Category Archives: Injuries

2008 Season, Injuries, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap & Rehab Report: 6-16-08

Syracuse 2 Toledo 5
Joel Zumaya pitched 1 inning, allowing 2 hits and an unearned run, but he walked no one and fanned 2. Clete Thomas is playing again and was a triple short of the cycle with 2 stolen bases so the ankle is probably okay. Chris Lambert fanned 6 in 6 innings while only allowing 1 run on 4 hits.

Erie DNP

Lakeland 3 Sarasota 2 (11 innings)
Gary Sheffield hit 3rd and DH’d tonight. He flew out twice and walked before being lifted for a pinch hitter. I’m not sure if he aggravated something or if it was part of the plan. Brennan Boesch had 4 hits and Ryan Strieby had 3. Duane Below allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk in 7 innings while striking out 3. Jay Sborz pitched 3 perfect innings of relief.

Wesst Michigan DNP

2008 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Rodney activated, Lopez to Toledo

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So that’s one decision. Fernando Rodney is back with the team and Aquilino Lopez was sent to Toledo. But the demotion is with a plan. They are going to try and stretch Lopez out into a starters role. This comes as a little bit of a surprise to me, because I didn’t think that Lopez had an option. I thought he would need to be removed from the 40 man roster, meaning he’d need to go through waivers.

Lopez has started before, but not since the 2002 season when he made 11 starts for Tacoma in the PCL. He has turned in several solid long relief outings, most notable was a 4 inning, 3 hit effort against the White Sox.

Color me surprised though that the Tigers would be in a position this season to send out a reliever who is striking out better than 3 batters for every batter he walks.

UPDATE; Just received confirmation that Lopez had an option left. He’s still on the 40 man and wasn’t exposed to waivers.

2008 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Junkballing: No shortage of news

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I’ve got to give this Tigers team credit for one thing. There’s no shortage of news. Last week I tried to put together a timeline of all the announcements and news coming out of Jim Leyland’s office. I couldn’t get it legible at less than 1200 pixels wide. And that was before all the news from the last week.

Vance Wilson

Wilson received awful news in that he needs to do Tommy John times 2. His contract with the Tigers is up this year and with a 12 month recovery period, he is done as a Tigers player and may be facing retirement. He’s well respected in the Tigers organization and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Wilson back in another capacity in a few years. Best wishes to Vance.

Roster moves: Rapada

Clay Rapada was optioned to Toledo to make room for Eddie Bonine. This isn’t a merit based demotion but a matter of the guy with options getting sent down. It’s something we may see again next week when Rodney and Zumaya return. Dolsi could be one of the guys out based on contract status. Fossum, Seay, Bautista, and Lopez are all out of options.

Granderson’s struggles

Detroit Tiger Tales takes a look at Curtis Granderson’s struggles. He finds among other things that Granderson is taking a lot of pitches, both out of and in the strike zone and it’s possible he’s being to passive. That’s something I could buy, and his timing seems to be off as well with a lot of ball popped up to the left side. I trace it back to the Tim Wakefield game. Look at his gamelogs and see what happens from May 6th onwards. It’s a 554 OPS with only 4 walks. Right now his OBP is the same as Pudge’s.

Zumaya-Rodney updates

I think I spied Joel Zumaya in the Tigers dugout last night. But he is experiencing some soreness in his side. If everything goes as planned he’ll pitch tonight, and then back to back on Monday and Tuesday with a possible return to the team for the San Diego series.

As for Rodney, he had a terrific outing for the Mud Hens last night and will be back Monday provided he feels alright today.

Spit balls

2008 Season, Injuries

All the injury updates

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An update on four of the fallen Tigers and their progress:

Joel Zumaya

Jim Leyland said that if everything goes right Joel Zumaya could join the team on the next west coast swing when they get to San Diego, which is Zumaya’s hometown.

Of course I don’t know if tonight’s rehab outing is an indication of everything going right. In his first innning he allowed a walk, a single, and a line out but he also fannned a batter and hit 100 mph on the stadium gun. In his second inning of work he made a throwing error on a grounder and then allowed a double and a walk before being lifted.

Fernando Rodney

Rodney was back in Detroit working with Chuck Hernandez. He has another rehab outing on Friday and could be ready to join the team on the flight to San Francisco.

Jeremy Bonderman

Bonderman will be evaluated by Dr. Greg Pearl who did the Kenny Rogers surgery last year. At that point he’ll find out whether or not he needs a rib removed. Rogers is confident that Bonderman will be better off after having the procedure.

Gary Sheffield

Sheffield is ready to begin doing baseball stuff again. Let’s hope his shoulder has healed.

2008 Season, Game Post, Injuries, Roster Management

Game 62: Indians at Tigers

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PREGAME:: The Tigers are going for something rare, back to back wins. They did it once on the 9 game road trip and, well that’s it. Today it is replacement starters, turned regular starters, Jeremy Sowers and Armando Galarraga.

The Tigers have a 1 game winning streak on Sundays this year.

Renteria remains in the leadoff role, but Granderson returns to the lineup in the 9 spot. Clevlen starts in right field with Raburn sitting today and Ordonez DH’ing.

Also, the club has activated Clay Rapada who will assume Bonderman’s place on the 25 man roster.

