SAN ANTONIO — The Houston Astros outrighted veteran starter José Urquidy from their 40-man roster on Monday, a somewhat surprising decision amid their flurry of roster moves.
Urquidy cleared outright waivers and is a free agent eligible to sign with any team — including the Astros. It would not be a surprise if Houston pursues a reunion with its homegrown right-hander on a modified contract, though Urquidy’s uncertain status for 2025 will complicate matters.
Urquidy did not pitch in a major-league game last season and underwent his second Tommy John surgery in June.
Pitchers often need more than 12 months to return from the operation, meaning there is no guarantee Urquidy will pitch at any point in 2025 — his final season under team control. That Houston even exposed him to outright waivers demonstrated doubt that he’d pitch next season
Without any obvious trade value, the Astros’ only options were either to non-tender Urquidy or pass him through waivers. MLB Trade Rumors projected Urquidy’s arbitration salary at $3.75 million — identical to his number from 2024. Salaries cannot decrease in the arbitration process but can stay the same.
Signed for $100,000 under former international scouting director Oz Ocampo, Urquidy blossomed into a pivotal piece of three World Series rotations. He is the only Mexican-born player to appear in three World Series.
As a rookie, Urquidy won Game 4 of the 2019 World Series at Nationals Park, joining Fernando Valenzuela as the only Mexican pitchers to win a World Series game. Urquidy appeared in 15 postseason games across his Astros career and sported a 4.08 ERA.
We see you, José Urquidy. 🤮 pic.twitter.com/bICquJMnQG
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2019
Urquidy has thrown just 405 major-league innings since debuting in 2019, a consequence of almost constant injuries to his shoulder and arm. He eclipsed 110 innings once in four 162-game seasons with the Astros.
In addition to Urquidy, the Astros also lost reliever Penn Murfee to the Chicago White Sox on a waiver claim, removing his projected $800,000 salary from an already bloated payroll.
The Astros still have eight arbitration-eligible players who will command $53,675,000, according to MLB Trade Rumors’ projections. Both Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers remain either non-tender or trade candidates if the club is concerned about its payroll.
Shopping one of Framber Valdez or Kyle Tucker would be another drastic way to decrease it, but one general manager Dana Brown could consider given the woeful state of his farm system.
Brown began his second full offseason with a bevy of back-end roster moves on Monday, the most consequential of which was acquiring outfielder Taylor Trammell from the New York Yankees. Houston lost three players on outright waivers: Murfee to the White Sox, reliever Seth Martinez to the Arizona Diamondbacks and outfielder Trey Cabbage to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
(Photo of José Urquidy from Oct. 19, 2023: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
