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Outrighted To Triple-A: Boggs, Weinhardt, Nava

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Here’s the latest on some minor moves: 

Minor Deals: Zumaya, Red Sox, Reds, Blue Jays

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Troy Patton, who was designated for assignment by the Orioles last week, cleared waivers and has been optioned to Triple-A, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter). Here are the rest of today’s minor moves:

  • The Tigers released Richard Zumaya, the younger brother of  Major Leaguer Joel Zumaya, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (on Twitter). The 21-year-old right-hander struggled in the lower minors in 2010 and 2011.
  • The Red Sox signed right-hander Chris Huseby, who once signed a seven-figure deal with the Cubs, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (on Twitter). The 23-year-old hasn't pitched this year but he has a 3.58 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 158 1/3 innings of pro ball.
  • The Reds acquired righty Brandon Hynick from the White Sox and the Phillies acquired Niuman Romero from the Blue Jays, according to Eddy (on Twitter). The White Sox and Blue Jays obtained cash considerations in return for their respective prospects.
  • The Reds also signed righty reliever Steven Jackson after the Dodgers released him, according to Eddy (on Twitter).
  • The Braves signed right-hander Steven Shell to provide depth at Triple-A, according to Eddy (on Twitter).

2012 Contract Issues: Detroit Tigers

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The Tigers are next in our 2012 Contract Issues series.  Here's what the team faces after the 2011 season:

Eligible For Free Agency (5)

  • Carlos Guillen had knee surgery in September, and coupled with recent back tightness there's no timetable for his 2011 debut.  It's safe to say the Tigers will be moving on.
  • Magglio Ordonez is on the DL for right ankle weakness.  Surgery on that ankle ended his 2010 season in July.  His '11 season is too much of an unknown to make any predictions for '12.
  • Brad Penny has already topped last year's nine starts, though his peripheral stats suggest an ERA close to 5.00.  I imagine Penny will keep getting chances.
  • Joel Zumaya had exploratory elbow surgery this month and may not return this season.  The Tigers won't be re-signing the hard-throwing righty, wrote SI's Jon Heyman.
  • Utility infielder Ramon Santiago is also eligible for free agency.

Contract Options (1)

  • Jose Valverde: $9MM club option with no buyout.  Should the closer's success continue, the Tigers will probably exercise his option.

Arbitration Eligible (6)

Porcello, Scherzer, Coke, and Perry are the significant cases.  Porcello has a cheap club option for '12, though I imagine he can and will choose arbitration instead.  Scherzer has built a strong resume, and while he's not in Clayton Kershaw/David Price territory he could get $4MM.  Porcello, starting from a higher salary than most pitchers, could reach the same level.  Coke and Perry should be more affordable.  In total I'll estimate $11MM for the four.   

2012 Payroll Obligation

The Tigers' 2012 payroll obligation, according to Cot's, is $73.875MM.  Add in Valverde and the arbitration eligibles and they're around $94MM, $13MM shy of the 2011 payroll before accounting for minimum salary players.  The Tigers' payroll has topped $130MM a couple of times, so there might be additional flexibility.

Minor Deals: Padres, Rays, Oxspring

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The big off-field news in baseball continues to revolve around Mets owner Fred Wilpon and his comments about his club. But there’s some minor news to pass along as well. Here it is: 

  • Instead of a player to be named later, the Padres will obtain cash considerations from the Rays to complete the winter trade that sent Jason Bartlett to San Diego, according to MLB.com’s Corey Brock (on Twitter).
  • The Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens, released Chris Oxspring, according to MLB.com’s Jason Beck (on Twitter). Oxspring, a 34-year-old native of Australia, appeared in five games for the 2005 Padres, but has not pitched in the big leagues since. He posted a 6.53 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 20 2/3 innings with Toledo this year.

Tigers Designate Robbie Weinhardt For Assignment

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The Tigers designated righty reliever Robbie Weinhardt for assignment to create room on the 40-man roster for lefty Adam Wilk, according to the team.  Wilk takes the spot of Phil Coke on the 25-man roster, as Coke hit the DL with a right foot bone bruise.

Weinhardt, 25, had an 8.80 ERA in 15 1/3 Triple-A relief innings this year after posting a 1.57 mark in 34 1/3 frames at the level in 2010.  Prior to the season, Baseball America ranked Weinhardt 12th among Tigers prospects, 15 spots ahead of Wilk.  To put that in perspective, BA ranked the Tigers' farm system 25th overall.  BA says Weinhardt uses a near-sidearm delivery to generate groundballs with his sinking fastball, and also employs a slider.

Quick Hits: Mortensen, Dodgers, Benoit

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On this date 101 years ago Cy Young became the first pitcher in baseball history to win 500 games. We don’t pay too much attention to pitcher wins at MLBTR, but 500 of them sure are impressive. Here’s the latest from around the league…

  • Clayton Mortensen told Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post that his goal is simple: maintain a spot on the Major League roster for as long as possible. The right-hander has a 2.01 ERA through 22 1/3 innings in his first season with the Rockies.
  • An attorney for Dodgers owner Frank McCourt told Bill Shaikin of the LA Times that they aren't even thinking about selling the team (Twitter link).
  • The Joaquin Benoit deal won’t be a total waste of money, but will be a bad contract, according to Jamie Samuelsen at the Detroit Free Press. Benoit signed a three-year, $16.5M deal with the Tigers over the winter and has since posted a 7.98 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 14 2/3 innings. 
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman and Mets GM Sandy Alderson talk to Newsday’s Ken Davidoff about the challenge of balancing a team’s needs with personal relationships with players.

