Coming into the MLB Trade Deadline, Detroit’s bullpen was struggling and much maligned, for good reason. Nobody outside of Will Vest had been a consistent, positive presence throughout the season, and their overall inconsistency meant the unit never really clicked all at once. It felt like as soon as Tyler Holton started piecing things together, Tommy Kahnle forgot gave up home runs in bunches or Brant Hurter lost the zone entirely, and the stats bear that out.

At the time of the deadline, Detroit ranked 19th in ERA and 20th in FIP among all relief units. Their measly 12% K-BB% ranked 22nd. Thanks to Vest’s strong season, they did rank well in Win Probability Added (13th) and Blown Saves (24th, where lower is better), but one man, a unit does not make. Thankfully, Scott Harris took note,

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