Detroit Tigers: 4 position battles to watch throughout spring training

Bullpen spots

In the bullpen, five spots are likely locked up — Jason Foley, Alex Lange, Shelby Miller, Andrew Chafin, and Tyler Holton. That leaves two, maybe three spots left to be filled.

For right-handers, the most likely candidates are Beau Brieske, Brendan White, Miguel Diaz, and Alex Faedo. You can throw Trey Wingenter into that mix as well. Brieske seems like a good bet considering he got a lot of time in the bullpen last year. He's also still quite young.

Brendan White has the stuff to be a lights out reliever, but hasn't been able to put it all together yet. He still lacks the command to be effective.

Miguel Diaz added a slider to his repertoire late last season, and the results were outstanding. In 14 innings, he allowed just one run. The walks went down as well. It was a small sample, but it was a promising one.

Faedo only pitched six innings as a reliever last season, but he struck out seven and didn't allow a run. Many people have long throught that his stuff would play better in the bullpen, and his numbers after the first time through the batting order help back up that claim.

For lefties, it's Joey Wentz, and that's pretty much it. And he could very well make it, especially if they stick with the five-man rotation. He'll be working exclusively as a reliever this spring. I don't know about anyone else, but I would love to see a Michael Fulmer-style redemption arc, where he completely reinvents himself out of the bullpen. That would be something to see.