The Tigers’ trade deadline silence grows louder with every blown lead

Before getting into the Tigers’ bullpen, Pittsburgh deserves some credit.

Watching this series live as a fan reminded me why PNC Park is considered one of the best places in baseball to see a game. The view of downtown Pittsburgh beyond the Allegheny River is tremendous, the sightlines are excellent and the entire ballpark has a comfortable atmosphere that keeps the focus on the game. Pirates fans were welcoming, and it is absolutely a place I would visit again.

The walk across the Roberto Clemente bridge at night, knowing the history that occurred here, as someone who has read and researched a lot of baseball, it was just a great feeling that I cant put into more words.

Unfortunately, the Tigers gave them quite a finish Wednesday afternoon.

Jackson Jobe allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings, and Detroit carried a 3-2 lead into the ninth. Kenley Jansen then surrendered solo home runs to Rafael Flores Jr. and Brandon Lowe, turning a potential series victory into a 4-3 walk-off loss.

From my seat, the ending felt like the entire Tigers season compressed into one inning. A young starter did his job, the offense created a late lead and the bullpen failed to finish it.

The Detroit Tigers did not need another reminder that their bullpen was their greatest weakness. They had several months of evidence before the trade deadline.

They received another one Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

Jackson Jobe allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings, and Detroit carried a 3-2 lead into the ninth. Kenley Jansen then surrendered solo home runs to Rafael Flores Jr. and Brandon Lowe, turning a potential series victory into a 4-3 walk-off loss. It was Jansen’s fifth blown save and Detroit’s 19th loss in a game it led in the seventh inning or later. He has been walked off now four times. 

At this point, the Tigers’ decision not to acquire a reliever at the trade deadline is no longer a minor footnote. It is loud. It is awkward. It hangs over every late lead the way a storm cloud hangs over a summer afternoon. 

Detroit entered Wednesday with 27 blown saves, second only to Washington. Jansen’s failure raised the total to 28. The Tigers also have just 26 successful saves, meaning they have converted slightly more than 48% of their combined save chances. The rankings on the surface, lists Detroit with a 3.78 bullpen ERA, 26 saves and a 1.30 WHIP.

That ERA is the part that can make this discussion complicated. Detroit’s bullpen does not have one of the worst ERAs in baseball. In fact, its 3.78 mark ranks eighth. This has not been a group getting pounded every night in low-leverage situations.

It has been a group failing at the worst possible times.

A blown save also does not automatically mean a closer lost a lead in the ninth. A reliever can be charged with one earlier in a game, and a team can record multiple blown saves in the same game. That is why the 19 losses after leading in the seventh inning or later might be the more revealing number. Those are 19 games Detroit had within reach and still failed to finish. But the Pirates bullpen acquisition of Luke Weaver at the deadline really help. Mason Montogomery, yeah, also came via trade and both have helped huge for Pittsburgh. 

The Tigers are 61-66 with a plus-82 run differential. According to the MLB standings, their expected record based on runs scored and allowed is 72-55.

Detroit has played like a 72-win team by run differential but has only 61 victories. The bullpen is not responsible for that entire 11-game difference. The offense has failed to add insurance runs, the rotation has been shortened by injuries and there have been defensive mistakes that helped create some of these losses.

The recent White Sox series was a good example. Detroit’s starters combined to cover just 13 innings in three games while allowing 12 runs. That forced the bullpen to cover 14 innings in three days. The offense also went 5-for-22 with runners in scoring position. Those were complete team losses, even when the bullpen delivered the final blow.

Still, a team does not lose 19 games after holding a lead in the seventh inning without having a serious late-inning problem.

Kyle Finnegan leads the majors with eight blown saves. Drew Anderson has six. Jansen and the injured Will Vest have five apiece. According to the blown-save leaderboard, four Tigers account for 24 of the team’s 28 blown saves.

Finnegan has a respectable 3.27 ERA, but he has allowed eight home runs, walked 31 and struck out only 40 over 52 1/3 innings. Earlier this week, Detroit’s bullpen breakdown had his fielding independent pitching at 5.34, compared with a 3.33 ERA. Jacob Waguespack had an even larger warning sign, with a 1.67 ERA but a 4.93 FIP. Jansen carried a 4.48 FIP even before allowing the two homers Wednesday. Inside the Pen ranked the Tigers’ bullpen 22nd in its overall power ranking despite the solid team ERA. ERA doesnt paint the picture like it once did. 

