Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - The Detroit Tigers optioned struggling left- hander Dontrelle Willis to Class A Lakeland on Tuesday.
Willis, who is just 0-1 with an awful 10.32 earned run average this season, allowed eight runs in just 1 1/3 innings during his last start, Monday against Minnesota.
The veteran was acquired from the Florida Marlins in a blockbuster offseason trade that also brought Miguel Cabrera to the Motor City.
again, he's one of the most overrated pitchers i've ever seen ... 1 great year and the rest nothing close to it.
He's gotta go the Rick Ankiel route. He's got pop in his bat and was pretty athletic a few years ago. He looks out of shape now. He's young enough to make that change now if he wants.
By the way..if you saw the way he pitched yesterday you saw a completely different Dontrelle. His windup and release is totally different from his early Marlins days and that huge leg kick in his good year was absent. Again, he is out of shape and logged a ton of innings early in his career. Do the Ankiel style switch and he can probably salvage his career.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: raystorm,
While I would like to say WOW!,the fact of the matter is that he has been a downward spiral even before being traded from the Marlins...His injury did nothing to help...but I do have my doubts as to wether or not he will ever regain the form that made him a desirable player..
For all the Mets fans who desperately wanted Willis, even at the cost of Fernando Martinez, what do you think now?
Maybe we can ship Detroit our wild lefty and a broken bat for their wild lefty.
By the way, Detroit is really hurting this year. Willis is now in single A. Verlander is 2-9 with an era well over 5. Bonderman is out for the year, etc. Maybe the only thing more frustrating than being a Mets fan this year is being a Tigers fan this year.
Dontrelle is having a terrible year and even though I didn't see the game I heard someone on ESPN say his throwing motion wasn't consistent at all even for Dontrelle who everyone knew had an odd throwing motion. He's not the same player and once again like with Zito we really dodged a bullet.
Well, I don't understand what happened to him, and I disagree with the assessment that he was a one year wonder (I still loved the way he threw), but I will say this...
I was wrong.
(then again, ricky boy could fix him in 10 mins! )
Originally posted by metsfan123: I gotta admit I wanted Willis in the worst of ways and you know what? I'd still take him over some of our guys now(Perez, Pelfrey)
I bet if he lost some weight he would be back to his old pitching ways no problem.
With those kinds of stats I think I would be more confident in Beltran pitching for us over Willis.
I don't know how much weight he would be able to lose though. He came up very young and didn't develope yet but now he's a big framed man who may not be able to lose enough weight to make a difference.
)
