What a difference a year makes.  365 days ago, after the conclusion of the World Series, the Detroit Tigers acquired shortstop Edgar Renteria from the Atlanta Braves.  There was excitement in Tiger Town.  Hope.

Remember those feelings?  Before they were replaced by frustration and disappointment?

Today, the Tigers officially declined the option year on Renteria's contract, which would've paid him $12 million.  Instead, Detroit will pay the $3 million buyout, thus making Renteria a free agent.  These proceedings were really just a formality, however, as Dave Dombrowski announced his intention to do this a month ago. 

Renteria finished the 2008 season with a.270/.317/.382 average, along with 10 home runs and 55 RBIs.  Those were his lowest numbers in seven years.  His 16 errors at shortstop were also his highest total in the last three seasons.

Does this mean that the Tigers and Renteria are officially done with each other?  Well, probably.  But not certainly.  If the Tigers off-season shopping doesn't turn up any viable alternatives at shortstop, and Renteria can't find himself a gig that fits him as well as the one he had in Detroit, both sides could end up reuniting later this winter.  At a much lower price than $12 million, of course.

Both sides seem ready to move on, however, according to Renteria's agent, Barry Meister:

"I think Edgar's going to kind of point himself in a different direction," Meister said.

The Tigers have exclusive negotiating rights with Renteria for the next couple of weeks, but the team hasn't contacted Renteria, nor has Mr. Meister attempted any negotiations for a new contract.  But it could still happen.  Detroit already brought back one guy they kicked to the curb a month ago.

Two other players who will become free agents are pitcher Gary Glover (1-1, 4.43) and catcher Dane Sardinha (.159/.229/.205).  Both were outrighted to Triple-A Toledo, but refused those assignments, thus putting them on the open market.

Following the Tigers' 8-6 win over the Indians last night, I was on the phone during the post-game show.  I'm only bothering to mention that because when I saw Dave Dombrowski on the screen, it became rather apparent that something was going on.  How often does the general manager talk to the press after the game?  And you never see Double-D on the FSN "Tigers Live" post-game show. 

Sure enough, stuff was happening with the Tigers' roster after the game.  With Brandon Inge finishing his rehab assignment with Toledo and set to rejoin the team, Detroit had to make a move.  And the spot to clear was back-up catcher, so Dane Sardinha was the guy to go.  It's worth noting that he was designated for assignment, rather than sent to Toledo, but I'm assuming that's because Sardinha was out of minor league options.  But since he's likely to clear waivers, after which he'll probably report back to Toledo, it's really a minor point to discuss. 

The other move was perhaps a bit more surprising, though probably could've been predicted around the third inning of last night's game.  Eddie Bonine was sent to the minors, but rather than to Toledo, he was shipped down to Double-A Erie.  That seems a bit harsh for a guy who was on the major league roster just a few hours earlier, but Bonine really had only two good starts among his five appearances with the Tigers.  And that success was surely skewed by the lesser opponents he was facing in the Padres and Rockies.  Once he faced American League competition, Bonine couldn't even complete four innings. 

Why Erie, and not Toledo?  The Tigers must feel Bonine lost something in the transition from Triple-A to the majors, and needs some work to find it again.  Or there's just not a spot for him in the Mud Hens' rotation now, with Zach Miner starting games to tune up his variety of pitches. 

(UPDATE: According to MLive.com's Graham Couch, Bonine was sent to Erie so he can start Monday on his normal pitching schedule.  The Mud Hens will be off on Monday for the Triple-A All-Star break.)

But what made the Bonine move surprising is who was called up to Detroit to replace him.  Rather than promote another pitcher to fill that spot, the Tigers decided they could get by without a fifth starter as only four games remain before the All-Star break.  So instead, Detroit will carry another bat, bringing back Jeff Larish.  Where exactly Larish will play isn't clear to me, but maybe the Tigers thought a left-handed bat with some pop off the bench would be a nice luxury to have against Minnesota for the next four games.

In the meantime, we can ponder who will take that fifth spot in the starting rotation after the All-Star break.  Will it be the presumably stretched out Aquilino Lopez?  Could it be Miner, who Leyland has acknowledged might be better as a starter?  Or could another Toledo guy, like Chris Lambert (8-5, 3.25 ERA, 78 strikeouts in 102 1/3 innings), get a shot?

