Tigers to Recall Jacob Turner

According to Jon Heyman, who tweeted this at about a quarter ’til 2 am last night/this morning, the Detroit Tigers are calling up 20-year-old pitcher Jacob Turner, presumably today. MLB.com’s Jason Beck followed Heyman’s tweet by saying that Turner was not with the Tigers (yet), but that he was definitely not pitching for Erie (Detroit’s Double-A affiliate) on Saturday. The Tigers, Beck noted, were not answering question relating to Turner’s status with the team.

As David Tokarz, who posted this information over at Bless You Boys while I was sleeping, noted, the realistic possibilities for Turner this morning are that he will be recalled to make a start in place of Duane Below (the scheduled starter for today), or Turner could be involved in a trade.

All we know for certain at this point is that he won’t make his start for the SeaWolves today. Given the information that came out after the game last night, that the Tigers had balked at the asking price for Ubaldo Jimenez yet again, it’s hard to fathom that Turner would be on the move to another organization. Unless the Rockies and Tigers had changes of heart, I suppose. If Turner was being traded, Heyman would have phrased his tweet differently. The Tigers certainly don’t need to bring him up in order to ship him out of the organization.

This move could possibly mean that Turner is being “showcased” for the Rockies (or potentially another club), who may have asked to see him against more advanced competition. Although I really have no idea why the Tigers would agree to such a request unless a deal was basically done already, in which case I doubt the Tigers and their trade partner would need to see more than what they already had. Nor would either party risk an injury when a deal was so imminent.

No, the most likely scenario that I can see here is that Turner will be recalled to make a start today and that the Tigers are very close on a trade that may include Below. If this is the case, they wouldn’t throw Below for risk of injury and would need someone to make a spot start. Turner is already on the 40-man roster and is on schedule to pitch today anyway, so the move is seamless in that sense. This would explain the tight-lipped nature of the club refusing to answer questions about Heyman’s tweet. If they are close on something, and at this point you have to assume they are, Dave Dombrowski isn’t going to be giving information to anyone until the deal is done.

To me, this move is an indicator that Turner is not involved in a trade, and probably won’t be. Of course, the trade deadline doesn’t hit until Sunday afternoon, so there will still be time to pull the trigger after Turner’s possible debut today.

I’m sure we’ll know more soon. Things are getting very interesting around here.

UPDATE: Danny Knobler tweets that Turner is “starting for Tigers today, but it’s a one-shot deal. Tigers very hopeful of getting (Doug) Fister later today.” For more on that story, follow this link to our post covering the Fister trade scenario.

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