Got that case of Rolaids?




Where's the protective case for the television remote for when it's thrown against the wall in disgust?

It's right here.

Take a deep breath … and welcome back Papa Grande.

Jose Valverde, yes, is once again the Detroit Tigers' closer in a marriage of mutual desperation. He needs a team. Any team that's available. The Tigers need a closer. Any pitcher possessing a pulse and a willingness to throw the occasional strike.

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It's a reclamation nobody could have envisioned last October after Valverde's systematic implosion during the playoffs. There were supposedly so many replacement options available through the existing bullpen, the minor leagues and the free-agent market. But after the subsequent failures of Closing Plans A, B and C, the Tigers are at Plan D before the season is even a month old.

And if this doesn't work, they will go to Plan E — and F, G and H, if necessary.

Why not give Valverde a couple of weeks?

What's lost if the regained velocity and revived split-finger fastball against low-level minor-leaguers gets exposed as a fallacy against big-league hitting?

But it will create one of the more surreal occasions in Comerica Park history Wednesday night should manager Jim Leyland call for Valverde in the top of the ninth with the Tigers clinging to a modest lead over the Kansas City Royals. The emotions from those watching will range from rage that he could possibly be back to relief that Valverde can't be any worse than what the Tigers already have thrown out there in the late innings.

Leyland, for certain, is happy that he's back. "I just hope that this works out," he told reporters Tuesday after the team announced Valverde's one-year contract. "This would be great for the Tigers. It would be great for Jose Valverde. But I'm not going to put the cart before the horse."

The Tigers must exhaust every possible option, explaining why they also brought up rookie Bruce Rondon from Triple-A Toledo to replace the injured Octavio Dotel. Rondon couldn't handle the responsibilities of closer-in-waiting during spring training. It didn't mean that he eventually couldn't become the ninth-inning specialist — perhaps even as early as later this season — but that he just wasn't ready yet.

There's a process involved that the Tigers haven't abandoned. They still believe that Rondon has the physical tools to become an elite closer. Why not bring him up, even if it's only top to pitch in the sixth or seventh inning, just to get him acclimated to facing major league hitting?

Those adamant that it was wrong for the Tigers to place that much pressure on somebody not that far removed from A-ball fail to realize that being the closer for a World Series contender is a pressure-packed situation, anyway. So you might as well learn about the young man's mental makeup as quickly as possible.

It's why I'm still more interested in what Rondon offers in this new opportunity as Valverde.

It's also important remembering that it's only 18 games into the season and although it seems as if the Tigers have gone through 18 closers, it's far too soon to think the uncertainty over the position will prove a fatal flaw in their championship aspirations. They have several options. Use them all if necessary, even if it requires a series of plans and counterplans that take them through the entire alphabet.

Drew Sharp writes for the Detroit Free Press