The cat came back -- he couldn't stay away! -- Kurt

When people think of the minor leagues, it's only natural they first look to Triple A. In the Tigers' case, it's the closest thing to the Tigers not only organizationally but geographically. I don't know how many times the Tigers have had a weakness on the 25-man roster and somebody has asked me whether there was anybody in Toledo who might offer a solution. A little digging usually reveals they actually use "Toledo" as a representation of the entire minor league system.

In the Tiger system, Lakeland is as far as it gets from Detroit and Toledo but what we're seeing down there right now should be getting a lot of our attention. You can be forgiven for not noticing. After all, Toledo had the advantage this year of getting all those pitchers who were fighting for the Tigers' final rotation spot. It's only natural we'd want to know what was happening there. If you checked in, you'd notice none of those pitchers was doing a particularly good job of standing out as a future Tiger. But you also would have noticed the Mud Hens lineup - Brad Eldred in particular - was putting up on quite a show in the International League.

That's fun for us Mud Hens fans, but all that production in Toledo means almost nothing for the Tigers' future. It is a gaggle of minor league free agents and players who are clutching on to hopes of collecting just one major league paychecks. That's not the case in Lakeland. The Flying Tigers are second in the league in runs per game. They also are among the tops in the league in doubles (41, 3rd), stolen bases (29, 2nd), batting average (.275, 1st), on-base percentage (2nd) and slugging percentage (2nd). Leading the way in posting those numbers are three players who count themselves among the Tigers' most promising position prospects.

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This is the second part of a recap of the West Michigan Whitecaps' 2011 season (part 1 here), and a continuation of a series in which I revisit the 2011 seasons of each of the Tigers' farm teams. In the first part, I looked at the team's overall record and how it was divided between the season's two halves. I started to look into what may have led to the team's distinct performance in the split season and looked at the players who were added from the draft. What follows are explorations into the rest of the team and how the players performed in each half, starting with the players who were on the team all season.

Brian Flynn may have offered an upgrade to the rotation, but before we chalk up the second half improvement to a rotation tweak, though, there were some key players on this team played for both "halves". Another possible explanation for the team's reversal of fortune could be improvement from this group. Of the guys who both opened and ended the 2011 season with the Whitecaps, how do their splits look?

Let's first identify who these players were. From the position players, you have James Robbins, Hernan Perez, Nick Castellanos, Dixon Machado, Jeff Rowland and Luis Castillo. On the pitching side, You had Kevin Eichhorn, Kyle Ryan, Josue Carreno, Michael Torrealba and Patrick Cooper. So obviously, a substantial portion of this team's contributions came from players who stuck out the entire season in West Michigan. This isn't uncommon. The Tigers are loathe to move players up from West Michigan and typically don't do so unless they aren't really prospects or are in their second season at this level.

So what answers lie in this group? Well, the players who improved in the second half were Nick Castellanos, Jeff Rowland and to a lesser degree, Dixon Machado. Castellanos didn't have so much of a rough first half as a rough April. He rebounded to finish the first half with a line of .291/.333/.422, which is more than acceptable for a teenager in the Midwest League. But he was fantastic in the second half, hitting .331/.398/.449 with 22 doubles and a vast improvement in his control of the strike zone. Rowland wasn't an everyday player in either half, but after hitting .228/.338/.325 in the season's first half he stepped up in the later months to hit .255/.371/.404 in the second half. This allowed him to make a valuable contribution from the top of the batting order when he was in the lineup.

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This is a continuation of the series in which I take a look at the 2011 seasons of each of the Tigers' farm squads. Please keep in mind these reviews are intended to look at the team results. Obviously, that can't be done without talking about individual performances, but the players' stats and standings as prospects are not the focus of these stories.

Like the Connecticut Tigers, the Whitecaps came about as close as possible to earning a spot in the postseason. In fact, their missing the Midwest League playoffs was the result of losing to Fort Wayne on the last game of the year in a "do or die" situation. The fact that they had a shot at the playoffs was surprising on a couple levels.

