Category Archives: Injuries

2010 Season, Injuries, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 04.26.2010

Toledo 10 Columbus 1
With a roster full of sluggers, the Tigers got some offense from unexpected sources. Mike Rabelo and Danny Worth each doubled, homered, and walked. Clete Thomas drew 2 walks and Jeff Frazier and and Max Leon each had 2 hits. Enrique Gonzalez allowed just the 1 unearned run on 6 hits, no walks and 5 strike outs. Scott Drucker pitched 2 scoreless innings needing only 18 pitches, 15 of which were strikes.

Jacob Turner to the DL

With only 1 game on the docket I was looking for something to add to the wrap. News that Jacob Turner has been put on the disabled list isn’t what I had in mind. The cause is forearm stiffness. The hope is that the Tigers are just being extra cautious and that this doesn’t turn into a case of “forearm stiffness begets tendinitis begets a visit to Dr. James Andrews begets rehab begets no improvement begets Tommy John surgery.”

Cory Hamilton gets called up from EST to fill in on the West Michigan roster.

2010 Season, Game Post, Injuries

Wins in unexpected places

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When your team turns to an emergency starter and you get a win, the aesthetics of such a win become irrelevant. Which is fortunate because this wasn’t exactly a pretty victory.

With Dontrelle Willis battling a stomach virus the Tigers turned to Brad Thomas to try and eat some innings. Thomas wasn’t good the first two innings. He either missed the strike zone or got hammered. Even factoring in an Austin Jackson misplay, you had the feeling that the Rangers should have scored more than 4 runs in the first 2 innings. But Thomas did manage to come out for a quick and painless 3rd inning.

The Tigers then got frisky in the 3rd and 4th innings. They strung together 3 hits, an RBI ground out to get the game within 1 run in the 3rd.

In the 4th inning it was Tigers patience and a screwy wild pitch that gave the Tigers the lead. Ramon Santiago scored from second on a pitch that went through Taylor Teagarden’s 5-hole.* That was enough for the lead, but the Tigers added some more runs as they batted around.

*Does anybody else remember another game in Texas where Nook Logan scored from first base on a wild pitch?

Bullpen Dominance

The story of this game though is probably the bullpen. Eddie Bonine followed Thomas and allowed just 2 baserunners in 3 innings while getting 9 ground ball outs. Bonine threw his knuckler 7 times, all for strikes and 2 resulted in ground outs.
Joel Zumaya was next and recorded 5 of his 6 outs with strike outs. Jose Valverde handled the 9th inning allowing just an infield single.

The final line for the pen was 6 innings, 3 singles, 1 walk, and 5 K’s.

Because Bonine and Zumaya in particular were able to chew up 5 innings, it means that the rest of the pen is available tomorrow.

  • The bullpen would have had one more hit surrendered were it not for a spectacular leaping grab by Jackson. It may be his best catch of the season.
  • Jackson did keep his strikeout streak alive. It’ll end some day.
  • I liked seeing the Tigers taking advantage of the defense and picking up 2 bunt hits. I hate the sacrifice, but love seeing a guy drop one down when the 3rd baseman is playing deep.
  • Adam Everett left the game with a hamstring strain.
  • Scott Sizemore didn’t play due to ankle soreness.
  • Johnny Damon’s hit streak extends to 11 and he reached base 4 times.
2010 Season, Injuries, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 04.24.2010

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Before moving into the run down of the box scores, the Tigers minor league system has been racking up their share of co-pays this week. Add in the Carlos Guillen injury and there is quite a bit of roster shuffling to cover.

Brennan Boesch of course was promoted to the Tigers to take Guillen’s spot. Clete Thomas is on the DL but is expected to be activated soon. Ryan Strieby’s wrist is acting up and so he went on the DL. Deik Scram was moved up from Erie to take Strieby’s place. Also, Ruddy Lugo was placed on the DL following last night’s scare. Fortunately it sounds like he will be okay.

