I think the problem is that he's been pitching with an injury for a while (maybe all year?). Hopefully it isn't a serious one or one that would have been fine if he would have fessed up sooner. I hate when guys take the tough-it-out approach as if it is somehow noble to go out there and suck instead of being a good teammate and stepping aside for a few days.

kingofdetroit57 said:

I think the problem is that he's been pitching with an injury for a while (maybe all year?). Hopefully it isn't a serious one or one that would have been fine if he would have fessed up sooner. I hate when guys take the tough-it-out approach as if it is somehow noble to go out there and suck instead of being a good teammate and stepping aside for a few days.

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If it's a 'serious' injury that can be fixed by TJ Surgery, then it might not be a bad thing either. TJ could help turn his career back around. Not only would it re-structure his shoulder, but it would give him a year off to heal and rest it. Adam Wainwright has come back from it better than ever. We do have pitching depth to cover him. We would still have Price, Sanchez and Porcello.. possibly even Scherzer. Our starting pitching is still solid without him. With a healthy Verlander, I don't think anyone could hit us.

When you're not 100% and you change something in your mechanics it puts stress elsewhere on the body, knee/shoulder. Verlander overhauled his mechanics a couple of months ago, and this might be the results.
What a friggin mess this team is.

TJ is elbow surgery, not shoulder surgery. Shoulders are usually bad news for pitchers.

Good read on shoulder injuries and recovery... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=5568179

kingofdetroit57 said:

TJ is elbow surgery, not shoulder surgery. Shoulders are usually bad news for pitchers.

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Oh shit, that's right lol. My bad.

I'm hoping it's just soreness/inflamation that heals with some rest (even if it's extended rest). I really wish he would have shut it down for a little bit instead of trying to pitch through it, but I get concerned when I hear that it's been an issue for a while and know that it's been impacting his mechanics and velocity.

Exactly! Sometimes soreness are not injuries found on things like X-rays and MRIs.
Lets all stay calm until tests describe the nature of this soreness. Heck, we aren't even sure Justin's been treated for soreness, with products like cortisone yet.

Hopefully we are looking at Step-1 of his future treatment, not Step-4 (hypothetical).

Like I said.. a DL stint could really help. Give him a couple weeks off, then have him throw a few BP sessions. If he responds well, give him a couple rehab starts. If his velocity and command return, then bring him back up for the stretch run.. assuming we're still in contention. If we keep falling, just give him the rest of the year off. Make sure he rehabs that shoulder really well in the offseason.. get all the strength he can. Then maybe he can contribute once again next year. I don't think we really need him this year. Maybe we can just have him pitch in the bullpen from here out?.. it would save his arm and if he proves effective, he can be our closer. He'd be an expensive one, but could possibly be the best in the game given his stuff.

Put him on the DL and lets ride BUCK TO THE PROMISE LAND!!!!!!!!!!!!

kalinecountry said:

When you're not 100% and you change something in your mechanics it puts stress elsewhere on the body, knee/shoulder. Verlander overhauled his mechanics a couple of months ago, and this might be the results.
What a friggin mess this team is.

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Yep. I bet this goes back to him compensating for a weak core because of the offseason surgery he had.