Verlander

[Peter Welch]

JV had a rehab start tonight for Toledo and gave up 4 solo homers in 5 IP.  

Peter

[Paul Meloche]

Sounds like he's ready for the bullpen. In the minors.

On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 8:04 PM Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com> wrote:

JV had a rehab start tonight for Toledo and gave up 4 solo homers in 5 IP.  

Peter

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[Peter Welch]

Verlander is very homer prone.  His fastball just isn't the same anymore.

Peter

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From: Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2026 11:11 PM
To: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Cc: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Verlander

 

[Mike Coveyou]

I thought the announcers on the Mudhels game said that Verlander was working on his slider, which I think accounted for two of the home runs hit against him.  Their comment was that it wasn't breaking as well as it should be. One comment was that he would work on it again in his bullpen session this weekend and then "it wouldn't be a surprise if it was effective as ever when he makes a start for the Tigers" next week,

I have no idea as to whether this analysis holds any water or not.

I was even more concerned with Jansen's performance.  He did not look at all sharp to me.

I wonder if it would be worth giving Flaherty a shot as a closer?

Mike Coveyou

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[Peter Welch]

Maybe Verlander was just working on his slider and didn't care too much about the results.  

3 of the 4 homers he allowed were on sliders and the other on a 93-mph fastball.  

He threw 86 pitches and got only 6 swings and misses, mostly on the fastball.  His slider was getting rocked.  Nashville hitters had several hard-hit outs.

His fastball averaged 93-mph, topping out at 95.

Peter

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From: Mike Coveyou <mcov...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2026 11:44 PM

[Paul Meloche]

The lack of swing and miss was a concern last year with the Giants. I don’t know if that metric got better when his ERA and results improved in the second half of 2025. 

Paul M.

On Jun 11, 2026, at 9:12 AM, Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com> wrote:



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[Peter Welch]

I guess we've got to hope the 2nd-half JV from 2025 re-appears.

JV's K rate went from 7.9 in the 1st half to 8.4 in the 2^nd half last year. 

Opponents hit .274 with a .786 OPS against him in the 1^st half and .247 with a .685 OPS in the 2^nd half.

He allowed 10 homers in 76.2 IP in the 1^st half and 6 homers in 75.1 IP in the 2^nd half.

Something clicked for him in the 2^nd half last year and he became tougher to hit.  

The Tigers hoped (perhaps in vain) they'd get more of the same when they signed JV for this season.  Instead, his hip started bothering him in spring training and he was awful in his only start before going on the IL.  That's the risk of signing a 43-year-old pitcher.

I'm not sure the Tigers can afford to give JV a lot of time to find himself given they are still trying (perhaps desperately) to get back into contention.

He might have to accept a bullpen role, but given his propensity to give up homers, that could be a disaster.  Plus, it's entirely possible JV's hip starts bothering him again.  Sadly, I think this might be it for JV.  It is unlikely to be a story book ending for his great career.

Peter

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From: Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2026 12:43 PM

[Roger King]

Will be a difficult decision for management if JV is not effective in his first couple of starts. I say a couple because I think you have to let him have that one home start back at Comerica that the fans have been anticipating. 

So even if he bombs in his first start, which is likely to come on the road (in Houston), you give him another one in Detroit. But after that, if he’s not effective…and the Tigers are still scratching their way back to potential contention, I don’t know how many more starts you can give him.

Anyway, we’ll start with both Skubal and Mize coming back this weekend and take it from there!

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[Peter Welch]

Jansen was awful last night for Toledo.  He might be cooked.

Peter

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From: Mike Coveyou <mcov...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2026 11:44 PM

[Peter Welch]

They just showed Kenley in the dugout, so it looks like he could be activated soon.  Ugh!

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2026 2:58 PM
To: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Verlander

 

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