Astros Choose Cristian Javier’s Path Back to Major League Role
Astros Choose Cristian Javier’s Path Back to Major League Role
The Houston Astros plan to activate Cristian Javier later this week. He’ll be in a specific role when he returns. Matt Postins|
In this story:
Houston AstrosWhen Cristian Javier went on the injured list in early April, he was a starting pitcher. When he returns later this week, he’ll be something different.
Houston Astros manager Joe Espada told reporters on Thursday that Javier will be activated on Friday before their game with the Tampa Bay Rays. He’ll be available to pitch — but he won’t start. The expected starter for Friday’s game is Spencer Arrighetti.
Instead, Javier will come out of the bullpen in what Espada told reporters would be a “typical role.” That likely means Houston isn’t looking at him as a bulk option on a bullpen day. They seem him, at least for now, as a one- or two-inning option.
Why Astros are Putting Cristian Javier in Bullpen
It’s a curious move. But it comes at a time in which Javier has been on the 60-day injured list since April with a Grade 2 shoulder strain. He just wrapped up a rehab assignment, in which Houston gave him the full 30 days to work up to the majors. In his last rehab game, he threw nearly 90 pitches as he went six innings, giving up no runs and two walks as he struck out four.
Espada told reporters, including The Athletic (subscription required) that it is what best for Javier and the team.
“He’s not starting in the bullpen because of his performance in the minor leagues,” Espada said. “Right now, the way we’re lining things up, that’s what’s best for our team and best for Javi. And it could change.”
Javier has worked as a starter full-time since the 2023 season, when he worked 31 starts and went 10-5 with a 4.56 ERA. The season before he went 11-9 with a 2.54 ERA as the Astros won the World Series. But he started 25 games and appeared in 30. Of his 127 Major League games, he’s worked as a starter 93 times.
It’s not clear how Javier will react to this. While he’s been a starter for years, he’s also making more money than most of the players on the team. He’s in the fourth year of a five-year contract worth $68 million. Unless its closer Josh Hader, Houston isn’t out to pay a reliever that kind of money.
That’s why this is likely a short-term option. Houston has found a groove with its current rotation — Mike Burrows, Tatsuya Imai, Arrighetti, Hunter Brown and Peter Lambert — and likely doesn’t want to disrupt it. Houston also has an off day on Thursday and the following Thursday, which allows Houston to manipulate its rotation to slide in Javier in a location of their choosing.
For now, it’s a curious move. But after two months of injuries, the depth is welcome.
Published 3 minutes ago
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MATT POSTINSMatthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Major League Baseball for OnSI. He also covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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Don’t forget San Diego’s July 4 fiasco — then vote the bums out
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Skip to main content OpinionDon’t forget San Diego’s July 4 fiasco — then vote the bums out
By CA Post Editorial Board Published July 1, 2026, 9:57 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The California Post on GoogleRipped from the headlines of the satirical Babylon Bee:
A DEI extravaganza to mark the 250th birthday of the USA!
Oh wait.
That’s not the Bee; it’s actually a thing: San Diego County plans an identity-politics spectacular this July 4.
Wanna go?
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The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted this year to align the county’s Independence Day event with “equity and racial justice” goals.
Per a social media post from the mayor of El Cajon, the three-hour program will feature: a “tribal intimate blessing welcoming to land”; a tribal invocation; the American and black national anthems; local tribal community stories; Latino community stories; Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community stories; LGBTQIA+ community stories; and black and African community stories.
Whew. It’s exhausting just to read about.
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But more to the point: all of this … on July 4 of America’s 250th year? What message does the county of San Diego mean to send?
Not one that elevates fun, family, unity, respect, gratitude and patriotism — traditional Independence Day fare.
Instead, the county stoops to woke pandering.
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Extolling favored groups on the nation’s birthday is e pluribus unum in reverse: ex uno, plura.
It’s divisive. It’s ill-timed. And it’s disrespectful to the nation, to its founding values and to the US Armed Forces who have fought and sometimes died to guard the rights the grievance crowd takes for granted.
In the very recent past, Americans of all stars and stripes could agree on some things, including the Fourth of July and its fun family patriotic fare.
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Remember the iconic jingle, “We love baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet?”
Those were days when Americans united around major holidays, around a shared heritage of freedom and around pride in a country that’s the freest in the world.
No longer.
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These days, the scolds can’t be satisfied, the socialists win elections from New York to Colorado (unthinkable not long ago) and divisive Fourth of July programs emerge in once-moderate places like San Diego County.
Increasingly, elected officials want to shove a thumb in the eye of the nation, its founding, its traditions and its glory.
Enough.
Note to the radicals who rush to tear America down on perhaps its most cherished holiday:
Stop being petulant about losing national elections.
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Love your country even if you don’t love its current leader.
Teach, respect and appreciate the values of 1776: liberty, individual rights, equality, limited government and the rule of law.
Ditch the woke bilge and restore the picnics, US flags and fireworks.
Restore e pluribus unum.
Skip the lecture series and let the people have fun.
And a bonus memo to San Diego County voters: Remember this farce next election.
Just maybe, in another grand American tradition, you’ll do this:
Throw the bums out.
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