Tigers Bullpen: Will it be ANY better?

The Tigers have some decisions to make in the next week or so.  They need to decide on a center fielder.  They need to pick five starting pitchers out of a pool of seven.  And as any Tiger fan can tell you, they need to improve that bullpen.  Surely they must have made a couple of deals to improve that in the off season?  Right?  Nope.  Not one deal.  The only thing added to the Tiger bullpen, is about 50 extra pounds on reliever Bruce Rondon.

So, with about 10 games left in spring training, here's my take on the bullpen.

I’m scared to death.   Francisco Rodriguez still has some innings left in that right arm, but is he a ‘lights-out” closer?   I don’t think so.   The Wilsons, Justin and Alex, appear to be fine-tuning and should be ok.   Bruce Rondon is a head case, and might not even make the team.  Shane Green has raw talent, but hasn’t earned the trust of Tiger fans.  Time to cut ties with Mark Lowe and his $5.5 million dollar contract, and send Rule 5 guy Daniel Stumpf back to Kansas City.  Kyle Ryan or Blaine Hardy have a shot, as both are lefties. As any fan knows, if a guy can manage to walk all the way out to the mound and lob a ball in the general direction of home plate, he can have a very lucrative career----as long as he's a left-handed reliever.   Arcenio Leon has come out of nowhere and could get a spot, if a trade can be made, or somebody gets injured. Yep I’m scared. The hitters in the American League?   Not so much.  Oh, they're plenty scared of Cleveland's bullpen.  That's the problem.

Prediction:  K-Rod, Justin and Alex Wilson, Shane Green, Kyle Ryan, and Mike Pelfrey will start the season in Detroit.