That is what the traditional ERA fails to capture. Several Detroit relievers have prevented enough runs to keep their individual numbers respectable, but the underlying strikeout, walk and home run numbers do not inspire much confidence when the margin is one run.

Wednesday was Jansen’s fourth walk-off home run allowed this season. The others came against Nathaniel Lowe in Cincinnati, Matt Olson in Atlanta and Colton Cowser in Baltimore. That is an extraordinary number for a pitcher signed specifically to stabilize the ninth inning.

Scott Harris was direct after the deadline. He said the Tigers had not played well enough over the first 112 games to justify trading a significant part of their future for immediate help.

“I don’t think that we played well enough,” Harris said. “I don’t think I did enough for this organization to justify trading a significant part of our future for the present.” MLB.com reported that Detroit’s blown loss in Skubal’s final start helped push Harris toward selling.

That position was understandable. The returns for Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize potentially improved the Tigers’ long-term outlook, and relievers can be volatile. Trading a legitimate prospect for two months of an uncertain bullpen arm is not automatically good roster management.

But the Tigers were only 2 1/2 games out of a wild-card position when the deadline passed. Harris also insisted the team was not raising the white flag and was talented enough to “flip the script.” Detroit is now only 1 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot despite losing two starting pitchers and continuing to give away late leads.

That is where the decision becomes awkward.

If the Tigers still believed the playoffs were possible, they did not need to acquire an elite closer at an elite price. They needed one more reliever capable of missing bats, limiting walks and reducing the number of innings Hinch had to funnel through Finnegan, Jansen and a collection of inconsistent options.

Teams can sell expensive pending free agents while still acquiring a controllable reliever or a less costly rental. It would have been unusual, but so was trading two starters and then saying the remaining roster could still make the postseason.

Detroit chose not to thread that needle. Now every blown lead becomes part of the cost of that decision.

The organization’s internal response might already be visible in Toledo.

Left-hander Andrew Sears was promoted from Erie to Toledo on Aug. 9. He has a 2.16 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 67 strikeouts over 58 1/3 innings this season. In his latest outing, Sears took over in the second inning and delivered five hitless innings with seven strikeouts, two walks and 16 swinging strikes. His mid-90s sinker produced 10 whiffs, and his improving changeup also generated misses. 

Sears should still receive an opportunity to start long term, but his combination of velocity, deception and a developing third pitch could also translate quickly into a multi-inning bullpen role. The Tigers would not necessarily have to treat him like a traditional one-inning reliever. He could cover the fifth through seventh innings when a starter exits early and help keep the higher-leverage options from being overworked.

Right-hander Hayden Minton’s promotion is even more interesting.

The Tigers moved Minton from Erie to Toledo on Aug. 18 and shifted him into relief, at least temporarily. He responded with a scoreless inning in his Triple-A debut and reached 95.5 mph with his fastball. Minton had a 3.54 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 90 strikeouts over 86 1/3 innings between West Michigan and Erie before his promotion.

Minton previously projected as a depth starter because of his command and broad pitch mix rather than overwhelming velocity. Shorter appearances could allow him to sit in the mid-90s more consistently and lean on his running fastball, cutter and curveball. That does not make him an immediate ninth-inning answer, but it gives the Tigers another potential bullpen profile to evaluate.

The timing is difficult to ignore. Sears has rapidly climbed to Triple-A and is being used in a piggyback role. Minton was promoted and immediately placed in the bullpen. Detroit declined to purchase outside help, so it is now searching for it internally.

Neither pitcher is currently on the 40-man roster, meaning Detroit would have to open a spot before promoting either one. September roster expansion also provides less flexibility than it once did. MLB teams expand from 26 to only 28 active players on Sept. 1, with a maximum of 14 pitchers. 

Sears appears closer to helping right now. Minton feels more like an evaluation for later in September or 2027. Neither should be expected to rescue the bullpen alone. 

The Tigers had months to identify this weakness. They entered the deadline with a realistic, if imperfect, opportunity to remain in the race. They chose not to add even one established reliever, then watched their young core pull them closer to a postseason position anyway.

Now they may have to accelerate two developing pitchers and ask them to solve a problem that was already obvious before Aug. 3.

Twenty-eight blown saves are no longer bad luck or a small-sample oddity. Nineteen losses after leading in the seventh inning or later are not something a contending team can dismiss. The bullpen has become the story of the Tigers’ season, and every late collapse makes the silence from the trade deadline a little louder.