5:10PM: Verlander and manager A.J. Hinch told the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky and other reporters that the injury is fairly minor, and the IL placement is precautionary in nature. The Tigers don’t have another off-day until April 13, leaving Verlander without the benefit of any extra rest in between starts to fully get over his hip problem. “It’s just difficult because I feel like it’s close to being able to just work through it,” Verlander said. “But the timing is bad, the weather is bad and the schedule is bad. Everything worked against it, unfortunately.”
12:09PM: The Tigers announced that Justin Verlander has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to April 1) due to inflammation in his left hip. Right-hander Keider Montero was called up from Triple-A Toledo to take Verlander’s spot on the 26-man roster.
The IL stint adds to a tough first week in Verlander’s return to Detroit. The right-hander’s first start of the season saw Verlander last just 3 2/3 innings on Monday, and he gave up six hits and two homers to the Diamondbacks en route to being charged with five earned runs. Verlander was slated to start against the Cardinals on Sunday, which would’ve marked his first home appearance in a Tigers uniform since August 2017.
While there isn’t yet any indication that the hip problem is particularly serious, it does add to the lengthy list of injuries that have piled up for Verlander in recent years, which isn’t surprising given how the righty is now in his age-43 season. After missing almost all of the 2020-21 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, Verlander has been placed on the IL five times in the last four seasons. He missed about five weeks in 2023 due to a teres major strain and a month of the 2025 season due to pectoral soreness, and the 2024 campaign saw Verlander limited to 90 1/3 innings because of shoulder inflammation and then a lingering neck injury.
Verlander has still logged 579 2/3 innings from 2022-25 — a very respectable total for any pitcher, let alone a hurler of Verlander’s age. After winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2022, Verlander’s only truly rough year was his injury-plagued 2024 season, as he still posted a 3.85 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, and 7.9% walk rate over 152 innings for the Giants last year.
It was enough for Detroit to sign Verlander to a one-year, $13MM free agent contract in February, in a move that made sense for both nostalgic and practical reasons. Reese Olson‘s shoulder surgery ended his 2026 season before it even began, opening the door for Verlander to slot into the back end of the Tigers’ rotation.
Montero will now fill that role for the time being, and the righty has been a serviceable swingman over his two MLB seasons, delivering a 4.57 ERA over 189 innings. Montero has performed better as a starter (4.05 ERA in 144 1/3 IP) than as a reliever (6.25 ERA in 44 2/3 IP), and replicating that kind of rotation performance would be a great help for the Tigers in holding the fort until Verlander is back.
While the Tigers have a solid amount of rotation depth, that depth has already been tested between Olson’s surgery, Troy Melton‘s season-opening stint on the 60-day IL, Sawyer Gipson-Long is on the 15-day IL with an oblique strain, and now Verlander’s absence. Melton and Jackson Jobe (who had a Tommy John surgery last June) are expected back before season’s end, and perhaps most importantly, the top four in Detroit’s rotation — Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez, Casey Mize, and Jack Flaherty — are all still healthy.
Off to a great start…..from Cobb to this
And pen just turned a blow out into a game
Yeah I agree with you. The Tigers have no chance of winning this year. They shouldn’t have signed JV. That $3 mil contract should have gone towards signing a different starting pitcher. Maybe they could have just traded for Ohtani?
Release him. Save yourself the hassles.
Alex Cobb 2.0
Old guy with a bad hip. Yikes.
Placed on the IL due to old age
The farewell tour is over
Verlander pitched great in the 2nd half last year for the SF Giants.
Let him get healthy.
He still has the talent, the desire, the motivation to be an above average MLB starter.
If his body holds up, then it is a great baseball and personal interest story.And, it maybe the last chance for Tigers fans to see him, show their support for him and all the contributions he has made to the Tigers and their fans.
Verlander will definitely put fans in the seats when he is healthy.
Age remains undefeated…and while he still may have some juice left, still..
I hate compilers.
People who compile are on my most hated list as well. No time for compilers.
Hater.
You guys are compiler defilers
The very act of playing is “compiling” from the very first time a player steps on the field. The use of that word is absolute ignorance, you are essentially just saying “playing”….
Drew Anderson should go in the rotation he seems all out of whack in the bullpen pitching two innings.
Should have gone with a 6 man rotation to keep Anderson stretched out as a starter.
