Houston Astros' Starting Rotation Receives Surprising Ranking Entering Season
During the offseason, the Houston Astros were planning to be limited in what they accomplished during free agency. It seemed like the original plan was to stand pat and not enter into the luxury tax threshold.
The Astros were afforded that capability because of the star-studded roster already assembled, unlike other teams who were forced to chase high-profile players to improve their clubhouse.
However, with a glaring hole in the bullpen, they eventually entered into that tax threshold following the signing of Josh Hader.
Yet, it's Houston's starting rotation that earned high praise from Matt Snyder of CBS Sports.
Listing them as the second-best group in all of Major League Baseball, he is extremely bullish in the next steps taken by the young players and a bounce-back year from one of their stars.
"Framber Valdez is a frontline starter. Hunter Brown in his second full season will take a big step forward. Cristian Javier is surely better than that nonsense season in 2023. Then there's the depth provided by J.P. France, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy and the return of Lance McCullers," he writes.
It's hard to argue against what he's saying.
Hunter Brown and J.P. France should be able improved throughout the entirety of the season after starting off strong and fading hard in their rookie years.
But, there's no given that Cristian Javier will return to form, or that Lance McCullers Jr. will look the same prior to missing tons of time with injury.
The same goes for Luis Garcia, and Justin Verlander is already dealing with an injury that could force him to miss Opening Day.
Sure, if everything goes right the Astros should have one of the best starting rotations in the league.
There's also a chance Brown and France are just average pitchers, McCullers and Garcia look worse, and Valdez and Javier continue to struggle.
That can't be ruled out either.
Houston should still be really good and their starting unit will be a major part of their success.
Ranking them as the second-best starting group in the MLB just seems a little too high.
