The Tigers have placed righty reliever Todd Jones on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder soreness. This explains why the Tigers made the trade for Kyle Farnsworth yesterday. Jones has pitched in 44 games (0 starts) for the Tigers this season and he is 4-1 with 18 saves, a 5.05 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. The Tigers have recalled 27-year old lefty reliever Clay Rapada to replace Jones in the bullpen. Rapada has pitched in 14 games (0 starts) for the Tigers this season and he is 2-0 with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.

The Detroit Tigers have traded starting catcher Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees for righty reliever Kyle Farnsworth. The 36-year old Rodriguez wasn’t have his best season ever for the Tigers. He played in 82 games for the Tigers this season and he was 89 for 302 (.295 avg, .755 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 5 homers, 32 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. The Tigers will replace Rodriguez with Brandon Inge behind the plate. Inge has played in 61 games for the Tigers this season and he is 40 for 176 (.227 avg, .758 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 8 homers and 30 RBIs. Inge has more pop in his bat than Rodriguez does now but he can’t throw near as well. Still, it was a good move to make this switch because they really needed help in the bullpen and Farnsworth should supply that.

32-year old righty reliever Kyle Farnsworth should really help the back end of the Tigers’ bullpen. He pitched in 45 games (0 starts) for the Yankees this season and he was 1-2 with 1 save, a 3.65 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. Farnsworth pitched the best baseball of his life in 2005 with the Tigers and they hope he can repeat that feat the rest of the season. Farnsworth has now pitched in 596 games (26 starts) in his major league career and he is 29-47 with 27 saves, a 4.42 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. He has also whiffed 720 batters in 719 innings which shows how nasty his stuff has been over his career. This might not look like a good move on the surface but it will look like one by the end of the season.

Maybe the Tigers should have given Zach Miner a look in the rotation a long time ago as he is pitching well so far. In his 2 starts as the #5 starter for the Tigers he is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP. The most important thing about Miner as a starter is that he has improved his control walking only 1 batter in 12 innings. That has not been the case the whole season but Miner can keep the job if he keeps throwing strikes because he has pretty good stuff. Miner has pitched in 34 games (2 starts) for the Tigers this season and he is 5-3 with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. But, he has walked 28 batters in 56.2 innings and that’s way too many. The Tigers have a couple of days to decide if they want to make a trade for a starting pitcher or keep starting Miner.

The Detroit Tigers have decided to replace Todd Jones as closer with Fernando Rodney. Jones has pitched in 43 games for the Tigers this season and he was 4-1 with 18 saves, a 4.99 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Jones’ performance this season made Jim Leyland smoke a lot of cigarettes in the dugout so this change had to be made for his health as well as that of the Tigers’ pitching staff. Still, Jones only blew three saves this season so Rodney will likely be under the microscope. Rodney has better stuff than Jones does but he’s never been as good as he should be. He has pitched in 15 games (0 starts) for the Tigers this season and he is 0-2 with 1 save, a 5.17 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. If Rodney fails look for the Tigers to try out Joel Zumaya in the closer’s role. He has the stuff to dominate but he always seems to be getting hurt. He has pitched in 15 games for the Tigers this season and he is 0-1 with 1 save, a 2.04 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP. His WHIP is so high because he’s always trying to whiff everyone which has resulted in him walking 16 batters in only 17.2 innings this year. He would be effective in the role if focused and healthy. Still, it will be interesting to see how well Fernando Rodney handles his new role.

Injuries to Jeremy Bonderman, Dontrelle Willis, Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney helped derail the first half of the 2008 season for the Tigers. The Tigers are now 47-47 which has them in 3rd place in the American League Central, 7 games behind the White Sox. The Tigers are also 8 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card Race in the American League. One good thing for the Tigers is that Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney are both back to help fortify the back end of the bullpen. Zumaya might eventually bump Todd Jones (17 saves, 4.95 ERA) out of the closer’s job unless he starts to improve soon. Unless Dontrelle Willis gets his act together in A-Ball (doubtful) then the Tigers might need to make another move for a starting pitcher because rookie Eddie Bonine might not have the stuff to succeed at the major league level. He has started 5 games this season for the Tigers and he is 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. It hurts the Tigers that they traded so much of their farm system to get Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis and Edgar Renteria in the off-season as they don’t have a lot of prospects to offer a team for another starting pitcher.