Moving down to Erie they now had a spot that needed filling Christopher White is now a Seawolve.

Lakeland of course loses White, and they already have Daniel Fields in for Ben Guez (who went to Toledo when Thomas hit the DL). They also lost Lester Oliveros and Tyler Stohr to the DL this week. Chao Ting-Tang was added to the roster to be the team’s 3rd outfielder. Austin Wood and Robert Waite were added to fill the bullpen holes.

Now with Adam Everett leaving tonight’s game with a hamstring strain we’ll see if this all gets shuffled after tonight’s game.

Columbus 7 Toledo 1
Deik Scram made his Mud Hens debut and he doubled twice, pacing the offense. Phil Dumatrait was knocked out after 5 innings, 8 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks, and 1 strike out. Daniel Schlereth walked 2 and fanned 2 in 2 innings.

Erie 4 Altoona 3
Max St. Pierre hit his 3rd homer of the season and added 2 walks and a stolen base. Jon Kibler went 6.2 innings and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks.

Tampa 7 Lakeland 13
Luke Putkonen allowed 3 hits and 2 runs with 2 strike outs and was lifted in the second inning. While he was hit around, it seems like an early exit. Ralwey Bishop doubled, homered, and walked. Billy Nowlin and Alden Carrithers each had 3 hits. Andy Bouchie homered. Daniel Fields singled and doubled.

South Bend 3 West Michigan 0
Jade Todd struck out 7 and walked just 1 allowing 2 runs in 6 innings. The offense consisted of singles for Jamie Johnson, Wade Gaynor, and Avisail Garcia.

2010 Season, Injuries

Guillen to DL, Boesch is up

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With Carlos Guillen’s hamstring blowing up, he’ll be hitting the 15 day disabled list. This opens up a spot for Brennan Boesch who has been promoted from Toledo. Boesch will make his debut tonight in Arlington.

For those that read the Minor League Wraps Boesch’s name is very familiar. He’s been getting a daily mention due to his 379/455/621 line at Toledo. The left handed hitting outfielder just turned 25 earlier this month and was added to the 40 man roster during the offseason.

Boesch has huge power that finally materialized last year at Erie where he had 28 homers. Boesch has some holes in his offensive game in that he will strike out a lot (24% last year and 17 K’s already this year) and he doesn’t walk very much. But when he hits, he mashes. Don’t expect him to bunt or move runners over.

The loss of Guillen though is significant. While Jim Leyland has rotated numerous people in and out of the lineup this season, the Venezuelan heart of the order has remained intact. Presumably Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge would move into the 5th spot which takes away the lefty bat behind Cabrera.

Fortunately if the Tigers have any position of depth in the minors it is with outfielders. With Clete Thomas on the disabled list with a hamstring problem of his own, Boesch makes the most sense. If he struggles and Guillen is delayed the team can always turn to Casper Wells or Wilkin Ramirez as a stop gap as well.

2010 Season, Game Post, Injuries

Guillen holds hammy, Tigers hold on

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The Tigers finally got to a starting pitcher early. Unfortunately Detroit’s starting pitcher wasn’t on his game. Fortunately the Tigers bullpen earned a cumulative save getting the last 12 outs.

The Detroit lineup had no trouble getting to Joe Saunders. They hit, they moved people over, the bunted, the sacrifice flied, and they scored in the first 3 innings. When Adam Everett hit the flyball to left to plate a run it was the first 2nd inning run Detroit has scored this season.

On the other side Justin Verlander had significant issues controlling his offspeed pitches leading to all sorts of trouble. Mostly in the form of rapid pitch count escalation. The irony is that Verlander often becomes fastball happy when in trouble. Yet when the other pitches weren’t working for him against the Angels, he stayed away from the heater. Only 17 of his first 35 pitches were fastballs.

Credit needs to go to the Angels also who fouled off 35 pitches for the night.

