The Detroit Tigers have had a productive offseason to this point. Their biggest priority, Victor Martinez, was promptly inked for another four years, and signings/trades have also yielded Joakim Soria, Alex Avila, Anthony Gose, Joel Hanrahan and Josh Zeid.
Not bad for seven weeks' work.
Assembling Detroit’s squad won’t stop there. Despite answering questions regarding designated hitter, catcher and, to a degree, center field, one glaring blemish still remains: the bullpen.
Speaking recently to Matt Dery on Detroit Sports 105.1 radio, Jon Morosi of Fox Sports believes it is essential that Detroit continues upgrading its relief stocks: "This (signing Hanrahan) can’t be the end of their bullpen spending. You cannot allow the bullpen to be your downfall for the third straight year."
But with considerable cash already spent, what can we expect from team president/general manager Dave Dombrowski? His recent words suggest continued investment but of a more subtle nature, per Chris Iott of MLive: "I'm not saying we're done, but sometimes they're not the big splashy ones. They don't have to be big dollars and big splashes."
Detroit is particularly thin at left-handed relief. Andrew Miller is by far the best lefty available and arguably the best reliever overall on the market. Tigers fans would be tickled pink if their former first-round pick once again donned the home blue and whites; however, Dombrowski’s words seem to imply that Miller is not on the team’s radar.
There are still plenty of other fish in the sea that Detroit may wish to cast a line at if, indeed, Miller is beyond its ambitions.
We cannot forget that there are also internal options. Blaine Hardy was good last season until his performances dropped off late in the year. Ian Krol had an excellent start to the season (2.33 ERA in April-May), but he was awful after that. Kyle Ryan, whom manager Brad Ausmus turned to a few times out of the bullpen in September, is another alternative.
But if the Tigers do decide to look externally, these are the best candidates…
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