After stomaching the bad news, the Tigers continue to get good news on Eduardo Rodriguez.
"E-Rod's doing pretty well given what the fear was at the beginning of the injury," A.J. Hinch said Wednesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show.
When the Tigers announced last month that Rodriguez had a ruptured pulley in his left index finger, there was concern that he might be shelved for the foreseeable future. That included the July 31 trade deadline, just when he was becoming one of the top trade assets in baseball.
There's still no firm timetable on his return, but it sounds like Rodriguez is recovering more quickly than the Tigers expected.
"He still has a little protection on his finger, but he’s throwing a ton and he’s throwing hard, which is encouraging," said Hinch. "Again, I’m not a doctor, but I would think if you exert a ton of energy and pressure at that release point where he felt it to begin with and if he’s confident to throw full speed, I would assume the next thing is going to be on the mound. Hopefully that’s trending toward getting back into baseball."
Beyond Rodriguez's trade value, the Tigers could use his arm in their rotation. He still qualifies as the MLB leader in ERA (2.13 through 11 starts) and his 0.98 WHIP ranks fifth. He was putting the Tigers in position to win just about every time he took the mound. They've won just twice in the two weeks since he hit the injured list.
Again, it's unknown when Rodriguez might start a rehab assignment. Getting him back on the mound is step one. Per the Tigers' injury report on Tuesday, he "continues to progress his throwing volume and intensity daily."
But Rodriguez is moving in the right direction, perhaps faster than the Tigers thought he would. With Tarik Skubal (elbow) and Matt Manning (foot) close to rejoining Detroit's rotation as they complete rehab assignments in Triple-A, the Tigers' pitching outlook could soon look a whole lot brighter.
As for how that affects their plans at the deadline, we'll just wait and see.
Riley Greene, meanwhile, remains in more of a holding pattern. The Tigers have missed their best hitter even more than their best pitcher since Greene landed on the injured list the day after Rodriguez with a stress fracture in his left leg. It has since been upgraded to a stress reaction, but it sounds like Greene is still looking at a six-week recovery from the time of the injury.
Hinch said the Tigers 22-year-old centerfielder "is doing fine" and the club is "being cautious" with his rehab. He's been doing most of his exercise on an anti-gravity treadmill. Per Tuesday's injury report, he's also playing catch daily.
"It’s a slow process," said Hinch. "I kind of joke with him, but it’s not really a joke, ‘We need your young bone to heal.’ Like, we need that to get better faster. I know he’s going to increase his activity over the next couple days."
The Tigers were no offensive juggernaut with Greene, but they've averaged just 2.6 runs per game without him. He'll stay in Detroit this weekend to stay on his rehab schedule when the Tigers visit the Twins, with Hinch hoping that Greene can get back on the field and start taking some swings next week.
"That's really the next step for him," said Hinch. "Until he does that, it’s a guessing game."
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