Kenta Maeda made his return to the Tigers rotation this evening. Detroit reinstated the veteran right-hander from the 15-day injured list, optioning Matt Manning to Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding move. Maeda took the ball against the Blue Jays, working five scoreless innings.
Maeda was down for the minimal two weeks after battling an illness. Signed to a two-year free agent deal last offseason, he has struggled to a 5.80 ERA over his first eight starts. His 15.8% strikeout rate is well down from the 27.3% mark he managed during his final season with the Twins. He has also surrendered nine homers over 35 2/3 innings, a lofty 2.27 longballs per nine. Most of the damage has been concentrated over three bad starts. Maeda has given up at least six runs in a trio of outings and no more than three runs in his other five starts.
Despite Maeda’s inconsistency, Detroit has gotten generally solid rotation work. Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson and Jack Flaherty have been anywhere from solid to excellent. Casey Mize has a more pedestrian 4.57 ERA through nine outings. Manning has been the clear #6 option on the depth chart, starting five games around a trio of stints in the minors. He has only managed a 4.88 ERA over five MLB appearances but has a 3.79 mark with a huge 31.6% strikeout rate in 19 Triple-A innings.
While Maeda’s return is the bigger injury news for the Tigers, they did lose a couple depth players this week. The team informed reporters (including Evan Woodbery of MLive) that minor league reliever Blair Calvo and outfielder TJ Hopkins are out for the season. Both players recently underwent surgery to repair labrum tears in their right shoulders.
Calvo and Hopkins each made their big league debuts in 2023, though both players have subsequently been outrighted from the 40-man roster. Calvo made one MLB appearance for the Rockies and had only pitched twice for Detroit’s Double-A affiliate. Hopkins, whom the Tigers claimed off waivers from the Giants in February, appeared in 25 big league contests for the Reds last year. He’d been hitting .190/.326/.329 in Double-A.
The Tigers also announced some off-field news this afternoon. Detroit promoted Ryan Garko from vice president of player development to assistant general manager. The former big league first baseman has worked with the Tigers’ farm system since he was hired in September 2021. He joins Sam Menzin, Jay Sartori and Rob Metzler as assistant GMs. They’re behind baseball operations president Scott Harris and first-year general manager Jeff Greenberg in the front office hierarchy.
Going 5 scoreless innings against a weak offense isn’t that impressive. Toronto is built to play defense not offense.
5 scoreless against any team is difficult. Thats why most pitchers don’t do it.
@YouHaveNoGoodCarIdeas
Shane Bieber pitched 12 scoreless innings and Daniel Lynch pitched 5 scoreless innings. Haven’t given up a run this season (despite being injured).
Plenty of other pitchers who have done it before. Even today, Lugo pitched 6 scoreless innings. Gore, on the Nationals also pitched 6 scoreless innings. Doesn’t seem to be that difficult.
So that means it’s easy to do?
I bet there are significantly more pitchers that haven’t thrown 5 scoreless vs those that have.
Especially in one game.
Anecdotal evidence doesn’t prove much.
It’s happening every single day. Ridiculous that you think it’s hard for MLB pitchers to do this.
You’re obviously trolling. I admit you had me going for a bit. Smell ya.
Ridiculous you think that it happening once or twice every day when there’s up to 15 games a day makes it easy. Failing at something 90% of the time meets the criteria for being difficult. Chill on the attacks on people making easily validated points.
@YouHaveNoGoodCarIdeas
If providing actual data to support my claim is trolling, I guess you won’t accept anything other than your opinion.
So, then you agree that it’s easy, as the data suggests. And I didn’t attack anyone unless you think presenting data is attacking.
You’ll notice no one gave you a thumbs up for your comments. That usually means they think you are wrong. FYI
@Hotdog 2
Why would that matter?
Gore & Lugo both gave up runs in the 1st inning….. Only 3 out of 28 starting pitchers went 5 innings w/o giving up a run
Unless your data is incorrect. Gore & Lugo gave up 1st inning runs
If it’s so easy to do why aren’t there any starting pitchers with 0.00 ERA? Why aren’t there with any 1.00 or lower ERAs?
Please provide hard data. How many times has 6+ IP with 0 ER happened this season? What percentage is that of all starts across the MLB?
It looks like you’re one of those morons, Colavito!
Don’t get Colavito the narcissistic angry old man started 😉 He’ll tell you how great he is at fantasy baseball and how he ran a small country once or something like that.
