The 26-year-old right hander had an impressive rookie year for the Tigers posting a 1.87 ERA and a 3.2 Shutdown to Meltdown Ratio. He also led the American League by striking out an amazing 13.9 batters per nine innings.
This is a blow to the Tigers bullpen but it's not surprising giving Alburquerque's injury history and penchant for sliders. It also probably explains why the Tigers made it a priority to acquire veteran Octavio Dotel. While I thought it was a good move regardless of Al's status, it seemed a bit out of character for the Tigers to be adding so much bullpen depth. In the past, they have generally been more reliant on rookies.
As it stands now, the bullpen looks like this:
Jose Valverde
Joaquin Benoit
Octavio Dotel
Phil Coke
Daniel Schlereth
Collin Balester
David Pauley
Balester and especially Pauley will not be guaranteed spots though. They'll get competition from a number of youngsters in spring training.
Collin Balester
David Pauley
Balester and especially Pauley will not be guaranteed spots though. They'll get competition from a number of youngsters in spring training.
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