The Detroit Tiger Weblog

Jamie Walker,1-0 with a 3.52 ERA in 27 games with the Tigers earlier this season, was recalled from Triple-A Toledo, where he was 0-1 with a 1.98 in 10 games.
To make room on the roster, right-hander Jose Paniagua was outrighted to the Mud Hens. Paniagua cleared waivers and has 72 hours to report. If he doesn’t, the Tigers don’t have to pay the remaining $550,000 of his $1.325-million contract.

If you didn’t know already, it’s pretty clear now. Dave Dombrowski is all about himself, not the team.

Former hitting coach Dave Engle is a special assignment scout for the Mets and has been a frequent attendee of recent Tigers games in Detroit. According to a person familiar with his assignment, Engle has been in the Motor City looking carefully at left fielder Bobby Higginson, a player the Mets have had interest in before.

The A’s won the big three-way trade, although I’m not sure I see any losers. The Tigers may be less of a winner, but Carlos Pena is already their best player, and gives them someone around which to build a lineup.

He’s drawn favorable comparisons to another Evansville standout, Andy Benes, for his frame and stuff. While he’s not quite as overpowering as Benes, who was drafted by the Padres with the first overall pick in 1988, Larrison can run his fastball into the low-90s and regularly works in the 88-92 mph range with good movement. He also uses a curveball and changeup and has used his three-pitches to hold FSL hitters to a .212 average in 67 innings.

This latest trade could prove to be another in a long string of far-sighted moves Dombrowski has made during his career. In many cases those trades looked much better in hindsight than they did initially.

Comerica Park in Detroit isn’t a hitters’ park, but it’s a good place for Pena to go relax and be himself. He had disappointed some in Oakland who thought he was more advanced than he showed to be, and reliever Franklyn German (who also went to Detroit in the deal) is another tools guy Beane always uses — like Jesus Colome, Jose Ortiz and Mario Encarnacion — in deals such as this.

This is a puzzling trade from the Tigers’ point of view. Jeff Weaver is the kind of pitcher you want to acquire when you’re rebuilding a team, a 25-year old pitcher who looks like he’s becoming an ace. Carlos Pena remains an excellent prospect, but the Tigers are just swapping very good players and not really making any gains off of it. The Tigers already have Munson coming around in Toledo (OPS getting close to .850 despite a .231 batting average) and I just don’t feel that this is enough of an upgrade to justify trading Weaver.