The Tigers made a handful of roster moves today to prepare for the offseason. They are:

• Mike Hollimon was outrighted to Toledo
• Marcus Thames and Matt Treanor have been removed from the roster and are now free agents
• Jeff Larish and Joel Zumaya have been reinstated from the disabled list
• Jay Sborz had his contract purchased from Toledo

Thoughts

The Hollimon move isn’t surprising. He very may well still have a role in the organization. He has a 260/361/478 line in his minor league career which is solid for a middle infielder. He’s also 27 and has been injured much of the last 2 seasons meaning that he wasn’t going to get claimed.

The Matt Treanor announcement isn’t surprising either. Treanor will unfortunately finish his Tigers career without a hit but he does have the distinction of catching Rick Porcello’s debut.

Jay Sborz was eligible to become a minor league free agent and the Tigers evidently think he is close enough to helping to keep him in the fold. The second round pick in the 2003 draft struggled mightily his first 3 years in the organization but has progressed nicely since 2007 and he fanned 10.4 batters per 9 innings working out of the Erie bullpen in 2009.

That brings us to Marcus Thames. As an analyst I have to say letting Thames go is clearly the right move. He is limited defensively and his batting line as a 4th outfielder/DH was acceptable when he was making much less. For the Tigers to bring him back likely would have meant a $3 million investment. With younger players like Casper Wells, Clete Thomas, and Wilkin Ramirez likely to push for back up outfielder roles and Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez sharing time at DH, there wasn’t a place for Thames. I thought the Tigers would hold on to him until closer to the tender deadline and perhaps include him as part of a trade, but there must have been little interest on that front.

That said, the fan in me is very sad to see Thames go. The homers were spectacular and surprisingly clutch. He was always on the outside looking in when it came to playing time but he never publicly complained and he always played his butt off. He’s also one of the few Tigers that I’ve had a chance to talk with on multiple occasions and he struck me as one of the genuinely nicest people you’ll meet. So I wish Thames all the best where ever he ends up.

Matt Treanor’s Tiger career may have come to a fairly abrupt end. Treanor’s hip spur surgery turned out to be more extensive than originally anticipated and he is likely out for the season. Being on a one year contract, there is a pretty good chance the Tigers won’t re-up which could mean that Treanor ends his Tigers career hitless.

Though Treanor’s days in Tiger-stripes were short, I do have one Treanor story. We were at the game where Rick Porcello was making his first start. Treanor of course caught him that day and was doing his stretching in the outfield. A group of about 15 kids kept yelling for him to throw them a ball. This went on the entire time he was stretching and while he was warming up with Porcello in the outfield.

When it was time for Treanor and Porcello to retreat to the bullpen, Treanor turned around and flipped the ball to my son. This stirred up a ton of “hey, what’re ya doin’” and other complaints.

Treanor looked at them, smiled at them and said, “Not one of you said, please.” And he took off for the pen.

Matt Treanor has been placed on the disabled list with a right hip strain. Dane Sardhina’s contract has been purchased from Toledo.

UPDATE: The News reports that he is expected to be out 2 months. This article doesn’t specify that Sardhina has been called up, but that is in fact the case per today’s game notes.