All of the definite relievers and some of the possibles are listed in the table below. The table is color coded. Every pitcher projected to fall in the top 30 percent of the league’s starters for ERA is coded in blue. Every plitcher projected to fall in the bottom 30% is coded in red. The middle 40% are in black. Relievers are probably the hardest players to project as they don't pitch a lot of inings and have so much variation from year to year. So take all of this with a grain of salt.
Joel Zumaya is expected to have a blue ink ERA (3.39) with a healthy number of innings pitched (82). Todd Jones (3.96) and Fernando Rodney (3.85) do not project to fall in the top 30% but are expected be better than league average. I'm not so sure about Jones but I said the same thing last year and he was a surprise to many of us.
Jose Mesa (4.78) and Steve Grilli (5.02) both have red ink ERAs so there might be a little problem with depth. Wilfredo Ledezma and Zach Minor should help out there as they will hopefully not be needed as starters (see the link above for starting pitcher projections). Rule 5 acquisition Ed Campusano also has a fairly good ERA projection (4.09).
Overall, the Tigers 2007 relievers look ok but not as good as the starters which probably does not surprise too many people.
Table: Projections for Tigers Relievers in 2007
Pitcher | IP | ERA |
Jones | 63 | 3.96 |
Zumaya | 82 | 3.39 |
Rodney | 62 | 3.85 |
| 66 | 4.78 |
Grilli | 71 | 5.02 |
Campusano | 52 | 4.09 |
| 83 | 4.55 |
Seay | 43 | 4.52 |
Tata | 108 | 5.05 |
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