The Detroit Tigers received devastating news on Monday: ace pitcher Tarik Skubal has been diagnosed with loose bodies in his elbow and will undergo surgery, sidelining him for at least two months. While the procedure is expected to have minimal long-term impact on his dominance, the short-term outlook for the Tigers is grim.

The Tigers' starting rotation—once a source of optimism—has been ravaged by injuries. Alongside Skubal, Reese Olson, Justin Verlander, Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton, and Casey Mize are all on the injured list. That's a staggering number of lost innings, and Detroit has no easy answers. The team will now need to patch together two starts per week from a shallow pool of options. To make matters worse, Jack Flaherty has been struggling, and top reliever Will Vest is also injured, leaving a bullpen that's already missing its best arm.

The immediate challenge is survival. Can the Tigers avoid sinking into a deep hole over the next few weeks? There's some hope on the horizon. Mize and Vest's injuries are reportedly minor, and Melton is working toward a May 25 return—the first day he's eligible to come off the 60-day injured list. Verlander's status, however, remains murky. He's reportedly throwing well in bullpens, but he's not recovering quickly enough to begin a progression to the starting rotation—a progression that will now require multiple rehab starts at Triple-A.

Here's the silver lining: Mize has been pitching like a frontline starter this season, finally generating the whiffs on his splitter that were expected of him coming out of college. Melton, meanwhile, is arguably the Tigers' best power arm outside of Skubal. If these two can step up, they could help stabilize the rotation and get Detroit back to the early-season success they enjoyed before the injury bug struck.