Zumaya injury

Bloggers -- When Joel Zumaya's elbow gave out in the eighth inning of Monday night's game at Minnesota, I have to admit it was one of the sickest things I've ever seen in a game. It ranks right up there with Joe Theisman's compound fracture on Monday Night Football many years ago.
Ironically, as Zumaya pitched in the seventh inning, I thought to myself how good Zumaya has been pitching this season and how key he is for the Tigers quest for a division title. Ten minutes later the injury takes place and all that hope looks like is all gone for this season.
What Zumaya can do with a baseball is utterly freakish. How many people do you know can throw a fastball 100 mph pitch after pitch after pitch. Eventually something had to give and on Monday night it did -- his elbow.
Will he back? Probably. It won't be soon, though. If he has Tommy John surgery where they can take a ligament or tendon from another part of the body and put it in his elbow, he won't be back until at least 2012.
If he does comeback, the days of 100-plus fastballs may be gone. He has to realize he can be just as effective with a 92-95 mph heater, which would take some pressure off that elbow and his shoulder.
So what do the Tigers do in the meantime. After all, their win on Monday night put the in first place in the American League Central.
In the short term, they've brought up Casey Fien from Toledo. It's his job to lose right now. Is he Zumaya? No. Can he do the job? Maybe. We'll see. However, if he can't get the job done, the Tigers better hope Ryan Perry can straighten out his control problems in a hurry down in Toledo and can get back up to the big club to fill the eighth-inning gap left by Zumaya.
If you remember, the Tigers blew a lot of leads in the seventh and eighth innings last year and it ultimately cost them the division title.
This year, they went out and got themselves a proven closer in Jose Valverde, who has been sensational through the first three months of the season. However, a lot of his chances to save games came off the shirt tails of work done by relievers like Phil Coke and Zumaya in the seventh and eighth innings. That's why it's important for Fien, Coke, Perry, Ni or anyone else in the bullpen to step up and fill the shoes left by Zumaya.
Another idea would be for the Tigers to go out and trade for a reliever. However, to get one would mean parting with a key prospect or two, which is never good, especially for a set-up guy. They may need to test the trade waters for a hitter or a starting pitcher before the deadline comes next month. If that's the case, I would rather see them trade a prospect or two for an every day hitter or a starting pitcher like Cliff Lee or Roy Oswalt. That would be appealing to me rather than a set-up guy.
What do you think about the Zumaya situation? What would you do if you were the Tigers? Send me a note and we can discuss this further.