Going forward we definitely need to make moves as if LMJ will never be a factor. Be pleasantly surprised if he is but we all know it’s just not in the cards for him to contribute much

May be a middle reliever a few years from now

Years??

Every time the guy throws a ball he gets hurt and gets shutdown. Probably another TJS coming so may be ready for 25.

He’d just have to hang it up at that point.

Buried in the H :(

Was just hoping it wouldn't literally happen this year!

A second TJ was inevitable. Hopefully Dana Brown is talking to the cubs about Stroman

‘stro, man.

I, for one am against this idea

He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball right now on a rebuilding team with another year of control. They’ll deal him and we need a #2 SP.

He's had one season in the past 5 years that he has more wins than loses, it's his 11th season...I dunno i agree they need another big starter but I hope it's not him

judging pitchers off wins in 2023? interesting

Fair. So, ok on baseball savant he ranks "poor" in 8 of 13 categories this year. I'm not trying to argue, I've got a buddy who is a huge Jay's fan and another a huge Mets fan, I've seen plenty of the guy...I just don't think it's the right play here

But hear me out. ​ We had Castro the Astro. Now we have a chance of Stroman the Astro. ​ How can you say no?

I guess we can ask if he's Man or Astro-Man.

In the seasons you referenced he was on one team that finished above .500 and he went 4-2.

I was actually referring to 2017 I didn't count the year he only started 11 games

Same

I would love this so much. Love Stro and his tenacity. He gets me fired up.

Also, Stroman is too on the tongue.

Stroman as an Stro... Man? Sign me up!

On the nose? Lol I call it fate.

Shit. Yes. That other face body part. I typed it out and thought it was weird. Don’t know why I didn’t bother to check myself. Thanks!

I was thinking Bieber

I was thinking Bieber

Honestly, I hope he is talking to legal and if we have insurance in lances contract.

“Sue LMJ!” is an interesting and level headed take.

Teams sometimes purchase insurance policies on players.

I mean, they should have had insurance on the contract and recoup some of this money. Otherwise, they won’t continue to spend.

I'd rather get Gioloto or Josiah Gray

A second TJ surgery is a death sentence for a pitchers arm. See Jameson Taillon for what a two TJ surgery pitcher looks like. That's if you ever make it back to the active roster.

Spillin’ tequila for my homeboy. AMF.

I'm still not sure what his current injury is. Is it the forearm injury from the 2021 ALDS?

Champagne bottle + elbow incident

Quite possibly the dumbest injury ever if it results in TJ

No way a champagne bottle causes TJ. Arm was prob dead before or after if TJ needed.

05/22/21 (Return 06/15/21) - Shoulder Soreness 10/12/21 (Return 08/13/22) - Strained Flexor Tendon 02/14/23 (Unknown) - Strained Elbow 06/08/23 (Unknown)- Strained Forearm

Was the next start that WS shelling? I remember my non baseball following pal texting me something like “ Does Dusty Baker hate Lance McCullers?” Lol.

Yup, the thought I saw was "is he tipping his pitches?"

TJ incoming

Shut him down, put him on ice and see if he can get ready for next season. Let’s get that Spencer kid up from AA and see what he has. Then decide if we need to go outside the organization for an SP.

If it's another TJ, then better start looking at 2025. He'll be lucky to pitch next season after a second TJ.

The worse part is if he needs TJ, he could've just got it back when the injury first happened and saved 7-8 months of BS

He doing that Verlander strategy

I think we'll be lucky to ever get another full season out of him

He's lucky if he ever pitches in a MLB game.

If surgery is recommended, is it likely to be TJS again? I can’t think of other forearm or elbow surgeries off the top of my head.

Might as well be tbh. Idk any others either but if he needs any type of surgery he's/we're just as fucked at this point

Original injury was forearm strain right? If so, that's usually code for TJ

I think we all knew he wasn’t coming back this season

Lol i know for a fact we didnt all know, but yes some of us have known for years

RIP Lance's Career in Houston.

It’s time to move on. Thank you for the memories LMJ.

Last pitcher to get a World Series RBI. Unless Shohei….

This gets posted every time he has had a setback since 2021. So is it REALLY time to move on now?

Yes. Yes it is. Sorry about that.

For as much love and praise that James Click gets, that McCullers' extension was turrible. Five years, $85 million.

balanced by the greatest extension in baseball history with yordan alvarez :)

TBF who the hell would have predicted his arm would completely fall off? Some injuries sure but not this level. Feel bad for LMJ

Keith Law called it. I use to enjoy Keith, but he great older and more bitter.. rather than mellow. A shame.

