After Wednesday night’s 7-3 loss to the Texas Rangers in Game 4 of the ALCS, the Tigers may go into Game 5 with their closer unavailable to them.
Jose Valverde threw 22 pitches Wednesday night and has thrown a total of 61 pitches in the past three days, numbers that aren’t typical for closers.
Whether or not Valverde can go in Game 5 is still yet to be seen, however Tigers manager Jim Leyland did mention after Game 4 that Valverde is running on fumes and heart.
If Valverde cannot go the Tigers may turn to Joaquin Benoit, Ryan Perry or even starter Max Scherzer if need be. However Leyland also admitted that Benoit is in the same camp that Valverde is in concerning his overwork.
Magglio not planning on retirement
Earlier in the week it was announced that Tigers OF Magglio Ordonez would be lost for the remainder of the postseason with a fractured ankle.
This was a serious blow to the Tigers given the fact that Ordonez was swinging a very hot bat for the Tigers so far in the postseason. Furthermore the injury to Ordonez probably meant that he played his final game in a Tigers uniform given he signed a one year contract last offseason.
Ordonez has been battling injuries for the past few seasons and according to reports the veteran outfielder and longtime Tiger was going to speak with a doctor before contemplating retirement.
Jon Heyman of SI.com however tweeted that Ordonez is not going to retire and that he plans on playing next season.
If Magglio were to give it a go next year it probably would be solely as a DH and with another team. This is in large part due to the fact that the Tigers have Victor Martinez signed as their DH to a multi-year contract.
Ref: ESPN, SI.com, Twitter, Mlive.com (image)