The Tigers announced via Twitter this morning they have released shortstop Alex Gonzalez. The move opened up a spot for utility infielder Danny Worth, who was called up from Triple-A Toledo.
The Tigers acquired Gonzalez in late March in exchange for utility player Steve Lombardozzi, who was shipped to the Orioles less than four months after arriving in Detroit as part of the Doug Fister deal. With Lombardozzi in Baltimore, the Fister deal amounted to Detroit receiving left-handers Ian Krol and Robbie Ray plus a few weeks of Gonzalez. The Tigers had hoped the 37-year-old would serve as a capable replacement for shortstop Jose Iglesias, but his spotty defense and lack of range left much to be desired.
"We thought we'd take a little chance on it," Tigers President/CEO/General Manager Dave Dombrowski told reporters, including MLB.com's Jason Beck. "We thought it was something worth taking the gamble. As we had a chance to watch him, had a chance to get a feel, we just didn't see it getting better, so we thought, with the emphasis on defense for us at shortstop, we thought it was important to get someone who had a little bit more range."
Jon Morosi of FOX Sports notes (via Twitter) the Tigers will pay Gonzalez $1.1MM for only nine games. In that small sample size of 32 at-bats, Gonzalez slashed .167/.219/.233. For his career, Gonzalez owns a .245/.290/.395 line across 16 big league seasons.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
There is indeed a god.
Its a shame we had to waste the useful Steve Lombardozzi and his versatility to find out what 99% of us already knew.
He has always hit well in BOS, we might need some depth. Not sure how excited he would be to play AAA tho
That trade was a disaster to begin with…what was Dombrowski thinking!!!???
Giving up someone useful for a NRI that was likely to be released anyways is such a bad return. Dombrowski simply is not making good decisions anymore.
No mention of the $18-20 million they saved in the trade over the next two years which they used to sign Joe Nathan.
They are a better team with Nathan, Krol, Ray and Romine versus Fister, Alvarez and Santiago.
It would be nice if the Orioles get Alex Gonzalez back as AAA depth and basically got Steve Lombardozzi for free.
Stephen Drew says Hi
Still not likely. Romine/Worth platoon gets a month. Then they have two guys getting experience in the minors they like a lot, Perez and Suarez. If neither of them look ready, look for a trade deadline deal.
Mets should pick him up. He can’t be worse than Tejada.
This had disaster written all over it from the start. You went and gave up a young, useful, cost controlled player for a SS who’s almost 40 who had a good spring. A good spring? There was actually a Tiger’s fan trying to tell me this was a good move earlier and that Dan Duquette found a gem in Gonzalez on a minor league deal. Something about how Omar Vizquel said he looked good or something. Guess that guy was wrong. O’s got Lombardozzi for free.
Vizquel did see him in winter ball this year albeit at third base. He gave a positive scouting report. That was reported at the time in Detroit and on ESPN. The scouting reports were, allegedly, that he still had good hands and was swinging the bat well. They had reservations about his range.
They took a chance and lost. The O’s got Lombo for free. Good for them. It’s no big deal. Lombo had no place on the 25 man after they got Romine.
Man, what a mess. Lombardozzi and a million dollars for 9 games