According to our friend JP Morosi, Andy Oliver will take Kid Rick's spot in the rotation for the time being:

Source: Tigers to call up lefty Oliver

I can't say I'm surprised, but I would worry about rushing yet another pitching prospect. 

I also have to continue to write because of the 75 word minimum...

JPM doesn't say who heads out, but I would think that would be Sborz or Ni at this point (depending on how well Sborz does).

I thought this might be interesting for my fellow Terps out there...

I teach at Winter Park High School in Orlando, FL and our basketball team is pretty good...ranked in the nation good.  The best player on our team is Austin Rivers (son of Doc Rivers) who is an absolute stud.  He's a junior and will be All-State in Florida...averaging about 22-5-5 a game.  He committed to Florida as a sophomore, but last summer re-opened his recruitment and Duke has been after him ever since.  Coach K has been to a few games and has even come to my school to talk to my principal.  Well, the other day I saw Austin in the hall and I pulled him aside and said, "Austin, can you do me a favor?  Where you go to college is your business, but please don't go to Duke.  I went to Maryland and I hate Duke, and if you go there, it would kill me to root for you to fail."  He said, "Why do you hate Duke?  Because they win too much?"  "No," I said, "because they're douche bags...and everyone knows it.  You don't want people to think you're a douche bag, do you?"  Well, after Saturday night's big win in the Regional Final, apparently he affirmed his commitment to Florida during the post game interview. I can't help but think our little chat had something to do with that.  Maryland has never been in on his recruiting, but as long as Dook doesn't get him, I'm happy.

Tigerfest is over and there is nothing left to do but speculate about what will happen between now and ST.  So here's me thinking out loud:

I have a hard time believing that Leyland will want to go into the season without a back-up plan at both 2nd and 3rd base.  Although I have never seen a report actually connecting the Tigers to Felipe Lopez, something tells me that he will be targeted before spring training.  He can play 2nd and 3rd and is a switch-hitter, so he is a perfect fit as a bench player, and he has starting experience so he can be a decent stopgap if Inge isn't ready or if Sizemore flops.  Since we all know that Leyland likes to have a 12-man bullpen, one might think that the addition of a guy like Lopez will mean no Damon.  But I think the guy who should be worried is Clete Thomas...the signing of Damon would make Clete expendable.  With those two signings, here's what I believe will be the 25-man roster:

Outfield: Ordonez, Jackson, Guillen, Damon, Raburn (3 in the outfield, 1 DH, 1 day off)

Infield: Cabrera, Sizemore, Everett, Inge, Lopez, Santiago

Catchers: Laird, Diaz (I get the feeling that unless Avila wins the starting job, he will be in Toledo...the fact that we will have 2 rookies starting already tells me Avila will not be the starter)

Rotation: Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, Bonderman, Robertson (if he shows anything in Lakeland, he will have the spot, imo)

Bullpen: Valverde, Perry, Zumaya, Seay, Ni, Coke, Galarraga (I suppose Thomas could replace Ni or Coke, but I think he would have to really blow people away in the spring to do so)

Thoughts?