Counting the fortune paid to injured Astro starting pitchers

There are risks to owning a business, and with that risk comes advantages (profits) and disadvantages (losses). All in all, I guess Houston Astros owner Jim Crane fully understood how his risk in buying the team in 2011 for over $600 million played out. The Astros have won two World Series and are now worth at least triple what Crane paid for them more than a decade ago.

In short, even with a disappointing start to the 2024 season, it feels good to be Jim Crane. However, there are some expenses that, even amidst an ocean of profits, are probably quite frustrating, nothing other than paying people to NOT provide the service you signed them up to do.

That brings us to the latest news on the Astros injury front, in which starting pitchers Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy, two key pieces in several recent postseasons, underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery on back-to-back days this week. last. Now Javier will miss the remainder of this season, the second of a five-year extension he signed last year, and Urquidy has likely pitched his last game as an Astro.

So go ahead and throw several million more dollars into the raging hell Crane has paid guys to rehab elbow injuries since 2019. Here’s the rundown of how much money Crane has paid his pitchers to rehab elbow injuries since 2019. elbow :

LANCE McCULLERS, Part I
2019: $4,100,000
Credit McCullers for gutting out the second half of 2018 and the playoffs with a torn UCL, an injury he had repaired via Tommy John surgery after the playoffs ended. He missed the entire 2019 season while rehabbing a $4.1 million salary awarded in arbitration.

JUSTIN VERLANDER
2020: $11,111,111 (prorated salary)
2021: $33,000,000
This one was painful. Shortly after signing a $66 million extension in two tears following the 2019 season, and after going through the COVID pause leading to a shortened 2020 season, Verlander’s 2021 season was shorter than everyone else’s , as he only pitched one start (six innings) before closing out. it down. The Astros essentially paid Verlander almost his entire COVID-prorated season salary for 2020 and the entire $33 million for 2021. Fortunately, he returned to win a Cy Young Award and World Series in 2022 .

LUIS GARCIA
2023: $610,560 (prorated salary)
2024: $1,875,000
Garcia went down after just six starts last season and underwent Tommy John surgery shortly afterward. He should return in July or August, but in the meantime I will assume my full salary for rehab this season.

CRISTIEN JAVIER
2024: $5,673,333 (prorated salary)
2025: $10,400,000 (assumed missed season, FYI – salaries of $21.4 million in 2026 and 27)

JOSÉ URQUIDY
2024: $3,750,000
Here are the numbers for Javier and Urquidy. Javier made eight starts this season, and thus prorated his $7.4 million salary. Let’s hope Javier returns to form, because those $20 million-plus salaries for 2026 and 2027 are pretty intimidating.

LANCE McCULLERS, Part II
2023: $15,950,000
2024: $17,700,000
McCullers had elbow surgery last year that forced him to miss all of last season, and possibly all of this season. It wasn’t Tommy John surgery, but he had a bone spur removed from his elbow and the overall effect, in terms of missed time, might as well have been Tommy John surgery.

TOTAL: $104,170,004

As crazy as it sounds, for a billionaire like Crane, $104 million is not an amount that would make you look for a bridge loan or anything, but in the world of baseball, where exorbitant luxury taxes are paid from players’ salaries above a certain threshold, 104 million empty dollars hurts. It hurts.

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