Seay, Byrdak give Detroit a pair of weapons

02/24/2008 6:45 PM ET
Lefty duo powers bullpen
Seay, Byrdak give Detroit a pair of weapons late in games
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers begin Spring Training games in the coming days with questions to answer in their bullpen. Left-handed relief isn't one of them.

A year ago around this time, Bobby Seay and Tim Byrdak had invitations to Tigers camp and nothing else guaranteed. They were among the many candidates Detroit brought in for the daunting task of finding a situational lefty to replace Jamie Walker.

As the Tigers try to sort through their relief roles after closer Todd Jones and setup man Fernando Rodney, they have a luxury they couldn't find for years, even when they had Walker. For the first time since at least the Phil Garner era, they have two relatively established left-handers they can use in clutch situations.

"Quality left-handed relievers are hard to find," bullpen coach Jeff Jones said. "I think we've got two of them here right now. I think we're very lucky to have those guys."

If anything, after so many years of looking for lefties, the Tigers have more than they can actually use with Clay Rapada and Macay McBride added in. For manager Jim Leyland, it's a major blessing to have.

"It's huge," Leyland said.

Both Seay and Byrdak have their own distinctive styles, and both have had their own routes to get to this point in their careers. Combined, they formed a southpaw duo that held left-handed hitters to a .195 batting average, striking out 48 batters against 41 hits over 184 plate appearances.

"I think once Tim got called up, we did real well," Seay said. "We kind of knew when that phone rang who was coming in at that point, for the most part. I thought we complemented each other well. We have very similar stuff, but different arm angles."

For Seay, the job is the culmination of several seasons of work on his part, and an almost stubborn effort on the Tigers' part to find out what they could get out of the former highly-touted Rays prospect turned Minor League free agent.

He had been a reliever since 2002, when Tampa Bay moved him out of the rotation at Double-A Orlando at age 23. He had his ups and downs making the switch, but he had his moments when he could control a situation.

"I saw Bobby throw four years ago in Durham," Jones said, "and I wrote about this prospect that I'd like to have in our organization, because he was really tough on left-handed hitters. Obviously from the angle he's at, he can be devastating if he gets his breaking ball around the plate."

He pitched effectively in 21 games for the Rays in 2004, but was dealt to the Rockies a week into the 2005 season and struggled in Colorado.

Jones finally had a chance to work with him when he signed a Minor League deal with Detroit in 2006, but he couldn't get much work in two big-league stints behind Walker. When Walker left for Baltimore as a free agent, Seay signed another Minor League deal, seeing an opportunity.

If not for chance, he and the Tigers still might not have paired up. Despite allowing one run over 8 2/3 innings of Spring Training appearances, the Tigers didn't have a spot for him. Wilfredo Ledezma was to begin the year as the only left-hander in the bullpen, and Seay was an emotional final cut.

A late spring injury for Kenny Rogers, requiring surgery to repair a blood clot in his left shoulder, brought Seay onto the Opening Day roster. He hasn't gone back to the Minors since.

"I think he knew that probably time was running out," Leyland said. "He knew he was good enough, he took the bull by the horns and he performed. I think he knows we liked him. I think he knows we liked him the year before. I think he got some confidence.

"Last year, he was a very good Major League pitcher."

Or as Jones put it, "He threw last year like I had seen him four years ago. He just did a tremendous job for us. And I think he feels now that he belongs and he's a big league pitcher."

That confidence translates into intensity, which he pours into each opponent. The first batter he faced in his 58 appearances last year hit a combined .222 (12-for-54), with 17 strikeouts. Only one of those hits went for extra-bases, a double, and no one managed a sacrifice fly.

"When you know this could be your only batter, you have to attack it like this is the most important out of the game," Seay said. "So from pitch one, I think, getting ahead in the count, staying down in the zone, not making a bad pitch, I think that was a big difference. Just more determination, coming into the game and getting the most out of your chances, knowing this could dictate the ballgame."

Byrdak didn't join the club until mid-May, but the Tigers had an idea of what he could do. He had been nasty against lefty hitters in the Orioles bullpen, but he couldn't stay healthy. A solid early stretch at Triple-A Toledo convinced the Tigers to give him a shot after injuries depleted their relief staff.

That gave Detroit two specialists, but with different styles. Seay throws from a lower arm angle than Byrdak, while Byrdak throws more of a hard slider compared with Seay's heavy breaking ball. The combination gives hitters different looks.

"I think we do a pretty good job with each other," Byrdak said. "We'll talk about certain hitters and everything and kind of help each other out."

Instead of having to save his lefty for a key late-inning situation, Leyland -- who says often that the most important out of a game could be in the early or middle innings -- could use one in the sixth or seventh and save another for the eighth. It also protected him against an opponent responding to one lefty by inserting a right-handed pinch-hitter. He could even go left-right-left in an inning if he wanted.

"Because the bullpen has gotten so specialized," Byrdak said, "you have that ability to bring in a lefty for just a lefty hitters, and then you have the righty right behind them now. We have the ability to use arms like that in a game and get out of a situation."

Only once since 2001 had the Tigers used two left-handers for 40 innings each in relief, and that was the 2003 campaign in which they kept Wilfredo Ledezma in the bullpen as a Rule 5 Draft pick. Now, they have two effective ones, and though both Seay and Byrdak were eligible for arbitration, the Tigers brought both of them back.

Given the salaries for relievers on the free-agent market, their combined salaries of just under $1.5 million makes for an efficient duo.

"I think the nice part about it is you can plug either one of us into a situation and get something out of it," Byrdak said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.