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Astros better hope Verlander can be ready soon after latest Urquidy injury update

Jose Urquidy's injury couldn't have come at a worst time for the Astros.
Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Championship Series - Houston Astros v Texas Rangers - Game Four / Carmen Mandato/GettyImages

The one thing that the Houston Astros really needed to accomplish in the last couple weeks of spring training was to avoid anymore injuries. With Justin Verlander, JP France, and Jose Abreu all in various stages of being dinged up, any other significant injuries could really upset the apple cart when it comes to getting off to a good start in 2024. Unfortunately, Jose Urquidy's elbow had other plans.

Late last week, Urquidy pulled himself from his spring start due to pain in his throwing elbow. That, in itself, is never great news. After getting an MRI over the weekend to determine next steps, it was revealed that Urquidy has a forearm strain which is certainly not the worst news, but it also isn't good. He will start the season on the IL, as Joe Espada declined comment on further details Monday morning.

Urquidy's injury places renewed importance on Verlander's recovery for Astros

Again, if it was revealed that Urquidy had torn his UCL, that would have been strictly worse news. Based on what we know at the moment, that isn't the case. However, it does seem like it could be at least a little while before Urquidy could start throwing again, even in the best-case scenario. The righty may need a rehab stint in the minors, and that places a lot more emphasis on Justin Verlander and his recovery.

Ever since Verlander revealed that he was delayed due to issues with his shoulder, the Astros' rotation was in a tenuous position early in the season. All the news since then has been largely positive about his progress, and Verlander is throwing off the mound again, but the length of the ace's IL stint matters a whole lot more now, given Urquidy's injury.

The good news is that the Astros have options. In addition to the persistent Blake Snell rumors, which appear to be unlikely to come to fruition at the moment, Houston does have Spencer Arrighetti as an internal option, as well as Ronel Blanco. The latter probably has the leg up right now, given that he is already on the 40-man roster.

In short, the Urquidy news is pretty brutal when it comes to timing. The Astros are fortunate to have some options to cover innings in the short-term, but the true fallout will be known once we know more about how soon JP France -- and especially Verlander -- will be back and actually starting games.

More Astros News from Climbing Tal's Hill

Eric Cole

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.