Detroit Tigers officially place Justin Verlander on DL, will miss first start

So apparently this is the cramp that will not go away.

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The Detroit Tigers’ spin machine has gone from cramp, with no missed start two weeks ago to strain but will won’t miss any time, to disabled list for Justin Verlander.

While the team said they would likely place Verlander on the DL in the final week of Spring Training, they were hoping with the added day off in Opening Week (with yesterday’s scheduled off-day) he would be able to start at the back-end of the rotation, Sunday against the Cleveland Indians.

It is the first time in his career he will land on the DL

He will not, and the team announced he is being placed on the DL retroactive to March 29. Kyle Lobstein is being recalled from Toledo and will start on Sunday.

Verlander left a game on March 27 in what was described as just a cramp. The Tigers and Verlander said he was fine and would start his final Spring Training game, but that was later scraped. He has been throwing in Lakeland and faced batters yesterday to see if he was ready for action, but the Tigers have deemed him not ready to go.

When throwing off the mound a few days ago, manager Brad Ausmus stated that Verlander felt very good for 40 pitches and then felt “not so good” through the final couple of pitches.

As we suspected, Lobstein is the guy that will fill in for however long Verlander cannot go. A rookie in 2014, he filled in admirably for an injured Anibal Sanchez down the stretch. His numbers were not eye-popping but he kept his team in many games, going 1-2 with a 4.35 ERA in six starts.

You will likely hear from the Tigers and Verlander in the coming days, saying it is just this one start he will be missing, but be highly skeptical of anything along those lines.

Clearly Verlander is dealing with an issue much more serious that the Tigers are willing to admit and they have not been very straighforward throughout this process.

Next: Tigers Biggest Concern is Brad Ausmus