A journey through some links that will update us on the Tigers walking wounded, that will put limits on Justin Verlander’s workload, and other odds and ends including bullpen usage and Alex Avila.

Injuries

Word out of Lakeland is that Zach Miner is preparing to enter pseudo game action as part of his rehab assignment. Even with no set backs that would likely but him a couple weeks away from being ready to join the Tigers. And while the bullpen has been overworked and a fresh arm would be helpful, the bullpen has also been pretty effective.

Adam Everett is expected to be back any day now after taking batting practice yesterday. That could prove timely as Jim Leyland is still concerned about Scott Sizemore’s ankle and if he wants to spell him at second, he would have Ramon Santiago as an option with a healthy Everett manning short.

For those that were hoping to get a look at Brent Dlugach, he has cooled off at Toledo as his BABIP hasn’t been able to sustain his strikeout rate (31 K’s in 86 PA’s).

On the minor league injury front the Tigers are hopeful that Jacob Turner’s soreness is an adjustment to a pro pitching schedule and nothing ominous.

Verlander’s workload

With Justin Verlander throwing over 120 pitches in each of his last two starts and not seeing the sixth inning in either, it turned out to be a clubhouse topic yesterday. Leyland says he is going to put a limit on Verlander in his next start regardless of the inning. Verlander acknowledges that he needs to be more efficient but says pitch counts are overrated.

We’ll see what happens with this limit. I’m sure that Leyland doesn’t want Verlander getting hurt on his watch, but he also had him throw over 120 pitches in 6 of his last 8 outings last season. Verlander has always proven up to the task, I just doubt that Leyland is going to reign him in too much.

The rest

• Tiger Tales: A Detroit Tigers Blog: Tigers Bullpen Bailing Out Starters
• Beck’s Blog: Tigers’ reactions on the Span play
• Tigers catcher Alex Avila is focusing on good at-bats to break slump | – MLive.com
• Quantifying catchers: The best and the worst defenders – Bless You Boys
• Morning prowl: Tale of two centerfielders – Bless You Boys

Gut wrenching losses are good fodder for second guessing (and page views). My thoughts and perspective on what happened last night (some of these may sound like a defense of decisions made or not made, that’s not necessarily the intent).

1. Why take out Edwin Jackson, he was pitching awesome? Edwin Jackson had been pitching awesome, until he lost his control. For those that hate pitch counts as a reason to pull a pitcher, you should love this decision. Clearly the 89 pitches weren’t the issue. It was the fact that after peppering the strike zone all night he started falling behind hitters.

2. Why only one batter for Bobby Seay? Leyland was playing platoon advantages. Look at the righties coming up after Snider. There wasn’t a lefty in sight. Seay did his job.

3. Why not Ryan Perry then? The popular belief is that this was too much of a pressure situation for a debut. I don’t believe it, and I don’t think Leyland does either. When Zumaya debuted it was in a hold situation. He’s not afraid of that at all. And really, if Perry comes in a blows it then how many question why he was brought into a pressure situation to debut? A ton. Most questioned when Rodney and Zumaya were brought into pressure situations when first returning last year, and they’d faced those situations before. No. The real reason was because at the moment Leyland views Lyon as his second best reliever behind Fernando Rodney.

4. Why use your second best reliever in such a high leverage situation? This is the better question, and one that stat heads have been hammering on managers for for years. But if it’s not the 9th you can’t use your closer for some reason.

5. Why leave Lyon out there in the 9th? I’ve got nothing. This was stupid. Even if you let him start the inning, when he continues to struggle why not go get him. Ridiculous.

The Tigers will formally announce the signing of Brandon Lyon on Saturday. Terms are not immediately available but it is likely a one or two year contract. Lyon isn’t necessarily being handed the closers position, but he will definitely have a shot to claim it.

UPDATE 2:49 The deal is one year and $4.25 million with another half million in incentives. Eddie Bonine was DFA’d to make room on the 40 man roster

Lyon served as the Diamondbacks closer for the first half of 2008 before losing the job. The ERA and WHIP weren’t impressive last year, but there are a couple of quirks at play. First was a very high .355 BABIP. The second, and likely the reason for the first, is he was tremendously unlucky on ground balls. Last year 13.4% of the ground balls he allowed resulted in infield hits. To provide some context, Ichiro Suzuki has a career 12.2% mark. Suffice it to say that it was abnormally high and likely to correct itself.

The high BABIP resulted in an ERA a nearly a run higher than his FIP.

Detroit Tiger Tales also points out his clean outing rate. Even in 2008, it was higher than every current Tiger reliever other than Clay Rapada and it compares favorably to Trevor Hoffman, Takashi Saito, and Juan Cruz.

I don’t know that Brandon Lyon is the savior at closer, but the signing demonstrably improves the bullpen provided his second half struggles in 2008 were not the result of some sort of injury that could carry over to 2009.

