Marcus Thames' time with Tigers is over

Lynn Henning / The Detroit News

Not surprisingly, his voice was clear and upbeat.

Marcus Thames sounded no different from the Thames who had hit his share of home runs during five seasons with the Tigers, who had kept his mouth shut when he did not play as often as he would have preferred, and who now is free to sign with another club after the Tigers decided Friday to release him along with backup catcher Matt Treanor.

"I'll be fine, I'm in good spirits," Thames said, speaking from his home state of Mississippi as he traveled north for a weekend with friends in Tennessee. "I talked with Skip (manager Jim Leyland), and it's just business.

"I could see it toward the end of the season. Raburn (Ryan, reserve outfielder) was playing well, and I never could get into a rhythm. Carlos (Guillen), they have a lot of money invested in him and I saw where he wants to play every day in left field.

"I had a fun time. Now it's time to move on."

Thames, 32, leaves after parts of six seasons with the Tigers, who discovered he was a prime-time power-hitter who, until this season, had one of the most potent ratios of home runs per times at-bat of any player in the majors.

But he fell off in '09, when he hit 13 homers in 87 games, while batting .252 with 36 RBIs.

Thames had it analyzed correctly: Guillen's expensive contract ($26 million through 2011), and Raburn's emergence (16 home runs) made Thames expendable when he was arbitration-eligible and already on the payroll to the tune of $2.275 million.

Thames was signed as a minor league free agent in 2003 after stints with the Yankees, who drafted him, and Rangers. After splitting 2004 and '05 between Triple-A Toledo and Detroit, he arrived as a major league slugger whose best seasons were 2006 (26 homers) and 2008 (25).

But the past season was a different story. He was not fleet or skilled as a left fielder, and with Raburn's arrival, Thames was often on the bench.

"I wasn't in against a couple of lefties, and then Aubrey (Huff, outfielder whom the Tigers acquired in an August trade) came over and that was it," he said. "I still have the power, but I could never seem to get into a groove.

"I knew when I didn't play in that last game against Minnesota," Thames said, referring to a one-game playoff that put the Twins into the playoffs, "I knew I was out of there."

Another player who will join Thames on this autumn's free-agent market is Treanor, 33, who was signed by the Tigers last December as a backup catcher to the newly acquired Gerald Laird and appeared primed for a significant role on Leyland's roster. But he had ongoing problems with his right hip and had surgery in April, which ended his season.

The Tigers made some additional low-key moves Friday as they wrapped up organizational meetings at Comerica Park:

• Two players were returned to the Tigers' active roster from the 60-day disabled list: Joel Zumaya (shoulder surgery), the right-handed reliever who will be critical to the Tigers' back-end bullpen plans in 2010, and first baseman Jeff Larish (wrist).

• Jay Sborz, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-handed pitcher who was a second-round draft pick in 2003, had his contract purchased from Toledo and was placed on the Tigers' 40-man roster. He was a six-year prospect who could have become a minor-league free agent had the Tigers not promoted him.

• Michael Hollimon, an infield prospect recovering from shoulder surgery, was outrighted to Triple A. He played 29 games at Double-A Erie before undergoing surgery in July.

Sborz, who is 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, pitched at three different stops in the Tigers' farm system in 2009 and was a combined 2-2 with a 2.27 earned-run average in 17 appearances. He struck out 35 batters in 31 2/3 innings.

Zumaya has been bothered for the past three years with shoulder problems and missed the final two months of the regular season because of surgery to remove a bone shard from his oft-injured right shoulder.

He was 3-3 for the Tigers and had a 4.94 ERA in 29 appearances.

Larish, in 32 games for Leyland's team, batted .216 with four home runs and seven RBIs. At Toledo, he hit .265 in 61 games with six home runs and 26 RBIs.

You can reach Lynn Henning at lynn.henning@detnews.com