The news of Magglio Ordonez’s prolonged absence is certainly devastating on a number of fronts and only compounded by the loss of Carlos Guillen. Already without Brandon Inge for at least a month the Tigers lost a third of their starting lineup in the last week. It changes the outlook for the trade deadline, and may very well change the look of the 2011 team. It also likely puts a significant dent in Miguel Cabrera’s chances for a triple crown.

Ordonez and Guillen will be replaced on the roster with Wil Rhymes and Jeff Larish while Don Kelly, Ryan Raburn, and Ramon Santiago see increased roles. The lineup is more Toledo than Detroit at this point which is tough on a team that already has heavily reliant on rookies. There is only so much depth.

Buyer of Sellers

The Tigers had some holes to fill, be it starting pitching, a lefty reliever, and a little more consistency and offensive pop at both shortstop and catcher. Filling 1-2 of those holes would likely have kept the Tigers in the race deep into September without dramatically impacting the future fortunes of the team.

However the Tigers holes have doubled, and in a hard to replace way. I still think Scott Sizemore can hit at the big league level and he could slide into Guillen’s spot. The loss of Ordonez though is just too much for this team to overcome given the question marks at other positions. With playoff odds that were essentially split with 3 teams already, the Tigers chances of the postseason just got much longer and it may make sense for the Tigers to flip the switch from buyers to sellers.

The Option

One of the biggest stories last year was whether or not the Tigers should cut Ordonez to avoid his option vesting. They didn’t and the reaped the benefits of his performance this year (and the burden of his paycheck). There is a $15 million option for next season that now will not automatically vest. The Tigers may have $15 million additional to spend next year, or they may pick it up (which would be an overpayment), or perhaps decline the option and sign Ordonez to a more reasonable 2 year deal.

The business move is of course to decline the option. We’ll see if Mike Ilitch feels the same way though, especially given the fact that Ordonez broke the ankle hustling on a play in a game in which maybe he shouldn’t have even been playing.

The decision to send him home

I don’t think you can blame Gene Lamont for sending Ordonez home. It was just a bad situation. I’m not even sure that he broke it on the slide. Given the way he was running I don’t know that he would have been able to put on the brakes at third base anyways without damaging the ankle. It was unfortunate, but not a bad decision.

Cabrera and the triple crown

One of several real bright spots this season was Miguel Cabrera’s pursuit of the Triple Crown. The odds were long on this one as well just because of the shear difficulty of the feat. Ordonez and his .378 OBP will no longer be in front of Cabrera meaning fewer opportunities for RBI and more opportunities for teams to pitch around Cabrera.

Carlos Guillen has been activated from the disabled list. Danny Worth is the odd man out and will return to Toledo with an impressive week of MLB experience under his belt.

Guillen will slide into the 6th spot in the lineup behind Brennan Boesch. Worth meanwhile played defense that was impressive enough to give many pause about Adam Everett’s longevity with the team.

Everett isn’t expected to hit much, but like Gerald Laird he’s expected to hit more than he is. It’s one thing to trade some offense for defense, it’s another to forfeit a spot in the batting order. Despite Worth’s ability to pick up some singles in his short stint, he isn’t a good bet to hit much more than Everett. Worth has the benefit of being the new guy and the possibility of the new guy is certainly more intriguing than the reality of the current guy.

On the other hand we’ll see how much defense fans are willing to sacrifice for offense with Guillen moving to second base. I have a feeling the experience won’t be nearly as bad as many feel it will. At the same time I’d take slightly below average defense for Guillen’s offense at the position.

Toledo 6 Syracuse 3
Carlos Guillen picked up 3 doubles, and the dinner tab. Max Scherzer went 7 innings and allowed just 1 run on 3 hits and a walk with 7 K’s. Scott Sizemore was 2 for 4. Ryan Strieby had 2 hits and drove in 5.

Erie 0 Trenton 4
Thad Weber gave up 10 hits and fanned only 1 but allowed just 4 runs in 6.2 innings. Shawn Roof had 2 of the 3 hits for the Seawolves.

