- Tigers outfielder Christin Stewart landed on the injured list Thursday thanks to a right quad strain, per a club announcement. Infielder/outfielder Brandon Dixon is up from Triple-A Toledo to take his spot on the roster. The 25-year-old Stewart’s bid for an everyday spot in Detroit’s long-term lineup is off to a decent start, as he’s batting .246/.346/.465 through 136 plate appearances dating back to his late-2018 debut. Stewart has drawn a free pass in 12.5 percent of his trips to the plate and smacked five homers, six doubles and two triples in his limited experience, showing off the patience and power that make him an intriguing prospect. He’s unlikely to provide much in the way of defensive value, but he has the makings of a bat-first corner outfielder or designated hitter moving forward.
Tigers Rumors
Matt Moore To Miss Remainder Of Season After Knee Surgery
Tigers lefty Matt Moore is slated to miss the remainder of the 2019 season, the club told reporters including MLB.com’s Jason Beck (Twitter link). While the procedure was known, the prognosis comes as quite a surprise.
It had been expected that Moore wouldn’t be sidelined for more than six weeks or so, as he was slated only to undergo a common procedure to address a meniscus tear. The reason for the change in the outlook isn’t yet known, but something obviously didn’t go as anticipated.
This news represents poor fortune all around. The Detroit organization will come away with little to show for the $2.5MM it invested in Moore last winter. And Moore won’t get a full shot to boost his value before reentering the market.
The 29-year-old southpaw did turn in two scoreless outings, compiling nine strikeouts against one walk over ten frames, before going down with what seemed to be a minor injury. That included a promising jump to a 14.5% swinging-strike rate, so it’s at least conceivable that some teams will have seen enough to make an investment in the still-youthful hurler based only upon that limited showing.
Moore follows Michael Fulmer in suffering a season-ending injury. It seems the Tigers will now have little choice but to give a full run to Daniel Norris, who is facing something of a make or break year. Other depth options include Ryan Carpenter and Matt Hall. The club may at some point also take a look at some of its lauded young pitching prospects who don’t yet have 40-man roster spots.
Matt Moore To Undergo Knee Surgery
Tigers left-hander Matt Moore will undergo surgery on his injured right knee Wednesday, Jason Beck of MLB.com reports. It’s unclear how much time Moore will miss, though he’s hoping to sit out just four to six weeks, per Beck.
Moore, who damaged his meniscus April 7, had been rehabbing in hopes of avoiding surgery. However, the 29-year-old “did not feel improvement,” Beck notes. Moore had gotten off to a marvelous start prior to the injury, as he tossed 10 innings of scoreless, three-hit ball with nine strikeouts, one walk and a 59.1 percent groundball rate. It was an especially encouraging run considering Moore scuffled over the past few years with the Rays, Giants and Rangers. As a result, the former elite prospect had to settle for a $2.5MM deal with rebuilding Detroit in the offseason.
It’s not yet known who will slide into the Tigers’ rotation during Moore’s absence, though southpaws Daniel Norris and Blaine Hardy may be the most likely candidates on their 25-man roster. Two Triple-A starters, Ryan Carpenter and Matt Hall, are also members of Detroit’s 40-man. To this point, the Tigers have only needed five starters, including Moore. Not only did he give them tremendous production before going on the IL, but Matthew Boyd has pitched like a breakout star, while Jordan Zimmermann, Tyson Ross and Spencer Turnbull have served as fine complements. Their performances have helped make up for the loss of righty Michael Fulmer, who won’t pitch this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last month, and have been instrumental in the Tigers’ 8-6 start.
Tigers Place Jordy Mercer On Injured List
SUNDAY: The Tigers will recall Rodriguez to replace Mercer, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.
SATURDAY: The Tigers will place shortstop Jordy Mercer on the 10-day injured list because of a right quad strain, the team announced. They’ll make a corresponding move Sunday, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweets.
This injury continues a rough start to the season for Mercer, a longtime Pirate who joined the Tigers for a guaranteed $5.25MM in free agency. While the 32-year-old has never posed much of a threat with the bat, Mercer’s .233/.298/.326 line in 47 plate appearances this season looks underwhelming even by his standards. Offensive shortcomings aside, Mercer has managed to carve out a useful major league career, having totaled anywhere from 1.0 to 2.0 fWAR in five different seasons.
With Mercer heading to the shelf, it’s unclear which Tiger will receive the bulk of the work at shortstop in his absence. Gordon Beckham replaced him in Saturday’s game, though he’s not the most confidence-inspiring option. The team also has utilityman Niko Goodrum, who started 10 games at short in 2018, with 40-man middle infield possibilities Ronny Rodriguez, Dawel Lugo and Willi Castro in Triple-A Toledo. The Tigers do have a 40-man opening, though, leading McCosky to note that they could select veteran Pete Kozma from their top minor league affiliate.
