Detroit Tigers Newsletter: Welcome back, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander

Sometimes, the Baseball Gods’ intentions are pretty clear.

Such as when they send a moderate storm last Friday to wash out the Detroit Tigers’ “90s Night,” a nostalgic celebration of a decade in which the franchise was 150 games under .500, with just two winning seasons. (Then again, the Tigers are 192 games under .500 in just the past seven seasons combined, with one winning season, so perhaps the ’90s really were an era to cherish.)

Some of the Baseball Gods' moves can be a little tougher to discern in the moment, however; consider the second half of April, in which they convinced an umpire Max Scherzer’s “sweat and rosin” failed MLB’s nebulous stickiness test, earning him a 10-game suspension, and then rained out a pair of games in New York to make sure he couldn’t return from said suspension until Tuesday’s visit to … Detroit!

Add in newly signed Met Justin Verlander’s arm injury just before the season started, and a rehab start for the, ahem, Binghamton Rumble Ponies on Friday that escaped the rain hitting the rest of New York. That will allow him to make his 2023 debut this week, and, well, the Tigers’ series against the Mets this week is shaping up to be a nostalgic celebration of a different sort.

With the rainouts and rehabs, and the Mets’ rescheduled doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves on Monday, it looks like Scherzer and Verlander will each get a start at Comerica Park, on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. (But don’t let the Baseball Gods know we projected that, or else we might get another rainout.)

Hello, and welcome to the Tigers Newsletter, aka, the Homecoming Week Newsletter.

Superlatives

It’s not easy to decide exactly when things went south for the Tigers over the past decade — did the rebuild start in 2014 with the botched extension talks with Scherzer, the 2015 trade of David Price, the decision a few days after that deal to replace GM Dave Dombrowski with assistant Al Avila, in 2017 with the trade of Verlander, or after that season all together? But one fact is clear: The Tigers haven’t made the playoffs since Scherzer departed after the 2014 season. (That’s tied for the longest active postseason drought in baseball with the Angels.) Verlander’s final full season in a Tigers uniform — 2016 — was the franchise’s most recent above .500.

And so, in the spirit of any good reunion, let’s see how everyone is doing:

Most likely to succeed

Verlander, since the deal that sent him to Houston at the end of August 2017, has been electric with a 2.26 ERA, 825 strikeouts and just 114 walks over 652 innings with the Astros. That includes a no-hitter, two World Series rings, two AL Cy Young Awards, another second-place finish in AL Cy Young voting … and nearly two years lost to Tommy John surgery. Of course, none of that stopped the Mets from handing him a two-year, $86.7 million contract in December. (Winning the Cy Young last season at age 39 helped, a bit.)

Scherzer, of course, has been departed for a while longer, signing a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Washington Nationals in January 2015 (though the deferred money in the deal brought it closer to $195 million). His time in DC featured six top-five finishes in NL Cy Young voting — including back-to-back wins in 2016-17 — a World Series ring in 2019 (over Verlander’s Astros) and, ultimately, a trade to the L.A. Dodgers in 2021. He signed a record-setting three-year, $130 million deal with the Mets before the 2022 season.

Least likely to return

Despite their long stints with other teams, neither has returned to Detroit often. Scherzer has made one start at Comerica Park since his departure; he struck out 14 Tigers over eight innings while allowing just four hits and one run in a 2-1 win for the Nats. (The only two Tigers from that game still on the roster: Miguel Cabrera and reliever José Cisnero.) Verlander has made two starts as a visitor at Comerica Park, both wins; he struck out 10 Tigers over seven innings in September 2018, and nine Tigers over seven innings in May 2019.

Most likely to need a new wallet

As noted, both Scherzer and Verlander are making about $43.3 million apiece this season (and next, in case you’re looking forward to a rematch). Assuming either starts against a lineup that doesn’t include Cabrera, they’ll likely be making more this season than the Tigers’ nine-man lineup, as Javier Báez and Jonathan Schoop are the only other position players making more than $800,000. (The Tigers are on the hook for just $51 million for their entire 2024 roster — pitchers included — or about $35 million less than Scherzer and Verlander will get from the Mets next season.)

Who has changed the least?

But how much did Scherzer and Verlander’s departure wound the Tigers? It’s tough to separate those moves from so many others over the past nine offseasons, but consider the Tigers’ rotation: 36 starting pitchers not named Scherzer or Verlander have picked up wins for the Tigers since the start of the 2015 season — we won’t list them all, but you can check out the list here — for a total of 262 victories. Scherzer and Verlander, meanwhile, have combined for 208 victories over that span. (That includes Verlander’s 31 wins as a Tiger in that time — second only to Matthew Boyd’s 38.)

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The life of Riley

Even with their lack of work in April, Scherzer and Verlander will present a challenge for Tigers hitters, who — stop us if you’ve heard this one — have had issues this season. Chief among the strugglers is second-year outfielder Riley Greene, who has a .620 OPS this season despite an active five-game hit streak. So what’s the problem? The Freep’s Evan Petzold took a deep dive into the numbers and found Greene is, perhaps, a little too grounded. Find out why.

Making contact

The Tigers shuffled their offense last week after Kerry Carpenter injured his shoulder, sending down Tyler Nevin — who finally picked up hit No. 2 on the year with a homer Saturday — and calling up veteran Andy Ibáñez. But it’s not all on Ibáñez to fix the offense. Find out from Our Man Petzold how he’s staying focused on what he can do.

Say hey, J-Hen?

One player the Tigers are unlikely to call up: Justyn-Henry Malloy, the prize of the Tigers’ offseason trade of Joe Jiménez to Atlanta. That’s despite Malloy’s scorching .344/.474/.527 line for Triple-A Toledo through 26 games. Why? The Freep’s Jeff Seidel broke down the case for and against calling up “J-Hen,” as his teammates call him.

Skubal diving

Despite the rain and the losses to the Orioles — three in four games at Comerica Park — it wasn’t all bad news over the weekend: Once-and-future ace Tarik Skubal threw his first bullpen session since undergoing arm surgery in August. Find out from Our Man Petzold why Skubal’s moment on the mound was such a big deal, for him and the Tigers.

3 to watch

Last week was big for these three; what will May bring?

JAVIER BÁEZ: Even with a couple of finger injuries, the infielder hit .333 last week.

NICK MATON: “Wolfie” takes a bite out of another pitcher.

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: After 18 innings, finally a run allowed. But the lefty isn’t bothered by that.

Mark your calendar

After the three-game series against the Mets on Tuesday-Thursday, the Tigers have a reunion of a different sort; they’ll face the Cardinals for three games in St. Louis in a rematch of the 1968 World Series — 55 years ago this season — (and the 2006 Series, but that’s for another day). Since we spent the first part of the newsletter rehashing some not-so-pleasant times for the Tigers, we suggest walking down memory lane with the Freep’s flashback to the ’68 Series here.

Remembering Gates Brown

That ’68 Series win included, improbably, just one plate appearance from pinch-hitter extraordinaire Gates Brown, who would have turned 84 on Tuesday. (He died in Detroit in September 2013.) Brown put up a slash line of .370/.442/.685 in 68 games, 50 of which were pinch-hit appearances. The Freep’s Bill Dow looked back on a few of those here.

Other Tigers birthdays this week: Casey Mize (26 on Monday), Jim Walewander (61 on Tuesday), Austin Meadows (28 on Wednesday), Rick Leach (66 on Thursday).

TL;DR

All of this is to say, should you run into Scherzer or Verlander during their reunion tour around town this week … well, drinks are on them.

Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers Newsletter: Welcome back Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander