shame dirks is the one that got hosed

We’re facing a lot of lefties which eliminates the need for Dirks. He’s guaranteed to be back by September 1st though.

Bat Inge against lefties because he was going at a .335 clip against them and it was the negative BA against righties that tanked his overall average. Wait…..he’s under .200 against both? Are we really hurting that much for defense at 3rd?

If so, who and what will become of him?

- I don’t mind Inge being recalled, for the sole reason that the Tigers lack any third baseman that can play at least league average defense. Inge is about that good recently, but no better. Watching Betemit and (gulp) Raburn butcher the position gives us a perspective on Inge’s declining, yet still average defense at the hot corner.
   
- However, a few weeks against minor league competition do not nearly begin to atone for years of futility, where we have a manager that has conclusively proven himself incompetent in the case of dealing with Brandon Inge in the lineup.

- Andy Dirks is a useful player on the Tigers. He should not be sent down to the minor leagues. At some point before the playoffs, the Tigers should be sending a reliever down to the minors and calling up a position player. Unless, of course, Leyland plans on pitching five starters in the playoffs because he’s concerned about Verlander’s work load. Now would be a good time to send Schlereth down, rather than Dirks.

- The bottom line is, that frankly, I don’t trust Jim Leyland. He doesn’t have the nads nor the brains to sit Brandon Inge down for the simple reason that he sucks and can’t hit a baseball consistently enough to justify his presence on a major league roster. Leyland has proven this point conclusively over several years.

- Given that Inge is now up, hopefully this is the end of the historically stupid experiment of putting Ryan Raburn at third base. In fact, William Betemit would be a better option, though not a good nor even an acceptable option at second base. But then, any random player off the bench, or pitcher out of the bullpen could hardly be worse defensively than Raburn at second base.

my Post Toasties have just been pissed in.

Since Wilson Betemit was acquired from the Royals, the Tigers are 12-4 in games he has started, 2-8 in the games he didn’t start. (from Pat Caputo).

And I really mean, “a bit”. Both are lefty bats, seem like decent baserunners and decent defenders. If we’re just talking about a lefthanded bat for the OF or a defensive replacement, Kelly can do just about as well as Dirks.

That being said, Dirks is probably a more capable sub in CF and has more pop in the bat. Kelly is a little more versatile.

I think this move probably came down to the options game. If Kelly had an option left, he might be the one wearing a ’Hens uni right now.