Fulmer will receive additional rest between starts and may have starts skipped as his innings continue to mount, reports the Detroit Free Press. So far, he has thrown 135.1 innings between Triple-A and the major leagues.
Earlier in the season, the team mentioned a 20-to-30 percent increase in innings over last year (124.2) was the target, so that would have capped him at about 170 innings. Now, Tigers' manager Brad Ausmus said, "We don't really have a hard cap" on innings for the big starter, but added, "We're going to have to do something, push him back, skip him or something. If he keeps pitching like this, we might have to do it more than once because we'd like to have him all the way through." Fulmer has been a key contributor to the Tigers' success this season, as well as to that of many fantasy owners. News of skipped starts or pushed back days will wreck havoc for head-to-head owners who are nearing postseason play. Weekly lineup cutoffs for fantasy owners might be a roll of the dice with such a fluid situation in Detroit.