10:50pm: Tigers manager A.J. Hinch tells reporters in his postgame session that Boyd felt something abnormal in his triceps during the third inning (Twitter link via Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic). They’ll know more following an additional wave of tests tomorrow, but Hinch suggested a cautious approach is likely to be taken.
9:25pm: Tigers lefty Matthew Boyd is being evaluated after exiting tonight’s start during the third inning with what the team is terming “left arm discomfort,” per a club announcement. Boyd signaled into the dugout for a trainer to come out after 2 1/3 innings of work against the Royals tonight (video link).
While the hope is that he’ll avoid any notable injury, the departure of such an obvious trade candidate this time of year is plenty notable. Boyd has pitched quite well thus far in 2021, bouncing back from an awful 2020 season to post a 3.44 ERA through his first 70 2/3 innings. His 19.6 percent strikeout rate is his lowest since 2017, but Boyd’s 6.4 percent walk rate is also the second-best mark of his career (narrowly trailing a 6.3 percent mark from 2019).
Boyd, 30, was a popular target on the trade market a couple years back, but the Tigers had more than three years of control over him at that point and opted to hold on with the hope of extracting a better offer at some point down the road. Unfortunately, Boyd took a step back in 2019 and then had the worst year of his career in 2020, so that opportunity has yet to present itself.
At this point, the Tigers control Boyd for just one more year after the current season, making him perhaps one of the likeliest players in all of baseball to be dealt — assuming he’s healthy. He’s earning a reasonable $6.5MM salary in 2021 and has been more effective than ever before against right-handed opponents, in part due to an increase in the use of a changeup that has generally befuddled opposite-handed opponents.
Opposing hitters are batting just .224/.246/.343 in the 69 plate appearances Boyd has finished off with a changeup, and the pitch itself has generated a 29 percent whiff rate, per Statcast. Entering play tonight, Boyd had thrown just two changeups to lefties all season but 244 to right-handers; he threw just 187 changeups in a similar workload last season and only 182 over the course of 32 starts in 2019.
Even if the discomfort proves minor enough that Boyd doesn’t miss an outing, his performance and health from this point forth will obviously be all the more important to monitor for those who closely follow the trade market. There’s still a bit more than six weeks to go until the July 30 deadline, so if Boyd shakes off the current ailment and continues at his previous pace in the weeks leading up to the deadline, this will be a quickly forgotten blip on the radar. If he requires a lengthy absence or sees an immediate dip in his results in the coming weeks, there will be obvious implications for the Tigers that extend well beyond their 2021 win-loss record.
I wonder if Avila kicks himself for not trading Boyd when he actually had trade value…
I keep asking what this tremendous offer was that Avila turned down, but no answer is ever forthcoming.
The Tigers were reportedly seeking a deal similar to what the White Sox got for Jose Quintana. One NL executive called the Tigers demand “nearly comical” indicating the Tigers grossly overvalued Boyd’s abilities far more than the other 29 teams
What Avila was offered may have been just as comical. We are not talking Betts or DeGrom here. A better comparison maybe Doug Fister, who the Tigers pilfered from the Mariners. He was pitching well, but did not have a history of results, or a winning record. The Tigers got him for a forgettable collection including Ramon Santiago. And that was the best offer Seattle got.
Actually, don’t know how I forgot Furbush. Not often you get a Fister for Furbush trade!
Why are you asking that, unless you’re just building strawmen? The OP said nothing about any tremendous offer, they simply stated a wonder over Avila’s likely remorse for not moving Boyd any of the times when he had value.
Just because no one knows exactly what was offered, doesn’t mean there weren’t good offers out there. No one knew what the Betts offers were, but I assumed they were substantial. No one knows what the offers might be for DeGrom, for example, but you can bet that they are substantial.
Take a look at Steve Adams reply below. The underlying stats support the idea that the offers were probably significant. The issue is more about why a rebuilding team would hold onto its best trade chip. When you are a 47-win team, you should really trade anyone with value.
RIP he was so young
Oh oh…..paging Dr Jobe…..paging Dr Jobe
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
So just today…. Boyd, Pineda, Bieber, glasnow all down. We think innings from last year is a problem yet?
Of course the short season last year contributes, but what was your suggestion to prevent it? The players weren’t going to go without a paycheck.
Is there anyone who didn’t think it would be an issue?
The Man Who Couldn’t be Traded coming to a movie theatre near you.
Wanted to see his spin rates. Lord.
Anyway.
