Freddy Dolsi was optioned to Toledo folowing the game to make room for Eddie Bonine. My money is on Zach Simons to get recalled following the game if Bonine is optioned back out.
Category Archives: Roster Management
Injury Updates Galore
With the Tigers home for the first time since before the All Star break, there are a bevy of injury updates as the team gets reacquainted with the walking wounded who have stayed behind to work on getting better.
Carlos Guillen
Tigers fans, media, and bloggers alike got a little tutorial on roster designations yesterday when the team announced that Guillen was being recalled from his rehabilitation assignment. Being recalled as we found out is very different than being activated. A recall of a rehab assignment is kind of like suspending the rehab assignment as opposed to a player having their contract recalled after being optioned out to a minor league club. Got it? Doesn’t matter.
Guillen was recalled to have his shoulder examined after experiencing soreness. But it checked out and he’s heading to Toledo for more at-bats.
My guess is he gets activated between Friday night’s game and Saturday’s game. The Tigers will be calling up a pitcher from Toledo to pitch game 2 of the double header (Eddie Bonine would be a good guess). So the Tigers will need to clear a player to make room for the mystery starter, and presumably the mystery starter would then be optioned back to Toledo after the game opening a roster spot for Guillen. As for who gets moved out in the first place? I’m guessing Josh Anderson.
Nate Robertson
Robertson has resumed throwing activity following his elbow surgery. Robertson is interested in stretching out to 5 or 6 inning, 100 pitch type work levels. This might not be a bad idea as there are questions about the back end of the Tigers rotation, and it also would likely mean a longer DL stint which would serve the Tigers well. With Ni and Seay pitching well, a lefty pen arm isn’t a pressing concern. Whether the surgery helps with the shallow slider remains to be seen.
Jeremy Bonderman
Bonderman is throwing again, but not pitching yet. No return is imminent.
Joel Zumaya
Further tests failed to reveal additional damage to Zumaya’s shoulder so the diagnosis remains “soreness” and his prognosis remains ambiguous.
Clete Thomas recalled
Per Jason Beck on Twitter Clete Thomas has been recalled and Don Kelly has been designated for assignment. The recall of Thomas is something that I’ve actually been expecting for awhile. He fixed his swing in relatively short order and in his last 28 days he’s hitting 357/432/476. He is still striking out quite a bit (24 K’s in his last 84 AB’s), but he’s hitting the ball well with a 20% line drive rate. The Cougars rejoice.
As for Don Kelly, the Tigers got way more from him than they probably expected when they signed him to a minor league deal this winter. His 250/308/354 line kind of masked some of his earlier work where he turned in some nice ab’s. I don’t know if Kelly had options left (I assumed he did but could be wrong) which makes the DFA versus the optioned out decision a little curious.
Figaro has shorter leash than Willis
That didn’t take long. Alfredo Figaro is being bounced from the rotation and Luke French will make his first career start Friday night at the Metrodome. Figaro heads to Toledo, so he still ends up with a promotion in the deal.
Figaro did struggle in his 2nd start, and he pitched out of a number of jams in first effort. The optimist can look at his heat and the breaking ball he featured when it wasn’t being hung. The pessimist sees someone who doesn’t locate his pitches well enough to be effective. The two sides meet in the middle and say, maybe he just needs to refine his stuff a little in the minors.
French is left handed which could be a factor in this decision as well with the Tigers taking on Morneau, Mauer, and Kubel next weekend. (Kurt figured this out before the move was even made) French has also been pitching pretty good and has earned the promtion. He has quality starts in 5 of his last 6 outings, and the one where he didn’t it was 4 runs in 6.2 innings. Over those last 6 starts he has 41 K’s and 7 walks in 43.1 innings.
Clearing my mind
Editors Note: Sorry for the lack of a cohesive post here. Things have been busy lately and while some of these topics might warrant a post, I know it won’t happen in a timely manner. Instead you are stuck with this concoction of stuff.
