The Percival/Urbina situation

[fiz]

Is Percy gonna get the job back or are they going to keep Urbina as the closer? Percy is due back in a week or so and I assumed he would get the job back but i saw this under his yahoo notes:

May 31 Manager Alan Trammell has left open the possibility of keeping Ugueth Urbina in the closer role when Percival (forearm) returns, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Recommendation: When asked if he knows how he'll use the two of them when Percival returns Trammell said, "No. We want to make sure Percy is healthy first, and then we'll deal with that."

[Dan Lambskin]

Percy will have his gig back as soon as he is healthy. the Tigers are paying him too much for too many years to piss him off by making him a setup man

[yanks#27]

I think they should both share the role, but we are talking ego here. They can both be lights out and can help each other out, players today just get paid waaay damn too much.

[stumpak]

I have to figure the job is still Percival's Urbina has hardly been automatic and like was said above, Percival is being paid to be the closer and just as importantly came to Detroit over what some people would say were more appealing situations in good faith thinking that he was the closer.

[Yoda]

I have to figure the job is still Percival's Urbina has hardly been automatic and like was said above, Percival is being paid to be the closer and just as importantly came to Detroit over what some people would say were more appealing situations in good faith thinking that he was the closer.

Well, I don't know what numbers you are working off of but since Percy's been out, Uggie's numbers:

11G, 8-8 SV, 13 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 14 K

I'd say that's pretty automatic. While I still think Percy's the better pitcher, I like Trammel's line of thinking. Why fix something that isn't broken?

[d18Mike]

I suspect that Alan Trammell is more concerned with losing his job (as he should be these days) than meeting Troy Percival's need to feel loved.

For what it's worth, I live in Detroit and watch as many games as I can. Uggy has looked extremely strong. He ferociously wants that closer job/tag back and he is effectively marketing himself not only to the Tigers but to other clubs.

The fact that Trammell is wavering even slightly on this question in my book gives the edge to Uggy.

But then again, Trammell makes a lot of non-sensical personnel decisions (Higginson, anyone?)

[stumpak]

Yup, I was wrong, he blew 2 saves before Percival was hurt.

[raiders_umpire]

percy is being paid to be the closer, so the job should be his once he gets back.... but UU has been impressive enough to warrant a trade from some teams( Atl, Chi, SF)

[moochman]

Trammell is a mess, but one thing he has shown is loyalty to his players. Even when they don't deserve it: Higgy, Pena(finally sent down today). I can see him putting Percy back in the closer role once he proves he is healthy.

I can also see Urbina looking over his shoulder and pouting again, which will lead to blown saves and mediocre stats. Best plan would be for Percy to recapture the saver role and the trade of Ugie and White for a left handed bat.

Wonder how stupid Dusty is feeling these days? Wasn't he trying to deal Patterson?

[Rance Mulliniks]

The job will be Percivals and I'm guessing rather quickly. Urbina will still get some save chances as he did when Percival was healthy. A trade makes sense, if not now (as lots of teams are already looking for BP help), then at the deadline for sure.