After the All-Star break the Detroit Tigers were trailing the Chicago White Sox by a half game in the American League Central and at that point didn’t have any gaping holes. They could have used a starting pitcher preferably a left hander, since they didn’t have one in the starting rotation after releasing Dontrelle Willis on May 29th.  

Andy Oliver who they called up wasn’t quite ready yet with his ability to throw strikes.  Ted Lilly seemed like he could have been destined to Detroit in that case.   Their offense had been steady placing the team in the top ten in the majors in hits and batting average. 

Their horse in the middle Miguel Cabrera is putting up Triple Crown numbers, as he sits in the top three in batting average, home runs, and has a substantial lead in RBIs.  He also leads the majors by being a part of 32% of the Tigers runs, 5% ahead of Ryan Howard of the Phillies.

Fast forward and we’ll check in with the present day Tigers.  After suffering injuries to Brandon Inge–broken hand out 4 weeks, Magglio Ordonez–fractured ankle out 8 weeks, and Carlos Guillen who pulled his hamstring, the Tigers are looking like their AAA affiliate Toledo Mudhens. 

The serious injuries actually started earlier in the season when they lost their 8^th inning setup man Joel Zumaya who fractured his elbow during the most productive season of his career. In the starting lineup only four players have not seen any time in the minors this year. Rookie Austin Jackson, Johnny Damon, Miguel Cabrera and Gerald Laird, who is hitting a whopping .187.   

Miguel’s Triple Crown chances may be shot now that he shouldn’t expect anything decent to hit with the lineup surrounding him.  Another scary thought is Brennan Boesch. The Tigers’ rookie slugger was tearing up pitching from the day he was called up but is currently battling a 4-for-37 slump, that’s a .108 average.

The Tigers are now are in 3^rd place three games back from the White Sox, after a 3-7 stretch in their last ten.  The road is not getting any easier for the Tigers either as the next 7 series on their schedule is against teams with a record better then .500.  In that stretch they also face the White Sox twice. 

So what are the Tigers to do after missing the postseason last year in heartbreaking fashion.  We all remember losing in extra innings to the Minnesota Twins in an extra game to decide the AL Central crown.  The Twins last season overcame a seven-game gap in the final month, went 17-4 to pull even on the final weekend. 

Do they give up and pack it in and hope for another next year? I hope not, Detroit needs to make a move to try and keep this team’s playoffs chances alive.  I agree with GM Dave Dombrowski to not give up prospects for a rental player for two months.  The Tigers don’t have the depth for one player to make them a World Series Champion.  What they do have though is a good team with a ton of money coming off the books this year.  On opening day the Tigers posted the 6^th highest salary in Major League Baseball at $122 million and $52 million of that will be coming off the payroll next year.  

Coming off the books are Dontrelle Willis $12 million, Jeremy Bonderman $12.5 million, Nate Robertson $10 million, Gerald Laird $4 million and Magglio Ordonez  $17.5 million. Mags had an option for $15 million for next season but he won’t make enough at bats this year to pick that up so he will be a free agent next season.   With all that cap room I think you make a move for a player and then sign him to an extension.  The only player on the roster for the 2011 season that is being vastly overpaid is Carlos Guillen.  Carlos will bring in around $13 million for two bad hamstrings a .280 batting average and the worst range in baseball at second base.  

The Tigers have three viable options before the trade deadline.  Their first and second  option is to make a play at Corey Hart or Jayson Werth.  The Tigers must give up a first tier pitching prospect plus another position player to land him.  Once you land him you make sure you sign him to a nice 4 year extension that takes the place of Magglio at right field for the remainder of this season plus the next few years.  If that can’t happen you go after Josh Willingham of the Nationals.  He is not as valuable and will come cheaper than Werth and Hart but still has numbers that are decent enough to make an impact .272 15 HR’s and 50 RBI’s. 

The problem with Willingham is he can’t step into the 3rd spot in your order more like 2nd or 6^th in the American League.  I can’t see us going after Adam Dunn because I feel like he is a rental guy and he is making $15 million this season. To re-sign him to an extension would cost way too much money for his overall worth. 

I hope the Tigers don’t sit and do nothing because the product on the field is going to be tough to watch for the remaining months.  “To my knowledge, we have absolutely nothing going on,” manager Jim Leyland said. If that is the case I feel bad for the skipper because Matt Garza simply overpowered us for a no-hitter yesterday by throwing fast balls in the top of the zone and an occasional curveball for a strike in his historical game yesterday. 

If we don’t make any moves there are a few things that will be certain for the remainder of the year. There will be no playoffs, no Cabrera Triple Crown and a lot less Tigers fans going to the ballpark.  The Detroit Tigers rank 13^th overall in major league baseball with over 30,000 fans on average attending their home games. There will also probably be another no hitter against this Tigers team in the months ahead if nothing is done.   For all us Michiganders, I hope we see something happened soon because football season is still too far away when we were right in the pennant race such a short time ago.

Used with permission of the author.

Mateo Ferda is a Detroit-based sportswriter and contributor to Sports Climax. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

For the past two seasons, the AL Central race has gone to the last day of the season. Actually, it’s gone past that, as both the Chicago White Sox (in 2008) and Minnesota Twins (2009) needed an extra game to win the division outright.

 This year, the AL Central will once again likely come down to the wire, with three evenly matched teams fighting for what will likely be, barring a collapse of the Tampa Bay Rays, one playoff spot.

At the time of this article, the White Sox have a 2.5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers and a 3 game lead over the Twins.

Interestingly enough, the Twins actually have the best run differential of the three, and the Tigers seem to be playing above their heads right now with a negative run differential despite a winning record.

Offensively, the Twins have led the way so far. With Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer, they have scored the most runs in the division and have also gotten surprising production from Delmon Young.

On the other side of the ball, the White Sox have allowed the fewest runs, but will be without Jake Peavy for the remainder of the season. The Sox have a terrific bullpen, and have been scoring more runs lately as Gordon Beckham remembers how to hit.

The Tigers would seem to have a great lineup, with the fifth best batting average and seventh best OBP in all of baseball. However, the team is only tied for 16^th in runs scored. Pitching wise, the Tigers rotation is rather thin after Justin Verlander, and even he hasn’t been overly impressive (3.87 ERA) thus far in 2010.

Over the rest of the season, the White Sox may be at a scheduling disadvantage, as they have played six more home games than the Twins and seven more than the Tigers.

But the most important thing to who wins the division will be head-to-head competition.

In September, the White Sox have seven games with Detroit and three with Minnesota. The Tigers and Twins play each other five times that month.

Minnesota seems to have the edge in head-to-head competition, with winning records over both the Tigers and White Sox. The Tigers are at the biggest disadvantage, as they also have a losing record against Chicago.

All in all, if the last two years have proved anything, it’s that anyone could ultimately walk away with the AL Central.

If I had to put my money on one team at this point, it would be the Twins, who have the best run differential to date, winning records against both the White Sox and Tigers, and have been involved in the one game playoff in each of the past two years.  

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC