The Tigers announced that they have placed right-hander Jackson Jobe on the 15-day injured list due to a grade 1 flexor strain in his right elbow. Righty Dylan Smith was selected to take his place on the roster, a move that was previously reported. Righty Alex Cobb was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Smith.
The news on Jobe doesn’t completely come out of nowhere. After Wednesday’s game, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press noted that Jobe’s velocity was down a bit. Jobe wasn’t in the clubhouse to talk to reporters after the game and the Tigers even closed the clubhouse while reporters were waiting to speak to him within an hour of the game ending, which Petzold noted was a violation of MLB club and media regulations. The club hasn’t provided a timeline for how much time they expect Jobe to miss, though it’s always at least somewhat concerning when a pitcher’s throwing elbow is injured.
Either way, this IL stint interrupts his first extended look in the big leagues. A former third overall pick and one of the top prospects in baseball, he hasn’t quite hit his stride in the majors yet. He made a brief debut late last year and earned a rotation job here in 2025. He has made ten starts this year with a 4.22 earned run average, 17.9% strikeout rate, 12.4% walk rate and 43.2% ground ball rate.
Those aren’t exactly dominant numbers but Jobe is still quite young. He won’t even celebrate his 23rd birthday until July. The fact that he’s in the majors at all at this age is a testament to his talent. There’s still lots of time for him to fully break out and the injury perhaps provides an explanation for why he hasn’t quite been firing on all cylinders yet.
For now, the Tigers will have to fill his rotation spot. Chris McCosky of Detroit News suggests that Sawyer Gipson-Long is a likely candidate to take over for Jobe. Gipson-Long underwent internal brace surgery in April of last year. He is now healthy enough to have made five rehab starts, getting to 5 1/3 innings in his most recent outing. Prior to going under the knife, he made four starts for the Tigers in 2023 with a 2.70 ERA. He is on the 60-day IL so the Tigers would need to open a 40-man spot if he is to be reinstated in the coming days.
As for Cobb, this move doesn’t impact his timeline. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial placement on the 15-day IL. Since he’s already been on the shelf more than 60 days, he’s eligible to be reinstated at any time. Dan Hasty, broadcaster for the High-A West Michigan Whitecaps, relays that Cobb is expected to start a rehab assignment with that club tonight. Cobb will surely need a few weeks of ramp-up after missing so much time. He’s been out all year due to right hip inflammation.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images.
Oh crap!
This sucks
Double sucks
Triple sucks
Quadruple sucks
Sucks 5 times
Jobe’s first test…
Oh no
Oh f***
Flexor tendon “strain”. For now.
Same injury Skubal had in 2022. Expect surgery until proven otherwise.
Cobb isn’t ready. Will he ever? Gibson-Long appears to be coming along. Maybe we see him soon.
Don’t be surprised if pitching chaos shows up..
Pitching chaos happened because we were sellers at last season’s deadline… or at least weren’t buyers. This year, there’s no reason not to acquire another arm (or two) if we need help.
Will the 100-102mph pitchers subside with all these injuries?
Probably Mark Prior’s fault.
That does sound ominous for sure. Harris is going to have to look into trying to acquire another starter either before or at the deadline. No need to trade top prospects for a high end starter but try to acquire a starter for the back of the rotation.
Hopefully Reese Olsen is back soon, and perhaps we’ll get something out of Cobb and Gipson-Long.
We have Montero, hopefully Olsen, Skubal, Flaherty and Gibson-Long and Mize. Plus we have enough bullpen arms to cobble together a chaos start or 2.
By Jobe!
Hope Gipson-Long comes along soon, and picks-up where he left off a couple years ago.
McGonigle, Briceno, and Madden for Sandy Alcantara. Let Fetter get him back on track.
If the Tigers are giving up that much, no fixing should be needed on the pitcher they acquire.
Hard no.
Yeah, that’s a horrible trade. Harris isn’t going to trade 3 future potential starters for a guy with an 8.47 ERA.
Are you nuts?
Javier Baez on this high for Sandy Alcantara on this low.
SGL was looking very strong before his injury. He should be a very capable fill-in. It may end up being longer than 15 days, though. I can’t see the Tigers rushing JJ back.
No way! Can’t deplete the farm system like this for Alcantara.
Honestly I don’t expect this to change plans all that much…at least not forcing a trade this early. Montero is capable. He gets a bad rap but he holds down innings and keeps the the offense in the game. SGL should be soon, but not yet. What’s up with Manning and Madden? Are they still out? At the deadline I would envision picking up a LH reliever, maybe a rental bat with some thump to play third (if such a thing exists).
Manning was converted into a reliever, with mixed results. He’s not ready for Detroit. Madden is still hurt.
Manning has been a mess this yr. I can see them cutting him to clear a roster spot at some point unfortunately.
Agree. Tigers don’t need to do anything drastic. They have the best record in MLB, are playing well, and have multiple pitchers coming off IL:
Madden: end of May
Gibson-Long:: Tuesday
Olson: Mid-June
Cobb: June
Urquidy: Late 2025
THIS is why they signed all those extra guys. Nobody gets through a season with just 5 starters.
The Cobb signing was dumb IMO. But I am glad we have depth, just wish they weren’t paying 15 million for it.
Yeah, that was pretty steep for someone NONE of us expected to log many IP’s. But, if he contributes to a team that wins the World Series, Tigers fans will love him forever.
Fair but for the same price I would rather have had Verlander. He might not have been any better but it would have been fun to see him in the old English D angain. Plus maybe Fetter could have got more out of him that San Fran has.
I’m with ya on JV. I actually daydreamed of convincing JV to come re-join the Tigers because of chaos.
JV wants 300 W’s. With chaos, he could enter the game in the 3rd, pitch through (at least) the 5th, and pick up the W. Collecting 3-IP W’s would be easier to collect than 5-IP W’s.
If the opponent were to jump on the opener for several runs, JV could be bumped to the following day, and pitch with, theoretically, a clean(er) slate.
Of course, now that we have a solid 5-man rotation, that argument is moot.
No description of Dylan smith? Draft stock, stats in the minors, etc.? I like when the writers give detailed descriptions of players, i love learning new things about every player possible across MLB! Or is this just me?
This rookie year was always going to have peaks & valley’s. All I want from him this year is a strong finish & base of innings he can expand on next year.
I’ve been surprised that his stuff hasn’t played too well. Not much swing and miss, poor K/9. I’d like his stuff to start missing bats more than anything.
Me, too. Makes me wonder if he’s been battling this injury for a while. He was pretty dominant in the minors, with 10K/9.
Freep reporting Meadows returns Monday!
Ouch