Detroit Tigers: Time to Replace Francisco Rodriguez as closer?
The Detroit Tigers may need to take a look at other options at the back end of the bullpen after Francisco Rodriguez‘s recent struggles.
This past offseason, the Detroit Tigers decided to pick up Francisco Rodriguez’s $6 million option for the 2017 season. Though the veteran closer had a few shaky outings during his first season in Detroit, he had a nice year overall.
In 61 outings in 2016, K-Rod posted a 3.24 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP and converted 44 saves in 49 opportunities. In many ways, it certainly made sense for the Tigers to bring Rodriguez back, especially if the plan was for him to serve as one-year bridge to someone such as Bruce Rondon or Joe Jimenez.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Rodriguez has been struggling quite a bit thus far in 2017. This past weekend, Rodriguez blew consecutive saves against the Oakland Athletics, who beat the Tigers in walk-off fashion on both Saturday and Sunday.
Though Rodriguez has converted seven saves, he has now blown four save opportunities. On April 27, he entered a 1-1 game against the Seattle Mariners, which was a non-save situation, and received the loss in that game as well. Overall, he is now 1-4 with an 8.49 ERA and a 2.06 WHIP.
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Naturally, many are beginning to wonder just how long the Tigers will stick with Rodriguez in the closer’s role. The Tigers are currently in third place in the AL Central with a record of 15-15. For a team that is looking to get back to the postseason after missing out the past two years, they will need someone dependable at the very back of the bullpen.
If the Tigers were to replace Rodriguez, Evan Woodbery of MLive reports that hard-throwing left-hander Justin Wilson would likely be the favorite to replace him. Wilson has gotten off to an excellent start so far in 2017, posting a 1.32 ERA over 15 outings.
Closing Options In The Minors?
While many had high hopes for Bruce Rondon after a solid showing in 2016, he was demoted to Triple-A last month after a rough start to the season. He has been pitching better in Triple-A, posting a 1.59 ERA over 5.2 innings, but he still would have a long way to go to prove that he is capable of handling the closer’s job, to say the least.
Many have already dubbed Jimenez as the Tigers’ closer of the future, but he struggled a bit in his brief time with the big league team this year. He has also been dealing with a bit of a back problem, though it is not believed to be a major issue, according to Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press.
Rodriguez has clearly had an excellent career. It has been remarkable to watch him evolve from the power arm he was with the Los Angeles Angels to a pitcher who learned to rely more on his offspeed stuff. His 437 career saves trail only Lee Smith, Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera.
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However, the 35-year-old K-Rod is clearly struggling right now. It will be interesting to see how many more opportunities manager Brad Ausmus might give him before deciding that a change may in fact be necessary.