Freddy Garcia is movin' on up... to Toledo.  After throwing two scoreless innings in Lakeland on Saturday, the Tigers are pushing him up to Triple-A and he'll start for the Mud Hens on Wednesday.

As Jason Beck points out on his blog, there's only so much time to pitch Garcia in Triple-A, with Toledo's season ending in a week.  He could conceivably get two starts with the Mud Hens, as currently scheduled.

   Maybe we could've guessed this when the Tigers opted for Chris Lambert to start on Tuesday, but Baseball Prospectus' John Perrotto hears rumblings that Dontrelle Willis won't be added to the Tigers' pitching staff when rosters can expand on September 1.

  The Spot Starters looks at the Tigers' final 32 games, breaking down what should be a favorable schedule.  But will it be?

   Minor League Chew takes a look at the Olympic performances of Mike Hessman and Blaine Neal.  Unfortunately, their experience in Beijing didn't go very well, with Neal giving up two homers in 3 2/3 innings and Hessman batting .091 with 11 strikeouts. 

(Making matters worse, Neal might be in the Tigers' bullpen right now, had he not been with the Olympic team the past three weeks.)

   Mack Avenue Tigers would like to see Nate Robertson get a shot at the closer job.  But get that slider back first.  (Yesterday's outing may have gone a long way toward that.)

   Did you know... if Gary Sheffield hits his 500th homer with the Tigers, he'll be the first guy to ever do it in a Detroit uniform?

   Over at The Spot Starters, Blake rounded up a few Tigers bloggers for an All-Star break "State of the Tigers" panel.  I joined Kurt of Mack Avenue Tigers, Lee of Tiger Tales, Bill from The Detroit Tigers Weblog, and Blake himself to discuss several pertinent topics including Justin Verlander's second half, the Gary Sheffield dilemma, who could finish the season strong, and which off-season deal to call a Mulligan on.

Thanks to Blake for inviting me onto the panel.

  Lee and Kurt weren't finished talking Tigers with us, however.  They also participated in Life in the Cell's mid-season report on Detroit's baseball team.  Jeeves is doing this for each of the teams in the AL Central.

  I already knew Big Al might be a better man than me, but his willingness to post in-depth mid-season grades (something I just couldn't bring myself to do) for each part of the Tigers' roster confirms that.  You can read the grades for starting pitching, bullpen, infield, and outfield in separate posts at The Wayne Fontes Experience.

And as you should expect, Big Al was far more harsh - and honest - than Jon Paul Morosi was with his grades.  I'm convinced that Morosi either made out those grades in the middle of the clubhouse with the entire team watching, or had each player grade himself.  Though your perspective is obviously different when you cover a team each day.  

  At Take 75 North, Matt examines how the Toledo Mud Hens will be affected by Mike Hessman and Blaine Neal leaving to play with the USA Baseball team in the Beijing Olympics. 

  Christina Kahrl has a Transaction Analysis of the AL Central at Baseball Prospectus ($$), looking at each team's recent big moves, gaping holes and potentially cool (and underrated) moves.

  Finally, two housekeeping items: 

1)  If you have a Facebook account, have you signed up for the Bless You Boys page?  If you're taking any photos or videos from the ballpark that you'd like to share with others, this is a fun place to post them.  Someone added some pretty cool pictures from the recent fan appreciation effort when he and a buddy were able to play catch on the Comerica Park field.

2)  I also just started a BYB Twitter page, which has a feed for each blog entry, but I'm hoping to post items that might be too short to warrant a full post by itself or just pass along some Tigers news and thoughts for the day.

Earlier today, USA Baseball announced its roster for the 2008 Olympic Baseball team, and a familiar face will be among those headed to Beijing.  Toledo Mud Hens third baseman Mike Hessman was one of the 23 (with a 24th to be named by July 22) players who will compete in the baseball tournament held from August 13 to 23.  (The Beijing Games will be played from August 8 to 24.)  

But Hessman wasn't the only Mud Hen selected to the Olympic Baseball team.  Closer Blaine Neal will also be on the roster selected by manager Davey Johnson and general manager Bob Watson.

In 419 plate appearances with Toledo this season, Hessman is batting .266/.368/.596 with 30 home runs and 68 RBIs.  Neal has pitched in 33 games for the Mud Hens, compiling a 1-0 record with 23 saves, and 36 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings.  Both players were also named to the International League All-Star team (along with teammate Brent Clevlen) earlier this month.

The United States returns to Olympic competition after failing to qualify for tournament play for the 2004 Games in Athens.  In 2000, the U.S. team won the Gold medal over Cuba at the Sydney Games.  This will be the fourth Olympic Games USA Baseball has competed in since baseball became a medal sport in 1992. 

You can view the complete roster, which is made up almost entirely of professional ballplayers, at USABaseball.com.