@hitztheball
They still went 6 innings scoreless.
@Colavito
Most baseball fans don’t understand the game itself. They’re focused on whether their team won last night. That’s how deep it goes for them.
@myaccount2
Because MLB has watered-down the talent level.
The Tigers offense routinely produces 6 scoreless innings every game.
Gore invented the internet….
Of qualified SP, only seven have an ERA under 2.00. Of those seven, only one has an ERA below 1.50, meaning only one pitcher averages better than 6 IP and 1 ER or less per start.
I don’t think this is an issue of watered down talent.
Yes, I will choose to listen to him because he’s obviously smarter than you lol
You don’t need glasses to look at game logs and interpret statistics, you need a brain… which you must not have.
Colavito…you are one of the most arrogant people on here and if you want to talk about things kids shouldn’t read go look at your own posts with all the names you call everyone on here. Go away.
Doesn’t matter who’s in the front office or on the mound since as long as the Tigers keep failing to hit, they won’t win anything. Can’t hit, can’t win. I’ll be surprised if the current version of this team wins 70 games as they’re pretty much unwatchable with their “Punch & Judy” approach to offense.
MAKE A TRADE FOR A HITTER.
SEND DOWN TORKBUST
TRADE JAVY FOR A GUY WITH A BAD CONTRACT
Who do you think they should target for a trade? My wish list is a young SS (i.e. McLain or Arroyo from Cincy), an impact bat and a young catcher (i.e. Kevin Parada). They have tons of pitching to trade at all levels.
Tork had a hot streak recently but went cold again. I’m not sure what he would figure out in the minors. Maybe a change of scenery trade could work for another young player or target a long term replacement like Alonso by trading Tork with pitching? More likely I think they will just let him work through it and play Canha at 1B a bit more.
Who do you think they should look at trying to trade Javy for? A bloated pitching contract like Corbin or another bad contract on offense like Bryant. Not that Wash or Col would be into that but those are just two bad contracts that popped into my head.
They’ve got very little to trade. What they have does not compare favorably to other available options on the market.
I think the manager should be concerned about improving the stats of potential trade pieces. I say that every year. It never happens.
It’s like a whammy. Bad luck again.
They have tons of pitching at all levels.
Tork with another solid 0 for 3 last nite ..reached on a walk which is about the only way he gets on base anymore, Hinch, apparently loves the guy and so it goes.
Did your sock puppet that you named Tork tell you that?
Javy is untradeable. When the DFA comes, he will get to sign with any team he wants too.
STYMEEDONE speaks, nobody listens. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Good to see Maeda start back on a positive note.
Time to add more offence via trade or promotion. Malloy hits. Promote him and let him DH. Play Canha more at 1B if Tork keeps up his cold streaks. Baez to the bench and give Kreidler and Leonard a chance as soon as they get back. If they don’t work out bite the bullet and go trade for a good young shortstop. The only other SS prospects besides Leonard in the system are too far off: McGonigle will end up at 2B; Graham is still iffy.
Maeda looked good; just needs to keep hitting his spots and I wouldn’t worry too much about his starts. I really do feel bad for Reese Olson; kid REALLY deserves a dub so hoping the lineup can do something to actually help him out… for once! Cheers Bummer
Olson has pitched extremely well but they are producing few runs in his starts. Shades of Jacob DeGrom the year he won the Cy and barely got to double digit wins. He’s a keeper. Harris and Greenberg need to go get another big bat so the pitchers efforts are rewarded.
Right because Baez was always so great…at striking out. Your argument makes no sense about Canha…he did come to Detroit and made comment that he was happy to be there. Why would they need JD Martinez anyway? Canha, Tork, Carpenter, Greene were all supposed to get at bats at DH, the only spot JD can play. Malloy is the same guy but younger and cheaper.
Which good bats came here and died the last four years? Don’t just run your mouth about things Colavito, back it up with examples. “Because I say so” isn’t an argument, its just you showing what a narcissist you are.
Why don’t you go cheer for whoever is in first place then you can be happy and stop annoying everyone else with your insulting BS. Colavito played for Cleveland, let them be your favorite team.
Before Baez came to Detroit, he averaged 19 homers a year and OPS+ of 104 and had 2 seasons of 30+ homers. It’s shocking a players drops so quickly at age 29. He should be in his prime.
And a million SO’s. He’s never been far from falling off a cliff.
It’s huffing gas, not paint.
