April 19: Manager AJ Hinch said in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this morning that Manning’s initial diagnosis is “as positive as it could be” (Twitter link via Jason Beck of MLB.com). Imaging revealed that Manning is dealing with inflammation and some tendinitis, but the shoulder appears to be structurally sound. The Tigers have not determined whether Manning will make his next start but surely breathed a sigh relief nevertheless upon learning that there’s no major damage.
April 16: The Tigers have dealt with more than their share of injuries in this young season, and they may have suffered another today. Matt Manning was pulled early from his start with right shoulder discomfort, the team announced. This comes just a day after fellow young starter Casey Mize was placed on the injured list with a sprained MCL.
Beyond their young starters, the Tigers already began the season without Riley Greene, one of the top prospects in the game. Only recently, offseason acquisition Javier Baez was also placed on the injured list.
Manning and Mize together represent one of the primary reasons the Tigers are viewed by many as a team to watch this season. Losing both this early in the season would be a gut punch. Not to mention, they are already without Spencer Turnbull, whose career was on the upswing before Tommy John surgery knocked him out of commission.
As for Manning himself, the 24-year-old former ninth overall pick made 18 starts last season, putting down a a 5.80 ERA/4.62 FIP over 85 1/3 innings. Today was just his second start of the young season, having tossed six innings of one-run baseball in his season debut against the Red Sox.
For today at least, Drew Hutchison stepped in for Manning, tossing three scoreless innings of one-hit relief. Hutchison could be a candidate to stay in the rotation, should Manning require a stint on the injured list. Michael Pineda is already expected to join the rotation in Mize’s place. The 31-year-old Hutchison is in his second season with the Tigers. He notched a 2.11 ERA over 21 1/3 innings last season in what was his first big league action since 2018.
Not good
Now those hopes for competing in the weak central are fading. Not sure they have the depth required for the long haul, with these 2 main pieces down it’s gonna be a long road. Hopefully Baez can bounce back from injury and keep those tigers fans entertained! What cheapish veteran starters are still out there?
“Weak A.L. Central”???? White Sox are the best team in the American League!
LOL!
At the moment.
Ya because the AL Central is a pretty week division.
Yeah because the Tigers went 3-3 against the Yankees last year
and they are even better than they were last year!
Tigers fans are going to start sounding like Mets fans soon…. Although Baez did come from the Mets, so maybe it is contagious.
Last I checked, the Mets led the league in ERA despite being down the best pitcher in the league plus Walker. Pipe down.
Wentz and Faedo may be in the mix soon enough. Peralta and Pineda are definitely needed ASAP. Maybe Beau Brieske?
Baez with a thumb injury. If it’s the hyperextended kind there’s often ligament surgery involved at some point. Which hand? Some guys can play with it for a while.
Kreidler might be in Motown pretty soon too. Please not Zack Short or Jack Lopez.
I am not sold on the young core of talent the Tigers have put together the past few years while rebuilding. Not enough depth with young talent either. Haven’t seen any of their young talent who I would call a surefire stud. Yeah I saw Torkelson. Casey Mike?? #1 overall pick. No better than a #4 starter? Kansas City is putting together a nice stockpile of young talent. Not sure anymore what Minnesota is doing. Used to be such a well-run franchise. Not gonna win with that pitching. Buxton is made out of glass. Cleveland is always a threat to be relevant because you never know what stud pitchers they are gonna pull up out of that farm system.
We’re not sold on you being a competent evaluator of baseball talent.
You definitely are not a talent evaluator.
Yes …. I am an evaluator of both baseball and basketball talent.
I’ll bet Barry has never heard of Beau Brieske, Cristian Santana, or Roberto Campos. Maybe not even Jackson Jobe, Ty Madden or Dylan Smith. The Tigers are going to be relevant for a decade.
Familiar with them all. Detroit still has a lot of questions in terms of pitching. Not blown away by any of these guys. I don’t see a Scherzer. I am seeing future #3, #4, and #5 starters and not #1 or #2 types. Most of your dudes like Smith, Jobe and Santana are really, really young and you don’t know what you have yet.
You realize that in 2010 & 2011, many didn’t see Scherzer in Scherzer either. Most saw his ceiling as MAYBE a #2. But it’s easy to be a genius with 20/20 hindsight. Thank you for your evaluation prowess.
what percentage of pitching prospects become Max Scherzer?
True, but I also don’t see a Juan Soto or Mike Trout in this group. As for closer, I also don’t see a Mariano Rivera nor is there a slugger the caliber of Hank Aaron.
You don’t need to have a Soto or Trout to win pennants (ask the Angels) but Torkelson and Greene (when he shows up) are going to be similar to Paul Goldschmidt and Michael Brantley respectively IMHO. I’ll take that.
As for Rivera, nobody has one of him and even the Yankees failed to win pennants in 13 of his 18 years. You don’t have to frow your own closer. They’re all over the place….for a price.
I think KCR is putting together a very good team without the fanfare DET is getting. Even without injuries, DET is building a mediocre team. Those pitchers they developed are not as good as they are hyped to be.
