Keider Montero's bullpen demotion immediately backfires on Tigers, but it won't last long

With Justin Verlander officially expected to make his return to Comerica on Sunday, the Tigers bumped Keider Montero to the bullpen, with plans to keep him there through at least their upcoming series against the White Sox.

He made his first appearance as a reliever on Tuesday against the Astros to shaky effect. He pitched a clean seventh but ran into trouble with one out in the eighth. Yainer Diaz singled, then Cam Smith got on base after an error from Kevin McGonigle. Montero was pulled at replaced by Will Vest, who promptly loaded the bases on a walk and then let the two inherited runners score on a single.

Though the loss ended up credited to Montero, it clearly wasn't all his fault. There was AJ Hinch's decision to yank him for Vest, who is historically bad outside of the ninth inning, and then there was Vest indeed being bad outside of the ninth inning. Still, it was far from Montero's strongest showing.

It's not hard to figure out why. He made 13 major league starts before being moved to the bullpen. The Tigers made a whole fuss about demoting him to Triple-A to start the season because they believed in him as a starter and wanted to keep him in that routine. An awkward first step out the gate after the Tigers threw all of that out the window is hard to begrudge.

However, it seems unlikely that this is going to last long. Troy Melton is dealing with back issues and, with the Tigers' luck, will probably be headed to the IL soon. In that case, Montero gets his spot in the rotation back.

Troy Melton's lingering back issue hints that Keider Montero will get his Tigers rotation spot back soon

Melton is scheduled to make his next start against the White Sox on Saturday, so the Tigers have some time to figure out whether or not he'll need an IL stint. It will be incredibly exasperating if he does, given that he already spent two months on the 60-day this year and the Tigers' absolutely rotten injury luck, but it would get Montero back where he arguably belongs.

If Melton does manage to avoid the IL, the brewing Montero-Melton debate will intensify. Montero has pitched a lot more than Melton as a starter this year, and his last appearance in the rotation was a scoreless 6 1/3-inning effort. Melton has shown real promise but was hit around a bit in his last start.

The Tigers are leaving the door open to "reconsidering" Montero's role after the White Sox series. That's frustratingly vague and could mean anything from Montero going back down to Triple-A to remain a starter, joining Drew Anderson and Enmanuel De Jesus as a bulk reliever in the bullpen on a more permanent basis, or maybe even swapping with Melton, provided he stays healthy.

But our money is on Melton not staying healthy, which will make the decision all too easy.

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