If lead paint is what you are huffing that explains things. Nero lost his mind from lead poisoning but he just fiddled while the city burned. You run around insulting everyone and spouting Hinch conspiracy theories and now you’re talking about spam? Are you just hangry and need something to eat? We’ll chip in and get you a Snickers.
I’m picturing you like George Costanza’s dad from Seinfeld. You don’t actually speak you just yell. Was your previous post about Coolbaugh yelling at Baez you trying to tell us you are actually Scott Coolbaugh? It’s okay Scott you’ll get another job with the Tigers one day (no you won’t). The Tigers won today, cheer up.
Reese got his first win!
So you want worse defense @SS? Got it.
Graham is not going to hit enough to get out of the minors.
Kreidler is better defensively than Baez, but I’m not a Kreidler fan and don’t see him as more than a Utility IF. Baez’s defense hasn’t been great this year. Leonard has been playing OF as well, which is well covered, so why not give him a shot. He is exciting on offense and that’s what they need. They gave Perez a shot in CF with worries about his defense and look how that worked out. Or…go trade for a good young SS so we have a clear replacement.
Kreidler looks like he can handle the position better than McKinstry. He has speed, takes walks, and hits with some power. What he can’t seem to do is stay healthy. Its hard to envision Kreidler as the starter when he is seldom able to play.
Kreidler is still looking for his first hit of 2024.
You can’t seem to keep mentally healthy STYMEEDONE! It’s hard to take you seriously when you’re seldom able to make a lucid comment.
You can do better than that Colavito. At least keep me entertained with your creative insults.
In other off field.news…they didn’t hire…..the Superfife. And we’re only 10 games out of first…so obviously ….promotions are in order because that’s how we celebrate around here…..
I mean, we could.have been 11 games out….. so there is reason to be happy.
Could a hired the Superfife
Coulda.had a V-8.
That’s a lot of titles for 10 games back…..looks like results matter
….
I have no idea… what you’re saying.. try using decent grammar… without making up supergoof… words… in your next post.
How is it crazy? He was inconsequential to the team for years before his contract ended. Great guy and hall of famer, but contributed nothing in recent seasons. I’d be worried if they weren’t able to move on.
Contributed nothing? As bad as Miggy was, he was still one of the better hitters on the team. Now he’s gone and they replaced him with a 35 year old free agent.
Melchez…you mean Canha who has been one of their best hitters and is only signed for a year? Not sure how that was a bad signing. Miggy was not one of their best hitters the last couple years, but he was sure a great hitter over the course of his Tigers career.
P.S. good call on your part on Wenceel Perez in Spring training. He’s been awesome.
I never said Canha was a bad player… I was mad because this is a young team… signing a guy at the end of his career does nothing for this teams future. They should have signed a younger player building for the future… I wanted Chapman for 3B. Gold glove 3B with some power.
Thanks… I liked Perez a few years back. Bless You Boys got on me because I thought Wenceel should be higher on the prospect chart. I really liked him coming up.
Watch out for Gage Workman. He has lowered his K rate from 40% to 24%. Increased his walk rate to 12%. Has speed and some power and plays a solid SS/3B. He has finally put it together. Just needs to get that average up some and he will be there.
Who would you rather have had at DH the last couple years? Miggy had an OPS+ of 88 the last 3 years. There was no one on those teams that would have taken AB’s away from Miggy.
I like Workman too. He’s just had that massive hole in his swing unfortunately. I think the Canha signing was partly because they wanted Malloy to get more time in AAA.
I was not a fan of signing Chapman, just because I don’t see a lengthy contract aging well with him. The contract he did sign would have been affordable but I wonder if the Tigers would have had to overpay. Their 3B combo (Urshela, Vierling, Ibanez) has been decent so far and Urshela at 1.5 mil was a steal.
As much as I would like to see a big trade I doubt it happens. I expect they will bring up more young guys to test drive through the year (Malloy, Leonard) and let them play if they produce (Perez) or ship them back if they dont (Meadows).
Baez kills me.
Carpenter
Yeah, unfortunately Baez pretty much kills EVERYONE who is unfortunate enough to have to watch him.
Unfortunately Workman has been really bad this month. I’ve been checking his numbers daily. That’s how bad Detroit’s SS situation is.
Very nice to see Colt heat up though.
