Astros' Justin Verlander Behind in Shoulder Injury Rehab, Could Miss MLB Opening Day
Feb 14, 2024
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 17: Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros walks to the dugout after working out before Game Three of the American League Championship Series at Globe Life Field on October 17, 2023 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
The Houston Astros could be without their ace when the 2024 season begins.
Per ESPN, Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander told reporters on Wednesday that he experienced a "little hiccup" in his pitching shoulder that has him "a couple of weeks behind" his traditional schedule and could jeopardize his status for Opening Day.
"I'm a little bit behind schedule right now," Verlander said. "I had a little hiccup early on that's resolved itself, but I have to be really cautious with how I'm building up. I guess my body doesn't respond the same at 40 as it did at 25, so I'm a couple of weeks behind."
Verlander is set to turn 41 next Tuesday. He split the 2023 season between the Astros and the New York Mets, compiling a collective 13-8 record with a 3.22 ERA and 144 strikeouts.
The three-time AL Cy Young Award winner didn't sound too concerned about the possibility of an extended absence, and he said it was "too far down the road" to worry about his availability for Houston's season opener against the New York Yankees on March 28.
However, he noted that he needs rest to recover from his shoulder issue, and that has set him back slightly.
"I've always liked to give myself as much rest as possible, so my timeline is always a little tight," he said. "I think that rest is important, so with the tight timeline and having to slow things down a little bit, put me a little behind."
If Verlander is forced to miss Opening Day, it will be the second straight year that he was ruled out at the beginning of the season. He missed the first five weeks of the 2023 campaign due to a muscle strain near his pitching shoulder suffered in late March.
"I've always been someone who luckily could pick up a ball and just start throwing it," he said. "This time, it wasn't quite as easy, so I had to slow down a little bit."
Astros Legendary Run of MLB Playoff Success Now Enters 'Last Dance' 2024 Season
Zachary D. Rymer
Oct 24, 2023
HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 23: Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros looks on from the dugout against the Texas Rangers during the eighth inning in Game Seven of the American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
If it wasn't already fair to wonder how long the Houston Astros can sustain as the biggest, baddest team in Texas, it is now.
Where the Astros are at this moment is lying in a heap at the feet of the Texas Rangers. Figuratively, of course, but in the background of this half-conjured image is a scoreboard that tells the literal truth of the tale.
Rangers 11, Astros 4 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
And with that, Little Brother finally knocked down Big Brother.
The Rangers had dropped nine of 13 to the Astros in the regular season, including a few at home in embarrassing fashion. And so it went as the Astros took all three Championship Series contests at Globe Life Field after falling into an 0-2 hole at Minute Maid Park.
That the Astros would get the win they needed to close out the series and send Little Brother packing never seemed in real doubt. Momentum is one thing. Momentum plus history is another, and the Astros knew from having made four trips in six years between 2017 and 2022 what tickets to the World Series feel like.
Yet now that it's not happening for Houston, there's something weirdly not surprising about it.
It Doesn't Take a Microscope to See Houston's Diminishing Returns
Let's back up and grant that the run the Astros have been on over the last seven seasons really is dynasty-level stuff.
They've won 631 out of the 1,032 regular-season games they've played, as well as 59 out of 97 postseason games. They're one of only two teams to play in the League Championship Series in as many as seven years in a row, and any notion that they could only win championships by cheating went out the window when, unlike in 2017, they won it all fair and square in 2022.
But for all the dominance this signifies, the Astros of 2023 never really rose to the level of actually being dominant.
Not counting 2020, they won the American League West by an average of 12 games between 2017 and 2022. They won it by zero games this year, winning the division crown only by virtue of their head-to-head record against the Rangers.
Deterioration of Houston's homefield advantage? Yup, that happened. And it was a thing well before Texas took all four games at Minute Maid Park in the LCS, as the Astros' regular-season winning percentage somehow dropped under .500 this season.
Deterioration of Houston's starting pitching? Yup, that too. The 1.22-point jump in ERA that Astros starters experienced from 2022 to 2023 was the largest in the American League.
