When October arrived, no bullpen seemed fresher or fiercer as a result. No rotation in baseball threw more innings than the Astros’ 950. The Astros thrived last season by shielding their bullpen with deep starts. The continuity was stunning and totally unsustainable. Justin Verlander, Valdez, Javier, Urquidy and Garcia teamed to make 140. One of them, rookie Hunter Brown, made just two regular-season starts.
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The Astros won the World Series while using eight starting pitchers. Perhaps Crane and his army of baseball operations advisers believed it this winter, one where their inaction and instability must now be examined with a more thorough eye. These unexpected but not wholly unusual events have destroyed any delusion that the Astros and their pitching staff could replicate an anomalous 2022 season. Just a few hours later, it was Garcia’s turn for an early exit, leaving his start against the San Francisco Giants after just eight pitches with what the team described as “right elbow discomfort.” Monday afternoon, Urquidy was placed on the injured list with a shoulder issue after departing his Sunday start early. McCullers’ forearm strain in February quickly derailed that plan.
The Astros expected to run out a rotation of Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, José Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. Twenty-nine games into the season, the Astros could be on the precipice of paying for it. Most of Crane’s public comments during his two-month tenure featured the same axiom: “You can never have enough pitching.” Yet none of the baseball operations decisions he oversaw this winter supported his statement.
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