Chance Ruffin Goes To Seattle To Finish The Fister-Pauley Trade

UPDATE II (8-17-11, 2:10 PM CST): The move is official, as the Mariners announced in a press release today. Ruffin is the player to be named later, completing the deal that sent Doug Fister to Detroit.

UPDATE (8-4-11, 11:33 AM CST): Churchill has since qualified his report a little bit, noting that he doesn't "know for a fact" that Ruffin is the player to be named later. It's merely what he's hearing from some reliable sources.

ORIGINAL REPORT (8-1-11, 2:22 PM CST): When the Tigers acquired pitchers Doug Fister and David Pauley from the Seattle Mariners, they sent a player to be named later as part of the deal that sent pitcher Charlie Furbush, outfielder Casper Wells and third baseman Francisco Martinez westward.

According to Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider, relief pitcher Chance Ruffin will be the player going to Seattle along with Furbush, Wells and Martinez. This bodes with a previous report from ESPN's Shannon Drayer that the player to be named later would be one of Detroit's first three picks from the 2010 draft.

Ruffin, taken 48th overall in the 2010 draft by Detroit, has already appeared in two games with the Tigers this season but has spent the majority of the season with Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo. His numbers in the minors are quite strong this year: over 45 innings, Ruffin has a 2.00 ERA with 57 strikeouts, 21 walks and 17 saves. He won't be able to join the Mariners until mid-August given that drafted players can't be traded until a year after they're signed, but he should be able to immediately impact Seattle's bullpen.