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Scott Harris Discusses Tigers’ Offseason Priorities

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Scott Harris enters his first year in charge of baseball operations in Detroit. Hired as president of baseball ops shortly before the end of the season, he and his staff set to work on fortifying a roster coming off a 66-96 showing.

Harris spoke with reporters at the GM Meetings this evening and addressed a wide range of topics (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com and Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic). In broad terms, the executive expressed a general openness to any way of improving the roster, including the possibility of trading prospects for immediate big league talent. Yet Harris also highlighted a few specific areas the front office would like to address. On the position player side, he suggested the club could use a left-handed hitting infielder and a right-handed hitting outfielder. He also expressed an unsurprising desire for pitching help.

As far as the lineup goes, Detroit’s present infield indeed skews right-handed. Spencer Torkelson, Jonathan Schoop and Javier Báez all hit from that side of the dish, as do Miguel Cabrera and rookie Ryan Kreidler. Jeimer Candelario and Willi Castro are switch-hitters, but each could plausibly be non-tendered next week. That’s also true of lefty-swinging Harold Castro. Harris didn’t address the status of either Castro, but he did note the team had still yet to decide how to proceed with Candelario (via Woodbery). After two straight well above-average showings in 2020-21, the third baseman stumbled to a .217/.272/.361 line through 467 plate appearances this year. With a projected salary around $7MM for his final season of arbitration eligibility, he could well be let go after that down year.

Schoop and Báez are the in-house favorites for middle infield work, with both under contract for next season. Schoop had a terrible offensive season but played Gold Glove caliber defense at second base; he triggered a $7.5MM player option last week. Báez still has five years remaining on the $140MM free agent deal he inked last winter. He only managed a .238/.278/.393 line with mediocre defensive marks during his first season in Detroit, but there’s never been much question the two-time All-Star would get another crack as the everyday shortstop in 2023. Harris confirmed as much this evening, adding that he considered the dip in Báez’s typically strong defense an anomaly (via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News).

Perhaps the most interesting infield decision for Detroit comes at first base. Torkelson, a former first overall pick and top prospect, didn’t hit the ground running at the big league level. He managed just a .203/.285/.319 line through his first 404 MLB plate appearances, a supremely disappointing showing for a player who’d mashed at every stop before reaching the majors. At age 23, Torkelson still has plenty of time to figure things out at the highest level, but it remains to be seen if the Tigers will give him the Opening Day job again in 2023. Harris implied the organization still considers Torkelson the first baseman of the future but seemed to leave open the possibility of him starting the year back at Triple-A Toledo, saying “at (first base) and every other position, we’re going to look for ways to get better.”

Free agency doesn’t offer a whole lot in the way of left-handed hitting second or third base options. Adam Frazier could be a bounceback target after a down year in Seattle, while Jace Peterson looks to have a shot at a two-year deal after a solid couple seasons in Milwaukee. That could point to the trade market or waiver wire being the clearer path for additions, but the desire for a right-handed outfielder is easier to fill via free agency. Players like Adam Duvall, Tommy Pham, Chad Pinder and AJ Pollock are available corner players. None is a great fit for center field, but the Tigers seem likely to let Riley Greene get most of the work up the middle regardless.

While Harris didn’t specify pitching targets, it seems likely the front office will prioritize rotation additions. Casey Mize will miss most or all of the year recovering from Tommy John surgery, and it looks as if Tarik Skubal may not be ready for Opening Day after undergoing flexor surgery in August. Detroit could be without arguably their two best arms, although they did provide a favorable update on their other top young pitcher, Matt Manning. After a forearm strain ended Manning’s season a few days early, he was sent for a second opinion last month. That sounded ominous, but the Tigers maintained confidence he wouldn’t need to go under the knife and things appear to be progressing smoothly. In an update this evening, Detroit called Manning “symptom-free” and suggested he was in line for a normal offseason (via Stavenhagen).

That’s obviously welcome news that should position him to join Eduardo Rodríguez and Spencer Turnbull in the season-opening rotation. There’s still enough uncertainty at the back end the Tigers figure to dip into the lower tiers of free agency and/or turn to trades to add some stable innings behind that trio.

Latest On Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning

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Oct 13: In a separate piece, Petzold writes that both Manning and the Tigers are optimistic that surgery will not be necessary to address the righty’s forearm issue.