Joel Zumaya, Phil Coke, Ryan Perry, and Jose Valverde did a terrific job locking down the game once Verlander was lifted. Seeing Zumaya come out for two innings the night after throwing 33 pitches makes me nervous given his history, but he did fine. As a group they allowed 5 baserunners and fanned 5 in 4 innings.

The bigger news in all this though is probably the injury to Carlos Guillen. Guillen’s hamstring popped as he was coming around to score (pictured above) and couldn’t make it to home plate. Guillen is hitting the disabled list, which is an unfortunate annual tradition.

  • The Tigers didn’t strikeout until Gerald Laird fanned with 2 outs in the 7th inning.
  • It looked like Austin Jackson’s strike out streak may end, but he went down swinging in his 4th at-bat.
  • Miguel Cabrera doubled in his 5th straight game. The last Tiger to do it was Frank Catalanotto in 1999.
2010 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Seay, Miner hit the DL

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The Tigers trimmed their roster down to 32 this morning with a couple of disabled list moves and other cuts. Most notable was the placement of Bobby Seay and Zach Miner on the 15 day disabled list.

Seay has been traveling from doctor to doctor in search of a diagnosis on his balky left arm (UPDATE: It’s a torn rotator cuff. There’s more info at the bottom of the post). Miner’s malady seems less dire but he won’t be ready for the beginning of the season. The moves do open up two spots on the active roster.

Miner’s long relief role could be the destination for the loser of the Nate Robertson-Dontrelle Willis-Jeremy Bonderman battle (assuming Robertson doesn’t get traded). Right handed reliever Robbie Weinhardt also remains in camp meaning he still has a shot. On the left side of things it would see to boost Brad Thomas’ chances of heading to Kansas City for the opener.

Daniel Schlereth, one of the lefties looking for a spot in the pen, was among those cut today. Scherleth was optioned along with Wilkin Ramirez to Toledo. Enrique Gonzalez, Phil Dumatrait, and Max St. Pierre were sent to minor league camp.

UPDATE: The injury to Bobby Seay is a torn rotator cuff. The plan is for Seay to try and rehab the injury and avoid surgery if at all possible. While the Tigers have other lefty options, it really is a blow to Seay who is a free agent after this year and will likely have his open market value severely hampered due to the injury.

2009 Season, Injuries

Inge has his surgery

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The Detroit Tigers announced third baseman Brandon Inge underwent surgery on Tuesday to address the chronic patellar tendinitis in both of his knees that plagued him throughout the 2009 season, a procedure performed by Dr. Stephen Lemos at the Detroit Medical Center.

The procedure involved the debridement and repair of the patellar tendon in both his left and right knees.

Inge will be non-weight bearing for the first six weeks as he regains full range of motion. At that time, he will begin a strengthening and rehabilitation program to prepare him for Spring Training and the 2010 season.

According to the projected timetable, Inge is expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training in February.

Inge had a great start to the season and rode that hot start to an unexpected All Star game invitation. But his second half numbers were abysmal. On July 2nd Inge was sporting a robust 275/367/521 line spanning his first 77 games. Over his next 84 games he’d only muster a 189/266/309 line. The knees, which started acting up in mid June, were often blamed for Inge’s second half slide.

2009 Season, Injuries

Sizemore needs surgery

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The early encouraging returns on Scott Sizemore’s broken tibia have been replaced with a cringe inducing MRI report. During his examination today, it was determined that the injury will require surgery.

Sizemore told John Lowe and the Freep:

“The torn tendons cause instability in the ankle,” Sizemore said. “They are going to put in a few screws to lock everything into place.”

The team isn’t commenting yet. It looked like a sure thing that Sizemore, the Tigers likely second baseman in 2010, would be fully healed in a matter of weeks and the injury would be a non-factor by February. The prognosis isn’t dire at this point, but there is a possibility he won’t be all the way back by the time players report to Lakeland.

