Tigers ace Tarik Skubal gave the team a scare last week when he exited his start due to tightness in his left side. The obvious initial concern was that Skubal had suffered an oblique or intercostal strain that could necessitate a notable absence, but subsequent testing did not reveal a major injury. Several days of rest appear to have eased any discomfort the Cy Young front-runner was feeling. Skubal told the Tigers beat yesterday that he felt “100 percent” one day after a bullpen session.
“If anything, I probably worked a little bit harder just to make sure that I was good to go,” Skubal said of Monday’s bullpen session (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). “There was nothing there. It was all good.”
Skubal added that he fully anticipates making his next start tomorrow. He called last week’s early exit “one of those weird things” and wasn’t sure what had caused the discomfort, but for now, it seems the issue is largely behind him. For a Tigers club that’s already lost Reese Olson and Jackson Jobe for the season, Skubal’s ostensibly clean bill of health creates an even greater sigh of relief.
Outside of Skubal, Detroit’s rotation has been a mess since the trade deadline. Neither Charlie Morton nor Chris Paddack, the Tigers’ two rotation additions ahead of the deadline, has bolstered the staff. Morton sports a woeful 5.92 ERA in eight starts since coming to the Motor City, and Paddack has already been moved to the bullpen after posting a 6.38 ERA in five starts. Jack Flaherty (5.14 ERA in his past eight starts) and Casey Mize (4.85 ERA in his past eight starts) have also been limping to the finish line. Overall, the Tigers’ rotation has a 4.77 ERA dating back to Aug. 1 — and that number skyrockets to 5.40 when subtracting Skubal’s contributions.
The Tigers deployed their “pitching chaos” tactic to great effect late last season, using Skubal as their lone traditional starter and otherwise deploying an all-hands-on-deck approach. They haven’t reverted to that form just yet, and it’s worth noting that both Mize and Flaherty have had some strong starts in the past couple weeks. Presumably, Flaherty and Mize are the favorites for postseason starts behind Skubal right now, but last year’s approach showed that the Tigers aren’t beholden to conventional setups with their pitching staff.
Detroit is also hoping for some reinforcements in the bullpen sooner than later. Yesterday’s injury report from the club indicated that right-hander Kyle Finnegan tossed a bullpen session yesterday. He landed on the shelf earlier this month due to an adductor strain. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press tweets that Finnegan, who tossed 14 1/3 shutout innings after being acquired from the Nationals in July, could embark on a rehab assignment in the near future.
Fellow deadline pickup Paul Sewald has already started his own rehab assignment as he works back from a July shoulder injury. He’s allowed one run and punched out four hitters in 4 2/3 innings of rehab work — most recently pitching two-thirds of an inning just last night. A return shouldn’t be too far off, barring any late setbacks.
While the updates on Skubal, Finnegan and Sewald are largely positive, the news regarding outfielder/third baseman Matt Vierling is far less rosy. Vierling, out since early August due to an oblique strain, began a minor league rehab assignment earlier this week. However, the Tigers announced in their latest injury report that Vierling has been pulled from that rehab stint after just one game due to continued soreness in his oblique region.
“I’m going to stop short of calling it a setback because I don’t know that yet,” manager AJ Hinch said last night (via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News). “But it’s clearly slowed down our plan with him. He’s pretty bummed out about it and he should be. We are, too. It’s just a matter of being re-evaluated and seeing what he can tolerate and what we can hope for.”
Hinch didn’t declare Vierling out for the season but conceded that the best he could answer regarding Vierling’s playoff availability was a simple, “I don’t know.” Presumably, Detroit will have more information on his status in the next few days.
It’s been a frustrating season for Vierling, who turned 29 the same day he had to be pulled from that rehab stint. He’s been limited to just 31 games and 100 plate appearances due to a pair of shoulder injuries and a pair of strains in his left oblique. When on the active roster, he’s turned in a tepid .239/.310/.307 batting line.
That pedestrian line is a far cry from Vierling’s quietly solid .257/.312/.423 performance during a 2024 season that saw him connect on a career-high 16 home runs. Vierling also set highwater marks in doubles (28), games played (144) and plate appearances (567). On the other side of the ball, he chipped in passable glovework at third base and above-average defense across all three outfield spots. It’s still possible he makes it back to the roster, particularly if the Tigers go on a deep run in October, but a return doesn’t appear to be on the immediate horizon.
Does Paddack or Horn get the ziggy when Sewald is promoted? Presumably the other gets it when Hanifee is called back up.
Seems like Paddack is the most likely. I’m surprised they’ve given him the long leash. I thought he would have been DFA’d weeks ago.
My guess would be Paddack since Horn has options and is our third lefty. Harris might not want to admit he made a bad trade for Paddack but he needs to so we can cycle guys in and out.
I think the Tigers have the “ability” to choke away the division title. (MVPs? – Harris and Illitch)
I really believe they let us down at the trade deadline…..they said they wanted to preserve our “future” by not trading away too many decent prospects, but hey, the future (and the playoffs) is NOW! We sure could have used a better starting pitcher than Morton (has-been) or Paddack (never was)…..
I think you need to break it down more because there were wins and losses at the dealine. Overall I think they did decent but certainly could have done more.
Despite the up and down pitching and numbers, I’ll take Morton’s experience and strikeout stuff in a playoff series but agree Paddack didn’t work out. Agree another starter would have been great.
The bullpen adds of Finnegan and Montero on the other hand were brilliant. Sewald is TBD and I have high hopes for him too. Good bullpens win playoff games.
A complimentary bat would have been nice but they decided to “dance with the one that brought you” instead. Ha Seong Kim is a guy I look at as a lost opportunity (if he was even available). Hindsight is 20-20 but the cost for Suarez may not have been as high as we thought. Would they have upgraded the offense? Maybe.
It doesn’t seem like the Tigers could have successfully obtained a quality starting pitcher regardless. They would have had to give up guys in their Top 5 prospects and that wasn’t ever going to happen.
What team gave up a top 5 prospect in a trade at the deadline? Other teams likely asked for one, but they didn’t get one. Yet players were still moved. Could be the lack of experience on the Tigers POBO and GM.
The Tigers went into the season also thinking that Cobb was one of the 5 starters. So along with Olson and Jobe, are missing 3 starters. They took a gamble on Paddock, and Morton. If either makes the post season roster, and performs, it could still work out. Personally, I would keep K. Montero over either.
If Verling is healthy, I think I would still keep Jones as the extra RH bat over him. He has been a solid part of the bench. If they cut back one pitcher, they can keep both Verling and Jones.
Tigers fans are the only fans in pro sports who actively root for their team to fail.
don’t see anyone doing that.
Should have traded for Merrill Kelly but at least Harris still has his prospects.
Urquidy is back and pitched fairly well in his first outing. I have a feeling if there’s a must win, Troy Melton is a strong possibility in the post season. I think he’s the Tigers second best “starter type”. He’s been fire.
I wonder if we might not see Melton pitch a playoff game or split 3-4 innings with another starter?
Mize is lucky he plays on a good offense team which has helped him a 14-5 record
That and he has pitched well this year, especially in the first half when he made the all star team.
So is it going to be Skubal, Flaherty and then pray for snow flurries?