TODAY: Fulmer will indeed undergo the procedure, he tells reporters including Evan Woodberry of MLive.com (via Twitter).
YESTERDAY: Tigers righty Michael Fulmer has received a recommendation that he undergo Tommy John surgery, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports on Twitter. He’d stand to miss the entire 2019 season and in all likelihood a portion of the 2020 campaign as well.
Fulmer’s medical status has been a bit of a mystery of late, but this news comes as a surprise. He had been shut down recently, purportedly to work on mechanical issues tied to his recovery from last season’s knee surgery, but obviously was dealing with something else entirely. Fulmer had shown a worrying loss of velocity this spring after turning in a subpar, injury-marred 2018 campaign.
It’s not yet certain that Fulmer will go under the knife, but that seems to be far and away the likeliest outcome. Per the Tigers, both a team doctor and noted surgeon Dr. James Andrews have already recommended that Fulmer receive a full replacement of his ulnar collateral ligament.
This is hardly the news anyone wanted for Fulmer, who reached his 26th birthday just days ago. Fortunately for the righty, he already agreed to a $2.8MM salary for the coming season. On the bright side for the club, they won the arbitration hearing and thus avoided a larger payout.
In all likelihood, the Tigers will end up paying Fulmer that $2.8MM both this season and next, while hoping he’ll be able to contribute by the middle of the 2020 campaign. Fulmer is controllable in 2021 and 2022 as well. His earning power in those years will depend upon what he’s able to do in ’20; it’ll unquestionably be diminished by the lengthy absence.
The Detroit organization has thus far centered its rebuilding effort on young pitching, with a series of interesting arms moving up through the ranks. It seemed through his first two seasons in the majors that Fulmer might be a veteran anchor for the next great Tigers staff — or, instead, a big trade chip who’d reel in loads of young talent.
That outlook already changed last year, as Fulmer struggled to a 4.69 ERA in 132 1/3 innings. During his excellent debut campaign and solid follow-up effort, Fulmer’s unexciting strikeout numbers were explained away by some. The line was that his overpowering arsenal and ability to induce weak contact made it unnecessary for Fulmer to rack of Ks. The narrative shifted over the course of the 2018 season. Even as hard contact rose (39.5%), his groundball rate (44.2%) and home run suppression (1.29 per nine innings, 14.5% HR/FB rate) dove despite steady 96 mph velocity readings on his fastball.
Perhaps Fulmer would have found his way back to being a high-quality starter had he not encountered knee issues that ultimately resulted in a meniscus procedure. The connection between that joint, his reduced velo this spring, and his problematic elbow isn’t completely clear, but it certainly seems plausible that all are interrelated. He’ll now have a lengthy absence to work through the varying health issues. If all goes well, Fulmer could return to be a quality hurler once more.
That explains the dip in velo the team was worried he’d never recover from.
So much for working on lower half mechanics
Should’ve traded him last year
Yep.
Hind sight is 20/20. Besides, it will keep him affordable for when they are able to contend. Never was a plan to trade him. He is a building block. Good time to be Turnbull, or Norris. Take advantage of the opportunity
Lol.
“Besides it will keep him affordable” Doing everything we can to see a positive now aren’t we?
Do you prefer to fixate on the negative?
“Never was a plan to trade him” The baseball world would beg to differ. If they could’ve they would’ve…
Never heard the Tigers say they were trading him. Just pundits.
You’ll never hear them say they’re tanking either, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true…
He was a building block in 16-17. That all changed last year. He is NOT a building block for the future, and now his trade value is in the toilet.
Are you saying that a player who needs Tommy John has low trade value?
Thanks captain obvious.
Of course it’s obvious, but that wasn’t the point of my post. I guess it’s hard to comprehend with four balls as well.
Incorrect. They Tigers have never received an adequate offer for Fulmer. Not last year, not after his ROY year.
You would have no idea Doc. I’m sure they flooded in behind the scenes.
Don’t interrupt him while he’s covering the phones in the Tigers FO…
Glad that at least the Yankee haters are not part of this convo, as they were dissing Brian Cashman from not going for it all at last year’s trading deadline and wasting a top prospect.
Haha good one Steve. Nice to see you again man. They have over/under on Tigers wins this year at 69. I took under. What you got?
The magic number for Roger Maris, but not the number teams want..61..