First, the playoffs weren't really even in the conversation for the first half of the season. The Whitecaps finished just 32-37 and were the sixth place team in an eight team division. Then in the second half, after a loss to South Bend on August 20th they were just 27-27 with less than three weeks left in the season. They only pushed for the playoffs on the strength of an 11-4 run that included a six-game win streak and a sweep of Lake County in the season's second to last series. That set them up for the shot at clinching in the Fort Wayne series, but they dropped two of three and couldn't seal the deal. Interestingly, their second half push also served to cancel out that terrible first half and allow the team to finish with a winning record (70-69) on the season. So what caused the discrepancy in their first and second half records?

Well the difference in their 32-37 first half and their 38-32 second half certainly doesn't show up in their run differential for the two halves. They scored four runs per game in the first half and 3.9 in the second half. On the run prevention side, they allowed 4.2 runs per game in the first half and 4.1 in the second. That left them with a run differential of -11 in 69 first half games and -13 in 70 second half games.

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With the Winter Meetings taking place, we know that at their close there is an event called the Rule 5 Draft. It's kind of funny that it gets so much attention considering it seems to be a rather big deal if even one player selected goes on to have a successful season. Be that as it may, everybody likes to think their team may find the next Johan Santana, Josh Hamilton or Dan Uggla. Of course, the most famous Rule 5 pick of all is Roberto Clemente.

So we make a big fuss over who the team should have selected, who they left exposed to the process or even who they lost. I know I have written harshly worded stories directed at the Tiger front office for their indifference to losing Randor Bierd and James Skelton in the Rule 5. In my defense as an analyst, I believe I was more upset that they protected players inferior to those two rather than believing either was going to be a successful big leaguer. Still, I rooted for both after they left the system so they could validate my stance on the matter. Instead, I learned I'm not going to get all that worked up about the Rule 5 Draft anymore.

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This is the second in a series of posts recapping each of the Tigers' six domestic minor league teams' seasons. I'm starting at the bottom and working my up, so the first post was about the GCL Tigers. I mentioned this in that first post, but I'd like to reiterate that these are intended to be team recaps. That means the players discussed the most will be those who were most essential to the team's season. They may not be top prospects or prospects at all. They just had to have played a pivotal part - good or bad - in how the team's season went.

The New York-Penn League is a short season league populated with a lot of college players fresh out of the draft. There are obviously plenty of players who are in different parts of their pro careers playing there, but that's a very broad stroke idea of a big part of the league's population.

It's not surprising, therefore, that the Connecticut Tigers were able to field a competent squad. The Tigers, after all, went with college picks for 30 of the 33 players signed in the 2011 draft. Not only that, the Tigers were fairly conservative with their picks this year and therefore had very few 2011 draftees play at a level higher than the NY-Penn. Knowing this, it's a little disconcerting their only player to pop up on Baseball America's Top 20 Prospects for this league was third round pick, Aaron Westlake (at no. 12). That goes double when you realize most of the prospects ranked ahead of Westlake are two and three years younger than him.

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Now that the baseball season is over, I decided people might be hungry enough for some baseball to read about the Tigers' minor league season recaps. And since I expect people are most interested in the higher levels of the minors, I'm going to start low and work my way up. For the next few weeks, I'm going to work my way up through the system, recapping how the 2011 season went for each of the Tigers' six domestic minor league teams. Please understand; these are team recaps. So while I will talk about the prospects and how they impacted the team, the teams and the players who were key to the team's season will be the focus.

A 23-year-old kid out of college in the Gulf Coast League may not have a long future in baseball, but he might have been the star of the team. Similarly, an early round pick may be the Tigers' future shortstop but if he had 20 at bats at this level, he's not going to get much of a mention. So, while Brandon Loy, James McCann, Aaron Westlake and Tyler Gibson all made appearances with this squad, they weren't integral parts of the team and further discussion of their parts in the Tiger system will come in a more appropriate post later in the offseason. Now, how about we get down to business?

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In a comment under this fanshot, somebody asked who on the current roster has been to the Arizona Fall League. I thought this was an interesting question and did some research. All you have to do to find out is take the current 40-man and compare it to the list of Arizona Fall League alums here (A-K) and here (L-Z).

It turns out there are 17 current Tigers who played in the Arizona Fall League at some point and 25 who didn't. I decided it might be fun to make a roster of each to see how they compare, and at the same time learn a bit about who sees the Arizona Fall League and who doesn't.

