No Relief for the Weary

The Detroit Tigers entered this 2007 season with heightened expectations due to their AL Champion and World Series runner-up 2006 campaign. With the addition of veteran slugger Gary Sheffield and a strong pitching staff that had the best ERA in the majors last season, this is supposed to be an October to remember for the Tigers.

A peak at the standings today sees the Tigers holding a 29-21 record, good for 2nd in the competitive American League Central division and 1st place in the Wild Card race in the AL. Alone this seems like no problem seeing as it was through the wild card that the Tigers did their damage through the playoffs, dispatching the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics in four games apiece. Nothing to worry about right? Well, not exactly.

The record alone is a testament to the adversity the Tigers have faced to this point and will continue to face for at least another month or so. The good health the Tigers had last year has taken a 180 this year. Veteran ace and playoff warrior Kenny Rogers has yet to pitch an inning this season because of a blood clot in his left shoulder. However, the rotation has still been a relative strength as they rank a respectable 5th in the American League in starter's ERA. Chad Durbin has made the most of his chance in the rotation as he is essentially replacing Rogers for the moment and has given the Tigers much more than could have ever been expected for this journeyman starter. The offense has been one of the best in baseball as Magglio Ordonez is putting up MVP caliber numbers through almost two months and the fielding has been superb for the most part this season.

The problem? The bullpen. A pen that had the 4th lowest ERA in baseball last year at 3.51 is currently dead last at 5.42. Closer controversy? Not so much. While there are certainly prettier end of game options in this league than Todd Jones, he has nailed 15/18 opportunities so far, though he has been getting scored upon quite a bit lately. Getting the ball to Jones has been the problem of this pen this year and could very well be the undoing of the club's World Series hopes.

Joel Zumaya set the world on fire with a 1.94 ERA and 100+ mile per hour fastballs. This year has been more of a struggle for the 2nd year right-hander, 3.64 ERA and a ruptured tendon in his finger that is going to cost him at least two more months this season. Fernando Rodney joined Zumaya on the disabled list after posting a mediocre 4.71 ERA and a 1-4 record in 19 appearances. This after a 2006 campaign where he had a respectable 3.52 ERA. While neither has been as reliable this season as last, they could be counted on to get the job done more often than not. Veteran Jose Mesa was signed for bullpen depth this offseason and has been an absolute disaster, with a 10.13 ERA in 15 appearances. Lefty specialist Jamie Walker took big money to go to Baltimore in the offseason and his 1.94 ERA has been replaced by Bobby Seay's 5.52.

What's worse is that even the long relief options have dropped off significantly. Wilfredo Ledezma went 3-3 with a 3.58 ERA (2.55 out of the pen) between long relief and spot starting at the end of the season. This year, the young left-hander has a 1.89 WHIP and 5.18 ERA pitching exclusively out of the bullpen. He's walked more batters (19) than he has struck out (14) and left-handed batters have posted an absurd 1.065 OPS off him after only mustering a .586 mark a year ago. Jason Grilli has gone from average (4.21 ERA) to abysmal (7.59 ERA) this season. The rest of the pen features two journeymen minor leaguers in lefty Tim Byrdak (3.12 ERA) and right-hander Aquilino Lopez (5.02 ERA) and a converted starting pitcher in Zach Miner. Not exactly a relief corps that oozes championships.

Being late May, it is too early to panic. However, the Tigers are going to have to address this glaring hole soon or it could turn their championship visions into distant memories. A year ago, Cleveland's inept bullpen cost them a shot at the playoffs and relegated them to a distant fourth in the AL Central. Now it has done well enough to propel them into the top spot in the Central after sweeping the Tigers this past weekend. The time is now for GM Dave Dombrowski to find a solution, which will probably require pulling a trade that likely involves former April superstar Chris Shelton.

Fresh Start With Old Blood?

The New York Yankees are off to a 17-19 start as we are in the second full week of May. The best team $200 million plus can buy isn't in any kind of uncharted territory record wise. However, owner George Steinbrenner looks at the standings today and sees his expensive roster trailing the Boston Red Sox by an alarming 8.5 games already. The solution for Steinbrenner, never one to wait patiently for anything, was to throw more money at his aging roster by signing 44-year-old future Hall of Fame flamethrower Roger Clemens to a prorated $28 million dollar contract for this year.