Oct 12: One of the stories of the Tigers dismal 2022 season was the number of injuries they were forced to endure on the pitching staff. Detroit lost all five members of its season-opening rotation at some point along the way, including a pair of arm surgeries for arguably their top two young arms.

Casey Mize underwent Tommy John surgery in June, the culmination of a few months battling elbow troubles. Two months later, Tarik Skubal had to go under the knife himself. His was a flexor tendon repair in his forearm, a disheartening end to what had been shaping up as a breakout campaign. The Tigers didn’t provide more details about a potential recovery timeline, only announcing that he’d miss the remainder of the 2022 season.

It still isn’t clear when Skubal can expect to a return to a big league mound, but he recently updated Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press on his status. The southpaw tells Petzold he’s currently building arm strength in physical therapy and has a follow-up meeting with his surgeon, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, in December. Skubal indicated he hopes he’ll be able to begin a throwing program by January if all goes well. While he declined to specify any sort of timeline for game action, he confirmed he’s likely to pitch at some point during the 2023 season.

It seems questionable whether he’ll be ready for Opening Day, however. That’s hardly a surprise, as flexor repairs are a notable procedure in their own right. Former Tiger southpaw Matthew Boyd underwent a flexor repair last September; he didn’t return from the injured list until 11 months later. Danny Duffy had the procedure in October 2021 and has missed the entire 2022 season after suffering a setback in August. That’s not to say Skubal is certain to face the same recovery timetable, but it’s illustrative of the fact that rehabbing from these procedures is no simple matter.

Nevertheless, the 25-year-old Skubal took a generally optimistic attitude towards the flexor repair, calling it “the best-case scenario in terms of all the surgery outcomes.” He tells Petzold he went into the operation not knowing whether he’d need a full Tummy John surgery that’d surely have kept him out for all of 2023. Fortunately, his UCL was intact and didn’t require repair.

Mize and Skubal are two-thirds of what Detroit envisioned being an excellent homegrown rotation. Both are now recovering from major surgeries, and Mize will miss most or all of next year. The third, Matt Manning, was scratched from his final start of the season with what the club called a forearm strain. Manager A.J. Hinch downplayed the issue at the time, saying the team shut him down out of an abundance of caution. However, Petzold now reports that Manning is soon to head for a second opinion with Dr. Keith Meister.

To be clear, there’s no indication that Manning is facing surgery at this point. Doctors may just be keeping a close eye on the highly-touted 24-year-old. Still, Petzold writes it’s possible Manning won’t be healthy for Opening Day (although that by no means appears certain yet). Manning also missed a good chunk of the season with shoulder issues, but he took the ball every fifth day for the season’s final two months before the forearm issue arose.

Ostensible injury question marks for all three of Mize, Skubal and Manning present a major challenge for first-year president of baseball operations Scott Harris. Eduardo Rodríguez is a lock for the season-opening starting five. Skubal and Manning would be in the rotation if healthy. Detroit shuttled through a number of arms at the back end this year, but none look to have done enough to force their way into the rotation. Joey Wentz, Beau Brieske and Alex Faedo have each been prospects of note in the past, but none missed many bats at the big league level. Rony García had serviceable strikeout and walk numbers but a 5.11 ERA as a starter, and he ended the season on the IL with a shoulder problem. Spencer Turnbull will be returning after a season lost to Tommy John surgery.

Even in what’s likely to be a non-competitive 2023 campaign, Harris and his front office group will have to bring in some starting pitchers from outside the organization. There’s already room for one or two veterans to soak up innings, and it seems likely the Tigers will leverage their high offseason waiver priority to take a flier on some depth arms of interest. The need to add rotation options would only become more acute if Skubal and/or Manning aren’t able to open the season in Hinch’s rotation.

Tigers Place Matt Manning On Injured List, Select Miguel Diaz

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9:24am: The Tigers formally announced the moves. Manning goes directly to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Diaz, although that’s a technicality, as he can be activated as soon as the season is over. The 60-day minimum does not carry over into next season. Carpenter, meanwhile, heads to the 10-day injured list with a lumbar strain, also ending his 2022 campaign.

9:12am: The Tigers have selected the contract of righty Miguel Diaz and will place both right-hander Matt Manning and outfielder Kerry Carpenter on the injured list, tweets Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Kody Clemens has been recalled from Triple-A Toledo alongside Diaz, filling the extra spot on the roster. Manning reported some arm fatigue and tightness in his forearm last night, and while manager A.J. Hinch stated that the team doesn’t believe there’s a serious injury at play, they’ll shut him down for the remainder of the season out of caution (via The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen, on Twitter).

