Framber Valdez failed first big Tigers test after Tarik Skubal injury

The Detroit Tigers were dealt a blow yesterday as news came out that ace Tarik Skubal would undergo elbow surgery and miss the next two to three months. While Skubal is out, the expectation was that Framber Valdez would step in as the new ace of the rotation — an expectation he failed to meet almost immediately.

Valdez's first major test as Detroit’s de facto No. 1 starter spiraled into exactly the kind of disaster Tigers fans feared when concerns about Valdez’s volatility followed him into free agency.

The game itself was ugly enough. The Boston Red Sox tagged Valdez early, then completely unraveled him in the fourth inning with back-to-back home runs from Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu. The biggest damage, though, came from Valdez drilling Trevor Story moments later and getting ejected as benches cleared.

The Tigers are already operating without Skubal, whose injury fundamentally changed the ceiling of this rotation. Detroit signed Valdez to help steady moments exactly like this. Instead, he lost composure in a game his team desperately needed stability from him.

And now, because of the suspension that followed, the Tigers are even thinner than they were before.

Tigers needed Framber Valdez to step up and be an ace, and he failed almost immediately

For years Valdez was a reliable, consistent ace for the Houston Astros, and that’s why the Tigers signed him to a three-year, $115 million deal in the offseason. 

They need him to be the be the guy who takes the ball when the team is on a four-game long streak and shuts down an opponent. He has to be the guy who you can count on to deliver seven strong innings when the bullpen has been overworked as of late. 

A lot of pressure was taken off Valdez because he had Skubal in front of him, but now that cover has been taken away. Valdez has to sink or swim on his own and how he performs over the next few months could determine whether the Tigers make the playoffs or not.

If he can rebound from this early blunder and return from his suspension with strong outings, that should keep the team afloat and in contention for when Skubal returns in the summer. If not, the Tigers may simply have too much ground to make up in their division.

There were character questions surrounding Valdez during free agency and the Tigers certainly took a risk by signing him. He had a chance to silence all the doubters on Tuesday, and instead he proved them right. Now, the Tigers need him to come back and show that he is an ace who can step up when his team needs him the most.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow