Closing No Longer A Priority in Detroit

As the Baseball Winter Meetings continue on the closer role is becoming less of a priority for the Detroit Tigers. When the meetings started this was clearly one of the Tigers top priorities, so what’s changed? It’s actually quite simple General Manager Dave Dombrowski is no longer impressed by the current options. His three targets were Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez (signed with the New York Mets), J.J. Putz (traded to the Mets) and Kerry Wood (soon to sign with the Cleveland Indians).

There are still some valuable late inning guys out there but Dombrowski isn’t overly excited about them. Yesterday, we talked about John Smoltz‘s options, one of those was Detroit. I actually said them and the Atlanta Braves were the front runners but that could be changing as the Tigers don’t want to pay $10 million or more for anyone. That budget also cuts out another viable option, Brian Fuentes. Fuentes is going to want more then that, but the Tigers are definitely not going to give it.

Danny Knobler of CBS Sports suggests the team may not even sign a closer this off-season. He mentions the money being a main reasoning, but also the lack of interest in the other options. Trevor Hoffman is still out there, but he says the team also has no interest in him.

Steve Kornacki over at MLive.com breaks down the five main options, with pros and cons for them all. It’s pretty impressive. After reading that article, I could see why Dombrowski might want to pass.

So where could a closer come from? Some options could be the minor leagues, or even former starters. The team currently has Nate Robertson, Dontrelle Willis and Zach Miner battling for the fifth spot. Could either of them handle a late inning role? There is also last year’s top draft pick, Rick Perry. But can he adjust to the professional game quick enough to be a player?

So yea there are still plenty of questions with the Tigers bullpen, much like there was all of last year. Now that this is no longer a priority of the team, one has to think the Tigers will continue to be an over-priced mediocre team. Remember their bullpen was trash last year and a big reason for their struggles.

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Tags: Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Inidans, Detroit Tigers, New York Mets