Detroit Tigers Season Update: Season in Jeopardy Without Middle Relief

The Detroit Tigers' season may be in jeopardy after seeing first hand how a mediocre, if not non-existent bullpen can affect an entire professional ball club.

After acquiring All-Star player Miguel Cabrera, pitcher Dontrelle Willis, and shortstop Edgar Renteria during the off-season, you would expect GM Dave Dombrowski to at least try to shore up the bullpen. He did not.

The hitting for Detroit is on the rebound after a poor start. But will it be enough to win ball games throughout the year?

Absolutely not. Even if you score eight to 12 runs a game, a poor bullpen cannot hold a powerhouse line-up (like most in the American League) for very long if at all.

Sure, there have been a couple of good outings. There are a couple of relievers in the Tigers organization that make the grade and have stepped it up a bit (Todd Jones,Bobby Seay,Denny Bautista). But is that enough to go 150 more games?

The bottom line is that the Detroit Tigers are in serious trouble.

Let's look at possible future pitchers that may show up in a Tiger uniform.

Virgil Vasquez is the No. 1 starter for the triple A affiliate Toledo Mud Hens. He is a very capable starting pitcher and is already having a good start for Toledo.

But where would he fit in? Do we need more starting pitchers? I could see him in a middle relief role possibly.

I have heard Casey Fossum's name being tossed around. Is he going to be the go-to guy after he gets prepared at Toledo?

Another name is Aaron Fultz, is he going to turn things around? Both of these pitchers remain only shadows of what they used to be in the major leagues. I  don't think so.

The only possible solution for this failure is get rid of the poor pitchers through release or trade.

Other teams are already set for the time being and are not going to be willing to trade anyone of significance yet.

Everyone knows you can never have enough pitching.

Brandon Inge continues to be a leader of this offense for the time being. Can we afford to trade him? I think not.

This off-season blunder falls sorely on the hands of Dave Dombrowski. Great blockbuster trade, but not really what we needed.

We need a commanding pitcher out of the bullpen that day in and day out can show consistency.

Every World Championship team that I can think of had a powerful relief pitching staff, and when their relief came in, the game was over.

Like Willie Hernandez in 1984.

If you have any suggestions, I would surely like to hear them. I want a light at the end of this season's long, dark tunnel. Right now it is up to GM David Dombrowski to come up with a fix—double quick or this season will be a failure.