Hader likely out for regular season, but playoffs remain option

HOUSTON -- If the Astros are going to hold off the Mariners in the American League West, they’re probably going to have to do it without All-Star closer Josh Hader.

Hader, who is shut down from throwing for three weeks after being diagnosed with a left shoulder capsule sprain, said Saturday it would take him three more weeks to build up his arm strength, once he resumes throwing, to be ready to pitch in a Major League game.

Considering the regular season ends six weeks from Sunday, Hader likely wouldn’t return until the postseason, assuming there are no setbacks.

“That’s just the reality of it,” he said. “So you go in for three weeks, that takes you to about the first week of September. So now I still have to get back up, build strength on throwing for two weeks. Now I’ve got to get off the mound, [and] that’s going to be at least another week. So that puts us at another three weeks.”

Hader, who saved 28 games for the Astros this year and made his sixth All-Star team, landed on the 15-day injured list Tuesday, a day after he reported some shoulder discomfort while working out at Daikin Park. Hader threw a season-high 36 pitches in two innings against the Yankees on Aug. 8 in New York and warmed up toward the end of Sunday’s win, but he didn’t get into the game.

“I threw 28 pretty intense pitches that second inning [in New York],” Hader said. “So when I woke up the next day, I knew for a fact that I’m going to feel sore. So I got in on Sunday, started throwing and felt good. Sunday I got warmed up, and the next day just still didn’t recover very well.

“I went through my program, started throwing plyos, and that’s when I was like, ‘Something doesn’t feel right.’ For me, I’m pretty in tune with my body, I know kind of what feels right. I know what general soreness is. I know kind of what, after those situations, what my body should feel like. And I’ve never felt like [I did] on Monday. So that’s when I kind of threw up the caution signs and wanted to kind of look in deeper and kind of see what was really going on.”

Once he was diagnosed with a shoulder sprain, Hader sought a second opinion from orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas. Hader said surgery wasn’t discussed as an option, but he knows he’ll have to give the shoulder its required rest.

“That’s the reason why I don’t want to push it hard to be back by the end of September,” he said. “But for me personally, I’m trying to do everything I can to make sure this three weeks puts me in a good spot to be able to start throwing.”

Hader, who’s in the second year of a five-year, $95 million contract, has been reluctant to throw multiple innings in the past, but he has done it routinely with the Astros because of the investment they showed in him, he said. His two-inning outing Aug. 8 in New York was his seventh inning-plus outing of the season.

“I mean, we have to approach this with caution, right?” he said. “One, because if I’m in a game, it’s 100-percent effort. So now you have to make sure you’re able to recover well and be able to be on your game. So for me -- we haven’t talked about it -- but ideally, like, multiple innings is a lot of stress. So for the longevity of it, probably this year, multiples [innings] probably don’t seem realistic. But being able to at least get one inning in and be able to be there, yeah it’s definitely doable.”

The Astros used Bennett Sousa for four outs and setup man Bryan Abreu for three outs to close out Wednesday’s win over the Red Sox. Astros manager Joe Espada hasn’t anointed a new closer, but Sousa and Abreu are the likeliest options.

“We feel confident in the interim,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said. “Our bullpen’s been good this year. Abreu’s throwing the ball well, and Sousa is throwing it well. [Steven] Okert’s been good, and [Kaleb] Ort has been good of late. We have guys who have thrown the ball well, and we feel really good about the back end.”