Brown Astros Not In Market For Additional Starting Pitchin

March 5: Even following todays announcement that Verlander , Brown doubled down on his comments downplaying a potential rotation addition ( via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). Brown again stated that his club isnt in the market for starting pitching at this time, pointing France as the likely fifth starter behind Valdez, Javier, Brown and Urquidy. Blanco and prospect were also listed by Brown as depth options. March 3: The Astros made a major splash at the back of their bullpen by signing relief ace to a back in January, fortifying a late-inning mix that already included veteran closer and flamethrowing youngster . In the run-up to Spring Training, however, Houston GM Dana Brown that the club hoped to make further additions to the pitching side of its roster before Opening Day, either by adding a reliever to the clubs bullpen mix or perhaps by adding another starter to allow other potential rotation arms to work in relief. That no longer appears to be the plan, as the GM downplayed the likelihood of such an addition coming to fruition in comments made to reporters Markelle Fultz Jersey (including ) yesterday. We might add something later (around the trade deadline), but right now I think our teams built to win and were ready to go, Brown said, as relayed by Rome. Brown then went on to specifically note that he doesnt expect the club to sign left-hander , the top free agent remaining on the open market, even as he admitted that he would love to have him on board. Its not nece sarily a surprise that the Astros arent likely to aggre sively pursue a deal with Snell. After all, the club has already entered unprecedented territory this winter when it comes to payroll. Per , the Astros have never entered a season with a projected payroll above their $187MM figure from the 2021 season, but projects the club to blow that figure out of the water this year with a whopping $240MM payroll entering the 2024 campaign. Those same projections put Houston at a $254MM payroll for luxury tax purposes, just a hair below the second threshold of $257MM. An addition of Snells caliber would surely blow past that number, as would even smaller deals for remaining mid-level free agent arms such as or . While Browns comments suggest that the club is comfortable with its internal options in the rotation, Houstons depth is already being tested with a month left to go before Opening Day. Both veteran ace and sophomore right-hander have been in the spring by shoulder i sues, leaving the status of bother hurlers in question ahead of Opening Day. Should both righties begin the season on the shelf, the club would likely be left to turn to either or as their fifth starter behind the established quartet of , , , and . Blanco made seven starts for the Astros last year, pitching to a 4.74 ERA in 38 innings of work, while Bielak posted a 3.69 ERA in 70 2/3 frames over 13 starts. The recent comments seem to shut the door on the club making any major additions, though its at least plausible that the Astros could look to shore up their bullpen depth with a smaller investment. The best remaining relief arm on the free agent market, veteran right-hander , spent the last three seasons in Houston and pitched to a strong 2.90 ERA with a 3.91 FIP during his time with the club, though hes coming off a shaky platform season that saw him post a 4.09 ERA with a career-worst 23.9% strikeout rate. Other veteran options still available include and , each of whom offer late inning experience and could likely be had on non-roster deals after injury-marred 2023 campaigns. Nikola Vucevic Jersey