Tiger Geist

Bobby Seay sounds upset about his injury.  And I think he should be.

Seay, diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff (Grade 2 undersurface tear), will rehab the injury.   And best of luck to him.

I’m a little peeved by a few areas here.  First, I feel I called this injury last year… Bobby Seay was pitching in so many games before the 2009 all star break, I compared him to Robb Nen… who ended his career with a massive rotator cuff tear.  Second, Seay was shut down late last year due to an arm injury.  Why would Detroit give him a $2.5 million contract without a proper physical?

Last, this quote from Jim Leyland perturbs me:

“He’s kind of a special guy for me,” Leyland said, “because he kind of floundered around, never did much, and was kind of a high prospect. I’m proud to say we gave him a shot — I’m bragging — but he took advantage of it. He ran with it. He’s done a heckuva job the last couple years for us.

Combine that with Leyland this quote (about Justin Verlander):

“I have to be careful with this guy,” Leyland said. “You take pride in being careful with your pitchers. You’re concerned about him as a real young pitcher, and now you’re concerned about him because you’re locked into him for a long time and he’s a great pitcher. We want him to be that way for a long time. That’s why I’m concerned about it — not upset about it, but I’m concerned about it.

Leyland gave him a shot and also (in my opinion) overused Seay, putting the rest of his career in doubt.  Seay also was not in Detroit’s long term plans — Bobby Seay and Fernando Rodney were both part-timing with the Tigers in 2009 (Rodney in his final year, Seay in most likely his second to last year) and Leyland ran both pitchers out as often as possible.  Maybe the one-year 2010 contract was payment for Seay’s past performance… but how it could have been signed without a proper physical is up there with the mysterious Jarrod Washburn physical of the 2009 trade deadline.  There was no way Seay could have passed a physical with any other team.  I have a hard time believing that Leyland’s handling of Seay in 2009 didn’t have some impact to his current situation.

That’s the breaks of the game; its how things work.  But let’s not be ignorant here.  Rick Porcello (or a Justin Verlander)’s workload will be monitored, because they’re the face of the franchise.  An inexpensive LOOGY (no matter how dependable, considering the last few seasons’ fluctuating bullpen) is not getting the same consideration.  This injury falls on Leyland;  I’m happy Bobby Seay gets a sizeable salary this year as return payment.  I don’t expect him to pitch for Detroit this year, but I will absolutely root for a comeback.

Just for fun, here are the games appeared in, and innings pitched, for the top five Tiger relief pitchers since 2006.  Notice 2009, with Brandon Lyon, Fernando Rodney, and Bobby Seay (arbitration controlled) all free agents after the season:

Tiger's top 5 relief pitchers, 2006

Tiger's top 5 relief pitchers, 2007

Tiger's top 5 relief pitchers, 2008

Tiger's top 5 relief pitchers, 2009