Yeah... The Bullpen Preview

Amid all the trade rumors, here's the official View From The Light Tower preview for the bullpen. All in all, the season is dependent on these guys. And that scares the living shit out of me. Here's the problem I've found- for all the improvements elsewhere on the field, the bullpen went basically untouched in the off-season as far as improvements go. If anything, the loss of Joel Zumaya for at least half the season has made it considerably worse, especially with Fernando Rodney now missing for the opening of the season.

So here it goes, player-by-player, the keys to the Tigers' 2008.

Todd Jones- Probably the single-handedly most frightening player on the Detroit roster. He's consistent in the fact that he's so inconsistent, everyone expects it by now. Jonesy will have his good days, his bad days, and his roller coaster days, and there's not that much new that can be said about him. I just hope that I can make it through the year.

Jason Grilli- Probably the favorite target of the boo-birds last year (myself included), and he truly deserved it most nights. One of my personal favorite Grilli nights was when Nate Robertson left the game with a 4-0 lead and Jason came in, gave up a hit and two walks, and then a game-tying grand slam. Typical. At best, he's as up and down as Jones. At worst, he's batting practice. Which Grilli will show up this year? We can only guess.

Tim Byrdak- Timmy has had a rough spring and has gotten shelled quite a few times. When he first got brought up to the big leagues last year, he was probably the best lefty we had coming out of the pen. But, he faded quickly coming down the stretch and was just another liability coming out of the pen. It's rough because he's probably one of the few guys that the Tigers really need - a situational lefty - and he's got to be able to get guys like Jim Thome and Travis Hafner out on a regular basis.

Bobby Seay- He's the other Tigers lefty who's going to be called on regularly to be the situational guy. He was probably the Tigs best reliever for the first few months of the year, but he, like Byrdak, was eventually figured out. He needs to turn into someone that can come out of the bullpen in the seventh or eighth and get a big out once every few games. Without Seay pitching well, the whole bullpen is going to suffer.

Zach Miner- Zach is a tricky guy (then again, who isn't in this bullpen, right?). Back in 2006, he started off his Major League career with a six game winning streak and then went dead cold until he was moved into the bullpen as a long relief kind of guy. He's now more of a seventh inning/eighth inning kind of guy, but, as of last year, he was still adjusting to the job. Miner has a bunch of promise and it isn't hard to imagine him figuring it out and having a good year.

Denny Bautista- This guy will be the main set-up man in the absence of Rodney and Zumaya. The knock on him is his control but he's in the mid-90s consistently with his fastball, and watching him pitch the other day against Cleveland, I was very impressed. If he can throw strikes, the sting of the duel injuries to Fernando and Joel might be soothed just a bit. Hopefully, he can be the surprise coming out of the Tiger pen.

Like I said earlier, these guys are the key to the Tigers succeeding this year. The order might score 10 runs a game, but that won't mean a damn thing if the pitching staff gives up 11. As we found out last year, the bats can't carry the team the whole season and at some point, guys are going to go through slumps. It's during times like those when the pitching has to be really on. The rotation will probably be able to handle the pressure, but the key moment will be when there's a one-run game in the late innings and the starter will be getting pulled, and no one will be worried about the guy coming in to keep the lead.

God, that sounds like wishful thinking, huh?