Tigers Designate Ryan Perry, Recall Alburquerque

When the Tigers placed bullpen phenom Al Alburquerque on the disabled list with inflammation in his pitching elbow it was a frightening moment indeed as diagnosis' like elbow inflammation, or elbow/forearm tenderness have a nasty way of turning into, 'will undergo Tommy John surgery.'

The diagnosis is still worrisome for me, and should be for fans of the Tigers as well but it's obviously good to see that the team did the right thing, placing him on the disabled list immediately instead of asking the player to try and work through it. Not that a fifteen day respite necessarily cures anything if something is seriously wrong, but it's the proper amount of caution in this circumstance.

Tigers Demote Adam Wilk, Recall Ryan Perry

After a solid 2010 campaign, the Tigers and their fans were undoubtedly hoping that young, hard throwing righty Ryan Perry could build on his performance and leap into the discussion of elite setup men. A classic hard throwing (94-95mph) fastball/slider reliever, Perry instead struggled mightily to open this season, boosting his strikeout rate to an impressive 8.71, but simultaneously displaying horrendous control, walking nine batters in his 10.1 innings of work.

How much of those struggles were related to an infected eye that was originally thought to be the by-product of allergies this summer is uncertain, though it seems likely that a pitcher like Perry, who has never had great control, but also never experienced control issues this bad, was certainly adversely affected by the issue. With his control back (1.65BB/9 in 16.1 AAA innings of work) Perry and his powerful fastball/slider combo seem ready to rejoin the Tigers bullpen and hopefully help add further strength to a unit that already features three high quality arms.

For his part, the left handed Adam Wilk pitched about as well as could be expected. Despite possessing underwhelming raw stuff (his fastball works in the 87-88mph range) and getting hit fairly hard (5.91 ERA), he gave the team 10.2 innings, mostly in long relief, and flashed strikeout and walk rates that could play long-term in a long-relief role or as a lefty specialist. He'll head back to AAA where he can continue to improve and hopefully return one day.

Ryan Perry To DL With Infected Eye

There are some strange things that send guys to the DL, and they aren't always baseball related. In this case Tigers reliever Ryan Perry has been sent to the DL with an infected eye that apparently was brought on by issues related to allergies. The assignment is retroactive to Tuesday the 5th and in his stead the Tigers have called up prospect Robbie Weinhardt.

I didn't do a prospect profile on the 26 year old Weinhardt, but it was more a lack of time than anything else. Robbie has been a well regarded relief arm in the system for some time now and he made his big league debut last year, appearing in 28 games. During those 28 games he threw 29.1 innings, registering 6.44 K/9 and 2.45 BB/9 marks while inducing ground balls on 56% of his balls in play.

Featuring a low 90s fastball that works in the 90-92 range and a tight slider Weinhardt racked up huge strikeout rates in the lower minors, but struggled to repeat those strong peripherals last year between AAA and the Majors. Still with a 2.5/1 K/BB ratio and strong ground ball rates, he profiles as a reliable 7th inning arm.