Based on the information available in the Free Press article, Baseball Prospectus injury guru Will Carroll said in an email:

“My guess is he’ll be back for ST, but maybe not 100% while he figures out the ankle. It depends on how he heals. It shouldn’t be too much of a long term issue. I’ve never seen a 2B with this, so it’s tough to judge.

Color me cautiously optimistic

Tigers prospect Scott Sizemore needs surgery | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com

2009 Season, Injuries, Minors

Sizemore leaves AFL game with injury

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Latest Update: Sizemore has a fractured tibia and is on his way to Detroit

Scott Sizemore, the heir apparent at second base left today’s game in the first inning due to an injury. He was trying to turn a double play when a hard slide by Danny Espinosa caused both players to exit. What we know right now is that Sizemore’s injury is to his left leg but I hope to know more shortly.

Mark Anderson’s sources say it is an ankle with no confirmation on severity

On a brighter note Casper Wells hit a 2-2 Stephen Strasburg curve ball out to left center for a grand slam.

2009 Season, Injuries

Is it time for Ni-Lyon?

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Bobby Seay, the Tigers primary lefty out of the pen is hurting. Gerald Laird called for trainer Kevin Rand to visit the mound after he saw something amiss in one of Seay’s pitches last night. Seay didn’t immediately leave the game, but he did after allowing a single to Travis Hafner. Now Seay is on his way to the MRI machine.

Seay, part of the Seay-Lyon tandem who have been so efficient at turning leads over from the starter to Fernando Rodney is likely unavailable today and until the results of his MRI are back is status is uncertain.

Fu-Te Ni is the only other southpaw in the pen. Ni has done a very nice job and is one of the more underrated signings from the offseason. It’s likely that Ni would continue to hold his own in an elevated role. He’s only allowed 2 of the 25 runners he’s inherited to score and the opposition is hitting .196 against him. But as is often the case, it’s the cascade effect that is more worrisome.

The Tigers will likely add another lefty to the pen, and as Kurt points out that will most likely be Clay Rapada. Rapada doesn’t seem to have earned the club’s confidence, but he will likely fill in as the early LOOGY.

2009 Season, Injuries, Pitching

Eddie Bonine is your 5th starter

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Flashback a week. The Tigers had a big lead in the division and they were surging. Nate Robertson had turned in two solid performances. Jarrod Washburn’s troubles were optimistically assigned to a sore knee that would hopefully be better with a little rest. Armando Galarraga’s struggles were tied to elbow inflammation and with a little rest there was reason to think he wouldn’t be awful. This would be great news to have potentially 6 starters down the stretch with a big lead and 3 key cogs to the rotation having worked more than they ever had and looking for rest. Oh well. It was a good thought at the time.

Robertson has since gone down with pelvic inflammation. Washburn’s knee isn’t better. Galarraga’s elbow isn’t better. And so what may have been 6 is now 3. Washburn will search for effectiveness in the rotation and Eddie Bonine has been promoted to 5th starter for the remainder of the season.

Now remainder of the season could be 1 start, the actual remainder of the season, or something in between. Jim Leyland has been known to make decrees before only to change his mind a week later – at least he isn’t stubborn in that regard. The duration of Bonine’s spot is probably equally contingent on Bonine’s effectiveness and the health of Robertson and Galarraga. Though I suspect that Galarraga returning to the rotation would be a stretch at this point.

Robertson’s problem flared up after his start against Cleveland and he had hoped to make it through 5 innings against the Blue Jays, but it didn’t work so well. Still, if he can get back quickly he could find a spot as a starter.

The bigger downside of all the shuffling has to do with not just the potential effectiveness or ineffectiveness of injured and replacement players, but the increased importance that Verlander/Jackson/Porcello starts take on down the stretch. Extra rest or skipped spots don’t look to be an option for any of the 3 over the last 3 weeks of the season. And with a potential playoff spot and additional innings coming for all 3 pitchers that has to be a concern. Then again, just add it to the list.