It’s gonna be rough. No pitching. No bullpen. No hitting. Only thing good for the rebuild is another top draft pick. Hopefully a lefty this time.
“Cabrera will DH most road games so he doesn’t have to run to first base from the dugout across the field” – Gardenhire. If that quote doesn’t sum up the current Tigers situation I dunno what would.
Over/Under on games for Miggy 100? What u got? I say over, optimistically.
What, he’s running now?
And if they sold him for a measly quarter, as his stock from the previous year was falling, you would have raked management over the coals.
His career has officially gone off a cliff.
He plays for Detroit. That cliff can’t be very high.
He was also originally drafted by the Mets, also helps explain the cascading injuries he’s suffered.
Hey Hoboken,
He was under the watch of your grandfather “TC” who destroyed so many pitchers careers by telling them to throw at max effort regardless of how their elbow and shoulder felt.
From Johan Santana to the cast at Chitifield now, potential was destroyed for a few more wins.
So his career fell off the curb?
That won’t happen until he joins the Indians after being non-tendered.
as high as a curb
I suppose if you’re on the Tigers and are going to get it, now’s not a bad time.
Don’t understand the timing. You have all offseason to work on your mechanics/velocity – this isn’t the 1960s anymore. How was this option not explored beforehand? When did his velocity start declining?
I kind of imagined he was trying to get around missing an entire season…
He was also recovering from knee surgery genius. Smh
Possibly it didnt occur until he started reving up for ST? It could also be that the brace on the leg altered his mechanics, causing the problem this spring.
Very likely. Amazing how everything works together. Injuries can cause a domino effect.
This makes Prellers decision to get a QO pick for Justin Upton which added pool money for them to draft Cal Quantril, Eric Lauer, and Hudson Potts look better going forward.
Not really. Fulmer could have been traded for a better package than all 3 of those guys combined a year ago, still has more upside than any one of them and the only one of those guys who signed for above slot was Cal Quantrill who is looking like more of a suspect with each passing day.
Padres weren’t going to trade fulmer even if they had him. Anyone says otherwise clearly has no idea what they are talking about.
Fulmers injured and was on the verge of tos before Tommy John given his velocity issues, which is the new career killer.
Much like Tyson Ross fulmer would of gone down injured and padres would of got nothing going forward.
Going forward Padres are gonna get more out of Lauer this year than they would of fulmer.
Something like 85% of pitchers who get TJS make a full recovery these days. No reason to believe Fulmer is less likely than everyone else. And Lauer would never start for a contending team. Healthy Fulmer would. And taking Fulmer for Upton when it was offered wouldn’t have prevented the Padres from drafting whoever they wanted.
This is actually not the worst thing in the world… he looked entirely shot last season… he takes the next year and a half off, he’s still young enough to come back from this and has a real shot at a return to glory. He’s a nominal risk for the Tigers to pay through his recovery, and then they have him controlled until 2022… this could still work out just fine for him and the Tigers.
Not sure thats the case: I’m pretty certain he had TJ surgery in the minors just about 5 years ago. While a second TJ surgery is not the end of a career as it once was, the return rates are still extremely low, and those who do come back are often less effective than prior to the injury.
pandamets Stop making things up. You’re “Not sure” and “Pretty certain”… how utterly irresponsible of you.
Well his career was nice while it lasted
I wouldn’t go that far and just write him off. he should be back by the time he’s around 28. my question, or something have been thinking of, is Detroit is paying him nearly 3m this year and next year will be a tad more than that. Do they keep him, or cut ties and Outright him/DFA since that will bring him to 4y service time by the time he’s back? I can’t see them doing it to save only 6m over 2 seasons.
Should’ve sold high. Cubs and other teams wanted him. Gulp.
that escalated so quickly
The thing left out of this story is that AFTER being shut down to work on the lower body, he felt pain in his elbow after a bullpen session. The MRI showed the UCL damage. It is very likely that he damaged his UCL during that bullpen session
This just might be the injury that Keuchel/Boras were waiting for.
Doubt whether the rebuilding Tigers would be interested
Every pitcher on the Tigers could get TJS tomorrow and they still wouldn’t sign Keuchal.
Agreed. If he were still available, it could have maybe helped Gio out, but the Tigers were never likely to splurge at the levels for Dallas, regardless of injuries. Boras would need to go to them and make them an offer, get them to consider it, just to take that offer to another team and say “We’ll this is what we’d get from the Tigers, so top that!”
