Non-roster invitees are always an interesting group. There are young players that are getting their first looks from the major league staff, journeymen still trying to establish themselves as big league talents, and always a few veterans trying to catch on with yet another team, looking for one last season in the sun.

Upon scouring Monozygotic’s  post, I found the list was littered with former Tigers. I always find it fun to catch up on the guys that used to wear the Old English D, after all once a Tiger, always a Tiger.

In addition to those listed after the jump, I found a few former Tiger farm hands, including Dewayne Wise and Scott Moore. But I decided to keep this list to big league Tigers only.

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Jason Grilli- RP, Cleveland- 8-8 record in four seasons (2005-08) as a reliever with the Tigers before being traded to Colorado in 2008. Grilli has been released twice since then.

Vance Wilson- C, KC- Wilson caught two years (2005-06) for the Tigers but hasn’t played in a big league game since. He is still recovering from two Tommy John surgeries on his right arm. He played in 59 games at AA last season for the Royals.

Mike Maroth- P, Min- Maroth lost 21 games for the Tigers in 2003, but was one of the pleasant surprises of the 2006 staff before injuries cut short his season. He was traded to St. Louis in 2007, and that was the last he’s seen a big league mound. He has been released twice since then. Over his six years in Detroit (2002-2007), he had a record of 50-62.

Jacque Jones- OF, Min- Jones was acquired by the Tigers in advance of the 2008 season, but was released after just 24 games that year. During his time in Detroit, Jones hit all of one home run and had a line of .165/.244/.253/.498. He caught on with Florida, but was actually significantly worse with them. He has been released twice since leaving Detroit.

Mike Rivera- C, NYY- Rivera caught 43 games over two years in Detroit (2001-02), and has been a four-A catcher ever since. He saw time with San Diego and was even re-signed by the Tigers in 2005 before being released at the end of Spring Training in 2005. He’s played the past several years with Milwaukee.

Marcus Thames- OF, NYY- Thames hit 99 of his 101 career homers as a Tiger from 2004-09. He was released in October of 2009 and recently signed with the Yankees, which is where his career began.

Clay Rapada- RP, Tex- Another member of the ‘09 Tigers, Rapada was traded to the Rangers after the season. In parts of the past three years in Detroit, Rapada was 3-0 and held left handed batters to a .235 average.

Brent Clevlen- OF, Atl- A former second round pick of the Tigers, Clevlen was picked up by the Braves as a minor league free agent this winter. He has just 80 big league at bats, but has shown good power and a great arm. He’s still just 26 years old.

Josh Anderson- OF, Cin- Anderson played just half of the ‘09 season in Detroit before being shipped to Kansas City. Even the Royals didn’t think he could play, despite their affection for low-OBP outfielders. He has played for four clubs in the last three years.

Shane Loux- P, Hou- If you don’t recall Loux being a Tiger, you’ve probably just blocked out the memories. Loux made seven starts during the 2002 and 2003 seasons in Detroit, carrying a 7.71 ERA. He disappeared from the big leagues until 2008 when he came up with the Angels. He returned to a starting role with LA of A last season, as well.

Chris Shelton- 1B/3B, Hou- No one needs a reminder of the scorching month of April Shelton put up in 2006, but since then he has bounced around quite a bit. He has made appearances with Texas and Seattle over the past two years and he’s trying to re-invent himself as a third baseman these days.

Jeff Weaver- R, LAD- The former Tiger ace was traded away in the Jeremy Bonderman deal of 2002. Since then he has been a part of six different organizations, including the Dodgers twice. Somewhere between Detroit and New York, Weaver seems to have lost his effectiveness, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Matt Treanor- C, Mil- Treanor will always hold the Tigers team record for lowest career batting average after going hitless in his 13 at bats last season before injuries ended his year. On the plus side, Treanor’s loss was the Tigers gain as they got a chance to look at Alex Avila last year. Misty May will be missed, her husband, not so much.

Mike Hessman- 1B/3B, NYM- Hessman has over 300 career minor league home runs, and all of 13 in the big leagues, nine of those coming with the Tigers. He doesn’t make a lot of contact, but when he does, he has tremendous power. At 31, Hessman is probably the closest we will ever see to a real-life Crash Davis, but the Mets don’t have a clear-cut choice at first base this year, so he may get a look.

Dane Sardinha- C, Phi- Sardinha may be the worst hitter in organized baseball. In two years with the Tigers, the defensive specialist was 10 for 75 for a -14 OPS+ and a paltry .133 average. Defensively, he wasn’t all that special, either, throwing out just 18% of base stealer. But hey, he calls a good game from what I hear.

Wilfredo Ledezma- P, Pit- Ledezma was another member of the 2003 Tigers team, and under the circumstances, he wasn’t all that bad. In parts of five years in Detroit, Ledezma had a 15-18 record with an ERA of 5.15. Since being traded to Atlanta in 2007, Ledezma has been with six different organizations.

