Astros Should Sign Veteran All-Star Now to Bolster Injury-Marred Rotation

The Houston Astros can't wait any longer to make a move in free agency to bolster its starting rotation. The time is now.

The Astros sent starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai back to Houston on Saturday for more testing for what Houston is calling right arm fatigue, which came up after his start on Friday. The last starter to be sent back to Houston for testing landed on the 15-day injured list.

The starting rotation is now, once again, buried in injuries. The Astros need to sign one of the best remaining starters on the market, Lucas Giolito, before he’s snapped up by another starting pitching-hungry team. At this point Houston is starved.

Houston Should Sign Lucas Giolito

Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito prepares to throw a baseball. — Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito. | Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images

Even before the potential to put Imai the injured list, the Astros were drowning in injuries. Right-hander Christian Javier went on the injured list on Friday with a Grade 2 right shoulder strain. Last weekend right-hander Hunter Brown went on the injured list with the same injury.

Left-hander Bennett Sousa is on the IL with a left oblique strain, as is left-handed closer Josh Hader, who is working back from left biceps tendinitis.

Those are all pitchers that could be back in a month to six weeks. That doesn’t include right-hander Ronel Blanco and right-hander Hayden Wesneski, both of which are working back from Tommy John surgery and are unlikely to be of help until the second half of the season.

Giolito appears to be ready to help. He recently told WEEI Radio in Boston that he’s been throwing 75-pitch bullpen sessions with no issues, which is important since he was shut down late last season with flexor irritation in his throwing arm. He also said that he hasn’t gotten what he believes is a suitable contract offer.

For Houston, the suitability of an offer shouldn't matter. If the right-hander is built up to throw 75 pitches right now, he could sign a contract on Sunday and be in Houston's rotation by mid-week. The situation is so dire that going into this four-game series against the Mariners, which started on Friday, the Astros had not set their probable pitchers for games on Sunday or Monday.

The 31-year-old missed all of 2024 due to injury, but he went 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA in 26 starts with Boston in 2025. He struck out 121 and walked 56 in 145 innings. He’s won at least 10 games in a season four other times and was named an All-Star in 2019 with the Chicago White Sox. He’s finished in the Top 11 in AL Cy Young voting three times.

He may not be that All-Star pitcher he was in 2019, but right now he has the one thing the Astros need — availability. It's his best asset. The Astros need the coverage, and they should move to make a deal with Giolito as soon as possible.