Man, this stinks.
Not only for Justin Verlander.
But for Detroit Tigers fans.
Verlander was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday, April 4, because of left hip inflammation. It is retroactive to April 1.
That means he won’t be able to pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals, as expected, on the national broadcast from Comerica Park on Sunday.
It would have been his first start for the Tigers at Comerica since he was traded to the Houston Astros in August 2017.
“It’s frustrating for me, obviously,” Verlander said Saturday. “I also know a lot of fans were excited about [Sunday] night. I know a lot of guys, a lot of people spent their hard-earned money to come to the game.”
Right-hander Keider Montero was called up from Triple-A Toledo and will start against the Cardinals.
Verlander tested his leg on Saturday before the Tigers played the Cardinals.
“He came in today, he threw,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I could tell he was tentative. Man, he’s tough and wants to push through it.”
But the Tigers decided to place him on the injured list around noon Saturday.
“Given no off days and the time of year, we’re just going to err on the side of caution,” Hinch said. “So we hope and think it’s minor.”
When the problem first surfaced
Verlander felt some tightness in his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.
“Just kind of working through it,” he said. “And then it was really sore the next day or two.”
But here’s the crazy part: Verlander said it’s been improving.
“It’s been trending in the right direction,” Verlander said. “So it was kind of like a wait-and-see game, like, if it could get good enough, to be quite frank.”
If this was the playoffs?
If this was a must-win game?
“I think it probably is good enough if we wanted to push it,” he said.
But it’s not.
It’s April and Sunday was supposed to feature cold weather.
Which doesn’t sound like an ideal situation for this kind of inury.
“A.J. and the front office, and I agree with them, it’s probably not the time of year to do that, unfortunately,” Verlander said. “And we don’t have an off day to finagle with, which also kind of hurts.”
So, yes, this seems like the smart move. No reason to risk a long term stay on the injured list.
Encouraging signs
He tested his arm on Saturday morning and it felt good.
“Today was my best day so far,” he said. “It’s literally been getting better every day.”
But not quite good enough.
If there is a bright side, it’s that Verlander plans to continue throwing, to keep his arm in shape.
“We need to put him on the injured list and just get this out of the way and get him back to feeling 100% and being himself,” Hinch said. “So having him alter his delivery, or tweak this thing even further, made no sense in April.”
If he had a little more time, if the Tigers had an off day, he might not have had to go on the injured list.
“Not ideal,” Verlander said. “Nothing too bad. Think we got it under control. We know what it is and it’s just so difficult, because I feel like it’s close to being able to go ahead and work through it. But the timing is bad, the weather is bad, the schedule is bad. Kind of everything worked against it, unfortunately.”
So, this 43-year-old is playing the long game.
“Trying to be smart this early on for sure, trying to be cautious,” Verlander said. “Still difficult, obviously.”
Verlander said that he has experienced this before, in the same spot, and was able to pitch through it. “Never enough to miss a start,” he said. “I thought it was going to be one of those things. But the next day, it was more sore than it has been in the past. So I think that recovery cycle kind of got pushed back. We just ran out of time on the clock.”
Does this explain why he struggled against Arizona? Verlander gave up five runs off six hits over 3⅔ innings. He struggled with his command, throwing 80 pitches (53 for strikes) while recording one strikeout with two walks.
Was this the real problem?
“Does it matter?” he responded. “I just don’t think I don’t want to sit here and point to anything as to why I pitched like [crap].”
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: When can Justin Verlander return from injured list?
Reporting by Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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