Kerry Carpenter to the 10-day injured list, Trey Sweeney recalled from Triple-A Toledo

The slugging outfielder re-aggravated his persistent hamstring injury in the Twins series.

As expected, the Detroit Tigers have placed outfielder Kerry Carpenter on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring injury. In his place they’ve recalled shortstop Trey Sweeney from Triple-A Toledo.

Carpenter has spent much of the past two months playing with intermittent hamstring pain and tightness. He and the Tigers tried to get through it, feeling that they needed him in the lineup, but instead Carpenter has hit .210 with a 87 wRC+ since May 15. Things looked much worse until he hit two home runs and a triple in nine plate appearances against the Minnesota Twins . Hope that he was finally putting the issue behind him quickly crumbled on Sunday as he winced in pain immediately on making contact with the triple to right field, and had to hobble around the bases to beat out the throw in after Willi Castro had trouble corralling the ball.

Even before suffering the more acute injury, it already looked like Carpenter was eventually going to need some time off to try and get the hamstring right. With an 11.5 game lead in the AL Central division, the Tigers need a healthy Kerry Carpenter in September and October, not a hobbled Carpenter in July. Hopefully the combination of the injured list stint and then the All-Star break from July 14 until the Tigers start up the second half on the road against the Texas Rangers , will be enough to finally heal the injury and get him back at least close to 100 percent.

The Tigers really should take all the time he needs. The postseason is largely a crapshoot of a tournament based on who is hot and whose bullpen is pitching the best. The regular season is really about getting into said tournament in as good a roster shape as possible. There are no guarantees, but the main advantage of having this big a lead is the ability to think a little more long-term and prepare the roster for the stretch drive and then the postseason.

Carpenter was famously dealing with the hamstring injury last postseason in the ALDS. His game winning three-run homer against ace closer Emmanuel Clase was a stunning moment, but Carpenter had four hits and a walk total in the series, with six strikeouts. It would be great to see what he can do on the biggest stage without having to nurse a painful leg injury throughout the postseason.

Trey Sweeney is a surprising choice as his replacement in that the wayward young shortstop barely got his locker set up with the Mud Hens before boomeranging right back to Detroit. He only played two games, and so the project to try and get him sorted out on both sides of the ball will have to continue at the major league level.

With Riley Greene, Parker Meadows, Wenceel Pérez, Matt Vierling, and Jahmai Jones all on hand, the outfield should be in pretty good shape. Presumably this is why Justyn-Henry Malloy, one of the few Mud Hens putting up good numbers, wasn’t the one recalled. Vierling’s arrival back from his shoulder issues is well timed, as Meadows is still struggling to dial in his timing at the plate.

As Carpenter spent most of the last six weeks struggling at the plate anyway, the Tigers’ offense shouldn’t miss him too much for now. Of course, even while struggling, Carpenter hit seven home runs in that time span. Hopefully Vierling can pick up some of the slack in the power department even with doubles rather than the same amount of homers. Either way, the important thing is to get him healthy.