The Tigers really need to make a point of announcing Alan Trammell as the bench coach. He deserves a round of applause from Tigers fans. This is especially true since he unintentionally played into the Tigers marketing campaign when he said he’d “Always be a Tiger“…
Amber Grand sang the National Anthem on Sunday. Always a treat and I would like to see her in the rotation more often…
The nice thing about the Tigers playing from ahead is that they don’t have to make moves yet. They get to take a longer look at Ordonez/Guillen/Figaro/Galarraga to see what they really need. If they were trying to make up ground, they wouldn’t have that luxury…
Did Dontrelle Willis really refuse assignment? With the clarifications that Eddie provided on option refusal, the team has to submit a written request 4 days in advance. Willis bombed on a Sunday and was DL’d on a Thursday. The timeline would be at least circumstantial evidence to support the claim…
I enjoy keeping score at games. When I do road trips to other parks the scoresheet is my main souvenir. With a few ballparks under my belt the scoresheet by the Tigers is the best. When you combine layout, information, and value ($1) I haven’t found a better one. The worst? St. Louis. Expensive, the pencil costs extra, and it is basically a bunch of ads…
Rick Knapp has received lots of praise this year. As far as I know he’s doing a fine job and you can point to Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson and Fernando Rodney as pitchers who have improved under his watch. You can also point to Armando Galarraga who has performed much worse (and this goes beyond regression to the mean). I just bring this up because the Tigers and Indians are battling it out to see who will walk the most hitters in the AL. In all fairness though, with Willis out of the rotation it should help. Willis has issued 10.5% of the team’s free passes while only pitching 5.5% of the team’s innings.
Brandon Lyon’s walk numbers don’t look too good with 16 in 35 innings. But 6 of those are intentional walks and that leads the AL. Second place on that list is Justin Verlander with 4, 2 of which were to Albert Pujols…
My favorite player for the Lakeland Flying Tigers is Robbie Weinhardt…
I think spending a game as a member of the grounds crew would be really cool. But probably not for one of those games with lots of rain delays…
Lost in the euphoria of last night’s walk-off win the fact that the Cubs had been walking off against the Indians all weekend escaped me…
Freddy Dolsi recalled
The Tigers announced that Freddy Dolsi will take Ryan Perry’s place on the roster. Dolsi of course spent significant time with the club last year and had some memorable moments.
- He allowed a homer to Manny Ramirez to straight away centerfield on his first pitch
- He threw a pitch over everyone on an intentional ball
- He failed to call timeout after receiving the ball allowing Torii Hunter to steal second
- He didn’t cover first on an infield grounder leading to an walk-off infield single
- He fanned Jhonny Perralta and Ben Francisco to preserve a win against the Indians, at a point in the season when wins against the Indians meant something. This inspired silliness from your local blogger.
This year has been kind of ok for Dolsi. He’s limiting the walks a little better with 11 allowed in 31 innings, but he’s only fanned 19 this year, but he’s kept the ball in the yard with only 1 homer allowed. In his last 6 outings he’s gone 10.2 innings and he’s allowed just 1 run on 8 hits, 1 walk, and 4 K’s.
I don’t know that he’s the most deserving player at this point, but with 40 man roster considerations and familiarity and all this decision is probably fine.
Perry optioned to Toledo
On the heels of a game where he only retired 1 for the 4 batters he faced while protecting a 5 run lead, Ryan Perry has been optioned to Toledo. Unlike his last optional assignment where he was squeezed by roster maneuvering, this one seems to imply the Tigers have some things they’d like him to work on.
Perry has faced 27 batters his last 4 games and 13 of them have reached base, and 2 of the 11 hits were long balls. What is somewhat surprising is that the 2 walks he issued yesterday were the only 2 he’s allowed in this rough patch and 65% of his pitches have been for strikes. But he is getting hit.
For those wondering about why Perry and not Robertson, I’d guess it is because the club thinks Perry can improve by going to Toledo whereas Robertson is what he is at this point. Sadly he’s been worse than Perry over a comparable stretch with 50% of the batters Robertson has faced over his last 7 having reached base. I can’t imagine that Nate has much more leash left.
The Tigers didn’t announce a corresponding roster move and likely won’t formally announce a move until Tuesday.
Dusty Ryan coming to Detroit
UPDATE: The news is now official per tonight’s game notes. Sardinha has not been removed from the 25 man roster. The Tigers had an extra spot when they DL’d Willis and they haven’t formally recalled Figaro yet.
Detroit Tiger Tales has the scoop that Dusty Ryan has been called up to join the Tigers. The guess is that this is in place of Dane Sardinha who has been beyond brutal at the plate. This move is probably at least 2 weeks overdue.
Ryan is hitting 259/374/442 for Toledo. He will strike out a lot and his numbers likely won’t look as good in Detroit, but he should still be a substantial offensive upgrade over 097/091/129.
Sardinha is regarded as a good defender, but Ryan is as well despite a spate of wild pitches at the end of last season. Sardinha only threw out 2 of the 10 runners against him this year.
