Jose Valverde Accepts Triple-A Assignment
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
TOLEDO (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Tigers fans may not have seen the last of Jose Valverde after all.
Per a tweet by Rick Thompson, the Detroit Tigers manager of baseball media relations, Valverde has accepted the Tigers' request that he go to Triple-A and try to work out the problems that contributed to his 5.59 ERA and 1.241 WHIP.
The embattled closer was designated for assignment Friday after giving up four runs in the ninth inning of what was already an ugly loss. He had allowed six home runs in his last eight outings.
Before Valverde was designated for assignment, Tigers manager Jim Leyland had essentially already taken away Valverde's job. He said he would not name a full-time closer and that he would use reliever Joaquin Benoit whenever Benoit was healthy and available.
Many fans hoped the designation meant 11-year veteran Valverde was gone for good, but it looks like that is not the case yet.
Jose Valverde has accepted his assignment to Triple A Toledo. #tigers
— Rick Thompson (@Thompson_Tigers) June 27, 2013
