Astros’ biggest offseason blunder on full display after latest injury setback

Eric Cole

Houston Astros Workout / Rich Storry/GettyImages

Reasonable people can disagree on the offseason moves that the Houston Astros made this winter. There was certainly merit to keeping both Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman heading into the 2025 season, but there is also a lot of logic to moving on when Houston did, as the Astros now have a more balanced roster and more sustainable payroll outlook.

However, Houston didn't address their rotation at this offseason after losing both Justin Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi, and that feels like their biggest mistake by far. That frightful omission from Dana Brown's offseason machinations feels even worse with the word that Luis Garcia had an injury setback that puts his recovery in jeopardy.

Luis Garcia injury setback an indictment of Astros' offseason strategy no matter how serious it is

Before we get too crazy here, it's important to realize that we don't yet know how bad Garcia's elbow injury actually is. While it's never great news that a pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery is dealing with a sore arm, it also isn't all that uncommon when players are rehabbing. The concern is a little higher here with the team having said nothing about Garcia since shutting him down, but that could be coming soon.

Whatever Garcia's status is, it's a stern reminder that the Astros failure to add a starting pitcher this past offseason (either in trade or free agency) is problematic. Houston basically had just enough starting pitching depth to get through camp healthy, and received good news from their injured list. Unfortunately, Garcia's status throws a wrench in those plans.

Even if Garcia is only shut down for a short amount of time, Houston now may have to turn to some questionable internal options like AJ Blubaugh and Colton Gordon to cover some innings during the early-going. If Garcia's injury proves to be more serious, there isn't a clear option to replace him in the rotation unless you are extremely bullish on Lance McCullers Jr.'s recovery.

Brown is very fond of saying that you can never have enough pitching and that he is always looking for more arms. It would have been nice if he had taken his own advice because now Houston finds themselves in a real pickle.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.