Travis

In Purcey's last 4 appearances he has recorded 5 outs while giving up 6 ER and 7 BB - who is really gonna take a chance on that? The dude needs to get 'mono' so he can have a conditioning stint. He's literally useless in every other outing. Sizemore is doing really well in Oakland. I've got a cousin in Oakland who informs me, by way of text, every time Sizemore does anything of note. So I get texts once or twice a week. In all actuality, though, it seems that Oakland was the perfect fit for our 'second baseman of the future'. I'm okay without him. Especially with Guillen back, though I'm hoping we make a move for a 2B that can occupy the 2 spot next year; but I digress. I'd actually prefer to see Oliveros back. I thought he showed well in his outings as a Tiger. And if I had to choose between Schlereth or Perry, I'm definitely taking Perry even though they're about equally useless at this point. A bullpen of Coke, Furbush, Al, Perry, Oliveros, Benoit and Valverde should conceivably be pretty damn solid. Too bad it'll never work out that way.

Bless You Boys said it best. You can never have too many unconditioned lefties in the pen. I can't believe that Ruffin gets the demotion here. Granted, he's probably not quite ready for the show yet - but Purcey is the biggest problem in that bullpen. That's two games now that he's absolutely given away with his lack of command. One of which the Tigers were actually winning (Oakland) and the other saw the Tigers closing in. Unless they get their arms sorted out, we don't have to worry about this team making the playoffs. I do agree however that Turner is much too high an asking price for Jimenez. We have our core (Cabrera, Verlander, Avila, Martinez, Jackson, Boesch, Peralta) for a number of years - so I'd hate to lose as highly touted a prospect as Turner - though Porcello and some other minor leaguer I think I could live with. Ultimately, I'd like to keep Porcello, though. We aren't really in the position to take anything away from the staff, we're only in the position to add to it.

Jimenez would be amazing, but Dan and Jim said on the radio yesterday that there is talk that Colorado's asking price for Jimenez "starts with Porcello or Scherzer" and goes north from there. So basically, he's on the trading block - but Colorado has priced him so high that he's not really on the trading block. Only a few days left, though, Dombrowski has to pull the trigger on something soon. What about Matt Garza? I know he just signed with the Cubs this off-season and has struggled more than the North Siders had hoped, but he also has a crappy team behind him. The Cubs just traded their best outfielder and Aramis Ramirez says he's not going anywhere (NTC) - so I wonder if Garza is quietly available.

Lions sign former Jaguars LB Justin Durant and ex-Chicago Bear WR Rashied Davis. The Bears were apparently in the market for Durant - so it's good to get him away from them, right? Davis is expected to compete for the 4th WR spot.

Yeah, you've gotta think there's no way Purcey stays with the club after today's showings. That's 5 walks to 6 batters in his last two appearances? Bring up Wilk or Oliveros, I was happy with Lester's stuff. Unfortunately Alburquerque is battling the injury bug. Coke, Al, Benoit, and Valverde is a great bullpen with the occasional appearance from Wilk or Oliveros. Penny will have a lot of explaining to do after today's outing, no doubt about it, especially after blowing up at Martinez. It's not VMart's fault you're hanging pitches and missing the zone, Brad. I would absolutely love to see the Tigers get someone of high enough caliber to push Scherzer and Porcello back in the rotation. Nothing against either one of them, I just want to see the Tigers be aggressive at the deadline. I'm sure Dombrowski survives the layoffs if they don't make the post season again - but Leyland and Co. certainly won't.. and maybe that's not a bad thing.

All right, I got curious and compared games late in the season where Draper and Datsyuk were both out while Kronwall was in and finally figured out the game in question. There's a reason you don't remember it, because the thing that everyone remembers from that game is the fact that the Red Wings went up against the St. Louis Rams and lost by a touchdown. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/gallery.htm?id=21705&location=/photos&pg=3

*shrug* Took it from the website. According to hockey-reference.com Valterri wore 41 in 2006.

Ed Mio, Brent Gilchrist, Ray Whitney, Valtteri Filppula According to this list on detroitredwings.com the only numbers that have never been used by a Red Wing are: 49, 50, 53, 54, 56 - 70, 73 - 76, 78 - 80, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 92, 94, 97, 98, and 99.

Brad Penny: 10 outs, 6 runs, 1 fight with VMart, 8,000 boos. Let's trade for 2 starters and cut Penny loose. I was for this signing, but he's been okay at his best and atrocious at his worst. Tigers are looking like your standard s***ty second-half team this week. Hopefully they pull out of it before they end up 3rd in the Central again.

That's very true.

Maybe 9 is his preferred number and he chose to double it?

I'm almost 100% positive that he only wore the A for one game. No more than a handful.

They'll definitely get someone. I just hope it isn't some of the other names (i.e. Erik Bedard) that have been floating around. We definitely need starting pitching. I'd love for Dombrowski to pull Aaron Harang out of his hat. Cubs send CF Kosuke Fukudome to the Tribe for a pair of prospects. Good pick up for them with Choo and Sizemore on the DL.

They've got $700,000 left to sign 1 player.

Just announced, the Jets will be announcing their jersey in 12 minutes.

Exelby better not sully Bob Rouse's good name.

Yeah, I thought about this and touched on it briefly in the Draper thread. My honest assumption is that Kronwall will be added to the Alternate Captain rotation. Like Marlowe said, he wore it last year - and I would think that he's being prepared to wear the A full time when Zetterberg becomes Captain.

I was wondering the same thing.

Sucks to drop the series to Chicago. At least it was still a winning road trip. Sometimes I worry about this team. They've had chances to pull away from the Indians - but never seem to play with the urgency necessary to do so.

I agree that Commodore chose the right course of action. He had fun with it and let it run its course, but was ultimately a pro about it. He even handled the announcement well. Really class move by him to match the donations, too. Also tweeted that he'd be buying a Commodore 64 for the support. I think I may have misjudged this Commodore fellow.

+1 for 'soft turd'. I really appreciate the descriptive nature of that statement.

Mike Commodore via Twitter. He also revealed that he will match all of the $64 donations and donate it to a charity that has yet to be determined.

It's jail, not prison.

There's nothing odd about a Devil's 3-way.

So who alternates the 'A' this season in Drapes' stead? My guess is Kronwall after he wore it (once) last year.