Deterioration of the offense? Not as much, but the days when Houston's offenses were easily placed next to the 1927 Yankees and other legendary lineups are long gone.
This Band Isn't Made to Stay Together...Or Get Better
And now for another fair question: How much longer before the Astros are unrecognizable?
As it is, there's still something weird about seeing them without Gerrit Cole, George Springer and Carlos Correa even though each has been gone for multiple seasons. Yet still more familiar faces could potentially be gone from Houston's dugout soon, including the man in charge of said dugout.
That's Dusty Baker, whose contract to manage the Astros does not extend beyond 2023. The man himself has confirmed nothing, but Brittany Ghiroli and Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported that Baker has privately expressed that this was his last season as a manager.
Other contracts about to expire include those of left fielder Michael Brantley and catcher Martín Maldonado. Put together they're nearly Baker's age (73, to be exact) and neither is coming away from this season with much to speak of.
Justin Verlander is one veteran who kept going strong for the Astros upon returning to the franchise after briefly running away to Queens, and it is largely on the Mets' dime that he's due to return for his age-41 season in 2024. If he can so much as replicate the 3.31 ERA he gave the Astros in 11 starts this season, that would be swell.
Yet the key phrase there is "age-41 season." That's not quite prime territory for pitchers, and the year Verlander just had shows that even three-time Cy Young Award winners and future Hall of Famers aren't totally immune to time. At no point this year did he ever really resemble the guy who won 18 games with a 1.75 ERA in 2022.
Should he trigger a player option with 140 innings in 2024, it will at least be in Verlander's hands whether to return in 2025. Not so for Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, whose contracts are up at the end of next year.
Should the Astros fail to extend one or both of them, the club will be at risk of losing the only two stars who have been there every step of the way since 2017. Altuve and Bregman have secured their places in Astros lore along the way, specifically as the fifth- and eighth-best hitters in club history according to wins above replacement.
Some members of the core will still remain after 2024. Yordan "Baby Papi" Álvarez is signed all the way through 2028. It's 2027 for Cristian Javier. There's no such long-term certainty for Framber Valdez and Kyle Tucker, but they're at least under club control through 2025.
Compared to what Houston is used to, though, that's not much of a foundation. And the pipeline for new talent? It's running dry.
Though the caveat is that the Astros have something of a Midas Touch with unheralded youngsters, their farm system is nonetheless considered one of the worst in baseball right now. Even the worst according to some, including MLB.com and B/R's own Joel Reuter.
2024 Must Be the Astros' 'Last Dance' Year
In case anyone's not getting the message, the great time the Astros have lived for the better part of the last decade is beginning to feel more like borrowed time.
Whatever plans the Astros draw up in the weeks to come, at least one must involve going all-in on 2024. Because while hope of success beyond next season may exist in some form, it's not as plainly evident as what the Astros could accomplish in a year where they know for a fact they'll still have Altuve, Bregman and Verlander.
Hopefully, Baker can be brought back for another season that would be part last hurrah and part retirement tour. But whether it's Baker or someone else in the manager's chair, it will be on general manager Dana Brown to go get the pieces the team lacked this year.
At least one more starting pitcher will be of chief importance, and Brown will have so many options on this winter's market that there will be no excuse if he fails to do anything. If not a Blake Snell, an Aaron Nola or a Yoshinobu Yamamoto, an Eduardo Rodriguez or a Jordan Montgomery could make sense for Houston in free agency.
There are also bound to be goodies on the trade market, including post-2024 free agents like Shane Bieber and Tyler Glasnow and another guy that Houston is known to be fond of: Dylan Cease.
If the Astros really want to go for broke, they could aim to find a more stable regular for center field. Cody Bellinger will be out there in free agency. And who knows? While they're listening on Cease, maybe the Chicago White Sox would reopen their ears on Luis Robert Jr.
Whatever the case, no stone should be too big for the Astros to turn over. They need to have the attitude that they've come too far and accomplished too much to go out like this; that lying in a heap at the feet of their Little Brother from Arlington is not the lasting image they want to leave behind.
