Detroit Tigers move veteran Kenta Maeda to bullpen for 'foreseeable future'
Detroit Tigers right-hander Kenta Maeda, the second-highest paid player on the roster, has been banished to the bullpen without a timetable for his return to the starting rotation.
Maeda has a 7.26 ERA in 16 starts in the first season of a two-year, $24 million contract with the Tigers, which pays him $14 million in 2024 and $10 million in 2025.
Finally, the Tigers decided to move Maeda to the bullpen.
"He's going to go to the bullpen for the foreseeable future," manager A.J. Hinch said before Thursday's series finale against the Cleveland Guardians. "We have some adjustments we'd like him to make. He's open to any and all ideas."
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The 36-year-old was lined up to start Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Comerica Park, which is the final game before the All-Star break, but instead, he will work out of the bullpen for the three-game series. For the Dodgers series, left-hander Tarik Skubal starts Friday and right-hander Keider Montero starts Saturday before a bullpen-only game Sunday.
When the Tigers return from the All-Star break, Maeda will remain in the bullpen.
"Coming out of the break, he will not be in the rotation," Hinch said, "and we'll have to figure out whether we're going to do bullpen days or what our game plan is going to be. We got a lot of time for that to happen."
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Maeda, an eight-year MLB veteran, has a 7.26 ERA with 23 walks (7.9% walk rate) and 50 strikeouts (17.1% strikeout rate) across 65⅔ innings in 16 starts.
He allowed a combined 15 runs over 6⅓ innings in his last two starts, apologizing to teammates after his continued struggles in Tuesday's start against the Guardians.
"Reflecting on my baseball career, I don't think I've struggled this badly," Maeda said after Tuesday's 9-8 loss. "Not finding the solution has led to the results of this season. It's not that I'm not trying. I'm doing my best and trying my hardest to bounce back, but things just aren't happening. Hopefully, I can continue to work hard and focus on finding the solution."
The Tigers want Maeda to command his pitches again.
He throws six pitches but primarily uses three of them: splitter, slider and four-seam fastball.
"This is all going to come back with command," Hinch said. "I know we talk about velocity, pitch usage and chase, but it all begins and ends with his command. ... We've got to boost him up, give him some confidence and give him a runway to have better success so that he can build off something positive."
Maeda has been a starter throughout his career, but he has some experience pitching out of the bullpen, making 36 relief appearances — along with 71 starts — in 2017-19 with the Dodgers.
He has a 4.20 ERA in 170 games as a starter and a 3.15 ERA in 36 games as a reliever, spanning all 206 games in his career. He also has a 5.5% walk rate and a 34.8% strikeout rate as a reliever, compared to a 7.1% walk rate and a 25.6% strikeout rate as a starter.
It's a small relief sample, but Maeda has been more successful coming out of the bullpen in his career. He handled the latest move to the bullpen with professionalism.
"He understood, and he wants to attack and get better," Hinch said. "He knows it hasn't gone great. He knows this isn't representative of what he can be and what he's going to be. ... We're not just going to walk away, stick him in the bullpen and hope things get better. We've got to do some things to tighten things up."
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Mark Canha sits for third game in a row
Mark Canha, a veteran who plays outfield and first base, wasn't in the lineup for Thursday's series finale against the Guardians. The 35-year-old hasn't been in the lineup for three games in a row, but he is available to pinch-hit in Thursday's game.
He is dealing with left hip discomfort.
"Very available," Hinch said. "I told him we were going to gear towards the lefties, and then we'll see how Friday and Saturday goes. I like what some of these guys are doing. It's not a punishment at all, but where these guys are swinging the bat, I think Mark's best contribution will be off the bench."
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He suffered from left hip soreness at the end of May, but he avoided the injured list. He missed back-to-back games, then took over as the everyday first baseman after the Tigers optioned Spencer Torkelson to Triple-A Toledo.
Canha started 25 of 27 games — from June 3 through July 2 — before the Tigers pumped the breaks on his playing time for performance and fatigue reasons.
Since then, he has started just five of nine games.
Since May 1, Canha is hitting .195 with one home run, 20 walks and 44 strikeouts in 53 games. He is playing on an expiring $11.5 million contract, so the Tigers will look to trade him at the July 30 trade deadline, but poor performance lasting more than two months has slashed his value.
"When this roster configuration came, we were going to have a decision every day with Mark, (Justyn-Henry) Malloy, Gio (Urshela) and Matt Vierling," Hinch said, "and so it seemed like a good time to give Mark a chance to reset a little bit, both performance wise and getting him in a good spot to produce."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers move Kenta Maeda to bullpen for 'foreseeable future'