Tigers Outright Mikie Mahtook To Triple-A
TODAY: Mahtook cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A, the Tigers announced.
THURSDAY: The Tigers announced this morning that they’ve designated outfielder Mikie Mahtook for assignment. His spot on the 25-man roster will go to fellow outfielder JaCoby Jones, who has been reinstated after opening the season on the injured list due to a shoulder sprain.
Mahtook, 29, had a promising first year with the Tigers in 2017 after being acquired in a minor trade with the Rays in the preceding offseason. The 2011 first-round pick slashed .276/.330/.457 with a dozen homers in 379 plate appearances and gave the organization some hope that he could be a useful pieces for years to come, given the amount of club control he had remaining.
Unfortunately, Mahtook’s production cratered in 2018 as his strikeout rate soared north of 26 percent while the .324 BABIP he turned in a year prior cratered to a career-low .238. Mahtook saw his hard-contact and line-drive rates both decline, while he hit infield pop-ups at a career-worst clip as well.
Things haven’t gone better for Mahtook in the early stages of the 2019 campaign, either. He’s hitless through 25 plate appearances, including 11 strikeouts, and a recent misplay in center field turned a routine Eric Stamets single into a little league homer.
Detroit will have a week to either trade Mahtook or run him through outright waivers, at which point he’d remain under organizational control should the team wish to assign him to a minor league affiliate. Mahtook has never been previously outrighted and doesn’t have the requisite three years of big league service to reject an outright assignment, so electing free agency wouldn’t be an option for him.
Mahtook’s DFA means that Jones can be penciled in for everyday at-bats in center field, while former Padres and Braves prospect Dustin Peterson, whom Detroit claimed off waivers last September, will stick on the big league roster as the primary reserve outfielder for the time being. That’ll leave Detroit without a true backup center fielder; Peterson and utilityman Niko Goodrum are the only players on the big league roster with experience at the position, though that pair has combined for just 331 innings of work at the position (nearly all in the minor leagues). It’s possible that another move is coming to add a more natural backup, but for now Jones, who hit .207/.266/.364 in 467 PAs last season, appears ticketed for a heavy workload.
Matt Moore Dealing With Meniscus Injury
- The Tigers and lefty Matt Moore are hopeful that he won’t need to undergo surgery after being diagnosed with a meniscus injury, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News was among those to report. Damage to the joint was diagnosed after Moore experienced some issues in his last outing. While a procedure on the meniscus wouldn’t likely be season-ending, it would make for a fairly lengthy absence. With rather mild symptoms, Moore suggests he’s optimistic he can instead rehab briefly and then pitch through the injury.
Tigers Place Matt Moore On 10-Day IL
SUNDAY: Moore may need surgery, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweets. For now, the team has activated right-hander Drew VerHagen from the IL to take Moore’s roster spot.
SATURDAY: Per a team release, the Tigers will place lefty Matt Moore on the 10-day IL after the lefty sprained his right knee in the middle of today’s outing against the Royals. A corresponding roster move will come tomorrow, per the team.
Moore, 29, signed a one-year, $2.5MM deal with Detroit in the offseason after successive brutal campaigns with the Giants and Rangers. The former #1 overall prospect in the league – whom Baseball Prospectus famously ranked over Mike Trout and Bryce Harper on their 2012 list – hasn’t much been the same after a 2014 Tommy John surgery. His velocity, which ranged in the 95-96 MPH area in his first two seasons, quickly fell to around 92, and the lefty’s never possessed the requisite command and/or secondary offerings to make up for it.
Still, he’d looked sharp in first two early-season outings before the knee sprain today, so it’s a tough blow for the Tiger reclamation project. Per manager Ron Gardenhire, lefty Daniel Norris will assume Moore’s rotation spot in the interim.
Grayson Long Announces Retirement
- Tigers right-hander Grayson Long announced on Twitter that, due to “continuous injury,” he’s hanging up the spikes and returning to college to finish his degree at Texas A&M. Detroit acquired Long, now 24 years old, in the 2017 trade that sent Justin Upton to the Angels. The 2015 third-round pick didn’t pitch in 2018 as he recovered from thoracic outlet surgery — a procedure that has become increasingly common among professional pitchers in recent years but comes with a middling success rate, at best. Long showed plenty of potential in his last healthy season, tossing 137 2/3 innings of 3.01 ERA ball with averages of 8.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 0.6 HR/9 in 137 2/3 innings of Double-A ball.
Health Notes: Frazier, Lowrie, Perez, Cobb, Folty, Gausman, Minter
Some injury updates from around the game . . .
Latest News
- Braves righty Mike Foltynewicz, shelf-ridden to began the year, threw 63 pitches in a minor-league game Friday, tweets the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien, who notes that the righty could be activated as soon as April 9. A healthy return for the sudden ace would break up the Braves’ rockpile of young rotation arms, a group that currently includes rookies Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson, and second-year man Max Fried, who was curiously deployed in Opening-Day relief.
