Hiring Rich Dubee as pitching coach shows Tigers' commitment to new ideas

The Detroit Tigers formally announced Rich Dubee as their new pitching coach on Thursday afternoon. With the Tigers entering a new phase without Jeff Jones -- old school with an affinity for changeups -- they're also bringing advanced analytics more to the forefront. They needed to hire a guy who was willing to follow the same route.

The Tigers used to have a group of mostly veteran guys, pitchers who knew just about everything and didn't need someone to hold their hand. But now they're stocked with youngsters, too, both in the rotation and the bullpen. Detroit needed someone who has worked both sides of that. On top of it, they have several pitchers who are recovering from injuries -- some…