One thing I have to give Scott Harris credit for is that he’s very aware of the issues that plagued the Tigers down the stretch last year. He was more open in his end-of-the-season press conference, and I expected him to be. Obviously, the top priority is finding contact guys and limiting the strikeouts offensively. While we’d like to see the Tigers be more active in free agency, I do think that within this system are a large number of guys who will help push this offense to a point where it's more dangerous and effective in high-level situations. Still, one of the bigger issues is the bullpen.
There’s been some mutual interest in re-signing Kyle Finnegan, which I would be supportive of, but you need at least one more backend guy to feel good about this pen, assuming Finnegan does re-sign. The Tigers have been linked to Tampa Bay reliever Pete Fairbanks, and I’d be all for this. Fairbanks, in many ways, would be a quintessential Tigers reliever. He’s a good guy with great stuff and has just the right amount of psycho to be a piece in the back end of the Tigers bullpen. He’s been the Rays primary closer over the last several seasons, though he’s been used in multiple roles for most of his career and would be comfortable pitching any frame.
I would not call Pete Fairbanks a project. The guy is a very established major league reliever. He spent his career in Tampa Bay, an organization known for developing its pitching. His numbers were quite solid a year ago, though his peripherals indicate that he had some good luck, but Tampa Bay played 81 games last year in a minor-league ballpark where the ball was flying. Given how spacious Comerica Park is, I’m always inclined to believe that pitchers can have a lot more success in Detroit. If there’s any concern, it’s that Fairbanks' strikeout numbers, while still pretty solid, have dropped off quite a bit over the last two seasons. This was a pitcher who was near almost 13 strikeouts per nine innings in his first five seasons. Those totals dipped significantly to 8.8 strikeouts per nine over the last two years, though his command has seen improvement. His walk rate has gone down, and he’s seen more consistent strike throwing, even if the swing and miss haven’t been as prevalent.
Even with the dip and strikeouts, Fairbanks has A+ stuff, which makes me think that there’s an upside to his arsenal as a reliever that hopefully Chris Fetter and company can figure out a way to get the most out of. Fairbanks has had a few injury flare-ups throughout his career, though he did make a career high of 61 appearances last year for Tampa Bay. That’s an important thing to know. Tommy Kahnle, who hadn’t pitched more than 42.2 innings in five seasons, was the Tigers' bullpen signing during last year‘s offseason, and he saw a significant decline in the second half of the season when he was asked to pitch more innings than he had in years. Fairbanks is also four years younger than Kahnle was, and he comes with plenty of postseason experience. If you throw him in the mix with Vest and potentially Finnegan, you’re looking at a back end of the pen that could be legitimately dangerous. Hopefully, the days of A.J. Hinch having to cobble this thing together are over.