The Tigers' pitching options with Skubal gone? More than probably a nervous fan base might realize
Between the mix-and-match chemistry AJ Hinch favors, a couple of added arms, and the prospects of Tigers starters steadily returning, the Tigers can survive losing their Cy Young ace.
How do you replace the best pitcher in baseball?
It’s a question the Tigers will spend the next hours, days -- and likely months -- trying to answer.
Only a month after Justin Verlander hit the IL with hip issues, and one week after Casey Mize joined him with a groin strain, Tarik Skubal is gone: loose bodies in his left elbow. Surgery. Two to three months recovery projected.
It’s the latest and biggest blow to a rotation, which is already without Reese Olson, Jackson Jobe, and Troy Melton, who just began a rehab assignment at Low-A Lakeland.
The long-term question: How long will Skubal be out?
The short-term query: How will the Tigers patch two openings in AJ Hinch’s rotation?
A quick guess on the latter is they won’t -- at least officially.
