This Astros pitching gamble was always going to backfire

The Houston Astros came into the 2025 season with concerns revolving around their starting rotation, and barely two months in, those worries have been magnified following injuries to Hayden Wesneski as well as Ronel Blanco.

Wesneski is out for the rest of the year following Tommy John surgery. The former Chicago Cubs reliever made six starts for Houston this season before landing on the injured list and has a long recovery ahead. Blanco, whose outlook looks grim following the latest injury update, was placed on the 15-day IL with elbow inflammation and is seeking a second opinion.

Injuries happen in sports; fans understand that. But these injury concerns centered around Houston's rotation are becoming exhausting and may be indicative of a larger problem. Did Astros GM Dana Brown make a mistake by turning to pitchers who weren't built to last?

Injuries to Hayden Wesneski and Ronel Blanco raise questions over the Astros pitching blueprint

Coming into the season, the Astros were already without Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, J.P. France, and Lance McCullers Jr. This, on top of losing Yusei Kikuchi and Justin Verlander to free agency, only increased the workload thrust upon the Astros rotation at the outset of the season. A freak injury to fellow starter Spencer Arrighetti only compounded the problem, leaving Houston with Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, and a bunch question marks.

Wesneski was mostly a reliever with the Cubs; never starting more than 11 games during a season and had yet to eclipse 90 innings pitched in the majors. While Houston was likely to push Wesneski into that type of role as the season progressed and more starters came off the IL, it can certainly be viewed as a gamble.

Blanco combined to pitch 125 ⅓ innings between the major and minor leagues in 2023. Prior to that, he threw 45 innings in 2022 and 49 in 2021. That's a huge jump in output. Blanco logged a career-high 167 ⅓ innings last season in 30 games. Now, nine starts in to his 2025 season, Blanco has been saddled with an injury that may well keep him out of action for the rest of the season.

These stats aren't meant to assign blame to the Astros front office — they didn't cause these injuries. But it's fair to question a somewhat flawed blueprint that planned to allocate bigger workloads to some of their pitching staff who'd spent much of their career (especially recently) as relievers, not starters.

McCullers Jr. has since returned to the Astros roster, but he's no doubt limited following a two-year hiatus. If and when Houston gets Garcia, Javier, and France back from the IL, one has to assume they'll have an innings limit attached to their workload as well. Injuries may be part of the game, but the Astros may need to rethink their current plan if things continue to trend in the wrong direction.

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