As bad as our hitting has seemed lately, I’d still give some credit to AJ Burnett, CC Sabathia, Joba Chamberlain, King Felix, and Jarrod Washburn. It takes awfully good pitching beat us.

The painful truth is that it would be easy for even the most mediocre hitting lineups to provide enough runs to win with this pitching. This lineup is sub-sub-par.

Isn’t this a team that everyone thought was going to be living in last place when it left spring training.

I’m not saying you’re wrong about any of your points, but Guillen is under contract a couple more years, and not currently tradeable. So if you’re wearing your GM hat, you have to account for him. I think there’s room for one corner outfielder, and I agree he has to contribute on both sides of the ball.

I know most of the folks reading here are not ready to pack it in, but a few are. Mike Valenti and his acolytes on sports talk are also in the “give up the ship” camp. The thing they don’t seem to understand is that the parts we need to get rid of can’t be traded (Ordonez), have limited trade or savings value (Polanco), or are off the roster but on the payroll (Sheffield).

Looking forward to 2010 and beyond, the Tigers must have high hopes for Jeremy Bonderman. He is still young, believe it or not, and while he will probably lose a couple mph, there is a very good chance he can return to be a valuable part of the rotation. He’s a good pitcher, clearly MLB-caliber, and has shown periods of real dominance. Don’t give up on him.

Detroit needs another young, athletic everyday outfielder. I’m sure there are hopes for Wilkin Ramirez, but he hasn’t exactly dominated at AAA. They need a counterpart to Granderson in one of the corner outfield spots. It isn’t Maggs, and with Guillen under contract until 2011, the other corner needs to be strong-armed and healthy.

They will also need a second baseman who can get on base — potentially a lead-off guy so Granderson can move down to 2nd or 5th.

The needs seem pretty clear.

I’d like to see them make a move this week to secure a bona-fide starting outfielder who can hit. Raburn or Clete probably move out in the deal, along with a pitching prospect (French? Dolsi? Ni? Depends on the return). I’d expect the deal to be with an N.L. team.

And remember, a the White Sox were going through this exact same thing two months ago. It turns around.

Pathetic. Where are your stones, men?

I don’t hear the fat lady singing.

The team’s in first place, hits a few road bumps, and everyone wants to blow it up and quit? This is a team with some of the best pitching we’ve seen, with two Cy Young candidates and a R.O.Y. possibility in the starting rotation, a closer who hasn’t blown a save yet, and a very good hitter possibly 24 hours from a return from the D.L.

You break a team up when you’re out of it, and it’s clear you can’t win this year. If a franchise quits on a winnable season, that’s a breach of faith. The fans would have a moral (if not legal) right to a refund on their season tix due to breach of contract, IMHO. And I certainly won’t waste my time on a team that quits on me.

The fans in Minnesota and Chicago must love you guys… If you got your way, it would instantly be a 2-way battle. They know their teams have flaws, as well — they’re just not surrender-monkeys.

Look, I’m realistic about the shortcomings. But if Guillen become a productive hitter and the Tigers can add a bat via trade, suddenly the sun will shine a little brighter, the birds will be singing a little more sweetly, and a new breeze will blow. It’s not like they need to put up 8-spots to win — 3 runs would do it, apparently.

Will they win? I dunno. It will be a tough 3way fight with the Twins and Sox. But isn’t a competitive summer exactly what we were begging for back in the bad old days? Good lord, enjoy the pennant race or find a different sport to follow. If you enjoy agonizing over an awful team, go find a Lions blog to pollute.

I’m in it to win it like Yzerman.

Where are you getting this from exactly? All of his “clutch stats” are excellent if you actually bother to look them up (sample size BS like that varies anyway, but who’s counting?).

Regarding DD, I think after this year, we need to reload and face facts. While we all would love to see Maggs and Carlos hitting / slugging like the old days, the fact of the matter is those days are over there is no coming back for either of them, the killer of it is the years and the money, toss in Robertson and its a big mess. The players we have in those cases are over paid and take up roster spots. If we move them out, how does that happen? and how do we replace and upgrade?

The question I ask my self and now you guys is >> Are we happy just hanging around 1st place here and there or do we dump the players that need to be dumped and move on? If this is the case, I would be in favor of seeing Leyland move as well, which would be more than likely happen if DD goes. Do we cash in the bummer guys and reload with younger up and coming talent (in our system or trades – FA etc) and take a rebuilding year and then be primed with a team that can really move forward………. That is what I would like to see.

Right now I am 50 / 50 on DD. He took over a trash heap of a team and got us here with complete respectability, but can we go higher with him?. Most of the trades / signings have worked out, but we have had a couple real bummers that not only have not worked out but have really harmed the overall make up of the roster and finances.

I am not down on the team, I think we have a great nucleus developing, but I have my reality hat on this morning and have faced the fact that some real hard decisions have to be made> soon.

I am coming to Detroit for the next Seattle set in August, it will be interesting to see what is happening in a month.

Bill thanks again for a well run and well thought out place to hang with other Tiger fans, love the spell checker it makes me look educated and saves the other guys form having to figure out what I said.

Steve