K-Rod Kicked To Curb, Rondon Next Up to Try and Make Bullpen Bearable

Losers of six straight and on a current 3-11 stretch over the last two weeks the Tigers are making moves to try and right the ship, or at the very least get new blood in the lineup.

Either way, the team cut ties with former closer Francisco Rodriguez by releasing him today and called up Bruce Rondon from Triple-A Toledo ahead of the team's three game set with the San Diego Padres.

Rodriguez had been struggling all season with a 7.82 ERA and WHIP of 1.66 in 28 appearances this year. While he was the closer he barely converted over 50% of his save opportunities. His final outing in a Tigers uniform saw him give up a grand slam to Robinson Cano as the Tigers lost four in a row in Seattle.

Rondon meanwhile will look to do better in his second stint in the major this year. After just three appearances in the majors early this season Detroit sent Rondon down after amassing a 40.50 ERA and a WHIP of 5.25. Rondon only recorded four outs in those three appearances.

Rondon's minor league numbers do him more justice, in 28 appearances with Toledo his ERA is 3.04 in 26.2 innings of work. His WHIP his still rather high at 1.8 and despite being a fireball reliever his K/BB ratio is under 2 with Toledo.

This unfortunately is the state of the Tigers right now. They have to toss out one bullpen arm who could not consistently hit 90 with his fastball for an arm who is capable of hitting triple digits but is very inconsistent.

In other Tigers news, Detroit also put outfielder Alex Presley on the 7-day Concussion DL.

The Tigers are currently in last place in the AL Central at 32-40 and finish their west coast trip with three interleague games against the San Diego Padres who aren't faring much better than Detroit at 29-44.