So long, National League; it was great while it lasted.  And I really mean that.  It was great.  You (especially the NL West) were berry, berry good to us.  Thank you for helping to revitalize the 2008 baseball season in Detroit.

The Tigers cleared a big hurdle today in going over .500.  (And that was not intended as a pun toward the Rockies' manager.)  In past seasons, getting past that break-even point has been a pretty steep obstacle to overcome.  Was it back in 2000 when Todd Jones finished off a game, and then held an index finger in the air, indicating that the Tigers were only one game away from .500?  And that seemed like a big deal back then.  The enormous difference, of course, is that those Tigers weren't a very good team and playoff contention was more of a hope than expectation.  Things are a little bit different around here eight years later. 

Once again, Detroit rallied from behind to snatch a win from the jaws of the Colorado Rockies.  Kenny Rogers looked like he might not make it out of the third inning, but after a 1-2-3 double play got him out of trouble, he pulled himself together and toughed it out through the sixth.  And it was in that sixth inning that the Tigers got the one big hit they needed.

Virtually nothing was expected from Dane Sardinha with the bat.  (He was hitting .206 in Triple-A.)  Just play good defense when asked to back up Pudge Rodriguez.  Any offense would be a plus.  Some might call it icing on the cake.  If so, Sardinha spread some sweet, creamy stuff on the Detroit victory cake today.  The Tigers seemed to find every gap in this series, while the Rockies had a hard time closing in on those balls.  Sardinha smacked a ball into left-center for what turned out to be a two-run triple, scoring Marcus Thames and Edgar Renteria, and that was the difference in the ballgame.

So if Red Bull is supposed to give you wings, what have the Mud Hens been giving the Detroit Tigers lately?  Just look at the past week.  Sardinha had the two-run triple today.  Last night, Ryan Raburn (who began the season in Toledo) hit a grand slam and scored the winning run.  On Friday, Eddie Bonine pitched eight innings of one-run baseball.  Thursday, Clete Thomas drew a game-winning bases-loaded walk.  And don't forget Michael Hollimon, who's gotten four hits in his last three games. 

As Blake said in his recap, the Tigers now seem to have a different hero each day.  But a lot of those heroics are coming from where it wasn't expected.  Role players are the glue that holds a team together.  Youth gives a flagging veteran team a boost of enthusiasm.  It's all coming together beautifully right now.

Roll Call

Let's all say goodbye to the National League together now.  (Though hopefully, we'll be seeing them again.)

Fist-bumps to ThaWalrus9, cannonad03, rock n rye, explosivo2k2 (Welcome!), MSU4LIF, ahtrap, LosTigres, dettigionswings'stons, tbliggins, wepri3, Jerkwheat (Condolences on The Tilde), ashmark (Thanks for the Maggs news), ReichardZ, Germantiger (Sorry about Germany, mein Freund), Juskimo, and Boney (Boney!) for today's participation in the GameThread.

Brandon Inge's strained oblique has recently put a cramp (oh, that was almost such a great pun) in Jim Leyland's plans to alternate his catchers every other game.  (That plan seemed to be working quite well, by the way, judging from Pudge Rodriguez's recent success with the bat.)  With Inge only being able to play twice (along with a pinch-hitting appearance) over the past week, the Tigers probably had to do something if they wanted to keep Pudge's workload down. 

And so Detroit put Inge on the 15-day disabled list this afternoon, while Dane Sardinha was called up from Triple-A Toledo to fill the catcher's understudy role.  (Thanks to Billfer for tapping me on the shoulder with this news via instant message.  Something always happens when I'm away from the computer, dagnabbit.)  Given Sardinha's lack of batting prowess (.206/.246/.364 this season), Leyland's alternating catchers scheme is likely getting shelved until Inge returns from the DL.  But he'll get some starts, with only one off-day before the All-Star break and a few day games after night games.

Should the Tigers have shut Inge down last week, considering that he wasn't able to play and looking at the schedule for the next two weeks?  Yes, probably.  But I'm sure the coaching staff and Inge all hoped the oblique injury would get better.  Those things tend to linger, however.

[Thanks to Samara Pearlstein's magical camera for providing the Inge photo.]