The Detroit Tigers have been looking for help in their rotation and bullpen, and were able to swing a deal to fill both needs Saturday when they acquired starter Doug Fister and reliever David Pauley for Charlie Furbush, Casper Wells, minor leaguer Francisco Martinez and a player to be named later.
Fister has spent parts of three seasons with the Mariners, and is in the midst of his most successful campaign with the club. On the year, Fister has held an earned run average of 3.33 over his 21 starts spanning 146 innings. The 27 year old’s been able to maintain an impressive WHIP of 1.17 in 2011.
Over his career, Fister’s posted an ERA of 3.81 over 60 appearances, 59 of which were starts.
The other player heading to Detroit has been one of the best relievers in the majors this season. Pauley has held opposing hitters to a .200 batting average which has allowed him to keep his ERA (2.15) and WHIP (0.99) impressively low.
Furbush was currently with Detroit, and though he is a starter he saw most of his action in the majors out of the pen. The left hander has fared well in his first big league season, with an ERA of 3.62 over 32.1 innings. Furbush struck out 26 batters over that span. The 25 year old also started 9 games in Triple-A this season where he’s kept a microscopic WHIP of 0.94.
A teammate of Furbush’s in Detroit, Wells has been with the Tigers for 64 games in 2011. The 26 year old was also with the club for part of last year, and has posted an OPS of .831 over his two seasons in the bigs.
The youngest member of the trade is Martinez. The 20 year old third baseman has already climbed the minor league ranks to the Double-A level, where he’s put up a line of .277/.329/.361 on the year with 7 home runs, 464 RBI’s and 63 runs scored.
For more on the Tigers and Mariners, be sure to check out Motor City Bengals and SoDo Mojo.