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I hope three wins in a row didn’t get you too excited. Before the Detroit Tigers could even savor sticking it to the New York Yankees for about the 200th time this decade, Michael Fulmer landed on the disabled list with right elbow ulnar neuritis.
Ulnar neuritis is best defined as having fluid and inflammation in the nerve. This usually results in weakness in the hand or numbness in the fingers. Fulmer has actually been battling this for the past two years, but it has never effected his pitching until now.
While the team and manager Brad Ausmus did their best to make it seem entirely precautionary — Ausmus mentioned that Fulmer would be pitching if the team were contending — it’s hard not to be a worried about a longstanding injury finally costing Fulmer playing time.
The only blessing here is that the team is only playing for pride, so shutting down Fulmer is a no-brainer. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.
As a result of the move, the team recalled Edward Mujica to replace Fulmer on the roster. His next start is up in the air as well.
No decision on who will replace Fulmer in next start. Could be VerHagen, Bell, Saupold or combination of the three.
— Evan Woodbery (@evanwoodbery) August 3, 2017
I have so many questions
“We entertained ourselves for about an hour with a sock," Shane Greene said when asked how Tigers passed time during rain delay.
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) August 3, 2017
In Jason Beck’s next tweet, he indicated that Greene declined to elaborate, which...how? You can’t just say that you spent an hour playing with a sock and not provide additional details. Granted, this is a team that we’ve seen play with a water cooler for about that long, so I guess anything is possible.
Staying put
As Rob detailed yesterday, while it is possible, Justin Verlander’s contract makes it almost a certainty that he will remain a Tiger for the rest of the year. General manager Al Avila echoed Rob’s brilliant commentary.
"I wouldn't hold my breath," Avila said. "These kind of things sometimes have better movement in the wintertime, when teams are readjusting their budgets and their roster and things of that nature. Nothing's guaranteed. He might be with us for even longer than that. I couldn't predict it today. Anything can happen."
A large number of players get put on revocable waivers each August as a way to still be able to make trades after the deadline. But Verlander probably won’t be one of those players moving.
Is it time to consider Dusty Baker a good manager?
For your free time
MLB Daily Dish recaps the Tigers’ trade deadline. This is the most confusing article on Al Avila you will ever read. Yu Darvish thanks Texas Rangers fans with a full page ad that he definitely wrote himself. Good on him. This could be the best group of 3rd basemen in the history of the league.
Baseball is awesome
Who says rain delays are boring? #Dbacks #Cubs @MLBonFOX pic.twitter.com/uZeVP9iVW7
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) August 3, 2017