According to the Detroit News' Dana Wakiji, the Tigers announced before this afternoon's game that Gary Sheffield will begin a rehabilitation assignment with Single-A Lakeland tomorrow night. To me, this was the amusing sentence in Wakiji's post:
Jim Leyland has said that they're going to have Sheffield let them know when he's ready and then he'll rejoin the team.
Isn't that pretty much how Leyland has managed Sheffield ever since he joined the Tigers? Sheff wants to stay in the lineup, even if he has a cortisone IV hooked up to his shoulder? Okay, Sheff. Sheff wants to play left field, even though his shoulder makes Jacque Jones' throwing arm look like Jose Guillen's? Okay, Sheff.
Designated hitter isn't the cluster-you-know-what that it was a couple of weeks ago, so Sheff will probably step right back into that role. And that will surely prompt Jeff Larish's return to Toledo.