Following Jose Urquidy’s early departure from Friday’s minor league contest due to elbow soreness, the Houston Astros have ramped up their interest in adding additional starting pitching to bolster their rotation.
The Astros are reportedly “engaged in a serious pursuit” of 2023 Cy Young Award winner and southpaw, Blake Snell, per Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome of The Athletic (subscription required).
Rosenthal and Rome pointed out that Snell, a client of baseball super agent Scott Boras, is seeking a contract similar to the ones Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman recently signed with their respective teams – a three-year pact with two player options.
Between Urquidy’s status currently being up in the air, ace Justin Verlander starting the season on the injured list, and the duo of Lance McCullers Jr./Luis Garcia still recovering from elbow procedures with expected return dates after the All-Star break, Houston may have much of a choice but to give in to Snell’s demands. If so, these three players likely won’t be back in 2025.
3. J.P. France
J.P. France showed flashes of potential in his rookie campaign in 2023. In 24 games (23 of which were starts), France went 11-6 with a 3.83 ERA and 101 strikeouts across 136.1 innings pitched.
The potential acquisition of Snell will remove a starter from the current rotation, which will likely be France when the pitching staff is at full strength. Considering the age and upside of the latter, could the Astros look to move on from him to make way for the former? He could recoup the most value of the possible trade options from teams in search of a young arm.
It should be noted that France dealt with shoulder inflammation earlier this offseason that has reportedly put him behind schedule as Houston prepares for Opening Day, but will set to make his spring debut on Saturday against the New York Mets and is “tentatively down” for three innings and 50 pitches, per Astros manager Joe Espada.
The injury doesn’t seem overly concerning, which bodes well for France’s trade prospects and the Astros should they need to clear out a spot in the rotation for Snell.