With Jung and Keith waiting for opportunities this year, Chapman was not a fit on anything but a one year. Canha will do what Canha does. Good eye at the plate, some power, but not a slugger, decent glove but not award winning, won’t approach the Mendoza line, but won’t hit .300, either. He’s just a complimentary piece. They need a RH power bat to build forward with.
Melchez- Cabrera had 3 straight seasons of sub-95 OPS+ (95, 86, 80) performances. He contributed basically nothing, just as Chad suggested. Maybe he was still one of the better hitters on the team (which says more about Detroit’s offense as a whole), but it wasn’t like he was good–or even close to league average–the last two years.
Canha was not a Free Agent signing, Harris traded for him. Not a big loss in that trade either.
Myaccount, I never said he was good… Cabrera was still better than many players the Tigers were running out there. Who would you have rather had at DH? Harold Castro? Reyes? They have stunk for years and continue to stink.
Stymee… I’d rather have a guy at 3B that I know is a gold glover with power. Let Jung and Keith play 2B or LF or 1B or whatever.
Vierling and Gio have done well at 3B this year. I mean, compared to Maton last year, anything would look good.
Chapman .245/ .314/ ..434 118 OPS+ 8 homers excellent defense at 3B.
If Tork could hit, that would have made a solid 3-4-5-6 for a few years with Greene-Tork-Carpenter-Chapman… but that ship has sailed.
I wonder if Chapman would have e upped the price significantly to play in Detroit though. He sent right back to the Bay area with that deal. Add up Vierling, Urshela and Ibanez’s contributions at 3B this year. I expect it has been pretty decent and all 3 combined don’t cost what Chapman did.
Vierling, Urshela and Ibanez are not as good as Chapman. They are better than Maton, but no way near Chapman level.
It cost $ to put major league players on the field. I’m sorry, but that’s reality. Sure, you can have a couple 1st and second year guys that might play decently, but you need those big money players to compete.
Ibagree you need a good mix. The right ones though. Given Chapman’s ask and meh results last year I don’t think he was worth it and the decent patchwork quilt they put together with Ibanez, Urshela and Vierling is preferable to let Jung have a shot or go after Bregman as a FA. If they got Chapman on the same deal as SF did I wouldn’t have complained though.
I’d love it if they approached TB about Arozarena and Paredes. TB always seems to be looking to shed payroll and look for diamonds in the rough. Arozarena is having a bad year so they might get a discount on him. He’s dynamic and the kind of player I had hoped Baddoo would turn into. Paredes can flat out hit.
Another wonderful gem from STYMEEDONE! Stupid stuff!
Are you Mister T? He used to call everyone “fool” and get mad all the time.
Making fun of people with birth deformities, that’s a new low from you. Keep it clean dude.
What does that even mean? Miggy retired, the game doesn’t just stop, they have to fill out a lineup everyday. it’s not like your spouse died and you’re banging someone new the next day…
I remember when Garko came up with the Indians and looked like he might be a decent piece in the lineup, that didn’t last long. Hopefully this works out better
Crazy how you are the same post over and over.
How many Assistant General Managers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Find this and more answers in my new book, “At the Trough”, where we explain the modern dynamics of climbing the corporate ladder through a series of successes and the buddy, buddy system, a place where results really matter……
10 games down…of course we’re handing out promotions!
Blue Jays made Maeda look like Denton Young last night.
The team has too much invested in Greene, Torkslson, Keith and Carpenter to not play them. Carpenter should be given everyday ABs.
Carp has actually graded well defensively in the OF this year which is another huge positive.
You have too much invested in yourself STYMEEDONE, no more posting for you!
IMHO, the Tigers MLB staff has the hitters completely confused. Not suggesting that they have a ton of quality hitters, though ot seems everyone has generally regressed. Only Wenceel and Colt seem to have their head on straight. Fire all of the hitting coaches as a first step. Promote the AAA hitting coach for now. Throw a ton of cash at Carpenter’s provate hitting coach and have him work with the team. Getting tired of the excuses from Hinch and the inactivity from Mr. Harris. Bundle up some trades and get some fresh blood in the system.
You left out Greene, Carp, Canha, Vierling and Ibanez who are hitting decent to good.
Greene has regressed. Canha, Carp, Ibanez and Matt are playing at their respective talent levels. Point was that I do not see any marked improvements in these guys. Doesn’t seem like the hitting coaching has done anything for the team.
Greene and Canha are below average hitters.
Really? How do you figure that one Garry?
