The Tigers entered the trade deadline needing to upgrade their bullpen. Scott Harris believes they did, in a significant way.
Despite adding just one reliever with a respectable numbers this season, Kyle Finnegan from the Nationals, "our bullpen is going to get a lot better for four reasons," Harris said. Along with Finnegan, who has the third most saves in the majors over the last three seasons but an ERA of 4.38 this year, the Tigers brought in injured righty Paul Sewald (4.70 ERA) from Cleveland and veteran righty Rafael Montero (5.40 ERA) from Atlanta.
One, said Harris, the arms the Tigers added are "really good, and especially when Paul Sewald jumps onto this team with all the swing-and-miss that he brings and the postseason experience that he has, he’s going to make us better." Sewald, currently rehabbing a shoulder injury, is expected to return in September. Despite his pedestrian stats, the Tigers like the fact that Sewald has one of the higher strikeout rates among MLB relievers over the last three seasons.
Two, said Harris, "we're going to have some internal additions, led by Troy Melton," who's being bumped from the rotation by trade acquisition Charlie Morton. Melton's move to the bullpen should give the Tigers the kind of high-octane arm they need in the later innings. Their relievers rank last in the majors in whiff rate and chase rate and last in the AL in strikeout rate.
"But there’s more guys coming: Tyler Mattison, Drew Sommers, Bailey Horn, Alex Lange and Codi Heuer who we got (at the deadline). There’s a million guys that we’re really excited about to take a step forward and jump onto this team in the same way that Brant Hurter and Ty Madden and Beau Brieske really took a step forward in August and September (last year)," said Harris.
Mattison, Sommers, Horn and Heuer are all in Triple-A, while Lange, who's yet to pitch this year due to a lat injury, is on a rehab assignment and could return soon.
Three, said Harris, which blends a bit with two, "we’re going to get better through internal development. Look how much better Tyler Holton has gotten in recent weeks. Look how much better a lot of our pitchers are getting during the season. I think that’s going to continue the way it did last year."
Holton has indeed stabilized after a bumpy start to the season, with a 0.96 ERA over his last 15 outings in which he's looked more like the pitcher he was for the prior two years. Brenan Hanifee allowed just one run in 10 outings last month, while Hurter has recovered after a rocky stretch. On the flip side, Tommy Kahnle has cratered after dominating in the first half of the season and Chase Lee no longer looks like a legitimate MLB reliever.
And four, said Harris, "we’re going to start using our pitching pretty creatively, kind of like we did last year and certainly into the playoffs. You can’t really do that without a number of different options and a really deep pitching staff that I feel like we have right now."
The Tigers have to hope Harris is right. There's no denying that their bullpen has gone from a strength to a liability this season. It ranked second in the American League in ERA in March and April (2.74), 6th in May (3.87), 12th in June (4.44) and second to last in July (5.68).
The Tigers famously rode 'pitching chaos' to the playoffs -- and to within a game of the ALCS -- last season, mixing starters and relievers as A.J. Hinch hunted the best matchups for a deep and diverse stable of arms, no matter the juncture of the game, to keep opposing lineups off balance. Over their 30-13 run to close the season, the Tigers had the lowest ERA (2.69), WHIP (1.02) and batting average against (.205) in the majors. Their relievers had a WHIP of 0.93 and a batting average against of .194.
That's why "adding a host of pitchers with different shapes, a ton of velocity and swing-and-miss secondaries was the most important thing" for the Tigers entering the stretch run, Harris said.
"I talk about shapes a lot, but the whole point of the postseason is to try and throw different things at hitters to try to keep them uncomfortable and keep them on their heels," said Harris. "If you look at the group (we've added) and how it fits with the group that we already have, we got a lot of pitching right now. We’re going to have a really deep pitching staff. I don't know how exactly we’re going to put it together in the postseason, but we’re going to have a ton of options."