AFL Roster

Pitchers

Doug Fister SP (Mariners 2008)
Max Scherzer SP (Diamondbacks 2007 and 2008)
Brad Penny SP (Marlins 1999)
Andrew Oliver SP (Tigers 2009)

Brad Thomas RP (Twins 2002)
Luis Marte RP (Tigers 2008)
David Pauley RP (Red Sox 2006)
Joaquin Benoit CL (Rangers 2000)

Position Players

Don Kelly C (Tigers 2003 and 2005)
Danny Worth 1B (Tigers 2011)
Will Rhymes 2B (Tigers 2008 and 2011)
Brandon Inge 3B (Tigers 2000)
Cale Iorg SS (Tigers 2009 and 2010)
Delmon Young LF (Devil Rays 2003 and 2004)
Austin Jackson CF (Yankees 2008)
Ryan Raburn RF (Tigers 2004)
Jhonny Peralta DH (Indians 2002)

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Each year, at the end of the season, I take a look at the four full season minor league teams and try to figure out who's going to win the Tigers' Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year. This year, I assume the winners of each award are going to be pretty obvious. However, we'll look at who I think of as the top candidates for each. Now understand, the way these awards have been given out isn't terribly complicated. Old school stats still reign from what I've been able to tell. These awards aren't a pronouncement of the top prospects. They're just recognition of a season well done. In that line, what follows isn't so much discussion of the players as prospects as much as a discussion of their seasons.

Player of the Year Candidates: 

Rob Brantly, C, West Michigan 
.303/.366/.440, 7 HR, 42 R, 44 RBI

These numbers are why I included him as a possible candidates. As the Tigers have found out this season, left-handed hitting catchers who can hit .300 with power and good defense are good to have around. Unfortunately, he has since gone to Lakeland and is hitting .228/243/.338 in 136 Hi A at bats.

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On Friday, my wife and I took my mom to see the play, Ernie. Now, before I get down to giving you a review, I would like to point out I am no Mitch Albom fanboy. In fact, I'm not a fan of Albom's at all. When he announced the play at this year's Tiger Fest, I responded by rolling my eyes and asking my wife if she wanted some coffee because I was going to the bathroom. However, when I heard his writing of a play about Ernie Harwell had Harwell's blessing, my resolve softened a little. When I heard Albom describe what he was trying to accomplish - and avoid - in writing the play, I had to give him credit. Not so much that I actually wanted to go see the play, but I told my wife that if Mitch Albom had to write a play about Ernie Harwell, it sounds like he went about it the right way.

After Tiger Fest, though, I didn't give the play much more thought. I just couldn't imagine making a trip to downtown Detroit in the summer and having tickets to something that didn't allow me entrance to Comerica Park. But then, my mom made her subtle suggestions that she wouldn't mind catching the play. How subtle? I think it went, "So, when are we going to see Ernie?" So when her birthday rolled around and she hadn't seen it, my wife and I told her we'd like to take her for her birthday gift.

When we picked her up, her excitement was infectious. I had my skepticism about Albom's part in the project, but what the hell? We were going to see a play that was going to be about Ernie Harwell, and by association, probably baseball. My mom's excitement grew exponentially as we got to the theater, sat in our seats and read through the programs. You see, when the Ernie Harwell story is told, it is always mentioned that even people who are of retirement age literally grew up listening to his soothing southern voice calling Tiger baseball. It's always noted how seemingly every Tiger fan had a personal story about Harwell. Both of those characterizations include my mom. She grew up listening to him. She has her stories about when she met him. She was one of the 11,000 fans who went to see him in state at Comerica Park after he had passed away.

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Everybody knows the Tigers tend to move their prospects quickly. Some say it's rushing. Some say it's seeing how they respond to challenges. Regardless, professional baseball is chock full of Tiger players who are young for their level. Rick Porcello, for example, is in his third full season as a major leaguer and he's still one of the youngest players in the American League. So as I've done once already this season, let's take a look at the Tiger minor leaguers who are particularly young for the level where they're playing.

Toledo

Jacob Turner, 5/21/91, SP, Throws: Right
113.2 IP, 102 H, 9 HR, 90 K, 32 BB

Turner's listed stats are with Erie and don't include his start in Detroit. As for that list about the youngest players in each league? Turner was on it - for the Eastern League. So a kid who was among the youngest players in Double A has now made his MLB debut and been assigned to Toledo. Now do people see why I don't really think the Tigers are handling him with kid gloves?

