The Tigers trimmed 8 players from big league camp: righthanded pitchers Jordan Tata and Virgil Vasquez to Triple A Toledo, righthanded pitchers Eulogio De La Cruz and Kyle Sleeth to Double A Erie and lefthanded pitcher Andrew Miller to Single A Lakeland. Additionally, the club assigned righthanded pitcher Jair Jurrjens and catchers Gabe Johnson and Dusty Ryan to minor league camp.
And as expected, Miller will be starting the year in Lakeland and will likely head to Erie when the weather warms up.
Why does Miller go to Lakeland while others thought to be less talented go to Toldeo?
Uh…because everyone starts in Class A – even Miller
It’s hard for a pitcher to learn and perfect his pitches when he’s getting clobbered against better hitters. There is a difference between talent and the level you play today.
I assume they want Miller to start in the warm weather. He hasn’t pitched in cold much and he only has a few pro innings under his belt. He will likely follow the Verlander path, Lakeland-Erie this year, Detroit next year. No surprises with these moves. What is outstanding is that of the first six pitchers cut, ALL have a shot at a major league career, all have trade value and all could conceivably help in Detroit as soon as this year. And they still have a mess of pitchers battling for positions. I think we see a deal(s) at the end of spring training for middle infield and/or catching depth, possibly a LH hitting OF.
Tim is right – they will let Miller cut his teeth a bit more in the warm weather, move to Erie in a few months, and Possibly be availble later this year if a 6th SP is needed or we have an injury. Ideally – I’d love to see him master Erie and make a run at a starting pitcher in Detroit in ’08.
I have two questions for discussion or anyone to answer:
1) What level should Jair Jurrjens play at this year (from start to finish)
2) Is De La Cruz a viable option at starter or are they just letting him start to work on more pitches? Will he be the next Zumaya?
All expected cuts. The interesting rumor was De La Cruz to Erie…. I wonder if that means Jair Jurrjens to Toledo? Jair is one of my favorites because of how underrated he is in scouting circles due to old information.
Allen – I think that Jurrjens could pitch at either AA or AAA. But as it stands now the AAA rotation looks pretty crowded, but if the Tigers lose Chad Durbin there could be a spot for him. At the same time he’s young enough that pitching at AA isn’t really holding him back.
As for De La Cruz, that will be an interesting one to watch. He had more success as a starter last year, but I’d say its too soon to know if that was because he was starting, or simply because he was pitching better at the time.
BTW – sorry it took so long to respond. My spam filter flagged your comment as spam and I just caught it this morning.