Report: Verlander, Rondon Will Start Season On 15-Day Disabled List
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has announced starting pitcher Justin Verlander and reliever Bruce Rondon will both begin the season on the disabled list, according to Jason Beck of MLB.com.
Justin Verlander will start the season on 15-day DL. So will Bruce Rondon.
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) April 2, 2015
Verlander now scheduled to start April 12 in Cleveland, the first day Tigers need a 5th starter. Also first day Verlander can come off DL.
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) April 2, 2015
Verlander has been dealing with a triceps strain, while Rondon has been diagnosed with right shoulder tendinitis, per Beck.
Both players were already trying to bounce back from disappointing 2014 seasons. Last year Verlander turned in a 4.54 ERA, one of the worst of his career, and saw his strikeout numbers drop dramatically. Rondon missed the entire season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Verlander is the number two starter for the Tigers, and the strength of the team's rotation largely depends on him returning to form. Verlander won the Cy Young and MVP in 2011, and while it seems unreasonable to expect production anywhere near that level, the team needs him to be much improved from last season. That seemed like a possibility, particularly when Verlander revealed that therapists he saw in the offseason attributed much of his struggle to the effects of core muscle repair surgery he underwent prior to the 2014 season.
Rondon's expected return was cited repeatedly by the Tigers as a major reason they believed their bullpen - one of the least effective in baseball in 2014 - would be better this season even though they did little in the way of offseason acquisitions to improve that unit. As a rookie in 2013, Rondon recorded a 3.45 ERA over 30 appearances.