Bunt singles: Bonderman still hurting
posted in bunt singles |Jeremy Bonderman isn’t having a very good week with his pitching hand. First, his latest start was pushed back a few days due to a blister on his middle finger. Now, his next start — set for Sunday night against the Twins on ESPN — may be missed with a cut on his index finger. Judging by the quotes, this may be why management has not made a move to replace Joel Zumaya, lost for 12 weeks with his own finger problems. Previously, a decision was to be made Wednesday.
Freep:
“Bonderman is really questionable for Sunday,†Tigers manager Jim Leyland said before today’s game against Seattle at Comerica Park.If Bonderman can’t go, he’ll be replaced by a minor league call-up.
“We’ll get somebody, but it won’t be anyone who’s in our bullpen,†Leyland said. “But we’ve got everybody on alert.â€
Two possibilities jump out. Andrew Miller from AA Erie and Virgil Vasquez from AAA Toledo. One advantage they both have: they’re already on the 40 man roster and they’re both set for a regular rotation turn this weekend. Vasquez has more than a strikeout per inning and has thrown terrific in Toledo. He’s set to start Saturday. Miller just moved up to Erie from High-A Lakeland and has yet to start, but he’s scheduled for a Sunday start. Miller has been working on some pitches in Lakeland and had been hurt by an inferior team there. I believe this is most likely a spot start and they’d head back to their minor league home afterwards. I suspect Aqualino Lopez heads to Toledo at that time.
If I had to guess, I’d peg Miller as the guy who starts. He is following the Justin Verlander path from Lakeland to Erie to Detroit taken in 2005. Verlander had a spot start in the middle of that summer when the Tigers needed him. Miller has already pitched in the majors last September and came one Mets win away from being on the World Series roster, so the Tigers believe in him. It would be nice to see him start and learn a bit about his progress before he heads back down.
Just thinking out loud here, but I suspect that starter will return to the minors at that point — although there’s got to be some chance Vasquez sticks — and a call will be made to the minors for Zumaya’s replacement. Zumaya or Rogers moves to the 60 day disabled list at that point. This bullpen help could be Eulogio de la Cruz, a power pitching starter from Erie with relief experience I’ve written a lot about lately.
Or I could be completely wrong. We shall see.
Bunt Singes:
- Related, Zumaya had his surgery today.
- Mark and Ian are deciphering win probability charts. (Bless You Boys).
- Hardball Times looks at WPA trends to date. Detroit trends high on the offense thanks to Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordonez. But the bullpen is 18th of 30. (if I counted right).
- Eric looks at the offense’s improvement. (DTown Baseball)
- The Tigers crept up to fourth in on base percentage in the AL.
- Ernie Harwell will take a seat with Mario Impemba May 24 during the Tigers’ game against the Angels. (Tiger.com)
- Danny Dillman, a former Tigers batboy from the late 40s wrote a book about his experiences: Hey Kid! A former Tiger Batboy Remembers. Here’s a story about the book. (The Midweek News)
- The Pistons are losing because I actually have a night off to watch. But they brought the game back to single digits while I was doing this post.
- Update: woohoo!