Tampa 3 Lakeland 10
It was yet another electric night for Charlie Furbush. He went 8 innings and allowed a solo homer along with 3 other hits. But he walked none and fanned 12! That’s 44 strikeouts and 2 walks in his last 28 innings. Brent Wyatt and Rawley Bishop had 3 hit nights. Kody Kaiser and Daniel Fields each went 2 for 4.

West Michigan 3 Lansing 0
Giovany Soto pitched the 7 inning complete game shut out notching 6 K’s. Michael Rockett doubled in 2 runs.

West Michigan 1 Lansing 7
Avisail Garcia, Luis Palacios and Billy Alvino had the 3 hits. Victor Larez didn’t make it out of the 3rd inning before surrendering 6 runs on 9 hits.

Scoreboard – MiLB.com Scoreboard – The Official Site of Minor League Baseball

Toledo 3 Syracuse 6
The Tigers faced uber-prospect Stephen Strasburg, and managed to score. Deik Scram tripled and scored on a wild pitch. In the 4th inning Carlos Guillen singled (1 for 3 with a walk and 2 6-4-3 GIDPs on defense), Jeff Frazier doubled (3 for 4), and Casper Wells followed with a ground ball between third and short. LJ Gagnier allowed 6 runs in 5.2 innings but only 1 was earned, but a couple came around after his own error. Robbie Weinhardt faced one batter and was removed after the ominous “injury delay” according to the game recap.

Erie 4 Trenton 6
Duane Below allowed 5 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks in 3.2 innings with only 2 strikeouts. Anthony Shawler ate 3.1 scoreless innings. Cesar Nicolas and Michael Bertram each doubled and singled. Josh Burrus hit his 5th homer.

Lakeland 4 Tampa 1
Adam Wilk starred with 8 innings of 1 run ball on only 4 hits. He didn’t walk a batter and he fanned 8. Julio Rodriguez had 2 hits. Alden Carrithers reached base 3 times with a single and 2 walks.

West Michigan 2 Fort Wayne 3 (10 innings)
Jordan Lennerton doubled twice as part of a 3 for 5 day. Alexis Espinoza also picked up 3 hits. Trevor Feeney went 8 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 6 K’s. Melvin Mercedes walked 3 and had a wild pitch in 1.2 innings and took the loss.

Toledo 8 Syracuse 5
Carlos Guillen homered and walked in his second rehab game. Both games they’ve kept him to 3 plate appearances before lifting him. Ryan Strieby hit his second homer after coming off the disabled list. Scott Sizemore doubled twice and Jeff Frazier, Brent Dlugach, and Casper Wells each had 2 hits. Enrique Gonzalez  allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks with 4 K’s in 5 innings. Daniel Schlereth was roughed p for 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk in 1.1 innings.

Altoona 2 Erie 1
Andy Oliver was terrific, allowing just 2 runs on 4 hits in 6.2 innings while fanning 9 and walking 1. Christopher White went 2 for 3 and had 2 of the Seawolves 3 hits. Wilkin Ramirez drew 2 walks.

St. Lucie 4 Lakeland 10
Alden Carritthers doubled, singled, and walked. Rawley Bishop had 2 hits. Kody Kaiser homered. Francisco Martinez doubled and walked and his first week in Lakeland was a breeze as he posted a .375/444/438 line. Brayan Villarreal struck out 6 in 6 innings while allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. Matt Hoffman went 2 scoreless innings of relief. Lester Oliverson, off the disabled list, allowed 4 baserunners and a run while recording 2 outs.

West Michigan 6 Fort Wayne 7
Jamie Johnson went 3 for 5 with a double. Jordan Lennerton, Avisail Garcia, and Mike Gosse each had 2 hits. Jade Todd didn’t make it out of the 4th innings before allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks though he did fan 4. His early exit was due to injury and not ineffectiveness.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know how Carlos Guillen moving to second base will work. And even if I think I knew, I’m the guy who thought Scott Sizemore would outhit Austin Jackson and that Max Scherzer would be the biggest contributor from the big trade so being wrong is nothing new here. However I like the move and I like what the Tigers are trying to do.

Impact on Defense

It is interesting that the Tigers went with an offensive first approach in 2008, saw it fail miserably, and then went with a big defensive emphasis the following year. The 2010 season saw a little balance and something in between.

