The Tigers have one of the strongest starting rotations in the American League, bolstered by the off-season arrival of Framber Valdez. Despite some early season success, however, the Detroit Tigers’ Bullpen has struggled amid a tough April schedule. Games against the perennially pesky Milwaukee Brewers and the streaking Cincinnati Reds exposed weaknesses the team will need to address. Scott Harris and the Tigers front office will need to get smarter to solve this problem.
Bullpen Struggles Amid Tough Schedule for Detroit Tigers
The cracks began to show during an April 16th match-up with the Kansas City Royals. Started Keider Montero went six innings, although yielded four runs on the night. New signing Drew Anderson was called upon in relief, where he struggled to put away a single batter while giving up three earned runs. Tyler Holton and Connor Seabold combined to give up two more runs. Luckily, Colt Keith walked the game off for the Tigers, sparing the bullpen’s blushes. From there, Tigers relievers have taken credit in four of the team’s last five losses.
One of the losses, 1-0 in extras at Fenway, was certainly understandable as no team can win a game when their offense fails to score. The Tigers’ next loss, also against the Boston Red Sox, was a little harder to understand. Starter Jack Flaherty gave up two unearned to put his team in a decent position for the bullpen to take over. The ‘pen gave up six earned to see the team lose 8-6 despite a 3-inning rally in the ninth. The next night at home against the Brewers was even worse. Enmanuel De Jesus and Seabold gave up nine runs combined, seven of which were earned as the Detroit Tigers’ bullpen Struggles thwarted any chance the team had at a win.
Friday’s rain-delayed match-up against the Reds was the worse of the bunch, with the bullpen squandering two different leads. Some offenders have been worse than others. Anderson’s 7.30 ERA speaks for itself. Will Vest is wearing a 6.75 ERA, despite some good recent outings. Kenley Jansen, meanwhile, has already blown two save opportunities. Jansen has gone six for eight on the year, for a 75% save conversion rate. That is well below his career average of 88.2%.
Tough Schedule, Or Predictable Result?
Scott Harris has consistently gone shopping in the trash heap when it comes to relievers. He acquired the likes of Paul Sewald, Chris Paddack, and Rafael Montero at the deadline last season with his team leading the AL Central handily. From there, Tigers relievers were some of the worst in the AL, and the team made the playoffs in spite of this weakness. Of all the acquisitions made last summer, only Kyle Finnegan kept opposition hitters at bay, and was even re-signed in the winter. Despite this lesson, Harris built this season’s bullpen in much the same way. While keeping Finnegan and running it back with the likes of Vest, Holton, and Brant Hurter made sense due to their track record, there were a few adds that raised an eyebrow.
Anderson is coming off of two seasons in KBO, so he was always a bit of a gamble. Jansen is a future Hall of Famer, but is also in the September of his career. Seabold is on his fifth MLB franchise and owns a career -2.1 WAR. Recently added Burch Smith is also a journeyman, and De Jesus is almost 30 and entered the season with 6.1 innings of MLB pitching in his arm. Every GM wants to find a diamond in the rough, but with Scott Harris it seems to be an obsession.
In order for the Detroit Tigers to overcome their bullpen struggles, and to win a first divisional title in over a decade, they will need to find new arms on the market. Instead of looking through the many discarded arms throughout the league, Scott Harris must make the bullpen a priority. If the Tigers are able to fix this issue, they will go from hopeful divisional winners, to potential American League winners.
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