DETROIT — If only Macdonald Carey were still alive to do the voice-over for the Detroit Tigers’ bullpen: “These are the Days of Our Lives.”

Even the team’s manager, Jim Leyland, admits his closer situation has become a daily drama, akin to a soap opera, like the one that opened with Carey’s famous line.

What is he going to do in the ninth inning?

Tune in later to see.

“Hope we’ve got the lead. It’s ‘Days of Our Lives.’ You’ll have to find out tonight,” he said, tongue-in-cheek, before Monday night’s game.

On Sunday, Leyland used set-up man Joaquin Benoit for one out in the eighth, then brought him back for the ninth. It was his fourth save of the campaign.

Monday, Leyland used lefty Drew Smyly for the final three innings of the game, after Max Scherzer pitched six stellar innings, moving to 10-0 on the season. It was Smyly’s second three-inning save of the year.

“It worked out pretty well for us tonight, and hopefully we can just kind of mix and match, use Papa Grande (Jose Valverde), use Benoit, use Cokey (Phil Coke), and just see what it sets up each night, and what the situation looks like,” Leyland said.

Given that it’s the fourth change of direction in philosophy for how to close out games — starting with rookie Bruce Rondon in spring training, then starting the regular season with a closer-by-committee-that-wasn’t-really-a-committee situation, then adding Valverde, and now back to what appears to be a committee — you can see the resemblance to a daily soap opera.

The only thing that’s been consistent is inconsistency.

“I like what we’ve got, and truthfully, we don’t totally, totally have our furniture arranged in the bullpen,” Leyland said.

“There’s no question about that.

“We were in the process of trying to get it arranged before we got Valverde, and we’ve tried to get it arranged since we’ve had Valverde, that’s what we’ll continued to try to do.”

How about buying some new furniture?

“Well, that’s easy to say, but you can’t go and buy a shirt for $5,000 and put it on, and it doesn’t look good, so you throw that away and go get another one for $5,000. It doesn’t work that way,” Leyland said. “That’s not fair to the owner.”

Although Leyland insists he never gets too high or too low, riding the ups and downs of the season, the constant turmoil has created some stress for him — something that he jokingly dismisses.

“Well, (Baltimore’s Manny) Machado leads the league in doubles, and I’m about second in doubles. Double vodka, double Scotches,” he said with a laugh. “No, I’m just kidding. Don’t make it sound like that, because I rarely drink.”

But he does understand how fans might panic just a little bit.

And he does understand all the efforts to suggest a change in direction for the Tigers’ relief corps that belies last week’s “Who the (bleep) should I be closing with?” rant.

He just doesn’t have any definitive answers, any more than any of them do.

“Absolutely. That’s baseball conversation, and I’m thankful that we have that. Means that people are interested in us,” Leyland said Monday.

“I think there are some people that make very legitimate points, from a fan standpoint. I think there are some very legitimate points from a fan standpoint, on Twitter, or whatever you call it. I think there are some very legitimate points on talk shows, but I also think there are some foolish points, with people grasping at straws, and coming up with stuff that’s silly.

“But I think there’s a lot of good thought process by the fans. I have no issue with that.

“I wish I had answers for them, but I don’t. I gotta try to do the best I can with this unit. Like I said, everybody’s got an idea there’s a problem. Like I said the other day, it’s like telling me I’m bald. ‘Well, no (bleep). Can you tell me how to grow hair?’ ‘No, I don’t have any idea how to grow hair.’

“It’s what I said the other day, I’ll stick to it. I love when people are talking about the Tigers, and second-guess at times. When stuff’s legitimate ... it’s not so far-fetched that they’re talking about (Rick) Porcello as the closer. I don’t think that’s far-fetched. I don’t think that’s silly.

“But right now is not a time for that. We have information that we see going on, we think right now that that’s not the best thing for Rick Porcello or our club right now. We think he’s doing really well, and I like the fact that we’ve got five guys that — knock on wood — have been keeping us in games all the time. That’s pretty important.