The results in 2010 have certainly been mixed. The Tigers error total is shockingly bad. The errors themselves have certainly been shockingly bad with dropped fly balls at in opportune moments. It feels as if if the Tigers have had more than their share of high WPA errors.

Pitchers like Rick Porcello have seen very high BABIPs and the team also ranks 22nd in MLB in terms of defensive efficiency. John Dewan’s +/- system has the team at +5 runs which ranks the team 20th in MLB. With UZR things are better and the team ranks 10th overall.

With mixed reports such as these I’d put the data together and say the team is a little below average with the glove. So why make a move that introduces a defensively challenged player into a prominent defensive role? Because Scott Sizemore was struggling in that regard as well.

Sizemore’s strength was never his glove, but the Tigers second base defense is one of the reasons for the overall struggles. The Tigers rank in the bottom third in both +/- and UZR at the position (not just Sizemore, the position as a whole). Interestingly enough the Tigers rank tenth in revised zone rating, so the second baseman have done a good job with balls hit to them. They just haven’t had the range to extend the position with only 1 play made outside of the zone.

That’s a long explanation to say that the Tigers are only weakened defensively if Guillen proves to be awful at the position.

Injury Risk

Guillen is a pretty good player when healthy. When healthy though has been a fleeting state for Guillen. Second base won’t make it easier for Guillen to stay healthy, but at this point I don’t know that it matters. The Tigers made him the primary DH and he still got hurt. Guillen will likely get injured again at some point this season but I doubt that second base would be the culprit.

Instead of trying to keep him healthy, the Tigers should try to get the most value from him when he is healthy.

Prudent Roster Management

Here’s the part that I like the most. The Tigers are really extending their 25 man roster by actively making it a 28-30 man roster. The doubleheader was a nuisance but it set a lot of things in motion. Even with the shuffle not playing out like I speculated the team is still doing a good job of trying to get the right mix for the situation.

The Tigers haven’t been particularly mindful of service time or option status under Dombrowski, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The Tigers will use the players that they think will give the team the best chance to win rather than trying to milk out an extra year of club control.

Long term this has implications of course, but I don’t think trying to win now is a bad strategy.

The Tigers have optioned Scott Sizemore and Max Scherzer to Toledo. In their place come Armando Galarraga and Danny Worth. Worth wasn’t on the 40 man roster so his contract was purchased.

The Galarraga move isn’t the least bit surprising, he was the scheduled starter. The fact that the Tigers think Scherzer isn’t close enough to correcting his problems in side sessions is pretty telling and disappointing.

Also disappointing has been Sizemore’s performance offensively where he hasn’t been able to find that line drive stroke that produced an 889 OPS between AA and AAA last year.

Danny Worth was drafted by the Tigers in 2007 and his defense earned him a quick assignment at Lakeland. The question all along has been his bat. Worth is OPS’ing .665 for Toledo this year so it hasn’t exactly blossomed. My guess is this is a chance for Sizemore to fix some things while putting some pressure on Adam Everett as the defensive specialist.

Also, it should be noted that Worth was selected over Brent Dlugach who has very similar rate stats (673 OPS this year) but who is striking out at an epic rate with 52 K’s in 149 at-bats.

Also factoring into the middle infield situation is the fact that Carlos Guillen will need  a spot in a couple weeks and Brennan Boesch is playing too well to sit. Guillen has begun taking infield at both second base and shortstop.

UPDATE: Carlos Guillen will be the regular second baseman when he comes off the DL. When was the last season without a major position shift for Guillen?

With Carlos Guillen’s hamstring blowing up, he’ll be hitting the 15 day disabled list. This opens up a spot for Brennan Boesch who has been promoted from Toledo. Boesch will make his debut tonight in Arlington.

For those that read the Minor League Wraps Boesch’s name is very familiar. He’s been getting a daily mention due to his 379/455/621 line at Toledo. The left handed hitting outfielder just turned 25 earlier this month and was added to the 40 man roster during the offseason.

Boesch has huge power that finally materialized last year at Erie where he had 28 homers. Boesch has some holes in his offensive game in that he will strike out a lot (24% last year and 17 K’s already this year) and he doesn’t walk very much. But when he hits, he mashes. Don’t expect him to bunt or move runners over.

