MLB.com's Jason Beck reported Thursday that Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera had won the Luis Aparicio Award, honoring the best Venezuelan player in the big leagues, for the second time.

Cabrera also won the award in 2005, as an outfielder for the Florida Marlins in just his first full season in the majors. The award, given out since 2004 and honoring the only Venezuelan player in the Baseball Hall of Fame, is voted on by a panel of Venezuelan media members.

Colorado's Carlos Gomez won the award a year ago. Johan Santana has won the award twice, both times in Cy Young seasons, while Magglio Ordonez (2007) was the only Tigers player to win the award prior to Thursday. Ordonez and Cabrera both won the award for a season in which the won the American League batting title.

The reaction from teammate Brad Penny (@bradpenny) on Twitter: "should win MVP!!!"

Pablo Perez Alvarez (@PabloPerezOf), the governor of the Venezuelan state of Zulia, also sent his Twitter congratulations, calling Cabrera a good "#Example for young Tigers."

Major League Baseball's postseason advertising campaign for this season is "Legends Are Born in October." The spot that MLB released on Wednesday features the home run by Magglio Ordonez that clinched the American League Championship Series sweep of the A's for the Tigers, sending them to the 2006 World Series. With the Tigers sitting atop the AL Central as of right now, it's perfect timing for a little flashback. (The music for the spot, if you're wondering, is "Written in the Stars" by Tinie Tempah, which will be used as the backdrop for memorable moments in this year's postseason.)

The moment, of course, is one of the most memorable home runs in Tigers postseason history, and marks the only postseason appearance by the franchise in the last 24 years.

Here's the clip:


(And just as a side note, I still think my headline that night — "Maggs to riches" — was the best in the state.)

The Tigers didn’t think that Brandon Inge’s struggles at the plate were related to his surgically repaired knees.

But they may have been health-related, anyway.

The longest-tenured Tiger, who just turned 34 on May 19, and had his career turn 10 on Wednesday, was put on the 15-day disabled list with mononucleosis on Friday.

The move was retroactive to Thursday.

Inge had played in 52 of 55 games for the Tigers, but was never able to break out of the slump began the season in, hitting just .211 on the season. He had just one home run and 12 RBI, and had more strikeouts (44) than hits (34).

Catcher Omir Santos was recalled from Triple-A Toledo Friday to replace Inge on the active roster. He will likely only be on the roster until Magglio Ordonez (ankle weakness) is done with his rehab stint at Toledo, which was scheduled to start Friday and last through the weekend.

It wasn’t necessary for the Tigers to recall a defensive replacement for Inge, since Danny Worth, Ramon Santiago, Don Kelly and Ryan Raburn can all play third, if needed.

The move comes just two days after Inge earned his “10-and-5” rights, an occasion acknowledged by visiting Twins manager Ron Gardenhire — who was Minnesota’s third-base coach for Inge’s first game as a Tiger in 2001 — with a bottle of champagne and a note. By Major League Baseball rules, a player who has 10 years of service time and five of those with his current team, cannot be traded without his consent.

When Tigers pitcher Phil Coke puts on a Toledo Mud Hens uniform on Friday, and trots to the mound in Scranton, Pa., for a rehab start against the New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, it will seem like almost any other day at the office.

He’ll have a familiar coworker in the Hens lineup with him, after all.

Magglio Ordonez, who has been on the disabled list since May 13 with weakness in his surgically-repaired ankle, will begin his rehab stint with Toledo the same day, the Tigers announced Wednesday.

Even though Tigers manager Jim Leyland has tried to stay out of the discussion, leaving it between Ordonez and the training staff — “I just stay out of that stuff. ... Whenever they tell me Magglio’s ready, he’s ready,” he said — there’s no question that he’s been encouraged by watching Ordonez take batting practice on the field at Comerica Park the last few days.
“He felt fine the last couple of days, felt really good. And drove the ball pretty good. Just wait and see,” Leyland said after one session.

“He feels great, but is a couple of days swinging going to change how he feels? I wouldn’t think so, but I don’t know,” the manager noted after another.

Struggling off and on with his ankle in the cold weather early this season, Ordonez was hitting just .171 in 26 games before notifying the Tigers’ medical staff that he wanted to shut it down.
He was re-examined by Dr. Phillip Kwong, the surgeon who repaired his broken ankle last August, in Los Angeles three weeks ago, but has been rehabbing in Detroit since then.

Coke, who has been on the DL with a bruised bone in his foot, is scheduled to return to the Tigers’ active roster after his lone rehab start. Once he comes back, the Tigers will send left-handed starter Andy Oliver back to Toledo.

Ordonez’s return could make for a more interesting roster decision. Do the Tigers demote Andy Dirks, who’s hit .281 since taking Ordonez’s spot on the roster? Or Casper Wells (.228)? Or infielder Danny Worth, who may be less needed, once Ordonez’s presence in the outfield rotation pushes Ryan Raburn into the second base role full time?

Just wait and see on that, too, I guess.

DETROIT — Given how much he’d struggled this year with his balky ankle, I don’t think anyone was surprised when the Detroit Tigers sent veteran outfielder Magglio Ordonez to the 15-day disabled list on Friday.

Andy Dirks, who was hitting .328 at Triple-A Toledo, was recalled to fill Ordonez’s spot on the 25-man active roster.

And given how well the 25-year-old outfielder had played both in spring training — hitting .333 to force his way into the conversation for the final reserve outfield spot — as well as in his first extended tour of duty at Triple-A, it was no surprise that Dirks got the nod. An added bonus for the Tigers is that it gives then another guy capable of covering the territory in Comerica Park’s spacious center field, allowing Austin Jackson a day off without much of a defensive drop-off.

Ordonez has struggled with frequent soreness and inflammation in his surgically-repaired right ankle, the one that cost him the second half of last season. He’ll be referred back to Dr. Phillip Kwong of the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles — who performed the surgery on Ordonez’s ankle on Aug. 25 — for further testing.

The move will be retroactive to Wednesday, making him eligible to come off the DL on May 25.