The Tigers have acquired 23-year old righty starting pitcher Brooks Brown from the Arizona Diamondbacks for the right to keep Rule 5 Draft Pick James Skelton (catcher). Brown pitched in 26 games (all starts) last season in AA-ball in which he was 6-15 with a 4.18 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. He doesn’t have much upside but the Tigers felt like he might be more valuable to them down the road than Skelton. The 23-year old lefty swinging Skelton played in 87 games in A+AA ball last season for the Tigers in which he was 90 for 297 (.303 avg, .857 OPS) with 65 runs scored, 5 homers, 34 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.

The Tigers have waived 30-year old righty swinging 3B Mike Hessman. Hessman played in 12 games for the Tigers last season and he was 8 for 27 (.296 avg, 1.276 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 5 homers and 7 RBIs. Hessman has now played in 77 games in his major league career in which he is 35 for 168 (.208 avg, .752 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 13 homers and 27 RBIs. The Tigers shouldn’t miss Hessman much despite his impressive September of 2008.

The Tigers have placed 26-year old righty starting pitcher Jeremy Bonderman on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder tightness. Bonderman pitched in 12 games (all starts) last season for the Tigers in which he was 3-4 with a 4.29 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP. In 6 years with the Tigers, Bonderman has pitched in 169 games (163 starts) in which he is 59-66 with a 4.74 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Bonderman is a overrated pitcher but he’s still likely better than whoever will replace him in the starting rotation.

The Tigers have released 40-year old righty swinging DH Gary Sheffield. Sheffield played in 114 games for the Tigers last season and he was 94 for 418 (.225 avg, .726 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 19 homers, 57 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Sheffield played in two years for the Tigers covering 247 games in which he was 225 for 912 (.247 avg) with 159 runs scored, 44 homers, 132 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. Sheffield is sitting on 499 homeruns so some team will try to cash in on that despite his declining skills. The Tigers will likely give Marcus Thames the starting job at DH with Sheffield out of the equation.