The Detroit Tigers add Joakim Soria

Dave Dombrowski is at it again. After spending the first half of the season seeing exactly what he had in his bullpen he made a move late last night to addresses what all of us think is the weak part of this team. He dealt two pitching prospects to the Texas Rangers to add Joakim Soria at least for the rest of this year and quite possibly next year as well depending on what happens with Joe Nathan the rest of this year and in the post season. 

Soria was probably the best relief pitcher out there this season, and while the Tigers paid a huge price to secure his services it is exactly the kind of move a team in win now mode should make. If and when the Tigers win the 2014 World Series no one is going to remember what was given up to add Soria. And while we can fault Dombrowski for many of his moves, like relying so heavily on Bruce Rondon over the last two of seasons, he has made a lot of that right by paying the price to get the peace this team most needs. 

The bullpen has been the weak point for the Tigers in each of the last two seasons. While additions like Joba Chamberlain have worked out quite well, the big contract handed to Joe Nathan this past off season doesn’t look all that great and the gamble on Joe Haranahan has yet to bear any quality fruit. Now comes Soria, who gives the Tigers a trio of late inning arms that Manager Brad Ausmus can use in a number of different ways. 

I would expect to start Soria will be used in the 7th inning role, and that is no small role on a club whose starting pitching has struggled to go a strong seven all season long. I would expect Joba to continue it his 8th inning role and for now Nathan to still be the closer. However, anymore significant hiccups will lead to Soria being the 9th inning guy with Nathan being move to another specialty. 

While a lot of people are down on the Tigers minor league system it is now clear that their system is stock full of arms other MLB teams crave. Sure Corey Kneubel and Jake Thompson are now gone the system still boosts a number of big arms that could be dealt for even more bullpen help in the next nine days before we get to the trade deadline. 

It appears that Dombrowski has finally learned his lesson with the bullpen and hopefully we will not have a repeat of what transpired in Boston last year. However this bullpen rebuild project is far from completed. It still looks like they could still use another left handed arm because Phil Coke and Ian Krol have not been all that effective. It would be nice to add another arm for the post season as well, and who knows maybe they have that arm in Haranahan already but relying on a guy this close to Tommy John Surgery doesn't seem like the best plan. 

The first move for the Tigers heading towards the trade deadline has been completed and it looks like one or two more are in store for this team. 

Detroit Tigers week in review: Week 15

It was a very up and down week for the Detroit Tigers. The fan base got all worked up when they dropped a series to the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park mid week, but the team rebounded nicely with a series win over the Texas Rangers over the weekend. Justin Verlander stepped up yesterday and id not allow his team to lose a series and put up another impressive performance. He went seven innings and only gave up one hit as the Tigers cruised to 5-0 victory. Still thought the team's struggles have left them just 1.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians and it doesn't look like Terry Francona is gonna let this team wilt like Indians team of the past. The tigers have made this more of a race that nit really should be, but hey that is baseball.

There are some rumors that the Tigers the interest in Tim Lincecum. It makes a lot of sense if they were going to sue him out of the bullpen, but the question becomes who would they be willing to give up for him? The Tigers do not have a lot of depth in their organization currently and the pieces they have they need on the big club to make a solid push towards the playoffs. I could see them trading away Rick Porcello or maybe even Drew Smyly for Lincecum but that seems like a steep price at this point.

For now the season is more than half over, but we have reach the symbolic half way point the Major League All Star game.  The next two weeks are going to be very interesting indeed.

The Good:

• Miguel Cabrera- he is leading the team in every major offensive category. He is a beast, and somehow out performing last year when he was the AL MVP and Triple Crown winner. Without a doubt he has not only earned his salary but maybe even outperformed his enormous contract. 
• Victor Martinez- A big part of why the offense has stayed hot is Victor in the five hole. He has raised his average to .258 with 8 home runs and 50 RBI. Think about that he has 50 RBI hitting after Cabrera and Prince Fielder. It looks like he has returned to form and if he stays hot the is one less thing for the Tigers and their fans to worry about. 
• Joaquin Benoit- those of you who think the Tigers need a closer should really look at the numbers. Benoit has 8 saves and 9 holds and a 1.64 ERA. Pair that with a K/9 of 11.74 and realize he is the closer what the bullpen needs is a solid 7th and/or 8th inning guy 

The Bad:

• Phil Coke- Not only can't Coke get outs, but at times it doesn't even look like he can throw strikes. He has struggled all year against right handed batters, but lately he is struggling against everyone. He has given up 29 hits in 29.1 inning pitched and his ERA is around 6.00, simply not good enough
• Alex Avila- At this point I would rather see Bryan Pena and/or Bryan Holaday each day then Avila. He is hitting just .177 and is a big reason why the bottom of the order struggles so much. 
• Ramon Santiago/Hernan Perez- Losing Omar Infante to the DL has really hurt the production at second. I like both Santiago and Perez defensively but offensively neither one is getting it done. Hopefully Omar comes back after the break and gets right back into the swing of things. 

Related Links:

• Detroit Tigers news and notes
• Detroit Sports History Examiner