The loss of Guillen though is significant. While Jim Leyland has rotated numerous people in and out of the lineup this season, the Venezuelan heart of the order has remained intact. Presumably Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge would move into the 5th spot which takes away the lefty bat behind Cabrera.

Fortunately if the Tigers have any position of depth in the minors it is with outfielders. With Clete Thomas on the disabled list with a hamstring problem of his own, Boesch makes the most sense. If he struggles and Guillen is delayed the team can always turn to Casper Wells or Wilkin Ramirez as a stop gap as well.

The Tigers finally got to a starting pitcher early. Unfortunately Detroit’s starting pitcher wasn’t on his game. Fortunately the Tigers bullpen earned a cumulative save getting the last 12 outs.

The Detroit lineup had no trouble getting to Joe Saunders. They hit, they moved people over, the bunted, the sacrifice flied, and they scored in the first 3 innings. When Adam Everett hit the flyball to left to plate a run it was the first 2nd inning run Detroit has scored this season.

On the other side Justin Verlander had significant issues controlling his offspeed pitches leading to all sorts of trouble. Mostly in the form of rapid pitch count escalation. The irony is that Verlander often becomes fastball happy when in trouble. Yet when the other pitches weren’t working for him against the Angels, he stayed away from the heater. Only 17 of his first 35 pitches were fastballs.

Credit needs to go to the Angels also who fouled off 35 pitches for the night.

Joel Zumaya, Phil Coke, Ryan Perry, and Jose Valverde did a terrific job locking down the game once Verlander was lifted. Seeing Zumaya come out for two innings the night after throwing 33 pitches makes me nervous given his history, but he did fine. As a group they allowed 5 baserunners and fanned 5 in 4 innings.

The bigger news in all this though is probably the injury to Carlos Guillen. Guillen’s hamstring popped as he was coming around to score (pictured above) and couldn’t make it to home plate. Guillen is hitting the disabled list, which is an unfortunate annual tradition.

• The Tigers didn’t strikeout until Gerald Laird fanned with 2 outs in the 7th inning.
• It looked like Austin Jackson’s strike out streak may end, but he went down swinging in his 4th at-bat.
• Miguel Cabrera doubled in his 5th straight game. The last Tiger to do it was Frank Catalanotto in 1999.

The Tigers offense certainly doesn’t figure to be the team’s strength in 2010.  It also isn’t devoid of talent. The heart of the order is occupied by the team’s Venezuelan contingent. The trio certainly put on an offensive display in the series against the Royals and the health and production of these three are fundamental to the team’s chances this season.

Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Guillen led the offensive against the Royals. The three combined to go 20-42 and accounted for all 3 of the team’s homers. Two of those homers were by Cabrera in the late innings. The Tigers scored 16 runs and these 3 drove in 10 of them and scored 8 of them. With the exception of Austin Jackson’s and Johnny Damon’s 2 RBI’s, every other run went through Venezuela.

The Tigers shouldn’t expect these 3 to combine to hit nearly .500 all the time, but when the 3 are clicking they should be able to muster enough runs to support what should be at least a decent pitching staff.

It’s Sunday evening and this concludes my foray into full time blogging. I took this week off to delve into the winter meetings and cover them to the best of my ability. It proved to be an especially eventful week for Tigers fans and this blog. With that we’ll do one last set of hot stove rumors and news nuggets and a couple other thoughts as well.

• Fernando Rodney seems to have priced himself out of 2010. His reported asking price of 3 years and $30 million has a retro-2007 feel to it.
• Saturday at midnight was the non-tender deadline – or the tender deadline depending on how you look at it. The Tigers tendered contracts to all their eligible players. I was surprised to see Bobby Seay, who will likely make $2 million next year, tendered given the Tigers impetus to shed payroll and the surplus of lefty relievers.
• Here is the complete list of non-tenders. One name that will receive some consideration is Kelley Johnson. Baseball Digest Daily takes a look to see if he has anything left to offer.
• The Tigers haven’t decided on Phil Coke’s role for 2010, but River Ave Blues doesn’t think starter would be a good choice.
• There is a pretty in depth analysis of Austin Jackson’s swing mechanics at Project Prospect (h/t Kurt who is now at Bless You Boys).
• Speaking of which, Ian Casselberry has run the good ship BYB for the last 3 years and he’s done a tremendous job. He’s stepping down, but putting the site into the more-than-capable hands of Kurt Mensching. Kurt you may know as the proprietor of Mack Avenue Tigers. Best wishes to Ian and good luck to Kurt.
• Juan Pierre, who the Tigers were linked to in a potential 3 team deal involving Carlos Guillen, may also be a target of the White Sox.
• Marcus Thames is attracting attention from the Indians and the Blue Jays.

