Houston Astros Predicted To Sign Veteran Pitcher To Be ‘Stopgap’ in Rotation

Will the Houston Astros add some depth to their rotation before Opening Day?

Sep 20, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson (44) looks on after giving up a solo home run to Cleveland Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez (not pictured) during the sixth inning at Busch Stadium. / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

With the winter finally coming to a close for the Houston Astros, the team might still be interested in adding some depth before Opening Day.

After what has been a busy offseason for the Astros, the team will be able to get focused on the new season soon. Despite seeing some key players from 2024 leave in either free agency or trades, Houston still could be a contender in the American League thanks to their strong starting rotation.

The Astros will be once again led by southpaw Framber Valdez, who will be entering the final year of his contract. Despite some rumblings about potentially trading him, the Astros will be having the veteran lead their rotation once again.

After him, some talented newcomers are starting to make a name for themselves with Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti making some waves. Ronel Blanco also had a breakout year for Houston in 2024, making this a very strong rotation overall.

Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently spoke about what the starting rotation would look like for the Astros on Opening Day. He predicted that they would be adding a new face with the addition of free agent, Kyle Gibson.

“However, if veteran innings eater Kyle Gibson is available on a reasonable one-year contract, he could be the perfect stopgap to help keep those young arms from being overextended.”

Due to injuries to Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia, adding some insurance to the rotation does make sense for Houston.

In the trade that sent Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs, they did receive back a potential option for the rotation in Hayden Wesneski. However, the young right-hander is unproven and the Astros might be more interested in adding a veteran if the price is right.

Pursuing a pitcher like Gibson, who might not be a star, but is reliable makes a lot of sense. In the last four years, the 37-year-old has totaled at least 165 innings pitched in each year. With the St. Louis Cardinals in 2024, he totaled a (8-8) record and a 4.24 ERA.

For someone who would be the fifth starter for Houston, those numbers would be just fine. Even though they might have a lot of depth in the rotation, you can never have too many pitchers as the Astros have found out with their plethora of injuries in recent years.

Overall, if the price is right for a pitcher like Gibson, pursuing him to add more depth to the rotation makes a lot of sense for Houston.

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