Manning, 24, is the only of the Tigers’ vaunted rotation trio to avoid undergoing surgery this season, though he still missed a substantial portion of the season due to shoulder troubles. Assuming this is indeed a minor arm issue, though, he can be penciled in for Spring Training readiness, which can’t necessarily be said for either Casey Mize (Tommy John surgery in June) or Tarik Skubal (flexor tendon surgery in August). Detroit staked considerable hopes in that trio, and with good reason. Each of the three has impressed on the mound when healthy, but as is so often the case with pitching prospects, injuries have altered the calculus.

Manning’s season will draw to a close with just 63 Major League innings and another 20 1/3 Triple-A frames from a rehab assignment. He was sharp when on the mound, however, giving the Tigers a 3.43 ERA with an 18.3% strikeout rate, a 7.2% walk rate and a 40.1% ground-ball rate. Manning took considerable steps forward from last year’s ugly debut (5.80 ERA in 85 1/3 innings), recording improvements in strikeout rate, walk rate, swinging-strike rate and chase rate on pitches off the plate — all while yielding a much lighter average exit velocity. Injury concerns notwithstanding, there are ultimately quite a few positive takeaways from his second big league season.

Diaz, 27, will get a late look after working 65 innings out of the bullpen in Toledo and pitching to a 4.29 ERA with a 24.2% strikeout rate, 10.5% walk rate and a hefty 52.3% grounder rate. The right-hander spent the 2017-21 seasons in the Padres organization, dating back to his time as a Rule 5 pick out of the Brewers system in 2016.

San Diego selected Diaz directly out of A-ball and carried him on the roster all season in 2017. The lack of upper-minors seasoning showed, as Diaz was rocked for a 7.34 ERA through 41 2/3 innings as a seldom-used, low-leverage bullpen option. He pitched 42 innings with the Friars just last season, however, logging a much-improved 3.64 ERA with a sharp 26.2% strikeout rate but a bloated 11% walk rate.

Carpenter’s back injury will end a meteoric rise through the system for the former 19th-round pick (2019). After a nondescript run in Double-A last year, Carpenter — who never ranked among the organization’s best prospects — belted 30 home runs and posted OPS marks north of 1.000 in a combined 400 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A before ascending to the Majors.

Carpenter swatted another six round-trippers and hit .252/.310/.485 in 113 plate appearances at the MLB level, firmly inserting himself into the mix for an outfield spot in 2023 and beyond. He won’t get the opportunity to end that storybook season on his own terms, but his rise is one of very few bright spots in an otherwise largely catastrophic Tigers season.

Minor MLB Transactions: Deadline Day

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As is the case at every trade deadline, there’s a flurry of activity on deadline day. The most high-profile of the moves are the trades themselves, but the aftermath of that activity often results in a shuffle of minor moves of their own. Plenty of clubs have had to fill or create roster spots depending on the deals they’ve made in the last 24 hours. We’ll round up 40-man roster transactions not previously covered on the MLBTR pages here:

AL East

AL Central

  • Tigers: Reinstated right-hander Matt Manning from 60-day injured list
  • White Sox: Claimed right-hander Tobias Myers off waivers from Giants

AL West

NL East

  • Nationals: Designated left-hander Josh Rogers for assignment; transferred left-hander Evan Lee to 60-day injured list. Selected the contract of first baseman Joey Meneses
  • Marlins: Reinstated right-hander Anthony Bender from 60-day injured list
  • Phillies: Claimed left-hander Andrew Vasquez off waivers from Blue Jays

NL Central

  • Cubs: Claimed right-hander Kervin Castro off waivers from Giants
  • Brewers: Designated right-hander Luke Barker for assignment

NL West

Giants: Lost right-hander Tobias Myers on waivers to White Sox; lost right-hander Kervin Castro on waivers to Cubs

Tigers Won’t Trade Tarik Skubal

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Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal exited last night’s start against the Twins following five shutout innings and just 77 pitches, prompting immediate speculation given his recent appearance on the rumor mill. Instead, the Tigers announced that Skubal was dealing with “arm fatigue.” The lefty downplayed the severity of the issue, telling reporters that he plans to make his next start. That, it seems, will definitively come in a Tigers uniform, as Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports that the organization has decided Skubal will not be moved by today’s 6pm ET deadline. They could potentially listen to offers on him again this winter, however, per Petzold.