Some final thoughts

On the trade: I have been critical of the deal on a number of fronts. I stand behind that. I don’t think the Tigers got the short end of the deal though. I’m excited to see what Austin Jackson can do and seeing Max Scherzer join the top of the rotation should mean the Tigers are in games the majority of the time. I also hope for those that have an emotional reaction to the trade they don’t take it out on the new players, or on the players who have the hefty contracts. Ordonez earned his contract and is entitled to the money. Jackson won’t be Granderson next year and measuring his accomplishments against Granderson’s is unfair. Plus everything I’ve heard about Jackson is that he is a great kid and he deserves a chance. Let’s give everyone a chance.

On blogging full time: Wow. I don’t know how guys like Matthew Cerrone (MetsBlog) and Tim Dierkes (MLB Trade Rumors) do it. After one week and 30 posts I’m exhausted – and I took Friday off! I did find it exciting though to be flipping between Tweetdeck, Google Reader, checking email, and hitting refresh on a number of sites as the rumors flowed and the deals came together. It ended up being the biggest week ever at DTW with 3 of the 4 biggest traffic days in the site’s history coming this week. I hope you found this site to be a place full of accurate and up to date information this week. We’ll now be returning to a much more modest 4-5 posts per week schedule. I’ll also be deciding what to do with the new post carousel at the top of the page. What do you think?

The latest buzz is that the Tigers are are trying to move Carlos Guillen, and there may be some sort of partnership with the Dodgers to acquire Juan Pierre. But it appears that both teams are in need of 3rd team to fill in the blanks.

The Fox Sports boys report that the Dodgers are looking for a reliable starter with a bad contract to swap for Juan Pierre who is owed $26 million $18.5 million over the next 2 seasons. The Tigers have plenty of bad contract pitchers, but none are really considered reliable meaning the Dodgers and Tigers need to involve a third team to complete things.

Pierre is a below average hitter who’s only value is derived from batting average (like Polanco but faster). With the glove he is average-ish in centerfield according to fangraphs. Color me not thrilled.

There is another aspect to consider with a potential Guillen move. He lives near Miguel Cabrera in Venezuela. I also get the impression he is a team leader. I think as much as the Tigers would like to move the contract, they’d also like Guillen around to mentor the younger Cabrera. I’m not big on keeping guys for the sake of their clubhouse presence, but there are some more involved circumstances here.

UPDATE: Jason Beck spoke with Guillen’s agent who has not been contacted. Guillen is a 10-5 player meaning he’d have to approve any trade.

Image credit lakelandlocal on flickr

As Tigers fans let us just hope that today is relatively boring. The Tigers will remain active and the roster will continue to change but hopefully we’re done with franchise-type players leaving. In the meantime here’s a recap of what happened yesterday – including some late notes – as well as a look at what may happen today.

• There was a pretty big trade that went down. Baseball America compiled scouting reports on the Tigers return and Baseball Prospectus talked with Arizona manager A.J. Hinch
• Despite the Tigers adding a few bullpen arms, they are still looking for a veteran closer. Some names linked to the Tigers are Kevin Gregg and J.J. Putz. Also don’t rule out a return of Brandon Lyon or Fernando Rodney. Tim Kurkjian reported on Baseball Tonight that he spoke with a Tigers source that said the team would be comfortable with either option.
• The Tigers have to free up a couple of roster spots when the trade is official announced (which could come today if the medical reports are signed off on). I’d look for Bobby Seay to be either traded or non-tendered.
• The Tigers signed Robinzon Diaz to a minor league contract giving them some additional depth if Alex Avila isn’t ready yet.
• Jon Morosi tweeted late last night that there has been some interest in Carlos Guillen.

