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» Extent of Valdez’s finger injury remains unknown.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Doctors were still working to determine the extent of Framber Valdez’s fractured left ring finger Thursday afternoon, but Astros manager Dusty Baker struck an ominous tone when describing the outlook for both the pitcher and his team.
“It’s a real big deal,” Baker said prior to Thursday’s Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals. “He was just coming into his own. You saw how he pitched last year. You saw the progress that he made and how he pitched down the stretch. It’s a tremendous blow.”
Baker had no clarification on Valdez’s prognosis and did not offer a timetable for his return. The manager did not know whether the injury could require surgery.
Valdez suffered the injury while fielding a ground ball during his first Grapefruit League start Tuesday against the Mets. He remained in the game and threw 19 pitches with the injury. In his postgame comments, Valdez said the injury was “nothing serious.”
“It was swollen (on Wednesday), and then he went and had some X-rays and MRIs, stuff like that, so it showed that there’s a slight fracture in that finger,” Baker said.
Baker said Valdez is “bewildered” by the injury. The 27-year-old southpaw had a breakout 2020 season that invited hope he could carry a full season’s workload in 2021. The Astros entered spring counting on Valdez’s resilient arm within a rotation that does not have much depth.
Now the club must brace for a worst-case scenario. Baker said the team has not yet discussed adding any outside help but acknowledged it was still trying to absorb the “initial shock” of Valdez’s injury. Starters still available in free agency include Jake Odorizzi — whose tenure with Tampa Bay overlapped with that of Astros general manager James Click — along with Rick Porcello, Cole Hamels and Anibal Sanchez.
Potential trades or signings aside, Baker lauded the bounty of arms already
in Astros camp while reminding reporters of last season, when 10 Houston pitchers made their major league debuts and Valdez blossomed as the club’s biggest surprise.
“We’re going to have to try to hopefully somebody in our system can come through like Framber did for us last year,” Baker said. “We didn’t know what we were counting on last year, and we were pleasantly surprised. Every spring, I’m looking for a surprise person. Now I’m looking for some more.”
COVID protocols sideline 3 arms
Three Astros pitchers will miss “several days” in spring training because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols, manager Dusty Baker revealed.
Righthanders Bryan Abreu, Luis Garcia and Ronel Blanco are missing from workouts, and a timetable for their return is unclear. Their absence does not automatically indicate they’ve tested positive for COVID-19. Players or staff members who’ve been exposed to a positive test or exhibit symptoms can be withheld from workouts.
Abreu and Garcia’s absences come at an inopportune time. Both represent valuable starting depth for a rotation suddenly in search of it due to Framber Valdez’s finger injury. Garcia might be the team’s next-in-line to enter the rotation.
Garcia was scheduled to pitch after starter Lance McCullers Jr. in Thursday’s Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals. Garcia made his major league debut last season, tossing 121⁄3 regular-season innings before earning the start in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
After poor conditioning limited him to 31⁄3 innings last season, Abreu reported to spring training in far better shape and drew praise from many within the organization. Pitching coach Brent Strom once estimated Abreu could one day be a 200-inning starter in the major leagues.
McCullers eyeing ‘monster year’
Lance McCullers Jr. made his way from the bullpen with only one concern Thursday night. He feels better than at any other point in his professional career and, as he said last week, has put himself in a position to have a “monster year.”
“Physically, mentally, where I’m at right now in camp, I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time coming to the ballpark,” McCullers said. “I’m feeling great. I feel happy with everything.
“I couldn’t be happier.” McCullers approached his pitching coach to solve the lone uncertainty: his inning plan for Thursday night’s Grapefruit League debut.
Brent Strom said McCullers was slated for just one inning. McCullers blew through the top of the Cardinals’ order on just 12 pitches.
He felt good enough to give the team another inning, so Strom amended the schedule.
The Astros proceeded to pound erratic St. Louis starter Carlos Martinez in the bottom half. They sent 10 men to the plate and scored five runs during an inning that took more than 25 minutes. McCullers did not return for the second as a result.
Each of the Astros’ first three Grapefruit League starters threw two innings in his first appearance. McCullers said he’ll get an extra start at some point this spring, so Thursday’s workload did not mean much.
McCullers’ arsenal is more important. He said he was 94-96 mph with his two-seam fastball and snapped off some good curveballs.
McCullers recorded his only strikeout with a cutter — one of his newer pitches — eliciting a full-count whiff from Cardinals leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter.
“I couldn’t really ask for anything more with the velocity and where it’s at right now, not that velocity is a huge indicator for me,” McCullers said. “I have other pitches that I’m able to mix and match with that. I don’t rely only on velocity, but it’s nice to see it. It means body-wise, mechanics-wise, I’m timed up. I’m not reaching back, not trying to go get anything extra or anything special.”