“If you don’t have good starters, you very rarely have anything to close.

“I love good ideas, and to talk about stuff. But it’s just not that simple.

“People say ‘Well, why don’t you do this ...’ or ‘Why don’t you do that ...’ Well, we don’t just come to eat our lunch.”

While he opened the door by saying it was not a far-fetched idea to propose a starter as a closer, he closed the door after the game, reiterating that now is not the time to talk about something like that.

“One thing I wanna say though is I hope — I’m asking a favor of all you guys — I hope that everyone quits going to Rick Porcello and asking him about being the closer. He is not going to be the closer. He is not a closer,” Leyland said in his postgame media session. “There’s no sense going to Rick and asking him about it, because it’s just not necessary. So I would appreciate if people would just drop that subject with him, because we want him to concentrate on what he’s doing right now as a starter.”

Exactly.

Why bring in MORE drama?

DETROIT — Yes, the Tigers currently have issues at closer.

And, yes, they drafted at least one guy with experience in that role in college.

But, no, the selection of Texas Longhorns closer Corey Knebel was not a “need” pick, if there can even be such a thing in baseball, where most players are at least a year away from contributing, when drafted.

In fact, the Tigers don’t expect Knebel to even be a closer for them in the long run, let alone now.

The Tigers, who reportedly came to terms with the Competitive Balance Round A selection on Monday, expect that Knebel will be a starter.

“We feel like Corey can start. He has three pitches — obviously two plus power pitches now — but he has a delivery and an arm action, for us, to start,” said David Chadd, the Tigers’ vice president of amateur scouting, during the draft. “I think he was put in that closer’s role at the University of Texas, in my mind, because he was a dominant closer, and had success doing it. But we’re going to send Corey out as a starter.”

Jim Callis of Baseball America reported that the deal was for the full slot value of $1,433,400. He later said on Twitter that Knebel “has size & enough feel for change-up to make it work.

There are no concerns about Knebel’s two reported run-ins with authority while at Texas, earning him a pair of suspensions.

He is purported to have given a teammate a urine sample to use as his own for a drug test, and also had a run-in with a coach.

“Well, I can answer that by saying this: We don’t believe we got a problem child. I think we got a young individual that might have made some bad decisions in the past, but ... we’re comfortable with the answers we were given, and that’s why we made our selection,” Chadd said. “We, as a collective group — and I’m going to mention Tim Grieve, our area scout — we’ve done our due diligence on the off-the field issues with all these guys, off and on the field. We’re comfortable with all the answers we were given. Obviously, extremely comfortable with their abilities, and that’s what allowed us to make the selections.”

But those are the only instances of misbehavior in a three-year career that saw him earn All-America honors as a freshman.

He finished with 37 career saves at Texas, leaving him four shy of Huston Street’s school record.

It's contest entry time (this one the Michigan Press Organization's Better Newspaper Contest) and I always have the hardest time picking between columns. These are the six contenders that I have to narrow down to three. One of them already won an award, so it will probably get precedence.

AUGUST 4: “No more Mr. Nice Guy for Tigers, but a tough decision doesn’t necessarily mean an incorrect one”

MAY 5: “Victor Martinez provides Tigers a ray of sunshine in their darkest hour”

SEPTEMBER 30: “Cabrera not wilting under the pressure of Triple Crown chase, as he carries Tigers toward playoffs”

OCTOBER 24: “WORLD SERIES PREVIEW COLUMN: So I lost my place. Are we still doing the ‘Fire Leyland’ thing?” Oct. 24

NOVEMBER 14: “Torii Hunter a perfect fit for Tigers ... and vice versa”

APRIL 28: “As dissonant as it may seem, unlike Brandon Inge, Delmon Young probably isn’t going anywhere”

DETROIT — When Torii Hunter passed the 2,000-hit plateau in Detroit back in April, he figured he’d probably pass the 300-homer plateau in his new home stadium, Comerica Park, too.