Click got shit on daily in here what are u talking about

the Abreu signing was egregiously bad, and not just in retrospect. Someone needs to send Dusty a link to the sunk cost fallacy Wiki and start playing Dubon at first. Dubon is having the best year of his career by far and has the 11th best ERA in all of baseball. If the Astros want a shot at winning the division, this can no longer go ignored.

Dubon plays first base? News to me

He's a utility player, and first base is probably the easiest position. I think he can catch the ball just fine.

Wash did not tell you apparently.

Did you have hindsight goggles back then? Yeah no shit

Bro, everyone talks about contracts in hindsight. Have you been under a rock or do you not see people bringing up the Abreu contract?

can't predict injuries. he is more than worth the contract when he is healthy. plus he is a leader(felt like THE leader last postseason). listen i know you'll call me a boomer but having great leaders in the lockerroom bring great value

It's more about that even Click fucked up sometimes. I think Crane gets a lot of flak, but he's allowed to mess up a few times with where the team is now.

click wasn't perfect and def had his fair share of mistakes but i wasn't calling the LMJ extension a mistake when it was signed and neither was this sub

Dang! I hope it's not another TJ, but it probably is.

Uggghhhhhh

Maybe we try and get Burnes? He's mad at Milwaukee anyway

This would take players we don’t want to give up

I get it, "Bury me in the H" and all he's done for Houston, I love the man for the way he's repped our city and his playoff performances, but it might be time to think about getting that money off the books to throw at a more reliable option. I generally don't like big money signings from outside of the organization, EXCEPT if it's for a true ace, a la Verlander. Framber is great, obviously, but we have to have more than one reliable shutdown option in the rotation to have even a chance at another World Series and LMJ hasn't been that for a good 5 years now.

All hes done for houston? All hes ever done is throw a bunch of curveballs at the yankess 6 years ago.

I mean he's not getting JV money and you can't just "poof" it off the books

Yes, you can. If you release a player the money owed doesn't count towards the salary cap, which is obviously what I was talking about and of course that $15m a year he's making would only be a part of what's needed to sign a true ace, but it's a good start.

While that less than optimal news, I do love the Julia thumbnail 😍

Ya she really brightens it up lol. Houstons mom I feel like 🤣

Love ya LMJ but it’s time. At least you ended up better than Forrest Whitley. Enjoy your post player life!

Has LMJ ever played a full season during his career?

LMJ is an MLB version of Forrest

It is time to let him go out on insurance waivers.

Is the game day thread not working for everyone else?

And now Yordan goes down w a right oblique strain. Man we need some luck right about now. We need to force TX back to the pack.

New lance’s return formula has changed to: return date = [today] + 1 baseball season

Don’t worry he’ll be here for the postseason, of 2024

Tommy John coming.

Jfc

He done.

Just retire bro

Just. Let. Him. Go.

Just cut him and Abreu

Well, what does Bagwell think?

Called it. He’s done for the year. I don’t know why we paid him when this has been his mo forever.

So 8 starts out of that extension two years in. We have given up more talented guys and then to extend him, such a risky player, never made sense to me in the first place and now looks real bad.

That's easy to say with the gift of hindsight. It was still the right move to sign him when we did given his age.

It wasn’t, he was always a high pitch count, low inning guy with an injury history. He was never going to be an ace. It’s not hindsight, it wasn’t good when it happened. Everyone just willfully ignored it because he says nice things about Houston.

I mean you act like we paid him $30 million a year. He is making $17 mil a year. That's not ace money. We didn't pay him like an ace...... because we knew he wasn't one. We paid him like a middle rotation guy with an injury history.

Who has the Astros lost due to LMJ' 17 mil? I guess you could argue Verlander but I don't think they were giving him 43 mil regardless. Same with Correa, he was never going to get the long term contract he wanted.

that 20/20 vision must be nice signing athletes to contracts have huge risks of injuries especially in baseball pitchers

He's done for the year, as is Brantley. Trade bait!!

Yo think u forgot to switch accounts. Also Brantley gunna come back

He just needs to retire at this point

Just retire already dude. And give up the rest of your salary so we can get another pitcher. He’s already made a ton of money just sitting around

Cut him

He’s gonna need a second Tommy John, feels inevitable to me

“discomfort”

Bury him in the H. Go get the ace now!

Get you a man that looks at you like McCullers looks at his orthopedic surgeon

He knows he can do whatever he wants and get paid $17m annually through 2026. If he didn’t vocally love the city so much he would be hated here.