Detroit Tigers can't be conventional in approach to rotation

The Detroit Tigers can’t keep sending Anibal Sanchez and Mike Pelfrey to the mound if they want to compete in 2016. It may be costly, but change is needed.

The Detroit Tigers have often been nothing but a stubborn organization over the years, never quick to change something that is not working.

Over the years, the Tigers have stuck it out with players for a number of reasons. Joe Nathan was allowed to go out day after day to blow saves, and former everyday stars such as Brandon Inge and Magglio Ordonez were allowed to go the plate too many times when it was apparent their respective degree of hitting skills had left them for good.

Part of it was loyalty, part of it was the investment the team had in said player, but it’s clear that should the Tigers want to truly compete for a playoff spot, something has to change in the back-end of the rotation. And it has to change now.

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The two main culprits of rotation ineptitude have been Anibal Sanchez and Mike Pelfrey, who are clearly hurting the Tigers efforts to climb back up the ladder of the American League Central.

Anibal Sanchez

Let’s tackle Sanchez first, because Tigers’ fans having to address the “Anibal problem” might be bittersweet. A huge deal nearing the trade deadline of 2012 brought the 28-year old righty to Detroit along with Omar Infante.

From the get-go, Sanchez was nothing short of fantastic. His career highlights will be some of fans’ best memories of this era including the near no-hitter and record-setting 17 strikeouts in 2013. In that season which was dominated by Max Scherzer winning the Cy Young for the Tigers, Sanchez quietly put together the best ERA in the majors at 2.57.

That’s what makes his dissent so troubling. Anibal followed up that spectacular season with an injury-plagued 2014 that saw him spend two stints on the DL and miss nearly six weeks of action.

Beginning in 2015, Sanchez looked like a different player with a loss of velocity and an increase in home runs allowed, smashing his previous career high of 20 homers by surrendering an astonishing 29 in 157 innings pitched.

Things haven’t looked better for #19 this year with numbers of 3-5, 6.23 ERA, and 1.594 WHIP. What is most troubling is that as the games have gone on, Anibal has looked progressively worse and hasn’t allowed less than four runs since his last win on April 28 (0-4, 6.75 in four starts since). In seven of his nine starts, he’s allowed at least one home run.

Mike Pelfrey

Sanchez’s struggles might be tolerated if it were not for the boneheaded move by Al Avila to sign Pelfrey for two years, $16 million, coming off an ERA with the Minnesota Twins well above four with a WHIP of 1.476.

Perhaps its the old case of bribery photos because apparently no one was about to give Pelfrey that amount. In fact, free agents such as Doug Fister, Colby Lewis, and Hisashi Iwakuma signed for less money.

Winless in nine starts, Pelfrey has mainly looked awful, but there have been times when he’s held his own and received little run support but fallen apart in late innings. Then there are the other days when he so befuddles fans.

Take for instance Monday night’s 5-4 Tigers’ win over the Phillies started by Pelf. He worked a mostly quiet two innings before allowing a Philadelphia run to score in the third. The Tigers’ bats rallied to tie it in the bottom of that inning, only to have Big Pelf surrender it in the top of the fourth inning and allow another in the next inning for a 3-1 Philly lead.

Boom went the Tigers’ bats in the fifth inning when J.D. Martinez and Miguel Cabrera hit back-to-back solo shots, followed by a homer by Nick Castellanos to give Detroit the lead. Pelfrey immediately surrendered the lead in the next half inning.

Thankfully, they were playing an awful team that has overachieved thus far so Detroit was able to come back and win their seventh game in eight tries.

Just like Sanchez, Pelfrey is not showing signs of getting any better. In his last 17 starts dating back to last year, he is 0-8 with a 5.90 ERA and 1.79 WHIP.

Conclusion

The Tigers cannot continue to have one of the best offenses in baseball with two of the worst starters in the American League. With a hit-or-miss lineup, when the bats are going, bad pitching can be costly. When the bats are quiet, the starting pitching has to be on its game to win.

Sanchez has two years left on his current deal, paying him $16.8 million each. The Tigers have an $16 million option in 2018 that they will almost certainly nix for a buyout of $5 million. This means, of course, if the Tigers cut Sanchez, they still owe him $21.8 million IN ADDITION to the rest of his salary for this year.

It would be a lesser burden to admit your mistake with Pelfrey, but are still on the hook for roughly $12 million to go play for someone else, or no one at all.

The Tigers will likely place one or both in the bullpen, but with their problems this year, can we really trust them in a still remarkably bad bullpen? To add further consternation, Jordan Zimmermann‘s injury could pause any pending changes.

If Z-Mann only misses one start, the Tigers have to make some changes. Matt Boyd has a 2.62 ERA in Toledo, Daniel Norris has put a couple of good outings together for the first time this season with the Mud Hens, and Shane Greene appears ready after missing a month because of a blister.

Next: Lions: Jay Lee UDFA Hype Train Gaining Steam

So it’s not like the Detroit Tigers have no options. But one thing is sure, sticking with Pelfrey and Sanchez is not an option if this team wants to contend.

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Detroit Tigers can’t be conventional in approach to rotation

By Matt Pelc | May 25, 2016

The Detroit Tigers can’t keep sending Anibal Sanchez and Mike Pelfrey to the mound if they want to compete in 2016. It may be costly, but change is needed.

More from Detroit Jock City