“I’m going to get my 300th home run here, too,” Hunter said with a smile, back then, knowing that he sat just three homers shy of that mark.

But he’s hit just one home run at home this year, and ended up getting his milestone homer at an old home town, belting a first-inning home run at the Minnesota Twins’ new Target Field in Sunday’s game. [WATCH THE VIDEO]

"I got my first home run against these guys (the Tigers), and I got my 300th home run in a Tigers uniform," Hunter said on the Fox Sports Detroit postgame show.

"I think it was kind of a neat scenario, with the Minnesota fans loving him, and getting to see him do that," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said on the FSD postgame show.

With Austin Jackson aboard, Hunter belted a 2-0 pitch from Twins starter P.J. Walters for a 376-foot shot to left field. He'd later add an RBI double, giving him his second three-RBI game with the Tigers, and his first since April 11.

Hunter hit 192 home runs in nine full seasons with the Twins, 105 in five seasons with the Angels, and three now in his first season with the Tigers. He later added a double, giving him hi

Despite hitting more home runs (87) in the Metrodome than any other park, few of Hunter's milestone homers actually came in Minnesota, though.

His first home run was April 15, 2009, at Tiger Stadium.

His 50th home run came April 30, 2002, at the Metrodome.

His 100th home run came May 15, 2004, at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.

His 150th home run came Aug. 20, 2006, at the Metrodome.

His 200th home run came June 9, 2008, at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

His 250th home run July 9, 2010, at Oakland Coliseum.

And now his 300th home run came back in the same city where he started, against his first team, the Twins.

It appears the Baltimore Orioles will be the Tigers’ stiffest competition in All-Star Game voting.

First baseman Chris Davis (2,999,094) is chasing Miguel Cabrera (3,277,890) for the overall voting lead among American League players in the third weekly totals announced by Major League Baseball Sunday night. That extended Davis’ lead over Prince Fielder (1,980,129) for the AL starting slot at first base.

Cabrera continues to lead the O’s Manny Machado (1,626,209) by a healthy margin for the starting spot at third base, while Adrian Beltre (1,105,706) and Evan Longoria (898,422) are further behind.

Baltimore’s Adam Jones (2,740,505) leads all vote-getters in the outfield, while teammate Nick Markakis (1,463,392) moves into the third and final starting outfield slot, behind Mike Trout (2,710,115), and ahead of the Tigers’ Torii Hunter (1,425,571), who slides down to fourth. Despite missing a month with a hamstring strain, Austin Jackson (712,623) is 13th among outfielders.

At second base, Detroit’s Omar Infante (872,142) is a distant fourth, behind leader Robinson Cano (2,409,512). At shortstop, Jhonny Peralta (1,322,791) is in third, not far behind leader J.J. Hardy (1,871,010) of the Orioles, and Texas’ Elvis Andrus (1,358,412).

In-stadium voting runs through June 28, while online voting continues until July 4.

Third voting update:
FIRST BASE
Chris Davis, Orioles 2,999,094
Prince Fielder, Tigers 1,980,129
Mike Napoli, Red Sox 744,334
Albert Pujols, Angels 693,062
Mitch Moreland, Rangers 645,071

SECOND BASE
Robinson Cano, Yankees 2,409,512
Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox 1,635,674
Ian Kinsler, Rangers 1,123,654
Omar Infante, Tigers 872,142
Jose Altuve, Astros 734,896

SHORTSTOP
J.J. Hardy, Orioles 1,871,010
Elvis Andrus, Rangers 1,358,412
Jhonny Peralta, Tigers 1,322,791
Jed Lowrie, Athletics 1,019,861
Derek Jeter, Yankees 669,698

THIRD BASE
Miguel Cabrera, Tigers 3,277,890
Manny Machado, Orioles 1,626,209
Adrian Beltre, Rangers 1,105,706
Evan Longoria, Rays 898,422
Josh Donaldson, Athletics 500,773

