Low & Outside: AL Notes

Lefthander Dontrelle Willis, once among the most promising young pitchers in baseball, has been traded to Arizona, pending a physical, MLB FanHouse reported.

The Tigers designated Willis for assignment on Saturday and had 10 days to trade him or pass him through waivers.

Willis was the NL rookie of the year in 2003, when he was 14-6 with a 3.31 ERA and 142 strikeouts in 1602/3 innings for Florida. He was 22-10 in 2005 but was sent to Detroit after the 2007 season.

Willis made only 22 starts for the Tigers in three seasons, going 2-8 with a 6.86 ERA.

Arizona sent righthander Billy Buckner to Detroit, who assigned him to the triple-A Toledo Mud Hens.

Jon Heyman of SI.com says Major League Baseball is seriously angry with Cowboy Joe West, because the singing umpire can't stop talking.

Baseball officials told West to quit talking about the slow play in a Yankees-Red Sox game, a point he had made publicly last month to anybody who would listen.

Heyman wrote that "MLB is especially annoyed West has hired a publicist who's finding interviews for West to promote his new country CD and tells interviewers he'll answer all questions."

There's no truth to the rumor that the CD is a cover of Johnny Paycheck's classic: "Take This Job and Shove It."

Who says mountain climbing is the most dangerous sport? How about walking on the beach?

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Sean Rodriguez of the Tampa Bay Rays was on the sand behind his Redington Beach, Fla., condo last week when he took his 2-year-old daughter Sofia a couple of feet into the water to look at some dolphins.

After feeling something brush against his right heel, he got out of the water and was nearly felled by such extreme pain he had to call 911.

We'll spare you all the lame jokes about a Ray being stung by a (sting)ray.

The lawyer for a group of secured lenders told a court in Fort Worth, Tex., that a competing bidder wants to buy the Texas Rangers. The team already has agreed to a $575 million sale to a group that includes Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. The secured lenders oppose the sale. They say the team can get a better deal.

The White Sox placed third baseman Mark Teahen on

the 15-day disabled list with a fractured right middle finger. . . . Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Kendry Morales' left leg - broken while he jumped on the plate in celebration of a walk-off grand slam Saturday night - is still too swollen for surgery. . . . Infielder Jack Hannahan was outrighted to triple-A Tacoma by the Mariners.