The Tigers have figured out what to do with Kenta Maeda, whose 15-start, 7.26 ERA season has been the absolute torment of fans’ existences thus far, but the remedy will not be popular. Every time he’s taken the mound since the beginning of the year, there’s been plenty of reason to be concerned about the outcome of a game, and he’s never been able to convince supporters otherwise.
The final straw for Detroit was his 2 2/3 innings against the Guardians on Tuesday, during which he allowed six runs, two of which were home runs. Manager A.J. Hinch told reporters on Thursday that Maeda would be moved to the bullpen “for the foreseeable future,” basically giving him the remaining $14 million owed this season to appear in a backup position and have even more opportunity to enrage fans.
Tigers to reassign Kenta Maeda to the bullpen after disastrous first half of the season as a starter
Moving Maeda to the bullpen means he’ll only have one or two innings to avoid making a mistake instead of four or five, but it also means we’ll see him a lot more frequently, and there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to handle one or two innings well based on his six-run 2 2/3 on Tuesday.
While Maeda’s first time through an opponent’s lineup is his finest, he still has bad results: batters hit for a.285 average and.872 OPS against him on their first plate appearance.
It appears to be the first step down a slippery slope that could lead to the Tigers terminating his contract rather than allowing him to spend two full years in Detroit, which would be painful for a penny-pinching front office but may be necessary if they want to free up a roster spot for a pitcher who can actually help the team.
This is a massive fall from grace for Maeda, who recently reached 1,000 career strikeouts and was on the verge of winning the Cy Young Award in 2020, but it’s a necessary move for the Tigers, who aim to replace him with a pitcher who can really contribute to the rotation.
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