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Tigers To Designate Dontrelle Willis For Assignment

By Mike Axisa | May 29, 2010 at 9:05pm CDT

The Tigers will designate Dontrelle Willis for assignment tomorrow, according to the team's official Twitter feed. The move will free up a roster spot for Max Scherzer, who is being called up to start tomorrow's game.

Willis, still just 28, has been a disappointment since coming over from the Marlins prior to the 2008 season. Overall he posted a 6.86 ERA in 101 innings with the team, including a 4.98 ERA in 43.1 innings this year. He won just two games in a Tigers' uniform, missing time with everything from knee hyper-extension to forearm tightness to anxiety disorder.

The Tigers have ten days to trade, release, or waive the former Rookie of the Year, but are still on the hook for his $12MM salary this season.

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Detroit Tigers Transactions Dontrelle Willis

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51 Comments

  1. Yankees10

    15 years ago

    Sad how his carer has turned out

    Reply
  2. ilikebaseball

    15 years ago

    So sad. I hope he finds success somewhere, I’ll be rooting for him.

    Reply
  3. Sage

    15 years ago

    Brewers, get your collective butts in gear and sign him. NOW!

    Reply
  4. capncasey

    15 years ago

    Sad indeed. He had every possible chance in Detroit, possibly more than allot of teams would have probably given him. Any team interested had better either have a magic cure or allot of patience…

    Reply
    • Yankees420

      15 years ago

      Or Dave Duncan.

      Reply
      • ReverendBlack

        15 years ago

        Frankly if Duncan or anyone else effectively fixes this guy, heads need to roll in Detroit. That is a very costly failure.

        Reply
  5. DJ_2

    15 years ago

    It will be interesting to see if anyone will take a flyer on him. I’m sure somebody will look at his past success and take a chance for the league minimum. Maybe a place like St. Louis makes sense. Dave Duncan has a history of turning around pitchers and reviving their careers. My prediction is that, wherever Dontrelle decides to go, by the time September comes around he will eventually figure it out and at least become a decent #5 Starter/Long Relief Man for a contending team that lacks SP.

    Reply
    • capncasey

      15 years ago

      I’ve seen that prediction for 3 years now, at least related to the Tigers. I just don’t see it at this point…

      Reply
    • start_wearing_purple

      15 years ago

      Someone will… doesn’t someone sign Mark Prior every year?

      Reply
  6. CodyG

    15 years ago

    big shocker..

    Reply
  7. Rich G

    15 years ago

    I smell rental potential for Red Sox

    Reply
    • start_wearing_purple

      15 years ago

      Dear god in heaven no. If he can’t handle the AL Central how on earth will he survive the AL East. If he gets released he should head for the NL… Cards make sense.

      Reply
  8. j6takish

    15 years ago

    Bout time, I miss Nate

    Reply
  9. Guest 3328

    15 years ago

    What happened to him? After 2006, his ERA ballooned but he still had 146 Ks. It’s a shame. Hopefully he can turn it around somewhere else.

    Reply
  10. AmericanMovieFan

    15 years ago

    I smell the A’s picking him up for nothing since they’re all about the salvage cases.

    Reply
  11. jcrabtree7

    15 years ago

    If you take Miguel Cabrera out of that trade, the deal was a bust for both sides.
    DET: D’Willis-sadly derailed

    FLA: Mike Rabelo-played half a MLB year, now back in Tigers farm system
    Andrew Miller-hasn’t lived up to minor league stats
    Cameron Maybin-hasn’t lived up to hype, can’t hit on MLB level

    I could see the Brewers taking a chance, although that hangs on whether or not Chris Capuano is here to stay…again. Or the Cardinals with both Loshe and Penny on the DL.

    Reply
    • bigpat

      15 years ago

      It would be cool if he came back to Florida. They can probably use a bullpen arm and he should be comfortable there.

      Reply
    • kmborek

      15 years ago

      Good thing the only reason Detroit made the trade was to acquire Cabrera, so “taking him out of the trade” makes absolutely no sense. Dontrelle was just a throw-in and any success he would’ve had would’ve just been a bonus.

      The only mistake was resigning him to such an expensive contract before he ever played a game in Detroit. But considering we now have one of the top 5 hitters in the majors who is probably a future HOF’er and only 27 years old I’ll take it.

      Now if the Marlins would just sell us Hanley for a bunch of prospects we would be all set, because Everett doesn’t even belong on a minor league roster right now.

      Reply
      • jcrabtree7

        15 years ago

        No, I wasn’t saying literally “take him outta the trade”, I meant aside from him, it has been a bust for both sides now.

        Reply
  12. jphenix2002

    15 years ago

    too bad for the guy, but he just didn’t have it.

    Reply
  13. bigpat

    15 years ago

    Sad to see his career end up like this. He was an awesome pitcher and just seemed like a cool dude. Not sure what happened. On the surface, his stats don’t look that bad this year, but he has a pretty flimsy K/BB ratio and is struggling to get through 6 innings for the most part.

    Maybe he can start fresh somewhere and he won’t have the burden of being under a big contract, and maybe he can become a relief pitcher. I don’t want to see him out of baseball.

    Reply
  14. Fidel Luna

    15 years ago

    Maybe signs a minor league deal with the dodgers? and honeycutt and torre help him turn it around?

    Reply
    • Francisco Rodriguez

      15 years ago

      Hopefully the Dodgers can sign Dontrelle Willis, He is a guy that has a big upside, and will only cost the league minimum and i believe that going back to the NL it will surely help him.