Royals didn’t do much against Mize, Skubal and Manning. Tork is a stud and Greene is going to be even better. Meadows was a solid pickup as well
I was telling someone over a group text that the biggest question with the Tigers this season would be their young pitchers. Rodriguez was not the best signing to lead that young pitching rotation like the Royals did with Greinke with the Royals’ young pitchers. As a White Sox fan I am more afraid of the Royals than the Twins or Tigers to compete with the White Sox for the next few seasons. The White Sox brought in Keuchel and Lynn to mold guys like Giolito, Kopech Cease and Lopez.
I live in New England. I’m a life long Tigers fan. However, I watched a lot of ERod with the Red Sox. I think he’s a great signing. Very underrated IMHO. Tough guy. Never gives in. Throws strikes. Takes the ball every turn. Solid.
Warnbeeb, I am not knocking Rodriguez as a pitcher but I feel he is not the guy you want leading the young pitchers on the Tigers if they want to compete in the next few years. I am just one of those guys that look at a pitcher’s statistics from the last few seasons and Rodriguez’s statistics don’t jump out at me as the top of rotation starter.
I was hoping the Tigers had a good season. These injuries are mounting up
Is it just me or have the Tigers had to put the majority of their roster on the injured list in the last 36 hours or so?
The Tigers have a fair amount of depth, they should be able to stay competitive while they wait for guys to get healthy. I still expect them to win at least 85 games.
I’m surprised the Angels training staff doesn’t’t get the blame for this.
Not enough pitching and too much throwing in the MLB. A need to instuct young pitchers to develop more than three types of pitches and learn how to see the plate as nine different locations for a strike. Location, assortment, and less velocity would hopefully keep the rotation in the game longer. Hopefully Manning is going to be OK.
Man, a tough couple days for the Tigers and their faithful. : (
There’s never enough depth. Especially when you lose your top free agent signing (and starting SS) and your #2 and #3 starter in 36 hrs.
With Mize and Manning already hurt after 2 starts each I doubt we will get 25 out of either of them this season.
Kreidler might have been the only guy coming out of Spring training who was worth a shot on the ML roster, but he needed to play every day, so Toledo was the place for him. Greene’s was a huge injury.
Harold and Willi Castro are not as good as Kreidler. Reyes, Hill and Cameron are not as good as Greene either.
Chafin and Funkhouser (also injured) are better than 3-4 of the guys currently in the Tiger pen. Cisnero might not be back before July, if then.
Honestly, the Tigers are already using a bunch of their depth guys. They’re going to be dipping into the 3rd tier soon enough and we’re not even into the 3rd week of the season.
Right now the teams that stay the healthiest will be the contenders.
Hopefully, AJ Hinch can stay healthy.
Droppin’ like flies…., but, next man up.
Nothing at all against you, but I’ve always hated that saying. Flies don’t drop; they fly. Dead flies drop.
Symptom of covid: shoulder tightness.
-CDC.
Symptom of COVID: excessive downvoting.
-CDC
Symptom of Covid or side effect of the vaccine? Or…both?
Trade for Frankie Montas.
Tough start for our Tigers
Pitching problems are almost identical to last years start
Mize I think they are being really cautious with (as they should). Manning we will see. Peralta is back now. Chafin should be back within the next 10 days. Pineda back soon too.
The problem is Pineda was signed to be a back of the rotation guy. Now he has to be #2.
Watch Tyler Alexander. He’s better than expected.
Looks like a rotation of Rodriguez, Pineda, Skubal, Alexander and Hutchinson for a week or two.
I never, ever, ever like to hear “elbow discomfort” when discussing a starting pitcher. Jacob DeGrom has had elbow discomfort for 2 years now.
I am more worried about Mize than Manning.
See you in two years buddy cause you’re going under the knife.
Stop it with the East Coast Media bias nonsense.
The AL Central has become much stronger.
The White Sox, Twins and Indians are all stronger and potential playoffs contenders.
The Tigers and the Royals are both emerging from massive rebuilds and have very strong cores of young up and coming stars, with lots of young pitching mixed in with some Veterans and free agents.
Either the Tigers or the Royals or BOTH could become very competitive for the playoffs as soon as this year.
The AL East is strong, but the AL Central is a rising Division that cannot be taken for granted.
Many potential playoffs teams have holes and are not perfect.
As the Braves, Nats and other teams have proven, it just matters to make the playoffs. The hottest team at the time wins the WS not necessarily the best team all year.
Tyler Alexander has pitched well enough over the last few years to be a fulltime #4 or #5 Starter. Ditto with Willy Peralta.
Joey Wentz, Alex Faedo, Ty Madden have great opportunities to seize jobs.
Tigers should have brought Verlander back!
Not at $25mm per, coming off an injury.
Verlander is back to being one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.
With the Tigers relatively low payroll, they can afford to take a few calculated risks, Surprised the Tigers did not resign Matthew Boyd also.
Many pitchers are even better after their surgeries.
> “Hinch said…Manning’s initial diagnosis is “as positive as it could be””
Maybe consider rephrasing that?
I think the “as it could be” is a qualifier that lets you know his shoulder isn’t perfect, but not anywhere the worst outcomes (rotator cuff, labrum).
Good news. I always hate seeing injuries to any player no matter what team they play for.
I saw the 2 words ‘structural damage’ in the headline before I saw the rest of it and immediately thought it would be about Mike Trout.