MVN - Most Valuable Network

Tigers release Tony Giarratano

The Tigers and Mud Hens still have a number of roster questions, but there is one less player in the mix today. Tony Giarratano was released unconditionally today by the Tigers. Dombrowski’s quote in the release sounds pretty glum for the shortstop:

“Unfortunately, Tony has not be able to recover from his previous surgery and it does not appear feasible for him to continue his career at this time,” Tigers President, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager David Dombrowski said. “We wish Tony all the best in his future endeavors.” - Tiger press release (linked above)

What had looked like it may be a crowded position at the upper levels has suddenly thinned out quite a bit. There is some disagreement among roster speculators whether Ramon Santiago will be needed as a bench player on the Tigers’ roster, but assuming he sticks with Detroit you are left with five potential shortstops for the Mud Hens and SeaWolves: Mike Hollimon, Erick Almonte, Caonabo Cosme, Brent Dlugach and Danny Worth.

It seems possible Worth could go back to Lakeland to start the season and with Dlugach starting the season on the shelf, you have the potential of having just Hollimon, Almonte and Cosme as the shortstops to split between Toledo and Erie when the season starts. It just goes to show how little distance there is between a surplus at a position and a shortage, especially since Cosme appears to be more of a utility guy than a full-time shortstop.

I don’t think this is something to worry about, however. As I suggested above, I don’t think it’s a given that Santiago starts with Detroit and Worth breaking camp with Erie wouldn’t be terribly shocking either. As you can see, there are many outstanding issues and a lot of variables to consider as the Tigers figure out how to put the shortstop puzzle together.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 2:03 pm and is filed under tony giarratano, brent dlugach, caonabo cosme, erick almonte, danny worth, Prospects, Roster, mike hollimon, ramon santiago. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.