They owe it to themselves to get up, dust themselves off and then come back and play like the Astros one last time.
Here comes the Championshop Series round, so let's make some predictions.
Yordan Alvarez's 2 Home Runs Thrill Fans as Astros Beat Twins in 2023 ALDS Game 1
Oct 7, 2023
HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 07: Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros pitches during the first inning of Game One of the Division Series against the Minnesota Twins at Minute Maid Park on October 07, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
Is it the Houston Astros year once again?
After winning the AL West on the final day of the regular season, the Astros opened the postseason with a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins to grab a 1-0 series lead in the American League Division Series
Fans on social media hailed Álvarez for his performance, calling him one of the best hitters in baseball and shaming any manager who decides to utilize a left-handed pitcher against the left-handed hitter.
The 40-year-old rebounded after allowing four hits in the first three innings to shut the door and frustrate the Twins offense.
He left the game before the seventh inning after throwing 93 pitches, and the Twins immediately broke out for four runs to make the score much closer. However, the second Álvarez home run shifted momentum back towards Houston and the Astros were able to hold on to win.
Fans on social media were impressed by Verlander's performance, dubbing it to be "vintage Verlander."
Since he started his career, the time to get to Verlander is in the early innings. Once he gets past those, he gets better, always. Twins had their chances and didn’t do anything with them
The victory put Houston just two games away from reaching the ALCS for the seventh consecutive season and it is safe to say they appear to be a favorite to advance out of the American League.
The defending champions appear to peaking at the right time and will have an opportunity to grab a stranglehold on the series Sunday when they host Minnesota at 8:03 P.M. ET.
When an elite MLB player is due a new contract, the inherent risk for teams is that the future salaries will outweigh his production. But those pricey…
Twins vs. Astros: Early Odds and Preview for ALDS After Wild Card
Oct 5, 2023
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 04: Carlos Correa #4 of the Minnesota Twins celebrates running to first base after hitting a RBI single in the fourth inning during Game 2 of the Wild Card Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on Wednesday, October 4, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The Minnesota Twins ended a streak of nine straight postseason series losses by sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Wild Card Round, setting up an ALDS matchup with the Houston Astros.
Between the Twins' last postseason series win in 2002 and Wednesday's triumph—a streak of futility that included 18 straight playoff losses—the Astros have won 16 postseason series, five AL pennants and two World Series titles, including last year over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Given that history and Houston's home-field advantage, it's no surprise that DraftKings SportsBook has the Astros (-160) as the favorites over the Twins (+135). But the Twins pose a real threat.
Led by former Astros' slugger Carlos Correa, the Twins tied for the American League lead in home runs this season (233) and were fourth in slugging percentage (.427). The Twins don't necessarily have elite and prolific sluggers, but 12 different players hit double-digit homers for the team this season.
The Twins dealt with a lot of injuries this season, and it's still unclear if Byron Buxton will play in this postseason. But they've continued to hit, and the pitching staff gave up just one run in two games to the Blue Jays.
Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray give the team a nice one-two punch in the rotation, while Jhoan Duran had 27 saves in 32 chances.
The Astros, meanwhile, are the Astros.
José Altuve, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Yordan Álvarez, Chas McCormick, Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Ryan Pressly are household names who led this team to a title last season.
Houston dealt with injuries themselves throughout the season to key players but still finished third in the AL in batting average (.259), fifth in homers (222), third in RBI (799) and third in slugging percentage (.437).
Oh, and they got Michael Brantley back in late August.
This perhaps wasn't a vintage Astros season, but the team showed it still knows how to perform when the chips are down, going 5-1 to end the regular season against the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks.
That not only clinched a playoff berth but also won them the AL West. Houston has proven that when the air turns brisk, it plays its best baseball. Now they'll face a Twins team that won the season series between the teams, 4-2, and finally removed a giant monkey from its back in these playoffs.
The series begins on Saturday in Houston (time TBD).
