Dontrelle Willis is landing on the disabled list because he didn’t land correctly on Friday night. The initial diagnosis was a hyperextended knee and that was confirmed today by an MRI that revealed no structural damage. He’s not expected to miss significant time, but he wasn’t going to make his next start. Armando Galarraga will get the call, but he hasn’t been placed on the roster yet. That spot went to Ryan Raburn who will provide some positional flexibility to Jim Leyland.
Miguel Cabrera has been hobbled for the last week, and Carlos Guillen strained a hamstring that will require him to miss a few days. With uber sub Brandon Inge set to give Pudge Rodriguez his first day off behind the plate, Leyland would probably like to have someone man 3rd and do the same for Cabrera. Plus, Raburn deserves to be on the team regardless.
But back to Willis, this leg injury may be a blessing in disguise. We know the story about the 7 walks in his first start, and he wasn’t close to the strike zone in his limited time in the second start. An extra week might not be sufficient to find that elusive control, but it certainly can’t hurt. As for Galarraga the fact he’s contributing is a surprise. If he’s productive the trade in which Dombrowski acquired him might be his best of the season. All the Tigers gave up was an A ball hitter Michael Hernandez who they signed out of a tryout camp. Hernandez was subsequently released by the Rangers.
MRI reveals no tears but Willis placed on the DL; Galarraga will start | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Guillen’s injury not serious enough for the DL; Inge to catch for first time this year | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
I personally wouldn’t mind it if Willis would spend whatever time is needed doing rehab starts in Toledo until he gets his control back. Even if we run through all available options for an effective replacement, they couldn’t be worse than the way Willis has been.
As far as Galarraga and Raburn being called up, doesn’t that mean that someone else has to be sent down?
Galarraga hasn’t been called up yet; he’ll be called up for Wednesday’s start and they’ll decide then who to send down.
I thought for a minute that Andres Galarrage was re-surfacing as a 46-year-old knuckleballer. Alas, no.
Have to agree with everyone else on this one. Willis needs to sit for a while and get his pitches under control. Don’t want to see you till then, d-train.
stephen, were that the case I’d consider this season an unqualified success
Injury news would normally concern me, but at this point you could walk out the entire Mud Hens team and I would be filled with a sense of hope. Hell, Clete Thomas is our best player.
“Plus Raburn deserves to be on the team regardless.”
It’s funny when you first said that, I was about to say, ‘Ok, however, this team is very desperate for pitching. The bullpen gets shelled pretty much every night as shown by..last night.
However, the Tigers have all that pop in their lineup and they still can’t hit at all. Maybe Raburn is what they need. It’s unbelievable. You would think with Ordonez, Cabrera, Sheffield, Polanco, Guillen, they would be better. But they got shut out again. They have no idea how to manufacture a run. Which was the exact same beef I had with last year’s team.
Go Tigs! Trade Sheffield