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I've owed Bless You Boys readers this look at the Connecticut Tigers for a while now, and now that the non-waiver trade deadline has passed, it seems like as good a time as any. As a team, these Tigers are in second place in their division, sitting at 19-23 (as of Monday night) and 3.5 games behind first place Vermont.

If you go to see one of their games, you can typically expect a low-scoring affair as they are both allowing and scoring less runs than the league average. This shouldn't be surprising considering their home ballpark generally plays to the pitchers. But let's be honest. Almost nobody cares about wins and losses at this level so let's just jump right in to looking at the roster and how they've done a little over a month into their season.

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Jim Leyland, in the Tigers' post-game presser, said the Tigers were sending Lester Oliveros back to the minors and purchasing the contract of Chance Ruffin. You may remember Ruffin was the Tigers' supplemental first round pick from the 2010 draft, coming out of the University of Texas. Immediately after the Tigers picked him, and really before the draft, Ruffin was tagged as the type of college reliever who would be attractive to teams because he was polished and had the potential to move quickly through the minor leagues. Obviously, this speculation turned out to be prescient. Or maybe Dave Dombrowski had July 24th in the pool.

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This is the fourth installment in which I look at each of the Tigers' minor league teams. It's the last of the midseason reviews, but I will also be taking a look at the rosters of both Connecticut and the GCL Tigers in the coming days (or more likely, weeks).

After serving as the system's golden boys for the past few years, the Whitecaps have fallen on a bit of hard times in 2011. Their first half record of 32-37 landed them in sixth place, 8 1/2 games out of first and 7 games out of a playoff berth. The season's second is shaping up better so far, with a 9-7 record, but the Caps will be in for a tight race if they want to make a nearly annual trip to the postseason.

Regardless of how the second half plays out, I'm sure they're none too excited about their overall record of 41-44. Possessing one of the league's younger lineups seems to have come at a price, as the Caps have scored the third fewest runs in the Midwest League. Their youth may reveal itself in the fact that despite having a team batting average ten points higher than league average, they're lagging behind the league standard in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

That doesn't mean they're without their positives, however. We'll talk about them in more detail below, but the team's bright spots include Nick Castellanos, Hernan Perez and Rob Brantly, all of whom could eventually present solutions to roster issues at the major league level.

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We move on to Lakeland, in the third installment of Bless You Boys' look at the minor league teams at (or at least near) the midseason point.

Team Review

The Flying Tigers went 36-34 in the season's first half, but finished in fifth place in the oddly unbalanced division. Actually, the whole league was unbalanced in the first half. Lakeland was fifth in their division, but the South division had just one team over .500. Unfortunately, they are also lagging in the second half. They can't complain too much about their luck, though, since in the early going they are just 4-7. That leaves Lakeland as another Detroit farm team hanging around .500.

It's also not surprising, then, that they have scored just about as many runs as they have allowed. The way that works out, their offense is a little behind the league average and the pitching and defense are preventing runs at a pace a little better than average. The offense lagging isn't all that surprising since they haven't really excelled in one area and are lacking big producers. Brent Wyatt leads the team with an .817 OPS, good for 18th in the league. When he was on the team, Gustavo Nunez was next but we already know he's moved on to bigger chances in Erie.

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This is the second installment in a series of midseason looks at each of the Tigers' four full season minor league teams. The first piece was on the Toledo Mud Hens.

Erie hasn't dug themselves into quite as big a hole as the Mud Hens, but they're still going to have to get down to business if they want these prospects to see some postseason experience in 2011. With a win on Thursday, the Wolves are sitting at 40-39 and are six games out of first in fourth place. As you'd expect for a team so close to .500, their run differential is very close to zero (-3 after Thursday).

Their offense has been a hair above average in terms of scoring runs and their run prevention has been a touch below the league mark. The offense is interesting because it hasn't really had a standout performer. Ben Guez and Deik Scram have hit well when they were in Erie, but both have also spent a lot of time in Toledo. Justin Henry has been great, but with an on-base percentage higher than his slugging percentage he's not a typical anchor to the lineup. They owe what success they've had to a big chunk of the lineup hitting maybe a little over average as opposed to a few players hitting great. That could be good news for the team's chance of consistent production, but to be honest, it's not great news from the perspective of prospect watching. Personally, as a Tiger fan first, I'd prefer to see a few players break out as opposed to seeing a team in lockstep as they take turns chipping in. Of course, players can sometimes break out even without setting the league on fire but I'll come back to that in the player profiles.

