The Tigers announced that they have avoided arbitration with righty Michael Fulmer. He’ll earn $2.8MM, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com tweets.
It’s no surprise to see this agreement at that price point. Fulmer matches the $2.8MM that MLBTR and Matt Swartz projected. Not coincidentally, it’s also the same amount he earned in a 2019 season in which he did not play.
Fulmer, 26, sat out the just-completed campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March. He’s rehabbing back from the procedure at present, with hopes he’ll be available to return by the middle of the 2020 campaign. In the most optimistic scenario, perhaps there’s even a chance he could emerge as a mid-season trade chip for the rebuilding Detroit organization.
Since he was a Super Two qualifier last year, Fulmer still has three seasons of control remaining. There’s plenty of time yet for the Tigers to cash in via trade or perhaps ink Fulmer to a long-term deal — if he can return to health and get back on track.
Fulmer, who initially landed in Detroit in the Yoenis Cespedes trade of the summer of 2015, broke out in his debut season the following year. After picking up Rookie of the Year honors, he took a step back but was still quite effective in his sophomore campaign.
Even as the Tigers spurned trade interest, cracks were forming. Fulmer underwent a procedure on his ulnar nerve late in 2017. He was cleared of structural damage but wasn’t the same in 2018. His groundball rate dropped and his home run rate rose; he ultimately threw just 132 1/3 innings of 4.69 ERA ball on the year. Fulmer required meniscus surgery late in the season. Before he could get started in earnest on a turnaround effort, he was diagnosed with the ligament tear that would require Tommy John surgery.
Honestly, why would teams not try and get Michael Fulmer instead of getting Boyd. Boyd is overrated imo. Michael Fulmer is a reliable arm
Wait a sec…did you just say the guy who didn’t pitch at all last year and missed time in the previous 2 seasons before that and had multiple surgeries is reliable?
I meant he puts up reliable numbers when he is healthy
Yeah that 4.69:ERA in 2018:was stellar.
Not like Boyd’s best seasons have been much better than Fulmer’s worst.
@cards04 Sir what are you are talking about
Here’s a news flash. Both su*k and are just rotation fillers.
I certainly am glad that I don’t depend on cards04 for a good, reliable, well researched opinion! However, maybe he should share that opinion with the Cardinals, so the Tigers can fleece them for what they can get! Fulmer likely won’t be ready by July at the very earliest and could miss another season. He also has an issue with his knee to deal with!
I wouldn’t call the pitcher you described reliable, I would call him unreliable due to injury but words can mean so many other words
How is Fullmer a “reliable” anything?
He’s a reliable plumber…
Agreed, while they’re at it, they should trade for Miggy too. He’s an annual triple crown threat.
You sir have sarcasm down. I like it.
The tommy John surgery is not very easy to recover from
Why would teams want to trade for either of them is the question. If I HAD to choose, I’d at least want the one that could pitch though.
Boyd is better and you know it. Norris is good too. Tigers will win more games than White Sox’s
Uh, nope.
I thought the Tigers did well in that trade. Injury after injury says otherwise.
Still, nearly $3 million to rehab is a good gig.
They were going to lose Cespedes after the season anyway and Fulmer was one of the reasons they stayed in contention as long as they did in 2016. Plus Fulmer still has 3 more years to get back on track and rebuild some value.
All good points. In 16 this looked like one of those trades we look at as being lopsided.
Think it worked out well for both teams. Mets’ rotation was crowded at the time and they probably don’t win the pennant without Cespedes.
Completely disagree. That’s like saying the Torres for Chapman trade was a bad trade for Chicago. Without Chapman, they were not winning a World Series. As for the Mets, they were not going to the World Series without Cespedes. If anything, it was a win-win trade for both teams.
Not sure the Cubs don’t still win the WS without Chapman. They definitely would have at least made it to the WS and he almost blew game 7 for them but Ben Zobrist bailed him out.