Unsavory Trends?

We are now 25 games into the 2011 season, which equates to approximately 15% of the total games played.  While I do not believe that it is time to make wholesale changes, I do believe that it is time to begin to look at some anticipatory moves should some unsavory trends continue to manifest themselves.  I am ALL for taking a wait and see approach as early as we are, however it is interesting to look ahead and see what moves might be made, if this trend continues.

The good news: The Tigers sit at 4 games back of the Cleveland Indians and 2 games ahead of the Twins and White Sox.  The Tigers are only one game back of .500 and have a decent road record at 6-7.  M. Cabrera is still a stud (.318, .435, .568) and B. Boesch (.350, .426, .500) is doing his best impression of himself during the first half of 2010.  Aside from these guys, Avila (.299, .356, .537) is looking like the hitter we all prayed each night we would have some day when we watched Laird play.  On the Pitching side of things, we have enjoyed some good relief performances from Valverde and Benoit.  The Starters Scherzer (3.19 ERA, 30 SO) and Verlander (3.64 ERA, 43 SO) continue to impress, with the exception of some less than stellar nights.

Now the unsavory offensive news: Apart from the three mentioned above, the Tigers offensively are pathetic.  I will try to list our offensive-challenged crew in order of worst to meagerly bad.  A. Jackson (.167 Avg, 31 SO, .250 SLG); M. Ordonez (.172 Avg, .190 SLG, 1 XBH); W. Rhymes (.196 Avg, 0 XBH); Kelly/Santiago (.200 Avg, 4 XBH); Inge (.224 Avg, .329 SLG); and Raburn (.238 Avg, 31 SO, .417 SLG).  I will put Peralta (.266, .333, .392) and Martinez (.250, .292, and .417) somewhere in Average territory, when healthy enough to play.  Stolen bases - Detroit ranks 4th last in the entire league. Fielding Percentage - Detriot ranks 5th last in the entire league.  ERA - Detroit ranks 5th last in all of baseball.  Starting Pitching - Porcello (4.76 ERA), Coke (4.88 ERA) and Penny (6.11 ERA) - these guys appear to be capable of an isolated good start; however inconsistencies here beg the question - are these the right guys to help us make the playoffs this year?  Relief Pitching - I still scratch my head as to why Gonzalez ever made the team and B. Thomas apparently is the guy that falls on the sword when the game is out of reach.

So this leads to the anticipatory moves that may need to occur if this trend continues to progress. 

On the offensive side of things, getting V. Martinez healthy is huge for this team.  His absence has demonstrated his importance, even with his offensive numbers down, he has still been one of our better offensive players.  Next, what should be done with A. Jackson, M. Ordonez, W. Rhymes, Inge, and Raburn.  A. Jackson - I believe he still has an option left and he really needs to go down to Toledo and sort things out.  I am not sure if his problems are mental, emotional, or just a bad slump, but I do know that continuing to put him at the top of the order each night does no one any good.  In the short term, I would call up Andy Dirks from Toledo and hope that his strong start and Sprint Training could translate into a capable replacement for AJ, at least short term.  M. Ordonez - This guy is either still injured, out of shape physically, or "other", but as he plays now, he does not belong in the lineup.  He has 1 XBH (double) in 68 PAs and is one of the worst fielders on the team (comes into play when Martinez is back and cannot DH).  The only thing worse here would be if we were paying him $18M instead of the $10M.  When Martinez comes back, we should seriously consider sitting Maggs until healthy enough to fix what ails him.  Rhymes - I would like to see a larger sample size, but his complete lack of power and now average thus far, may demonstrate the need to see if S. Sizemore is ready for another shot.  Guillen may not play this year, so let's not factor him in until he is ready.  I would give Rhymes another 50-70 PAs and then make a determination.  Inge - He is only still a Detroit Tiger because we have no one better in the minors and could get no one better via free agency for the right price, so he stays.  Raburn - I believe that he might come around.  He has shown better in LF this year defensively (apart from the assisted home run).  I would give him another couple of months and see what happens.  Wells is not stealing the job and Clete is struggling pretty bad himself.  However, compared to Maggs, he is a slugger.

On the Pitching-side of things, I believe that we need to stick with Porcello for now and hope that his velocity returns to normal levels, as his command has shown some improvement.  I would move Coke back to the bullpen in the near term and immediately release B. Thomas.  I think Coke could be of more value there and we have some young guys pushing hard.  I would replace Coke in the rotation with C. Furbush.  Currently at Toledo he is sporting a 1.90 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 32 SO in 23 IP, 5 BB and 1 HR allowed.  I am not advocating this guy will be a Verlander type, however his numbers right now are the best at AAA, and he has a good arsenal to make guys miss and keep the ball in the ballpark (which works well at Comerica).  Finally in regards to Penny, I believe this experiment is just about over.  At times he looks capable, however too often he hangs his offspeedpitches or really struggles with his control.  I would replace him in the lineup with either Oliver (who has not looked great), Turner (who probably is not ready and innings would become an issue) or L. J. Gagnier.  Currently I would go with Gagnier as the replacement.  He is sporting a 2.63 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 22 SO in 24 IP.  He also had a decent 2010 between ERI/TOL and may be a diamond in the rough, at least until Oliver or Turner proves ready.