Tigers set 40-man roster for 2009

11/20/08 12:40 PM EST
Tigers set 40-man roster
Detroit purchases contracts of five Minor Leaguers

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

DETROIT -- The Tigers set their 40-man roster on Thursday, ahead of next month's Rule 5 Draft, by purchasing the contracts of five Minor League prospects, including highly touted outfielder Wilkin Ramirez.

Ramirez and fellow Double-A Erie outfielder Casper Wells were added to the 40-man roster, as were right-handed pitchers Alfredo Figaro, Guillermo Moscoso and Zach Simons. The moves leave Detroit's roster at 38 players as the club heads into the heart of the offseason.

Ramirez, one of the more gifted athletes in the Tigers system, enjoyed a breakout season at the plate this year after struggling to make consistent contact over the first four seasons of his professional career. The 23-year-old batted .303 with 24 doubles, 19 home runs, seven triples, 73 RBIs and 26 stolen bases in 110 games at Erie.He was the Tigers' representative at this past summer's All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium and was an Eastern League All-Star.

Next year, Ramirez is slated to make the jump to Triple-A Toledo, where he went 3-for-36 in 11 games this past season.

Wells' addition caps a season in which the 23-year-old made a big jump from low Class A West Michigan to Erie and thrived with by far the best numbers of his career. After batting .240 in 50 games with West Michigan, the Grand Rapids, Mich., native produced a .289 average, 18 doubles, 17 home runs, 53 RBIs and a .965 OPS in 75 games with Erie. Wells took that momentum into the Arizona Fall League, and he entered Thursday batting .316 with seven homers and 22 RBIs.

The breakout propelled Wells into the Tigers' prospect ranks and rewarded player development director Glenn Ezell for the decision to give him the jump.

Moscoso, who turned 25 last weekend, also emerged this year after being largely limited to short-season leagues in his first three pro seasons. After striking out 72 batters over 52 innings while posting a 2-3 record and 2.42 ERA over 15 appearances (six starts) at high Class A Lakeland, Moscoso joined Erie's rotation for six starts down the stretch and recorded 50 more strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings.

The totals between the two levels -- 122 strikeouts over 86 2/3 innings while allowing just 60 hits -- were intimidating. He took that progress home with him to the Venezuelan Winter League, where he's 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA while mostly working out of the bullpen for Caracas.

The 24-year-old Figaro was a Midwest League All-Star after going 12-2 with two shutouts and a 2.05 ERA for West Michigan. Opponents batted just .218 against him before he earned a promotion to Lakeland, where he went 0-5 with a 4.91 ERA over five starts and one relief appearance.

Simons came over from the Rockies system as the return package in the Jason Grilli trade at the end of April. From there, the 23-year-old posted a 5-2 record, 2.36 ERA and two saves in 39 relief appearances at Lakeland. Simons held opponents to a .166 average while racking up 61 strikeouts and 30 walks over 53 1/3 innings. He has an 0-1 record and 4.85 ERA over 12 appearances in the Arizona Fall League.

By placing these players on the 40-man roster, the Tigers protect them from the Rule 5 Draft, during which teams can select eligible prospects from other organizations and keep them if they spend the next season in the Major Leagues. Among those left unprotected are second baseman Will Rhymes, who batted .306 with 21 doubles, seven triples, three homers, 60 RBIs and 17 stolen bases at Erie. He's currently batting .282 in the AFL.

On the flip side, by leaving two roster spots open, the Tigers allowed themselves room to be active in the Rule 5 Draft if they so choose, even if they sign a free agent ahead of time.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Will Rhymes is probably wanting to know, what in the do the Tigers expect, perfection! He has done very well in Erie and AFL!

They kept Mike Hessman and Clete Thomas on the 40 man roster!

whoo! But is this set in stone for the season or what?

I's confused!

gdennis59 wrote:

whoo! But is this set in stone for the season or what?

I's confused!

No, they can still add free agents. Then there's the whole arbitration process that's confusing. Oh, and the rule V draft. It's far from set for next season.

Brandon Inge is listed as a catcher

Friday, November 21, 2008
Baseball
Roster additions impress Tigers
Three right-handers, two outfielders all project to be major leaguers, according to Avila.
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Help from within could be on the way for the Tigers.

The five prospects they added to their 40-man roster Thursday -- three right-handed pitchers and two outfielders -- are coming off excellent minor league seasons.

"All five project at some point to be major-leaguers," assistant general manager Al Avila said, "or else we would not have protected them."

The attention-grabbing stat of the bunch belongs to Guillermo Moscoso, a slender Venezuelan who struck out 122 in 86 2/3 combined innings for Lakeland and Erie.

