MAY 17: Ross is dealing with ulnar neuritis and won’t throw for at least another seven to 10 days, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweets.
MAY 15: The Tigers have already been hit hard by pitching injuries this season, and it doesn’t appear as if Jordan Zimmermann or Tyson Ross will be returning from the IL in the near future. Zimmermann was sidelined with an UCL sprain on April 26, and he is still experiencing discomfort in his elbow when throwing from flat ground, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports on Twitter. Given that Zimmermann hasn’t pitched in nearly three weeks and hasn’t yet begun ramping up in earnest, it seems reasonable to anticipate that he won’t be ready to return to the Tigers’ staff for at least another few weeks, assuming that all goes smoothly here on out.
As for Ross, the outlook is perhaps even more ominous. Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire told Woodbery (Twitter link) and other reporters that Ross has scheduled two separate visits with different doctors, as the right-hander tries to figure out the cause of the nerve problem in his throwing elbow. Ross has a substantial injury history that includes thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, and one of his two medical visits is with the same doctor who performed his TOS surgery back in 2016.
Between Zimmermann, Ross, and season-ending injuries to both Michael Fulmer and Matt Moore, the Tigers are trying to make do without four-fifths of their intended starting rotation. One internal option is Drew VerHagen, as Gardenhire told media (including Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press) that VerHagen will be stretched out as a starter at Triple-A. This isn’t the first time that VerHagen has been tried as a starter, as he made three starts for Detroit in 2017-18, though the large majority of VerHagen’s MLB experience (111 of 115 career games) has been as a reliever.
VerHagen is back at Triple-A Toledo after being outrighted off Detroit’s 40-man roster over the weekend, and the 28-year-old has now been outrighted in consecutive seasons. While obviously VerHagen is far from the Tigers’ ideal option for a starter, the team has been forced to leave no stone unturned as it deals with its plague of rotation injuries. It’s worth noting that VerHagen does have some decent career numbers at Triple-A, though his grounder-heavy arsenal and lack of missed bats (6.9 K/9 in his career) hasn’t translated well to the big leagues, as his 5.20 career ERA would attest.
If you’re wondering whether or not star prospect Casey Mize could be an answer to the Tigers’ pitching problems, seemingly nothing has changed from earlier this month, when Gardenhire said that such highly-touted Double-A arms as Mize, Alex Faedo, and Matt Manning weren’t going to be called up. As dire as the injury situation may be, it’s clear that the Tigers aren’t prepared to alter their developmental plans for the sake of covering some innings in a rebuilding year. At least from a long-term perspective, there’s a lot to be excited about with Tigers pitching — MLB.com’s most recent top 100 prospects list ranks Mize as the top pitching prospect in baseball, and the #6 prospect overall. Mize’s ranking will only improve throughout the year, as four of the names ahead of him (Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Eloy Jimenez, and Nick Senzel) have already reached the majors and will soon lose their prospect status.
In other Tigers prospect news, it has been announced that right-hander Franklin Perez is set to make his season debut for Detroit’s high A-ball affiliate in Lakeland. A shoulder strain has kept Perez from pitching in 2019. Originally acquired from the Astros as part of the Justin Verlander trade, the 21-year-old Perez is another well-regarded building block, ranking 71st on MLB.com’s latest prospect list.
Hard for any team to overcome losing 4/5 of it’s rotation, much less a team not expected to be all that good to begin with. Seems to me that one option would be signing a free agent like a James Shields, Yovani Gallardo, etc. Sure, they are not great options. If they were, they’d be with a team by now. But right now, if the goal is to keep their prized young pitchers developing normally in the minors, they could use some warm bodies in the rotation.
Hey, are you Tigerdoc from the western part of the state that I met years ago? I also go by ForLoveoftheGame.
I agree. Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull, and Daniel Norris make a serviceable to good starting three. From there, you go down to Ryan Carpenter, who wasn’t even good at AAA, and Gregory Soto who hasn’t pitched above AA.
