OT: Justin Verlander placed on 15-day DL
JV was supposed to start Sunday vs Cleveland but tweaked his tricep in his last session, so I think its good to play it safe now than to push it and maybe get injured further. Tigers aren't hurting, getting quality starts from Price and now Sanchez. Hope he's getting a some good TLC and playing a lot of Game of War, ifyouknowwhatimean...
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/justin-verlander-placed-on-the-15-day-dl/ar-AAaBtzY
Basically, he just needs a week to rest the tricep. Should be fine.
we will get Kyle Lobstein for a start or 2 then.
Now it's someone named Lobstein.
I happened to be off today and caught the pregame interview - Verlander said it was "trending in the right direction" and found ways to roundly say that it was minor, so I am not worried either, but I actually sort of asked myself this question too. I definitely hope it isn't the case - I hope there are still a few awesome years in the tank.
I don't know how awesome they'll be, but if he heals properly and is managed properly, he'll still be a good #2 or #3 starter for a few more seasons. Fans, though, will need to adjust their expectations - as others have commented, he will likely not return to Cy Young levels of performance. Fewer (if any) complete games and no more hitting 98-99 mph on the radar gun in the 8th inning. He's now on the wrong side of 30, has pitched a lot of innings, has had increasing problems with injuries, and so forth. But he could still get the Tigers around 15 wins a season, and that's not nothing.
I would consider putting him at closer ala Smoltz. He might still be dominant if he only has to crank it for an inning at a time. It has worked in the past and the Tigers have a gaping hole at closer as always.
That said if they thought this they probably wouldn't have watched Fister, Scherzer, and Porcello all disappear so quickly, so I definitely don't expect it to happen. I guess his salary is the problem with this. Hard to stomach that much money for a closer.
Does anyone actually play that Game of War? It looks like the shittiest possible ripoff of Age of Empires.
More like Evony with a higher advertising budget.
Verlander is on a rapid decline. Its not over for him as a stater yet, but is looking more and more like it will be over in the next few years. Hopefully his ego will allow him to transition to the Pen. He could be lights out as a closer.
I suppose having an ego that would make you resist being moved to the bullpen may be part of what makes a starting pitcher successful, but it seems to me that if the writing is on the wall and it's clear that you are not the pitcher you once were (at least as a starter), then it's not so bad to be changed to a relief pitcher. You still get to play the game you love (unless you're just burned out), get paid a pretty good sum to do it (and at that point, money is not likely to be much of a problem for you anyway), and still get to contribute to a team (even better if that team is a playoff contender). There are worse ways to finish a career.
On a more positive note, Joe Nathan placed on 15 day DL.
http://www.blessyouboys.com/2015/4/8/8372445/detroit-tigers-joe-nathan-15-day-disabled-list
by the way, is batting only .857 so far this season, while playing some spectacular defense.
And while I know it's just the Twins they've been toying with, the Tigers have scored 15 runs on 25 hits over the first 2 games while limiting the Twinkies to 0 runs and just 9 hits, all of them (I believe) singles.
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