Tigers send Dusty Ryan to the Padres for PTBNL

It was inevitable that a Detroit Tigers catcher in the system was going to get dealt. The only question was when. Just days after being waived off the 40 man roster, former top 10 prospect Dusty Ryan was dealt to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Oh how much you have to love the player to be named later.

Ryan, who hit  .257 (52-for-202) with 10 homers and 35 RBIs in 63 games with the Mud Hens, and .154 (4-for-26) with four RBIs in 12 games with the Tigers, will get a chance to at least win the backup job with San Diego’s parent club in 2010. The Padres only have two current catchers active on their forty man roster. Ryan will battle with the starting job with the incumbent Nick Hundley. The youngster hit .238 at the big league level last season in 78 games.

Hundley showed a lot of promise before being drafted by the Padres in the second round of the 2005 draft. At the University of Arizona that year, Hundley hit .352 with 15 hrs and 46 RBIs. That power and consistency has not yet developed at the professional level.

Ryan was once considered the catcher of the future in Detroit. Before the trade that acquired Gerald Laird before the 2009 season, many thought that Ryan would be named the starting catcher to begin the 2009 season.  Ryan would struggle in winter ball the off-season before 2009 and fall out of contention of the back up job. After seasoning in AAA, and the emergence of Alex Avila, Ryan lost his way to Detroit pretty quickly.

The Padres have a lot of depth in their system when it comes to position players, so it wouldn’t be a surprise that the Tigers receive a player rather than cash. Then again, with the state of the team, cash wouldn’t be much of a surprise either.

Tiger Bites:

– Jon Paul Morosi is reporting that the Tigers have no interest in Rick Ankiel (h/t MLB Trade Rumors), but they do have interest in Scott Podsednik if he signed a one year deal. Morosi also breaks to us that The Tigers are one of the four teams interested in former Athletics designated hitter Jack Cust. Though the Tigers have made it clear that the Tigers don’t want anything to do with a designated hitter, he isn’t crazy for reporting this. Cust’s agent has been selling to teams that he is a good player in the outfield and even reported that the athletic Cust had the second best sprint time on the team back in spring training of last year. The Tigers could have interest in him in left field or off the bench.

– Ian over at Bless You Boys bids an overdue goodbye to Curtis Granderson. Pretty interesting perspective on the whole situation.

– John at Tiger Geist shares his thoughts on the long term when it come to Justin Verlander. Somehow I missed John’s thoughts. Great post on why the Tigers should keep Justin Verlander as long as possible.

– Lee at Tiger Tales tries to figure out the best third baseman in Detroit Tigers history by using Wins Above Replacement. As always Lee does a great job of breaking it down as he continues this series.

– Greg Eno dissects the modern day trade, saying that today’s trade is more about money than it is about personnel.