The Detroit Tigers Bullpen Cannot Be Trusted
The Detroit Tigers bullpen has fallen flat in 2026, and it's costing them big time.
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If there’s one thing I have learned in my years of watching baseball, it’s that bullpens are fickle. Inconsistency year to year is rather common, and finding arms that can repeat success year after year is rare.
If you scan bullpens across the league you will find yourself learning a lot of new names. The random, for lack of a better term, arms that come and go in a bullpen is unlike anything you see in other spots. Yet, a number of those unknown names find success.
For the Detroit Tigers, finding bullpen success has been a struggle this season. Familiar names are not having familiar production, while others have been filtered through back and forth from the minors. It’s a process that is common even with good teams. But, good teams have a couple of arms they trust, especially in leverage situations. The Tigers do not.
Stats were taken prior to play on June 4.
Proven Arms Falling Flat
Detroit’s first significant move of the offseason was signing signing 38 year-old Kenley Jansen. A 16-year veteran who had saved 476 games in his career but had started to show signs of age. Even at the time of Jansen’s signing it felt like a risky deal, but Detroit has shown a tendency to go with an older player in exchange for a shorter-term deal.
Although Jansen has only appeared in 18 games, the signing is feeling like a failure. The strikeout stuff is still there, but his 4.80 ERA and 5.82 FIP are a result of brutal blown saves. Of his 18 appearances, Jansen has only allowed runs in four games. However, all resulted in blown saves.
It’s four gut-wrenching home runs, including two in back-to-back appearances and his most recent one coming in a terrible appearance in Baltimore.
Between the back-to-back walk-offs and the Baltimore blowup, Jansen had gone six straight appearances without allowing a hit and striking out 10 across six innings, but that’s not what we remember. We all remember the walk-offs. Fair or not, that’s the nature of being a relief pitcher.
I would find it hard to trust Jansen the rest of the season. An injury at the end of May has landed him on the IL, and who knows what you will get once he returns. Luckily, the Tigers have two other relievers who closed out games last season to lean on, right? Well, not exactly.
Kyle Finnegan and Will Vest have not been nearly as reliable as years past. Finnegan, who was brought back on a two-year deal, was known for his consistency but has not found it in 2026. His strikeout numbers have taken a nose dive from around 8.5 K/9 in the past to 5.14 K/9 this season. At the same time his BB/9 has jumped from 2.84 last season to 6.11 this year.
Sure, a 1.93 ERA looks good on paper, but it does not tell the full story. A 4.28 xERA and 4.92 FIP are much more indicative of how Finnegan has pitched. Bottom line, a pitcher walking more batters than he strikes out is never going to pan out well over the course of the season.
Lastly, you have Vest. Of the three, Vest is the one I personally have the most confidence in but I wouldn’t say I quite trust him right now.
Vest has had a five-run outing and a three-run outing, which ballooned his ERA to 7.23. But the expected numbers look better. A 3.37 xERA and 3.47 FIP help calm the nerves but don’t erase what has actually happened.
These three arms were looked at as the Tigers’ main leverage pieces out of the bullpen. Proven veterans who manager A.J. Hinch could go to at any point and count on them to get crucial outs and convert close games to win. So far, that simply has not been the case.
Can they recover and finish strong? Of course, we have seen a lot more good years than bad years from each of them. But a reason the Tigers are in the hole they are in is partly due to their failures.
Others Not Stepping Up
Okay, so your top three arms have not performed as expected, but how about the other five? The guys shuffling up and down from Triple-A? Burch Smith, at 36, randomly looked like a good find before he landed on the IL. Ricky Vanasco and Connor Seabold were given a chance but now are each off the roster.
Detroit has needed someone to emerge from obscurity and surprise us. We see this happen with teams all the time. Look at the Rays or the Brewers. It has become a tradition as scheduled as Christmas or New Years, yet the Tigers have not been able to hit that lottery. Heck, they haven’t even lucked into a $20 scratch off.
Drew Anderson, who was brough over from the KBO, had a rocky start to the season before settling into a groove and gaining my trust as a reliable option. As soon as I thought he found something, he puts together back-to-back appearances where he blew the lead and the Tigers lost. The strikeout stuff is real and his 3.66 FIP is promising, but the trust is not yet there.
How about Tyler Holton? Last season was not as good as the two prior, but a low-2.00s ERA is a high standard. The lefty has surrendered too much hard contact this season, and his elite command has taken a slight step back. That’s not the combination the Tigers have needed.
Finding a reliable lefty has been a struggle, and the one they have, Brant Hurter, is currently on the IL.
I could walk through the other names like Enmanuel De Jesus, Brenan Hanifee, Beau Brieske, and others, but you and I have both seen that movie before. You either don’t trust them or the team has told us they don’t trust them. They’re fine depth pieces but I don’t think any of them will be turn into leverage arms for this season.
So, where do the Tigers go from here?
Tarik Skubal, Justin Verlander, Casey Mize, and eventually Jackson Jobe are all set to return, and the ripple effect could push starters like Jack Flaherty, Keider Montero, and/or Troy Melton to the bullpen. Although Melton and Montero have done more than enough to stay in the rotation, it’s the reality of what’s to come.
Either way, more big-league-caliber arms will be joining the mix. How it all shakes out is still to be determined, but the Tigers need more options. Luckily, they are on the way.
Final Thoughts
For the most part, we are talking about sample sizes that are anywhere from 15-30 innings. That’s hardly enough to draw any sweeping conclusions, but it’s enough to cost the Tigers a number of games. While there’s plenty of time to figure out if any of these arms can be trusted, I’m worried if enough — or any — will actually get to that point.
A combination of average swing-and-miss arms with average-to-below-average walk rates doesn’t scream breakout candidates. I’d love to be wrong, but ask yourself this: Who do you want pitching in the ninth inning of a one-run game? The variance in answers will tell you enough.
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