Free-agent pitcher Doug Fister saw a down 2015 season with the Washington Nationals have him removed from the starting rotation and into the bullpen. This offseason, he is looking for a new team.
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Detroit Showing Interest
Wednesday, Nov. 18
According to ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney, the Tigers are one of the known teams that have expressed interest in Fister.
Before his stint in Washington, Fister spent three seasons with the Tigers from 2011-2013, when he went 32-20 with a 3.29 ERA. Detroit traded him after the 2013 season to the Nationals for Steve Lombardozzi, Ian Krol and Robbie Ray.
His first season with the Nationals was the finest of his career. He went 16-6 with a 2.41 ERA before his tough 2015 that included a forearm injury that sidelined him for over a month.
An arm of his caliber, though, is something to be coveted for teams in need of pitching. And Detroit general manager Al Avila has expressed his desire to add arms, per the Detroit Free Press' Anthony Fenech.
The Tigers have already done so in the bullpen, picking up reliever Francisco Rodriguez from the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, according to ESPN.com. Now they can set their sights on Fister.
After dealing David Price to the Toronto Blue Jays at the trade deadline, Detroit lacked any sort of threat in its pitching staff—especially with a struggling Justin Verlander, who went 5-8 with a 3.38 ERA after starting his season in June because of injury.
The rest of the starting rotation fared much worse, as the lowest ERA from a pitcher who started more than 10 games not named Price or Verlander was 4.99. In fact, Tigers pitching was ranked third from the bottom of the league with 746 runs allowed in 2015.
Verlander will most likely be Detroit's ace in 2016, but adding Fister to the rotation would add a nice one-two punch to the Tigers' starters. Fister has proved he can succeed in Detroit, and his presence in the rotation could help turn things around for the Tigers come next season.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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