Another Tigers bullpen roster move creates new layer of confusion among fans

The Detroit Tigers' bullpen has been a concern ever since early July. From April-June, the results were acceptable, although the peripherals were not. That would catch up to the club later on, and some of the trade deadline moves Scott Harris made didn't exactly instill confidence.

Ever since, the way the club has attempted to fix its bullpen woes has been head-scratching, to say the least. Paul Sewald likely won't pitch for Detroit until the very end of the season, and by that point who knows what he can provide. Rafael Montero is on his third team this season for a reason. Of all the arms Detroit added, only Kyle Finnegan has really pulled his weight.

In the wake of all these questionable deadline moves, Detroit has had to do a lot of shuffling with its pitching staff, and it has become reasonable to ask if the hurlers on the active roster on a night-to-night basis are actually the best the Tigers have to offer.

The Tigers' bullpen shuffling leaves fans confused again

One player who was displaced by the wave of underwhelming arms that were brought in at the trade deadline was righty reliever Brenan Hanifee, who was demoted to Triple-A Toledo after being named Tigers Reliever of the Month, an honor he shared with lefty Tyler Holton, in order to make room for the new acquisitions.

With a sinker-heavy repertoire, Hanifee didn't generate a ton of strikeouts, but was a ground ball machine who had racked up a 3.10 ERA and been one of Detroit's most effective arms in the middle innings. Replacing him with the likes of Rafael Montero made no sense.

Now, after the minimum 15 days needed to be recalled to the majors, Hanifee is rejoining the big club, but fans are going to miss the guy he is replacing. The corresponding move to Hanifee's promotion is Brant Hurter being sent down down to Triple-A.

That's right, Hanifee is coming back to replace one of the few Tigers relievers who can average over a strikeout per inning, a 26-year-old who owns a career 2.51 ERA in 104 innings since making his debut last season. Hurter has also shown an ability to throw multiple innings if needed. Why is that a guy we want to push aside again?

In Detroit's defense, the move comes ahead of a three-game set against the right-handed-heavy Houston Astros. With two other lefties in the pen, it does make some baseball sense to balance things out by replacing a lefty with a righty, and both Hanifee and Hurter have been effective this season.

Nonetheless, this opens up two questions. Why didn't Detroit go big at the deadline and acquire a top-end reliever such as Mason Miller or David Bednar, which would have allowed them to avoid this sort of confusing shuffling? When will the Tigers accept the reality that most of their deadline acquisitions aren't better than their incumbents and simply commit to rostering their best eight bullpen arms, regardless of where they came from?

Hopefully, the club wises up soon before they try to get too cute with the shuffling and get burned. Until then, Tigers fans will continue to be confused and frustrated by the (lack) of a bullpen plan, even if they are back to their winning ways.