The Houston Astros head into a four-game series in Detroit starting tomorrow with two rotation spots still open for the weekend, and Cristian Javier is now in line to fill one of them. The team has already listed Tatsuya Imai for Thursday and Spencer Arrighetti for Friday, but Saturday and Sunday remain marked TBD.
That is why the Astros standings search is landing on this series now: the schedule is set through the first two games, and the rest is still being sorted out. For a club that has to map out its pitching one day at a time, the weekend is the part that still needs an answer.
Manager Joe Espada's comments point toward Javier as the most likely candidate for one of those openings. That leaves the Astros with a workable outline for the series and one unresolved choice between the two weekend games, which is the detail that matters most to anyone following the rotation.
The timing makes the uncertainty more noticeable. Houston begins the trip tomorrow in Detroit, so the club has already committed to Imai on Thursday and Arrighetti on Friday, yet it has not said whether Javier would go Saturday or Sunday. Both days remain listed as TBD, and that is the gap Espada's remarks only narrow, not close.
So the next thing to watch is not whether Javier is in the mix. It is which of the two weekend starts the Astros give him, because that decision will finish the rotation plan for the Detroit series.
