Kelvin De La Cruz's head may be spinning.

The minor league left-hander has just joined his third organization in five weeks, as the Tigers claimed him off waivers from the Indians on Friday. Detroit optioned the contract of the 23-year-old to Double-A Erie.

De La Cruz was designated for assignment on Feb. 14 by the Indians to make room for Casey Kotchman, then traded to the Texas Rangers on Feb. 21, for cash. The Rangers organization sent De La Cruz back to the Indians on March 15, and then designated him for assignment again.

Originally a non-drafted free agent signing by the Indians in 2004, De La Cruz has 35-31 record with a 4.02 ERA and 487 strikeouts 508-plus minor league innings (118 appearances/105 starts).

If I told you that there's a contender in the American League Central Division that has — dating back to the day the divisional lead first changed hands, on June 14 — accumulated a 26-28 record, the presumption is that I'm referring to the Detroit Tigers, right? After all, the SECOND-HALF COLLAPSE (which must be typed in all caps, due to its severity) is ON ... or so I've been informed.

I'll give you another hint: The last time the division lead changed hands was on July 21. Since that time, that same team is 10-12. Tigers again, right?

Umm, nope. Both times, that's the record for the Cleveland Indians — the self-styled "WINdians" — who came into Thursday at 61-58, two games behind the Tigers (65-58) in the standings.

Well, there has to be SOME case for a collapse, right? Otherwise it wouldn't be a topic of conversation every 4.5 seconds.

OK, let's try these numbers: 28-26 since June 14 and 14-10 since July 21. WAIT A SECOND — those are both above the .500 mark, so there's no way they can be the Tigers.

Well, actually, those are both the records put forth by the Chicago White Sox (61-61), who've been steadily creeping up behind the Indians to make it a three-team race. So why did it take the Sox this long to get within 3.5 games of the Tigers? Well, in that five-week span between June 14 and July 21, the Sox were the only one of the three contenders with a losing record (14-16). Not really gaining ground — more like treading water.

OK, so now you want the numbers for the Tigers, so you can shout "SEEEEEEE!?!?!?!?!" at the top of your lungs, right?

Since first taking over first place on June 14 — the date that occasioned owner Mike Ilitch's surprise visit to the clubhouse — the Tigers are 28-28.

In the five weeks between June 14 and July 21 — when the divisional lead changed hands five times, and was in a virtual tie seven times — the Tigers went 15-16.

Since taking the lead on July 21 — for good, I'm sure they (and you) hope — they've gone 13-12.

Since the much-maligned contract extensions for manager Jim Leyland and GM Dave Dombrowski — which was supposed to sap the "urgency" out of this team — the Tigers' RSCE (record since contract extensions) is 4-5.

The Tigers had a .533 winning percentage (49-43) before the All-Star break, and have a .516 win percentage (16-15) since. (Note: It was an identical .533 before Wednesday's 6-5 loss).

No. I'll agree. None of those records are impressive — for any of those teams.

[This post says almost the identical thing, just with slightly different marking points.]

That's why it's still a three-horse race. And why there's no "collapsing" going on. (If the Tigers suddenly go 10-29 over their remaining games, I'll give you all a special dispensation to use the terminology. Until then, no dice.)

You can call it a bad division if you want. Shoot, you can call it bad baseball.

I think I can pretty easily swallow both of those.

But a collapse? Not buying it.

A week ago, Jim Leyland jiggered with his rotation a bit, skipping Brad Penny for a start to get Justin Verlander on the mound during the three-game series in Cleveland.

[Here's an impressive breakdown by one Tigers fan (@spacemnkymafia on Twitter) of the potential pitching matchups the rest of the way.]

Thanks to the off day tomorrow (Thursday), he could do the same thing this time through the rotation: sit someone else, so Verlander — who'll have his normal rest in by Sunday — could throw in the series finale vs. the Indians.

But he won't. Even though Verlander offered.

"We felt like we could probably pick a couple spots to do that (give extra day), with the amount of innings he has. I don’t really know the answer. There’s all kinds of theories on that. Normally, if it works out all right, you can say it’s the rest, if it doesn’t work so well, maybe you can say the six days got him out of his rhythm. But I don’t believe in any of that. I think what you do is just (use) common sense. He’s pitched a lot, and I think you need to pick your spots, try to help him a little bit," Leyland said before Verlander's start Tuesday night.
"He’ll get six (days) this time, and I think he’ll get six one more time before the season’s over. ... At the start of this, when we figured all this out, we figured out so he could get Cleveland three out of four times, depending on what happens at the end."

Call it stubborn, or call it practical, he's not going to do it, for a couple reasons:

1) Verlander's innings are mounting. After Tuesday's 7.2 IP, he's got an MLB-high 202.2 innings thrown, currently 12 more than anyone else — almost two full starts' worth, despite only one more start in the books. "If you're good, you're going to throw a lot of innings," Leyland said a while back, "and if you're not as good, you don't throw as many. That's just the way it works."

Right now, Verlander is on pace for more than 260 innings, the most in the AL since 2003, and 20 more than his career high of 240 in 2009, which led the majors. The average single-season workload for an MLB starter is currently just slightly less than 205.

2) Don't rob Peter to pay Paul. Don't get me wrong: Like I wrote before, the Tigers have to play their best against their in-division rivals. But the Indians aren't the only AL Central team the Tigers need to be afraid of. The White Sox were a half-game behind the Indians after winning Tuesday night's 14-inning affair.

"I think the other thing you gotta realize is that you’ve gotta win games, you’ve got to beat a lot of teams. It’s not just Cleveland. It’s not just Chicago. It’s Minnesota. It’s Oakland. It’s Tampa. It’s Baltimore. We’ve gotta win games. That’s what it boils down to," Leyland said. "Kansas City, they’re real dangerous right now. They’re playing a bunch of young guys with a whole bunch of talent that are loosey-goosey and having a good (time). We’ve gotta win games, no matter who you play, and who you pitch."

As it is, Verlander is scheduled to throw in both September series vs. the Indians, including the one at Comerica Park that concludes the regular season — unless, of course, the Tigers have it wrapped up before then. According to my (admittedly flawed) calculations, he'll pitch twice more against the Indians and Twins, and once each against the Rays, A's and Orioles.

Don't get me wrong, though. Verlander would like THREE more starts against the Indians, something he lobbied for after Tuesday's win.

"You know, a couple starts in a row, I haven't felt fantastic, but it's coming down to the last few starts here, so I just wanted to go in there and let him know that if he wanted me to go on five days, I'm more than willing, and I think I'm over that little hump that I went through, and I feel really good right now," Verlander said. "So I just gave him that option. He declined."