The Astros' pitching depth just took another hit. Houston has placed right-hander Mike Burrows on the injured list, according to MLBTradeRumors, a move that closes the book on what had already become a lost stretch for the 26-year-old righty.
MLBTradeRumors confirmed the Astros' move to put Burrows on the IL.
This isn't just a routine IL stint, either. Burrows was actually optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land just days earlier after a disaster start against the Nationals where he got shelled, and Houston has now reversed that assignment and placed him on the 15-day IL instead with what's being described as right elbow neuritis, retroactive to the day he was originally sent down. Elbow issues for a starting pitcher are never something to shrug off, and the timing here — right after a demotion, right before the trade deadline stretch — makes it look worse.
Burrows came to Houston in a three-way trade with the Pirates over the offseason and was pitched as a potential rotation building block. Instead, it's been a nightmare first year in an Astros uniform: a 5.99 ERA across 18 appearances, 17 of them starts, and 21 home runs allowed. The Nationals outing that triggered all of this was about as bad as it gets — 10 runs allowed in just over 4 innings — and it clearly wasn't just a bad day at the office if there was an elbow problem lurking underneath it the whole time.
For a team that's been counting on pitching depth to hold the fort in the AL West race, losing a rotation arm to injury right as the calendar turns toward the trade deadline is a real problem. Houston already had promising righty Alimber Santa waiting in the wings and called up in Burrows' place, but an elbow issue rather than a simple slump changes the calculus — this isn't about Burrows figuring things out in Sugar Land anymore, it's about how long he's actually out and whether the Astros need to go shopping for pitching help before the deadline hits.
No firm return timetable has been given, which is its own kind of red flag with elbow injuries. Fantasy managers who'd already bailed on Burrows after the ERA ballooned can stop worrying about a bounce-back for now, and Astros fans get to sweat out whether this is a short absence or the start of something that costs Houston a rotation piece for the stretch run.