I was hoping it would go to Duane Below because I have met him a couple times and we played quite a bit of Call of Duty MW3 over Xbox live during the off season. Supposedly after Oliver started to struggle Below and Smyly were the final 2 competing for the 5th spot. I hope he at least gets on the opening day roster in the bull pen if he doesn't get a chance to start this year.
Edit: I just read the full article and found out Below was sent to AAA Toledo so he didn't make the opening day roster. Here is part of the article.
"That doesn't mean the Tigers are making a long-term commitment. How the roster starts, Leyland cautioned, is rarely how it finishes. Still, Leyland said that Below, the runner-up in the battle, can't go to Toledo thinking about trying to pitch his way back to Detroit.
"I think the big key for all of [the candidates sent down] is don't go down to Toledo with Detroit on your mind," Leyland said. "Just go down there with the task at hand."
Below came into camp with the advantage of a second-half impression from last year in Detroit and did nothing to defy that for most of camp. However, Below's four-walk inning last Friday against the Orioles was out of character as one of the better control pitchers in the organization.
"Below's a great story," Leyland said. "He's a Michigan kid. He was here until the end. I feel terrible." "
King,
Don't worry, Below will be back up soon I feel, he's just in a numbers game at the moment.
I really expected Below to go to the pen IF Smyly got the 5th spot, but Marte made quite an impression as well this spring.
Meanwhile I will enjoy watching these guys down here in Toledo !
This is something different, for many years, the Tigers would skip Toledo with a lot of the guys that got sent down or brought up.
While we've had plenty of them thru Toledo, alot of them have also been missed.
Should be a fun year down here as well, they will have Oliver, Below and many others all pitching and playing to get to Detroit ... Only problem is once they get hot, they get pulled out of Toledo and there went your momentum.
That said, thats part of being the AAA team.