Being a business owner comes with risk, and with that risk comes upside (profit) and downside (losses). Overall, I am guessing Houston Astros owner Jim Crane has been perfectly fine with the way his risk in buying the team back in 2011 for over $600 million has played out. The Astros have won two World Series, and are now worth at least triple what Crane paid for them over a decade ago.
In short, even with a disappointing start to the 2024 season, it’s good to be Jim Crane. However, there are certain expenditures that, even amid a sea of profit, that are probably quite frustrating, none more than paying people NOT to provide the very service for which you signed them.
That brings us to the latest news on the Astros injury front, in which starting pitchers Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy, both key pieces to several recent postseason runs, underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery on back to back days last week. 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 on the raging inferno of money that Crane has paid guys to rehab elbow injuries since 2019. Here is the rundown of the money Crane has paid his pitchers to rehab elbow injuries:
LANCE McCULLERS, Part I
2019: $4,100,000
Credit McCullers for gutting out the second half of 2018 and the postseason with a torn UCL, an injury he had repaired via Tommy John surgery after the postseason ended. He missed the entire 2019 season while rehabbing on 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 two tear, $66 million extension following the 2019 season, and after going through the COVID hiatus leading to a shortened 2020 season, Verlander’s 2021 season was shorter than everybody else’s, as he pitched just one start (six innings) before shutting it down. The Astros essentially paid Verlander nearly all of his prorated COVID season salary for 2020, and the full $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 thereafter. He should be coming back in July or August, but until he does, I’ll presume the full salary for rehabbing this season.
CRISTIAN JAVIER
2024: $5,673,333 (prorated salary)
2025: $10,400,000 (assumed missed season, FYI – salaries of $21.4M in ‘26 and ‘27)
JOSE URQUIDY
2024: $3,750,000
Here are the numbers for Javier and Urquidy. Javier did make eight starts this season, and thus the proration of his $7.4 million salary. Hopefully, Javier returns to form, because those 2026 and 2027 salaries of over $20 million are pretty daunting.
LANCE McCULLERS, Part II
2023: $15,950,000
2024: $17,700,000
McCullers underwent an elbow procedure 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 did have a bone spur removed from his elbow and the overall effect, in terms of time missed, may as well be Tommy John surgery.
TOTAL: $104,170,004
As crazy as this sounds, for a billionaire like Crane, $104 million isn’t an amount that has you seeking out a bridge loan or anything, but in the world of baseball, where there are exorbitant luxury taxes paid on player salaries over a certain threshold, $104 million empty dollars hurts. It hurts badly.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
