New York – The mission for Framber Valdez now is to move forward.
His five-game suspension ended Tuesday and the Tigers’ $115 million lefty will return to the rotation against the Mets Wednesday night.
But there’s still some scar tissue from the incident he’s trying to break through.
“Like I said after that game, I don’t think it was fair,” Valdez said through interpreter Carlos Guillen Tuesday.
Major League Baseball ruled that Valdez intentionally threw at Boston’s Trevor Story after he’d given up back-to-back homers on May 5. Benches cleared but no punches or even shoves were thrown.
Valdez left the game without protest but later wondered why home plate umpire Adam Beck didn’t give him a warning prior to ejecting him. The next day, the league suspended him for five games and manager AJ Hinch for one.
“I felt pretty bad,” Valdez said. “I had to be away. I was not allowed to be in the clubhouse during the games. I felt terrible. It was sad to have to leave my teammates in the dugout and go back to the hotel and watch the games on television.”
He understands that he put the team in a tough spot, having to miss a start during a time when three starters were already on the injured list. It’s been addressed.
“The suspension is over now,” he said. “I’m going back on the mound and help my team win. That’s the focus.”
Valdez said he rewatched the entire game, as painful as that might’ve been given that he gave up 10 runs (seven earned). He said he evaluated his outing both from an analytics standpoint, but also from a mechanics standpoint, looking to see if or how the Red Sox hitters were stealing his pitch grips from second base.
“I will keep the same mechanics,” he said. “Just be consistent with every movement on every pitch. I have to keep my focus on the hitter, regardless of who is on second base or what the situation is. Keep the same mechanics, the same everything and focus on what’s going on at the plate.”
He will likely be wearing his big red glove. It’s the glove he’s worn the last five days while he was working out and throwing his bullpen. He’s worn that one for most of his starts. For whatever reason, he used a brown glove against the Red Sox. The brown glove is smaller and more of the baseball was exposed in his glove.
“I don’t know about changing things,” Hinch said when asked if he thought Valdez needed to make any adjustments to better hide his grip. “I just think it’s being acutely aware of today’s baseball. There are 30 teams trying to find a cue against every single pitch. When he says he’s not doing anything, it’s because we’re always paying attention to that, he’s always paying attention to that.
“Some teams are better at seeing things. But our process of cleaning up our own gloves and making sure other teams can’t see things from second base is the same. The best way to do that is not let anyone get on second base.”
Hinch, like Valdez, is eager to put the suspension in the past. It’s been dealt with.
“I just hope he comes out of it ready to pitch tomorrow,” Hinch said. “That’s all you can really do. It’s hard not being around the team during games. But he’s been able to get his work in. He’s been consistent behind the scenes and then he’s had to leave each day.
“We’ve got him center-focused on the Mets tomorrow. Let’s not make it any bigger than it is and get on with the season.”
There is one bit of residue that Hinch hopes stays with Valdez, though.
“I just hope he understands how important he is to us,” Hinch said.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Suspension over, Tigers’ Framber Valdez eager to move forward
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
