Tigers relievers refuse to use sweet new bullpen cart

Relievers in the Motor City have no plans to hitch a ride to the office.

On Friday, the Detroit Tigers became the second team this season - following in the footsteps of the Arizona Diamondbacks - to debut a bullpen cart, continuing the sudden revival of a once-common ballpark feature after an absence of over two decades. Appropriately, the Comerica Park carts are pretty sweet, featuring a souped-up design with flames on the front bumper and hubcap designs that appear to call back to the classic automobile design.

But after all that effort to create a slick and iconic ride, the Tigers' carts are getting a pretty bad review. Not only are none of their pitchers taking the lift to the mound, they're basically turning the cart into one very expensive coat hanger. When Buck Farmer entered Friday's game in the sixth inning, he jogged in to pitch, leaving the cart to drive his jacket to the dugout.

Watching the cart deliver jackets instead of humans certainly made for a funny sight on Friday, and it's one Tigers fans should get used to. As it turns out, nobody in their bullpen has any plans to set foot in the carts.

"From our bullpen - nobody is going to use it," right-hander Warwick Saupold told Chris McCosky of the Detroit News in March. "They asked us and everybody said no."

So, it appears these sweet bullpen carts are going to be nothing more than a coat hanger on wheels for Tigers relievers this season - and one that might even be used for some target practice when it's not in use.

After learning on Opening Day that the cart will be parked right behind the bullpen warm-up mounds, reliever Drew VerHagen told McCosky, "That thing is going to get drilled."