Pair of Houston Astros Aces Officially Underwent Season-Ending Elbow Surgeries

After some speculation about what exact surgeries their two aces were going to undergo, the Houston Astros have officially revealed what procedures they had.

Apr 30, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Jose Urquidy (65) prior to the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Minute Maid Park. / Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

A bombshell was dropped by beat reporters who cover the Houston Astros as they revealed two of the prominent starting pitchers in this rotation were going to be out for the remainder of the year after needing elbow surgery.

Things were kept pretty close to the vest despite the speculation that it would be the dreaded Tommy John surgery that would have both Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy out until late in 2025.

Then, it was revealed by sources that Javier would in fact be getting that type of surgery, while Urquidy's operation was simply described as "elbow surgery."

Now, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports the team has officially announced that both right-handers underwent the Tommy John procedure to repair their injured elbows.

Regardless of that designation or not, the result was still going to be that the Astros would be without two of their contributors for the rest of this campaign in a year where there is real concern they are not going to make the playoffs.

Without Javier and Urquidy in the mix, Houston only has five starting pitchers on their 40-man roster who have extended experience pitching in the MLB, and that includes rookie Spencer Arrighetti and youngster Hunter Brown.

This is a major concern moving forward.

They'll get back Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. eventually, but because of their extended absences due to surgeries of their own, it's really unknown how they are going to perform when back on the mound.

It's one of the reasons why general manager Dana Brown shared they are eyeing making a deal for pitchers.

From an organizational standpoint, these injuries are extremely disappointing.

Javier signed a 5-year, $64 million contract ahead of 2023 when he put together the worst performance of his career with a 4.56 ERA and 92 ERA+. He was able to rebound early on, having a 1.54 ERA through four starts this season before suffering from a neck injury that sidelined him ahead of this devastating one.

With him missing more than half of this year and likely all of 2025, this contract is looking like a disaster.

Urquidy is a similar situation.

After being a dominant player in the Astros' rotation, not posting an ERA over 4.00 in four seasons, he missed an extended period of time in 2023 after being placed on the 60-day injured list. The 29-year-old returned to make 16 outings and 10 starts.

Now, he's banged up once again, bringing up some questions about the future with this franchise as he likely won't be able to play in 2025 during his last year of arbitration.