The Tigers will be without 25-year old righty reliever Al Alburquerque until at least the 2012 All-Star Break as he has underwent surgery recently to repair a stress fracture in his right elblow. Alburquerque pitched in 41 games (0 starts) for the Tigers last year (his first taste of the majors) and he was 6-1 with a 1.87 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He only gave up 21 hits (0 homers) in 43 1/3 innings for the Tigers, while whiffing 67 batters. He was dominating during the regular season despite having control issues as he walked 29 batters last year. If he starts throwing more strikes, who knows who good he can become….because he has nasty, nasty stuff.

UPDATE: (4/6/2012) - The Tigers have placed Al Alburquerque on the 15-day disabled list.

36-year old righty swinging RF Magglio Ordonez has been removed from the A.L.C.S. roster and is done for the year. He broke his ankle last night against the Rangers in Game #1 of the A.L.C.S. Ordonez played in 1 game in the A.LC.S. and he was 0 for 2 with a walk and a strikeout. Ordonez played in 5 games in this post-season for the Tigers and he was 5 for 13 (.385 avg) with 1 run scored. This will hurt the Tigers who were already without Delmon Young due to injury. This likely means that Ryan Raburn and Don Kelly will be starting in LF and RF the rest of this series.

UPDATE: (10/10/2011) - The Tigers have decided to replace Magglio Ordonez with Delmon Young on the active roster.

Starting LF Delmon Young has been left off the roster for the A.L.C.S. by the Tigers after he injured his oblique muscle in Game #5 against the Yankees. It’s not known yet whether or not Young would be ready to play in the World Series, should the Tigers make it. Young played in all 5 games against the Yankees and he was 6 for 19 (.316 avg, 1.170 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 3 homers and 3 RBIs. Young will likely be replaced by a platoon of righty swinging Ryan Raburn and lefty swinging Don Kelly. Raburn will likely get most of the work in this series as the Rangers will have three lefty starters and only one righty. Raburn played in 3 games against the Yankees and he was 2 for 5 (.400 avg, .800 OPS) with 1 RBI. Don Kelly played in 4 games against the Yankees and he was 4 for 11 (.364 avg, 1.000 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. The Tigers are going to miss Young a little bit as he was red hot with the bat against the Yankees. But, Raburn and Kelly are productive players and that should lessen the blow of losing Young a little bit.

UPDATE: (10/10/2011) - The Tigers have added Delmon Young to the A.L.C.S. roster to replace the injured Magglio Ordonez.

The Tigers have lost 26-year old, lefty swinging outfielder Brennan Boesch for the rest of the season as he needs thumb surgery. Boesch played in 115 games for the Tigers this year and he was 121 for 428 (.283 avg, .799 OPS) with 75 runs scored, 16 homers, 54 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He has now played in 248 games in his first two years with the Tigers and he is 240 for 892 (.269 avg, .766 OPS) with 124 runs scored, 30 homers, 121 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. The Tigers are going to miss Boesch’s lefty bat the rest of the way in 2011. The Tigers need either Ryan Raburn or Magglio Ordonez to pick up the slack in RF.

The Tigers have placed 35-year old switch-hitting 2B Carlos Guillen on the 15-day disabled list due to a sore left wrist. Guillen has played in 22 games for the Tigers already this year and he is 17 for 82 (.207 avg, .576 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 2 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Tigers have recalled 28-year old lefty swinging 2B Will Rhymes to replace Guillen on the active roster. Rhymes played in 19 games earlier this year for the Tigers and he is 15 for 68 (.221 avg, .556 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has also played in 89 games in AAA-ball so far this year in which he is 105 for 347 (.303 avg, .771 OPS) with 47 runs scored, 3 homers, 23 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. The Tigers hope that Guillen heals up in a couple of weeks because they are going to need him if they are going to hold off the Indians in the A.L. Central.