Category Archives: Injuries

2007 Season, Injuries

Rodney DL’d again

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Well, that’s one way to make room for Nate Robertson. Fernando Rodney is headed to the DL with shoulder tendinitis.

Rodney was on the DL a month ago with what was described as right biceps tendinitis. He came back in two weeks, and he has pitched eight times since then with mixed results. His velocity has remained inconsistent, and when Rodney reported this week that he was feeling some stiffness in his right forearm in addition to the tightness in his shoulder, the Tigers sent him for an MRI. The MRI showed no serious problems, but the doctors diagnosed tendinitis and recommended that Rodney go 10 days without throwing.

I imagine so combination of Bobby Seay, Chad Durbin, and Tim Byrdak will assume 8th inning duties with a chance of Eulogio De La Cruz.

2007 Season, Injuries, Pitching, Roster Management

Pitching news – rotation set for Atlanta

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Rod and Mario kept talking about Jim Leyland mentioning that changes were a-comin’ with the pitching staff. I’m sure that much of that has to do with injuries – or recovery from injuries – but a fraction has to do with performance.

We know that Kenny Rogers is back on Friday night. We now know that Andrew Miller will pitch on Sunday night in Atlanta. But beyond that we don’t know much. Either Chad Durbin or Mike Maroth will pitch the beginning of the homestand.

We also know that Zach Miner and Nate Robertson will be donning Erie Seawolves uniforms for rehab. Miner will pitch an inning tonight and make a couple of appearances. Nate Robertson will start on Thursday.

We also know that a spot a spot on the 25 man roster will need to be made for Kenny Rogers and that could be any reliever that’s not Todd Jones or Fernando Rodney or it could be Mike Maroth if he is traded. Rogers is on the 60 day DL, and will need to be “added” to the 40 man roster. But there is a spot available with Jose Mesa’s departure plus Vance Wilson could be moved to the 60 as well.

2007 Season, Injuries, Minors, Players

Vance Wilson done for the year, Roman Colon suspended

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Not much in the way of good news for the Tigers today with Vance Wilson undergoing surgery and Roman Colon undergoing suspension.

Vance Wilson

So Vance Wilson finally gets a multi-year deal, and he’s going to spend the bulk of it on the DL. After spending 2 1/2 months trying to rehab his elbow, he underwent Tommy John surgery today. He will be out for 9 to 12 months.

Fortunately Mike Rabelo has proven to be a reliable back-up. Unfortunately, that’s one more element of depth that isn’t available. Let’s hope Rabelo and Pudge can stay healthy.

Roman Colon

I can’t imagine that Roman Colon had a lot of margin for error. So an off field altercation that results in injury probably did nothing to enhance his chances on the team, even one desperate for bullpen help. He’ll be suspended for 7 days.

I figured that the Tigers were hoping Colon could be a no-cost option to at least give a try in the bullpen, and possibly one of the reasons the Tigers have waited to make a trade. Eulogio De La Cruz may be the benefactor of this incident, as he’s strung together 3 good outings in a row for Toledo.

UPDATE: The Freep has more on the incident, which took place in the clubhouse. It appears that Virgil Vasquez, Kevin Hooper, and Jordan Tata all played different roles, but Jason Karnuth paid the biggest price with what amounts to a broken face. Colon was the only one suspended and had this to say:

“I should not be the only one suspended,” Colon said. “Why would I be suspended when they were calling me a (expletive) to my face?”

Asked why he believes he was the only player suspended, Colon said, “When they called people into the office to ask what happened in the fight, there were no Latino people in there. So, I was alone.”

Nice knowing you Roman. At least Zach Miner has panned out from the Kyle Farnsworth trade.

2007 Season, Injuries, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 6/10/07

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Norfolk 0 Toledo 1 (8th inning in progress)
With The Sopranos about to start, I’m cheating and writing this one up before it ends. But really, you’re just wondering how Kenny Rogers did anyways. Rogers went 3 2/3 and allowed 3 hits, no runs, no walks, and fanned 2. Two of the hits were singles, and the other was a double. So as long as he feels okay tomorrow, he’ll likely make his next start at West Michigan this weekend. Chris Shelton had 2 doubles for the offense.

New Hampshire 5 Erie 13
Clete Thomas picked up 3 hits and Andres Torres doubled and tripled. Kody Kirkland continued his solid hitting with 2 more doubles today. Jon Connolly allowed 4 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks over 5 1/3 innings with 7 K’s.

Lakeland 5 Sarasota 11 7th inning in progress
Again, invoking The Sopranos rule here. Wilkin Ramirez knocked his 6th homer and added another hit. Lucas French was rocked for 7 runs on 3 homers in 5 1/3 innings. Paul Hammond allowed 4 runs, 3 earned, and retired nobody.

