Monday, May 31, 2010

End of the line for the D-Train?


The Detroit Tigers on Sunday designated Dontrelle Willis for assignment. You probably know the drill: He came off the roster immediately, and the team has 10 days to dispose of his contract —by trade, release or assignment to a minor league team.

Nothing too surprising here. Willis was once a star — entertaining and effective, a 22-game winner in '06 for the Florida Marlins — but his career went sour after that, and despite all the hopeful talk this spring about his comeback (including a pretty strong start against the Twins), he was still walking six men per nine innings this year.

What will happen, of course, is that Willis will clear waivers — nobody's going to pick up what remains of his $12 million salary for this season. The Tigers apparently will then release him rather than assign him to a minor league team — Willis would have the right to refuse such an assignment anyway — and pay him off, and Willis will be free to sign elsewhere.

Can he be fixed by somebody else? I doubt it ... but it would sure be interesting to see what the LaRussa-Duncan School for Failed Veterans can make of him in St. Louis.


1 comment:

  1. Cuddyer at 2b. Is Casilla's elbow that bad he cannot play the field ?

    vs. Seattle tonight:

    1. Denard Span, CF
    2. J.J. Hardy, SS
    3. Joe Mauer, C
    4. Justin Morneau, 1B
    5. Jim Thome, DH
    6. Michael Cuddyer, 2B
    7. Jason Kubel, RF
    8. Delmon Young, LF
    9. Nick Punto, 3B


    Gardenhire must want to score some runs for Liriano.

    ReplyDelete