CATCHER
Joe Mauer, Twins 2,127,175
Matt Wieters, Orioles 1,615,625
A.J. Pierzynski, Rangers 885,137
Carlos Santana, Indians 864,779
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Red Sox 748,725

DESIGNATED HITTER
David Ortiz, Red Sox 2,488,451
Lance Berkman, Rangers 1,239,521
Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays 769,322
Mark Reynolds, Indians 745,058
Mark Trumbo, Angels 722,667

OUTFIELD
Adam Jones, Orioles 2,740,505
Mike Trout, Angels 2,710,115
Nick Markakis, Orioles 1,463,392
Torii Hunter, Tigers 1,425,571
Jose Bautista, Blue Jays 1,379,251
Nelson Cruz, Rangers 1,310,079
Nate McLouth, Orioles 1,300,158
Alex Gordon, Royals 1,040,685
Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox 1,004,434
Yoenis Cespedes, Athletics 926,611
Coco Crisp, Athletics 869,153
Josh Hamilton, Angels 726,485
Austin Jackson, Tigers 712,623
Shane Victorino, Red Sox 682,220
Ichiro Suzuki, Yankees 620,734

DETROIT — If you keep picking a scab, it’ll never heal over.

For three-quarters of a year, the Detroit Tigers have been hoping that the suppurating wound that is the back end of their bullpen will heal itself up without serious external intervention, but each and every time that it seems like it might, the scab is torn off with another blown save or late-inning meltdown.

The thing that makes fans mad isn’t that the Tigers refuse to acknowledge the situation — everyone knows that this particular elephant is in the room.

“This basically boils down to everybody can tell me I’m bald but nobody can tell me how to grow hair,” manager Jim Leyland told reporters Friday. “That’s how I see it. ‘Hey, Jim, you’re bald.’ ‘No (bleep). How do I grow hair?’ ‘Well, I have no idea.’

“Same old thing. Everybody knows that there’s a problem. Nobody’s got the remedy.”

No, the thing that makes fans mad is the fact that the Tigers have steadfastly refused to see anyone about the issue, hoping it’ll just heal itself.

Never once did they seek outside remedies.

They tried one internal solution, minor-league fireballer Bruce Rondon, in spring training, before abandoning the pretense that he was ready for the job.

Then they tried the “closer-by-committee” route for the span of three weeks, long enough to register one blown save, before going back to square one, and reemploying the guy who was there when the problem started.

At best, re-signing Jose Valverde — fresh off a late-season meltdown in 2012 that kept him unemployed until well after the start of this season — was a band-aid solution, a quick, comfortable fix after earlier plans fell through.

He was a placebo to make people feel better, without really fixing the problem.

And now that he’s blowing saves again, everybody just realized it’s a sugar pill.

It’s far, far, far from being a fix.

We gave it time. We didn’t “put the cart before the horse.” We waited. Watched.

Grimaced. Quaked.

Waited for the inevitable shoe to drop.

“Everybody was probably a little nervous,” Valverde himself admitted in an on-field interview with Fox Sports Detroit’s Ryan Field, after he’d promptly let the potential tying run on base with a leadoff single in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Kansas City.

Ya think?

Why would that be?

Is it because Valverde has blown three saves, as many as he has in any season in Detroit, save last year, when he blew five?

Is it because he’s given up five home runs already, as many as in any full season since 2008?

Is it because his supposed “out pitch,” the split-finger fastball, is getting hammered?

Is it because his only other main pitch, the four-seam fastball, isn’t as fast as it used to be (registering an average of 92.7 mph, the lowest since his rookie year), no matter what anyone says? And, as one scout told Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan, it’s “as flat as Kansas.”

What, me worry?

It was a good, low-risk bet when the Tigers took it, re-signing Valverde to an incentive-laden contract. If he panned out, well, they’d be right back where they’d been his first three years here.