West Michigan 2 Dayton 3 11 innings
Only 5 singles for the Whitecaps offense today. Brennan Boesch had one of them plus 3 walks. Eleazar Aponte allowed 2 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks and 8 K’s over 6 innings.

2007 Season, Injuries, Minors

Rogers to make rehab start on Sunday

Kenny Rogers will make a rehab start for the Toledo Mud Hens on Sunday. This has been suspected for a few days, but it became official this afternoon. It’s probably not coincidence at all that he’ll be making the start the same day that Andrew Miller is starting in Detroit. That way, provided success in his rehab outings, Rogers can slide into that spot if Nate Robertson isn’t ready to go. Of course with an off day on Monday things could still be juggled.

2007 Season, Injuries

Vance Wilson done for the year?

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Well, it’s a good thing that Mike Rabelo has been playing well, because it doesn’t look like Vance Wilson is coming back soon – if at all. He aggravated his arm injury while playing long toss on a rehab assignment. Wilson believes it may require season ending surgery.

Rabelo has been very solid both defensively and with the bat. For the season he’s hitting 286/305/357. He started the season 0 for 13, and has been hitting 372/378/465 since then.

2007 Season, Injuries, Minors

Zach Miner to the DL

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Jeez. Another pitcher on the DL This time it is Zach Miner with elbow tendinitis. According to Danny Knobler the injury isn’t serious, but rather than be short handed in the pen for a few days, the Tigers are using the DL to get another arm up.

In fact, this time it’s 2 arms in Yorman Bazardo and Aquilino Lopez. One of the two will be sent down prior to Sunday when Andrew Miller will officially be called up.

Bazardo was acquired from Seattle in exchange for minor leaguer Jeff Frazier in the offseason. Bazardo is a right hander who will turn 23 next month. In 11 starts for Toledo he has a 3.77 ERA. His K rate is a rather pedestrian 4.9 per 9 innings and his walk rate is similarly unimpressive at 3.6 per 9. Where he excels is keeping the ball down. He’s picked up twice as many ground outs as fly outs and only allowed 1 homer on the season.

2007 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Nate Robertson to the DL – Andrew Miller’s in

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The big question, that got even bigger after last night’s shellacking was “what’s wrong with Nate Robertson?” The question hasn’t been answered yet, but he is being sent to the DL with a tired arm. He’ll miss two turns in the rotation at a minimum and can’t come back until June 22nd. (just about the same time that Kenny Rogers may be ready)

The bigger news is that Andrew Miller will be starting in his stead. Jim Leyland said the team will likely recall a reliever until Sunday, at which point Miller will be added to the rotation. Miller has been lights out since being promoted to Erie where he posts a 0.59 ERA over 30 2/3 innings with 24 K’s and 5 walks.

Robertson swears nothing is wrong, but is heading for additional tests regardless.

My take is that these moves need to happen for a variety of reasons. Robertson hasn’t really been helping the team for the better part of a month, and Miller really can’t do worse and should do better than an injured Robertson. Miller is dominating at AA and had a successful debut. I don’t think they are rushing him.

The upside is that for a least a few weeks this will quell talk of moving him to the pen, or moving him to the rotation to move Maroth/Durbin to the pen. Neither move I was a fan of. Putting him in the pen at this point in the season does nothing to strengthen his arm and build up his stamina for next year when he will need to be a member of the rotation for a full season.

In terms of flip-flopping Maroth/Durbin and Miller it would probably cause a lot of short term grief for something that couldn’t be sustained over the course of a season. Once Miller would hit his inning limit in mid to late August, one of them would have to come back to the rotation. Miller won’t be allowed to throw 190 innings this year, it just won’t and shouldn’t happen. Plus with Maroth’s propensity for the long ball, I don’t know that I’d want him as a reliever anyways.

2007 Season, Injuries, Players, Roster Management

Mesa released

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Yeah, I’m kind of late on this, but the news came down during my journey home from Cleveland.

The Mesa signing was kind of a mystery at the time. I guess the Tigers were hoping to get some better than replacement level bullpen depth. What they got was a whole lot less. I think Mesa’s stay was extended with the injuries to Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya, but he couldn’t do anything with the extra chances.

I’m thrilled that the Tigers are going to stick with the guys who have been performing well, and that Fernando Rodney will be back to stabilize the 8th inning.

Injuries, Roster Management

Coping

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As the injuries mount in the Tigers bullpen, the best the Tigers can hope for is to get by. Joel Zumaya still has another 8 weeks or so on the shelf, and while Fernando Rodney’s injury isn’t expected to be serious the Tigers won’t have him for a couple weeks. Now Jason Grilli probably won’t even be able to help for a few days at least. The way I figure there are 3 ways they can survive until they start to get some key arms back. Continue reading Coping →