Justin Verlander hit the disabled list for the first time in his career at the start of the 2015 season because of a mild right triceps strain. His road to recovery hasn't been going so well, which means he could be on the shelf longer than expected.
The 32-year-old would be eligible to rejoin the Tigers' rotation on April 20, but James Schmehl of MLive.com reports "it now seems highly unlikely the six-time All-Star would be ready to return" by then. Verlander had his latest throwing session pushed back because of continued soreness in his triceps.
The right-hander pitched a simulated game on Wednesday where he was supposed to throw four innings, but he lasted only three because of fatigue. That fatigue, achiness and soreness continued over the weekend and his current throwing schedule will now be delayed.
"We expected him to be sore the next day," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told Schmehl. "But two days later, we expected he'd have recovered better.
"We're going to slow him down. He's a little more sore the second day than we'd planned, so we're going to slow him down a little bit."
"Obviously you want to go out there and feel nothing," Verlander told Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. "I fatigued a little bit quicker than I would have liked but I didn't feel any pain or grabbing in the spot where the injury occurred so that's a big positive."
Fenech noted because of the change in his rehab, Verlander "likely won't be on a major league mound anytime soon," especially since he hasn't been able to throw more than 45 pitches at 100% intensity since he initially suffered the triceps injury back on March 27.
Detroit isn't in dire need of Verlander in their starting rotation right now, considering the team is 9-2 and their starters boast a 2.59 ERA (third in MLB), 0.97 WHIP (second in MLB) and .208 opponents' batting average (fourth in MLB). However, they'll need him at some point in the near future and it's unknown if this injury will linger for much of the year, which would certainly be of notable concern.
He's also owed $140 million over the next five seasons, so Detroit likely wants to see their hefty investment play as much as possible.