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We've come to roughly the halfway point of the baseball season and that's as good a time as any to take stock of where the Tigers' farm teams and their prospects have accomplished in the 2011 season. That's precisely what I'm going to do as I cycle through the Tigers' six domestic farm teams, looking at what the four full season squads have done and giving some thoughts on who the short season teams might have worth watching.

The Mud Hens have won their last two, but those wins came on the heels of a nine-game losing streak. Their 32-47 record has them in dead last in their division, 21 games behind the first place Clippers and 12 games behind the wild card leading Bats. I know the Hens usually have a push for the playoffs in them late in the summer, but I just don't see it happening this year.

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This is the second post in this vein. The first one covered the hitters who were in the top ten of their respective leagues in the statistical categories listed at MiLB.com. Today's post is the same thing except with the pitchers. I didn't waste anybody's time (especially mine) by including Games, Games Started, Holds or Games Finished. 

Toledo

Charlie Furbush: Wins, T-10th (4); Complete Games, T-1st (2); Shutouts, T-1st (1); Strikeouts, T-6th (55); WHIP, 1st (0.93)

We get a glimpse here of why Furbush is now pitching for the Tigers. His stuff doesn't blow you away, but he keeps getting results.

Andrew Oliver: Wins, T-10th (4)

Being 10th in the International League in Wins tells us just about nothing about his chance for success in the majors. He'd have more categories if he'd spent the whole season with the Hens. 

Adam Wilk: Wins, T-10th (4); Home Runs, T-8th (9); WHIP, T-10th (1.16)

I like when these little snapshots tell us something about the type of player we're looking at and I think this is one of those instances. When Wilk misses with his fastballs in the 80s, they are often going to leave the yard. When he's hitting his spots within the zone, though, he can be quite an effective pitcher.

Duane Below: Wins, T-10th (4); Innings, 10th (61.1); Home Runs, T-8th (9)

Yet another Hen starter with four wins and as the only one of the lefties not to go to Detroit, he's among the league leaders in Innings as well. Home runs have just about always been a problem for Below, but he's made a lot of progress in the other aspects of his game these past couple years.

Thad Weber: Losses, T-5th (5); Innings, 10th (61.1); Hits, T-2nd (75); Runs, T-2nd (42); Earned Runs, T-2nd (41); Home Runs, T-3rd (11)

The rotation's sole right-handed pitcher at the beginning of the season shows up high on a lot of the lists he doesn't want to be on. He was hittable last season in Erie, but not quite like this.

Enrique Gonzalez: Saves, T-7th (6)

The Tigers tried putting him in the Hens' high leverage closer role and while he picked up some saves, there have been rough spots.

Robbie Weinhardt: Hit Batters, T-10th (4)

Just another sign it's been a rough season for Weinhardt.

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Every once in a while, I like to turn off the analysis to a degree and just look at who in the Tigers' system is among the league leaders. Who pops up isn't necessarily among the top prospects, but it can be an interesting and enlightening exercise nonetheless. What follows is a listing of players who are in the Top 10 for the offensive categories listed at the MiLB.com website. The only stats I excluded were games, at bats and caught stealing.

Toledo

Cale Iorg: Doubles, T-10th, (14)

I bet you didn't expect Iorg's only appearance to be positive, did you? Be that as it may, he's still suffering through a .227/.269/.355 season at the plate.

Scott Thorman: Home Runs, T-7th, (9)

Thorman is a first baseman and designated hitter playing a lot of corner outfield, probably because Nevin wants a bat that can hit bombs in a lineup that could use it. Don't expect him to come up in discussions of who presents solutions to problems in the Detroit lineup, though.

Ryan Strieby: Strikeouts, 2nd (63)

It's sad to see where Strieby is at this point. He's not hitting anywhere near where he'd have to in order to push his way onto a big league lineup considering he'd only make it as a first baseman or DH. Just 17 of 49 hits have gone for extra bases and all these strikeouts mean he won't get the hits to make up for the missing pop.

