Detroit Tigers: Trevor Rosenthal could help the bullpen once he's at 100%

Detroit Tigers may want to draw upon Trevor Rosenthal.

The Detroit Tigers bullpen has been shaky at times in 2023; though the team is hot right now, they need to try and keep finding ways to get effective outings from their relief arms. They may not have a pending roster move, but they should remember one of the cards they have up their sleeve to play.

As the Detroit Tigers got ready for the season at Spring Training, they made a move to bring Trevor Rosenthal on a minor-league contract. It's not the most significant deal or some game-changing addition, but it indeed is a nice depth piece for the Tigers to keep in mind.

Rosenthal has been slowly ramping up to being big-league-ready. It was anticipated that if he did join the MLB club that it would not be until a while after the season started that Rosenthal would be ready. He's still working toward being big-league ready with just two appearances in Toledo. It's going to take time.

On top of that, Rosenthal is heading to the 7-day IL with Toledo as he undergoes some arm soreness. Not great, but he has been ramping up later than everyone as he was a late addition to the Tigers camp. However, if he can get things back on track, the Tigers could bring him up once he's at 100%.

While Rosenthal is not some shutdown reliever, the Tigers' bullpen is quite thin. Someone who's proven he can do it in the past is worth trotting out there again to see if he can eat up some innings. After all, he was once a closer and even was in the Tigers' bullpen back in 2019.

Rosenthal has not thrown in the big leagues since 2020 but is still on the comeback trail. Who's to say he cannot throw a few innings for the Tigers' bullpen if they need him this season? His last big-league appearance treated him to 23.2 innings pitched with a 1.90 ERA, a 0.85 WHIP, and had 38 strikeouts.

While Rosenthal is not throwing right this second with Toledo, the Tigers should be looking to bring Rosenthal once he's back to 100%. On top of that, the Tigers need to be smart; since Rosenthal is not on the 40-man, it could require some waiting out of Rosenthal.

The corresponding move for an injury or whatnot could be what brings Trevor Rosenthal up, but then again, they have to clear roster space for him to accomplish this. But the Tigers bullpen will need all the help they can get, so Rosenthal is worth keeping an eye on.