The Astros announced on Wednesday that Lance McCullers, Jr., who has missed the entire season thus far with forearm “discomfort,” will miss all of 2023 after surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his throwing arm and remove a bone spur. Astros GM Dana Brown said in a release, “This guy is a warrior and did everything in his power to get back. But each time he built himself up to an increased pitch total off the mound, the pain would come back. It’s unfortunate, but we look forward to him being back on the mound next season.”
It’s been a fraught couple of years for McCullers who only appeared in eight games last year after a previous surgery and pitched in three postseason games. This comes on top of the news that Yordan Alvarez will miss at least three weeks with an oblique strain. Ugh.
At least it isn’t Tommy John surgery?
Make no mistake, this is not good, but the fact that he didn’t require a second Tommy John surgery is key. Not only does it mean he didn’t suffer the same injury — never good for any athlete — but it also means his recovery time is months rather than years. It’s not much to feel good about, but it’s something.
That big contract seems like a big bust.
In March of 2021, the Astros agreed to a five-year extension with the right hander worth $85 million that began in 2022. That season was his best in the majors going 13-5 with a 3.15 ERA and 185 strikeouts in 162.1 innings. Unfortunately, the minute that contract kicked in, all hell broke loose, and he still has three seasons left after 2023 of guaranteed money at over $17 million per year. It puts the Astros in a very difficult position over the next couple seasons if he doesn’t get healthy.
It’s worth questioning whether he will ever pitch effectively again.
In eight seasons, McCullers has never thrown more than the 162.1 innings he threw in 2021. In fact, the next closest season was 2018 when he went 128.1. If you expect him to be one of your top three arms in the rotation, you might be wishing upon a star. This is the fourth season in which he has missed significant time due to injury. He has been really good only once and never elite despite the nasty curve ball he has in his arsenal. He will be 30 in October and while some pitchers can have very long careers, being derailed this early with serious injuries in multiple seasons means no one should count on much of anything from McCullers going forward. Anything the Astros get would be icing on a very paltry cake.
There is a weird silver lining.
He won’t be missed. That isn’t to say a healthy Lance McCullers wouldn’t be a boon for this team. He would. But he hasn’t been healthy for two years and hasn’t played once this year. So, while it is terrible for him and certainly a bummer, no one who pays close attention to the Astros was really expecting much of anything from McCullers this season, so no one should be terribly disappointed.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
