How the Tigers can win the World Series. - maizeblue13's Blog

maizeblue13's Blog

How the Tigers can win the World Series.

Posted on July 12, 2013 at 11:19 PM.

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The Detroit Tigers are one of the best teams in baseball. They have a formidable lineup which includes Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, along with other great hitters such as Austin Jackson, Torii Hunter, and Victor Martinez. Their starting rotation has been outstanding. Max Scherzer is 14-0. Anibal Sanchez has been great and almost pitched a no-hitter. They have Justin Verlander, arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball.

The problem lies in their bullpen. Not only do we not have a closer, but we also have very few mid-inning guys that we can turn to. Right now, the only two people I trust in our bullpen are Joaquin Benoit and Drew Smyly. Smyly is our long relief man and Benoit is a setup guy. Neither of which are really a closer. Bruce Rondon, our top prospect closer, isn't ready to close in the big leagues yet. And we want to win NOW, not in a year or two when Rondon is ready to close. My solution to the bullpen troubles would easily shore up the pen for at least the next few years.

The first step is to bring Rondon up from the minors, and stick him in a middle relief role, and keep him there even if he struggles so he can get used to big league hitters. Step two is to find a team with a decent closer AND a decent middle relief/setup guy. I want both. Give up anyone in our farm system except for Avisail Garcia and Bruce Rondon. At this point I really couldn't care less about Castellanos. The 3 tandems of players I suggest are Sean Doolittle and Ryan Cook from the A's, Jonathan Papelbon and Antonio Bastardo from the Phillies, or Huston Street and Luke Gregerson from the Padres. Any of these deals would surely shore up our bullpen and make the Tigers SERIOUS World Series contenders. If we offered Castellanos for any of these tandems of players and I'm sure they would accept. Are bullpen would then look like this - Benoit, Smyly, Alburquerque, Coke, and then the two players that we trade for. I then suddenly have confidence in our Bullpen. This is what I feel the Tigers need to do this year sometime at or before the trade deadline.