The Detroit Tigers' Help LineL Grading the Bullpen

With the season now past a month, the Detroit Tigers bullpen has been a pleasant surprise.

Fernando Rodney has yet to blow a save—very simular to former Tiger closer Todd Jones. Rodney rarely goes three up-three down, but he does get the job done.

What is working better than last year are the setup men in Detroit.

Rookie righthander Ryan Perry has been very good, and manager Jim Leyland has not been afraid to use him in tough spots. In a game last week against the Chicago White Sox, Perry came in the eighth and threw a ball over the batter's head.  He looked a little too wild, but he then threw the next three pitches right down the middle. and retired the side.

Joel Zumaya has return and is looking like his 2006 self, but we still have to wait and hope he stays healthy. When Zumaya is healthy, everybody knows he is unhittable.

The other pieces that need to be mentioned are the long relief guys. This has been the sore spot in the pen. Nate Robertson has been doing well there—as well as Bobby Seay, who has been as solid as he was in 2007.

However, Juan Rincon and Brandon Lyon have both struggled. Lyon was signed to be the closer in Detroit, but lost that job to Rodney in spring training. So both Rincon and Lyon have become spot guys.

Now the big question is going to be coming in the next 15 days. Dontrell Willis is going to be coming back from the DL. What is Jim Leyland going to do?

D-Train will be going into the rotation. So Zach Miner may be going back into long relief. Detroit, when they won in 2006, had a lefty/righty set-up in long relief. If Miner goes back into the pen. We get a lefty(Nate Robertson) and a righty (Miner). But where does that leave Rincon?

Brandon Lyon will not be sent anywhere for the simple reason that the Tigers have signed him to a one-year deal to be a closer, and the Tigers already ate a huge contract with Gary Sheffield. So it looks like the odd man out will be Rincon. It will be interesting to see what happens to what is a very good bullpen right now.

So to sum up, the Detroit Tigers' bullpen after a full month gets a grade of B or B+.

Rodney (A-) has been a great surprise, Perry, Zumaya, and Seay (A+) have been solid as the eighth inning guys. The rest (Robertson, Rincon, Lyon) get Ds.