Yeah they have to wait on the inflammation to clear before they can get a good mri on it. He's toast.
Astros team is Yordan and a Dezenzo/Smith play every day tandem from being watchable again. For now, I just tune in to watch JV aka Hunter.
https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/ronel-blanco-to-visit-team-doctors-with-right-elbow-soreness In that article yesterday MacTaggert casually drops in that Arrighetti is out until July. No big deal, just a 2 month delay with zero explanation. In slightly better news, Cristian Javier threw 15 pitches off the mound on May 9th. So for the time being he is on track to come back in August. The complete lack of updates on Luis Garcia are very odd. At this point I’m assuming he needs another TJS in which case his (Astros) career is very likely over.
I rolled my eyes when the initial reports were 6 weeks for Arrighetti. Breaking your thumb on your pitching hand... no chance you are back in 6 weeks. I've already written off Garcia. Astros are pissed at tubby. Dude was getting paid almost 2 million bucks and all he has to do is rehab his arm and get in shape. He shows up to spring training looking like a before picture in an Ozempic commercial. I doubt he took his rehab seriously.
Ronel will be a tough break if indeed he's out for a while . I thought he was rounding into form and was going to be a dependable piece for us We need to find our #3 , our 1 and 2 are solid as can be with framber and Hunter . Lance , looks OK , but can't trust him right now. Spencer only has a good half a season on his resume It may be time to see what blubaugh or Ullola can do given a few starts in a row. Cmon Luis , get back and shape and recapture your shuffle step glory Honestly if Ronel is done then pitching is probably a bigger need that hitting
Gonna need Gordon, Gusto, Walter, and/or Blubaugh to step up bigly. Unreal how many devastating pitching injuries they have had over the past few years. Thankfully Gordon looked surprisingly effective last time out and Lance showed some signs of life last night with 8Ks.
If Arrighetti really is out until July then the Astros probably need to make a move to add a SP. They need to avoid a scenario where they are trotting out Rhett Kouba or Aaron Brown to start a major league game or relying on Gordon or Walter for lengthy stays in the rotation. McCullers is probably gonna be innings-limited. The good news is that Gordon, Gusto, and Blubaugh should all be good to throw as many innings as needed. I really like where Ullola is tracking, but he won’t be an option until after the all star break.
Maybe they can coax Lance Lynn out of retirement? He wanted $8m and didn't get an offer above $4m, but he's probably available for the right price. I'm not sure the rotation can succeed between now and August in its current state.
I have never been high on Blubaugh or Ullola and do not believe either should be starting in Houston this season. Including them in trades at the deadline for position playing prospects is something I would put on the table.
Disagree on Ullola- he probably won't be an option until after the all star break- but that's probably. I would call him up and tell him "yo, dude- this is just a 1 start deal- you aren't up for good- no matter what happens we are sending you back down- go out and have fun in your debut". Then- if he was really good I'd give him another and another and another. If he was average I would send him back down and say- see- now you can work on x,y,z- we had a little temporary need and just wanted you to see what live bullets felt like I think there's a chance he could be electric and you might be surprised at how well he could do- and if not it's not like 1 start is going to ruin him. I just want to see, and since we apparently have 2.5 open spots every 5 times through the rotation why not?
I really liked Lynn as a potential affordable depth add this past offseason, so I’m in on that. A June rotation of Framber, Brown, McCullers, and 2 of Gordon/Blubaugh/Walter is survivable assuming Arrighetti really is back in early July, but there is just so much risk there. They have to keep Gusto or another SP in the pen to have a 3 inning relief option on hand because of how prone McCullers and the other unproven guys are to getting knocked out early. At a minimum they should be adding a moderately-proven AAAA type to the AAA rotation. But it is looking very likely they will be in the market for SP at the deadline.
I don’t disagree that there’s a chance Ullola could have some early success and I’d rather see him called up than Kouba, Ivey, or Aaron Brown, but I still think that would be a really bad situation.
Not counting on Arrighetti's return would be wise. Like you said, high risk he's delayed further or needs time to get back to himself when he returns. Even if he's back, he averaged 5.1 IP/start last year. Between him, Lance, and whoever's pitching that's not Framber/Hunter, we're going to need the long relief option you suggested. Maybe more than one.