It’s not clear whether the Tigers had made up their mind before Skubal’s latest outing or if the decision stems from the fact that other clubs are now surely a bit wary about Skubal’s immediate outlook. A trade always appeared to be a long shot anyhow, as Skubal has four more seasons of club control remaining and has pitched quite well in 2022. Through 112 2/3 innings, the former top prospect has turned in a 3.67 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 46.6% ground-ball rate.

For a Tigers club that lost Casey Mize to Tommy John surgery and has seen Matt Manning battle shoulder troubles this season, trading Skubal would only further cloud the immediate outlook for their rotation. They’d surely have needed multiple MLB-ready pieces with even greater club control that Skubal has, but a team parting with that type of package now seems all but impossible to imagine.

Instead, Tuesday will likely see the Tigers focus on finding deals for members of their quietly solid bullpen. SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that the Mets have been eyeing righty Michael Fulmer and lefty Andrew Chafin, both of whom can become free agents at season’s end (Chafin via a player option).

[Related: Tigers Trade Robbie Grossman to Braves]

Interestingly, however, Petzold suggests that if Chafin remains with the Tigers, he’s likely to exercise that player option due to Detroit’s relative proximity to his family in Ohio. If another club were to acquire Chafin, he could well turn down the option, which leads to a disconnect in perceived value. If the Tigers consider him likely to stay beyond the current season, but interested parties are effectively viewing him as a rental, it may be hard to align on a return that both teams deem fair value.

Elsewhere in the bullpen, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic reports that opposing clubs have not been willing to put together the type of prospect(s) the Tigers have been seeking for righty Joe Jimenez, who’s under club control through the 2023 season. The 27-year-old righty is finally enjoying the long-awaited breakout for which the organization has hoped, pitching 40 innings of 2.93 ERA ball with a massive 35% strikeout rate against a minuscule 5% walk rate.

Jimenez is averaging a career-high 95.9 mph on his heater, and according to Statcast, he’s among the league leaders in fastball spin rate (93rd percentile), opponents’ chase rate (91st percentile), whiff rate (82nd percentile), expected ERA (92nd percentile) and expected wOBA (92nd percentile). Given that dominance, a remaining year of control and a modest $1.79MM salary, it’s understandable if Detroit sets a lofty asking price.

Tigers Designate Derek Hill For Assignment

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The Tigers have designated outfielder Derek Hill for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to lefty Andrew Chafin, who has been reinstated from the restricted list. Detroit also optioned righty Angel De Jesus to Triple-A Toledo to open an active roster spot for Chafin.

There’ll be more moves for the Tigers before too long — and not only because of tomorrow’s trade deadline. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweets that the Tigers will also need to make a pair of moves tomorrow, when righties Matt Manning and Wily Peralta are reinstated from the injured list.

Hill was the organization’s first-round pick back in 2014. The speedy outfielder was one of the more interesting prospects in the system for an extended stretch based on his baserunning and defense, but his bat hasn’t caught up to his glove. He’s appeared in the big leagues in each of the past three seasons, but he owns a .240/.291/.339 line with four home runs and a strikeout rate just below 30% through 254 plate appearances.

The 26-year-old Hill has also struggled mightily with Toledo this season. He’s hitting .217/.269/.325 in 30 Triple-A games, leading to his removal from the roster. He’ll presumably be placed on waivers over the next few days.

Tigers Select Garrett Hill

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The Tigers announced that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Garrett Hill. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Rony Garcia, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder soreness, retroactive to June 30. To create space on the 40-man roster, Matt Manning has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Hill, 26, was selected by the Tigers in the 26th round of the 2018 draft. Since then, he’s climbed the rungs of the minor league ladder, racking up strikeouts at each level along the way. He started this year at Double-A and made seven starts for the SeaWolves. In that time, he struck out 40.9% of the batters he faced, walking 7.9% of them and getting grounders at a 33.3% clip.

Based on those strong results, he was moved up to Triple-A and made eight starts for the Mud Hens. The higher level of competition naturally resulted in lesser results, though Hill still fared well. His Triple-A ERA is 4.06, along with a 28.7% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 32.6% ground ball rate. Baseball America ranked him the #21 prospect in the system as part of a recent update. The Tigers’ plan is for Hill to start one of the games in tomorrow’s doubleheader against the Guardians, which will be his MLB debut.

