Franklyn German spent most of his major league career as a
Tiger. He signed with the Oakland
Athletics out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 16. He was a minor league right handed reliever
for Oakland with lots of K’s. But Franklyn
never got to the majors for Oakland. In
2002 he was part of the three way deal between the Yankees Tigers and
Athletics. The Tigers sent away Jeff
Weaver and in return the Tiges got Carlos Pena, Jeremy Bonderman and
Franklyn. He went to Toledo and looked
fantastic with 13 saves and a 1.59 ERA along with 21 K’s and only 7 BB’s. About two months after the deal he was called
up to the Tigers and made his major league debut at the age of 22. It was against the Yankees in Yankee
Stadium. The score was 1-1 in the bottom
of the 6th. With runners on
first and second and two outs Franklyn faced Juan Rivera. He got him to ground out to second base and
end the inning. He pitched the 7th
and gave up a lead off single to Alfonso Soriano who was then erased on an
attempted steal. He got Derek Jeter to
ground out to second and then, after hitting Jason Gaimbi he K’d Bernie Williams to end the 7th. The Tigers scored a run in the 8th
to make the game a 2-1 game and Franklyn was pulled. The score stayed 2-1 and Franklyn got his
first major league win in his debut. He
pitched 6.2 innings that September and did not allow a run. He K’d 6 and walked only 2. The following season things were not as
bright for Franklyn. He was on the 2003
Tigers that struggled to a 43-119 record.
He was in 45 games and was 2-4 with 5 saves but a 6.04 ERA. In 2004 he spent most of the season in Toledo
going 3-5 with 27 saves and a 4.59 ERA.
The 27 saves was second best in the International League. He was up with Detroit from June 20 to July 7
and then ended the season with the Tigers from September 7 on. In that time he was 1-0 in 16 games but with
a 7.36 ERA. In 2005 he was with Detroit
the whole season. He was 4-0 with 1 save
and dramatically dropped his ERA to 3.66.
But he was signed only through 2005 and at the end of the season the
Tigers let him go. He bounced around
after leaving the Tigers appearing in the majors only with the Marlins in 2006
and the Rangers in 2008. In between and
after he served in the minors with the White Sox, and Pirates before ending his
career in the Mexican League in 2011 at the age of 31.
Chris Mears spent his entire major league career as a
teammate of Franklyn German’s as a Tiger.
Chris was signed out of high school in Canada by the Seattle
Mariners. He spent 5 years in the
Mariners farm system and reached as high as AA level ball his last season with
the Mariners and had his best ERA of 3.14 that season. The Tigers signed him as a free agent at the
end of 2002. In that poor 2003 Tiger season
he started the season in Toledo and was 5-1 with a 2.78 ERA. He was called up to help stem the bleeding of
the 2003 Tigers and in 45 games was not bad for a bad team. He was called up at the end of June and in
July had 5 saves with a 2.81 ERA and was named Tiger pitcher of the month. But August found no saves for Chris and his
ERA climbed to 4.24. September was not
much better as his ERA continued to climb and he did not record a save. In his second to last game of the season he
was called in to pitch the 10th and 11 innings of a tie game against
the Twins. He was perfect for the two innings and K’d 3 of the 6 batters he
faced. In the 11th Shane
Halter hit a homer to win the game for the Tigers and give Chris his only major
league win in his second to last appearance.
He spent the 2004 season in the minors for the Tiges and was never
called back to the majors. He was
released at the end of the season and bounced around in the minors for the
Braves and Cardinals before his baseball career was over in 2005 at the age of
27. His major league record was 1-3 with
5 saves and a 5.44 ERA. He later scouted
for the Boston Red Sox.
Julio Santana was kinda twice a Tiger. He signed as a 17 year old with the Texas
Rangers our out of the Dominican Republic.
He did not actually play in the Rangers farm system until 1997 when he
made the majors. He spent a year and a
half in Texas before they sent him Tampa Bay for another year and a half. All the time he was a reliever and a stop gap
rightie starter with an ERA over 5.00.
He went to the Expos in 2000 and it was more of the same. He bounced to the minors with the Mets and
Giants before finally signing a contract with the Tigers for 2002. He had a great April for 2002 when he pitched
2 innings of scoreless ball against Kansas City. In his next game against the Twins he came in
to pitch in the 9th of a 4-4 tie game. With two outs and a runner on first he faced
Matt LeCroy. Matt reached on an error by
shortstop Shane Halter and the runner advanced to third. But Julio got Torii Hunter to ground out to
third to end the inning. In the Tigers
half of the 9th they scored and Julio got the win. He pitched in one more game against the
Royals in April and still did not give up a run. In May Julio got two more wins and he did
give up a few runs and his ERA climbed up to 3.24. But it never really got too much higher than
that. At the end of the season he was
3-5 with a very nice 2.84 ERA and was one of the better relievers the Tigers
had yet was released at the end of the season.
He re-signed with the Tigers in January 2003 and was a non roster
invitee to Tigers spring training. This
was his second stint with the Tigers. He
did not make the team and was released by the Tigers in March. He signed with the Phillies and did not make
it the show with them. Instead he went
to Japan to play. He did make it back to
the majors with the Brewers in 2005 and made his last appearance in the majors
in 2006 back with the Phillies. He last
played in pro ball in 2012 in the independent Canadian-American League with the
Rockland Boulders.
Bill Scherrer
Dave Boswell
Jimmy Outlaw
Bill James
Ernie Courtney
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