Clete Thomas: Strikeouts, 8th (50)

I'd be curious to know how many fans see this name and think, "Oh, I forgot about him." He's still in the system? That, his being among the league leaders in strikeouts, and his .222/.282/.361 line don't bode well for his future as a Tiger.

Andy Dirks: Stolen Bases, 8th (10)

So fast he made us wonder if a fly out to right field was a home run. Like I wasn't going to tie a baserunning stat to that incident.

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Detroit

5/28

Recalled Andrew Oliver (LHP) to Detroit

5/27

Traded Scott Sizemore (2B) to Oakland for David Purcey (LHP)
Recalled Danny Worth (IF) to Detroit

Oh how I hated and still hate the Scott Sizemore trade. But it sends me over the edge for reasons other than what you might expect. I honestly don't know at this point what to expect from Sizemore as a major leaguer. Dombrowski's record is pretty good when it comes to giving up on young players and not having it come back to bite him. It's certainly not perfect, but it's pretty good. This decision is maddening because of how the Tigers have handled the second base position over the last two seasons. When the Tigers decided to let Polanco walk in favor of Sizemore, I was fine with it. Like Keith Law said in this article, I thought Sizemore at league minimum was a better bargain than the $6-8M I expected Polanco to get in arbitration.

Of course, I formed this opinion assuming that the Tigers were correct in thinking his ankle wouldn't be an issue by Opening Day. The wisdom of that assumption was obviously dubious now that we realize the injury cost him an offseason of workouts that would have let him try to address their major concern about his game - his defense at second base. As you see in the linked article, that was the whole reason he was in the AFL to start with.

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The Tigers' injury and performance problems have caused them to introduce Tiger fans to a lot of their top pitching and outfield prospects. This has led some to wonder about who was left in the system and caused others to panic because the answer is not a whole lot. Inevitably, though, when the question is asked, our inclination is to turn to the players who we just saw on all the prospect lists or in the most recent draft. You know, Jacob Turner, Chance Ruffin, Daniel Fields, Nick Castellanos, etc.

The fact that those same names always seem to come up led me to wonder about the rest of the organization. Could I come up with a player from each team who is performing well but not in the usual conversation as a top prospect? The answer was sort of. Ideally, I wanted to come up with players with legitimate big league hopes whose names I didn't think people would recognize too well because they weren't on the prospect lists. What I actually came away with are some players you may not know who are doing pretty well. They may or may not be prospects.

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Detroit

5/24

Phil Coke (LHP) placed on disabled list
Designated Robbie Weinhardt (RHP) for assignment
Called up Adam Wilk (LHP) from Toledo Mud Hens

5/23

Transferred Carlos Guillen (UT) to 60-day disabled list
Called up Enrique Gonzalez (RHP) from Toledo Mud Hens

5/21

Placed Brad Thomas (LHP) on disabled list
Recalled Charlie Furbush (LHP) from Toledo Mud Hens

Thomas going on the disabled list was the first move in a busy week for the Tigers' pitching staff in terms of transactions. Furbush was called up as a result and responded to his first call by covering nearly four innings for the injured Phil Coke. Would Thomas have been able to salvage that game? Let's hope the Tigers don't forget the answer to that when the time comes.

Calling up Gonzalez, who was anything but effective in his last go-around in Detroit, may seem strange but if you look at the 40-man, there really weren't a lot of alternatives.

Finally, we have the whirlwind set off by Phil Coke's bruised foot bone and the resulting trip to the disabled list. It was decided Andy Oliver would fill Coke's spot in the rotation, but rather than waste the roster spot on an unavailable starter, the Tigers called up Adam Wilk to help out should innings be needed out of the bullpen. If the Tigers would have come back on the field Wednesday, they might have needed Wilk. If he is sent back down to make room for Oliver when Andy is called up for his start, he probably won't even get a chance to taste his cup of coffee. Then again, the Red Sox do have a lot of lefty hitters.

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I went to the Mud Hens game on Sunday. While it was a beautiful day spent with my wife, my siblings and their kids, I'm not going to bust out 2,000 words about the experience like I have the last couple times I've gone to Tiger games. I'm also not going to act like I was watching closely enough to notice a whole lot about the game or the Hens' players. One thing that was on display for even the casual observer, though, was Cale Iorg's defense.

