In his "Being the GM" series for MVN Outsider, Evan Brunell writes what he would do if he was in charge of the Detroit Tigers.  I think more than a few fans would agree with some of the moves he proposes, such as looking to trade Magglio Ordonez and/or Gary Sheffield, bringing back Freddy Garcia, and signing Brian Fuentes as a free agent closer.

But how about a trade for the shortstop whose name we've tried not to mention anymore?

The Detroit Tigers decline option on Edgar Renteria, acquire Jack Wilson from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Dontrelle Willis and Brent Clevlen.

The Tigers won’t have any interest in bringing Edgar Renteria back and will instead acquire Wilson, a target of the Tigers for a while now.  The Tigers will acquire a gifted defender who will become a free agent after the season, but has the added bonus of a team option.  It is a situation the Tigers would covet to be in.

Or filling the bullpen with, well, scrubs?

The Tigers should also bring in several flotsam relievers (and let Kyle Farnsworth walk) in an attempt to shore up their bullpen, relievers like Rudy Seanez, Ron Villone, Juan Rincon could see invites to spring training.

Detroit's already gone the flotsam route with Aquilino Lopez, Casey Fossum, and Gary Glover.  How did that work out?  Using one of those guys to pitch mop-up duty or long relief would fill a necessary role.  But having all three of them exacerbated what was already a fatal flaw in the roster construction of the 2008 Tigers.

After the hangover wears off and the post-mortems are written, I know we'll be discussing what the Tigers should do to revamp next year's team all winter long.  But I thought this might be a good way to get the conversation started a bit.  Check out Evan's entire post.  Do you like these suggestions?  What would you do instead?

Before today's game, the Detroit Tigers announced which players they'll be adding from the minors once major league rosters can expand tomorrow.  However, the names not being added might draw as much attention as those joining the team.

First, who's up: Catcher Dusty Ryan, infielder Mike Hessman, and pitchers Freddy Dolsi, Clay Rapada, Chris Lambert will be added to Detroit's roster on Tuesday.  Dontrelle Willis will be called up from Toledo tomorrow, though it's not certain whether he'll be pitching in any games for the Tigers.  Another veteran pitcher coming up from the Mud Hens will be Freddy Garcia, but as of now, Detroit won't put him on the active roster.  That could change, however.

And that's it.  No Clete Thomas, no Brent Clevlen, no Michael Hollimon.  And perhaps more interestingly, no Francis Beltran or Francisco Cruceta added to the bullpen. (Never mind a top prospect like Casey Fien.)  

So what is to be made of this?  Jim Leyland said last week that he doesn't like overloading the roster in September, believing that his team should remain competitive (stop snickering!), rather than hold a "tryout camp."   But not calling up players who could presumably help the Tigers, not to mention provide a head start for off-season planning, is rather baffling. 

In Clete's case, one reason he might not have gotten the call is because he was put on the disabled list yesterday with a strained elbow.  But with Matt Joyce making a solid case to be next season's left fielder, along with Marcus Thames and Ryan Raburn needing playing time, maybe the Tigers just didn't think there was a spot for him (or Clevlen).  The Cult of Clete, of course, refuses to abide by this development. 

In terms of veteran experience, perhaps the Tigers are a better team with Aquilino Lopez and Gary Glover in their bullpen.  But I sure don't see it.  Why not give a live arm like Cruceta (60 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings with Toledo) another shot?  Or see how Fien (59 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings) can handle major league hitters for the first time?  (The organization could be worried about his innings.)  Maybe the Tigers feel Dolsi and Rapada will take up whatever innings are available for the minor league call-ups.  I hate playing devil's advocate. 

On the bright side, seeing Ryan get a chance to play in the majors should be exciting, as he could very well be Brandon Inge's back-up at catcher next season.  Between Erie and Toledo this year, Ryan is batting .260/.350/.496 with 17 home runs and 62 RBIs.  The soon-to-be 24-year-old also has good size at 6'4", 220 lbs.

