Tigers Cut Three, Opening Day Roster Appears Complete

The Detroit Tigers made their final round of cuts this morning and in the process have just about finalized their roster for Opening Day.

Infielder Danny Worth, outfielder Andy Dirks, and pitcher Adam Wilk were the three players who got the bad news today. Worth was optioned to AAA Toledo while Dirks and Wilk were re-assigned to minor league camp. What’s the difference? Nothing, really. Worth is on the 40-man roster and therefore had to be optioned out. Dirks and Wilk are non-roster players so no option was needed. They’ll all likely be MudHens at the start of the season.

Those moves mean that the Tigers have 27 players in big league camp. Joel Zumaya and Carlos Guillen will start the year on the disabled list, so the remaining 25 will be the roster. The only additional move that will need to be made is in creating a spot on the 40-man roster for pitcher Enrique Gonzalez, who makes the club as a non-roster invitee. This means that someone with be designated for assignment between now and Thursday.

Outfielders Brennan Boesch and Casper Wells both make the club as reserve bats and right hander Brayan Villarreal joins Gonzalez in the Tigers bullpen. That bullpen will also include left hander Daniel Schlereth, who some had considered a possibility to be optioned out as well.

As any outlet will remind you, the Opening Day roster doesn’t mean a whole lot when it comes right down to nit, but there certainly is a prestige factor in winning a job out of camp. To be sure, regardless of how much time a guy like Worth will see in Detroit this year, he’d gladly switch places with any of the remaining 25 guys this morning.

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