Ughhhh, another one. Hate seeing this to these young, promising pitchers.
And he’s not even a member of the White Sox.
Non-tender candidate for 2020
no way, he’s not going to cost much
Back to plumbing
This is truly sad. Can’t stand tommy jon surgery taking out young talents for more than a year smh
For those claiming the Tigers should have sold high, he struggled throughout last season. He wasn’t going to bring back much value at that point.
This news would be a bigger deal if Detroit wasn’t already tanking and had decent young pitching in the minors as it is.
Unfortunate. Good news is he has more time to improve his plumbing skills.
AJ Preller did indeed call this one way back. Tiger bosses openly slapped themselves silly in giddy joy as a result of that hard pass. Preller is a wizard on both sides of a medical chart (disclosed, and not so much).
Some players’ connective tissues are prone to strain, pain and snapping. Others can go on for decades with no such difficulty. Is there a way to predict (other than only drafting hay bale-totin’ farm boys)? Years ago, I would have invested a mint that Max Scherzer’s arm would have crossed the plate at about 92 mph after one too many max effort heaters. Every year, many teams guess wrong on both sides of that coin.
Valuable tip: if you can develop a DNA test to positively identify adolescent pitchers carrying the genetic markers for Nolan-Ryan-Warren-Spahn-Tendons, you too could retire young to Murfreesboro.
In the words of the great philosopher Ace Ventura..Alrighty Then!
Could make a trade with the Giants. They both have nothing to lose. They both won’t be good this year. Giants have pitching relief and starting they can trade. They need outfielders.
Bad day for Fullmer and Tigers….Tigers never really could trade Fullmer in 17-18 cause the guy was allways hurt….and only low offers came in….They could have traded him after the 16 season for javie baez…but tigers did not know they where starting a rebuild at that time…….
Saying Tigers should have traded him after his ROY is like saying Miami Dolphins should have traded Marino after his ROY and Super Bowl.
Oh No!!!!! We Suck Again!
BasedBallGuru5 days ago
I’m glad the Braves didn’t end up pulling the trigger on him and giving a lot up to do it last year.
Not to say he isn’t capable of coming back and being his old self by the end of the year or anything, but there’s clearly some red flags with him now that weren’t around this time last year.
REPLYFLAG
Stat_head5 days ago
Not really. The Tigers are just being cautious and letting him get back to full strength. They tried having him pitch with a knee brace. It wasn’t working and probably introducing unwanted changes to his mechanics. They aren’t playing for anything so no reason to push. If he’s not pitching by June, that would be a problem.
REPLYFLAG
BasedBallGuru4 days ago
Really. Saying Tiger games dont matter therefore him not throwing and losing major velocity when he tries, is okay, is flat out incorrect. Everyone involved needs him to play and play well and he cannot do that, even as the season begins. Sorry to burst any bubbles.
STAT_Head5 where you at?
Stat_Head5?
Hello?
He will be a nice bullpen arm when healthy again, but I think all the kids currently knocking on the door will keep him from regaining a rotation spot in Detroit. Maybe he can become a peak Hochevar type reliever. His mechanics just seem too messy to be a starter long term, though maybe the 18 months of rehab can fix that.
Interesting to watch the back and forth between “the Mets won the trade” and “the Tigers won the trade”. First it was the Mets, then clearly the Tigers, and now it seems that everyone should be somewhat happy with it.
This is why you always trade your star pitchers during a rebuild. No sense in risking an injury.
Now the Tigers can’t trade him for two years. And once Fulmer is healthy again, his trade value won’t be the same because of his injury.
I’m so glad the Yankees didn’t trade for him.
He is now part of the rebuild… he will have to return in 2021 and be a veteran presence to guys like Manning and Mize. It also allows them to see if Norris is a starter or a reliever. It also helps them get a higher draft pick. Tigers didn’t care about ’19 anyway.
As a Mets fan I always liked Fulmer. Still young. Let the arm heal and it will give his knee additional time to heal. He had knee problems with the Mets. Still young enough to heal up and be back strong.
Michael Fulmer doesn’t look like he uses a gym. He may never be very good.
Could of had Clint Frazier or Glyber Torres 2 years ago from the Yankees…. Booo
Well, at least Fulmer will get this out of the way while the Tigers aren’t expected to contend anyway.