They’re above average for his 4 seamer & curve but nothing outlandish. Seems like he has what should be a good curveball but doesn’t use it much, from what I saw too.
Huh.
Kind of an old school pitch mix. Throws a little more offspeed (curve, slider, & that change up) than he does FB (4 & 2 seam).
I know in today’s game guys are paring down their repertoire’s if anything. Seems like a guy like Boyd – however – would really benefit from adding a cut FB to his pitches in order to further playoff his 4 seam, change up mix especially to righties. Sabathia added a couple years to his career doing that.
Man.
Got carried away over at savant.
Hope he’s not hurt, man. Seems like a guy who could be a pretty good pitcher when/if he puts it all together.
Hope the dude heals well.
I struggle to imagine too many teams heavily buying in on the small sample size this year, though.
Tigers running out of starting pitchers and Mize/Skubal will have reduced innings in the second half, going to be a real problem.
What was the attraction to this guy a couple years back? He’s never had an ERA or FIP below 4.32 until this year, never struck out batters at an elite level nor been stingy with walks and HR.
He’s a lefty starter. But what good is that when he still gives up runs?
At this point in 2019, Boyd had a 3.08 ERA, 2.98 FIP, 2.97 xFIP and 30.5 percent strikeout rate. He obviously unraveled some in the weeks leading up to the deadline, but he had the look of a breakout starter through the first third of his season.
That, plus the Tigers’ obvious rebuilding status and what was then three and a half years of team control, made him a widely speculated trade candidate and someone that other clubs obviously had a high level of interest in.
He’s had other strong stretches as well — this year included. Consistency obviously hasn’t been there, however.
Tigers have some real pitching issues right now. They had a bullpen day on Sunday, then Boyd exited early. Lange followed a few innings later. They used 9 pitchers to get thru the game. A few days ago, they used 2 position players as pitchers. Next up are two rookies (Mize and Skubal) who they are trying to limit their workload with a bullpen that is burned out, shorthanded, with no day off this week.
He won the Candelario trade, other than that he’s lost badly.
He stole Willi Castro
I like Baddoo a lot. He almost literally stole him. I know he regressed, but he’s been solid over the last month or so. Perfect in stolen base attempts. And when Baddoo and Hill played together, it was an outfield as good as anyone’s.
Why pay him $6.5M for ’21 when he had a horrible ’20? He has a 37-60 record with a 4.94 ERA. Dumb
LOL @ any clown placing value on W-L record.
Why would you not look at wins/losses for a starting pitcher. Relievers are pretty random. Give me 4 Starting pitchers who win 15+ each, and my team is in the playoffs.
If you go with the often mentioned $ 8m/WAR-calculation, Boyd has already clearly outperformed this salary (regardless of bWAR or fWAR, by the way). So please welcome another nominee for our Clueless Comment Contest!
Gruß,
BSHH
You took a bad comment and made it worse. All you had to say was every player with a pulse receives a pay raise in arbitration. Yes you can receive a pay cut but it is rare. Simple, straight-forward, concise.
What they aren’t telling you is that Wins and Losses are very misleading because you can get wins, losses and no decision all and not deserve the outcome. Examples include:
* Giving up a ton of runs but being blessed with even more run support to get you wins.
* Pitching extremely well, but having no run support whatsoever, which results in no decisions or losses.
* Pitching very well, but a terrible defense that results in unearned runs and subsequent losses.
* Pitching well and leaving with a lead and watching the bullpen blow it resulting in no decisions.
* Coming in trailing and being lucky because the offense scores in the next half inning.
* Blowing a lead and getting a win (or not getting a loss) because the offense bailed you out.
If you want some really easy statistics to use, use WHIP (walks + hits divided by innings pitched) and quality starts. The closer quality starts are to games started will tell you a lot about how often he goes out and pitches effectively.
Another year, another missed opportunity for the Tigers to cash in on Boyd’s dwindling value.
What sinks faster? A 2-ton boulder in water or Boyd’s trade value right when he’s getting close to being probably dealt every year?
Detroit is going to have to halt those trade talks for now..
Tyler Glasnow left his start last night too…but nothing? He is the ace of the best team in mlb…but nothing? Boyd is a trade candidate, is that why? Inconsistency here.
This is Trade Rumors, not Injury Report, though this year its mostly been injuries, so I understand the confusion.
Trips to the IL result in roster moves.
He’s just getting ready to become a MET, hitting the IL early !!
Would rather see a Boyd extension than trade.