Nook Logan, who was designated for assignment on Tuesday, was traded to the Washington Nationals for a player to be named later. Chances are the player isn’t Alfonso Soriano :-).

The Tigers also welcomed two members of the Toledo roster into the clubhouse. Ramon Santiago and Jordan Tata were added to the expanded rosters. Tata will presumably be waiting in the wings if Wil Ledezma falters in his Sunday night start.

Finishing up the roster moves that were announced on Sunday, Nook Logan was designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for Alexis Gomez.

Also, Tony Giarratano was recalled and immediately placed on the 15 day DL. I’d imagine this is a prelude to a transfer to the 60 day DL which would 1. make room on the 40 man for Mike Maroth to be activated this weekend, and 2. allow the Tigers the option of making another infielder playoff eligible.

The Tigers made several roster moves today.

Brent Clevlen was sent back to Erie and Alexis Gomez was called up.

And on the pitching side, Colby Lewis was returned to Toledo and Andrew Miller will be joining the bullpen. Also, tenderness in Mike Maroth’s elbow will mean that Wil Ledezma will take Maroth’s spot on Wednesday in New York.

I suspect these moves are highly fueled by setting up the playoff roster. As near as I can figure to be eligible for the playoff roster, a player must be on the active roster or the disabled list as of 9pm August 31st.

Essentially the Tigers believe that they’d rather have Alexis Gomez than Brent Clevlen for the playoffs. This is certainly a debatable point given what Clevlen has shown. In terms of defense, Gomez is solid, but Clevlen certainly can hold his own. Offensively Clevlen showed quite a bit during his MLB stretch, but keep in mind he’d only been hitting 220 at the time he was called up. Sample size issues abound. Also, Gomez has been hitting very well for Toledo going 308/360/681 in August. I’m not taking sides on this move, just presenting information.

The good news for Clevlen is that this demotion will only be until Friday when the team can expand its roster.

As for Miller, his first few games have certainly been impressive in Lakeland, and he very well may be ready. But this is a huge jump for any player. It’s not just moving to the big leagues from essentially college, but doing it for a team intent on locking up a post season spot.

Now back to that playoff eligible roster thing. There are loop holes in that a player of the same position (OF/OF, IF/IF, P/P, etc) can replace a player that is on the 60 day DL. I believe (but I’m not sure) that the Tigers could add a minor leaguer, such as Tony Giarratano, to the 60 day DL and then be able to replace him on the playoff roster with any other infielder in the organization – say Chris Shelton. Now I bring this up because the recall of Gomez means a 40 man roster spot needs to be created. Mike Maroth’s activation will also require a 40 man roster spot.

In light of Placido Polanco’s injury, the Tigers have traded for Neifi Perez. The player they sent to the Cubs is Lakeland Tiger Chris Robinson.

Neifi Perez is pretty much awful offensively with a career OPS of 677. Yet he is 33 and still in the big leagues, and teams have given him 5000 at-bats which tells you a little something about his glove. He can play 2nd, short, and 3rd base.

Now if they picked up Neifi to replace Ramon Santiago, not only on the roster but in his role as well, then this is a good move. While Perez isn’t good, he is an upgrade over Santiago. If it is an effort to find a new everyday second basemen, I’d just assume have Infante who has shown offensive glimpses and at 24 could improve.

Chris Robinson was the Tigers 3rd round draft choice last year. This year he’s hitting for a decent average (282) but with no power (357 slugging).

UPDATE: Shame on me. I didn’t even think to look into Neifi’s contract status. Turns out he’s signed for $2.5 million next year making this deal absolutely awful. The fact that the Tigers are taking on that contract should have meant giving up nothing.

Not only is it the money that is being committed to next year, but it’s a roster spot as well. In addition to sucking up a spot on the 25 man roster next year, a spot on the 40 man roster will need to be cleared this year.

Maybe it’s the losing streak making me grumpy, but I can’t see anything I like about this trade.

The Tigers inked Vance Wilson to a 2 year contract extension keeping him a Tiger until 2008.

As back-up catchers go, Wilson is pretty much everything you could hope for. He can handle the bat well enough but most importantly he is solid defensively. He also has the benefit of familiarity with the young pitchers who the Tigers will be counting on in the near term.

I don’t know terms, but I don’t see any reason not to be happy about this.l

The Tigers added newly signed Andrew Miller to their 40 man roster. To make room they outrighted Mark Woodyard to Erie and Jack Hannahan to Toledo.

Why remove 2 players? I’m guessing it is to make room for Mike Maroth who is scheduled to make a rehab start for Toledo tonight and will be activated from the 60 day DL shortly. While Maroth is currently on the 40 man roster, players on the 60 day disabled list do not count against the total.

As for Woodyard, he has struggled this season, first at Toledo (7.93 ERA, 7 homers in 36 1/3 innings) and later for Erie (10.1 innings, 2 homers, 6.10 ERA).

Jack Hannahan of course had a short stint with the Tigers and is still sporting a .362 OBP while being able to play a variety of infield positions. Unfortunately his .372 slugging percentage will probably keep him from being more than a back-up.