Should Detroit Tigers be concerned about non-Tarik Skubal starters?
On “Days of Roar,” Nick Pollack, founder of “Pitcher List,” evaluates the Detroit Tigers’ starting rotation — aside from left-hander Tarik Skubal.
The Detroit Tigers have parted ways with Charlie Morton.
Morton — a 41-year-old right-hander in his 18th MLB season — registered a 7.09 ERA with 23 walks and 47 strikeouts across 39⅓ innings in nine starts after the Tigers acquired him from the Baltimore Orioles at the July 31 trade deadline, including an 11.65 ERA in his final five starts.
Five bad starts in a row convinced the Tigers to cut him.
“I met with Charlie off-site last night and had an incredible conversation with him, but I gave him the reality that this was the end here with the Tigers,” manager A.J. Hinch said Sunday, Sept. 21, before the series finale against the Atlanta Braves at Comerica Park. “I love the man, and he gave us what he could. We don’t have the time to sort it out over the next week as we push forward for more wins.”
In a corresponding move, the Tigers selected right-handed reliever Tanner Rainey from Triple-A Toledo.
Rainey, 32, posted a 2.66 ERA with 14 walks and 33 strikeouts across 23⅔ innings in 19 games (two starts) for the Mud Hens. In mid-July, the Tigers signed Rainey — an eight-year MLB veteran with nearly 200 innings — to a minor-league contract.
“The velocity is real. The slider has been good,” Hinch said of Rainey, whose four-seam fastball averaged 95.8 mph and slider generated a 49.3% whiff rate for Triple-A Toledo. “His performance is really what drove him to be the choice. When he’s in the strike zone, he’s hard to hit.”
Rainey last pitched in MLB for the Pittsburgh Pirates during May and June in 2025, allowing nine runs on seven hits and six walks with nine strikeouts across 7⅔ innings.
He won the World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019.
“I know the moment is not too big,” Hinch said.
As for Morton, Hinch had to deliver the bad news.
They talked for nearly two hours after Saturday’s 6-5 loss to the Braves.
“I wish our fans had a longer view of Charlie,” said Hinch, who managed Morton from 2017-18 with the Houston Astros. “We sat together for almost two hours last night, which is uncommon when you’re delivering news of that magnitude, especially with where he’s at in his career and his age and in the timing of this year. Personally, it meant a lot for me to do it face to face with him.”
The Tigers considered shifting Morton from the rotation to the bullpen because of his swing-and-miss curveball. There were robust conversations about that possibility between the coaching staff and the front office.
Ultimately, the Tigers had concerns about Morton’s ability to throw his fastball for strikes, regardless of the role. He had a 10.3% walk rate with the Orioles before the trade, then a 12.5% walk rate with the Tigers after the trade.
“When we started to wonder about his strike throwing, it became questionable on how we can deploy that,” Hinch said. “The innings only get more and more important between now and the end of the regular season and into potential October.”
To acquire Morton, the Tigers traded Double-A left-handed reliever Micah Ashman to the Orioles. Since the trade, the 23-year-old owns a 4.80 ERA with four walks and 23 strikeouts across 15 innings in 13 games for Double-A Chesapeake.
Without Morton, the Tigers will rely on three starters in the final seven games of the regular season: left-hander Tarik Skubal, right-hander Jack Flaherty and right-hander Casey Mize.
The Tigers need starters for Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians and Saturday against the Boston Red Sox, with their “pitching chaos” strategy as the most likely solution — unless the Tigers start right-hander Keider Montero.
“I don’t know what the situation is going to be by the time that we get to Thursday,” Hinch said.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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