Clemens is already on the way back to the Yankees, throwing 71 pitches in a bullpen session today and will soon start working his way into game shape by taking his own spring training tour through New York's minor league system. The hope for the Yankees is that Clemens can still handle the American League East and help a rotation that currently ranks 10th in the American League in starter's ERA and has used 10 different starters in their 36 games to date and get them back into the race for another World Series title. The decision for Clemens came down to winning and money, but how will it work? Let's take a look at what Roger Clemens has done in his three seasons with Houston since he left the Yankees (listed are wins, ERA, and league ERA and the difference between the two):

2004: 18 wins, 2.98 ERA , 4.31 league-ERA, -1.33 Difference
2005: 13 wins, 1.87 ERA, 4.14 league-ERA, -2.27 Difference
2006: 7 wins, 2.30 ERA, 4.54 league-ERA, -2.24 Difference

(Note: 19 starts in 2006 after making his first start June 22nd)

As evidenced by his age 41, 42, and 43 seasons, the man can still pitch. Clemens won a Cy Young in 2004, should have won another in 2005, and pitched more than two full runs better than the average pitcher in the NL last year. At this contract, this is a risk only the Yankees could truly afford and the rewards are definite. Clemens is a big game pitcher whose performances the last three years resulted in the Astros going to the NLCS in 2004, the World Series in 2005, and a game and a half behind eventual champion St. Louis in 2006.

However, Clemens alone will not cure what ails the Yankees rotation, injuries. The fact remains that the Rocket only toes the rubber once every five days. At his age, he's also not going to give the bullpen a night off as he's thrown only four complete games his last 8 seasons. The Yankees need their rotation to get healthy as Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, and Carl Pavano have all spent time or are currently on the disabled list. Still, should those pitchers get healthy and Clemens is ready by early June, it is not unheard of to think that this team could get back into at least the American League Wild Card hunt. This move will pay dividends for the Yankees as Clemens can still bring it. I just find it remarkable how the most expensive roster in baseball has so little depth that they need to spend more money just to fix their problems.

Clemens at his age will still pitch better than the average AL starter, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to save his new old team's season.

View From the Cheap Seats

I got a chance to witness the demolition that was Pistons/Bulls game 2 at the Palace last night. Before the series I predicted that the Pistons would pull through in six hotly contested grind it out games not unlike those of the Bad Boys vs. Michael Jordan era rivalry. The first two games in the Palace, both lopsided wins by the Pistons, are forcing me to revisit that. A few observations:

1. Scott Skiles has absolutely no answers right now-Skiles has done a wonderful job in his tenure as Chicago and could do no wrong against the Heat in their 1st round sweep of the defending champs. Skiles trio of Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng are getting worked by the veteran savvy Pistons perimeter threesome of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince. I won't even speak of their ineptitude in the post or the glass. Skiles club is getting outworked in every aspect, and he has no idea why. He'd better figure it out fast or his season (job?) may be finished sooner than anyone thought coming into this series.
2. Flip Saunders has all of them-the man who was almost solely blamed for the 64 win Pistons falling short against the Heat last year all of a sudden looks like a genius for not pushing his team too hard and letting them go through the motions all season long, only to hit their stride now. Amazing what a difference a rejuvenated Billups, Hamilton, and healthy Rasheed Wallace makes.
3. The Pistons are deep, really deep-while they didn't put up the volume of points of game 1, Detroit's bench has four or five reliable players (depending on which Flip Murray shows up) coming off the pine. Jason Maxiell has been the most impressive of the 2nd unit in this series and everyone is holding their own defensively. Detroit is 6-0 in the playoffs and Antonio McDyess hasn't found his shot yet. When he heats up, they'll become almost unbeatable.
4. Nobody in the East can touch the Pistons-the playoffs really are a formality until the NBA Finals. Don't kid yourself. If you want to see compelling basketball before the finals, stay up late and watch the west (as I am currently watching Spurs/Suns game 2 as I type this).

I'll be back later this week with an analysis on the Roger Clemens signing and the impact it will have on the Yankees.