Category Archives: Roster Management

Free Agents, Roster Management

Let the offseason begin

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With the World Series officially over after the longest game 5 ever, I half (actually more than half) expected the Tigers to make a trade today.  When I saw a press release come across I thought my intuition was correct.  Instead it was a compilation of roster moves and the hiring of a bullpen coach.

The Tigers rehired Jeff Jones to be the bullpen coach after firing him at the end of the season.  I don’t find it that surprising or awkward.  Jones had been all but assured a role in the organization and his firing was more related to the dismissal of Chuck Hernandez.  I’d imagine Rick Knapp had the freedom to look elsewhere, but decided to stick with Jones.

The Tigers also announced that Dane Sardinha and Gary Glover had been outrighted and both decided to  become free agents.  As I imagined when Virgil Vasquez was claimed, he was one of several the team were pruning.  Eddie speculates on the motivation for the Tigers keeping Eddie Bonine and Mike Hessman on the big league roster.

Another spot on the 40 man roster was freed when the Tigers formally declined Edgar Renteria’s option.  This is hardly news though since Dave Dombrowki indicated as much a month ago. 

Declaring free agency was Freddy Garcia.  Garcia is still in the long toss stage after leaving the last game of the year with tightness in his greater shoulder area.  Don’t read too much into this as it is merely a formality. 

In addition to the Tigers getting their house in order, there is speculation about potential targets.  Jason Varitek’s name has gained some steam.  Mostly due to a Ken Rosenthal report that Scott Boras is shopping Varitek to Detroit.  But I have to agree with the consensus that this would not be a good thing.

Now Chad Cordero on the other hand…that’s worth considering for the right price.  And while the Tigers, like many teams, would be hesitant to offer much in the way of guaranteed money they can offer a wide open bullpen situation.

Roster Management

Virgil Vasquez claimed by Red Sox

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The Tigers placed Virgil Vasquez on waivers and he was claimed by the Red Sox today. Vasquez had a strong showing in the AFL in 2006 and got a couple shots to start in 2007. However he struggled in 2008 for AAA and even the pitching starved Tigers didn’t call him up.

The timing of this is a little odd. Could it be that the Tigers were clearing 40 man roster space to announce a trade at the completion of the World Series? If so why not just jettison Dane Sardinha or Macay McBride (who also could be on waivers, we just don’t know it)? Most likely this is roster pruning heading into the offseason. With Vasquez they probably would have liked to have kept him, but not at the cost of a spot on the 40 man.

2008 Season, Roster Management

The Call-Ups

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It’s September 1st, so it’s the annual rite of infusing of rosters with up and comers and AAA fill-ins. The Tigers announced their round of call-ups. They include: Dusty Ryan, Mike Hessman, Dontrelle Willis, Chris Lambert, Clay Rapada, and Freddy Dolsi.

Dolsi had some nice moments this season, is already on the 40 man roster, and could be a piece of the bullpen puzzle next year. He gets more evaluation time and can pitch some innings as the starters continue to falter. Ditto for Rapada.

Lambert is also a slam dunk, seeing as the Tigers will need to keep him on the 40 man roster if they are inclined to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Plus they need a 5th starter and they get a closer look at him.

Dusty Ryan has a legit shot at being the back-up next year, and like Lambert will be on the 40 man roster anyways. He’ll probably get a start or two before heading to the AFL.

Hessman hit a lot of homers and struck out a lot (139 times in 396 ABs). But he also plays a solid third base and the Tigers don’t have their regular third baseman. Chances are Hessman will be removed from the 40 at the end of the season.

As for Willis, who knows what will happen. He’ll pitch a simulated game tomorrow. But given his forearm issues, I don’t know if he’ll contribute anything.

As for the guys left out, Mike Hollimon, Brent Clevlen, Casey Fien, and Francisco Cruceta would seem to have been candidates. Hollimon struggled mightily once being sent back to AAA seeing his average drop to the low .200s. Fien and Cruceta were probably victims of roster machinations. Fien wouldn’t need to be added to protect him from the Rule 5, so it makes sense to defer his possible promotion to next spring. Clevlen is probably the biggest surprise. He will be out of options next year, and while he slumped late (.645 OPS in August) it wasn’t to the extent that Hollimon suffered.

2008 Season, Roster Management

Chris Lambert to debut on Tuesday

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Chris Lambert will get the call to start in Nate Robertson’s place, and in the process make his big league debut. The Tigers acquired Lambert in exchange for Mike Maroth last season. At the time, Lambert was spelling his last name a little differently, PTBNL.

Lambert was the Cardinals first round pick in the 2004 draft. He opened the 2005 season in high A ball and made 10 pretty successful starts before being bumped to AA. That’s where he languished. He walked 5 batters per 9 for 18 starts, and not surprisingly repeated the level in 2006. But the results were about the same. He started 2007 there as well, before being bumped to AAA. With the promotion came a move the bullpen where he gave up a lot of homers (10 in 57.2 innings).

He made one start for Toledo at the end of the 2007 season, and has made 26 starts this year. He’s posted a solid 7.5 K/9 while shaving a walk per nine off his career numbers to bring it to 2.9 for the season.

Another improvement leading to his 3.50 ERA is the drop in home runs allowed, with only 7 in 149.1 innings. Interestingly, or maybe troublesome-ly, is that all 7 homers have come on the road. Still, even looking at road only numbers means he’s allowing less than 1 per 9 innings pitched.

