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 8th 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 3rd 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 6th 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 6th 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 13th 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.
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