The Detroit Tigers, enduring another difficult season, find themselves five games under .500 and 14 games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central. They are 6.5 games back in the American League Wild Card race, trailing four teams for the final spot. Since 2015, the Tigers have had only one winning season, and this year appears to be worse than the disappointing 2023 campaign, positioning them as likely sellers at the MLB trade deadline.
A significant factor in Detroit’s struggles has been the season-long difficulties of starting pitcher Kenta Maeda, who has allowed 15 earned runs in just 5.4 innings pitched in July. Such performance issues jeopardize his spot in the rotation. The 36-year-old right-hander missed the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery and signed a two-year, $24 million contract with the Tigers after a healthy return in 2023. He is earning $14 million in 2024 and will make $10 million next year, leaving Detroit with his contract for now.
After Maeda’s latest start resulted in six earned runs over 2.2 innings, Tigers’ manager A.J. Hinch decided action was needed. “Regardless of anything that we do, we’ve got to get him right and we’ve got to find a way to get him to pitch more clean innings,” Hinch stated, as reported by The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen.
Hinch has since moved Maeda to the bullpen. “We can’t have a pitcher on our team that you’re not gonna pitch … I’m gonna use him like a normal reliever,” Hinch explained. “We’ve got to get him a successful outing one way or the other.” Hinch hopes Maeda can regain his form in this new role. This season, Maeda has failed to complete six innings in 10 straight starts, only achieving this twice in 16 starts, with his ERA climbing from 5.02 to 7.26 since May 1. His K/9 has dropped below 9 for the first time in his career, and he has posted career-worst ERA+ (57) and WAR (-1.4).
Maeda’s best year was in the shortened 2020 season, where he finished second in Cy Young voting with a 2.70 ERA, 10.8 K/9, an ERA+ of 160, and an MLB-best 0.750 WHIP over 66.2 innings. This year, he has managed just 50 strikeouts, a 7.26 ERA, 6.9 K/9, a 1.584 WHIP, and a 57 ERA+.
Reflecting on his career, Maeda admitted, “I don’t think I’ve struggled this bad … I’m doing my best and hardest to bounce back. But things just aren’t happening,” he told The Athletic. “I’m causing too much trouble to the team, and I feel sorry about that.”
Maeda has some experience as a relief pitcher, having been moved to the bullpen by the Los Angeles Dodgers multiple times from 2017-2019 due to inconsistent performances, though he did not favor the role. Hinch and the Tigers hope Maeda can rediscover his form in the bullpen, even as Detroit endures another challenging season, marking nine years since their last playoff appearance, tied with the Los Angeles Angels for the longest current drought in baseball.
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