If not, they’d be where they found themselves 273 days ago Sunday.

That day, Sept. 16, Valverde gave up a double, triple and single in the ninth inning in Cleveland, recording just one out in the process. The triple, if you’ll recall, was the ball Don Kelly slammed into the wall trying to catch, prompting Leyland to jokingly say he looked like a “wounded giraffe.”

That blown save was the first for Valverde after a streak of 13 straight successful conversions, leading to a false sense of calm that he’d turned around his early-season struggles.

All that blown save — which, coupled with a loss in a makeup game in Chicago the next afternoon, left the Tigers three games back with 16 to play, and teetering dangerously on the brink — provided was foreshadowing of the postseason collapse.

And, from what we’ve seen in the last week and a half, nothing’s changed all that much. At this point, he’s proven to be an adequate closer. Nothing more. Nothing less.

A World Series contender has got to have better.

You could argue — and many of you have, vehemently — that the Tigers probably have better on their own roster.

You very well could be right.

But we may not find that out, given the fact that the guy who choses who pitches when, the guy who has the ultimate responsibility for walking out on the field and signaling to the bullpen, does not agree.

A column in last weekend’s daily newspaper clippings, espousing Valverde as the team’s best option, and noting fans’ dissatisfactions with that opinion, pushed Leyland’s buttons.

“Who do these fans think we should be closing with? I don’t understand this. When I read (stuff) like this ... and there’s nothing wrong with the article. I don’t understand who they think we should be closing with,” he said, completely unsolicited.

“So I’m asking that question — who the (bleep) should I be closing with?

“They want some rookie kid? I mean, I don’t understand that.

“Stuff like that boggles my mind. It doesn’t upset me. I was just reading this. Talks about Valverde being the best closing option, and talks about the fans. It has nothing to do with me liking Valverde. Who the (bleep) should I close with? Who do you want me to close with? (Jose) Ortega? Rondon? (Drew) Smyly? I mean, who the (bleep) do you want me to close with? When I put (Phil) Coke in the game, and they say ‘He can’t get a right-hander out.’ You want me to close with Coke? I don’t know what the (bleep) these people want. Sometimes, it boggles my mind.”

If you’re a guy in Leyland’s position, you probably agree with him.

These are the toys he’s been given to play with.

And he’s going to play with them.

He can’t do much else.

If Valverde’s on your roster, he’s your closer. If he’s no longer your closer, he probably need not be on your roster.

Until the day that circumstance changes, you work with what you’re given.

“I’m not going to talk about silly (bleep),” Leyland said Friday, getting understandably testy with a line of questioning that’s been virtually the same for three-quarters of a year. “We’re going to do the best we can. We’re going to use Jose Valverde until we decide Jose Valverde can or can’t do it or we’ve got somebody else better. That’s what we’re doing. That’s like everybody else does. That’s what you do. That’s what we’ve got, in our opinion, right now.”

So when might that change?

Probably not for a while.

Unless the Tigers fill the spot from within — either with Rondon or Smyly or set-up man Joaquin Benoit — you won’t likely see an addition to the mix for another month.

That’s essentially what Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski, watching the Class A West Michigan Whitecaps take on the Great Lakes Loons in Midland this week, intimated to MLive’s Hugh Bernreuter, saying that nothing would get serious, in terms of trade talks, until the deadline.

That’s not a surprise. You hardly want to telegraph your desperation to potential trade partners.

Even then, what’s available?

Unless they pay the piper for the Phillies’ Jonathan Papelbon, probably not much. If that’s the case, are you really upgrading?

“People always talk about getting a dominant closer. There are very few dominant closers out there,” Dombrowski told Bernreuter. “You can exchange a lot of closers and get the same ups and downs with each one.”

Even if someone does hit the market between now and July 31, how much do you have to pay?

It would have cost a first-round pick (and quite a bit of owner Mike Ilitch’s dough) to grab the no-brainer solution to the problem, signing the one and only proven closer on the free-agent market in the offseason.

