If you’re new here and like what you see, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Need more info on what subscribing entails? Here’s a primer. Thanks for visiting!Dave Dombrowski held court with reporters today and he revealed a glimpse into this winter’s agenda.
The main points:

Edgar Renteria’s option will not be [...]

Buffalo 6 Toledo 2Eddie Bonine took his first loss getting knocked around for 11 hits in just 2 innings. Clete Thomas was 3 for 5. Jeff Larish was 1 for 1 before exiting to get on a plane. Reading 1 Erie 3Jeff Frazier went 2 for 4. Andrew Kown allowed just [...]

Toledo 3 Durham 9It wasn’t a good night for Virgil Vasquez who allowed 6 runs on 3 homers in just 3 innings. Yorman Bazardo came on in relief and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits in 4.1 innings while fanning 5 and walking none. And in an odd night, Hessman, Larish, and Hollimon [...]

Charlotte 3 Toledo 5
Mike Hessman and Clete Thomas homered. Brent Clevlen had 3 hits pushing his line to 313/376/563. Casey Fossum got the win allowing 1 run in 6 innings on 3 hits. Blaine Neal allowed 2 homers in one inning of relief.
Toledo 1 Charlotte 4
Mike Hessman homered and had one of [...]

Louisville 5 Toledo 0
Curtis Granderson doubled and singled, and like the night before in Grand Rapids that was it for the highlights. Virgil Vasquez allowed 5 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks with only 1 K in 5.1 innings. Cassey Fossum went 2.2 innings allowing one hit while fanning 3.

Jason Beck was [...]

On the second batter of the Friday night’s game Dontrelle Willis slipped and hyper-extended his knee. It’s unclear at this point whether the knee injury will cause Willis to hit the DL, but given his control problems this year it might not be a bad idea regardless. If the Tigers do need a [...]

Charlotte 9 Toledo 7
Ryan Raburn homered and knocked in 3 while Mike Hessman doubled and tripled. Brent Clevlen went 3 for 4 and continues a promising start to his season. Matt Joyce hit his second homer of the year to go along with a walk. Virgil Vasquez was knocked around for 7 [...]

It’s only one start, but the reviews couldn’t get much better of Rick Porcello’s debut. I hit the details in the minor league wrap last night, but those in attendance have since had time to post their reports.
Porcello threw 71 pitches over the 5 innings, which was right in line with a pitch count/inning [...]

At least everyone else in the organization won their opening days. Some great starting pitching efforts including the debut of Rick Porcello.
Durham 2 Toledo 3
Dane Sardinha homered and singled. Mike Hessman had a 2 hit day as well. Jeff Larish struggled in his AAA debut going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. [...]

Given the rash of bad news with injuries, shellackings, and visa problems hitting the Tigers bullpen, today was a nice change.

Denny Bautista continued to pitch well. He went 2 scoreless innings with 4 K’s and is going to be hard to leave behind when the team heads North.
Jordan Tata, who wasn’t a strong candidate [...]

The Tigers are going the split squad route today with a home game against the Reds (Dontrelle Willis) and a road tilt against the Indians (Yorman Bazardo). For those with MLB.tv they’ll be able to catch the road game which is set to feature Rick Porcello.
Also of note today, Todd Jones is slated to [...]

credit Roger DeWitt
The Tigers first round draft pick from a year ago made his debut of sorts today. Rick Porcello pitched 2 perfect innings, the first of which came while the Blue Jays regulars were in the game. Here’s how his day went:

David Eckstein grounds out, pitcher Rick Porcello to first baseman Jeff [...]