I no this is sad but I though the Astros starting pitching was doing well. The hitting and relievers are the problems.
At least JV tried to come back for the team. I'm surprised he took it upon himself to release the news. I know the Stros tried to protect this bad news.
He was going to be out next year regardless. Surgery was inevitable, ala McCullers pitching in the playoffs with a bum arm.
On a positive note Lance McCullers looks good after coming back from Surgery. I hope he stays healthy. Yordan Alvarez coming back next year is Important also. I hope the Astros can get All Star Power Pitcher through a trade.
You'd have to ask him, only guy who knows how the arm feels is the guy it's attached to. And pitchers are notorious liars when it comes to health.
His payroll in 2021 was to be $33M. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/houston-astros/payroll/2021/ We are still paying for Joe Smith?
Smith was signed to a 2yr/$8M contract, so he's on the books for next year in any situation. Could somebody please explain to me how opt outs work? Does the contract carry over to 2022, or is this year treated as a regular year with him on the roster for payroll/proration purposes. I'm confused. Also, does the league count him as "high risk" (still gets paid), or not (loses his money)? I've been curious for multiple reasons.
Disappointing, but hardly surprising. I actually feel a lot better about our ability to withstand this than I did earlier. Between Framber, Urquidy, McCulers, and Javier it looks like we could have a pretty solid rotation next season. Combined with an expanded playoff that MLB is likely gonna maintain. Going through an extremely grueling recovery just to come back at 39, that has to be tough.
If someone can figure out how contracts and insurance work during the pandemic, then we would know things.
