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Things aren't looking too great for Willis.  Does anyone think this will help out the d-train. This is i believe what the jays did to Roy Halladay. and he turned out fine with that move.


Tigers hoping slumping Willis can find control with Class A Lakeland

Associated Press

Updated: June 10, 2008, 7:07 PM ET

DETROIT -- After watching yet another wild show on the mound, the Detroit Tigers sent Dontrelle Willis down to Class A on Tuesday in hopes the struggling lefty can find his control.

The Tigers are hoping a trip to the minors will get Dontrelle Willis back on track. At a whopping 10.32, the lefty owns the highest ERA among pitchers who have made at least four starts this season.

The Tigers optioned Willis to Lakeland of the Florida State League -- and home to the Tigers' spring training camp -- a day after he matched a career high by giving up eight earned runs on five walks and three hits in 1 1/3 innings against Cleveland.

Willis (0-1) has walked 21 batters in 11 1/3 innings. The 8-2 loss to the Indians came in his second start since going on the disabled list with a hyperextended right knee.

"Our objective is to get Dontrelle back to being Dontrelle," Tigers president, CEO and general manager Dave Dombrowski said. "We don't want to put a time frame on this. We want to get it right. The arm strength is still there, on occasion. The breaking ball is still there. But we want to get him back to being comfortable throwing strikes."

Detroit signed Willis to a $29 million, three-year deal after getting him in a trade last winter with the Florida Marlins.

"We knew his walks were up last year, but not anywhere near the extent of this," Dombrowski said. "We studied it very thoroughly. We knew he hadn't pitched as well the last couple of years but we didn't see this command situation."

Dombrowski also said no decision will be made immediately about who will replace Willis in the starting rotation.

"We'll tackle that in a few days," Dombrowski said.

The Tigers also recently placed right-handed starter Jeremy Bonderman on the disabled list with a blood clot in his shoulder.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

I think he should just become a position player like Rick Ankiel. Seriously. He has proven he can hit and has speed. I don't know how he went downhill so fast. I remember the first 2 years he came up when everyone always said that his throwing motion would deteriorate quickly and it looks like they were correct.

He has talent, but I feel a lot of his success was with his unique windup. Now that the novelty has worn off, his stats dropped a lot. Add to that his poor work ethic and there you go.

I never liked the deal for Detroit in the first place. Cabrera was so fat and lazy that he was moved to first within 6 weeks. His value dipped a ton after that. If you can play a tough infield spot(basically, anything but 1B) and hit like a beast, you are gold. If you have to be a DH/1B guy, it takes a hit. Basically, if David Ortiz could field like Omar Vizquel, he'd be in Cooperstown by now.

The Tigers better hope guys like Maybin and Miller become busts, otherwise it will be a rather expensive mistake.

miller is pitching well for the fish ..

maybin will do well later in the year as a september call up

I don't disagree.  He's a good fielding pitcher as well.  I wouldn't give up on him just yet as a pitching, but Mike has a good point here.

He's got a serious kink in his throwing motion, and he just can't get the velocity on his ball with the way he is pitching right now. I am kind of hoping secretly that he flames out of the Tigers, and gets released, and the Marlins pick his ass up.

THAT would be very funny.

He's got a solid place as a middle reliever, maybe a 5th starter if he gets his shit together. He can soak up innings like no other.

That means three years from now, he'll be on the news for purchasing HGH.   ;D ;D ;D

Why doesn't he swap to the field if its that bad? he has a decent bat and speed. I've seen the man leg out a triple