Detroit was supposed to have their rotation as a strength this year but have seen a litany of injuries derail that plan. Casey Mize underwent Tommy John surgery and is out for the rest of the year, joining Spencer Turnbull, who underwent the procedure last year. Matt Manning has only made two starts due to shoulder issues. Eduardo Rodriguez made eight starts before landing on the IL and then the restricted list due to a personal matter. Michael Pineda spent about six weeks on the IL as well, but has since returned. Now Rony Garcia is the latest starter to land on the shelf.

Due to all of that, the Tigers have leaned hard on their starting depth this year, giving MLB debuts to pitchers such as Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo, Elvin Rodriguez and Joey Wentz, with Hill now stepping up as the next rookie to get a shot.

The move for Manning is strictly procedural as he’s been on the IL for over 60 days already. He will be eligible to return as soon as his health allows, though he will need to be added back onto the 40-man roster at that time. He is close to starting a rehab assignment but will need some time to build back up into game shape.

Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported Hill’s promotion before the official announcement.

Casey Mize Shut Down From Throwing Due To Continued Elbow Soreness

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The Tigers are shutting down Casey Mize from his throwing program, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Jason Beck of MLB.com). The right-hander, who has been out since mid-April due to a sprained medial ligament in his elbow, had been experiencing continued soreness while throwing from 90 feet at flat ground.

Hinch indicated Mize was headed for further medical evaluation, although there’s no indication a surgical procedure is under consideration at this point. The medial ligament is not one that typically serves as a precursor to Tommy John surgeries, and the organization has maintained optimism thus far that he’d be able to rehab from the issue without going under the knife. Mize has experienced multiple setbacks during a recovery process that has already dragged longer than the team initially anticipated, however.

That’s no doubt frustrating to both pitcher and team alike. The Tigers’ starting staff has been decimated by injury, one of the reasons the club has an underwhelming 21-33 record. Mize’s absence has loomed particularly large, as he made just two starts before the injury. That’s come on the heels of the former first overall pick tossing a team-leading 150 1/3 frames in 2021, when he pitched to a solid 3.71 ERA.

Mize, who turned 25 last month, is among the most important players in the organization. Detroit has built a good chunk of their rebuild on the young trio of Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning — whom they envision joining offseason signee Eduardo Rodríguez as the core of the long-term rotation. Skubal has had the breakout season for which Detroit has been hoping, working to a 2.15 ERA with a stellar 27% strikeout rate through his first ten starts. Mize and Manning, however, have both been on the IL since mid-April.

Manning, who’s dealing with shoulder soreness, was shut down from throwing himself late last month after a bout of biceps tendinitis arose during a minor league rehab stint. Hinch said today that doctors have cleared him to restart a throwing program (via Beck). It’s still not precisely clear when he might be able to embark on a new rehab assignment, but it’s positive news that Manning is again able to throw in any capacity after his recent setback.

Mize îs already on the 60-day injured list. Manning is on the 10-day IL, but his placement is retroactive to April 17. He’s likely to wind up transferred to the 60-day IL himself whenever the Tigers need a 40-man roster spot, as he certainly won’t be back on an MLB mound by the middle of June.

Matt Manning Shut Down From Rehab Assignment With Biceps Tendinitis

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The Tigers have pulled back Matt Manning from his minor league rehab stint after he was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters last night (via Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic and Jason Beck of MLB.com). Hinch didn’t provide a specific timetable for when the right-hander may again get back to the mound, but he noted it wouldn’t be for the “foreseeable future.”

Manning first landed on the injured list in mid-April due to shoulder inflammation. He went to Triple-A Toledo on May 8 to begin a rehab stint, seemingly positioning him to return by the end of the month. Manning was pulled early from a start with the Mud Hens last Thursday, but general manager Al Avila suggested afterwards that was unrelated to any arm soreness and instead because the 24-year-old felt light-headed.

The Tigers sent Manning back out with Toledo on Tuesday, suggesting they weren’t concerned about whatever caused his early departure last week. He made it through just 1 2/3 innings and issued a pair of walks — bringing his total to seven free passes in his last 7 2/3 Triple-A frames — before informing the team of his arm discomfort. After revealing the biceps issue, Manning now looks in line for a lengthy absence.

It’s the latest in a series of blows to the Detroit rotation, which has been decimated by injury. Of Detroit’s season-opening starting five, four — Manning, Casey Mize, Eduardo Rodríguez and Tyler Alexander — are on the IL. So is veteran Michael Pineda, who was expected to take Alexander’s spot at the back end after a few build-up outings in Toledo. Detroit entered the year knowing they’d be without Spencer Turnbull, who underwent Tommy John surgery last July and won’t be an option until the tail end of the season at the earliest.

