Leyland wrong to blame starters
posted in 2007 season, Analysis |When I first saw Jim Leyland’s comments, transcribed by a dutiful Tom Gage, I was aghast.
“Everyone is focusing on the bullpen,” (Leyland) said. “To me, that’s missing the whole concept of what’s going on. The fact of the matter is we’ve needed more innings from our starters.”
Yes. Jim Leyland says the bullpen’s problem is caused by the starters. Now I think I understand why he passed the buck. Leyland wants to take pressure off the pen, especially after a day earlier Todd Jones heaped a pile on it.
I don’t know what the media has been saying elsewhere, but the blogging media I’ve read all agrees the starters could do a bit better. The Detroit starters are in the middle of the MLB in quality starts with 25. They’re not getting the innings from starters they’re used to getting. Yet, those same starts have an ERA of 4.00, just 0.02 behind Boston, who most people would associate with a good AL rotation.
Meanwhile, the Tigers bullpen dropped to 30th in baseball. In case you don’t recall, there’s 30 teams. So, that 5.33 ERA ranks the Tigers as dead last. The pen has collected 12 losses, second most in baseball. Can anyone think of a playoff team with a worse bullpen? Anyone? Anyone? No. The worst bullpen in baseball is not going to cut it in the best division in baseball. And if you want to say the starters don’t go deep enough, so the bullpen gets worn down, that’s fine. But the best bullpen ERA comes from relievers who pitched 163 innings. Meanwhile, the Tigers pen has thrown 148.1 innings, nearly the exact middle of the MLB and the second least percentage in the AL Central. The only way you can criticize the starters is to say if the less they pitch, the more the awful pen pitches.
The issue is, the relievers being called upon to do the job are minor league and major league journeymen being thrust into the major spotlight while Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya recover. They’re not pitching less than their ability. They are pitching their ability, and it’s just not that high. Just like Leyland likes Jose Mesa and Neifi Perez, these types of players cast off by other teams keep getting second chances in the MLB under Leyland. Unfortunately, for most of them, there’s a reason ties were cut.
Tonight, the defense betrayed the bullpen. But that is just a distraction from the fact: Help must be found soon. This is not panic. This is just the unfortunate truth that the Tigers will not contend without changes made soon.