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    • Are the Detroit Tigers no longer throwing havoc? The 2025 plan provides for a normal rotation
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    Are the Detroit Tigers no longer throwing havoc? The 2025 plan provides for a normal rotation

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    The Detroit Tigers adopted their bulk opener launch strategy during the summer of 2024 of necessity after traded Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the July 30 trade deadlineleaving them with just two starters in the rotation.

    He was one of MLB’s Biggest Success Stories.

    Heavy-bulk opening strategy – thought up by the president of baseball operations Scott Harris — became recognized as “fiery chaos” in the postseason. Without Harris’ plan, the Tigers may not have won enough games in the final two months of the regular season to make the playoffs.

    HIS PLAN: What Scott Harris showed as the Tigers’ decision-maker to win the 2024 trade deadline

    “I think the line between starter and reliever is blurring,” Harris said Nov. 5 at the San Antonio general manager meetings. “We didn’t have traditional starters starting our games, but we had a pitcher come in and replicate the starting workload. The philosophy behind it is that we felt like we could get better games without putting pressure on extra on the bullpen”.

    The Tigers, however, won’t bring back the open-cut bulk strategy in 2025, at least not until they need to. The Tigers project a regular five-man rotation coming out of spring training, led by the ace Tarik Skubal.

    Here’s why it matters: Any free-agent starting pitcher interested in signing with the Tigers shouldn’t have to worry about being forced to take massive innings out of the bullpen for strategic reasons.

    “As long as you’re getting length at some point in the game for a subset of the available nine innings, you’re not adding any more tension,” Harris said. “You just sequence it differently. Actually, I don’t think it’s that hard to repeat. I’m not saying we’ll do it again. But I don’t think we’re putting unnecessary pressure on our taurpen. We just sequentially different.”

    MORE ABOUT HIM: How Tigers’ pitching strategy from Scott Harris, AJ Hinch results in wins

    The opener/relief scheme was far from a guaranteed win – the Tigers were 12-11 in 23 games when they used the pitching strategy invented by Harris after trading four veteran players in exchange for seven prospects at the trade deadline. Indeed, they had a 22-8 record in their remaining 30 games, including a 7-3 record in Skubal’s starts. But it wasn’t a guaranteed loss, as it seemed so many days in the baseball tournament.

    Tigers starters posted a 2.05 ERA with 23 walks (15.8% walk rate) and 36 strikeouts (24.7% strikeout rate) in 30⅔ innings; Loose relievers posted a 3.65 ERA with 23 walks (5.5% walk rate) and 89 strikeouts (21.2% strikeout rate) in 103⅔ innings.

    “I don’t think it’s going to be hard to replicate what we did last year if we choose to go with that non-traditional pitching strategy,” Harris said. “I don’t think we’re going to do that. We should always adjust our strategy to the personnel we have, but I don’t think that puts any extra pressure on our pitching staff. I think you can make the playoffs do it all season long if you want to.”

    Playoffs: It’s Tarik Skubal in Game 1. Then AJ Hinch Plans to Unleash ‘Pitching Chaos’ on Astros

    August and September openings take place: I drink Brieske, Tyler Holton, Alex Faedo and Brennan Hanifee. Bulk foods: Brant Hurter, Bryan Sammons, Ty Madden and Kenta Maeda.

    Aside from Maeda, Hurter and Madden — the Tigers’ 2021 selections who made their MLB debuts in 2024 — have the most long-term upside as starters, as the Tigers plan to use the duo in 2025.

    “We’re going to be a lot more open-minded to giving them traditional starter roles going forward,” Harris said, “but we’re always going to try to find the strategy that helps us win the most games. be that non-traditional approach in the second half and it can be something different next year.”

    Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.

    Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Roaring Days” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And watch all our podcasts and daily voice briefings at freep.com/podcasts.

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