Tigers Rumors

Matt Moore To Miss Remainder Of Season After Knee Surgery

By Jeff Todd | April 17, 2019 at 2:29pm CDT

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

By Connor Byrne | April 14, 2019 at 10:02am CDT

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

By Connor Byrne | April 14, 2019 at 7:12am CDT

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

By Steve Adams | April 13, 2019 at 12:19pm CDT

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.

Health Notes: Moore, Karns, Padres, Red Sox

By Jeff Todd | April 9, 2019 at 1:28pm CDT

Here are the latest notes on some health situations from around the game …

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.
Orioles righty Nate Karns has gone on the injured list with a forearm strain, the club announced. The severity isn’t know, but it’s obviously rather worrying to see another arm issue for a pitcher that has dealt with significant health issues in recent years. Reliever Evan Phillips, who was acquired in last year’s Kevin Gausman swap, has been called up to take the open roster spot. Phillips struggled in brief MLB action last year but had a nice showing this spring.
The Padres announced last night that lefty Aaron Loup and outfielder Franchy Cordero were headed to the injured list. Infielder Luis Urias is taking one of the open roster spots, thus putting another top San Diego prospect at the MLB level, with southpaw reliever Brad Wieck occupying the other. As Jason Freund of the East Village Times explains, arm issues drove both IL placements. The severity isn’t known in either case, but Loup’s forearm strain and Cordero’s elbow strain each echo injuries that those players dealt with last year.
Red Sox ace Chris Sale isn’t one for excuses, but skipper Alex Cora did offer up a possible explanation for Sale’s otherwise concerning recent velocity drop. The star lefty was dealing with illness in the run-up to his last start, which reduced his intra-start work and may also have affected him on gameday, Cora told reporters including Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (Twitter links). Sale’s velocity has trended back up in the first inning of today’s game, which is certainly a promising sign. There was also generally encouraging news for southpaw Brian Johnson, who was feared to have suffered a significant elbow injury. He’s actually just dealing with inflammation, so it seems reasonable to hope that a rest and rehab approach will allow him to get back to the mound in relatively short order.

Tigers Place Matt Moore On 10-Day IL

By Ty Bradley | April 7, 2019 at 9:44am CDT

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.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/4/19

By Steve Adams | April 4, 2019 at 8:57am CDT

We’ll keep track of the latest minor transactions from around the league here…

Catcher Raffy Lopez cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett by the Braves, per the league’s transactions log at MLB.com. Lopez, 31, was designated for assignment when Atlanta selected Matt Joyce and Josh Tomlin to their Opening Day roster. The journeyman catcher hit .176/.265/.284 in 117 plate appearances with the Padres last season and has never produced much in limited time at the MLB level. He is, however, a career .266/.340/.401 hitter in 1078 Triple-A plate appearances. The Braves acquired him from San Diego in exchange for cash back in early November, but he didn’t have a place on the active roster behind Tyler Flowers and Brian McCann.
Blue Jays catching prospect Max Pentecost has opted to retire, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports (via Twitter). Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported late in camp that Pentecost was considering retirement as an option. The 26-year-old was the No. 11 pick of the 2014 draft but has undergone three different surgeries on his right shoulder since being selected. He missed the entire 2015 season as a result of those shoulder woes and has played in a total of just 260 minor league games (plus 11 more in the Arizona Fall League) since being drafted nearly five years ago. A healthy Pentecost showed a good bit of promise, particularly in 2016 when he hit .302/.361/.486 across two Class-A levels.
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

By TC Zencka and Ty Bradley | March 30, 2019 at 4:34pm CDT

Some injury updates from around the game . . .

Health Notes: Kershaw, Perez, Johnson

By Steve Adams | March 29, 2019 at 9:12pm CDT

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.

Roster Decisions: Braves, Jays, Tigers, Twins

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | March 27, 2019 at 9:21am CDT

With Opening Day nearly upon us, here are a few of the notable roster decisions from around the game …

Right-hander Wes Parsons and non-roster invitees Matt Joyce and Josh Tomlin have made the Braves’ Opening Day roster, the team announced to reporters today (Twitter link via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Meanwhile, as The Athletic’s David O’Brien writes, Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright will be a part of Atlanta’s rotation to begin the season. That makes for quite an interesting and unexpected collection of roster pieces. The club is waiting to finalize its roster completely while evaluating external options.
Right-hander Trent Thornton, whom the Blue Jays acquired in exchange for Aledmys Diaz this winter, will be Toronto’s fourth starter to open the season, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. Fellow righty Sam Gaviglio will open the year as a long man in the bullpen. In other decisions for the Jays, also via Davidi, the club has decided to keep Rule 5 righty Elvis Luciano despite some rocky moments this spring. Southpaw Thomas Pannone and infielder Richard Urena are also heading north, with the team’s final roster spot still up for grabs. It may go to Bud Norris if he’s ready, says Davidi, with the team also pondering Javy Guerra while eyeing outside possibilities.
The Tigers have informed righty Spencer Turnbull that he’ll be in the rotation to begin the season, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports. He took that job over lefty Daniel Norris, who’ll open the year in the bullpen. Norris will work in a long capacity, with the goal being to keep him stretched out in case a starting spot comes open. Turnbull, 26, earned the nod with an excellent spring showing: 15 frames of 1.80 ERA pitching with 15 strikeouts and just a pair of walks. The former second-round pick reached the big leagues briefly last year, but spent most of his ’18 season at Double-A. He pitched to a 4.47 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 98 2/3 innings over 19 starts at the penultimate level of the minors.
In one of the better stories of Spring Training, Ryne Harper has made the Twins’ Opening Day roster, as manager Rocco Baldelli recently announced (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Harper, who turns thirty today, enjoyed a terrific spring with the Twins and will now have the opportunity to pitch in his first big league game after grinding through eight minor league seasons. The call to the big leagues for Harper is surely sweetened by the fact that he’s come as close to making his big league debut as possible in the past; the Mariners selected Harper’s contract back in 2017 but optioned him back to Triple-A before he ever appeared in a game. He was outrighted before ever being summoned back to the big leagues.

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