7:39PM Monday
March 25, 2013

There has been speculation throughout the offseason that the Detroit Tigers will trade one of their extra arms Rick Porcello or Drew Smyly

in order to bolster another area of their roster. However, Lynn Henning of

The Detroit News says the Tigers could keep Porcello in the team's starting

rotation, while shifting Smyly to the role of long reliever.

Earlier this offseason after the re-signing of Anibal

Sanchez Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski told reporters that "you can't

have six starters." This seemed to indicate that Detroit would shop Porcello or

Smyly most likely Porcello and plug the other into a rotation that already

included Sanchez, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Doug Fister.

But Henning says the GM has been underwhelmed by the trade

offers he's received for Porcello. Detroit also is currently lacking a long

reliever. In this case, the club could retain Porcello as a starter and stick

Smyly in the bullpen a role he's fil