scenario, where all five return and are effective, is unlikely. But, the Astros could see a couple be legitimate starters down the stretch, and that could have a huge impact on their trade deadline plans.
If multiple starters come off the injured list and can make an immediate impact, there will be no need to venture into a barren trade market for a new starter. Houston should prefer to stick with what they have, or even trade some of their starters to fill out holes elsewhere.
Over the next month in the build-up to the MLB trade deadline, the Astros will know a lot more about their rotation than they do now. With the pitchers getting healthy and getting closer to a return, the Astros will have a better idea of how many starters they’ll have during the season.
If just two of the five become full-time starters, the Astros would likely not make any drastic moves to improve their rotation. Rome’s report hints at the team not making any moves in the starting pitching market until they know more about their current injured starters.
