3:19PM: Rodriguez left the game due to discomfort in his left side, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including MLive’s Evan Woodbery). The left-hander is likely to require an injured list placement.
1:57PM: Eduardo Rodriguez lasted just one-third of an inning in today’s start against the Rays, and left the game after a mound visit from the Tigers’ team trainer. Rodriguez was clearly off his game, allowing four singles and a walk before recording his only out of the afternoon.
After issuing another walk, the left-hander then indicated towards the Tigers’ dugout, which prompted the mound visit and Rodriguez’s departure after only 23 pitches. Only two of those pitches hit the 90mph threshold, as E-Rod’s fastball velocity was a few miles below his 92mph average.
There hasn’t yet been an update on Rodriguez’s condition, but pitching injuries have unfortunately become far too common for the Tigers this season. Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Michael Pineda, and Tyler Alexander have all hit the injured list since Opening Day, resulting in Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo, and Joey Wentz all being called up to make their Major League debuts. If Rodriguez might now also be facing an IL visit, swingman Wily Peralta is probably the likeliest candidate to step into regular rotation work.
One of the major additions of a busy offseason for Detroit, Rodriguez signed a five-year, $77MM free agent contract in November, with the Tigers eyeing the southpaw as a veteran cornerstone for its young rotation. After a slow start, Rodriguez looked to be putting things together over his last two outings, with just one run allowed in 13 1/3 innings prior to today’s abbreviated start.
whyhayzee
This sucks. Only wishing the best for Erod, a good Red Sox while it lasted.
bostonbob
He sucked, glad he is gone. Such a waste of talent.
bondjamesbond
so that is every starting pitcher from the start of the season going down.
tigerdoc616
Rodriguez, check
Alexander, check
Mize, check
Manning, check
Skubal…….No, at least not yet
4 out of 5 though is pretty horrible. And add Pineda who was not ready to start the season with the team due to late arrival and visa issues. So Tigers have lost 5 starters in total to injury. And yet, pitching has bee the teams relative strength.
weaselpuppy
Let’s also add Red Bull to the list with him missing this whole year…
So, 6 of 7 top starters down, really.
Good times.
stymeedone
And Turnbull was out before the season even started. That’s 6 starters!
SportsFan0000
Tough break for the Tigers in a long list of starting pitching injuries.
However, it gives some of young pitching depth players opportunities to step up, seize major league jobs and help build one of the better emerging pitching staffs in the league.
And, when all these pitchers are healthy, it opens up the Tigers to a few judicious trades for more key, needed position players and bats..
sox4ever
TJS?
For Love of the Game
Boy that would be awful sudden. He was throwing steadily in the low 90s and going six innings before today. I hope your fears appear overblown.
ThonolansGhost
No, it’s just his left side (not his elbow).
SportsFan0000
TJS?
Thesecondjamie
Tigers are the new Mets
MPrck
This is bad, if it’s T.J surgery, then he’s got 2 years free from Detroit, with the other being Verlander money at Verlander’s age now, and he ain’t no Verlander. That’s the risk of signing guys who’ve not had it. Oh well, we will just pray he’s okay.
The F.A’s this year have been rough patches for all of them. If E.Rod is down, the season may tank faster now. It’s not Detroit’s fault, so number one pick sounds like a good constellation prize. Detroit has a great owner, and G.M. He’s built up the farm, and it’s pitching is no joke. Next year with no shift, baseball will be better, dead ball and all.
tstats
Good news it’s not TJ
For Love of the Game
Yup. They’re saying its his side.. Those can take a while, though.
miltpappas
As good as E-Rod is when healthy, he’s a risk. The heart, the knee and now this.
ThonolansGhost
Unbelievable. They just can’t keep their pitchers healthy. I’ll defy the odds and predict that Skubal stays healthy all year.
TroyVan
Skoob is the man!
JoeBrady
It’ll be tough. He’s carrying my entire rotisserie team on his back.. Not sure how long that can last.
stymeedone
Chase Anderson, welcome to Detroit!
For Love of the Game
Nooooooo! Skubal, Manning (hopefully back soon), Faedo, Brieske, bullpen. Until Manning gets back, two bullpen starts (Team Peralta and Team Garcia).
TroyVan
One candidate to call up is Derek Law. He signed a minor league deal and is yet to be scored on in 10 games (13.2 innings). 17k, 4BB, 1.098 WHIP
For Love of the Game
Noticed his numbers as well. I’d give him a shot before Chase Anderson or rushing any of the other youngsters up (from Erie). Joey Wentz also doesn’t look like he’s ready.
dkhits20
We’ve been using him to close out games in Toledo so I’m not sure he gets called up to make starts.
TroyVan
I agree that he’s not a starter. A starter may come from the corps of middle relievers, creating a void that he could fill.
ThonolansGhost
They just moved Garrett Hill to Toledo… Maybe after a couple starts over there, he’ll get called up to Detroit. It’s not ideal, but it might be the best option.
ThonolansGhost
Of course, they need to find a short term solution before there’s any chance of using Hill.
dkhits20
That’ll probably be Chase Anderson but I do believe Hill is being fast-tracked and we will see him in Detroit sometime this season.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
So…… should have hired the Superfife?
tradepartner
Again , the bad luck continues for the Tigers starters
dkhits20
We may have jumped the gun by cutting Drew Hutchison. Is he still available? LOL.
windmill_noise_causes_cancer
Only Tiger not to be injured so far this season is Paws.
Cray MC
If you’re considering the bizarre number of pitching injuries and the impressive depth in the Tigers system – and that includes not just big-name draft picks but Vest, Peralta, etc., and still some guys down on the farm we could reasonably imagine stepping up, at least in the short-term – you should also remember that the strength of the Tigers bullpen, expected based on the end of last season, was Soto, Fulmer, Cisnero, and Funkhouser.
Look at how strong the bullpen has been (along with the reinforcements potentially available) considering that they’ve been without Cisnero and Funkhouser since Opening Day, and neither’s return is imminent.
Even Avila’s critics have to cave here. There’s been quality drafting, quality development through the system and as pitchers have matured, quality free agent signings, and quality identification of diamonds in the rough and discards of other teams. (Naturally, Hinch, Fetters, and several others in the organization share credit, but the organization has gotten good/improving performances out of so many guys, who they’ve acquired and nurtured in some many ways, that lots of credit is due all around.)
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Plato is aware of what they are doing here……
It is only the end result that matters.
Phase 4
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Ok. Just like in Plato’s Republic, Tiger fans are prisoners, chained to their ideology, in their own ” man-cave”, beliefs and vision of reality, watching shadows on the wall, performed by the Puppetmasters…. And they don’t even know they are prisoners…..Stop being mesmerized, distracted from reality by the shadows given to you by the Puppetmasters; break the chains, free yourself; seek the light, see the light; be the light, return and help others….phase 4
Hire the Superfife.
Why? Because this is Rock and Roll.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Said the hollow, who can’t seem to stop rooting for those Tigers….Go Tigets!
Goose
This is why I was glad the Red Sox did not give him the big contract. Solid pitcher but he is a #3 at best and he is always a lock to get shutdown multiple times during the season.
I understand why the Tigers signed him but they would have been better off going after Kershaw.