Tigers Count on Young Pitchers to Make Playoffs

While the Tigers struggle to get their starting pitching rotation in order, former Tiger Rick Porcello picked up his major league-leading 21st victory by tossing a four-hit complete game in the Boston Red Sox's 5-2 win over Baltimore. Porcello needed just 89 pitches to beat the Birds and improve to 21-4 on the season. Former Tiger David Price is 16-8 for the Red Sox. Max Scherzer is 17-7 for the Nationals and has a 2.78 earned run average. Collectively, those three former Tiger starters are 54-19.

The Tigers would not be in the post season if the regular season ended today. Detroit plays three games at Target Field in Minnesota. Matt Boyd starts for the Tigers tonight. Broadcast time on WBCK is 7:45. Justin Verlander will start on Thursday, but the Tigers haven’t decided who will go on Wednesday. Mike Pelfrey and Anibal Sanchez have been hammered in their most recent starts. The Tigers could even give the ball to Buck Farmer.

I'm not second guessing former GM Dave Dombrowski's decisions. They were reality-based, and I think he made some great deals. Just how great remains to be seen. Nobody would have thought the Tigers hopes this season would be so heavily put on the shoulders of the three young arms we traded for last year.

Here's the Tiger's current rotation:

Justin Verlander....still the ace.
Michael Fulmer...got him last year for Yoenis Cespedes (whom they got for Porcello)
Daniel Norris....got him last year for David Price.
Matt Boyd .....got him last year for David Price.
????? Anibal Sanchez, Mike Pelfrey, Buck Farmer, Jordan Zimmerman.

Here's what the rotation could look like if salary caps and money were no object: