The Detroit bullpen appears to be the largest vulnerability to this otherwise solid 2008 squad. Questions around Todd Jones ability to hold back batters have risen after a terrible spring with Todd himself expressing doubts. At the same time there was plenty of good seen in Denny Bautista, Bobby Seay and Yorman Bazardo this spring. Those three will be the key to this bullpen and depended on to hold leads until the return of Fernando Rodney or Joel Zumaya.
Below is a look at each pitchers 2007 big league performance and 2008 projections. Not outstanding but, in the belief of Jim Leyland, it is enough with potential to significantly beat out the projections.
| 2007 Stats | 2008 Projected ERA | ||||||||||
| Pitcher | Throw | GB/FB | IP | BB | SO | WHIP | ERA | Chone | Marcel | ZiPS | |
| Denny Bautista | RHP | 0.71 | 8.7 | 4 | 8 | 2.538 | 12.46 | 4.73 | 5.14 | 4.91 | |
| Yorman Bazardo | RHP | 1.36 | 23.7 | 5 | 15 | 1.014 | 2.28 | 5.20 | 3.98 | 5.04 | |
| Jason Grilli | RHP | 1.14 | 79.7 | 32 | 62 | 1.418 | 4.74 | 4.50 | 4.56 | 4.31 | |
| Todd Jones | RHP | 1.40 | 61.1 | 23 | 33 | 1.42 | 4.26 | 4.21 | 4.21 | 3.75 | |
| Aquilino Lopez | RHP | 1.04 | 17.3 | 6 | 7 | 1.385 | 5.19 | 4.36 | 4.50 | 5.29 | |
| Zach Miner | RHP | 2.04 | 53.7 | 22 | 34 | 1.453 | 3.02 | 4.89 | 4.30 | 4.76 | |
| Bobby Seay | LHP | 0.86 | 46.3 | 15 | 38 | 1.144 | 2.33 | 4.07 | 4.14 | 3.94 | |
In other news, Tigers 2003 first-round draft pick Kyle Sleeth has called it quits. To me this feels much like the end of an era. When Sleeth was picked he was hung up as the Tigers future ace, the pick that was going to help save the organization. Detroit, for the lack of a better word, stunk at the time and hope was all we had.
Things have changed dramatically and while I don’t like seeing such a potential talent not live up to original expectations this has the feeling of an end to an era.