Oft-injured Houston Astros star sidelined again

Things haven’t been great for the Houston Astros this season when it comes to their pitching situation.

Coming into the year, they didn’t add any starters over the winter, as they viewed their trade deadline acquisition of Justin Verlander last season as their addition, with him under contract through 2024.

Aside from finances, another reason the Astros didn’t pursue additional starters was the fact that Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. were expected to return at some point this year after the All-Star break.

This should provide a major boost to this pitching staff.

Having those two alongside Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy and their trio of young stars would have given them plenty of options to turn to throughout the long season.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.

Javier, Urquidy and JP France are all out for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgeries. Verlander is currently on injured reserve, but he is expected to return after the All-Star break. It was hoped that by the time he was ready to return, Houston would also be able to activate Garcia and McCullers shortly thereafter.

That won’t be the case for the often-injured Astros star, however.

Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported Manager Joe Espada said McCullers “was benched after his arm wasn’t responding well between bullpen sessions” and will have him take a few days off while the team “formulates a plan going forward.”

The last time the 30-year-old appeared in a game for this franchise was in 2022, after pitching in eight regular-season games and being part of the playoff equation where he helped the organization win its second World Series title and second of his career.

But during spring training the following year, he underwent surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his pitching arm, which also resulted in the removal of a bone spur.

That’s what kept him out for the entire 2023 campaign and half of this one.

Now, it appears McCullers could miss some more time depending on what the Astros decide to do with the former star pitcher who continues to be nagged by injury.