Dontrelle Willis: the Odd Man Out in Tigers Rotation?

When Dontrelle Willis was a rookie with the Florida Marlins, he was almost impossible for the opposition to figure out. His wild, corkscrew-like delivery and left-handed ability to hide the ball made him the NL Rookie of the Year.

He even went on to be a key pitcher on a World Series team. It was a lot to accomplish in a young career, so the expectations were high for the rest of it. But he had a terrible 2007 and injuries were a big problem.

The same scenario has played out thus far for the Detroit Tigers who hoped Willis could rebound after getting healthy. He slipped on a mound in Chicago and hyper-extended his knee, which is a bad omen.

Now that Willis is almost healthy, the Tigers have a dilemma on their hands. Young pitcher Armando Galarraga has come up and been lights out for the Tigers, showing great command and a great slider. The Tigers need to figure out which of their pitchers to send down or to put one in the bullpen.

The other four pitchers, Nate Robertson, Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, and Kenny Rogers have had bad starts for the most part too, but each of them is established and have led Detroit to big things in the past.

The hardest part is that the Tigers need to win now to avoid falling out of the race due to their terrible 4-10 start. Most scouts think Galarraga is kind of a flash-in-the-pan because he hasn't pitched like this his whole career, but if he keeps doing well, the Tigers have no choice but to keep him in the rotation. At least that's what conventional wisdom would dictate. Will the Tigers try something drastic like putting Willis or Robertson in the bullpen until the young Galarraga cools off? Or will they send him down even though he's been their only good pitcher?

I guess that's why general managers get paid the big bucks. Dave Dombrowski will have to be the one to make this difficult decision. The fate of the Tigers' 2008 MLB playoff hopes could rest on the decision because manager Jim Leyland has maintained all along that pitching is the key to Detroit's success, even though the Tigers' big-time hitters and new acquisitions have stolen all of the thunder and the headlines from local and national media.

Willis has had a hard time even throwing strikes when healthy so if he comes back he'll have to work his way back to his old form, and that could take time and cost the Tigers precious wins as they try to climb back up and over the .500 mark in the AL Central. Luckily for the Tigers, however, no one is really running away with the division right now, so they have a little bit of breathing room. This is definitely a situation to watch out for as the weather heats up and the baseball season starts to get intense and competitive.