Raise your hand, and untuck your shirt, if you’d feel more comfortable with Rafael Soriano in the big-league bullpen than first-round pick Jonathon Crawford heading to rookie ball.

Now, if you want to get someone on par with that, you’re probably looking at having to give up prized prospects like Nick Castellanos or Avisail Garcia.

And probably more.

That, in a nutshell, is what fans are truly mad about.

There’s a small element of the fan base that seemed to want it to work out with Valverde, and everything to magically go back to the way it had been. There was a larger, more vocal group, that hoped he’d fail along the way.

Almost everyone is a bit miffed that it’s been three-quarters of a year with no forward progress. This could have been fixed. It could have been addressed.

And it wasn’t.

That’s frustrating for everyone involved, probably including a few folks inside that locker room.

It has the potential of getting worse, too.

“Cannot let this affect everybody else on the team. ‘How are we going to lose tonight?’ ” former White Sox and Mets manager Jerry Manuel said on MLB Network.

Former big-leaguer Todd Hollandsworth, now an analyst on MLB Network Radio’s “First Pitch” show, was just as blunt in his assessment.

“They’re giving moments to other teams in their division, moments to regain that hope. ... And you’re helping them get over (horrendous stretches). You should be the team that is driving the nail into the coffin. You’re giving them these moments,” Hollandsworth said. “The point is, you’re winning this game in the last inning, and you hand the ball to the bullpen, to your closer, and you give it back. It’s why I talk about it like I do. The one thing that will tear at a team, more than anything — you can survive the rotation, you can survive the slumps — but the bullpen, if this continues to happen, will absolutely tear at your team. ... You are giving moments to the teams you should be burying right now.”

Yes, there are other problems with the Tigers, but nothing that can’t be fixed easily.

There’s one problem that is going to take some doing to fix.

And it’s about time it happened.

Three-quarters of a year is long enough.

The first isn’t always last.

The Detroit Tigers came to terms with their first-round pick, Florida right-hander Jonathon Crawford, they announced on Friday, along with 18 more of their 41 picks in last weekend’s draft.

Crawford, the 20th pick in the first round, signed for right at the slot amount of $2,001,700 according to Jim Callis of Baseball America. The Tigers have a total bonus pool of $6,467,400.

Callis had announced on Twitter the signing of Georgia Tech’s Buck Farmer on Thursday, while 27th-rounder Joe Mantiply and 14th-rounder Ben Verlander had made their own signing announcements on Twitter.

Of the 19 total signings so far, eight of them came from rounds in the second half of the draft, but five of them were from the Tigers’ first 11 picks.

UPDATE (June 17): The Tigers reportedly signed Corey Knebel, their selection in the Competitive Balance Round A, to a deal.

The full list of signings announced Friday: 
(1) Jonathon Crawford, RHP, Florida
(5) Buck Farmer, RHP, Georgia Tech
(6) Calvin Drummond, RHP, Arizona Christian
(8) Zach Reininger, RHP, Hill College (Texas)
(10) Kasey Coffman, CF, Arizona State
(12) Dominic Ficociello, 3B, Arkansas
(13) Austin Green, C, San Diego
(14) Ben Verlander, OF, Old Dominion
(16) Duncan McAlpine, C, Dallas Baptist
(18) Jonathan Maciel, RHP, Cal State-Long Beach
(19) Austin Pritcher, RHP, The Citadel
(21) Curt Powell, SS, Georgia
(25) Johnnie Kirkland, RHP, Southeastern University
(27) Joe Mantiply, LHP, Virginia Tech
(28) Scott Sitz, RHP, Florida State
(30) Ryan Beck, LHP, New Mexico State
(31) Brett Huber, RHP, Mississippi
(32) Tanner Bailey, RHP, MIssissippi
(40) Taylor Johnson, 2B, St. Edwards

UPDATED (June 17):
(CBA) Corey Knebel, RHP, Texas