Detroit Tigers Fans Aren't Justified in Early Criticisms of Jim Leyland...Yet

We're barely a week into the 2011 MLB season and the normal summertime hobby of Jim Leyland's second-guessing is already making an appearance in Detroit.

The Tigers have stumbled to a 3-6 start early in the season with series losses at New York and Baltimore and a lackluster home series loss against Kansas City.

Ineffectiveness and injuries from expected contributors have left Leyland without many options, while the bats and bullpen have been the biggest disappointment, causing Leyland some early anxiety.

Austin Jackson and Will Rhymes have offered very little production early in the season.

While the slow start is to be expected, the fact that it is occurring even with strong contributions from Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila is alarming.

While little was expected from Peralta or Avila, they have carried the Tigers offense at times thus far.  Those two won't be able to keep up their early hitting performances the entire season and offset the terrible starts by Rhymes and Jackson.

Rhymes and Jackson both look lost at the plate, but Leyland has little to turn to. 

Jackson is too important of a piece for this team to bench so early in the season.  He has to continue to play, because if he doesn't turn it around, the Tigers season will be a serious disappointment.

Rhymes may be in danger of losing his spot, but the problem is that, unless Carlos Guillen comes back, there's not much of an option for Leyland other than utility men (Ramon Santiago, Don Kelly) or other unprovens (Danny Worth, Scott Sizemore)

Nearly a quarter of the Tigers' runs allowed this season have occurred in the seventh inning.

Setup man Joaquin Benoit and closer Jose Valverde have been spotless at the back end of the bullpen.  While they've been great, the rest of the Tigers bullpen can't get the ball to them enough.

The injuries to Joel Zumaya and Ryan Perry have hurt the bullpen immensely.  What was thought to be a strong bullpen has essentially lost 50 percent of their effective pitchers. 

For at least the next couple of weeks, Leyland is going to have to count on someone stepping up to fill Ryan Perry's role until he comes back.

Enrique Gonzalez and Brad Thomas have been terrible thus far in late-inning appearances.  I predict both have a "designated for assignment" in their future if they don't turn it around quickly.

Brayan Villarreal and Daniel Schlereth have pitched a little better and are the two guys most likely to step up, but they have barely any MLB experience between them.  They'll have growing pains.

When it comes to the lineup and bullpen, Leyland has to rely on hope. 

Hope Jackson and Rhymes turn it around.  Hope that Villarreal or Schlereth become the answer or hope that starters like Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer can lower their pitch counts early on and make it later into games. 

He has no other options at this point.