Quick Hits: D’Backs, Martinez, Killebrew

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Links for Tuesday night, after a memorable two-homer day for Brian McCann…  

  • Former D'Backs manager Bob Melvin has returned to the organization as a special baseball advisor, according to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.
  • Patrick Newman of FanGraphs checks in on some former Major Leaguers who are now playing in Japan.
  • Victor Martinez told MLB.com's Jason Beck that he has no hard feelings toward his former team, the Red Sox. "I have nothing but great things to say about the organization, the city, the fans," Martinez said. "It was one of my great experiences in my big league career." Tomorrow Martinez returns to Boston for the first time since signing with the Tigers.
  • Paul Molitor told Jim Caple of ESPN.com that he grew up idolizing fellow Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, who passed away today. For more reflections on the popular "lumberjack type" slugger, check out Caple's piece.

Heyman On Blue Jays, Royals, Bradley, Reyes

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The trade that sent Vernon Wells from Toronto to Anaheim was the “Holy Grail” of deals for the Blue Jays and the best move of the winter, writes Jon Heyman of SI.com. Jose Bautista's five-year, $65MM contract places second on Heyman's list of teams' top offseason moves. As Heyman says, Bautista could have been in position to earn $100MM or more as a free agent after the season if the Blue Jays hadn't signed him long-term. Here are the rest of Heyman's rumors:

  • Royals GM Dayton Moore is pleased with Jeff Francoeur's production so far and says the outfielder does a lot of things well, though he “doesn't have a knack for getting on base.” As I showed last week, the Royals are getting lots out of their free agent acquisitions so far in 2011.
  • Can Milton Bradley find another job? Five MLB executives expressed at least strong doubt about Bradley's future job prospects in the Major Leagues. His fading offense and poor defense don't make up for the distractions he creates, which led one exec to predict that the outfielder's “career is over” now that Seattle designated him for assignment. Others expect Bradley to get one last chance.
  • It's early, but Heyman suggests the White Sox, Tigers and A's look like possibilities for Carlos Beltran this summer. Beltran has a no-trade clause and is impressing scouts early on this season.
  • The Red Sox and Blue Jays could be interested in catcher Jordan Weems, a high schooler who is moving up some draft boards.
  • Heyman hears that it's “highly unlikely” that the Red Sox would be willing to meet the Mets' asking price for Jose Reyes this summer.

Brandon Inge On Tenure With Tigers

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The longest-tenured Tiger doesn’t have any plans to suit up for anyone else. Brandon Inge says he admires Tigers greats Al Kaline and Alan Trammell and wants to follow their example and remain with one team for his entire career. That’s why he signed an extension with the Tigers last October, when he was weeks away from hitting the open market, where 29 other teams could bid for his services.

“I never really thought about going anywhere else,” Inge told MLBTR. “I know it was out there and I probably could have gone somewhere else, but there’s as good a chance as any of winning here with the amount of talent we have on this team. For me it was kind of a no-brainer. If they offered me a contract and it was fair, I was probably going to take it and they did.”

Inge, Detroit's second round pick in 1998, signed a two-year, $11.5MM contract in October. His offensive output – a .207/.262/.297 line with one homer and seven doubles – has been disappointing so far. Every month matters, but the Tigers knew what they were getting when they signed the 33-year-old after a decade in Detroit that included a 119-loss season (2003) and an American League Championship (2006).

“I guess loyalty is something big that I believe in and Detroit’s been very loyal to me for many years now, through thick and thin,” Inge said. “It’s one of those things where they’ve treated me with respect and I’ve treated them with respect as well.”

It’s an affiliation Inge would like to continue beyond 2013, the last year he’s under team control.

“Absolutely,” Inge said. “I’ll stay as long as they’ll let me.”

Avila’s Hot Start Gives Tigers Depth At Catcher

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Whether you look at home runs (6) and RBI (23) or wins above replacement (1.0) and wOBA (.387) you’ll see Alex Avila’s name all over early season leaderboards. He has thrown out 12 of 33 would-be base stealers so far this year (36%) and the most recent of his six home runs came when he was navigating Justin Verlander through nine no-hit innings on Saturday.

“That was definitely nice. It’s the best of both worlds,” Avila told MLBTR this weekend. “I was joking with Justin that four of my six home runs are when he’s pitching. It seems that when he’s pitching, I’m going to hit one out.”

Avila

A 5th round pick in 2008, Avila is the son of Tigers assistant GM Al Avila. He hit .228/.316/.340 and threw out 32% of would-be base stealers as Detroit's primary catcher in 2010. This year, he’s feeling more comfortable as a hitter and as a defender.

“When you first come up, there’s always an adjustment period, a time when you’ve got to learn and figure out how to not only catch, but hit in the big leagues and the experience definitely helps,” Avila said. “You learn more about yourself and the league and make adjustments from there.”

The Tigers aren’t expecting Avila to continue at his current 28-homer pace, but the front office believes he can continue to be a valuable everyday catcher – and his father’s not the only one who thinks so.

“He has a nice left-handed swing,” GM Dave Dombrowski said. “We think he can hit.”

Avila’s new teammate, Victor Martinez, is one of baseball’s best hitting catchers, having reached the 20-homer plateau five times in the past seven seasons. Though the Tigers don’t plan on asking Martinez to catch more than a couple times per week, he has still helped Avila develop as a backstop.

“Absolutely,” Avila said. “Victor has helped me a ton with both aspects of my game. He’s such a positive person and generous with his time. He’s just fantastic.”

It's still too early to assume the 24-year-old Avila will continue hitting at this rate. But at this point, it appears that the Tigers have a pair of quality catchers thanks to his development.

Photo courtesy Icon SMI.

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