Detroit Tigers Christmas Eve Links: All about the bullpen

First of all, we want to wish all of our Motor City Bengals readers and fans a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays on this, Christmas Eve 2014–or as the internet refers to it, the day after Festivus.

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We won’t take up too much of your time as you prepare for your holiday celebration, but we present two stories today–each looking at the bullpen.

The first of which is from our own Tom Zahari, writing his bi-weekly post for the Detroit Free Press. The Tigers couldn’t really be done with their bullpen–or could they? Also , Brad Faber looks at the importance of the team adding a reliable lefty option out of the pen.

One thought that has struck me throughout this off-season. If you are a duel Tigers-Lions fan as I am, they may be parallels to this offseason for the baseball team to the one for the football team. Fans lost their minds when the team refused to address the secondary AGAIN in the draft. Surely the Lions could not compete with the DBs they had on their roster, right? Well the defense has carried them and they clinched a rare playoff spot and won the second most games (could tie for most on Sunday) in franchise history.

Not saying the bullpen will suddenly become a strength like the Lions’ defense, but we can hope for a Christmas miracle, right?

Don’t think Tigers done with bullpen – Tom Zahari, MCB Special to Detroit Free Press

"As it stands, the bullpen consists of Rondon, Soria, Wilson, Al Alburquerque, Blaine Hardy, Joe Nathan and Kyle Ryan. There is still a lot of time for this to change, but the bullpen maybe set as it is with some adjustments inside the organization.The question is why haven’t the Tigers made moves to sign a free agent reliever or two? The best the Tigers can do, especially with their bullpen’s condition is to stockpile as many arms as possible and hope one of the pitches well, much like Chamberlain in the first half of last season.The Tigers’ lefty situation stands with Ryan, Hardy, and Ian Krol, but there are still options on the open market. The Tigers lost out on Andrew Miller and Zach Duke, and Craig Breslow (career ERA of 3.20, but a 5.96 ERA in 2014) took $2 million on a 1-year deal from Boston. Other free agent options include Neal Cotts, Franklin Morales, Joe Beimel, Joe Thatcher, David Huff and Coke, none which will demand a king’s ransom."

Detroit Tigers Need a Left-Handed Reliever For Christmas – Brad Faber, Rant Sports

"At any rate, it looks like the Tigers’ bullpen could use a little more tweaking. Sure, picking up Joakim Soria‘s option could prove to be a great move, newcomer Alex Wilson could be a solid contributor and it is possible that Bruce Rondon and Joel Hanrahan will come back and deliver a surprise or two. Nevertheless, the team could use a spare southpaw, and it would be nice if Santa could help them fill that chasm either internally or from outside of the organization this Christmas."

Next: Tigers need to give fans a present: end Scherzer sweepstakes