Tigers Woefully Underachieving

The Detroit Tigers continue to limp through August, their playoff hopes all but mathematically erased.

Their season got off to a dismal 0 and 7 start, with center fielder Curtis Granderson on the disabled list for nearly all of April. May saw an improvement, but since then the Tigers have done little but tease their faithful with an offense that lacks consistency, starting pitching that seems able to cure the hitting woes of teams that struggle offensively, and a bullpen that was supposed to be a strength but can’t hold a lead.

This team seems hell-bent on proving what Yankees fans have known for the better part of a decade: a stellar payroll can’t buy championships.

Where to start… In the off-season, the Tigers picked up Edgar Renteria and Miguel Cabrera, escalating their payroll to the second highest in baseball, behind the Yankees. The plan here was to move Carlos Guillen over to first base to save his knees and back from the grueling demands of the shortstop position. While Renteria’s bat always seemed a thorn in our paws when he played against us, he has struggled offensively and his defense has been sporadic ― at times bordering on spectacular, at others (usually in key situations), extending rallies. Guillen never took to first base and so manager Jim Leyland swapped corners, playing Cabrera at first (a position to which he has taken) and playing Guillen at third, where he initially struggled but to which he finally took. Still, one wonders how playing third will save his knees and back; indeed, Guillen took several days off recently to nurse his bulging disc.

On most nights, DH Gary Sheffield looks unhappy. Is it because of his production or because he never sees playing time in the outfield? True, when he came to Detroit he knew that was going to be his role, but he has said many times that he’s a bigger offensive producer when he plays a position. Don’t look for Sheffield to be back next year.

The Tigers dealt future hall of famer catcher Ivan Rodriquez to the Yankees. In the final year of his contract, perhaps management feared they’d lose Rodriquez to free agency and receive nothing in return; in return for Rodriquez they received Kyle Farnsworth, a reliever they dealt away a few years ago for the same reason and who has done little to shore up the pen. This move left Branden Inge, arguably one of the best third basemen in baseball and a human highlight reel, to take over the catching duties, which he’d shared with Rodriquez, full-time. In time Inge will replace Rodriquez; his arm is stronger, his footwork equal, and he will learn to manage the pitching staff and call better games, but I still think his natural position is third base, and I wonder at his hitting ― he is a better hitter than his .225 average shows.

As for the pitching, well, maybe I bought into the preseason hype that starting pitching, anchored by Jeremy Bonderman, Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers and Nate Robertson, was supposed to be a strength. Bonderman is out for the season, Verlander has been sporadic (although in at least six of his losses he has received offensive support of one run or none), and Rogers and Robertson have been up and down. It might be easy to point fingers at pitching coach Chuck Hernandez, but he’s the guy who coached the staff in 2006 when the Tigers made it to the Fall Classic. Since Detroit struggles most against teams in their own division, it might be a case of too much familiarity: at times opposing hitters seem to know what pitch to look for in any given situation. Our starters are last in the league where complete games are concerned, and most get pulled before the seventh on the basis of a high pitch count.

Which brings us to manager Jim Leyland. Make no mistake, I respect Leyland. In 2006 he pushed all the right buttons, and maybe this season is an anomaly. But truthfully, Leyland has historically done his best managing with a team of youngsters; indeed, as he himself has said, “Give me talent over experience anytime.” This was certainly true when he won a championship with the Marlins in 1997, with the addition of, who else, Gary Sheffield and Edgar Renteria. With Detroit this year he has a team heavy on the payroll that is seriously underachieving.

Gone from this Tigers team is the swagger of the previous two seasons, and the team’s struggles wear heavily on Leyland’s face. One can only wonder if he will step down at season’s end.