Detroit Tigers: With Michael Fulmer out for season, focus should shift to identifying future rotation fits
Detroit Tigers starting pitchers have seen some serious changes in the last few months. With Michael Fulmer on the shelf, Detroit needs to focus on finding starters for 2018.
Detroit Tigers fans will see a much different rotation down the stretch.
Longtime ace Justin Verlander was traded to the Houston Astros while current ace Michael Fulmer is out for the rest of the season due to injury.
Additionally, Daniel Norris is working out of the bullpen to close 2017 after missing most of July and all of August due to injury.
Jordan Zimmermann is dealing with an injury of his own. Whether he returns to the mound this year remains to be seen.
That leaves Matthew Boyd as the only holdover.
Boyd (5.09 xFIP, 1.692 WHIP) has been far from perfect in 109.1 innings this season. However, he gives the team a known quantities in a rotation in need of answers heading into 2018.
Outside of the ex-Toronto farmhand, Detroit has utilized Buck Farmer, Myles Jaye, Artie Lewicki and Chad Bell as starting options.
Anibal Sanchez
Anibal Sanchez is still around as well, but at this point, the Detroit Tigers need to be giving the likes of Farmer, Jaye and Lewicki an extended audition down the stretch for 2018.
Sanchez simply hasn’t been the answer.
Outside of a brief four-game stretch (22 strikeouts and eight runs allowed in 23.1 innings) where his butterfly changeup was on full effect, the veteran has struggled mightily.
His ERA sits at 7.43, and his FIP isn’t much better at 6.27. The veteran also has a 1.676 WHIP in 82.1 innings.
Those numbers simply aren’t going to cut it.
According to Spotrac, Sanchez has a $16 million option on his contract for next season. He can be bought out for $5 million.
Detroit should move Sanchez to the bullpen for the rest of the year and simply buy him out in the offseason.
A rebuilding team and a 33-year-old with a FIP north of six aren’t exactly a hand-in-glove fit.
As difficult as it might be initially, the Tigers should be handing starts to the team’s younger starters.
The current options
So far in September, it has been just that—difficult.
Buck Farmer’s winning effort on September 8 has been the only real bright spot. In the 5-4 win against Toronto, Farmer allowed just five hits, one earned run and a pair of walks in five frames.
However, that start was preceded by a three-inning effort where Cleveland jumped on the right-hander for five runs, three walks and a trio of hits in three innings.
Jaye didn’t allow a run in his first 5.2 relief outings.
That being said, he was also hit hard by Cleveland in his first start as Detroit’s American League Central rivals tagged the 25-year-old for seven runs on seven hits, two walks and a home run in just 3.2 frames.
Lewicki also had troubles against another American League Central foe.
The former eighth-round pick was hit around for 11 base knocks in five innings against Kansas City in his Major League debut. He also surrendered a home run and five runs.
Rounding out the list is Bell, who has spent most of the season working out of Detroit’s bullpen as a long reliever.
So far in two starts, he’s yet to make it to the five-inning plateau.
Bell has thrown a combined 8.2 frames against Cleveland and Toronto, striking out six and allowing 13 hits, seven runs (all earned), five walks and a home run in the process.
The future
The reality is that pitchers like Farmer, Jaye, Lewicki and Bell might not be long-term solutions in the Detroit Tigers rotation.
However, Detroit needs to give them every opportunity to be as 2017 comes to a close.
By the time 2019 rolls around, the Tigers’ rotation will likely feature Franklin Perez, Grayson Long, Beau Burrows and perhaps some combination of Matt Hall, Sandy Baez and Tyler Alexander alongside Fulmer, Norris and Boyd.
Until that time comes when Detroit can start utilizing some of the team’s elite starting pitching prospects on Major League hitters, the team needs starters to bridge the gap.
The Tigers could conceivably fill some of those rotation spots with free agents on one-year deals this winter, but the franchise can’t solely rely on offseason imports.
In a perfect world, one or two of the young starters currently in the rotation show well enough down the stretch to warrant a rotation spot in 2018.
For this hypothetical scenario, we’ll go with Farmer considering he’s flashed the most potential in the Majors this season.
To continue with the perfect-world scenario, Detroit would pencil in Farmer and a free agent starter on a one-year deal—Marco Estrada is an intriguing bounce-back candidate—alongside Fulmer, Norris and Boyd or Zimmermann in 2018.
Ideally, by the time next July rolls around, one of Perez or Long would be ready for the Majors. This would allow general manager Al Avila to flip Estrada for more prospects for sustained long-term success.
Next: Tigers' future rotation will be dynamic
All that isn’t a lock to happen though, so Detroit will need its young starts to step up and make a case for sticking around in 2018.