What do the Tigers do now?  First they started the season with Todd Jones as the closer hoping they could squeeze out another season of him using Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya in higher leverage 7th and 8th inning situations.  Instead, Detroit finally got fed up with his poor performances and replaced him with Rodney.  Almost immediately after being demoted, Jones went on the disabled list.  In his short stint as closer, Rodney blew two saves and was wild and inconsistent.  On Tuesday, Joel Zumaya was named closer and promptly blew a save the same day allowing four runs in the bottom of the 14th inning.  Recently acquired Kyle Farnsworth hasn’t been effective in his second go around with the team.

So who does manager Jim Leyland turn to now?  From the Detroit News on August 6:

"If we have a lead in the ninth inning, [Zumaya] that's who will pitch," Leyland said, after finding out that Zumaya's recurring arm discomfort is no longer an issue.

Zumaya might not be the Tigers' only closer, though. When asked if he would still use Fernando Rodney in the closer's role, Leyland replied: "Sometimes. It could also be (Kyle) Farnsworth."

Basically this tells us that Leyland doesn’t know who his closer is which means nobody knows.  I think the order should probably go Zumaya then Rodney with Farnsworth never sniffing the ninth.  Farnsworth just hasn’t been any good, and Rodney has seemed to pitch better in the middle innings or when not protecting leads as evidenced by his dominant outing on Tuesday.  Still, don’t rely on any of these players in mixed leagues.  It would also have to be a very deep league to get me to use any of these three players either.

  
Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney both struggled immediately after being named closer in Detroit.  Zumaya has horrendous on Tuesday while Rodney was strangely dominant.