Houston Astros: Two guys team needs to cover for Verlander

After Verlander’s injury, the Houston Astros are counting on Jose Urquidy or Yordan Alvarez to return.

The ability for Houston Astros to withstand a potential lengthy injury to Justin Verlander may hinge on two guys who aren’t even with the team.

The Astros revealed Sunday that Verlander is being shut down for two weeks with what was described as a right forearm strain. Manager Dusty Baker said the American League champions’ mound ace will be re-evaluated “at that time.”

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There were initial reports that Verlander would be lost for the season, but the veteran pitcher shot those down in person. “Not accurate,” he tweeted.

What Verlander presumably meant was “not accurate…unless the docs find out something more when they take a closer look.” Even so, the best-case scenario is almost certainly that full two-week shutdown followed by a one to two-week period of gradually working back to playing condition.

In other words, don’t expect to see Verlander back on the mound until late August at the earliest.

To offset the loss – whether temporary or permanent – of their 37-year-old 2018 Cy Young Award winner, the Astros can either draw on what they hope to be their pitching depth or further ramp up an already prestigious offense.

The problem is that the key player in either of those approaches has been squirreled away in medical confinement for the past week, and only today began resuming baseball activities.

If the Astros decide the solution is to add a pitcher, the personnel move is obvious. Jose Urquidy made 19 starts in 2019 plus one against Washington in the World Series. He lasted five innings and got the victory in Houston’s 8-1 Game 4 victory.

The problem is that Urquidy is not available. He was placed on the 10-day injury list on July 13 for an undisclosed condition, released from that list only Sunday, and will require some period of prep time before he’s ready to take the mound.

The other option is to hit so much that pitching becomes an adjunct activity. To that end, the biggest growth potential lies with 2019 Rookie of the Year Yordan Alvarez. He batted .313 last year with 27 home runs and a 1.067 OPS in 369 plate appearances.

But Alvarez, like Urquidy, was sidelined July 13 under the same circumstances as Urquidy and cleared for baseball activity only Sunday. So he, too, remains unavailable for an indefinite period.