Detroit Tigers: Starting pitching depth is becoming an issue

The Detroit Tigers lack depth in their starting rotation

The Detroit Tigers have suffered numerous injuries to the starting rotation over the last couple of years. New president of baseball operations Scott Harris attempted to address this issue y signing two starting pitchers in the offseason in Michael Lorenzen and Matthew Boyd.

Lorenzen has been solid and Boyd has been so-so at best. They're not necessarily the problem, though. The problem is that anybody besides those two and Eduardo Rodriguez have not been good this season.

Matt Manning has been on the IL since April. Spencer Turnbull had an ERA over 7 before he, too, was placed on the IL. Joey Wentz also has an ERA over 7 and a negative WAR on the season. He probably should be in Triple-A, but there's one problem there. Who's going to replace him?

Alex Faedo is already here, and has done fine in three starts. He's hasn't been amazing by any stretch, but he's kept the team in games. The only reason he's here is because they didn't have any other options.

A rotation of E-rod, Boyd, Faedo, Wentz, and Lorenzen is not going to get it done. They need more useful arms.

One thing you can't account for is more injuries. Matt Manning took a line drive to his foot and has been out ever since. The Turnbull situation is still strange, but at the end of the day he's still on the IL. Beau Brieske has been hurt since spring training, and we might not see him at all this year. That's a lot of arms and lot of innings on the shelf at the moment.

The good news is one horse might be coming out of the stable soon. Tarik Skubal continues to make progress in his rehab and could start a rehab assignment soon. This goes without saying, but getting him back would be huge. He's still likely at least a month away from pitching for the Tigers, but it's still very promising stuff.

We probably won't see Casey Mize this year, but Manning should be back at some point this season as well. I'm still very skeptical that we'll see Turnbull again, but he could come back as well. That's two or three arms that should be back. That's some major reinforcements.

But for now, the Tigers just have to ride the wave. Their starting pitching depth has taken a huge hit early on this season. Don't be surprised if Scott Harris hits the waiver wire for a starting pitcher. Hopefully they can avoid even further injury.