Well, no team ever really has too much pitching, but right now it looks like the Tigers have enough talent to build decent rotations in both Detroit and Toledo. There are still 4 legitimate candidates for the 5th starter spot, and none of them are making the decision easy on Jim Leyland. Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, Jason Grilli, and Roman Colon seem unwilling to surrender their shots at the position.

Justin Verlander

Justin Verlander started off the spring shaky, but has made improvement with each start. That improvement culminated in yesterday’s outing against the Dodgers. Granted, the team LA fielded was devoid of starters, but 4 scoreless innings with no walks and 3 strikeouts is still impressive. The Dodgers managed 3 hits, two of which were bloop singles.

Verlander certainly would be a sexy pick for the rotation. He has Rookie of the Year potential, and it is always exciting to see home grown talent excel. The argument against is that if there are other capable arms, why rush someone with only one year of pro experience.

Jason Grilli

Jason Grilli was probably the longest shot to make the rotation among the various candidates (not counting Wil Ledezma). However, an impressive showing in the World Baseball Classic, and equally impressive performances this spring have the Tigers buzzing. According to Ken Rosenthal, other clubs have taken notice as well…

Tigers right-hander Jason Grilli, who is out of options, almost certainly won’t clear waivers; scouts in Florida are impressed by the way he is throwing. Grilli, 29, could either win the fifth starter’s job or serve in the bullpen if the Tigers prefer to open with a younger starter such as Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya or Roman Colon …

Leyland also thinks enough of Grilli to have given him the start yesterday aganist the Dodgers. Grilli responded with 4 innings of scoreless ball of his own, striking out 4.

For more on Grilli, Tiger Tales has a nice write-up.

Joel Zumaya

Like Verlander, Zumaya also makes for an attractive option. He has the triple digit fastball and tremendous strike out rates (10.56 K/9 in his minor league career). He has also been fairly impressive in several of his appearances this spring. He had an effective outing today allowing only a walk in two innings of work while striking out two.

The thing is he only had two innings of work. It appears that Zumaya maybe heading towards a bullpen role. While I’m not opposed to starting Zumaya in the pen, I hope that it isn’t his final destination. If he is as dominating as advertised, he deserves a shot at starting before being labeled as a releiver for the rest of his career.

Roman Colon

Colon has been decent this spring. In 4 outings, including one start, he has allowed 5 runs over 10 innings. He has 6 strikeouts and 3 walks.

Who will it be?

It’s too soon to tell, but a couple of hints may come from the distribution of playing time. With two weeks until opening day, each of the starters are only going to have one or two more chances to win the manager over. I’d actually be surprised if all 4 came North with the team. With the exception of Grilli, they all have options left. Zumaya has 3 option years, Verlander has two, and Colon still has one.

Although all 4 maybe deserving, it appears that only Grilli is a lock. If I were to guess right now, I’d say that Verlander is the 5th starter and Grilli and Zumaya pitch out of the pen and make occasional swing starts.

In any case, it is a welcome change that the Tigers have more talent that roster spots.