Or Anderson is facing a bit tougher competition in MLB opposed to Korea. Korea is considered a step below Nippon, so it is not something that should in any way be considered insignificant.
great career, 1st ballot HOF, supermodel wife
time to hang em up JV
Probably best possible scenario. Let JV get healthy and ready while the weather is cold. It’s supposed to be below freezing Sunday night – a terrible time for a 43-year-old to pitch. Tigers have plenty of SP depth in Toledo. They need JV later in the season and postseason.
I’m not so sure this wasn’t sort of…planned for the exact reason you state. JV in cold weather tomorrow night would be dangerous. Montero vs the Cards is not a bad matchup.
Nurse JV along and hope they can get 15 starts out of him this year. I think, in a pennant race, under stress, JV is as good as anyone after Skoobs and Valdez to take the ball.
Wow, and with Flahrity looking rough today its just wow. It’s hard to believe his melt down today, and he finally comes out, then the grand slam. Unbelievable game today. Detroit has hit 4 batters and are hanging on 7-6 after killing them 7-1. With Tork the only hitter looking weak right now, the pitching is suddenly looking rough. Thank God Mize was so good in his first start. Oh well, its baseball.
Team wont win just on O. Hopefully pitching gets healthy n comes around
Think it will. Although I expect the tigers to lose today
It’s a long game today, but the strange thing I’ve noticed is they seem to have a hold on Meadows stealing bases. Maybe they are trying to keep him healthy for the season, but its strange. 3 run lead for Detroit, so they’ve been hitting great today. Scoring runs is fun, GO TIGERS !
Flaherty is a washed up, $20 million junk ball pitcher. I bet the Tigers were on their knees praying he would opt out this past winter.
Walks are killing Flaherty. Otherwise his numbers are decent. Hopefully he can even thst out. Two starts don’t make a season thankfully.
Flaherty seems to peak at decent is the problem. He was not particularly good either last year or the 2nd half of 2024.
He was 8-15 last season. I know wins/losses can be a fluky thing and not necessarily indicative of true performance. In Flaherty’s case he did not pitch all that well and for a team that went 87-75 they seemed to be mistaken likely to lose when he was on mound opposed to any other SP.
His first two starts have been good…and then really bad. He has to get hitters to swing and miss on out of zone pitches. Once they’ve been through the lineup and seen him once, they start to lay off. He falls behind then walks or gets hit in the zone. He’s also hit 3 batters in 8.1 innings. Yes, he will have a very good outing…about once every 4th start. But he will have a hard time getting through 6 and not giving up 3-4 runs in the rest of them.
His fastball hasnt topped 94. He was at almost 98 and was over 98 in 2019, his 2 best seasons. Hes been inconsistent most of his career and his last 6 starts going back to last season hes completed 4 innings in 4 of them and 2 in the other.
Again he went 8-15 for a team with a winning season last year. Days he starts he does not seem to increase the teams chances of winning, thats what ultimately matters for a contending team.
It’s early and he’s still probably better than half the pitchers in the league
“Half the pitchers”…JV’s ’26 contract tells you neither he nor his agent believes he’s (still)better than “half the pitchers in the league”.
And I say this as a rather big fan of Hall of Famer in waiting, Justin Verlander. Age gets and defeats everyone at some point.
Verlander had an era of 3.85 last season. So better then half seems about right.
Smart move, Detroit weather in April can be brutal, no need sending him out if he’s not 💯. Keider is a good pitcher so not an issue at all bringing him up start a few games in the meantime. Too many people thinking this is Cobb all over! Verlander is not going to lay out all season, he’s too big of a competitor to do that.
Better get a seeing-eye dog a tin can and a pair of sunglasses and put him in front of the stadium
All the Tigers fans attacked me when I said he was a bad signing and wouldn’t stay healthy lol
I didn’t but I think I’ll jump in! Read the article. Minor injury, 15 day DL.
This is how you deal with the injury … RETIRE BRO YOU’RE OLD. You’re best years when you were younger are gone.
His roster spot could be used to see what youngsters from the farm have.
When the Tigers signed Verlander it was injury protection in case Jackson Jobe was not ready by midseason or in case of injuries. He was great in the second half last season and we would definitely be happy with an ERA under 4. It was a gamble that hopefully pays off.
He’s been washed up for the last 3 years…retire already.
Inflammation in left hip? Butt hurt more like, amirite?