The Houston Astros head into the season with one of the best pitchers in the league on their roster, but it's not the one many expected.
Heading into the 2024 season, the Houston Astros have enough in place to compete for another World Series title.
With the success they've accomplished in their division and the American League overall, aiming for anything less would be disappointing considering how much elite talent is on this roster.
That's why it's been frustrating for many Astros fans to sit back and watch the front office not be able to pursue upgrades, while others around the league are aggressively adding pieces.
The good news for Houston is that one of their pitchers made MLB Network's list of the 10 best starters in the league.
The surprising thing might have been who that player is and which of their other starters was snubbed from that list.
According to their rankings, Justin Verlander is the fourth best starting pitcher in Major League Baseball.
There's no question that the 41-year-old is a legend after winning three Cy Young awards, two World Series championships, a Rookie of the Year award and being selected to nine All-Star games during his career.
His career ERA of 3.24 over 509 starts and 3,325 1/3 innings is ridiculously impressive, and he showed no signs of slowing down last year when he posted a 7-3 record and 3.31 ERA during his 10 starts with the Astros after they acquired him at the trade deadline.
But, the noticeable one missing from this list is Framber Valdez.
The left-hander has been a major piece of their rotation, posting a 3.19 ERA in over 600 innings pitched since becoming a full-time starter.
In 2022, Valdez led the American League in complete games (3) and innings pitched (201 1/3), finishing fifth in the AL Cy Young voting.
He's been one of the top pitchers in baseball during this time, but was left off this list heading into the upcoming season.
Maybe his poor back-half of the year soured some people's opinions on Valdez, but the early portion of 2023 had him as a frontrunner to win his first Cy Young award.
These rankings don't mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Valdez is still an elite starting pitcher and not making MLB Network's Top-10 doesn't change that fact.
The lefty could us this as extra motivation heading into the 2024 season.