Cristian Javier’s early exit a reminder for Astros fans that his recovery is far from over

Earlier this month the Houston Astros got a huge boost when Cristian Javier returned from the injured list after undergoing Tommy John surgery last May. However, on Sunday we got a reminder that just because a player is back from injury doesn’t mean that they’re automatically back to their pre-injury level, as Javier only lasted three innings against the Baltimore Orioles before leaving the game with an illness.

While we don’t know the full extent of the illness since Javier didn’t talk after the game, it’s fair to assume that part of the reason for it was Jaiver having to try to pitch a starter’s workload, which is an honest reason for feeling gassed. 

Cristian Javier’s early exit could be as simple as his conditioning post-injury is still a work in progress and that is okay

Javier’s short outing was exacerbated by a disastrous outing from Shawn Dubin, who was called upon to give the Astros some length out of the bullpen and only ended up facing four batters, all of whom ended up scoring. He’s made three appearances since returning from the injured list and has allowed eleven runs in just 1 2/3 innings. He’s surrendered home runs in that span. 

The Astros don’t really have a traditional long man in their bullpen (Dubin the closest thing to it), so they’re going to be behind the eight ball every time that Javier (or any other starter) has a short outing. 

That’s going to be even more pronounced for this year’s Astros team considering Spencer Arrighetti is still working his way back from a thumb injury and Luis Garcia seems poised to join the team after missing 27 months due to Tommy John surgery. 

While recently demoted pitchers like John Rooney or AJ Blubaugh could be options to fill that long-relief void, they’ll both need to spend 15 days in the minor leagues before they can be called back up again (the only exception to that is if they’re recalled due to an injury). 

One option the Astros have is to piggyback Javier, Garcia or any other pitcher working their way back. That way, instead of needing a long reliever to come in to relieve the starter, the opener would be able to get through an early inning while also limiting the number of times the bulk “starter” would need to face the top of the order. 

Normally guys like Bryan King and Bennett Sousa would be middle-leverage options who could help limit the bleeding in the middle innings when a starter like Javier doesn’t go very long. But now they’re middle-to-high leverage arms who we won’t be seeing in blowouts.

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