      Reply
      • venn177

        15 years ago

        At this point, anyone who is a Dodgers fan should be hoping they’ll sign anyone who can throw a ball for 5+ innings.

        Reply
    • bobraines

      15 years ago

      the challenge is going to be to fix his wind-up. He puts far too much strain on his body, but needs the deception and irregularity to get it by hitters. Maybe not as a starter, but as a one or two inning guy.

      Reply
  15. Tony

    15 years ago

    I got to meet him twice in a fanfest when he was in a Marlins Uniform and he was just a fun cool guy. I was able to take a picture with him and he even gave me a dounut box with a couple of dounuts left in the box because he wasant able to give them all away. I really hope Dontrelle can turn things around i have always been a fan when he was a Marlin and as a tiger so wherever he goes i will always root for the D-Train.

    Reply
  16. Tony

    15 years ago

    And on a further note i hope he comes back with that high leg kick in a Marlins Uniform.

    Reply
  17. kmborek

    15 years ago

    If Dontrelle comes back i think it definitely should to be in the NL. Not only because he will face slightly less potent lineups, but the guy can also really hit for a pitcher. I remember joking that when he was pitching in LA a few games ago Leyland should’ve hit him 7th in Detroit’s lineup. (ahead of Laird/Avila and Santiago/Everett)

    It was a half-joke from a Tiger fan frustrated with our current production from the 6-9 hitters, but I think a lot of people forget that he could really hit in Florida, which might make some NL teams more willing to give him a shot.

    Reply
  18. TytheSportsGuy

    15 years ago

    D-Train to StL!

    Reply
  19. BeatEmBucs

    15 years ago

    I’d really like to see the Pirates take a flyer on him. There’s no way he could possibly be any worse than Charlie Morton and a move back to the NL could do wonders for him.

    Reply
  20. zonis

    15 years ago

    I would kind of like the A’s to take a flier on him and put him in the bullpen. Bring Willis back to Oakland, and in the pen he can’t really do much damage, and he might do better since he obviously can’t cut it as a starter anymore.

    Reply
  21. ELPinchy

    15 years ago

    I haven’t followed what went wrong with him in Detroit. Did he lose mph on his fastball? Did he lose movement? Is it that he just hasn’t been able to locate?

    Reply
    • RestoreTheRoar

      15 years ago

      fastball was down when he arrived (high 80s), but came back this spring in low 90’s.

      struggled to reshape his leg kick to help accuracy..lots of balls & walks. His confidence was super low.

      The rare innings showing his improvements, gave way to more control issues in the last few starts. Sometimes effectively wild, sometimes just wild. And i mean WILD. watch his last Det start’s first inning and you can see why they need to release him.

      best of luck to D-Train

      Reply
    • ReverendBlack

      15 years ago

      Poor velocity but more importantly he didn’t even have CONTROL over any of his pitches, let alone command.

      Reply
  22. Yankeeboy11

    15 years ago

    I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cardinals signed this guy and Dave Duncan did his magic on him.

    Reply
  23. alxn

    15 years ago

    With the way he can hit, maybe he can pull a Rick Ankiel

    Reply
  24. cedarandstone

    15 years ago

    Dontrelle Willis is a two-pitch starter who can’t throw strikes and hits 90 only good days.

    As much as his herky-jerky motion was fun to watch years back – it has been 5 years since his single dominant season.

    Time to more on – 28 or not, this guy just doesn’t have the tools to make up for his lost deception.

    Reply
    • alphabet_soup5

      15 years ago

      Single dominant season? He won rookie of the year in 03, and was 2nd in the Cy voting in 05. Dontrelle was a great pitcher from 2003-2006.

      03-06: 58-39, 3.44 ERA, 2.8 BB/9
      07-10: 12-23, 5.73 ERA, 5.3 BB/9

      Reply
      • Zack23

        15 years ago

        FIP
        2003: 3.45
        2004: 4.01
        2005: 2.99
        2006: 4.31

        So yes, he dominated for 1 season.

        Reply
  25. Greg

    15 years ago

    What’chu talkin’ about, Willis?

    Reply
  26. Johnnie

    15 years ago

    The Mets should sign him and team him up with Ollie Perez to form a mega-useless pitcher tandem. Maybe together they can pitch four innings in a game without a call for the long man.

    Reply
  27. recentactivity

    15 years ago

    I’ve been thinking about this long and hard, being an avid Tiger’s fan. I think Dontrelle, at his peak, was doing steroids. Once the steroid issue became prominant, and MLB started looking closely at people and testing more, his performance, like that of many others, started to drop. He hasn’t been the same since. He was a guy that could simply overpower people. No more. He could be fixed, with the right PED cocktail, I suppose.

    Reply
    • Tony

      15 years ago

      What are you talking about man dontrelle never overpowered anyone. His high leg kick was very deceptive and helped him keep hitters off balance he only threw about 93 mph. So really his leg kick was what made him effective and when he lost confidence in his herky jerky delivery he was never the same again. So his success is due to his leg kick not PED’s.

      Reply
    • ReverendBlack

      15 years ago

      Steroids make you throw strikes?

      Reply
    • Zack23

      15 years ago

      Steroids dont help you repeat your delivery

      Reply
  28. sean

    15 years ago

    he is having issues with mechanics. if he fixes that, he can regain his command. he has showed improvements this year. as some pitchers get older, they must adjust the way they pitch to be successful. 2010 example is zito. don’t give up on the d-train just yet.

    Reply
  29. gocrazy

    15 years ago

    I don’t think the Cards will sign him. Penny should be back before I can see Willis turning it around. I think they’ll live with Walters/Ottavino in the 5th spot.

    Reply

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