FIVE FOR FRIDAY

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by Holly Horning

The Tigers haven’t had a great week considering the newest injuries to players both at the MLB and minor league levels.  Some of them surprising, some of them not.  But all of them will have some impact on how the Tigers perform for part or the rest of the year as well as next year.

But do all injuries carry the same amount of impact on a team?  No, especially when it comes to starting pitchers and players that the team is building around vs certain positional ones.

In Detroit’s case, out of the 5 most problematic injuries they currently have, 4 of them are to starting pitchers.  An outfielder joins them in this list of injuries that may not easily go away or create problems of a new kind.

1.RILEY GREENE – The team is building their roster around him and he put up the AL’s best stats for the month of May.  Last year, it was a broken foot caused by a pitch. Now it’s a stress fracture that is harder to diagnose and prevent in the future.  Jose Iglesias had stress fractures in both legs when he arrived in Detroit and missed an entire year.  The Tigers will need to determine whether Riley is more prone to breaking bones and if all those tremendous plays of hitting walls and making diving catches are a contributing factor.

2. JACKSON JOBE – He’s been diagnosed with spinal inflammation at only age 18 and expected to be out 3-6 months.  It is likely he will miss an entire season of pitching.  When he returns, he’s likely to be put back in an earlier program given that he will not have pitched for over a year.

3. CASEY MIZE – He has pitched only 188 innings in 3 years and hasn’t taken the mound in over a year.  He came to the Tigers with known arm and back injuries which have now both flared up again.  Immediately after having TJ surgery, he also had back surgery.  But as he tried to rehab this year, Mize was again shelved due to reoccurring back problems.  What was billed as a return to the roster this year has now become questionable.

4. EDUARDO RODRIQUEZ –  Diagnosed with a finger pulley rupture, recent examples point to pitchers being out for months, not weeks, in most cases.  This will definitely impact ERod’s trade value.  Will he come back and pitch again before the trade deadline?  And if so, will he regain his old form?  Will other teams be willing to acquire him not knowing how well he will pitch?  On the other hand, there’s an opportunity for Rodriguez to end up staying with the Tigers if the timing isn’t right for him.  For Detroit, it may end up being a blessing in disguise.

5. SPENCER TURNBULL – Is anyone surprised that the 15-day IL stint has turned into something longer?  Turnbull was scheduled to come off the IL awhile ago yet the latest news has him undergoing another MRI on his neck in another 10 days with no throwing program yet established.  This is going to take awhile, folks.  He’ll be 30 at the end of the season and due yet another arbitration-eligible salary despite having played only a handful of games this year and on the IL for all of 2022.  Free agency after next year so don’t be surprised that if he can’t recover this year, the Tigers will non-tender him.

There are a lot of question marks on this roster and Scott Harris won’t be able to continue to develop the strategy for moving forward without having to make some decisions about some of these players.  In either case, when you’ve got 4 starting pitchers who are questionable, a brand new plan will have to be put in place.  

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19 thoughts on “FIVE FOR FRIDAY”

  2. As one major league scout was recently quoted: “Draft bats and sign FA pitchers”. Pitchers are like thoroughbred horses, so many complex moving parts much can and eventually will go wrong. Shortstop Marcelo Mayer was just laying there in the draft when out turn came up, he’s now MLB rated #10 as a prospect…and AA took Jobe, makes one want to weep.

    Liked by 7 people

    • Mayer was just promoted to Double AA ball, and he has been moved up, most people rate him around #3 in top 100 prospect rankings. One of the worst draft moves ever made by the Tigers.

      Liked by 8 people

    • At the time of Mayer’s July 2021 amateur draft, AA was still in charge and Dave Littlefield was his Director of Player Development. I think deep down they knew they were not competent to develop position players and were afraid to draft anyone in the first round except a pitcher.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Taking any high school pitcher over Marcelo Mayer was sheer incompetence. And last year’s selection of Jace Jung over Zach Neto (who the Angles grabbed with the very next pick) doesn’t look good either. Neto is already the everyday shortstop on the Angels while Jung languishes in A ball….

      Liked by 2 people

  3. The silver linings that can be gleaned from all of these injuries are two-fold. #1 is the fact that Scott Harris has completely realigned the minor league system to mirror the MLB team’s activities so players will be more prepared to step in (when ready). #2 is the fact that, unlike AA, Harris is proving to be a “take action” PoBO within the limitations of his budget.

    Liked by 8 people

  4. Of course every injury effects the team but I do not see Jobe, Mize, Rodriquez and Turnbull in the Tigers future, either by way of trade, free agency or failure.

    Liked by 5 people

  5. Mize was an injury waiting to happen before they drafted him. Turnbull is a disappointment because many believe he had the best “stuff” on the staff just a couple years ago. ERod is just a fluke injury, gonna have to live with it.

    Liked by 7 people

  6. Maybe it’s my “good-old-days” mentality, but I just don’t remember the rash of injuries in baseball 60 years ago. Perhaps it’s the intensity and athleticism of the modern game. Don’t remember fielders in the 50’s making layout catches or pitchers pushing their arms to achieve maximum spin rates or wall-busting fast balls because they seemed to play within the limits of their bodies.

    Liked by 6 people

    • I think you are right. Also, Tommy John surgery has preserved the careers of countless players, but perhaps it has also encouraged players to push their arms far past what nature ever intended.

      Liked by 5 people

  8. I just can’t see Mize in the Tiger’s future. He’s been here 3 years and has only pitched long enough to have a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, with all his ailments, I can’t see anybody else chomping at the bit to get him!!

    Liked by 4 people

  9. Since the “No contact” rules were adopted a few years ago, I’d be interested in seeing how much the overall injuries have been reduced for the fielders. Also, it might be interesting to see if there has been a change in the infielder/ outfielder injury ratio since then.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Jobe is 20 years old, so I think if he takes 5 years to recover, we can still get some good pitching from him. As for Mize, I could see him becoming a middle reliever—someone to use for 2-3 innings, if that much. It is possible that both pitchers can be salvaged.

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  12. Stress fractures are pure overuse injuries. Maybe Greene has been actually pushing himself too hard and needs to rein it in a little, or change some of his workouts to lower impact.

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