Jose Urquidy injury update is quite bad news for the Astros rotation going forward

The Houston Astros have dealt with their fair share of injuries in 2024, especially on their pitching staff. Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez missed time early in the season before returning while the team has a host of arms on the IL with ailments ranging from "should be fine soon" to "out indefinitely." One arm whose immediate future had yet to be decided was Jose Urquidy.

Urquidy has been on the injured list all season long with forearm issues and recently had a setback during a rehab start that came towards what was thought to be the end of his outing. As fans have learned time and time again, rehab setbacks are never good and fans have braced for the worse while getting next to no substantive updates on Urquidy or Cristian Javier for that matter.

Unfortunately, news broke Monday that Urquidy is seeking a second opinion on his arm because there is a strong likelihood that he will require Tommy John surgery which would keep him out for at least all of the 2024 and probably longer than that.

Astros News: Jose Urquidy could need season-ending surgery, seeking second opinion

The good news, if there is such a thing here, is that Urquidy is going to a well-known, highly-respected doctor in Dr. Keith Meister who will be able to give him and the Astros a definitive answer on what he needs going forward. Generally speaking, second opinions from doctors on things like this don't usually contradict the first opinion a player gets, but it is always worth double-checking before making any decisions like this.

The list of bad news here is lengthy. For Urquidy, this would be his second Tommy John surgery as he first had the procedure back in 2017. One Tommy John surgery has become fairly commonplace in MLB and the recovery rates are quite good. However, once a guy has a second (or more), the success rate in terms of getting back to former glory goes down quite a bit.

Obviously this is rough for the Astros as well. With Urquidy potentially done for the season, they are just going to have to hope Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti can hold down the fort. While Luis Garcia appears to be moving towards making rehab starts, which is great, Houston probably can't rely on him until they actually see how he looks. Whether or not Urquidy needs surgery, it seems like the Astros are going to have to figure out how to function without him for a while.

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