Tigers DFA Craig Monroe

The Tigers have called up top outfield prospect Cameron Maybin - chosen one pick before Andrew McCutchen and arguably an even better prospect - and designated outfielder Craig Monroe for assignment.

In completely unrelated news, Dave Littlefield just broke his wrist while frantically trying to fish his cellphone out of his pocket.

Some other news, since there's a lot of it today:

-P- The Cubs have signed Carlos Zambrano to a five-year, $91 million deal with a vesting option for a sixth year. It's always scary when your team commits this much money to a pitcher, but this deal isn't out of line with recent free agent signings - I'd much rather have Zambrano for $91 million than Barry Zito for $126 million. And yeah, maybe that's a false binary, but if Zambrano went to free agency, he probably would have made well over $100 million.

-P- Wily Mo Pena has been dealt to the Nationals for a player to be named and cash. I still think Wily Mo can be a good player if he got some good coaching. He's had such a messy career because he was rushed to the majors, and then because he couldn't get much playing time in Boston. Pena's a bad defensive player, but the Nationals have been playing Nook Logan and Ryan Langerhans in center, so unless the PTNBL is decent, acquiring Pena was a no-lose proposition for them. Even if things work out badly, he should be as a pretty good lefty-killer off the bench.