FanHouse

When the Tigers traded for both Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in the offseason my initial reaction to the deal was about the same as everybody else: holy crap this team is going to be unstoppable. That being said, my fear of the Tigers had a lot more to do with their offense once they placed Cabrera square in the middle of that lineup, and not so much to do with the addition of Willis.

After seeing the way Dontrelle had struggled his last two seasons in Miami, going 22-27 after a 22-10 campaign in 2005, I wasn't exactly convinced he was going to revert back to his old form in Detroit. The Marlins rode him like a horse while he was there, and I didn't think adjusting to the American League was going to be very easy for Dontrelle. Which made me think that the contract extension the Tigers soon signed him to was a mistake.

Well, the season didn't start off very well for the Tigers or Dontrelle (or Miguel either, but I have a lot more faith in him turning things around) as he walked seven batters in his first start of the season against the White Sox. Then in his next start, also against the Sox, Dontrelle hurt his knee delivering a pitch after walking the first two hitters of the game and was placed on the disabled list.

Then, after recovering and rehabbing in the minors, Detroit brought Dontrelle back as a expensive arm out of the bullpen, and in his only outing he walked two in one inning of work. It was such an improvement over his previous performances that it earned him a spot back in the rotation.

In those two starts that Dontrelle has made since rejoining the Tigers rotation, Dontrelle has thrown 5.1 innings, allowed 8 runs, and walked another 10 batters. That's 21 walks in only 11.1 innings of work this season for the D-Train, and I'm not sure he's ever going to get back on track.

After getting blasted for 8 runs in 1.1 innings of work against the Indians yesterday, Dontrelle's manager wasn't in much of a mood to talk about his troubled starter.

"I'm going to say this once and stop at that," Jim Leyland said. "Dontrelle obviously had a tough time throwing strikes. He let up to get the ball over the plate and they hit a couple of long balls. That's the end of the Dontrelle conversation. It was a long, ugly night."
Actually, Jim, it's been a couple of long, ugly months for the Tigers and I don't think Monday is going to be the end of that conversation. Dontrelle's contract runs through 2011 after all. Enjoy him while you can, Tigers fans.