OT: Valverde or Joe Nathan

horse.  We need to shore that bullpen up fast.  Plus our high paid starters need to go longer than 6 innings.  Really.

I think I would rather have Todd Jones back from the grave at this point

as far as a half-year rental goes, i would trade for soria for a couple prospects.  he could be nathan's set up man again!!!

that said, i wouldn't give up on nathan yet.  he hasn't lost his stuff.  he was hitting 93 mph yesterday with movement.  for some reason, he just can't control his fastball.  in the past, he would pound that sinker low in the zone and get ahead of the hitter.  now, it's all over the place.  then he falls behind and either walks the guy or groves one.  it's fixable.  hopefully, it can be fixed by the time the post season comes around.

some of you folks need to look at the back of his baseball card.  you don't give up on a guy after 30 innings when he's been about the best closer around for the past 10-12 years.

also, smyly will bolster the bullpen too come playoff time.  he is death to left handed batters.

Man, never thought I'd yearn for the Rodney days...

I choose death.

Valverde actually had good seasons with the tigers. So it's not close. I know he had his struggles. They need a left handed stick and 1-2 arms. Remember Smyly will also be in the pen for the postseason.

They both blow.

Just read through this thread. Didn't think there was this many MGoTigers fans that were MLIVE crazy. Why the hell would we give up Victor for Soria, when he could be had for prospects and I especially don't understand why the heck people want to trade Max in a pennant race.

I just hope that Dave D. does indeed have a plan because I have very little faith in Nathan at this point. Playoff games will be hard to watch. When he throws now, I'm just sitting there waiting for the shit to hit the fan and it usually does. The bad part is his contract and I think maybe that has alot to do with his long leash.

... And he's not going anywhere unless we eat his contract - he's got just under 1.5 years at $10M each, I think? - so the Tigers are pretty much up the creek. Especially when the long term is Verlander's deal looking worse by the start. The bright side is that they can still win this year, but it will require throwing good money after bad - either we give up the next cheap young talent to replace our aging players, or we take on some outlandish contract to get a real player. I imagine that taking Carl Crawford's contract would be a huge incentive to the Dodgers, for example. I have faith in DD to gauge the market and get the best deal. I don't have faith that the deal will help a lot, because pitching is volatile and the pitchers we can get won't be that good without overpaying. Hindsight is 20-20, but we'd all probably feel better if we had let Rondon/Albuquerque blow some early season games to give them the chance to grow into the roles than be stuck with Nathan and the giant fork sticking out of him. Alternatively, if we bring up our best minor league pitcher and ask him to throw gas for an inning every three days, that might be better than trading him away for a veteran who won't really be that much better.

Edited because while I was ambivalent, I didn't need to say it twice.

I think even 2013 "I stink so much you're going to release me" Valverde might be better than 2014 Nathan. 

Valverde 2013 for Detroit 5.59 ERA, 1.241 WHIP, 3.17 K/BB

Nathan 2014: 6.06 ERA, 1.54 WHP, 2.38 K/BB

 

Valverde's WHIP was significantly better.  However he was giving up a huge number of home runs.  Nathan has only give up 5 home runs all year.  Valverde had already given up 6 home runs in 19 innings, after giving up 8 home runs in all of 2012 and 2013 combined. 

Nathan's problem this year isn't home runs.  It's that he can't seem to ever get anyone out.