He also held hitters to sub-.200 batting averages in both leagues. This isn't the first year Moscoso has done well, however. Last year at Oneonta of the New York-Penn League, he threw a perfect game.

"He has three pitches that are major league caliber, fastball, curve and change," Avila said. "The comfort level for his fastball is 90-92, but he easily throws it at 94."

Alfredo Figaro went 12-7 with a 2.60 ERA for West Michigan and Lakeland, although there was no balance to the way his stats broke down. He went 12-2 with 2.05 ERA in 19 starts for West Michigan and 0-5 with a 4.91 ERA at Lakeland.

Zack Simons is the prospect the Tigers received from the Rockies for Jason Grilli. For Lakeland, he went 5-2 with a 2.36 ERA in 39 games. But over his last 16 appearances, he had a 1.04 ERA, allowing three earned runs in 26 innings.

A native of Mountain Home, Idaho, Simons was featured last year on CNBC in a story about agent loyalty. After receiving a $625,000 bonus in 2005 as the second-round draft choice of the Rockies, Simons put a tattoo of his agent's firm on his right shoulder.

Wilkin Ramirez impressed the Tigers in spring training, then continued to do so during the season. He wasn't yet ready for Triple A, hitting .083 in an 11-game stint for Toledo, but at Double-A Erie, he hit .303 with 19 home runs, 73 RBI and 26 stolen bases.

His .522 slugging average was second in the Eastern League.

Casper Wells came on strong with 27 home runs (17 at Erie, 10 at West Michigan) in 125 games. He also had a higher batting average (.289-.240) at Erie than he did at West Michigan.

He's also hitting well in the Arizona Fall League with .316 average and seven home runs in 22 games for Mesa.

Not promoted to the 40-man roster, despite there being room, was second baseman Will Rhymes. He will be available to other teams through the Rule 5 draft at the winter meetings in December.

You can reach Tom Gage at tom.gage@detnews.com

bobrob2004 wrote:

Brandon Inge is listed as a catcher

I guess they figure if they can't find another catcher, Inge may still have to catch...

From Beck's Blog:

40-man roster set at 38
The Tigers set their 40-man roster ahead of next month's Rule 5 Draft by adding five prospects.

Outfielders Wilkin Ramirez and Casper Wells were added to the roster, as were right-handed pitchers Alfredo Figaro, Guillermo Moscoso and Casper Wells Zach Simons. Those moves bring the roster to 38 players.

Interestingly, second baseman Will Rhymes was not added. That makes him eligible for the Rule 5.

UPDATE @ 1pm: Thanks to Billfer and his Detroit Tigers Weblog for pointing out another prospect who didn't make the list -- Luis Marte and (correction: Marte wasn't eligible for Rule 5) James Skelton. Skelton was interesting from the standpoint of how badly the Tigers need good, young catching. Take away the questions about his size (listed at 5-foot-11, 165) and he's a pretty good prospect. In the Tigers' defense on this case, given the makeup of big-league rosters these days, it would be tough for a team to take him in the Rule 5 Draft and keep him as a third catcher all year. If they weren't going to subtract from the 40-man roster, this might be the risk they were willing to take.

ANOTHER UPDATE @ 1:20pm: On a side note, the Cardinals signed former Tigers farmhand Ian Ostlund to a Minor League contract with a Spring Training invite, so he'll get his shot to impress the big club. St. Louis has been looking for left-handed relief and will reportedly sign former Tiger Trever Miller.

Posted on November 20, 2008 at 11:07 AM

Clarifying Luis Marte’s status

by billfer on November 20, 2008

in Minors, Roster Management

Earlier today I questioned the Tigers leaving Luis Marte off the 40 man roster and then exposing him to the rule 5 draft. Yeah, it turns out I was wrong.

Jon Paul Morosi noted in his Baseball America chat today ($) that Marte wasn’t eligible. On Beck’s blog he mentioned my article and then later edited his post to indicate that Marte wasn’t eligible.

This confused me because Marte, who was born on 8/28/1986 and signed on November 16th 2005, would have been a 19 year old signee entering his 4th Rule 5 draft (05/06/07/08). Nineteen year olds are normally afforded 3 years of protection and eighteen year olds get 4.

But there’s a catch I wasn’t aware of. From Baseball America

Quote :

Players who were 18 or younger on June 5 preceding the signing of their first contract must be protected after four minor league seasons. Players 19 and older must be protected after three seasons.

So Marte was only considered an 18 year old, meaning he doesn’t need to be protected until next year.

That’s the story, and I apologize for the confusion.

bobrob2004 wrote:

Brandon Inge is listed as a catcher

I thought the same thing. Wonder what Brandon thought about that??