Tigers’ Casey Mize decision cements remarkable Guardians twist of fate

Last year, the Cleveland Guardians seemed to announce themselves as sellers at the trade deadline by dealing Shane Bieber to the Toronto Blue Jays and Paul Sewald to the Detroit Tigers. 

Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers announced their intention as full-scale sellers by acquiring Charlie Morton, Rafael Montero, Sewald, Kyle Finnegan and current Guardian Codi Heuer. 

Things look pretttttyyy different this year. 

Earlier today the Tigers announced they were scratching starting pitcher Casey Mize from his scheduled start later today as a precaution against an injury. 

That’s right, the Tigers, who entered the season as favorites to win the American League Central, are pulling the ultimate trade deadline surrender and pulling their former All-Star starter to keep him healthy. 

A lot can change in a year. 

Tigers’ decision to hold Casey Mize from his start is ultimate trade deadline surrender 

Detroit’s decision to hold Mize from his start is the final confirmation they’re going to be waving the white flag on what’s been a disastrous season for them. Although they’re technically just 4 1/2 games back of a Wild Card spot, they have five teams to leapfrog for a spot and are seven games under .500. 

Plus they also have one of the biggest impending free agents in the form of Tarik Skubal, who racked up his 1,000th career strikeout earlier this week but was forced to watch his bullpen blow it against the Orioles. 

While Mize isn’t on the same level as Skubal, he’s still a quality starter who could help Detroit net a plethora of prospects in a trade. Mize has a 2.70 ERA in 86 2/3 innings this season, which are better numbers than he posted last year in his All-Star campaign. 

The one red flag with Mize is his fastball velocity dipped two miles an hour in his last start, but Jeff Passan wrote that teams don’t seem too concerned about it. 

Mize is no stranger to injuries, as he missed almost all of 2022 and all of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery, and has dealt with a right adductor issue for most of the season. 

Still, he’s shown enough to help jump-start the Tigers rebuild that should begin in the coming days with a trade of him and Skubal. 

Even if the Guardians don’t become bonafide buyers in the way that they should be, they’re still not going to have to undergo the same kind of teardown that Detroit’s going to have to do a little more than nine months after making it to the American League Division Series. 

The Tigers may have gotten the last laugh over the Guardians last year with their Wild Card Series win after Cleveland’s incredible rally to win the division, but the Mize’s scratching confirms the Guardians are going to win the long game. 

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