The Houston Astros are pretty much the definition of a slow starting team. In 2024, after 12 games, they were 4-8. In 2023, 5-7. After a dozen played in 2022, the ‘Stros stood at 6-6. And back in 2021, Houston also sat right at .500 with 12 games in the books.
In each of those seasons, the Astros finished in first place in the American League West. They got to the World Series in 2021, got back there and won it in 2022, then made it to the AL Championship Series in 2023. Last year, the Astros lost at the Wild Card stage, but they have made it clear that their slow starts do not mean much.
In 2025, the Astros sit at 5-7 after their first dozen contests. Does that mean the AL West pennant winners in seven of that eight years (only the COVID-shortened 2020 season saw them finish second) are on their way to another postseason run?
Not necessarily, and almost definitely not unless the Astros figure out how to upgrade their starting rotation after a string of injuries that have left the team with Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown and Hayden Wesneski doing their best to hold the rotation together.
Latest Injury to Astros Pitcher a Weird Fluke
The Astros rotation has been so snakebitten that on Monday, second-year starter Spencer Arighetti had to be placed on the 15-day injured list after a batting practice line drive hit him on the hand as he was playing catch in the outfield before a game in Seattle.
The 25-year-old Arighetti, who was the Astros top pitching prospect, and No. 3 overall prospect, before the 2024 season, turned in a solid season debut against the New York Mets on March 29, lasting six innings allowing just one run on one hit and two walks. He faltered somewhat in his second start, taking on the Minnesota Twins on April 5.
In that one, Arighetti made it through just 3 2/3 innings, getting touched up for five runs. Now, however, Arighetti is on the shelf indefinitely, though the Astros did get some good news on Wednesday when medical tests showed that the injury will not require surgery. Instead, the right-hander will need to wear a cast for between two and three weeks, and will be evaluated at that point.
The loss of Arighetti comes after Luis Garcia, who won 15 games in Houston’s championship 2022 season but has not pitched since early 2023 due to Tommy John surgery endured another setback in his recovery, with inflammation in his surgically repaired elbow.
Lance McCullers, who has not pitched since 2022, J.P. France and Christian Javier all remain on the 60-day IL.
Astros Likely to ‘Swing Big’ in Pitching Trade Market
Writing on Thursday in Bleacher Report, MLB scribe Kerry Miller proposed a solution, predicting that the Astros “might be the singular team most likely to swing big for someone like (Miami Marlins ace Sandy) Alcantara, as a means of both improving the current rotation and preparing for Framber Valdez’s likely departure in free agency.”
Alcantara, the 2022 NL Cy Young winner, is owed $34.6 million over this season and next on his current five-year, $56 million contract with Miami. The 29-year-old Dominican Republic native is considered a prime trade candidate simply because that kind of money seems nearly impossible for the team with the lowest payroll in MLB to handle.
The Marlins payroll is estimated at $68.7 million, meaning that Alcantara â who is making a comeback from Tommy John himself â consumes more than 25 percent of the team’s entire big league player budget.
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