Magic bullet finds Astros rotation again with worst-case scenario feared for Jose Urquidy

It's safe to say that the 2024 season has been nothing like what Houston Astros fans expected. Fans of the team expected the Astros to be where they are every year, competing for a World Series title. Instead, their season appears to be hanging on a thread, and things only seem to be getting worse.

The Astros were playing better but recently lost five of their last seven games entering Monday's action including a crushing four-game series loss in Seattle against the first-place Mariners. They're now 26-34 on the year and 7.5 games out of first place in the AL West.

Houston is in this position in large part because of their injuries to the starting rotation, and this latest injury update is the last thing Astros fans wanted to hear.

Astros rotation continues to get bitten hard by the injury bug with latest Jose Urquidy update

Urquidy had been out for the season with a forearm strain but was seemingly working his way back and looked to be ready to rejoin Houston sometime in June, but when he was pulled from his rehab start at the end of May, it was easy for Astros fans to assume the worst. Now, alarm bells can officially be sounded.

ESPN's Alden Gonzalez reported on Monday, that Urquidy is set to visit Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas and could be headed toward his second Tommy John Surgery.

The right-hander had his first Tommy John Surgery done in 2017 when he was in the minors. Now, it feels very possible that he's going to go down that road again. Just brutal.

Urquidy is far from an ace but has been a solid back end starter for Houston since he debuted back in 2019. He had a rough 2023 campaign, but made at least 20 starts in both 2021 and 2022, posting a sub-4.00 ERA in both years.

Losing a solid depth arm like that hurts in general, but it's even worse when the Astros already have Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., and Luis Garcia on the IL with no timetables for their returns. They've gotten some strong work from depth arms like Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti, but that can only last for so long.

Their season is already teetering on the brink of disaster, and this Urquidy news only makes things worse. Hopefully he can somehow avoid the worst, but that sounds more like hope at this point than what will realistically happen.