Out of the 21 aid innings pitched by the Detroit Tigers bullpen in three video games in opposition to the Baltimore Orioles, former Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Shelby Miller didn't take the mound in any respect.
It was a essential sequence — probably the most essential sequence of the season for the upstart Tigers, who've gained 12 of 15 to maneuver into Wild Card place. And Miller was nowhere to be discovered.
With the top in sight, the Tigers known as up their prime pitching prospect, Jackson Jobe, signaling a shift within the roster.
Miller was designated for project to make room for Jobe.
“His usage had declined,” said manager AJ Hinch, who gave Miller the information after the workforce airplane landed in Detroit Sunday night time. “I hadn’t used him a ton. I didn’t even get him up in Baltimore and the decision hadn’t even been made on what we were doing at that point (with Jobe).
“It became more and more clear (Miller) was falling toward the back of the line. That combination with us wanting to get Jackson in the mix made him the odd man out.”
At 33 years previous, Miller had solely pitched 4.2 innings in September, however his final outing was a spotlight, as he managed to strand the bases loaded and safe a win for Detroit over Kansas City.
However, the season had its challenges for him, as he recorded eight losses and blew seven saves.
“There was a lot of good and a lot of times he struggled, as well,” Hinch said. “But like I told him, it was one or two pitches here, one or two pitches there and he got burned by the long ball a lot. That was unfortunate for us and unfortunate for him.
“Because there were stretches when he got a lot of big outs.”
The Tigers signed Miller to a $3 million contract this offseason, which included a workforce choice for 2025, after he completed sturdy with the Dodgers final yr. His success in Los Angeles was partly on account of his growth of a splitter.
By making 51 appearances, Miller triggered a $100,000 bonus in his contract. Additionally, the Tigers might want to pay him the $250,000 buyout tied to the workforce choice.
The information of the roster transfer shocked the clubhouse as soon as the workforce returned to Detroit.
“Shelby is a great guy and just such a big part of this clubhouse,” Matt Vierling said. “He was one of the few veteran guys we have. But it is what it is. It’s baseball. It’s the way it works.
“It caught me by surprise and I imagine it caught everybody else by surprise, too. But we love Shelby and everything he did for us. We just have to move forward and keep going.”
