Tigers’ underwhelming trade deadline better justify questionable roster move

On Friday night against the Phillies, the Tigers bullpen proved that they were in need of external help, when Tyler Holton came in behind Jack Flaherty (who threw six scoreless innings) and promptly allowed a run and left two runners on base. Will Vest allowed both of them to score to blow a 3-0 lead for Detroit. Wenceel Pérez hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth, but Brenan Hanifee gave up another tying run and Brant Hurter gave up Philadelphia's game-winning single.

The Tigers brought in four relievers at the trade deadline, three of whom were available (Paul Sewald was moved to the 60-day IL after the trade) and none of whom pitched.

Friday night's bullpen collapse was a team effort, but someone had to take the fall to accommodate Charlie Morton on the roster after he was acquired from the Orioles. Hanifee, who had just been honored as one of the Tigers' July Relievers of the Month alongside Holton, was sent down to Triple-A.

After trading for Morton, the Tigers announced their intention to move Troy Melton to the bullpen for the time being, even after he threw seven scoreless in his last start. So the Tigers sacrificed a potentially better starter for the veteran, and now a pitcher who had just been celebrated for a 0.77 ERA in July. Morton will pitch on Sunday in Detroit's series finale against Philadelphia, and he'd better make it worth it.

Tigers option July's "Reliever of the Month" Brenan Hanifee after Charlie Morton arrival

Morton comes to Detroit with a 5.42 ERA in 101 1/3 innings in Baltimore. Three of his last four starts with the Orioles were quality, but it seems like he's going to be more of an innings-eater than anything; he gave up seven runs in 5 1/3 innings on July 18.

If Melton can do what he did in his last start in some long relief appearances out of the bullpen, it'll take some pressure off of the relievers who participated in Friday's collapse, and all of the new guys who are probably going to take some heavy coaching and mechanical tweaking from Chris Fetter before they're deemed reliable.

Hanifee will be easy to call back up if Rafael Montero or Codi Heuer don't turn into the spark plug reclamation projects the Tigers are envisioning, but his demotion still feels rather unearned and sort of random. It'll be up to Morton to justify it.