While a few of their injured players returned in late May, Detroit continues to suffer from injuries. The Tigers placed Jacob Cruz on the disabled list Saturday due to inflammation in his right knee. He'll likely rest and receive treatment before beginning a rehab assignment.

Detroit activated Damion Easley from the disabled list to fill Cruz's roster spot. A trunk strain sidelined Easley shortly into the season, forcing him onto the DL in mid-April. After a few setbacks in his rehab assignment, Easley appears to have recovered enough to rejoin the team. However, the danger remains that he could aggravate the injury through the course of normal play later in the season.

The Tigers placed Kris Keller on the disabled list Friday retroactive to May 26th. Keller made only one appearance during his first stint in the majors, allowing 2 H and 1 HR in 1 IP with a 1:3 K:BB. Detroit drafted Keller out of Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach Florida in the fourth round of the 1996 draft. He's progressed steadily through the minor league system. Keller still needs to work on his control in order to become an asset to a major league pen, though his other skills show promise. He has a strained triceps so I don't expect him to be back in the majors soon.

As with Cruz, Detroit replaced Keller on the roster with a player returning from the DL. Danny Patterson seems to have successfully rehabbed his formerly inflamed elbow. Like Easley, Patterson was injured early in the season and had a slow comeback. Now that his elbow appears to have recovered, Patterson will likely return to working out of the bullpen. However despite generally acceptable skills, Patterson has dropped to below 5 K/9 IP the last few years.

Unfortunately, Detroit has more pressing problems in the bullpen as closer Matt Anderson returned to the DL on May 21st, just three days after his activation. The Tigers placed Anderson on the DL in early May to rest his shoulder, which was suffering fatigue due to a lack of training in the off-season. Anderson has now torn the teres major muscle in his right shoulder and will miss at minimum the next two months and possibly the remainder of the season.

The club maintains that Anderson's injury has nothing to do with his participation in the octopus toss staged earlier that evening, in which fans competed for tickets to Game 2 of the Red Wings-Avalanche Western Conference finals. The unique promotion, brought to the Tigers by newly hired Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications Mike Veeck, expanded upon an old Wings' tradition of throwing an octopus onto the ice after the team scored a goal, though the club has strongly discouraged fans from throwing anything onto the ice in recent years. Anderson was interested in the tickets and competed with the fans, though he did not win. One would think that someone who just signed a $9.7M, three-year contract could afford to buy tickets. (The Detroit Redwings are currently playing the Carolina Hurricanes nee Hartford Whalers for the Stanley Cup).

Anderson's injury apparently has far less interesting origins as he reportedly merely felt a pop while warming up later in the evening, well after the octopus throw. Detroit designated Juan Acevedo as the closer in Anderson's absence. Acevedo took over the job during Anderson's first trip to the DL. Since taking over as the Tigers' closer, he's converted all seven of his save opportunities. Acevedo's only blown save this season came in April before he'd been assigned the closer duties. So far this season he's allowed 20 H and 1 HR in 33 IP with a 23:8 K:BB. His strikeouts are not at the level I'd prefer to see in a closer, but he's pitching well enough to avoid losses in the few games in which the Tigers bring a lead into the 9th. Manager Luis Pujols occasionally calls for him in the eighth for a two-inning appearance. However, its highly unlikely the 32-year-old will retain the job once the 25-year-old Anderson, who has much more potential than Acevedo and a larger contract, returns from his injury.

Detroit demoted Fernando Rodney when they activated Anderson from the DL. Rodney really needs additional time in the minors before he's ready for a position in a big league pen, he allowed 8 H and 1 HR in 3.2 IP with a 1:2 K:BB over 4 appearances during his time in the majors.

Nate Cornejo has also once again returned to the minors, replaced in the rotation and on the roster by Adam Bernero. The Tigers promoted Bernero quickly after signing him as a nondrafted free agent out of Armstrong Atlantic State University in Georgia in 1999. While he spent the 1999 season at A West Michigan in the Midwest League, he advanced through AA and AAA to the majors in 2000. Last season he returned to AAA for the majority of the year with only a brief major league call-up due to command problems. In two starts this season he's allowed 9 H and 1 HR in 15 IP with a 6:3 K:BB.

The Tigers have also made some changes to their offense. Shortly after I mentioned middle infield prospect Ramon Santiago, Detroit called him up to replace the struggling Shane Halter as their starting shortstop. Prior to this season, Santiago hadn't played above A+ Lakeland in the Florida State League. Santiago began 2002 at AA Erie in the Eastern League. The Tigers promoted him to AAA Toledo in the International League after he hit .280 with a .329 OBP and .373 SLG in 75 AB on 21 H, 2 3B, and 1 HR with a 3:12 BB:K and 6/6 SB% in AA. After only 28 AAA at-bats, in which he had 12 H, 1 2B, and 2 HR with a 3:4 BB:K and 0/2 SB% for a .429 BA, .515 OBP, and .679 SLG, the Tigers brought him up to the big league.

Although I don't believe Halter deserves to start at any position in the majors, I had to agree with him that the Tigers were making a mistake to replace him with a player with a little over 100 AB above A+. I didn't think that Santiago would succeed in the majors at this time and feared the experiment would hinder his development. So far he's managed to excel with a .304 BA, .350 OBP, and .589 SLG in 56 AB on 17 H, 3 2B, 2 3B, and 3 HR with 2/3 SB%. However, I'm quite concerned about his 2:13 BB:K. Last season in A+, Santiago displayed good plate discipline with a 54:60 BB:K in 429 AB, but that strike zone judgment has obviously disappeared during his rapid promotion this year and the diminished skills are bound to catch up to him in the near future.

Oscar Salazar, sent to the minors to make room for Santiago, rejoined the team when Anderson returned to the DL, then went back to AAA when Detroit called up Keller. The Tigers demoted Craig Monroe when Dmitri Young returned from his hernia problems. Young had a brief scare in late May when he thought he'd aggravated the hernia but has generally been fine since rejoining the team.

The club also continues to fiddle with their catching situation. Mike Rivera, who originally claimed the starting position from Mitch Meluskey in April, was recently demoted when the Tigers activated Brandon Inge from the DL. Matt Walbeck was starting over Rivera before Inge returned, though Inge has reclaimed the starting job since rejoining the team.