3:12PM: Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said that Fulmer would indeed be taking Teheran’s rotation spot, and that it seems like Teheran will miss significant time on the injured list. (MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery was among those to report the news.)
11:51AM: The Tigers announced that righty Julio Teheran has been placed on the 10-day IL (retroactive to April 7) with a right shoulder strain. Right-hander Alex Lange has been called up from the team’s taxi squad and is set to make his first Major League appearance.
Teheran was scheduled to start last night’s game against the Indians but developed tightness in his right triceps while warming up in the bullpen during the top of the first inning, leading to a very late scratch. With Teheran’s injury now defined as a shoulder strain, it isn’t a good sign for a pitcher who has been very durable over his 11 Major League seasons.
After a rough 2020 with the Angels, Teheran signed a minor league deal with Detroit that became guaranteed (at a $3MM salary) once the Tigers added the veteran right-hander to their Opening Day roster. His first start on April 3 was a successful one, as Teheran tossed five innings of one-run ball and picked up the win in the Tigers’ 5-2 victory over Cleveland.
Michael Fulmer now seems like the logical candidate to take Teheran’s spot in the rotation. The 2016 AL Rookie Of The Year began the season as something of a swingman reliever as Fulmer continues to try and rebuild his career after multiple arm injuries. Tommy John surgery shelved Fulmer for all of 2019, and he posted an 8.78 ERA over 27 2/3 innings in 2020.
Lange has spent much of his minor league career as a starter, but the Tigers have deployed him as a reliever since acquiring him from the Cubs as part of the Nick Castellanos trade in July 2019. Lange was selected 30th overall by the Cubs in the 2017 draft, and the 25-year-old righty has a 4.54 ERA over 232 minor league innings. He’ll be making the jump to the big leagues without any Triple-A experience, though Lange did pitch at Detroit’s alternate training site last season in lieu of any minor league ball. MLB Pipeline ranks Lange 29th in their list of the Tigers’ top-30 prospects, with a couple of plus pitches — a 60-grade curveball, and a 55-grade fastball that hit the 97mph plateau this year at Spring Training.
Mr. Teheran – a former Braves legend and ace by default. He is surely missed.
Dang. Good for Sox but injuries always bad for baseball, get better soon.
What do the Sox, Red or White, have to do with Teheran or Lange?
The worse the Tigers pitching is, the better the Sox are. Pretty self evident
I’ve watched Teheran since he came up with the Braves and have always cheered him along. This really sucks for him because of how important his durability is to his value. I really hope for him that this doesn’t lead to shoulder surgery.
I’ve watched Avila sign FA pitchers since DD was fired. The only thing consistent is that they spend a lot of time, if not the entire contract, on the disabled list. I really hope this eventually lead to Avila getting the boot.
Red flag was when such a durable young pitcher could only land a 1 year deal with Angels last season, and then performed poorly. Reminds me of Bumgardner and Felix Hernandez. Goo Angels!
I think you are onto something. We can refer to all ex Angel pitchers that they wasted money on as goo-Angels.
Teheran = goo-Angel
Harvey = goo-Angel
Trevor Cahill – Goo Angel.
Ricky Nolasco = Goo-Angel
Joe Blanton = Goo-Angel
Kent Bottenfield – Goo Angel
BTW I am an Angels fan… go Angels!
Heart breaking to say such a thing about our team but true. Let’s add Trevor Cahill, Tim Lincecum, Joe Blanton and so on for the free agent singings. Hopefully Quintana stays off the list. Trades have not gone so hot as well. Ricky Nolasco, Hector Santiago gave us some innings. The real list Angel fans talk about is all the pitchers that have landed on the IL. Go Angels!!
We gotta laugh so we don’t cry. Good season so far, go Angels!
I know he is hurt this year, but if we need a good cry we traded Mike Clevenger for side armed Vinnie Pestano for a playoff push. Only to give us a few innings the following season before being out of baseball.. also Quintana got beat up pretty good again. Goo Angels!
Fulmer had a rough Spring as a starter and bad 2020. However, he looked damn good last night, mid 90s fastball with location, late-breaking slider, and changeup. He looked like the Fulmer of old and gave four solid innings even though he isn’t stretched out. Put him back in the rotation, possibly with a 1-2 inning opener.
I would disagree with the notion that Fulmer is primed to take Teheran’s rotation spot. Turnbull has completed his COVID time and is at the alternate site right now. He is likely near ready and probably is the one that slides into the rotation.
Turnbull was expected to be the 6th starter to ease the work load, so expect both.