Tigers' more infuriating version of pitching chaos might actually be working

The Tigers' bullpen has felt a little like the wild west ever since the trade deadline. It was their biggest weakness coming out of the first half, and they were connected to some of the elite closers rumored to be on the market, including Jhoan Duran and David Bednar, but Scott Harris opted to go for quantity over quality.

Kyle Finnegan has proven to be Detroit's most valuable trade deadline acquisition by far, but Rafael Montero, Codi Heuer, and Paul Sewald have yet to prove their worth. Montero still can't really be trusted in even mid-level situations; Heuer has already come up and gone down; and Sewald is still on the 60-day IL.

So apart from Finnegan, the bullpen doesn't look like it's drastically improved since the deadline, and the Tigers have made some baffling roster moves in the meantime. Brenan Hanifee and Sawyer Gipson-Long were sent down for no apparent reason, Troy Melton was moved to the bullpen, and so on.

It's sort of the pitching chaos that the Tigers made their own last season, but last year's strategy was mostly contained to the guys already on the roster and figuring out who would pitch when, while this year's includes some roster configurations that have been hard for fans to figure out.

However, it's kind of working. The Tigers' bullpen has a collective 2.84 ERA since Aug. 1 vs. their 4.16 ERA before.

Tigers' altered version of pitching chaos is working despite confusing roster moves

The biggest weakness for the bullpen pre-deadline was the lack of swing and miss, which they've improved upon as a collective; they have a 28.1% whiff rate, up from 22.6%. Their K% is up (though more marginally) to 20.6% from 20%.

Last year, one of the bigger elements on pitching chaos involved AJ Hinch declining to promise the closer to role to any one arm. While Jason Foley finished the bulk of the Tigers' games, Will Vest, Tyler Holton, and Beau Brieske were also getting their fair share, and Holton and Brieske also frequently opened games.

Finnegan's addition gives Hinch even more flexibility in late innings. He and Vest mostly trade setup and closing duties, but Holton, Brant Hurter, and Hanifee have also played that role.

It's clear that the Tigers don't just like their position players to be Swiss army knives — they prefer the same for their pitchers. While it'll remain questionable and exasperating when the Tigers call up pitchers like Drew Sommers while sending a more proven arm down, it's clear that Hinch knows how to manage them and that this remains a winning formula despite the confusion.