The move may make it easier to rest Laird periodically. One of the reasons for keeping Ryan in the minors was to get him everyday experience. He’s had half a season of that now and should be starting twice a week going forward. Plus, with the emergence of Alex Avila there is less pressure for Ryan to be “the catcher of the future.” Laird probably needs the rest. He’s only had one season as the full time catcher which coincided with his worst offensive season.
Willis out…of rotation
Dontrelle Willis will not take his next turn in the rotation. And that was the extent of the news from Jim Leyland’s pregame presser. I understand not naming a starter at this point as the Tigers probably consider options such as Zach Miner, Eddie Bonine, Luke French, and Alfredo Figaro (who coincidentally is on the same schedule as Willis). All are already on the 40 man roster so that doesn’t present a problem and any of them kind do as well as Willis.
But what I don’t understand is why Willis is still on the 25 man roster? Are they keeping him around for pinch hitting duties while in St. Louis? He hasn’t been moved to the bullpen. He’s just there and I don’t understand why. Option him out, release him, DL him, it doesn’t matter.
This has to stop now
Dontrelle Willis came into action today with yet another chance to solidify his spot in the rotation and on the roster. He did neither today and his time on the Tigers roster has to have come to an end. This isn’t brilliant thinking by any means, and it’s late, but it’s time.
Today’s effort included 8 walks in 3.2 innings, 4 of those were to the leadoff hitter in each inning. He also allowed 6 hits and a lot of loud outs. That he was only charged with 6 runs was a matter of luck and not grittiness or some ability to bounce back. Sadly this carnage was a continuation of a pattern rather than a blip.
Whether this is anxiety or mechanics or another injury, Willis is not an effective big league pitcher. The Tigers have been patient, as they needed to be due to the contract. But he can’t be allowed to hurt this team anymore. He needs to be off the roster now. I don’t care if he gets optioned to the minors or outright released but he can’t be allowed to pitch for this team any longer.
I wish Willis the best of luck. He seems to be universally loved by players, media, and fans. The way he has handled his adversity the last 2 years is a testament to the type of individual he is. But if he is on the roster after today’s debacle it is nothing more than a charity case.
UPDATE: No moves have been announced and with an offday tomorrow they have some time to make a decision. In the meantime Jason Beck has blogged Dontrelle’s reaction to the start. I encourage everyone to check it out.
Ryan Perry rejoining the team?
UPDATE Again: Now it’s official. Bondo to the DL for continued rehabilitation.
UPDATE: While there still hasn’t been an official announcement from the team, it does appear that Jeremy Bonderman is hitting the DL. I’ll update with more as I know it.
The Free Press is reporting that Ryan Perry is not with Mud Hens and is believed to be on his way to Pittsburgh to rejoin the team. Perry was optioned down to make room for Jeremy Bonderman. Perry has to stay on assignment for 10 days unless he is recalled to take someone’s place due to injury. So if he’s coming back it means someone is going on the DL and it is likely Bonderman.
If Bonderman does hit the DL it will be interesting to see how the Tigers handle his rehab. Once he starts pitching for a minor league club he is limited to 30 days. Will they start him right away hoping he gets the velocity back in a month or do they wait a while?
Clete’s Out, the Cougars Cry
Following today’s game Clete Thomas was optioned to Toledo and Don Kelly was called up in his place. Beck quotes Leyland on Thomas and the decision:
“Thomas has to work on shortening his swing,” manager Jim Leyland said. “This is not a punishment. This is a player that we love.”
Kelly is versatile. He is a veteran of the Tigers system who has typically posted good batting averages and he’ll take some walks. He’s been raking for Toledo this year (341/409/478) while playing predominantly in centerfielder though he has a history as an infielder.
This move still surprises me greatly. Yes, Thomas has been struggling and swinging through a lot of pitches. But up until this afternoon Leyland thought enough of him to bat him 3rd and he is a very good defender. But his 237/315/412 line is dramatically better than Josh Anderson’s 252/289/330 line. Really, if anybody should be going out it should be Anderson who is absolutely anemic at the plate and despite his speed he managed to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. But he’s your leadoff hitter…sorry…back to the topic at hand.
I agree with Kurt that this move is mostly about versatility with 6 games coming up in NL parks and Leyland is itchin’ for some double switchin’ and Kelly will be his left handed Raburn. Or maybe they are just looking for some rookie spark. Still, I think the wrong guy got sent out.