Detroit Tigers: Buck Farmer DFA’d as his struggle continue in 2021

The Detroit Tigers have designated relief pitcher Buck Farmer for assignment after his 2021 season has been full of struggles. Farmer has been a steady arm for the Tigers, well, at least one of the commonly used guys out of the team’s bullpen in prior years.

Farmer is in his eighth season wearing the Detroit Tigers uniform. He has been a part of the roster for some time now, but given the team’s lack of a bullpen, they opted to switch things up. The team opted to try and go the chaotic route to get Farmer back on track and possibly jumpstart the bullpen.

The only player with an ERA under 4 is Gregory Soto, who sits at 3.38. Also, Kyle Funkhouser technically has an ERA of 0.00 but has only registered one outing for two total innings. But, in Farmer’s case, he has been really tough and needs to iron things out to be the steady arm he has been in his career.

Farmer was in the mix to be a closer by committee during the 2021 season, but his terrible start in 2021 has changed that. Instead, he finds himself being DFA’d, where he will hopefully clear waivers and work on things in Toledo.

Detroit Tigers reliever Buck Farmer was DFA’d as the bullpen continues to struggle.

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Farmer has been a more than reliable arm in the past two seasons for the Tigers, but a switch has flipped.

The Tigers’ go-to guy out of the bullpen has been unable to fit that build in 2021.

So far this season, Farmer has appeared 12 games for the Tigers, which has been an ugly sight.

In 2021, he features a 12.66 ERA, a 2.25 WHIP, and has allowed 15 total runs with six big flies over 10.2 innings pitched.

Farmer’s nine walks issued and 15 hits do not help his cause either. This comes after two seasons with an ERA below four, where he hovered around a 3.70-3.80 ERA between the two seasons.

The Tigers bullpen is bad, REALLY bad. Just about anyone can see that, and without Farmer being a stable arm to call upon, they are even worse. If Farmer can figure things out, the Tigers will be able to have at least one and possibly two reliable arms if you count Soto.

But with the DFA of Farmer, the Tigers are making a point that change is necessary. So while the dramatic shakeup of a well-known face in the bullpen may seem warranted given his stats, it is still a bit shocking.

After Farmer has been a lock to be in the Tigers bullpen these past few seasons, seeing him get DFA’d just felt weird.