Latest Kyle Tucker and Justin Verlander injury updates are genuine cause for concern

While the Houston Astros have won eight of their last 10 games after taking their series against the Blue Jays, a couple of key injuries still hang over the team as the trade deadline approaches. Star outfielder Kyle Tucker looked like an MVP candidate before he fouled a ball off his shin in early June and there has been little in the way of news in regard to his progress.

Meanwhile, Justin Verlander's future with the Astros has become more and more questionable after he was sidelined with a mysterious neck ailment since June 15. Given all of the injuries the Astros have had to deal with this year, these are not two guys that they want to be without for much longer.

Unfortunately, the latest injury updates on both Tucker and Verlander are not all that promising. While both players are healing up, their progress has been much slower than the Astros expected and now it is extremely likely that both players will be out through the All-Star break.

Astros News: Kyle Tucker and Justin Verlander set to remain out until after the All-Star break

While Tucker's injury has been a big loss to the Astros' offense, Houston is honestly pretty lucky that his injury wasn't more severe. Foul balls like the one he hit off himself saw players like Christian Yelich and Ozzie Albies suffer fractures, so dealing with a painful contusion is actually a welcome stroke of luck. Tucker is doing more and more activities, and assuming nothing shows up in future scans, he should be right as rain after the All-Star break.

Verlander's is a bit harder to parse as the exact nature of his neck injury remains mysterious. If he has a disc issue, that could be a problem that will persist all year long, especially at his age. However, it is encouraging that the Astros are even entertaining the idea that he could be back after the All-Star break as that means they "probably" feel as though he dodged a major injury.

Unfortunately, that means another week or so of games without two of the players that were supposed to help make up the core of their roster. Luckily, it appears as though Houston picked a great time to start playing great baseball again, so there's that silver lining.

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