Casey Fossum

Subject: Casey Fossum Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:36 am

Tigers sign pitcher Casey Fossum to minor-league deal
FREE PRESS STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES • April 10, 2008

The Tigers signed lefty Casey Fossum to a Triple-A contract. He has pitched in 203 big-league games.

Fossum, 37, battled fatigue with the Tampa Bay Rays last season

He made the Rays' starting rotation out of spring training despite coming off arm surgery. But the speed of his fastball fell from 90-91 m.p.h. to 84-85.

He was yanked out of the rotation and finished the year with a 7.70 ERA and a career-low 53 strikeouts.

He joined the Pirates this spring, but was cut.

NOTEBOOK: Carlos Guillen said he will again abandon switch-hitting tonight when he faces knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Guillen said he bats right-handed against Wakefield because his knuckler breaks in to right-handed batters, like a lefty's curve.

Manager Jim Leyland said Marcus Thames (3-for-16 lifetime vs. Wakefield) will start in left over Jacque Jones (1-for-15 vs. Wakefield) because Thames has homered off Wakefield and Fenway Park's leftfield wall looms close.
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There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit. ~Al Gallagher, 1971