CLE @ DET, Sunday, June 8, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

GameTime 1:05

POSTGAME: Wow. That was a pretty complete effort. Some early offense. Some add on runs. Some two-out hitting. A nice starting pitching effort. Good bullpen-ing, save for those 3 batters that Zach Miner put on base (which just made getting out of the inning all the more exciting).

Placido Polanco snapped a mini-slump with a couple hits. Miguel Cabrera built on his big RBI last night by knocking in the first run of the game today and adding a double. Man it would be nice if he really got going. And Granderson even homered off a left hander.

Galarraga threw strikes, and did so consistently up until he fell 1 out shy of a quality start after a couple walks. Casey Fossum shaved over 100 points off his ERA and Todd Jones had a 1-2-3 9th inning.

I’m not going to make too big of a deal when a win moved you to “only” 10 games below .500. But a win is a win.

2008 Season, Injuries

Jeremy Bonderman out for season

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Jeremy Bonderman is officially out for the season due to circulatory problems in his shoulder.

Bonderman was examined yesterday at the Detroit Medical Center and it was determined he has a blood clot of the axillary vein due to thoracic outlet compression syndrome. Bonderman underwent a thromblysis last night, followed by an angioplasty this morning at the Detroit Medical Center, performed by Dr. Monte Harvill under the supervision of team physician Dr. Stephen Lemos. He will undergo further examination of his condition at a later date.

This is devastating news for a team that has been pretty much devastating. A corresponding roster move hasn’t been announced yet. Aquilino Lopez is expected back from bereavement leave shortly, and in the interim Toledo is at home this weekend if the need arises.

This is a pretty serious condition and if it sounds familiar you can look to Kenny Rogers last year. While it is terrible news as it relates to the season, in the scope of shoulder discomfort this is probably relatively good news long term. There isn’t talk of labrums or rotator cuffs which provide bigger challenges.

Best wishes to Jeremy on his recovery.

2008 Season, Injuries

Bonderman headed for DL?

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Danny Knobler, now of national baseball writing fame, reports that Jeremy Bonderman is experiencing shoulder pain.

After reporting some discomfort around his right shoulder, Bonderman went to see a doctor this afternoon. The Tigers weren’t sure what’s wrong, but two club sources said he would be checked for a possible circulation problem in the shoulder. The Tigers made no announcement before or after tonight’s game against Cleveland, but Bonderman isn’t expected to make his scheduled start Sunday, and will likely be placed on the disabled list.

Bonderman has had elbow problems in the past, but never issues with the shoulder. His velocity has been down, but he’s found a way to pitch through it lately. I guess this would help to alleviate that whole Willis versus Galarraga situation though. Argh.

2008 Season, Injuries, Minors

Middle infield depth takes a hit

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Ramon Santiago dislocated his shoulder on a diving play today and appears headed to the disabled list. I have to believe that Mike Hollimon would have his contract purchased to be the new utility infielder. At the same time, Lakeland second baseman Scott Sizemore is hitting the DL after injuring his wrist swinging.

The Santiago news is disappointing – and this is from someone who was stumping for Hollimon to make the team over Santiago this winter. Santiago had been playing better than I would have ever expected hitting 353/476/618 in limited playing time going into today. This afternoon he added another walk and one of the Tigers 3 hits. I know small sample sizes and all, but he’d looked very good.

Hollimon stuck in big league camp this spring until he had a sublaxation of his shoulder. He got a late start to his season. He’s not hitting for a lot of average with a 253/325/552 line, but he does have 12 homers and is a switch hitter.

2008 Season, Injuries, Minors

Tigers Minor League & Rehab Wrap – 6-3-08

Toledo 7 Louisville 2
A lot going on with the Hens today. Brent Clevlen homered twice and picked up an IBB. Fernando Rodney made a rehab appearance and pitched 2 innings allowing a hit and two walks and fanning 1. Denny Bautista also pitched a perfect inning, and that’s pitching on back to back days. I’d expect him back this week. And the Toledo starter was Lauren Gagnier who was brought over from West Michigan to take Casey Fossum’s spot tonight. He allowed 2 runs in 4 innings on 4 hits, 5 walks, and 5 K’s.

Erie 1 Portland 8
Max Leon doubled, one of only 3 hits for the Seawolves. Jon Connolly allowed 6 runs in 4 innings on 9 hits, 3 walks, and 1 strikeout.

Sarasota 10 Lakeland 8 (10 innings)
Joel Zumaya pitched 2 scoreless innings with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout. Brennan Boesch was 4 for 6 with a triple. Cale Iorg was 1 for 3 with 3 walks. James Skelton doubled twice, walked twice, and singled.

West Michigan 5 Dayton 2 (6 innings – rain)
Audy Ciriaco had 2 doubles and 3 RBI. Andrew Hess was the fill in starter with Gagnier bumping up to AAA. He allowed 2 runs on 2 walks, 2 K’s, and 3 hits in 4 innings.

2008 Season, Injuries

Rodney, Zumaya report to minors on Tuesday

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It’s been written about for the last few days, but the team made it official today. Righthanded pitchers Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya are both scheduled to begin an injury rehab assignment on Tuesday, June 3.

Rodney will be assigned to Triple A Toledo, while Zumaya will be assigned to Single A Lakeland.

With Rodney being assigned to the Mud Hens, it seems that he could be back within a week or two. I’d guess that Zumaya is more likely to use closer to the full month allotted as he rebuilds arm strength.