The Tigers had until last night to make a decision on their non-arbitration eligible, non-free agents and the they signed one and non-tendered the other.  Tim Byrdak, who eventually filled the gap left when Jamie Walker left the team as a left handed relief specialist, signed a one year, $712,500 deal.  Byrdak had 49 strikeouts in 45 innings and he set career marks in just about everything because he had never thrown 30 major league innings in a season prior to 2007.  He did his job against lefties though, who held to just a .176 batting average against.

Chad Durbin wasn’t offered a contract so he’s now a free agent.  With the pick up of Dontrelle Willis, there is no longer a hole at the back of the rotation and while Durbin was decent as a reliever in 2007, the Tigers must have felt they had better options.  Durbin is an interesting story though and I profiled him last spring so if you want to see where the guy came from, clink on the link.

Permalink | Posted in 2008 Tigers