Finnegan

[Roger King]

MLB lists the best trade deadline acquisitions. No surprise Finnegan is on the list. Some numbers below:

6. Kyle Finnegan, Tigers
This list has just one relief pitcher on it, though a handful are worthy of it. The top bullpen arms traded at the Deadline -- Mason Miller, Jhoan Duran, Tyler Rogers -- have been stellar. Finnegan, however, has been spotless. After registering a 4.38 ERA across 39 innings with the Nationals, Finnegan has thrown 13 1/3 scoreless innings with Detroit. That has included three hits, three walks, 18 strikeouts and four saves in as many chances. He's a leading reason why the Tigers' bullpen has the game's second-best ERA this month (2.92).

Finnegan's K rate has skyrocketed to 39.1%, by far the best in any month of his career. He has really leaned on his splitter, a pitch that he threw about 25-30 percent of the time over the previous few months. But with Detroit, Finnegan is throwing that pitch 51.4 percent of the time, and the results have been incredible: 1-for-25 with 16 strikeouts.

Roger King
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[Peter Welch]

It’s amazing why the Nationals coaching staff couldn’t figure out that Finnegan needed to throw more splitters.

It’s interesting that Fetter and the pitching braintrust can help some guys so quickly and others can’t be helped.  They tried really hard to help guys like Dietrich Enns and Carlos Hernandez earlier this season but gave up.  Some pitchers just can’t be helped. Pitching against major league hitters is hard.

It’s too bad Holton seems to have lost it this year.  He threw a lot of high-leverage innings the last 2 years and was one of the most relied-upon relievers in baseball.  Maybe just a bit fatigued this year.

Peter 

On Aug 31, 2025, at 9:05 AM, Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com> wrote:



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[Michael W]

Giving up a home run to Bobby Witt Jr. isn’t really an indication of “losing it.”  Holton has been ok this year.

Michael 

[Peter Welch]

Not nearly as reliable this year especially in higher-leverage situations.  He’s home run prone and righties are hitting him hard.  They have .511 SLG against him.

14 homers allowed in 65 innings is a high rate.

Should probably have walked or pitched around Witt, Jr. last night in the 8th.  The problem was Holton had walked the previous hitter.  Not good.

He’s lost the pinpoint command and location of his pitches he had the last 2 years, when he was arguably the best lefty reliever in MLB.  He doesn’t have “swing and miss” stuff so he needs to have good command and location.

Holton is ok coming in as a middle-innings reliever or maybe as an opener, but I don’t trust him in higher-leverage situations this year.  The Tigers are hurting for a lefty late-inning reliever who can miss bats. They don’t have one.

Peter 

On Aug 31, 2025, at 11:25 AM, Michael W <miw...@gmail.com> wrote:

Giving up a home run to Bobby Witt Jr. isn’t really an indication of “losing it.”  Holton has been ok this year.

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[Paul Meloche]

I wish Holton was still lights out too but he was basically found money. We had one of the best and most versatile relievers in baseball for two seasons at the cost of a waiver claim. I’ll take that.

And I agree that the homer to Witt wasn’t the problem as much as the walk to the previous hitter was. And admittedly Holton’s inability to miss bats. 

Paul M.

On Aug 31, 2025, at 8:43 AM, Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com> wrote:

 Not nearly as reliable this year especially in higher-leverage situations.  He’s home run prone and righties are hitting him hard.  They have .511 SLG against him.

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[Peter Welch]

But ultimately the loss last night was because the Tigers scored 1 run and not because of Holton. They had some chances but didn’t cash in, and they had some questionable baserunning.  Perez’s baserunning lately has been bad. They also had some bad luck on balls that were hit hard for outs.

Peter

On Aug 31, 2025, at 11:43 AM, Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com> wrote:

 Not nearly as reliable this year especially in higher-leverage situations.  He’s home run prone and righties are hitting him hard.  They have .511 SLG against him.

[Peter Welch]

Finnegan and Vest have been an excellent power reliever combination but the Tigers need one or two more good high-leverage relievers who can miss bats because Finnegan and Vest can’t pitch every game.  I don’t think Holton and Hanifee are that.   Hanifee gets groundballs but he’s not a strikeout guy.  He’s kind of like Foley was, although Foley could blow a 99/100-mph  fastball by some hitters occasionally.

Melton has swing-and-miss stuff and could be a good high-leverage guy but the Tigers seem to using him more as a middle reliever/setup guy.  I’d prefer Melton as a starter (because I think he’s better than Mize, Flaherty, Morton and Paddack) but he’s on an innings limit so is unlikely to start anymore this year unless someone gets injured.  Melton could see more higher-leverage innings as we head to the playoffs.

Bailey Horn is a power lefty but I don’t think he’s ready yet for high-leverage innings.  He’s too wild right now.

Lange and possibly Sewald could possibly help in higher-leverage innings in September and the playoffs.  Urquidy could also join the bullpen but he is more of a long reliever and spot starter.

Peter

On Aug 31, 2025, at 11:58 AM, Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com> wrote:

 I wish Holton was still lights out too but he was basically found money. We had one of the best and most versatile relievers in baseball for two seasons at the cost of a waiver claim. I’ll take that.