Following the game tonight Eddie Bonine was optioned to Erie and Dane Sardhina was optioned to Toledo designated for assignment. Taking their places are Jeff Larish and Brandon Inge.
Inge of course is returning from the disabled list.
In the case of Bonine, he struggled his last 2 outings and his command was particularly good. With the All Star break coming up the Tigers won’t need a 5th starter for over a week so they are giving themselves an extra bat.
As for who will fill that 5th starter role, I’d guess it will be Zach Miner after the break. He was great in a 4 inning start for Toledo and will get at least one more start to further stretch his arm out prior to being needed.
Dontrelle Willis had his right knee examined by Dr. Steven Lemos as well as an MRI and the diagnosis is patellar tendinitis. Willis was given a cortisone injection to reduce inflammation and he was fitted for a brace to provide additional support. He will return to Lakeland later this week to resume his program.
Patellar tendinitis is commonly referred to as jumper’s knee. According to MayoClinic.com it results from overuse in that small tears develop in the tendons and the body can’t repair them quick enough. The primary treatment is rest and conservative therapy. While the cortisone shot should help with pain, it doesn’t help with the healing process and could weaken the tendon.
Dontrelle Willis was brought up from Lakeland to have his knee examined yet again. Willis has of course been “not right” all year long. He struggled with his control in the spring and it never got better before or after he slipped on the mound in Chicago culminating in a demotion to Class A Lakeland. Is it possible that Willis did more than hyperextend the knee and perhaps damaged the ACL?
Eddie Bajek of Detroit Tigers Thoughts believes this to be the case and he provides a pretty interesting theory. I’ve known Eddie online for several years and the guy isn’t a dummy. At the same time he’s a mechanical engineer and not an orthopod, nor does he have access to any test results. But the chronology and events around this, as well as some photographic evidence from Dontrelle’s Lakeland appearance don’t add up.
Willis experienced pain during his rehab assignment. He hopped around in each of his appearances and even solicited a visit from trainer Kevin Rand during his Oakland start. And yet the knee was deemed fine. If the knee is the source of his control problems in some respects it is reassuring that said problems could be correctable. But if the above is true that is pretty damning of the staff that it got this far.
Also, Rod and Mario mentioned during today’s broadcast that Ramon Santiago could be back for the Cleveland series. Going into tonight’s game (and he’s 0 for 2 as I write this), Santiago is 2 for 21 with 2 walks and 6 K’s with the Mud Hens. So he hasn’t found that stroke he had going with the Tigers earlier this season.
Of course Santiago’s return likely means that Michael Hollimon gets sent down. Hollimon has played well since some jitters in his first start in San Francisco.
So Miguel Cabrera slides into the clean-up spot with Magglio Ordonez hitting the disabled list. And promptly gets hurt himself. The diagnosis is hip flexor and the duration is day-to-day.
To add injury to injury, Pudge Rodriguez has spent the entire game grimacing and moving as if he is also in pain. This included a brief visit from trainer Kevin Rand early in the game.
Yeah, the kids have provided a nice lift filling it, but this is taking things to extremes.
Magglio Ordonez hits the disabled list with oblique issues. He joins Gary Sheffield and Brandon Inge to become the 3rd Tiger forced out of action by oblique issues. Whether this is a random clustering of bad luck, or an issue with the training regimen remains to be seen. Given that the Javair Gillete has been in charge of strength and conditioning the last several years without this being a recurring problem points me towards bad luck. But it is something worth monitoring and I’m sure it will be addressed.
As for the replacement, it will be Matt Joyce. The Tigers should still have enough pop in their lineup without Magglio, especially if Gary Sheffield can get going and Miguel Cabrera can get his numbers closer to his career line. But this unquestionably weakens the team as they play 7 of the next 13 games against the Twins.
The timing of the injury, aside from the Twins thing, is actually fortuitous. With an off day coming up next week and the All Star Break the following week, Ordonez could get 18 days of rest and only miss 13 games.
So maybe adding Gary Sheffield to the lineup won’t disrupt chemistry. Maybe the winning streak coinciding with Sheffield on the DL was coincidence and maybe he isn’t a cancer. And just maybe, the guy can still play.