Lambert will be added to the 40 man roster, but he likely would have earned that distinction in the offseason to protect him from the rule 5 draft. Somebody will need to be sent down from the 25 man roster. Presumably this will be Aquilino Lopez who can be optioned out, and then recalled when the rosters expand.

2008 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Todd Jones back to the DL

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Todd Jones is back on the disabled list. After 1 outing. Makes you wonder why he was brought off the DL in the first place doesn’t it? Of course it did take him a half hour to get out of that inning so that may explain it. Or perhaps Todd is toast and he’ll just finish the year on the DL instead of being outright released.

Oddly, Gary Glover had his contract purchased by the Tigers to fill Todd’s spot in the bullpen. Glover wasn’t even in the organization until last week when he was added to Toledo. Glover appeared in 29 games for the Rays this year with 18 walks and 22 strike outs in 34 innings. I don’t get this at all. Why not give Casey Fien a shot? Or bring back Francisco Cruceta who is striking out everybody in Toledo (or at least everybody he doesn’t walk) with 52 K’s and 20 walks in 36 innings? Or bring back Clay Rapada who is already using an option year and move Bobby Seay from lefty specialist to 7th inning guy.

I guess it’s better to give a handful of innings to a 31 year old journeyman pitcher who has wowed coaches in his 3 innings at Toledo. I’m sorry, there may be very valid roster management/option/service time issues at play here. I don’t get it though.

2008 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Joel Zumaya to the DL

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Not surprisingly, Joel Zumaya has been placed on the disabled list. His shoulder is the culprit but the diagnosis on the press release was limited to “sore.”

Francis Beltran gets called up to take his spot. Why not Casey Fien or Francisco Cruceta, or someone else? This is probably a 2 day call up until Todd Jones can be activated on Friday. Beltran is fairly expendable whereas Fien would require burning an option and Cruceta could be lost through waivers when he would be sent down.

Roster Management

Sheffield on waivers isn’t news

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Gary Sheffield was placed on waivers today. This is a non-event. The only reason this is currently noteworthy is that it didn’t happen earlier. The only way it becomes noteworthy is if a team puts in a claim.

Just because Sheffield is on waivers does not mean he is going anywhere. These are revocable waivers and it is a procedural thing that needs to be done for the team to be able to trade Sheffield. Many players are put on waivers, and Sheffield is likely one of many Tigers.

Sheffield is in the lineup tonight because he is still on the team, and will most likely be when the waiver period expires on Thursday afternoon.

2008 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Tigers make roster moves

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Following the game tonight Eddie Bonine was optioned to Erie and Dane Sardhina was optioned to Toledo designated for assignment. Taking their places are Jeff Larish and Brandon Inge.

Inge of course is returning from the disabled list.

In the case of Bonine, he struggled his last 2 outings and his command was particularly good. With the All Star break coming up the Tigers won’t need a 5th starter for over a week so they are giving themselves an extra bat.

As for who will fill that 5th starter role, I’d guess it will be Zach Miner after the break. He was great in a 4 inning start for Toledo and will get at least one more start to further stretch his arm out prior to being needed.

2008 Season, Roster Management

Miner leaguer

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Zach Miner paid the price for a 4 walk effort on Tuesday night with an assignment to Toledo. Aquilino Lopez who was being stretched out as a starter has been recalled to provide a strike thrower in the pen.

Both moves are warranted, but my first thought when hearing of this was Denny Bautista. The Tigers thought they were better off ditching Bautista than optioning Miner or other optionable pitchers.

Bautista isn’t going to make or break this team so I don’t want to make too much of it. And his qualifications as a strike thrower were dubious at best. I just don’t understand what changed that dramatically that Miner couldn’t be sent down 2 weeks ago.

2008 Season, Roster Management, Trades

Tigers trade Bautista

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I didn’t get a chance to touch on this last night because I had left for the game when the news hit. The Tigers traded Denny Bautista for Pittsburgh minor leaguer Kyle Pearson. With Bautista DFA’d the Tigers had 10 days to find a home for him. In exchange they get AA right hander Pearson. The 2003 4th round pick has a below average strike out rate (5.74 K/9) and a middling walk rate (3.38 BB/9). He’s 23.

With little leverage the Tigers get little in return. For the Pirates they get a guy who could help them at a very low cost.

Of course the Tigers could have kept Bautista had they utilized the options on Freddy Dolsi, Zach Miner, or Casey Fossum (Fossum could have refused assignment). With Rodney’s health always in question and neither of the big guns having pitched at all this year, I would have preferred the wait and see approach and horded as much depth as possible.

2008 Season, Roster Management

Denny gets Bautista’d

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Denny Bautista is odd man out of the bullpen with the return of Joel Zumaya. I’d offer up my feelings, but instead I’ll point you to Detroit Tigers Thoughts who already has it covered.

UPDATE: It appears that the Tigers tried to move Bautista prior to DFA’ing him. Regardless I think it’s a bad move. Bautista hasn’t been bad. Rodney is a long shot to make it through the rest of the season. And while the rehab stint was good for Zumaya can he be counted on holding up? If it’s me I’m hording talent and sending down Dolsi or Miner – and I’m a Dolsi fan.

But instead they are keeping 3 guys with options and losing a guy who hasn’t pitched that bad.