I think it's just a matter of perception because according to Fangraphs, the Tigers bullpen is 20th in WAR this year and they were 20th in WAR last year.
This year, the hitting and starting pitching are better than last year so the bullpen seems worse and it seemed like a strength but not really.
Individual performance probably skews perception as well. A few guys pitched very well last year but overall the results are very similar so far.
That could have been the difference to go seven or eight innings but after his last three starts, I'm happy with how he performed. Next time he'll get his second win.
This is what I want them to figure out this year. Answer these questions or go get answers. No more evaluation year next year.
Greene and Carpenter look solid but injury prone. Vierling and Ibanez are good bench guys. Keith looks promising. Rogers is good defensively. It's pretty clear which pitchers are part of the future. Jung's bat looks promising but quite a few errors. Meadows is great defensively but struggled here.
Otherwise, lots of question marks.
Their stats are almost the same as last year but overall offense is down in baseball so their wRC+ is better this year. They are getting more value out of their baserunning this year. Performance like Javy Baez skews the stats as well. Excellent numbers with runners in scoring position, horrendous otherwise.