Kenta Maeda

It will be interesting to see if the Tigers give Maeda more responsibility as a reliever this year than they did last season, when he was effective but almost always a low-leverage guy after losing his rotation spot. He might work out nicely as a setup man if given the chance.

The Tigers informed Kenta Maeda that he’ll open the season in the bullpen, manager A.J. Hinch announced on Friday (relayed by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic). That takes the veteran righty out of the competition for the final two rotation spots behind Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Reese Olson. Maeda is entering the second season of a two-year, $24MM…

That's one less arm standing in the way of top prospect Jackson Jobe cracking the Opening Day rotation, though he'll still need to beat out Keider Montero for that final spot. Maeda has registered a 5.68 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and an impressive 19/1 K/BB ratio over 12 2/3 innings in Grapefruit League action this spring. It seems like his days of fantasy relevancy are likely over.

The Tigers informed Kenta Maeda that he’ll open the season in the bullpen, manager A.J. Hinch announced on Friday (relayed by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic). That takes the veteran righty out of the competition for the final two rotation spots behind Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Reese Olson. Maeda is entering the second season of a two-year, $24MM…

All three runs came on homers from Jasson Dominguez and Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth. While Jobe gave up just one other hit, eight of the 11 balls in play against him were hit hard, and he generated only three missed swings on the day. He probably needs to thoroughly outpitch Kenta Maeda to convince the Tigers to take him north, and it's not happening right now.