HOUSTON — Astros outfielder Cristian Javier will undergo Tommy John surgery on Thursday, a major league source said Tuesday, dealing a devastating blow to a Houston rotation that has taken a lot of them.

Javier sought the opinion of renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister, who recommended reconstructive surgery that typically takes a recovery period of 12 to 14 months.

In a best-case scenario, Javier could return late in the 2025 season, where he would make $10 million. Javier posted a 3.89 ERA across seven starts this season.

Javier’s impending operation comes on the heels of news Monday that teammate Jose Urquide may also need Tommy John surgery. Urquidi, like Javier, sought a second opinion from Maestre.

Both pitchers are now poised to miss the remainder of this season and much of 2025, raising serious concerns about the established club’s starting depth as it heads toward .500.

Without Javier or Urquidi, Houston has five starters on its 40-man roster with major league experience: Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrigetti. Neither Arrighetti or Blanco has ever thrown more than 125 innings in a professional season.

The team expects both Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. to return sometime after the All-Star break, but since both are recovering from their respective elbow surgeries, their effectiveness and durability cannot be relied upon.

“We’re always in the market for a promotion,” general manager Dana Brown said Monday, reiterating that his club would be a buyer at the trade deadline.

“If there’s an opportunity where we don’t have to mortgage the farm and there’s a head start we can get, we’ll get a head start.”

Javier needed a trip to the 15-day injured list on April 18 due to what the team described as “neck pain,” but he only missed 18 days.

In three starts upon his return, Javier allowed 11 earned runs across 11 1/3 innings. His pitch velocity dipped during his last game on May 21, prompting head coach Joe Espada to say Javier “isn’t there yet.”

Three days later, Houston placed him on the injured list for what it described as “discomfort in the right forearm.”

Last spring, Javier signed a five-year, $64 million extension tying him to the Astros through the 2027 season. The deal will pay Javier $21 million through both the 2026 and 2027 seasons.

Brown, who was then in his first year as general manager, engineered the extension after Javier emerged as one of baseball’s most consistent — and consistent — players in 2022. He pitched to a 2.54 ERA and 0.948 WHIP while allowing 5.4 hits per nine innings across 30 appearances. .

Javier made two combined at-bats during the 2022 season: one at Yankee Stadium and one during Game 4 of the 2022 World Series.

Regression found Javier during the 2023 season, where he threw a career-high 162 innings and admitted to being a bit overweight. Javier lost 15 pounds this winter in hopes of rediscovering his form in 2022.

Instead, his season ended after seven starts.

Required reading

(Photo: Troy Taormina/USA Today)