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

DETROIT – This year, star MLB players are learning there are no guaranteed positions on the rosters. Despite receiving enormous salaries and long-term contracts, All-Star players and fan favorites are being forced to trade in chartered flights and room service at five-star hotels for Greyhound bus rides and overnights at low-budget motels.

Dontrelle Willis, $29,000,000 over three years, discovered that in June when the Detroit Tigers tossed the All-Star left-hander out on his ass and shipped him to their Single A affiliate in Lakeland.

How’s that for a kick in the nuts.

The organization couldn’t even trust the former All-Star at their AAA or AA affiliate.

Willis was booted off the Tiger sqaud after posting a dismal 0-1 record with Detroit over four starts, lasting a total of 11.1 innings. His problem seems to be a major one–he couldn’t throw strikes and walked 21 (almost two per inning average) while posting an ERA of 10.32.

After reporting to sunny Florida, Willis (see his photo in our Sports Mugshots Gallery) and his control problem got even worse. He couldn’t come close to the strike zone in Lakeland while facing teenagers struggling to make it to AA ball.

$29,000,000 over the three years equals $185,897.43. Let’s see . . .  at $10 a pop, the first 18,589 medium Little Caesars pizzas that owner Mike Ilitch sells each week goes into this underachieving flop’s pocket while the rest of us bust our asses trying to make ends meet.

Another victim of demotion is the Atlanta Braves’ Gold Glove winner Jeff “Frenchy” Francoeur. After batting a miserable .121 over an 18 game span, Bobby Cox relegated the starting outfielder to AA affiliate Mississippi, the same team Francoeur played for before his MLB debut in 2005.

Over the past two and a half seasons, Francoeur has started 408 games and was settled in as a regular for the Braves until the surprising news came after the Braves lost to the Phillies on Thursday. He was held hitless in four at bats that game, swinging at the first pitch in his last three at bats for routine outs.

Francoeur who hit .293 last year couldn’t hit a watermelon tossed to him underhanded right now. He visited an eye doctor in late June and began wearing a corrective lens in his right eye hoping to break out of his slump but that worked about as good as whatever Willis has tried lately.

After that doctor visit, Frenchy’s performance at the plate got even worse. His average before the corrective lens was .246 and dropped even lower to .234 over the next few weeks.

His mechanics were horribly out of synch during Thursday’s Philly game; so bad that Cox had finally seen enough and immediately after the game, demoted Francoeur.

The Tigers responded to the Willis move that occurred on June 10th by winning 15 out of the next 18 the rest of the month of June.

Talk about putting the fear in the rest of those players! Those remaining guys wearing the “D” in Motown weren’t gonna give up those steak dinners for Denny’s. 

Both of these transactions are justified and they send a strong message . . . get off your ass and produce or don’t let the door hit you in the ass.