Did Tigers Do Enough at the Deadline?

The Detroit Tigers opened trade deadline day with a splash by acquiring left-handed pitcher Jarrod Washburn from Seattle in exchange for pitching prospects Luke French and Mauricio Robles.

The addition further solidifies one of the best starting rotations in the American League. Washburn will team with Edwin Jackson and Justin Verlander to form a trio currently sitting third, second, and seventh, respectively, on the AL ERA leaders list.

In addition to the sparkling statistics, the Tigers also got the left handed starter that had eluded the club to date. While Luke French had success in his limited action, injuries to Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis left the Tigers starting rotation thin from the left side. Starting Verlander, Washburn, and Jackson on back-to-back-to-back days is a recipe for success in any series.

While the pitching situation has the makings of a pennant winning group, the offense remains a question mark. Tigers hitters rank 10th in batting average, runs scored, and on base percentage among all American League teams. Despite ranking fourth in batting average, slugger Miguel Cabrera sits at just 26th in runs batted in.

To be fair, Tigers hitters have not reached based ahead of Cabrera with any consistency this season. Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordonez have all batted well below their career averages. Add the lengthy injury to Carlos Guillen and the Tigers have received very little of the offense they expected coming into 2009. Fortunately, timely contributions from Clete Thomas, Ryan Raburn and Adam Everett couple with Brandon Inge's monster first half have provided enough to keep the Tigers atop the AL Central.

It was widely speculated that general manager Dave Dombrowski would pursue a left handed bat to protect Miguel Cabrera in the batting order. Luke Scott, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham were names floating around prior to the deadline, but none will don the olde english "D" this season. The addition of Dunn would have immediately made him the team leader in home runs, RBI and slugging percentage.

Jim Leyland will instead have to continue choosing the right man to play on a particular day, mixing in Ramon Santiago, Thomas and Raburn as the situation dictates. The return of Carlos Guillen will have to be the "trade" that Tigers fans sought. Carlos has been effective since his return and will hopeful bring some consistency to the lineup.

Perhaps the asking price was simply too high, but the price of not acting could be greater. Long a sleeping baseball town, Detroiters were reminded of the excitement of a pennant race during the magical 2006 season. A return trip to the playoffs would mean even more to the city as it struggles to gain positive headlines.