We're getting to that point in Spring Training where decisions begin being made, and those that aren't going to be part of the major league roster are assigned to the minors. The Detroit Tigers got started on that process by reassigning three players to minor league camp Wednesday morning
Pitchers Rudy Darrow and Jon Kibler, along with catcher Jeff Kunkel were dispatched from the Spring Training roster. As Jason Beck mentioned on his blog, Darrow and Kibler needed to go because they simply weren't getting enough work with the major league crew. And with fewer pitchers now, having Kunkel around to catch them wasn't necessary, either.
Last year, Darrow pitched with the Tigers' Class A team in West Michigan and Double-A team in Erie. Both Kibler and Kunkel played in Single-A West Michigan, and also saw time with Erie.
I know several in the BYB community are fans of Kibler, with his MSU background. And I watched plenty of Kunkel when he was at Michigan, so I've got a soft spot for him. We'll see where those players eventually get assigned in Detroit's minor league system.