- More good news on the Atlanta rotation front comes from MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, who tweets that righty Kevin Gausman threw 90 pitches in a minor-league game today and reported no ill effects. Gausman’s slated to take the ball April 5 against Miami as he looks to reprise his inning-eating ways for the fourth consecutive year. The Braves, then, won’t have long to settle on an early-season rotation mix, and top prospect Mike Soroka’s eventual presence will only further complicate matters.
- O’Brien also tweets that the Braves could have late-inning presence A.J. Minter back as soon as Thursday. Minter, 25, threw just 58 carer minor-league innings before a scintillating 2017 debut. He doubled down last season, establishing himself as one of the National League’s top relievers after a 1.4 fWAR performance in just 61 1/3 IP. He’ll be leaned on heavily at the back end of a thin Atlanta ’pen in the early stages of 2019.
Earlier Updates
- Todd Frazier is almost ready to begin a rehab assignment as he recovers from a strained oblique, per Newsday’s Tim Healey (via Twitter). The Mets third baseman is set to return to game action in the minor leagues within the next couple of days, putting him on track to make his 2019 debut before the end of April. Infielder Jed Lowrie is less far along. As he rehabs from a sprained left knee, Lowrie is traveling with the team, and though the Mets haven’t put a timetable on his return, he was seen this morning taking grounders at third, per Deesha Thosar of the NY Daily News (via Twitter). In the meantime, Jeff McNeil got the start at third base on Opening Day alongside Amed Rosario, Robinson Cano and Pete Alonso in the infield. Today’s lineup will feature McNeil getting the start in left while J.D. Davis gets a turn at third. Let’s check in on some other health-related issues from around the league…
- The centerpiece of the Justin Verlander trade has been shut down for 4-6 weeks with shoulder tendonitis, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. Franklin Perez is the Tigers #4 ranked prospect according to Baseball America, #6 by Baseball Prospectus, and #5 by Fangraphs, while MLB.com has the hard-throwing righty the highest at #3. Separate instances of a lat strain and shoulder soreness limited his 2018 to only 7 appearances between two levels, topping out with a 7.94 ERA across four starts for High-A Lakeland – where he hoped to return to start 2019. The 21-year-old Venezuelan boasts a power heater that consistently reached 98 mph when he could stay on the field this spring, but health is the focus for Perez for the time being. Perez is one of three right-handers who make up the core of Detroit’s farm, along with Matt Manning and 2018’s #1 overall draft pick Casey Mize.
- There are no lingering issues with the groin injury that put Alex Cobb on the shelf to start the year. After throwing five innings in a minor league game yesterday, he is in line to start the Orioles’ home opener next Thursday, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Nate Karns will make his Orioles debut on the bump today, and while there’s no strict pitch count, don’t expect Karns to make it much further than the second or third inning, per The Athletic’s Dan Connolly (via Twitter). Karns will play the role of Opener today, with Jimmy Yacabonis expected to see significant work as well.
Health Notes: Kershaw, Perez, Johnson
Dodgers southpaw Clayton Kershaw may not be all that far from returning to the MLB mound, but he has a few more steps to take. As Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports on Twitter, the star hurler could soon be cleared for a minor-league rehab assignment — if he’s able to complete a live BP session tomorrow without incident. Supposing things go well and Kershaw is ready to resume competitive action next week, he’ll still need to build up his pitch count before returning to the Dodgers roster. It’s not yet clear how many rehab starts he’d need before being activated.
More health notes from around the game …
- The Tigers announced Friday that pitching prospect Franklin Perez will miss the first four to six weeks of the season due to tendinitis in his right shoulder. He’ll rehab at the team’s spring facility in Lakeland, Fla. for the time being. The shoulder tendinitis is the latest health-related setback for 21-year-old, who also missed most of the 2018 campaign with lat and shoulder issues. Perez, who threw just 19 1/3 innings last seasons, was one of the key pieces Detroit received from the Astros in the 2017 blockbuster that sent Justin Verlander to Houston. Considered at the time of that deal to be one of baseball’s premier minor league arms, Perez has seen his prospect star dim as injuries have prevented him from taking the hill. Fortunately for the Tigers, he’s still quite young and has ample time to develop, but the ongoing arm issues are a troubling trend.
- There’s an even tougher diagnosis for Marlins prospect Osiris Johnson, as Wells Dusenbery of the Sun Sentinel reports on Twitter. The youngster appears to be sidelined for all of the 2019 season after undergoing surgery for a right tibial stress fracture. Taken in the second round of last year’s draft, the shortstop is considered a high-risk, high-upside talent. He turned in good results at the Rookie level but stumbled in a late promotion to the Class A level. This was to be an important year of development for Johnson, who only turned 18 last October.
