The Detroit Tigers earned another victory on Friday night over their division rival Kansas City Royals, grabbing the first two of a four-game set in the Motor City.
Things appeared to be well in hand headed into the top of the ninth inning with the Tigers leading 7-1, but it got interesting quickly when AJ Hinch understandably made the decision to bring Kenta Maeda into the game.
In a low leverage situation, bringing in Maeda to avoid trying to burn another bullpen arm — especially with the unit dealing with injury — made a lot of sense.
Quickly however, Maeda made things interesting by allowing two baserunners and a quick hit and before Detroit knew it, the lead was cut to four with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate.
Hinch had no choice but to bring Tommy Kahnle into the game after the meltdown from Maeda and though he would walk in a run, he earned a huge strikeout and was aided by a spectacular catch from Zach McKinstry to preserve the victory.
For Maeda, this has now become a common theme.
The veteran is now up to a 10.50 ERA over five appearances and six innings this year, not even able to give the Tigers an option in low leverage situations to avoid having to have someone else come into the game.
It’s understandable why Detroit is giving Maeda every opportunity to prove he can at least be of some value to this team.
In the second season of a lucrative two-year deal signed last winter, Maeda is making $10 million this season.
An extremely encouraging spring training with numerous strong outings made it appear as if Maeda had figured things out and would be a major asset for the Tigers in some way shape or form, but none of it has translated to the regular season.
It’s gotten to a point where Detroit cannot afford to bring him into a game when things are in the balance, which begs the question why he is even taking up a roster spot at this point.
The $10 million he is making is gone regardless, and while general practice dictates trying to get value out of money spent it’s just simply not going to happen here for the 37-year-old.
Simply eating the contract and admitting failure is never an easy thing to do, however at this point the best thing for both Maeda and more importantly the team would be moving on.
Not all contracts can work out, and this was a case where it didn’t.
Rather than continuing to throw him out there, the Tigers need to bring up someone who can give quality innings and get Maeda as far away from this bullpen as possible.
