Chris McCosky

The Detroit News

Detroit — Manager Brad Ausmus probably said it best.

“It’s an imperfect situation,” he said. “But we don’t live in a perfect world.”

The perfect scenario would have been for power-armed right-hander Bruce Rondon to come back this season in the same shape and form he finished in last year. And the Tigers could have plugged him into the eighth-inning set-up role he seemed built for.

That didn’t happen. Rondon came back from the World Baseball Classic with his weight over 300 pounds, his fastball velocity down some 4 mph and his command erratic. He gave up six runs in his last two outings, getting only one batter out.

“It’s a performance-based game,” Ausmus said. “If you don’t perform, changes are made.”

Changes were made Monday morning.

The Tigers optioned Rondon to Triple A Toledo and purchased the contract of rookie right-hander Joe Jimenez.

“We felt Bruce needed more time to get ready for the season,” general manager Al Avila said. “All through spring training we hoped, you know, giving him the benefit of the doubt, that he was going to come in and be able to help right away.

“But he needed more time.”

Henning: It’s all on Bruce Rondon now to shape up

Rondon was clearly out of shape, most noticeably when he rejoined the Tigers after a so-so performance at the WBC. He also seemed, at times, disinterested during his spring outings. It infuriated the Tigers coaching staff.

“We weren’t happy about it,” Ausmus said. “He did a great job last year of getting in shape and it seemed like he turned the corner at the end of last year. We gave him the benefit of the doubt through spring training, despite the fact we weren’t exactly thrilled with how he looked when he was pitching.

“But after a couple of outings here, it became apparent he wasn’t ready.”

Avila stressed that Rondon was healthy.

“It’s more about his conditioning and that the command is not there,” he said. “We’re not really worried about the velocity. It’s more about control and command. He’s got to be able to command the fastball.

“We need him to get in shape, lose a little weight. With that coming, you will see better control with his pitches.”

The promotion of Jimenez, the club’s No. 5-ranked prospect, was for two reasons. One was a rules issue.

Major League Baseball has a 10-day rule, players on the 40-man roster cannot be called up within 10 days of the start of a season. Thus, Blaine Hardy and Angel Nesbitt were not options.

The second reason, he was recommended by the staff at Toledo.

“Ideally, we would like to give Joe a little more time,” Avila said. “But we called over (to Toledo) last night and asked who the best guy would be, and they all said it was Jimenez.”

Ausmus said he would ease Jimenez in, working at first in low-leverage situations, and cautioned against expecting too much from him.

“We might catch lightning in a bottle,” he said. “But I caution you on thinking this is some type of answer. This is a young kid with a big arm who is still developing. He’s going to have to develop his slider; that is going to have to get better.”

Jimenez throws a high-90s fastball and a big-league ready change-up. The slider, though, remains a work in progress.

“These are big-league hitters, a lot of them have been hitting at this level for about a decade,” Ausmus said. “If you think you are going to call a guy up who throws 97 and he’s going to dominate hitters, chances are you are going to be wrong.”

Justin Wilson will take over the eighth-inning role when he is available. Alex Wilson and Shane Greene will work the sixth and seventh in close games.

“To expect this guy (Jimenez) to be Mario Rivera would be unfair to the kid,” Ausmus said. “And we certainly wouldn’t put him in a position to try and be Mariano Rivera. He’s going to be down in the pen. We’re probably going to start him easy, hope he performs, hope he develops.

“But putting undo pressure on him is not going to make him go forward.”

cmccosky@detroitnews.com

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