After the Tigers put him on waivers, the Red Sox claimed hurler Virgil Vasquez.  While never a top five prospect, Vasquez put himself on the map with a strong finish to the 2006 season at Erie.  He got off to a nice start for Toledo in 2007 and then got five appearances at the big league level over a pair of promotions.  He would have probably competed for the fifth starter spot in spring training but then the Dontrelle Willis pick up happened.  He took a step back and had a pretty poor 2008 season with the Hens.

I’m not completely surprised the Tigers gave up on him.  He’s right handed, and he’s never shown a great propensity towards striking out hitters and we all know how Dave Dombrowski likes power arms.  He’ll be 27 next year and outside of 2006 and 2007, his minor league career was pretty unspectacular.

For now, it’s unclear what the Tigers are going to do with that final spot on the 40 man roster.  As Jason Beck talks about in the article, the Tigers need to find room for Jeremy Bonderman, Joel Zumaya and Vance Wilson but that will take care of itself when the free agents hit the market.

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