To make room for Ryan and Hessman on the 40-man roster, Jeremy Bonderman and Vance Wilson were moved to the 60-day disabled list.

Over at Minor League Ball, John Sickels has been reviewing his off-season lists of Top 20 prospects for each major league club.  Yesterday, he re-posted his list of the Detroit Tigers' top minor leaguers, with thoughts and impressions on how they've performed this season and how that's affected their standing in the organization.

Even better, some of MLB's commentors have chimed in to mention several players (Matt Joyce!) that weren't on Sickels' original list, others that have developed into notable prospects (Guillermo Moscoso, Dusty Ryan), and inquire about one or two players (Jonathan Kibler) who have flown below the radar. 

You can give the list a look here.

After this afternoon's 7-2 win over the Giants, the Detroit Tigers switched outfielders on their roster.  Clete Thomas has been activated from the 15-day disabled list, and Brent Clevlen was sent down to Triple-A Toledo to clear a spot for him.  Here's the story from MLB.com's Jason Beck.

At first glance, this seems like a huge disappointment for Clevlen, but Jim Leyland still seems to hold him in high regard:

"I think Clevlen is really, really close to being a Major League player for sure."

It's not like Clevlen put up dazzling numbers since getting called up to the bigs 12 days ago.  He's batted .217/.308/.217 with one RBI in 27 plate appearances.  But events simply conspired against the young man.

Though Clevlen had been lighting it up in Toledo, he was promoted from Toledo to take Thomas's spot on the roster in the first place.  And his ability to stay in the lineup was thwarted by Marcus Thames' six-game streak of power.  Such a hot bat was not going to be taken out of the lineup.  In addition, Curtis Granderson is starting to play more against left-handed pitching, and has done relatively well in that match-up.  Finally, consider that Gary Sheffield is probably a few days away from rejoining the Tigers, which fills the DH spot that Thames or Magglio Ordonez might have taken to get Clevlen onto the field.

The Tigers obviously think it's better for Clevlen to get regular at-bats in Toledo, instead of sitting on the bench and hoping for Leyland to give Thames or Granderson the day off.  It's a tough, frustrating break, but if the organization was ready to give up on Clevlen, they probably would've done so already.  He'll be back.

The Toledo-to-Detroit I-75 shuttle was busy this afternoon, as the Tigers shuffled the roster quite a bit to cover players requiring a trip to the disabled list.  As expected, shortstop Ramon Santiago was placed on the 15-day DL after separating his shoulder Wednesday in Oakland.  Taking his place will be Michael Hollimon, who's mostly played second base with the Mud Hens this season, but has played plenty of games at shortstop, which was also his position in college.  I don't know how much he'll get to play in the utility infielder role, but I'm looking forward to seeing him in action as he's could have a future in Detroit's middle infield.

Also going on the 15-day DL is Clete Thomas, who sprained his ankle while stretching toward second base on Tuesday night.  Filling his spot on the roster is a player who's been lighting it up in Toledo, Brent Clevlen.  In his last 10 games, Clevlen batted .457 (16-for-35) with six home runs and 19 RBIs.  For the season, he's hitting .324/.417/.620 with 13 homers and 55 RBIs in 247 plate appearances.  If the Tigers give him an opportunity to play, you have to wonder if this might be his last real shot to stick in the major leagues.  The time seems right for Clevlen, as Detroit has a need for a regular left fielder and his run as a prospect might be reaching its end in the organization.

Someone coming off the disabled list is Denny Bautista, who just completed his rehab assignment with Toledo in which he didn't allow a run and posted seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.  He'll take Aquilino Lopez's spot, as he's leaving the team to attend to a family illness.  Lopez will be placed on the bereavement list, which will keep him off the roster for a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven.  I guess we'll have to wait and see whether or not Lopez remains on the major league roster once he returns, as he hasn't been pitching very well recently.