Virgil Vasquez- P, Pit- Vasquez made three starts for the 2007 Tigers, posting an ERA over eight. Since then he has been waived three times. Vasquez appeared in 14 games (7 starts) for last years Pirates, going 0-2.

Denny Bautista- RP, SF- Bautista made 16 appearances for the 2008 Tigers. He had no record and a solid 3.32 ERA before being traded to Pittsburgh. The hard-throwing right hander has always struggled with command, but he’s till just 29 and has a lot of life on his fastball. Maybe someday he’ll put it all together.

Matt Stairs- OF/1B, SD- Stairs began his major league career back in 1992, and he’s still playing at age 42. The Tigers are one of 11 different teams he’s played with over his 17 years. He played in 14 games after being acquired as a late season waiver claim in 2006, hitting two home runs for Detroit.

Also of note, Stairs is the only player on this list to be tortured by Fire Joe Morgan. He was FJM’d following his NLCS heroics for the Phillies in 2008. The video is about halfway down the post, make sure you’re not drinking anything while enjoying the wonder that was FJM, else it will burn coming out of your nose.

First, we learned the Tigers had made a flurry on minor moves.  They announced the trade of LHP Clay Rapada to the Rangers.  In return, the Tigers will receive some sort of compensation, be it a player to be named later or cash considerations.  That move cleared a 40-man roster spot for LHP Brad Thomas who pitched the past two seasons in Korea.  In conjunction with those moves, the Tigers also outrighted RHP Zach Simons to AAA Toledo, clearing another roster spot.

It certainly seemed like a precursor to a bigger move, having the open roster spot.  The Tigers had been rumored to have swung a deal with the Mets that would send RHP Edwin Jackson to New York.  That rumor was quickly debunked when a Mets official told Newsday’s Ken Davidoff that no such trade was happening. 

The open roster spot was filled shortly thereafter when shortstop Adam Everett agreed to another one-year deal to stay in Detroit.  Everett played last season at $1 million, a paltry sum for a major league veteran.  He had been thought to have been seeking near $3 million for 2010, especially given that a fellow defensive whiz, Alex Gonzalez, had already fetched that much from the Blue Jays.  But Everett signed his deal for just $1.55 million, he will again be the primary shortstop for the Tigers.

As the evening drew to a close, the Tigers were having significant trade discussions with as many as 12 clubs, according to Fanhouse’s Ed Price.  The hottest rumor was of a three-way deal that would send Jackson to Arizona and Curtis Granderson to the Yankees.  In return, the Tigers were set to receive RHP Max Scherzer from Arizona and OF Austin Jackson and LHPs Phil Coke and Micheal Dunn.  The deal may have fallen apart late when one of the teams backed away.  My hope is that the Tigers are holding out for a better return.

The night ended when Jason Beck reported that RHPs Brandon Lyon and Fernando Rodney had both declined the Tigers offers of salary arbitration.  Both players are seeking multi-year deals, but the hope is Detroit will be able to retain at least one of them.  It doesn’t look good however, as Lyon in particular has already been linked to both the Phillies and Yankees.

My take- the Tigers’ haul in the proposed blockbuster doesn’t seem to jive with the day’s earlier moves.  The Yankees apparently spent most of the day working on getting Granderson, but in this trade Detroit would get two LH relievers.  They already have Bobby Seay, Fu-Te Ni, and now Thomas lined up as lefty relievers, so there is no need for Coke in the big league pen.  Dunn projects as a nice arm, having pitched last season in AA, but the Tigers went part of the year in 2009 with only one lefty in the ‘pen, hard to imagine they’ll want four of them out there this season.  This deal could still happen, but I’m betting if it does, Coke’s name will be removed in favor of RHP Phil Hughes.  And I would be just fine with that.  Remember folks, Granderson is at this point a very good defender who can’t hit a left hander.  How much value does a platoon player have?

As for the Jackson for Scherzer part of the deal, I hope there is a way to make this happen.  Scherzer has a boatload of talent and is under team control for another five season.  Exactly the type of player Detroit is trying to get.

In on board with bringing back Everett, you know what you are going to get with him.  He doesn’t hit much, but it will be important to have him working with rookie Scott Sizemore up the middle.  Sure, Brent Dlugach could have probably filled the spot at 1/3 the price, but Everett’s experience and defense are worth more that the $1.55 million he’ll make next year.

To get the party started, the Tigers announced today (via twitter) the signing of lefty reliever Brad Thomas, who Dave Dombrowski is viewing as a major league option out of the bullpen.  Thomas pitched the past two seasons in Korea.  To make room for Thomas, the Tigers traded LHP Clay Rapada to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later or cash.  Detroit also announced that RHP Zach Simons was outrighted off of the 40 man roster.

So the Tigers actually freed up a roster spot with these moves.  Thomas will occupy one of the two vacancies, but the other is of yet available.  Could it be another deal is in the works?  MLBTR is the place to be for all the week’s goings on and they have word that an Edwin Jackson trade could be going down by day’s end.  Stay tuned…