Early in the game, I was doing something besides watching the action as a PawSox hitter took a pitch back up the middle. I only looked up when I heard my wife groan at the terrible throw that was way over Ryan Strieby's head at first. I looked at where the player who threw it was standing and thought the second baseman had ranged to his right and sailed an ill-advised throw to first. Then I realized the player certainly wasn't Will Rhymes - probably the easiest player on the field to recognize - and it dawned on me it must be the shortstop. As I said, I wasn't watching the entire play but I can't believe how far past second base Iorg was when he threw that ball. Should he have tried to get the runner? Maybe not, but I made a mental note to try to pay more attention to balls that were hit within his considerable range.

Unfortunately, the next time I noticed Iorg's defense it was because he was making his 12th error of the season. It was a fairly routine grounder with a runner on first and Iorg looked like he may have been thinking a little too much about getting two rather than making sure he fielded the ball cleanly. As he moved to his left and positioned himself for the flip to Rhymes, the ball stayed down on him and scooted beneath his glove. Iorg did kind of a disgusted pause at his mistake before he realized the ball wasn't hit that hard and it would stop far short of Clete Thomas in center field. By the time he had run it down, the runner who should have been the first half of a double play was standing on third. I'm not certain if that pause was what allowed the runner to get to third - in fact, I doubt it - but it certainly didn't look good after the sloppy error.

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Toledo

5/17

Activated Jose Ortega (RHP) from Disabled List
Placed Chris Oxspring (RHP) on Temporary Inactive List

5/14

Called up Andy Dirks (OF) to Detroit
Re-assigned Deik Scram (OF) from Erie to Toledo

Well, I said last week I thought at least one of Guez and Scram would be in Toledo to start the season. Now circumstances have landed them both there. Dirks certainly had played well enough (.328/.375/.527, 11 BB, 23 K, 10/12 SB) to earn the call when Ordonez was moved to the disabled list, and I'm not certain Dirks will be the one to come back when Ordonez comes back. Scram's time as a prospect has likely passed since he's now 27, but he's having a good season (.293/.406/.500, 11 BB, 19 K in 58 AB in Erie). I know that at bat total is low and according to John Wagner, that's due to some back problems. 

With Ortega ready to come back after working through some shoulder issues, the Tigers have set aside their Aussie reliever, Oxspring. I'd be surprised if his temporary inactivity didn't turn into a permanent release. I suppose it's possible the Tigers are holding off on the release until they see how their pitching staff shakes out over the next couple weeks.

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I think it was Wednesday when I threw the idea out to my wife. Hey, we should go to the Tigers game this Friday. Verlander's making his first start since the no-hitter and I still have my gift cards so the tickets won't really cost anything. We could even invite (our friends and most frequent weekend cohorts) Greg and Patricia. They had asked that we let them know if we went to a game this year.

I confess that I threw this idea out there like an idea I could either take or leave (which I could), but it made so much sense I figured the only obstacle was the weather. Sure enough, my wife tried to fend the idea off with more practical uses of our weekend's beginning, but it wasn't long before its brilliance and appeal had bored into her brain. Next thing you know, we're texting our friends to see if they were game.

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Heading into the season, the Tigers' starting rotation had a number of question marks. Would Rick Porcello figure out what kind of pitcher he needed to be to find success? Could Phil Coke make the transition back to a starting role? Would Brad Penny stay healthy and shake the troubles he had the last time he was in the American League? It seemed unlikely the answer to all these questions would be yes. I assumed the question about the Tigers' sixth, seventh and eighth starters wouldn't be if they were needed, but for whom and how long.

At this early stage of the season, it's been a question they haven't had to answer. Not only that, but they've had good news from both perspectives of the question. There's the fact that the current rotation is pitching well enough that the Tigers haven't had to worry too much about replacements. From the other side, though, the pitchers who would serve as those replacements are doing a good job of proving they're up to the task.

That's the angle I'm going to focus on today when I look at how the Tigers' options for substitute starters are doing at this point. I'll talk about their performance to date and then wax philosophic on their chances at short- or long-term assignments in Detroit this year. (Stats are from before Sunday's games)

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There weren't a ton of moves this week, and thankfully more good news than bad on injury fronts. Still, the Hens and Caps tried to address some roster weaknesses and the Tigers bid adieu to a couple of minor league free agents. 

