So this is really happening? The Detroit Tigers are actually going to do this? Welcome back to Tiger Town, Jose Valverde. Hey, where have you been? Oh, that’s right — the Tigers wanted nothing to do with him after last season, especially when he couldn’t get anyone out in the postseason. You’ve probably repressed this memory, so I apologize for bringing it back. (Actually, the Tigers should probably apologize since they made the decision to bring Valverde back.) Valverde pitched fewer than three innings in the playoffs, finishing with a 30.37 ERA. He allowed nine runs and 11 hits (two of them home runs). He did rack up six strikeouts among the eight he recorded. Unfortunately, when opposing batters weren’t swinging and missing, they…
At this point of the season, virtually everything you could write about a baseball team has to be prefaced by the qualifier, “it’s early.” So to call a late April series between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals an important one is probably overreacting a bit. After all, it’s early. But 18 games into the season, the Royals are a “surprise” with a 10-7 record and a slim one-game first-place lead in the AL Central. The Tigers are a “disappointment” with a 9-9 record that has them 1.5 games behind Kansas City in the division. The Royals roll into Detroit on a high note, having swept a Sunday doubleheader at Fenway Park with the goodwill of an entire nation directed toward Boston. The…
I don’t know about you, but I thought something was missing from the Detroit Tigers newswire Thursday morning.
I expected to see that reliever Brayan Villarreal was being demoted to Triple-A Toledo.
Wednesday’s 8-6 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Comerica Park is an early candidate for worst loss of the season. Detroit had a 6-1 lead after the fifth inning, a margin that virtually any major league bullpen should be able to hold.
But the Tigers and manager Jim Leyland are still trying in this early stage of the season to figure out their bullpen. Who is best suited for which role? Which member of the relief corps is eventually going to seize the closer role that the team wasn’t able to fill during spring training?
Though Villarreal wasn’t really considered a candidate to be the Tigers’ closer, I think we can all safely eliminate him from consideration at this point.
His strikeout stuff (averaging 10.4 Ks per nine innings in 59 career appearances) made him an intriguing possibility for the role. However, he and Al Alburquerque are arguably more effective when deployed at different points of a ballgame, rather than restricted to the ninth inning. If Detroit needs to get out of a jam with a strikeout in, say, the seventh inning, Leyland can use either pitcher in that situation.
Or one of them can come into a ballgame with a runner on base and walk three consecutive batters, as Villarreal did on Wednesday. Rather than put out the fire, the 25-year-old right-hander poured gasoline all over the mound and lit a match — much like Jason Grilli used to during his three-plus seasons in Detroit.
After issuing his third walk — which drove in a run, with the bases loaded — Villarreal was mercifully pulled from the game. Octavio Dotel came in to face a situation very few relievers can escape successfully and promptly served up a bases-clearing, three-run double to J.P. Arencibia. All three runs were charged to Villarreal. His line for the day: three runs, three walks, zero hits.
And since he didn’t record an out, how many innings did Villarreal pitch, Dean Wormer?
Giving up three runs and three walks without getting anyone out is no way to get through life, son.
That was the second terrible outing for Villarreal. In his previous appearance, he allowed five runs, four hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning to the powerhouse Minnesota Twins.
Yes, it’s early in the season. Go ahead and point out that Villarreal has provided a small sample size, one that doesn’t provide enough data to properly judge. That’s fair. MLB.com’s Jason Beck reported that Villarreal found a hitch in his mechanics that needs to be straightened out. But can the Tigers afford to have him work on his delivery in the majors and watch late-inning leads get blown?
No, Villarreal is not the only Detroit reliever struggling. Phil Coke can’t get right-handed hitters out. Joaquin Benoit and Octavio Dotel look like they still have some kinks to work out early in the season. Fortunately, Drew Smyly, Darin Downs and Alburquerque have pitched effectively to this point.
Though sending Villarreal to the Mud Hens seems like an easy decision at this point, who would the Tigers call up to replace him?
Bruce Rondon would probably be the first answer, but if Detroit thought he was ready to pitch in the major leagues, he would’ve been on the team out of spring training. The Tigers surely want to see more than three outings in Toledo from him. The same almost certainly applies to Jose Ortega, Luis Marte or anyone else Detroit could possibly call up.
Maybe Marte should be scratched from that list for now, after allowing two runs, five hits and two walks in two innings during his first two appearances of the year.
At this early point of the season, perhaps the Tigers just need to give their bullpen a chance to get itself right. Putting 11 runs on the board and having Doug Fister go eight innings in Thursday’s win over Toronto gave the relief corps a breather that was probably needed.
Of course, Detroit’s relievers will need to get some work to get sharp. That will surely come during the Tigers’ West Coast road trip beginning this weekend. We’ll see if Villarreal is still on the team as it flies out to Oakland.
Maybe pitching in the relative obscurity of 10:00 p.m. ET game times and getting away from the pressure of local media and fans will help. The Tigers certainly have to hope so.
When the Tigers made the score 6-1 and the end of the fifth inning rolled around, I started to hope the rain would start up again. And I NEVER want a game to end early, especially when I’m listening at work. I’m sure the hearty fans who were there today agreed with me. But I’m also pretty sure the reason was completely different. They wanted to be able to feel their extremities again. I wanted to avoid an appearance by the Tigers’ bullpen. I waited a bit to write this, so I could calm down some. But I’m still steamed. Toronto wrapped this one up in a bow and handed it to the Tigers, who promptly said “No, really. You’re too kind. We can’t…
Back in my Bless You Boys days, I came up with “Morning Prowl” for the title to our links posts. I figured that was something I’d have to leave at BYB, and I think Kurt, Al and the gang would’ve been fine keeping it. I hope they don’t mind us using it here. However, in these days of SEO and keyword-rich titles, a headline without “Detroit Tigers” in it doesn’t really bring in the traffic. Not that we’re overly concerned such stuff here at The Daily Fungo, but it’s nice to know we can be a little more creative with our titles and headlines. Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve done links posts at BYB or MLive, so I might have to shake some rust…
