Tigers Talking with Mariners About Fister

The most solid Tigers rumor of the afternoon has them talking to the Mariners about Doug Fister and a reliever.  The right-handed Fister has a 3.33 ERA and 89/32 K/BB rate in 146 innings for the Mariners this year.  You might expect a 6 foot 8 pitcher to get a lot of strikeouts but Fister has struck out just over 5 batters per nine innings in his career.

What Fister does do is limit walks (1.9 BB / 9 IP for his career) and home runs (0.7 HR / 9 IP).  He no doubt benefits from pitching in pitcher-friendly Safeco field, but his control is certainly impressive.

Jon Morosi reported that the Tigers are not interested in closer Brandon League, but rather a middle reliever. That could be David Pauley, although a soft-tossing right-handeder does not seem like Dave Dombrowski's kind of pitcher.

I imagine the Tigers would have to give up Andy Oliver plus a mid-ranged prospect or two to make this happen. The Mariners need offense though, so perhaps they would be interested in someone like Casper Wells or Andy Dirks.