Detroit Tigers: What losing Matt Moore means

The Detroit Tigers’ pitching staff suffered a major blow on Wednesday when it was announced that starter Matt Moore will miss the rest of the season.

The Detroit Free Press reported on Wednesday that after undergoing surgery on his right knee, Tigers starting pitcher Matt Moore will miss the rest of 2019. Though his stint with Detroit this year was very brief, Moore showed potential to be a key piece in the middle of the Tigers’ rotation and possibly a valuable trade asset come deadline time. Let’s take a dive into what Moore’s absence will mean for the Detroit Tigers.

Matt Moore’s 2019 with Detroit was short-lived, with the lefty making just two starts for the Tigers. In those two starts, Moore never allowed a run and gave up only three hits. Moore struck out nine batters and only surrendered one walk in his ten total innings pitched. After leaving his second start on April 6th against Kansas City, it seemed that the best case scenario would be about a four to six week absence.

We know now, however, that that’s not the case and Moore is out for the rest of the year. Moore was slotted in the third spot in the Detroit’s rotation behind Jordan Zimmermann and Matt Boyd. Like Zimmermann and Boyd, he played a key role in helping the Tigers get off to a hot 7-3 start and was part of what looked like could have been a powerful trio in the making at the top of Detroit’s rotation.

That is probably the most disappointing aspect of losing Moore for the year, the fact that there was lots of promise to look forward to. Moore is not a young prospect, but he was a new face for Tigers fans and started to turn heads right before his year was cut short. Zimmermann is struggling a little as of late and Boyd still looks solid, so having Moore still in that rotation would be huge for the Tigers if they could have consistently gotten three solid starts in a row from three major starters.

One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked as well is that Moore was one a one-year deal with Detroit, and could have been used as an asset during the trade deadline. Detroit could have dealt him to a contending team looking to add one more solid arm to their rotation and received prospects in return to keep rebuilding.

Overall, the Moore injury does hamper the Tigers a lot. His promising first couple performances showed he had the makings to be a key player in the middle of Detroit’s rotation. His potential value as a trade piece also is something the Tigers could miss greatly when the trade deadline rolls around. We wish all the best to Matt Moore and hope has a healthy recovery.

What do you think the Tigers will miss the most with Matt Moore now out for the year? Feel free to let us know in the comments section down below.