Toledo

5/11

Released Clay Timpner (OF)
Re-assigned Ben Guez (OF) from Erie to Toledo

5/9

Activated Danny Worth (IF) from disabled list
Released Cesar Nicolas (IF)

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Between the time I posted my transaction post and it was scheduled to run, Mark Anderson tweeted that the Tigers were promoting Lester Oliveros from Erie to Toledo. The pitcher Lester will pass on the turnpike is Zach Simons. My guess is a lot of people who follow Tiger prospects will see that and think, "Man, what does Simons have to do to catch a break?" or "Why do the Tigers hate this guy?" After all, Simons has been a pretty serviceable reliever at the upper levels of the system since he was the return from the Jason Grilli trade in 2008.

The thing about Simons, though, is your interpretation of his numbers can be slanted depending on whether you think he's getting robbed of a shot. If you want to see him in Detroit, you can say he was nearly unhittable in 2008 (29 hits in 53.1 IP with 61 strikeouts) and has made strides with his control since. I think this is accurate. His numbers since coming into the organization are indeed good. As a Tiger farmhand, he's thrown 205 innings, given up just 147 hits, 93 walks and struck out 206. Those are pretty good numbers and while you may not like the walks, he has improved in that regard overall and his ability to limit hits and get Ks could be argued to mitigate their harm. What's more, Simons is said to have stuff that lines up with these promising numbers.

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I usually do these on Mondays, but then the Sizemore news came and I didn't want to skip commenting on that. The next day, we know Martinez was coming back so I figured I'd wait to see how the minor league catchers were re-arranged. Since the major league moves are probably finished for the time being - Maggs didn't look DL-bound Wednesday - I finally felt safe posting.

Toledo

5/4

Victor Martinez (C) returned from disabled list after completing rehab assignment with Toledo
Omir Santos (C) optioned to Toledo

5/3

Scott Sizemore (2B) called up to Detroit
Will Rhymes (2B) optioned to Toledo

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A couple weeks ago, I received an invitation to buy tickets for the Tigers' first Tweet Up event. Later that day, I received a text from my friend asking if my wife and I wanted to go. Simple yes or no answer, right? Hardly. You see, purchasing tickets would mean I'd most likely have to "actually watch the game". This is what we bloggers are alway being implored to do and I think I speak for most, if not all, bloggers when I say it's a very unappealing proposition.

First of all, I generally do everything I can to avoid watching baseball games. I mean, from start to end, it takes approximately three hours. That's three hours I could be testing linear weights to make sure they're still accurate after that day's games. Three hours I could be writing a post complaining about games taking three hours. Three hours of progress in my plot to ruin the fun of the game for you, the reader. And that's just watching on TV. If I go to games, I have to leave my house at five, and don't get home until something like 11:30. Do you know how hard it is to go an evening without scanning game summaries to see which managers are dumb enough to sacrifice a runner to second when they already had one out?

Additionally, in a public setting of ragged, uninformed fans I'm subject to overhearing inane conversations about how Inge is little Timmy's favorite player because he loves kids, lives in Michigan and wears high socks. If there's going to be any reason to like Inge, little Timmy, it should be that his greatest skill is typically undervalued on the open market. Therefore the Tigers don't have to pay all that much to keep a player the masses slobber all over for some reason. But that's probably a topic better suited for a future post.

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It's time for another look at the transactions that took place over the week in the Tigers' minor leagues. If you ever need a fix for these moves before I provide it, let me give you my process. I start at MiLB.com, going through each league's transactions and making a list for each of the Tigers' farm teams.

I then go to blogs associated with each team to see if there's any additional information. For the Mud Hens, that's John Wagner's Coop Scoop. He's doing some fantastic work at this site and I'd like to point it out because I'm afraid if people don't know it's there he'll stop doing it. If every minor league team had people doing stuff like this, I probably never would have started blogging about the minor leagues. For Erie, it's Mike Copper's Extra Innings. Lakeland doesn't have a devotee as far as I know, but you can get your Whitecaps info at Mlive's Whitecap page.

Or, you can skip all this clicking around and go to a comprehensive source, Tigstown.com. Mark Anderson does fantastic work tracking down all the moves that you might miss at these other sources. But let's be honest. If you're reading this, it's probably because you have about enough interest in the minor leagues to click on a few stories a week. For that somewhat limited interest, I thank you. Here's this week's moves.

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