In the last 24 months or so, no Major League Baseball team has been hit harder with crippling injuries to starting pitchers than the Houston Astros. In fact, you could have made that statement before this season had even started, and it may have still been true, but that pain has only been exacerbated in the 2025 season, as Hayden Wesneski and Ronel Blanco, two of the team’s five starters heading into the season, have both been set down with elbow injuries in the last two weeks.

Wesneski now joins the long list of Astros pitchers, from recent seasons, who have undergone Tommy John surgery, as he had his UCL repaired late last week. He will now miss 12 to 14 months, and it’s a legitimate question if the Astros will even retain him for 2026. Blanco was sent to the injured list on Friday with “inflammation” in his elbow. He is seeking a second opinion, but if he’s anything like the last several Astros to get this news, he’ll be getting Tommy John surgery here soon, as well.

So, if it feels like the Astros have been bitten by the venom of the UCL tear bug harder than any team you can remember, don’t worry, you’re not crazy. They have, and so it does beg the question, “Is this just a vicious coincidence, or are the Astros somehow causing this, in the way they use or physically prepare their pitchers?”

The question needs to be asked of somebody, preferably in public, by one or more media members, so we can have some clarity as to the club’s stance on this. Unfortunately, the Astros operate like the Kremlin when it comes to discussing injuries, routinely providing little to no insight as to progress or cause (see: Tucker, Kyle, in 2024, with his broken shin, that was among the more embarrassing conceals by a team on an injury).

However, if we aren’t gaining any insight publicly, I can’t imagine owner Jim Crane isn’t asking questions privately — asking the coaching staff, the training staff, anyone whose fingerprints are on the well being and usage of the Astros’ starting rotation. After all, Crane is a businessman, and a damn good one. He hasn’t gotten to where he is by lighting money on fire.

That brings us to the dollars and cents of all this. In short, how much has Jim Crane paid these elbow injury victims to NOT pitch for the Astros? The numbers are staggering. Going back to 2020, when Justin Verlander signed a two-year, $66 million extension in the offseason, and proceeded to start one game in the COVID-shortened season, here is how much (approximately) Crane has spent paying injured pitchers, specifically pitchers with elbow problems, through the end of last season.

(Please note, that all dollar amounts for partial seasons are prorated based on a full season number of 30 starts. Also, salary amounts were procured from each player’s Baseball Reference page.)

JUSTIN VERLANDER
2020 (prorated for COVID): $11,814,815
2021: $33,000,000
As mentioned above, Verlander started the opener for the Astros in the 60 game, COVID-shortened season, and that was it for those two seasons, 2020 and 2021. One start. The 2020 salary amount above is prorated for a 60 game season. A normal season is obviously 162 games.

LANCE McCULLERS
2022: $11,696,667
2023: $15,950,000
2024: $17,700,000
McCullers’ missed time actually covers two  separate periods of time. McCullers missed the first several months of 2022, before returning for eight starts in August and September, plus a few more in the playoffs. Then, after suffering another elbow injury post 2022, he missed the entire 2023 and 2024 seasons with another elbow surgery. McCullers had Tommy John surgery after the 2018 season, too, so the total sunken cost in him is actually even higher than these numbers would indicate.

LUIS GARCIA
2023: $610,560
2024: $1,875,000
Garcia started six games in 2023, before suffering from elbow soreness, which eventually required Tommy John surgery. He missed most of 2023 and all of 2024. Garcia was hopeful of returning this season, but suffered a setback in March, and just began throwing from a mound again this past weekend.

JOSE URQUIDY
2023: $3,025,000
2024: $3,750,000
Urquidy’s 2023 season ended shortly after Garcia’s, and the final result was the same. Elbow soreness leading to Tommy John surgery, and the rest of 2023 and all of 2024 went kaput. Urquidy is now in the Detroit Tigers’ organization.

CRISTIAN JAVIER
2024: $5,673,333
Javier’s 2024 season ended after just seven starts, and like Garcia and Urquidy, he was done for the rets of 2024, and he hopes to return later this season. If his story is at all like his teammates’ who went through this journey, the return will be bumpy, at best.

GRAND TOTAL – $105,095,375

So Jim Crane has spent, by my calculations and methodology, $105 million to pay pitchers to rehabilitate elbow injuries since 2020. That’s just through the end of 2024. The reality is that he is about to pay Wesneski and likely Blanco millions more, on top of the meter still running in 2025 on Garcia and Javier. Whether it’s coincidence or something the Astros are doing wrong, in the short term, isn’t relevant. The fact of the matter is that this trend is the biggest impediment to the Astros’ returning to the top of the MLB mountain.

Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.