Leave the prized arms alone and don’t let today’s problems for the parent club determine the development course for the youngsters. But it kills the bullpen and team morale to have minor-league starters go 3-4 innings and get shelled. Shields, Gallardo, Collmenter, whoever!!!
Agreed. There are so many affordable starting pitchers available the Tigers should have no problem putting a rotation together. Other names like Bartolo Colon, Miguel Gonzalez and Chris Tillman. Nick Tepesch might be pretty bad but he is already pitching in Independant Ball. There are also quite a few veterans on other rosters stuck in AAA. Seems like most teams will cut them loose if they have an opportunity to start on another team. They could also switch to an opener approach with a start or two a week. They have plenty of arms in AAA to get a shuttle going.
what about Josh Collmenter? I know he hasnt started in the US in a while, but he looked decent in the ABL last season.
And, he’s from nearby Homer, Mich.
B I G S E X Y
I’m not sure why we don’t give Burrows a shot. Throw him into the fire and see how he fairs.
He’s injured. Al Avila said it might take a while. Funkhouser should be ready sooner, and I’d be more willing to stick him in the rotation than the prized three.
We all knew this was bridge year to 2020 & getting another top 10 pick in June of 2020 is necessary. The pitchers are coming but I am still wondering about the position players. SS 2B CF RF all in play the next two years. Tigers need to draft bats bats bats. Too bad they won’t consider moving in the fences because the better hitters tend to have defensive issues. Boston can hide them in Fenway but in Comerica, if you can’t run, you are done. Need gap hitters who can run so stop drafting big power bats unless they play 1b or 3b!
I like Willi Castro at short, Kody Clemens eventually at 2B although he is having a down year. Daz Cameron and eventually Parker Meadows in the outfield. Isaac Paredes is a hitter, currently at short, but being auditioned at 3B. I can see him in the outfield or 1B. Add a college bat, or two or three, in this year’s draft. Speed, defense and the ability to get on base can win everywhere, but especially at Comerica Park. That and starting pitching is the direction the Tigers are going in.
The Tigers have Matt Boyd, Spencer Turnbull and Dan Norris (finally). They can find a 4th starter and use multiple temporary 5th starters such as Faedo, Manning and Mize. (Like the 1970s O’s). However, they also need to simultaneously fix their OF defense, especially CF. Otherwise, no pitcher will have good results. .
JaCoby Jones was one of the best CF (defensively ) in the league last year. If only he could hit they would be fine there.
It is the corners that are defensive liabilities…
Fix their OF defense, especially CF? Corner defense needs improvement; CF defense is among the best in the game, but Jones needs to get on base
This will be a chance to get some mlb experience and eyeballs on guys like Funky and Burrows and maybe Soto, not a reason tonspend money on Shields or an utter nightmare like Gallardo.
CF defense is great between Jones being one of the very best and Derek Hill finally making just a litttle progress in thr minors. Stewart is what he is and Nick will be gone in 75 days. Get Stewart a good rookie year and let Rodriguez and Goodrum handle RF and UT duties. Soon enough the big arms will come in 2020 and 21, with Rogers at C and Daz Cameron in an OF spot, Castro or Wenceel Perez for SS and Paredes at 2b or 3b, shifting Candelario to 1b. Still have a top pick in June and likely next year to get a top bat and finally cap space after 2020 to add a veteran masher to anchor the lineup
Yeesh. Can we jump to 2020 already? This is going to go downhill in a hurry
I was trying to get MLBTR to do a draft prediction. I’m afraid the Tigers might choose a pitcher with the number 5 pick. LHP Lodolo has been very good lately and we all know how much the Tigers like drafting pitchers. You always want the best player available, but it would be nice to see the Tigers have some hitters coming up.
Tanking…..
Last word was its going to be Riley Greene unless Andrew Vaughn slips to 5.
I like Greene, but I think he’ll be gone. Vaughn is one of those big power right handed 1B with no other skills. I’d rather have the top pitcher.