Kerry Carpenter injury highlights Tigers' trade deadline need after win over Cubs

The Tigers' win over the Cubs on Monday night was so electric that it was all too easy to forget about a wrinkle in the 10th. Kerry Carpenter, after booking it down the line to first and reaching on a Nico Hoerner error, came out of the game almost immediately after being called safe. Ben Malgeri came in to replace him.

Things were moving quickly by that point, as they tend to do in extra innings with ghost runners, and this game in particular felt like it was being played on a razor's edge. There was little time to linger on Carpenter before getting back to it.

The broadcast took a second to show a replay of Carpenter's sprint to first, and it was immediately apparent that something was wrong with his lower body. He's dealt with hamstring issues on-and-off throughout his career, and at times it's felt like a particularly strong breeze would be enough to injure him. However, AJ Hinch clarified after the game that he's been dealing with a bruised heel over the past few days and didn't want to take his chances.

If it's that minor, the Tigers probably won't lose him for more than a few days. But given Carpenter's performance at the plate lately, it might not be the worst thing in the world.

Kerry Carpenter's injury scare draws attention to bad offensive struggles for Tigers

Tigers fans were begging Scott Harris to acquire at bat at last year's trade deadline. It does seem like the front office made a few calls on that front — to the Diamondbacks about Eugenio Suarez, in particular — but didn't want to overpay for a rental. That's at least somewhat understandable, especially given that hindsight is 20/20 and Suarez had a bad second half with the Mariners, but it might not be a good enough argument this year.

As we know, the Tigers' entire trade deadline hinges around Tarik Skubal. If Skubal goes, the Tigers are basically waving a white flag. If he stays, then they're confident they'll be able to make it to October. If they land on the latter, they need to go all-in. Carpenter and his .705 OPS aren't going to cut it.

Who could they get? Who knows, really? There are a lot of teams in the exact same position as the Tigers, just kind of floating around and not taking a strong buying or selling stance right now as they run down the clock to the deadline. We should probably expect to hear about a fair amount of scrambling when all is said and done, but the fact is that the Tigers need offensive reinforcements if they're going to make keeping Skubal worth it.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow