"• Where there's a Willis: A baseball man who is tight with members of the Tigers' brass said that, in a way, they were almost relieved when Dontrelle Willis headed for the disabled list last weekend. Dontrelle's wildness was getting so out of hand, he was bordering on being pronounced as having contracted The Thing.

'So now they can send him out on a rehab start and see where this thing is at," the same baseball man said. 'Now they can let him figure out his control issues in the minor leagues instead of in the big leagues. And if he's still wild, they can attribute it to the knee. But this [lack of control] has been there for a while. I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I think this is going to turn out to be a bad signing. And that's very unusual for that group.'"