From Danny Knobler’s blog:
The Tigers say it’s nothing serious, but Mike Maroth has a tender left elbow and isn’t going to start tomorrow against the Tribe.
“We’re just being precautionary,” Jim Leyland said.
Cautious or not, a sore elbow this early in the year scares me, especially from a pitcher that has been very durable his first 3 years. I know I was worried about the Tigers playing in the World Baseball Classic getting injured, but this is the 3rd situation to develop already (Monroe and Young are the others) – and the WBC hasn’t even started.
If these truly aren’t serious, they won’t make the slightest difference in the W/L columns, but we all know that our boys will need a few good breaks to make any real noise, so this isn’t a very heartwarming start.
On the other hand, all of the injuries have been basically minor, and I’d rather they happen now than mid-May or so.
The sooner they happen, the more opportunities for them to be aggravated
Fourth situation – don’t forget Dingman.
Personally, I like this plan. We’re getting all the injuries out of the way early so we’ll be ready for the stretch run. That Leyland’s a smart old fox.