Bless You Boys Podcast 78: The best worst team in baseball

It's Kurt, Allison and Al on this week's Bless You Boys Podcast, discussing the end of Jose Valverde, old-school fireman Drew Smyly and apparently no one being happy with a team holding a four-game division lead in June.

By Al Beaton Jun 25, 2013, 6:00am EDT

BYB Podcast 78 has a running time of 62 minutes and features Kurt Mensching, Allison Hagen and Al Beaton.

Topics:

The Tigers must be the best worst team in baseball. They are ten games over .500 and have a four-game lead in the Central. Yet no one, fans or media, seem to be very happy with the performance of the Tigers. What the hell?

Jose Valverde was designated for assignment, but may get the Don Kelly treatment from the Tigers and report to Triple-A Toledo.

Will the Tigers trade for a closer?

Is an established closer worth the high price in players and/or contract?

Would the Tigers be better served to look for set-up men rather than a closer at the trade deadline?

Why on earth hasn't Bruce Rondon been called up?

Finally being used in high leverage situations, Drew Smyly has taken on an old-school fireman role, today's version of Aurelio Lopez in 1984.

Is Smyly's future still in the rotation?

Max Scherzer is having an amazing year, likely pricing his next contract out of the Tigers' range. Do you allow Scherzer to walk in free agency and collect a first-round draft pick, trade him in the coming off-season while his value will never be higher and plug several holes, or bite the bullet and re-sign him to a deal which may be on the bad side of $100 million?

Should Scherzer start the All-Star Game?

Pitching coach Jeff Jones thinks Justin Verlander just needs more tweaking; he's not irreparably broken.

Notice how when the positives of this team were listed, the bullpen wasn't mentioned? Is this the crew we'll see up until the trade deadline?

Jim Leyland loses trust in relievers who issue walks. So why was Al Alburquerque recalled when it appears nothing has changed?

Jered Weaver pitches against the Tigers in Detroit for the first time since he threw at Alex Avila's head in 2011. It'll be played up by the fans and media as a huge deal, even though the main characters in the story are no longer Tigers and both teams have long ago moved on.

You're running out of time to get your tickets for the BYB Meetup on August 3.

The blackout window for the ridiculous regional coverage on FOX's Saturday Night Baseball is beyond fan-unfriendly. I want to cut the cord and give MLB.TV my money, but until baseball stops blacking out fans who live within home markets, I'm stuck with my expensive cable TV package. In my case, it's just so I can get FSD.

Kurt's Detroit News columns can be found by clicking here.

Click on Allison's payment details so you can join us at the BYB Meetup on August 3rd.

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