Detroit Tigers release Alex Gonzalez outright

DETROIT--On Easter Sunday morning, the Detroit Tigers announced the unconditional release of shortstop Alex Gonzalez and called up shortstop Danny Worth from Triple-A Toledo.

Danny Worth was the last player in spring training to be assigned to Toledo on March 25. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said at the time he would have liked to keep Worth but could not find room for him. That has now changed.

While the Tigers had high hopes for Gonzalez, it was not meant to be. "Time takes its toll on everyone," Ausmus told reporters. "We were hoping the spring in his step had returned. It just didn't work."

His Opening Day game-winning walk-off hit helped endear him to the fanbase momentarily, but the glimmer soon died as Gonzalez's inability to play an effective shortstop position became increasingly apparent. He had a fielding percentage of .903 and had a knack for allowing balls in play to get by him.

With the bat, Gonzalez was .167/.219/.233 and had struck out four times while being walked twice. In 30 at-bats, he recorded five hits, four runs and reached base a total of seven times with one triple.

Meanwhile, Danny Worth has been busy in Toledo hitting .308. In 14 games, he has 16 hits, five runs, five doubles, an RBI, and has reached base safely 21 times. He has two stolen bases and has been walked twice.

The Tigers will need to watch Worth's strikeout rate, as he had 21 strikeouts, the most on the team in Toledo. He also committed three errors.