That the Tigers still rank middle-of-the-pack with a 4.19 rotation ERA is fairly impressive — largely attributable to a breakout season from their lone healthy top starter, Tarik Skubal. Beyond Skubal, Detroit has been left turning things over to Alex Faedo, Beau Brieske and Elvin Rodríguez, while they’re in the process of stretching out Rony García from relief. That’s obviously not ideal, and when paired with an offense that has been largely ineffective, has led to a disappointing 16-28 start.

Manning, Mize and Skubal were each top prospects before they reached the big leagues, with the Tigers envisioning that trio anchoring their next contender. Mize had the best 2021 numbers of the group, while Skubal has emerged as one of the top arms in the American League this season. Manning has yet to have much success at the big league level. The 24-year-old posted a 5.80 ERA across 85 1/3 innings last year, and he’s been limited to two starts this season.

Hinch did offer a moderately encouraging update on Mize, who has also been down since mid-April with an elbow sprain. He’s hoping to begin a throwing program by next week (Stavenhagen link). Given that he hasn’t pitched in six weeks, the righty will certainly need some time to build up arm strength before heading out on a rehab stint of his own.

The timeline is clearer for top outfield prospect Riley Greene, whom Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press reports is set to begin a rehab assignment tonight with Low-A Lakeland. Viewed as a candidate to break camp with the club as the Opening Day center fielder, Greene instead suffered a foot fracture late in Spring Training. That has kept the former #5 overall pick on the injured list all season, but it seems he’s nearing a return. Greene has yet to make his big league debut, but Detroit’s sputtering lineup should afford him an opportunity fairly quickly after he works back into game shape.

Avila: Manning Exit Not Due To Injury

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12:54pm: Tigers fans can breathe a sigh of relief, it seems. General manager Al Avila tells reporters that Manning was lifted not because of an arm or shoulder injury but because he’d become increasingly light-headed and was not feeling well (Twitter link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press). It’s not yet clear whether Manning will require an additional rehab appearance due to the fact that today’s was cut short.

11:46am: Tigers righty Matt Manning exited his minor league rehab assignment in the third inning with an apparent injury, tweets Jason Beck of MLB.com. The 24-year-old landed on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation back on April 20 and was making his third start of his minor league rehab stint. Manning, who’d already walked three through his first 2 1/3 frames, plunked Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman before a visit from the trainer that ended with his departure from the game.

There’s no formal word from the Tigers just yet, but further injury for Manning will only add to what’s been a snakebitten rotation in Detroit this year. The Tigers currently have Manning, Casey Mize, Tyler Alexander, Michael Pineda and Spencer Turnbull on the injured list. Turnbull was expected to miss the bulk of the 2022 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last summer, but the other four are dealing with 2022 injuries — and they could soon be joined by free-agent signee Eduardo Rodriguez, who left yesterday’s start against the Rays in the first inning due to an injury to his left side. Manager AJ Hinch said yesterday that Rodriguez would likely require a trip to the injured list.

Manning was the ninth overall pick in the 2016 draft and, for years, has been viewed as a potential building block on the Tigers’ pitching staff. He was hit hard through 85 1/3 innings during his MLB debut last year, although the majority of his outings were solid in nature. Manning was blown up for six or more runs in four of his 18 starts en route to a 5.80 ERA, but he finished the year with a more palatable 4.43 ERA in his final five outings. He pitched to a 2.25 ERA with four strikeouts, no walks and a 52% grounder rate in eight innings this season but left his second start after two innings due to shoulder discomfort.

The Detroit rotation is in shambles at the moment, though lefty Tarik Skubal appears to be in the midst of a bona fide breakout. He’s being followed by former first-rounder Alex Faedo and rookie Beau Brieske, and it’s not clear just where the Tigers will turn beyond that trio. Long reliever Rony Garcia impressed in relief of Rodriguez yesterday, and the Tigers also have veteran Wily Peralta in a long relief role at the moment. Peralta was a valuable pickup for them last year, making 18 starts and pitching to a 3.07 ERA — albeit with shakier underlying numbers. Down in Triple-A, veteran Chase Anderson has pitched fairly well on a minor league deal, as have 24-year-old hurlers Joey Wentz and Elvin Rodriguez — both of whom are on the 40-man roster.

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