I was amazed at the number of people who thought there was causation in that Sheffield being on the DL caused the team to play better. That it caused the rest of the offense to perform. That removing the DH from the bench helped the fielders field better and the pitchers pitch better. The team went 3-6 in the first 9 games when Sheffield hit the DL, but many forgot that.
Yes the team went 15-9 in Sheffield’s absence. They also went 10-4 when Clete Thomas was on the DL. They are 14-5 since Ramon Santiago hit the DL and and 14-4 since they lost Jeremy Bonderman. Not to mention the fact that Sheffield was with the team for the long homestand, just not playing. Yet it was Sheffield who was the problem? Continue reading I will not title this post “Shef is cooking”→
The oblique problem isn’t going away for Brandon Inge and he is now on the DL. Dane Sardhina’s contract was purchased from Toledo and he’ll back-up Pudge Rodriguez. I’d guess that Sardhina wouldn’t be put into the rotating catcher situation that Inge was in.
This will certainly limit some of Jim Leyland’s flexibility when it comes to late inning defensive replacements.
Sardhina is a career 222/263/337 hitter in the minors so this isn’t the ideal situation by any means. In retrospect putting Inge on the DL a week or so ago when the team had 2 off days would have been a better move. The Tigers don’t have an off day now until July 7th and there are 5 of those day-game-after-a-night-game situations between now and then. So Sardhina will get a handful of starts.
On a side note, my buddy Russ wondered that since Inge strained the oblique on a check swing, if it was a repetitive stress injury – kinda like carpal tunnel syndrome.
UPDATE: Sheffield has been reinstated and Larish has been optioned to Toledo.
There’s been no official word from the Tigers yet, but it appears that Gary Sheffield is Detroit bound. According to the Lakeland Ledger, Sunday’s game was Sheffield’s last rehab outing and he left to join the team.
During Sheffield’s rehab stint he only had 2 hits, both homers, in 13 at-bats. And in typical Sheffield fashion he drew 6 walks while striking out just once.
Presumably this would mean Jeff Larish is optioned back to Toledo. And hopefully this doesn’t impact Marcus Thames playing time.
(Hat tip to Kathy who posted this link in the comments)
Erie 5 Binghamton 4 Deik Scram, Wil Rhymes, and Dusty Ryan all had 2 hits including a homer for Ryan. Josh Rainwater allowed 4 runs, 2 of which were earned, in 6 innings.
Lakeland 2 Sarasota 8 Gary Sheffield struck out, flied out, and bounced out twice to second. Mike Bertram had the only extra base hit with a double. Ramon Garcia walked none and fanned 5 in 6.2 innings of 3 run ball.
West Michigan – DNP
Oneonta 8 Vermont 1 Keith Stein homered and singled. Carlos Ramirez also went yard. Luke Putkonen allowed just 3 hits and a walk while fanning 5 in 5 shut out innings. Tyler Stohr pitched a scoreless inning with 2 K’s.
Clete Thomas has been recalled from his rehab assignment. It has come at the expense of Brent Clevlen. Clevlen didn’t get the bat going, but he did play some slick defense in the outfield. Clevlen and Thomas are probably a push defensively, but Thomas carries a left handed stick which is probably the reason for the move. One would hope that this wouldn’t lead to more platooning of Marcus Thames.
Leyland was encouraged by what he saw from Clevlen saying
“I think Clevlen is really, really close to being a Major League player for sure.”
Joel Zumaya’s rehab assignment is finished. He was to throw for the Mud Hens today so he could work in back to back games, but they opted for a bullpen session instead of the noon start. Following the 14 pitch session Zumaya was on his way to the airport to meet the team in San Diego.
Now San Diego is his hometown having grown up in Chula Vista. That means he’ll be home for 3 days with the team not playing the Padres until Friday. Here’s hoping that he avoids any manual labor and calls in professionals if need be.
He won’t be activated of course until the Friday game, which means someone needs to go down. There are 3 bullpen pitchers with options in Freddy Dolsi, Zach Miner, and Casey Fossum(nice sleuthing Eddie) who could be candidates.
News, views, and analysis on the Detroit Tigers and baseball