The Detroit Tigers are fighting for their postseason lives, but they may have a considerable secret bullpen weapon if they make it that far.
CBSSports.com speculated that the Tigers would seriously consider moving starter Justin Verlander to the bullpen for the postseason, perhaps even in a closer's role.
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Verlander, who has been sidelined recently with a shoulder injury, is expected to return to the lineup on Saturday against the Minnesota Twins.
But Verlander is struggling this season in general. He is 10-11 with a 4.76 earned-run average, which is worst among the Tigers starters.
Verlander never has made a relief appearance, but that doesn't make the idea unthinkable.
"A lot of things would have to line up for the Tigers to move Verlander to the pen for the playoffs, but some rivals don't believe it's so farfetched, citing another previous Cy Young winner, Tim Lincecum, who made the switch for the 2012 World Series, with glorious results," CBSSports.com reported. "Dennis Eckersley and John Smoltz were other stars that converted seamlessly to a closing role for much longer periods, bringing excellent results (in Eckersley's case, even better results than what he produced as a starter)."
When asked about the possibility, Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said his focus was on the present, but didn't laugh at the suggestion.
"There's no question you can't pitch five starters in the postseason. But that's a story for another day -- if we are fortunate enough to make it," Dombrowski said in a phone interview earlier this week to CBSSports.com. "We haven't even talked about the postseason ... we're just trying to make the postseason."
Detroit's bullpen has been one of its bigger issues this season. Current closer Joe Nathan has blown six save chances in 32 attempts and has a whopping, 5.28 ERA.
The interesting part of the scenario is that Verlander might have to continue to struggle as a starter for the Tigers to consider the move. But by then, Verlander's health issues could be behind him.
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