The News’ Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers’ 7-1 loss to the White Sox on Saturday:
One thing I loved
Welp, it’s definitely going to be a fascinating trade deadline for the Tigers this summer. They’d need a miraculous run to avoid being sellers, and there’s just not much to hang your hat on in terms of that kind of hope right now.
The good news for the Tigers is ace Tarik Skubal continues to look like he might be weeks from returning from arthroscopic elbow surgery, rather than months. Skubal had a flat-ground throwing session before Saturday’s game in Chicago, and he was letting it fly under the watchful eye of Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter. Skubal high-fived with some teammates when he was done.
There’s still no timetable for his return, and he’s definitely going to need a rehab start or two — the Tigers’ minor-league organizations, you better believe, are anxiously awaiting more details on that, cuz they have tickets to sell, yo! — before he rejoins Detroit’s rotation, for at least a start or two before he’s almost certainly traded away.
And if there are no setbacks, the bidding war is going to be as fierce as we’ve seen at MLB’s trade deadline in a long, long time. Dodgers. Yankees. Cubs. Padres. Mariners. Blue Jays. Brewers. Mystery team. It’s going to be riveting — in other words, the opposite of whatever the Tigers are right now.
One thing I didn’t
Injuries tell part of the story with the Tigers’ woes in 2026. A big part of the story, especially on offense. There’s a major trickle-down effect. With so many key players out, too many lesser players are having to get too many at-bats — and pretty much all of those guys are not living up to their previous high-water marks.
Jahmai Jones, for example. He’s on this team to hit left-handed pitching. That’s it. Plain and simple. And, right now, he can’t even do that. Here’s Jones against lefties last season and this season:
Jones was 0-for-2 with a double play in Saturday’s game and has just four hits the entire month of May. You wonder how little runway remains for the journeyman once the Tigers start to get their everyday guys back.
On the flip side, Wenceel Perez seems to be finding his stroke. He homered for the third time in five games.
Three stars
(Season total in parentheses)
Wenceel Perez (6)
Kevin McGonigle (18)
Spencer Torkelson (8)
Player of the game
Colson Montgomery
Next Tigers game
Game 60: Tigers at White Sox, 2:10 Sunday, Detroit SportsNet, 97.1
ICYMI: Yesterday’s Tigers recap
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers, Game 59: One thing I loved, one thing I didn’t
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
