Tigers Injury Updates: John Brebbia, Beau Brieske, Parker Meadows, Matt Vierling

The Tigers were hit with two more pieces of bad injury news over the weekend. Fortunately, neither impacted the outfield, which is already four men down and could soon be five. Unfortunately, however, the bullpen will be losing two arms until at least early/mid-May.

Beau Brieske was the first to go onto the 15-day IL on Friday with ankle inflammation. AJ Hinch that he'd been feeling some soreness since the Tigers' series against the Twins last week and wasn't feeling any better after his one-inning outing against the Royals on Thursday. The team had him looked at and heeded doctor's orders to "shut him down for a little bit." The Tigers brought Brenan Hanifee back to the majors in the corresponding move, and he pitched 1 2/3 clean innings against the Royals in two games.

John Brebbia joined Brieske the following day with a right triceps strain and righty pitcher Bailey Horn was called up from Triple-A. Brebbia is sitting on a 1.00 ERA through nine innings, but his control has seemed a bit off over his last two appearances (he gave up four walks). Horn has yet to make his season debut and was acquired in a cash trade from the Cardinals in March.

Tigers Injury Updates: John Brebbia and Beau Brieske to the 15-day IL, Parker Meadows and Matt Vierling progress

In some better news, Parker Meadows and Matt Vierling are making progress after going onto the IL with a bicep nerve issue and a shoulder strain, respectively. Vierling was cleared to start a throwing program last week on top of batting practice, running, and conditioning. Meadows took a little longer to be cleared to throw, but he'll restart after being shut down in February.

Meadows was moved to the 60-day IL ahead of Opening Day to make room on the roster for Manuel Margot (who is now also hurt), so he won't be able to come back until late May, if he's even ready to return by then. However, the Tigers are hopeful that Vierling will be able to embark on a rehab stint in Triple-A before the month is over.

The Tigers' outfield is currently in a state of disarray, and may soon be even more so if Kerry Carpenter winds up on the IL. Although we won't be seeing Meadows for some time, Vierling's return could be an important extra spark for the offense, and it would just be good to get another body into the outfield, which the Tigers desperately need.