Dmitri Young has been place on the disabled list. Whether or not it was his quad or his other issues limiting him, he needs time to get himself right.
Jack Hannahan will get his first major league taste in Young’s place. Hannahan is 26, bats left handed, and spent the bulk of his minor league career as a solid defensive third basemen. This year he’s been playing several infield positions. He’s had a solid year at the plate hitting 282/390/412.
Danny Knobler reports that after last night’s game, Jordan Tata was optioned to Toledo, with Roman Colon getting his spot in the pen.
This is probably the best scenario for a demotion, in that it isn’t a confidence shaking, failed performance, situation. Tata was solid, and not just for someone who had never pitched above A ball before. But he needs more innings and he wasn’t getting them at the big league level. And even in terms of demotions, he’s going to AAA. At the beginning of the season he was targeted for AA.
Colon has been quite good in his to Mud Hen appearances since coming off the DL. He’s thrown 6 2/3 innings with 6 strikeouts against 4 hits and 2 walks.
Richmond 2, Toledo 0
Chad Durbin pitched quite well. He allowed 5 hits while fanning 7 and walking none in 7 innings. Meanwhile the defense committed for errors. Offensively there wasn’t much to say for the Mud Hens. Don Kelly drew two walks, as did Josh Phelps. Kevin Hooper was 2 for 5.
Erie 8, Harrisburg 3
Brent Clevlen finally hit his second homer, and added a single. Kurt Airoso hit his 7 homer. Virgil Vasquez pitched 5 uneven innings. He walked four and struck out 3, but only allowed 3 runs. Eulogio De La Cruz pithced a scoreless 9th inning.
Lakeland 3, Fort Myers 1
Jeff Larish was doubled and walked in 5 plate appearances. Kevin Ardoin and Kevin Whelan combined to hold Fort Myers to one run. Ardoin went 7 2/3 innings fanning 6 and walking none. Whelan struggled picking up his 7 save with two walks and a hit.
West Michigan 3, Burlington 2
Ramon Garcia continues to pitch exceptionally well. Tonight he threw 6 innings of 4 hit ball. He fanned nine and walked 2. Orlando Perdomo gave up a run, but got the save. Cameron Maybin singled , stole a base, and picked up an intentional walk. Michael Hollimon doubled for the Whitecaps only extrabase hit.
Dmitri Young is back from the disabled list after a two game rehab stint in Erie. He was 1 for 4 with a double yesterday and 0 for 3 with a walk and two strikeouts. I don’t know if he has his timing, but at least he saw some live pitching.
The odd man out is Alexis Gomez. He has been designated for assignment. If he clears waivers, he’ll go back to Toledo.
The Tigers still aren’t in a 40 man roster crunch with only 38 members aftter Gomez is removed. They will still have room to add Matt Mantei with out having to remove anyone if they choose. to.
Todd Jones has been reinstated from the disabled list and will be available to pitch tonight. To make room for Jones, Chris Spurling was optioned to Toledo.
With Jones coming back, one of three pitchers were likely to be sent down. The group included Spurling, Jordan Tata, and Jason Grilli. Spurling and Grilli have had similar results. However, Jason Grilli would have had to clear waivers where Spurling had options remaining.
As for Tata, I thought he would still be the choice. He’s been fairly effective in his 3 outings, mostly because he’s limited the opposition to 4 hits in 8 2/3 innings. The downside to Tata is that he has walked 7 batters in those 8+ innings while only striking out 4. So while his results have been good, he may be walking a fine line. Also, I would have guessed the organization would have liked to get him more starting experience in Erie/Toledo.
Jordan Tata who was set to open the season with Erie will be the beneficiary of Todd Jones’s hamstring injury according to Danny Knobler. Tata had an excellent season for Lakeland last year (2.79 ERA, 3.27 K/BB ratio) as well as a solid spring.
The move surprises me. Tata hasn’t pitched above A ball, and there are other pitchers (namely Mark Woodyard) who have a little more experience and would have been a decent fit. That said, Tata probably won’t see that much action over what will hopefully only be a 2 week stint. Tata is also 25, so while he lacks experience at the higher levels of the minors, he isn’t exactly a kid, and this doesn’t feel like a “rush job” that could be detrimental to his development.
As for other roster implications like option years and service time, these will probably both be a non-factor. This is already an option year for Tata, so calling him up won’t make a difference in terms of options. As for service time, if this is truly only a stint that will last a couple weeks, it is doubtful that it would advance his arbitration clock significantly.
With one out to go in spring training, Todd Jones left the game with a pulled hamstring. According to Danny Knobler Jones is headed to the DL. A replacement hasn’t been determined yet, and I’d guess that the Tigers are waiting to see the severity of the injury.
I’m not worried about the loss of Jones as closer. I actually think that Fernando Rodney, who is yet further removed from Tommy John surgery will have a pretty good year, and should post comparable numbers to Jones. It’s more an issue of cascading roles with the loss of Jones in a bullpen that has several question marks.
