Andrew Miller’s hamstring injury has landed him on the 15 day DL. Fernando Rodney was recalled from his rehab assignment and will take Miller’s spot in the rotation. Presumably Chad Durbin or Zach Miner would take Miller’s place in the rotation.
Andrew Miller has amassed 131 innings between the minors and the majors this year. I didn’t expect him to be pitching much beyond this point in his first full year of professional ball, so I don’t think this loss will be as great as it first seems. True, they have to replace his production in the rotation, but that was something I thought they would need to be doing later this month anyways. Who knows, maybe this will actually give his arm a little time and extend his season.
As for Miller’s outing last night, the 4th inning seemed to take a toll on him as he amassed 36 pitches, and only 8 of those topped 91mph.
As for Rodney, I thought it was curious that the Tigers were adamant that he perform well in Toledo before bringing him back. He hadn’t done well enough prior to Miller’s injury and yet now he’s ready? I know that sometimes you have to improvise, but the team was content being a reliever short last night with Chad Durbin not available. If they thought he wasn’t ready 24 hours ago, and he didn’t pitch last night, what makes him more ready tonight?
If Miner or Durbin were to be in the rotation that would leave it with a single lefty in Nate Robertson. That is assuming they leave Jordan Tata in for a few more starts to fill in for Kenny Rogers.
This loss is truly disappointing. 🙁
While I still think Miller is the best 5th starter option if and when he comes back, since the Tigers didn’t pick up any bullpen help i wouldn’t scream if they put him the pen as a one inning guy or a lefty specialist, (7/50 .140). Now whether him pitching , say 20-25 innings in 18 or so bullpen appearances over the last 40 games is less stressful on his arm–with all the getting up and sitting down–versus 45-47 innings over another 8 starts -averaging 5-6 innings a start– I will leave up to people who know more about arms and pitching.
Bonderman threw 180ish innings at the same age–and yes i know it wasn’t his first full year in the pros so the comparison is less than perfect–so i wouldn’t be for pushing him past 170-175 innings this year UNLESS the playoffs/world series is on the line. If, and I’m not being a spoil sport here, the Tigers are eliminated, I’d shut him down right away. He’s earned incalculable experience at the major league level, has pitched decently–very rookie-like in spasms of greatness and awfulness–and we should be confident about his 08 prospects of winning 13-15 games.
As for bilfer’s comment above on bringing up Rodney, do we dare say the reason is “panic”?
I don’t know if it’s panic, but I hear Dombrowski is trying to exhume the bones of Aurelio Lopez.
Adam Dumbwright (sp?) is alive and kicking.
why, in looking at the performance of the team does everyone focus only on the performance of the players? There’s more that affects the performance of the team beyond just the players.