Okay. It’s a wild conspiracy theory.
It’s rebuild 5.0
Either extend Flaherty or trade him now.
Trade Canha, Ibanez, Urshela, Lange, Vest, Baddoo, Manning.
Try and pry one of the catchers from the Dodgers… Feduccia or Rushing. I would prefer Feduccia… he is better defensively and is more of a contact hitter and he’s ready to come up now. Rushing has more power but is probably a couple years away. Team Feduccia up with Dingler and cut bait with Rogers and Kelly. Try and trade them… if not, send them to AAA.
Try and get Edwin Arroyo from the Reds. Switch hitting young SS. Should be ready in a couple years when Baez gets released.
Call up Jung for 3B
Have Malloy in LF, Greene in RF. Wenceel in CF with Carpenter as DH/4th OFer. Call up Meadows for backup OF/PR. Put him in positions to succeed.
Free agent targets… even if Jung and Keith are the real deal, I would look at
3B Chapman or 3B Bregman
just because they are gold glove 3B’s with a long history of being great. Veteran leadership on a very young team.
LHP Kikuchi… Tigers could use another lefty starter. Skubal, Olsen, Mize, Maeda and Kikuchi would make a solid rotation with Jobe waiting in the wings.
If they are out of it at the deadline then some of your trade ideas make sense. I’d prefer they try to keep Flaherty. That’s a ways off and does anyone, outside of Cleveland and KC, really believe the Guardians and Royals can keep up this pace with their current lineup?
Fedducia looks like a backup as does Dingler.I’m not sure they would be better than what they currently have at catcher. There is talk that Rushing could move to another position. For SS, cut or bench Baez sooner rather than later. I like Arroyo…I like McLain better though.
Hard no on Chapman but I like Bregman and they might be able to lure him in. That really depends in how Jung does if he gets called up which he should later this year.
Malloy is a DH and Carp has gotten good grades in the OF this year so swap them. Meadows may be back later this year as well…he might end up as a backup unless he has made some changes. Biggie and Leonard should have a chance for OF playing time as well.
Why do they need Kikuchi? By all accounts Jobe and Madden should be ready by next year.
Tigers have the 11th and 49th picks.
I would try and get the Brewers to deal their 34th pick… they picked it up in the Corbin Burnes deal. They might be willing to deal it for a little help down the stretch… bullpen arm maybe?
That’s 3 of the top 50 picks.
At 11, I would try and get Cam Caminiti, a LHP in high school. Tigers can develop pitching, I think a big strong lefty with baseball bloodlines would be a huge asset. He’s 17 years old and was one of the top potential picks in 2024. He might choose LSU, so it would take some $ to get him.
Time for McKinstry to go. Adds nothing to this team except for defensive flexibility. Would rather see a healthy Kreidler, even though he can’t hit either. Team has so many guys that could be traded without me missing them. Carp; Keith; Greene are keepers for now. Tork may be a bust, but I wouldn’t deal him just yet. Baddoo; Canha; Ibanez; Vierling; Vest; Lange; Englert could all be dealt. Shuffle it up. Aren’t going anywhere with the current construction.
The trade deadline is going to be interesting as it appears the division is a pipe dream with our hitting and the excellent play of both the Guardians and Royals. I think Canha, Flaherty, McKinstry, Vest, Chaffin and Lange will be gone. I would like to see Harris sign Flaherty to a deal but I think Flaherty will test the market and Canha is a player that contending teams try to add for the stretch run. Tork looks lost at the plate and I just don’t think you give up on him but he needs to drastically improve his approach at the plate or he will go down as a bust. I just hope that Harris somehow addresses the need for a middle of the order bat but that is not going to happen until the offseason. Another year of frustration for this Tiger fan.
One win streak is all it takes. Cle and KC will come crashing back to earth eventually.
Maybe Detroit will be buying, not selling.
Hinch should just hire you to scream incoherently at players. It’s your special talent.
That’s an insult worth the wait. Not sure why you are picturing me as a woman with my toenails painted. That’s just weird dude and kind of creepy.
2 game win streak!
Where are the WS predictions?
Is the Tigers’ MiLB system really improving? What’s with all the Assistant GMs? They don’t have it in them to trade Javier Baez.
Come trade deadline, Flaherty, Maeda, Chafin and Urshella will be traded.
Doesn’t Arizona have Christian Walker at 1B? They do have some interesting young hitters in the minors that could be a fit with the Tigers.