Major League Baseball's 2023 postseason is just around the corner with the wild-card round starting this Tuesday. But before we dive headlong into another…
Enough time has passed for a fresh assessment of the biggest deals made at MLB's 2023 trade deadline.
Rangers' Max Scherzer Denies Justin Verlander Rumors, Says Mets Had 'Great Clubhouse'
Aug 28, 2023
CINCINNATI, OHIO - MAY 11: Justin Verlander #35 (L) and Max Scherzer #21 of the New York Mets look on from the dugout during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on May 11, 2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Earlier in August, Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander had a "strained relationship" while they were teammates with the Detroit Tigers and "worked toward harmony" while paired with the New York Mets but still had "occasional discord."
But on Monday, Scherzer told reporters he and Verlander were "on a better page now than we were when we started the season" and "were much better off than we've ever been" while also defending the clubhouse culture in New York:
Max Scherzer talks about his relationship with Justin Verlander and says the Mets had a "great clubhouse" when he was in New York:
"That's definitely not the reason why we lost. We were a tight-knit group, had a lot of fun together." pic.twitter.com/j8QSVONa7l
Puma also noted that Verlander contributed to the reported clubhouse issues, at least according to one source within the team:
Verlander was a 'diva,' according to this Met, causing Scherzer to grouse about his fellow three-time Cy Young award winner. Verlander often complained about the Mets' analytics department, which he deemed inferior to the one that served him in Houston.
Verlander, who was traded back to the Astros on Aug. 1, was largely detached from teammates, according to the Met, and didn't add to the team's identity.
Just as much of an issue for the Mets was that a number of players simply didn't perform up to expectation. During his time with the Mets this season before being traded to the Texas Rangers, Scherzer went 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 121 strikeouts in 107.2 innings.
In 2022, 39-year-old had a 2.29 ERA and 0.90 WHIP. He wasn't the same guy this season.
Verlander, 40, was 6-5 with a 3.15 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 81 strikeouts in 94.1 innings during his brief time with the Mets before being traded back to the Houston Astros. Last season, he was the AL Cy Young award winner, posting a 1.75 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 185 strikeouts.
He wasn't the same guy with the Mets.
The expectation was that New York would have a rotation highlighted by two of the game's most feared aces. Instead the pair of pitchers, making a combined $86.6 million this season, were closer to average than elite.
Add in a lineup that also underachieved—the Mets are 24th in team batting average (.237) and 19th in runs (572)—and you have the perfect storm. The result is a team that sits 60-71, last in the NL East, and underwent an epic fire sale ahead of this month's trade deadline, Verlander and Scherzer included.
A potential lack of clubhouse chemistry has been one talking point. But whether that's a reality or not doesn't change the fact that the Mets, collectively, simply played really disappointing baseball this season, starting with their two former aces.
Justin Verlander Explains Being Caught Telling Red Sox's Alex Cora to 'F--k Off'
Aug 23, 2023
HOUSTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 22: Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros pitches in the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Minute Maid Park on August 22, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)
Houston Astros star Justin Verlander laughed off his choice of words toward Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora in his team's 7-3 victory Tuesday.
Cora came out to speak with the umpires midway through the game "because he thought Verlander was pretending that his PitchCom failed to avoid receiving a pitch clock violation," per MassLive's Christopher Smith.
The television broadcast caught an exchange stemming from this between Verlander and Cora in which the three-time Cy Young Award winner told Cora to "f--k off." After the game concluded, he was mostly amused by the whole thing.
You all know what Verlander responded with. Verlander said it is all part of the battle and a heat of the moment thing. He smiled and laughed while recounting it all. There doesn't seem to be any malice.
Cora, who worked with Verlander in 2017 as the Astros' bench coach, was similarly dismissive about the comment.
"This is a kid I have the utmost respect (for)," he told reporters. "We talk and all that stuff. It's just the heat of the battle, whatever. He's one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game, especially the last 12, 13 years."
Verlander threw six scoreless innings and struck out nine batters in the win. He improved his record to 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA since returning to Houston ahead of the MLB trade deadline.
