The Detroit Tigers announced today that outfielder Clete Thomas has been optioned to AAA Toledo. In doing so, they finalized their Opening Day roster, barring some unforeseen circumstances between now and then.
Thomas will join fellow outfielders Brennan Boesch, Casper Wells, and Wilkin Ramirez with the MudHens, who will presumably try to also get outfield reps for Jeff Larish and Ryan Strieby, infielders by trade. Suffice to say, Hens manager Larry Parrish has his work cut out for him in divvying up those at bats.
In making this move, the Tigers chose the versatility of Don Kelly over the defensive prowess of Thomas. There is no [...]

Now almost 24 hours since the trade that sent Nate Robertson to the Marlins, the Tigersphere is still all a flutter. After giving it some more thought, my reaction hasn’t changed much. I understand the deal, I don’t necessarily love it, but I can see that it was probably the best deal the Tigers could make. Moving Robertson allows him to be a starter elsewhere, he wouldn’t have been happy in the bullpen, which is what would have happened had he stayed in Detroit.
Just so you know, last week’s poll about which of the pitchers would make the staff turned up the [...]

Before I begin here, let me give you the final line from Dontrelle Willis’ start today against Baltimore. 4.1 IP 7 H 5 ER 4 BB 3 K
Not exactly overwhelming stuff when you have just traded your safety net.
But here’s where I’ll say don’t panic. Don’t panic.
That last line was as much for myself as for you. The trade of Nate Robertson opens up a whole big area for concern that wasn’t there two hours ago. We know that Willis has shown a great rebound from the woes of the past two years so far in camp, but we also know that those games [...]

The final chapter in Nate Robertson’s Tigers career was penned today when the veteran left hander was traded to the Florida Marlins in exchange for LHP Jay Voss. The Tigers will also send along cash to offset the cost of Robertson’s contract, though the exact amount is unknown at this time.
UPDATE: According to MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro, the Marlins will be paying only the league minimum to Robertson of $400,000. The Tigers are picking up the remaining $9.6MM
The fallout is that both of the remaining starters, Jeremy Bonderman and Dontrelle Willis are now officially in the rotation. Willis was in the [...]

As expected, the Detroit Tigers announced a slew of roster cuts this morning, trimming the number of players in camp down to 27, just two over the Opening Day limit. In total, five players were re-assigned.
The only real surprise in today’s announcement was that there are still two remaining cuts to be made, we have originally heard the roster would be cut down to 26 this morning. One would have to wonder if the delay involves a pending trade, as is frequently the case at the end of camp.
INF Brent Dlugach was optioned to AAA Toledo, and the other four, C Robinzon Diaz, Ps [...]

Prior to today’s game in Dunedin versus Toronto, Tigers manager Jim Leyland told the media that by the time the Tigers take the bus to Sarasota to face Baltimore on Tuesday, only one roster spot will have yet to be decided.
The final player to be cut will likely come from the pitching staff, so a decision will be made between Don Kelly, Clete Thomas, and Jeff Larish in the morning. Larish is the long-shot, as he doesn’t provide the depth at centerfield Leyland is looking for. Most folks seem to think Kelly ends up getting the call, but I could [...]

Let’s assume for a moment that all three potential starters are actually members of the 25-man roster come next Monday. Two of the three (Jeremy Bonderman, Dontrelle Willis, Nate Robertson) will be in the rotation and the third would be slotted into a long-relief role in the bullpen.
Obviously, this, in itself, is a big assumption.
Talk of a trade involving Robertson has been raised this past week, and the prevailing thought coming into camp was that at least one of the three would be released prior to Opening Day. But for the sake of this discussion, we will assume that nothing [...]

Over the course of the last five weeks, speculation has been rampant regarding the final composition of the Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day roster. With just four days left in Lakeland, the team has cut down to 32 players in camp, but now just 28 have a realistic chance of making the trip north.
Over the weekend, manager Jim Leyland basically put to bed any thought that reliever Joel Zumaya was in danger of being demoted. The Tigers have wanted to see Zumaya throw on back-to-back days, but a rain-shortened game yesterday in Tampa halted that possibility. Zumaya will be there when [...]