DETROIT -- After the worst night yet of his Detroit Tigers tenure, Chris Paddack turned emotional. Red eyes. Hints of tears.
He had already talked about his troublesome year, one now stained with a 6.89 ERA in 31 1/3 innings since coming to the Tigers from the Minnesota Twins before the trade deadline.
"Mentally, this game has done some things to me this year that ... (I'm) in a hole," Paddack said.
He had discussed his demotion to the bullpen, something he talked over with manager A.J. Hinch and the Tigers' brass in recent days.
Paddack spent Monday night in the bullpen, adjusting his routine, observing other relievers. Then he entered the game Tuesday and got pummeled for six earned runs.
"I haven't met some of my expectations as far as some numbers go across my statline, so there's really no arguing that decision," Paddack said. "I'm here to contribute any way I can."
Paddack broke down the good and bad of a mostly awful outing, one where he got six swings-and-misses but also allowed back-to-back home runs to Juan Soto and Pete Alonso, one where he felt he executed better than the results suggested but also one where he wondered if he might have been tipping his changeup. The Mets swung at 10 of the 11 changeups he threw. After mostly good results from the windup, he was obliterated from the stretch.
"I'm gonna do some digging tomorrow to see if I'm tipping that pitch or not, or if I'm tipping something out of my delivery," Paddack said.
And then, while fans were still unloading their frustrations on social media and a silent clubhouse was coping with a 12-5 loss, Paddack shared some news. He said he will be away from the team for the next three days. He had a death in his family. He pitched Tuesday with the message "RIP MEL" and a heart inscribed on his hat. He will go home and be there in a time of need.
"Hopefully that's a little reset for me, to be able to go home and hug the loved ones," Paddack said. "The reason why I play this game is for them."
In one breath, Paddack is a three-dimensional human deserving of empathy. In another, he is a struggling pitcher on a playoff-bound team. Those can be difficult truths to reconcile. The reality is no one likes this part of life in the major leagues. Not the pitcher striving for success but instead getting bashed around in front of thousands. Not the manager taking the ball from the pitcher's hand or delivering the news of a demotion. Not the fans watching their favorite team get pummeled. Not even the executives watching a trade they stake their reputations on disintegrate into a mess.
Nor is it enjoyable to chronicle such misery in a competitive environment, to watch and write as a situation nears an impasse, all the while another person is doing their best to keep it together in front of a camera.
And yet here we are.
Hinch took the ball from Paddack's hand Tuesday night at Comerica Park and gave the pitcher a pat on the backside. Paddack walked slowly off the field after another dismal outing. As he neared the dugout steps, he shot a glare toward a heckling fan. Third-base coach Joey Cora put a hand on Paddack's back. As Paddack descended the stairs and neared the bench, Charlie Morton patted Paddack, too.
Everyone was searching for some form of encouragement. But the results make any level of optimism difficult to come by.
Paddack gave up 18 earned runs in 30 innings as a starter after the trade. He had a 6.38 ERA over his last five starts. Before Tuesday's game, Hinch finished his daily media session, then made an impromptu announcement: Paddack was moving to the bullpen.
If there was any hope for Paddack, perhaps this was it. He made a brief relief stint for the Twins in 2023, even pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings for them in the postseason. Some evaluators still believed Paddack's stuff could play in shorter bursts.
"The hope for anybody that you send to the pen is that it's gonna ease the pressure of the beginning of the game or the first inning," Hinch said.
By the sixth inning Tuesday against the Mets, starting pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long and reliever Bailey Horn struggled to dispatch Mets hitters. The Tigers were trailing. So they called on their beleaguered right-hander.
Soon after, the Mets put up a six-run seventh inning. Paddack's pitches had been battered. The Mets registered eight hits against him in all.
Safe to say the Paddack trade is looking like another ill-fated move in a season where the Tigers still have everything to play for.
Every team has its misses. You can't get every move right. But it's the worst when the mistakes compound.
After Reese Olson's injury in late July, the Tigers needed a starter like Paddack in part because they entered this season still clinging to hope for Kenta Maeda, another former Twin with a fly-ball profile, and in part because they spent $15 million on Alex Cobb, a 37-year-old who has been injured all season. The combined $25 million the Tigers are paying those two this season has amounted to a heap of nothing.
The results from the Tigers' much-discussed trade deadline have been a mixed bag. Kyle Finnegan has been a revelation and has yet to allow a run in a Tigers uniform. Count that one as a win.
Rafael Montero has struggled with command but pitched much better in his last six outings. The jury is still out.
Paul Sewald is still hurt and might not be ready by Sept. 10, the first day he is eligible to come off the 60-day IL. Morton, a right-handed starter, has had a couple of nice outings but also been rocked, leading to a 5.81 ERA in Detroit.
Paddack has clearly been the worst of the newcomers. Acquired as a strike-throwing innings eater, his stuff has amounted more to batting practice. It's surely been difficult for Paddack, who twice got beat by his old team. He came to Detroit with excitement. Instead, his performances have invoked agony.
Meanwhile, one of the few mid-tier prospects the Tigers were willing to trade in July has been off to a strong start in the Twins system. Catcher Enrique Jiménez is hitting .286 with five home runs since the trade. The fact that the Tigers have other catching prospects in Thayron Liranzo and Josue Briceno (who also plays first base) might have made Jimenez more expendable to the Tigers. But the optics are not good. Not when the Tigers are as capable as anyone of winning the American League, and not when pitching woes appear to be the biggest obstacle standing in their way.
With Paddack out of the rotation and off days on the schedule ahead, it's possible the Tigers operate with only four set starters.
We've already seen glimpses of the team's creative approach working. The bullpen made notable progress in August, posting a 2.98 ERA. The peripherals still cast doubt on whether the Tigers can sustain such success -- particularly if they have to use pitchers beyond Finnegan, Will Vest and Troy Melton. Detroit's bullpen FIP in August ranked 25th. Opponents had a .219 batting average on balls in play, easily the lowest in the league.
In the stretch run, the Tigers are still cycling relievers in and out. Tuesday, it was left-hander Horn taking the place of rookie Drew Sommers. A few days ago, Sommers was managing the elation of making his big-league debut. Now he's back in the minors after unimpressive results in his first four MLB appearances.
"In these last 20-plus games we've got to make decisions along the way (on how) to use our pitching," Hinch said. "If we have guys that we can stretch out, we're going to use them. Who starts, who doesn't, will be series by series."
You never know when a new arm will catch fire, when an unheralded player will emerge, when an injured pitcher will return to the team and play the hero.
But the Tigers have real pitching issues. Tuesday, those problems felt glaring as ever.
A person trying to sort out life, just like the rest of us.
"I have to continue to stay strong," he said. "I have things I need to fix to help this team win."