It’s the return of DTW live. Tune in at 9:30 ET tonight and will talk Tigers as they embark on their caravan. Topics include: well the bullpen of course, Verlander’s extension, the demise of WDFN and whatever else comes up. Hope to see you back here at 9:30.

We ended up covering quite a bit in this extended (44 minutes) edition. Once we get back to a regular posting schedule I’d like to keep these a little shorter.

Links from today’s show:

• Brandon Lyon @ Fangraphs
• Tigers close to signing Lyon, Williamson
• Detroit Tiger Tales on Brandon Lyon

The Tiger announced the signing of Juan Rincon to a minor league deal today. Rincon will get an invite to spring training and will be given a chance to make the Tigers bullpen.

This looks to be a decent signing. Rincon was a stud in 2004 through 2006. But he was busted for steroid use. In 2007 and 2008 he saw his home run rate balloon. In 04 throuh 06 he allowed 9 homers total. He allowed 9 in 2007 and 8 in 2008.

Still, it’s a low risk move and the type of signing I’d hope the team would make several of as they try and build their pen on the cheap.

Juan Rincon » Statistics » Pitching | FanGraphs Baseball

I think it’s clear that the Tigers bullpen situation will be an on going saga. It’s been the lead story leading up to Tigerfest and will likely hold that distinction throughout spring training (unless of course someone gets injured in the World Baseball Classic). Without an established and healthy closer available, anyone that is brought in to help the pen wouldn’t be a lock to close games anyways.

Jon Paul Morosi (who’s blogging has been top notch of late) adds some back story to the Matt Joyce and Edwin Jackson trade. It turns out B.J. Upton’s bum shoulder may have been what prevented J.J. Putz from coming to Detroit and opening up the Jackson deal. The Rays knew about Upton’s shoulder problems and didn’t want to leave themselves without a centerfielder.

You may remember that the Tigers’ best chance to acquire Putz came during three-way conversations that included the Rays and Mariners.

Seattle officials wanted a centerfielder, and they did not believe that Detroit prospect Matt Joyce could play the position on an everyday basis. So, the centerfielder would have needed to come from Tampa Bay – and the Mariners wanted Perez.

If Tampa Bay had been willing to trade Perez, it’s likely that Putz would be a Tiger right now. But the Rays were reluctant to do so, for a reason that is now apparent.

So that is how J.J. Putz slipped away. As for the rest of the closer options, the Tigers couldn’t find a fit dollars and interest wise. That leaves the Tigers looking at a group that includes Brandon Lyon, Juan Cruz, Jason Isringhausen, and Chad Cordero.

Of the three, Lyon is the only one that is healthy and is probably the safest bet. I don’t know whether he can close (he lost the job last year), but would still be a solid addition to the Tigers pen and wouldn’t cost a draft pick like Juan Cruz would. It sounds like the Tigers are still interested.

Isringhausen and Cordero are both injury reclamation projects. Cordero has the higher upside, and is attracting the attention of 10 teams. Isringhausen is probably easier to snag with 4 teams vying for his services. But Isringhausen is past his prime and really hasn’t been healthy since 2006. I do agree with Morosi that if he comes cheaply it is worth seeing what he can offer. Given the state of the bullpen, quantity is a good thing.

As each of the four players weigh their options, the Tigers do have one thing they can offer to them besides money, a very legitimate shot to be the closer.

Links of note, or stuff I find interesting, or stuff I think you might find interesting

• Tigers to try Larish at third – Jeff Larish heads to the Arizona Fall League to work on fielding the hot corner. Smart move since he's effectively blocked at first base. At the very least maybe he increases his trade value. On another note, how sad is it that AFL assignments are about the only thing we have to look forward to.
• Tigers’ Kenny Rogers placed on waivers, could be traded | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press – He could be traded, but I doubt it.
• Put the Tigers’ Bullpen in Cruz Control? – Bless You Boys – Ian touts Juan Cruz as an affordable and attractive option for the Tigers as a bullpen free agent target.
• The Immaculate Inning: What’s Wrong: Justin Verlander – What's wrong with Justin Verlander? Maybe nothing.
• Detroit Tigers Thoughts: How to Fix a Bullpen, Part 6 – One more from Eddie. He's really been on a roll, plus my link posting thingy hasn't been working so I'm way behind. But this is part of a 6 part series on how to build a bullpen. Great reading.
• Detroit Tigers Thoughts: Skelton Again – Eddie gets biomechanical and shows that James Skelton slight stature may actually increase his durability instead of inhibiting it – as many have worried about.
• Detroit Tigers Thoughts: Projected Elias Rankings – Eddie has cracked the Elias Free Agent ranking system. Pudge is looking like he could end up being a B type free agent. If he does that means one less draft pick lost in the trade, thus making the trade look better.
• Tiger Tales: A Detroit Tigers Blog: Where does Galarraga’s rookie season rank in Tigers history? – Lee looks to see how Armando Galarraga's season stacks up against other rookie campaigns in Tiger history.