With Verlander gone, staff still has enviable depth
SAN DIEGO — Replacing Justin Verlander is impossible when so few of his ilk still exist. Baseball continues to shave workloads for starting pitchers, but Verlander remains a workhorse.
His dominance is welldocumented, but his durability and dependability are what the Astros may miss most.
“I love it when I can (use my) full bullpen the day before he pitches, full bullpen the day after he pitches,” manager Dusty Baker said on Monday. “And then he would stop all losing streaks and prolong winning streaks.”
Baker can no longer relish the luxury. He still has six capable starting pitchers at his disposal. None are near Verlander's stature, but only a select few are. Before this year, Verlander had thrown at least 200 innings in 12 of his previous 13 162-game seasons. If not for a calf strain in September, it stands to reason he would have reached the threshold again this year. He settled for 175 instead.
The questions Houston's makeshift front office must confront are whether its pitching depth can compensate in Verlander's absence and if a largely anomalous season can repeat itself. Verlander sustained a mild calf strain and Lance Mccullers Jr. battled a flexor tendon strain, but otherwise, Houston's pitching staff remained remarkably — if not unsustainably — healthy.
No team in baseball got a higher workload from its rotation as a result. Houston's bullpen threw fewer frames than any of its counterparts, too, leaving it fresh for a World Series pursuit. Even with Verlander's departure, the Astros are scheduled to return 715 of the 950 innings their starters threw last season.
“We'll continue to assess all the opportunities, but I'll say if (Verlander doesn't return), we feel very good where our starting pitching is at right
now,” Astros assistant general manager Bill Firkus said on Monday, when Verlander's deal had not yet become official.
“We try to set up the roster so whether he's back or not we are in a good position.”
Houston braced for Verlander's departure and isn't in a position where it must jump into the starting pitching market in response. The club has an enviable core of controllable starting pitching equipped to absorb Verlander's absence — and perhaps make it foolish to enter into the type of longterm deals being handed out to free-agent starters.
Framber Valdez, José Urquidy and Cristian Javier are under club control through 2025. Luis Garcia will enter free agency following the 2026 season. Lance Mccullers Jr. is scheduled to do so in 2027. Hunter Brown's rookie status is still intact, meaning he still has six seasons under Houston's control.
Prices for starters are exorbitant — even those that profile as back-ofthe-rotation arms. Chris Bassitt is seeking a fouryear deal, according to multiple reports. So is
Jameson Taillon. If Houston is going to add a starter, it would stand to reason he profiles as an innings-eating insurance option in case some of the aforementioned anomalies correct themselves.
“I don't know if we're set or not,” Baker said. “Do you ever have enough pitching? Especially starting pitching, you don't know. You hate to have somebody go down and you're in need of some more pitching.”
Valdez's emergence as a bona fide workhorse is an obvious boon. No American League starter threw more innings last season. Only three starters in the sport logged more than Valdez's 201 innings. His transformation from dubious to dependable can not be overstated — especially now in Houston's post-verlander world. Valdez may never approach Verlander's elite numbers, but his consistency is the closest thing the two men share.
Behind Valdez are few absolutes. Mccullers has pitched in six 162-game seasons. He's thrown more than 130 innings in one of them. His injury history is extensive, including a flexor tendon strain that sidelined him
for four months last season. Garcia, Urquidy and Javier all logged careerhigh workloads last season at the major league level. Brown threw a career-high 126 innings between Class AAA Sugar Land and the big leagues, too.
The club has just three depth starters on its 40man roster: Brandon Bielak, J.P. France and Forrest Whitley. Firkus mentioned prospects Misael Tamarez and Jaime Melendez as off-roster options who could blossom in spring training.
For now, though, Bielak is entrenched as a trusted piece as either a spot starter or long reliever. France has never appeared in the major leagues, but anchored Class AAA Sugar Land's rotation last season alongside Brown. It's anyone's guess what — if anything — Houston can extract from Whitley, whose importance only grew with Verlander's departure.
“That's one where he has to have a really good offseason, come into spring training next season and really see what we got,” Firkus said.