Detroit — Andrew Chafin and Michael Fulmer had neighboring lockers in the visitors’ clubhouse in Kansas City and, as you might expect with these two straight-shooting veteran relievers, the banter was strong.
Both are having All-Star-worthy seasons and neither, not for a second, thought they’d get selected to participate.
Fulmer: “All-Star Games, people want to see guys with swing-and-miss stuff.”
Chafin: “Hey, I’ve got more punches (strikeouts) this year than usual (33 in 27.1 innings). People want to see me punching guys out with 80-mph sliders, don’t they?”
Fulmer: “It’s a showcase, right? Fans want to see 100-mph stuff and strikeouts. Most of the time, that’s closers.”
Chafin: “They want to see flashy guys with blue hair. Not bald old men.”
Fulmer: “Thanks a lot, Chafe.”
There is truth to what they said, though. The All-Star Game is a showcase, and All-Star Game bullpens are primarily made up of top-of-the-rotation starting pitchers and wipeout closers — like blue-haired, 100-mph firing Tigers closer Gregory Soto.
“You’ve got to think of it this way, too, closers usually have the best stuff,” Fulmer said. “And obviously, we have a damn good one here. That’s just kind of the way it is.”
But there is truth to this, too: In terms of recognition and often financial compensation, setup relievers like Chafin and Fulmer are vastly undervalued, except by their own managers and teammates. You might think in an age where starting pitchers across the industry are averaging less than six innings per start and teams are relying on relievers to cover three and four innings per game, that the price for quality non-closers would be going up.
Not necessarily. Of the 13 relievers making $10 million or more this season (not counting David Price, who earned his salary as a starting pitcher), 12 are or were closers. Chafin is a bit of an outlier for middle relievers, getting a multi-year deal worth $13 million from the Tigers.
Chafin: “I mean, $6.5 (per year) is a good number. But good luck trying to get a multi-year deal, especially as a 32-year-old.”
Fulmer: “It’s because your personality is so well-liked around the league (laughter).”
Chafin: “Yeah, that’s what it is. I’ve got to level out all the IT (analytics) bull(crap) they’re bringing into it.”
Fulmer: “Just a great clubhouse guy, El Hefe.”
Chafin: “Aw, hell. I still don’t know how I feel about being called El Hefe.”
Chafin, entering play Thursday night, had pitched in 32 games with 11 holds, allowing just one of 15 inherited runners to score. Opponents were slashing .184/.250/.245 against him. He’s also posted a save in his only opportunity.
Fulmer, entering play Thursday, has 34 appearances, 16 holds and has allowed one of 12 inherited runners to score. Opponents were slashing .157/.272/.217 against him and he’s 2-for-2 in save opportunities.
Question: Shouldn’t holds and saves be similarly valued?
Fulmer: “Honestly, the key to having a good all-around bullpen is having the pieces to get to the closer. That’s a big thing.”
Chafin: “If we don’t do our job, they can’t get saves. But also, you can’t give everybody the same credit in the bullpen as the closer because there’s not that much credit to go around. And nobody likes relievers anyways. Let’s be honest, the only time we ever get talked about is when we (mess) up. It is what it is. I’ve been a middle-relief guy for years. I can deal with it.”
Fulmer: “It’s part of the job. Everybody wants to close out games and be that guy. But if you don’t have Soto’s stuff, it’s tough. We trust Soto on this team and I’m sure every team trusts their closer.”
Chafin: “But if you think about it, I would say six to seven out of 10 times, the setup man faces the heart of the order more than the closer.”
Go back to the Tigers’ win in Kansas City Tuesday night. Chafin pitched a lock-down seventh inning after the Tigers had taken the lead and Fulmer was hastily summoned in the eighth after the Royals jumped Joe Jimenez and got the last two outs with the tying run at the plate.
That set up Soto to close it out and earn his 18th save.
All eight of those outs were vital.
“I would think we probably over-credit the last three outs and under-credit outs along the way,” said manager AJ Hinch, who resisted naming a closer for most of last year just to emphasize role flexibility. “I’m not sure Michael Fulmer’s outing wasn’t equally, if not more important, than those last three outs. And that’s not a knock on Soto at all.
“It’s just that everybody has to pitch well to get to the finish line.”
Hinch doesn’t think the economics of baseball will ever allow for middle relievers and setup men to be paid like closers. But he wishes they would. It would sure help support his yearly message that every player on the roster is important, regardless of role.
“When we bring guys into the office and I’m like, ‘Don’t worry about your role,’ and then we reward and financially incentivize the opposite, it’s hard,” he said. “Alex Lange has been put in equally as many rough situations as Gregory Soto. But Gregory Soto piles up the saves and gets to go to the All-Star Game.
“Listen, I think Gregory should be an All-Star, but I also think Alex and Fulmer are two guys that get it held against them and don’t get the credit they deserve.”
Utility players are in the same boat.
“I’m not saying Soto doesn’t deserve to be an All-Star; I don’t want to come across like that,” Hinch said. “But when you are utilizing your team, there are guys sprinkled through, like I heard (Mets manager) Buck Showalter talk about utility infielders — that’s a real job, versatile utility player. I think (the Royals’) Whitt Merrifield is a good example. Like, where he plays and what he does is valued more than what the scoreboard said.”
Understand that Fulmer, Chafin, Lange, none of these players are complaining about their roles. They are all paid handsomely to play a game they love.
“Yeah, I like my job,” Fulmer said. “My job is to get it to the ninth with a lead.”
Still, a little more love and respect for the hold stat would be welcomed.
Fulmer: “Until they start looking more at holds as a premium number. Holds are like saves — let’s be honest.”
Chafin: “A hold is just as important as a save. If there’s no hold, there’s no save.”
Fulmer: “If it’s a one-run ballgame in the seventh inning and you give up a run, you get a blown save, right? Yet we don’t get the same credit for a hold as a save.”
Chafin: “They always use everything against pitchers as much as they can. They want to pay us as little as possible.”
Fulmer: “Until you start treating holds as saves, you’re not going to get paid like the closers do.”
Tigers at Guardians
First pitch: 7:10, Progressive Field, Cleveland
TV/radio: BSD/97.1.
Scouting report
RHP Drew Hutchison (1-4, 4.08), Tigers: In two starts since being brought back for a third time this season, he’s allowed just three earned runs in 11 innings, and just one walk, against the Guardians and White Sox. He beat the Guardians on July 5 at Comerica Park, deftly mixing four-seamers and sliders, with the occasional two-seamer.
RHP Zach Plesac (2-7, 3.99), Guardians: The Tigers got to him for just two runs over six innings back on July 4, though they hit him hard. Of the 20 balls put in play (six hits, two each by Willi Castro and Jonathan Schoop), the average exit velocity was 92.6 mph. They did most of the damage on his four-seam. He also got 10 swings and misses, six with his slider.
Twitter: @cmccosky