If it looks like Jones will only miss a couple weeks, I’d imagine that the Tigers would go with one of the players currently on the 40 man roster like Mark Woodyard or Roman Colon. My guess would be Woodyard because I really think the organization wants Colon working as a starter.
If it looks like the injury will take a long time to heal, the team may be more inclined to look at a non-roster player. Unfortunately, there don’t appear to be any likely candidates in that group.
If you’re wondering about Franklyn German taking the last spot, I wouldn’t count on it. To me it didn’t seem like German was that close to making the team. His longevity in big league camp was probably more due to his option status than him being the last player cut. Adding German also gets tricky because he’s no longer on the 40 man roster. While there is room to add him, I believe a later demotion would mean him once again clearing waivers.
In other roster moves, the Tigers officially designated for assigment the contracts of Franklyn German and Rob Bowen. They also put Troy Percival on the 60 day disabled list and Craig Dingman on the 15 day DL. Why only the 15 day DL for Dingman? I’m not really sure.
Danny Knobler reports that Franklyn German is on the waiver list.. German stands a pretty good chance to make it through waivers because any team that picked him up would have to retain him on their 25 man roster (or try to clear him on waivers). Fortunately for the Tigers there probably isn’t much of a market for relievers who average 9 walks per nine innings. According to the radio broadcast yesterday, German has made some mechanical changes which he is still getting used to. Whether or not it helps improve his control remains to be seen.
The end result is that Bobby Seay is 25th man and the big league roster is complete barring any last minute deals.
By my count the Tigers will also have two spots available on the 40 man roster. Seay and Santiago will require spots, but those should come from Carlos Pena and Franklyn German. The two spots will open up when Craig Dingman and advance scout Troy Percival are placed on the 60 day DL.
And in yet another transaction today, the Tigers claimed Twins catcher Rob Bowen off of waivers. He is out of options, so I don’t anticipate him staying with the team long. The Tigers will most likely try to get him through waivers and have him join Brian Peterson and Max St. Pierre in Toledo.
According to the broadcast of today’s game, Roman Colon has been optioned to Toledo. That leaves Bobby Seay and Franklyn German to compete for the last spot in the bullpen.
Related: Tigers Cut Six
The Tigers have trimmed six more players. Optioned to Toledo are Nook Logan, Don Kelly, and Mark Woodyard. Assigned to minor league camp are Hector Mercado, Alexis Gomez, and Mike Hessman.
That leaves 29 players “in camp” but two of those are technically Troy Percival and Craig Dingman who are destined for the 60 day DL.
This means that the Tiger position players are set and the bench will consist of Ramon Santiago, Omar Infante, Vance Wilson, and Marcus Thames. I never thought I’d be thrilled to see Thames make the team, but given the way things were shaping up I am definitely happy.
The Tigers needed a viable bat on the bench, and Thames will provide that. Also, he was out of options so that if he didn’t make the 25 man roster his Tiger career would have been over. On the other hand, Nook Logan had an option left so he could be sent to Toledo.
I still think that Santiago and Infante are redundant. I understand the need for Santiago if Infante’s shoulder precludes him from playing in the infield, but in that case maybe Infante needs to be on the DL. The fact they were testing him at first is definitely a concern, especially because the Tigers just cut a player that could play first.
As for the last bullpen spot, it apparently is down to Bobby Seay, Roman Colon, Franklyn German, and possibly Jason Grilli. I still think that Grilli makes the team because like Thames, he is out of options. I also think German is still in camp only because the Tigers are still trying to deal him. German is also out of options, but hasn’t really shown much in the last several years or this spring.
My feeling is that the Tigers will keep Bobby Seay to provide the second lefty. This will also allow for Roman Colon, who still has an option, to work as a starter at Toledo. The Tigers have a log jam of potential starters/long relievers and I don’t see the need to have Colon given that Grilli and Zumaya will be filling similar roles.
I’ve said pretty much all I have to say about the Carlos Pena release in that I don’t like how the roster sets up. Knobler’s blog today didn’t make me feel any better
Leyland raved again after the game about Ramon Santiago. Santiago is very likely to make the opening day roster, in part because they need a backup shortstop and Omar Infante’s right shoulder tendinitis makes it hard to consider him for that spot. Infante is on the team, though. In fact, they had Infante and Alexis Gomez work out today at first base. They need someone else able to play first, in case they pinch-run for Shelton in a game where Dmitri is the DH. Pretty good indication that Gomez has a very good chance to be on the team as the extra outfielder, too.
If Infante can’t be the back-up infielder because of his arm, maybe he needs to go on the DL. I’ve got nothing against Infante, and I think he’ll probably do okay this year, at least along the lines of his 2004 season. However, if he is your best pinch hitting option and he can’t play the left side of the infield there will be problems. I have a bad feeling that this bench is going to scare me more than opponents.
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