For all the talk of the Tigers being broke, the Dodgers might be in a tougher situation. They didn’t offer any of their players arbitration and now they are looking to move players, including reliever George Sherrill.

Matthew Pouilot notes that the Tigers might be a fit for a deal where Sherrill and a prospect head to Detroit in exchange for Edwin Jackson. Pouilot also mentions the Rangers, Rays, and Phillies as potential suitors.

The lefty reliever made $2.75 million last year and in 2010 he enters his last year of arbitration eligibility his last 2 years of arbitration eligibility before becoming a free agent. Sherrill keep his strikeout rate above 9 and he generally keeps his walks a touch over 3 except for 2 outlier years in 2006 and 2008. While his FIP projection is similar to Bobby Seay’s, Sherrill did it as a general reliever and not a LOOGY like Seay did making his numbers more impressive.

Steve Kornacki also concocts a Sherrill to Detroit trade scenario that also includes Juan Pierre and Carlos Guillen switching uniforms. While getting out from under Guillen’s contract would be helpful the Tigers would be taking on $18.5 million of Pierre’s salary over the next 2 seasons. I also disagree with his assessment of Pierre helping the top of the order.

Sherrill would be a nice addition to the Tigers pen, but I’d be surprised to see the Tigers offering up significant players or money to acquire bullpen help given organizational depth provided by Robbie Weinhardt, Cody Satterwhite, Zach Simons, Casey Fien, and others.

UPDATE 8:47 PM: Ned Colletti shoots down rumors about the Dodgers shopping Sherrill

Image credit: Keith Allison on Flickr

Jason Beck caught up with Carlos Guillen late last week and a maelstrom was the result. Guillen wasn’t happy with the way Jim Leyland handled things at the end of the year. Leyland explained his side. The two talked. Leyland says everything is fine. Guillen isn’t saying much else. Guillen was wrong to go public with this. He’s wrong about his own abilities. But he’s far from a selfish teammate.

Guillen was displeased with a couple aspects down the stretch. He was upset that as a left fielder he didn’t get regular playing time and he was upset about the shuffling of the lineups.

From the original article Guillen was quoted as saying:

“Before he points the finger at the offense, he’d better look in the mirror and see what he did,” Guillen said Sunday. “I don’t want to make an excuse, but nobody in the big leagues feels comfortable when you play [lineups] that way. It’s not fun to play like that.”

He also said a lot more about his role as a left fielder

“I don’t want to play left field,” Guillen told MLB.com on Sunday, “because it’s going to be the same stuff this year, the same excuses. He doesn’t have confidence in me [in left field].”

…

“I never asked to change positions,” Guillen said Sunday. “I decided to play a different position [when asked]. I want to win. But I don’t want to play [left field] when [Leyland] uses it as an excuse. … “I did the best I can. I made the move for the team. When I was playing shortstop, I stayed healthy.”

Guillen has said things which could be construed as selfish in the past and has usually recanted them to some extent. Guillen also takes a lot of pride in his ability. When after the 2007 season and he was asked to move to shortstop because of a barrage of throwing errors he said he’d only do it for a “Gold Glove” caliber player.

Look in the mirror

Where Guillen is wrong is that he didn’t stay healthy at shortstop (knees, hamstrings) and he had so many struggles that he couldn’t stay at the position. He couldn’t stay healthy at third (back, hemorrhoids), and he hasn’t been able to stay healthy in left field either.  I don’t think it is for lack of effort or conditioning. He’s just one of those players. So as much as he wants to play everyday, he has to be able to play everyday. Early in the season he told Jim Hawkins he could barely walk because of his achilles tendon. This was even before the shoulder injury.

“Sometimes I feel good, sometimes I can hardly walk,” said Guillen, who has been hobbled since Opening Day by an injured Achilles tendon in his lower right leg, where, he said, he has now developed tendinitis. “It just hurts.” As a result, Guillen has spent more time serving as the Tigers’ designated hitter than he has playing the outfield. And adjusting to the role of DH has not been easy. “I’m used to being in the field every day,” Guillen said. “You feel more in the game when you’re in the field. I don’t feel comfortable as the DH. Maybe one or two days would be okay. But everyday? It’s not me sometimes.”

In that same April article the manager who Leyland is criticizing mentions looking out for Guillen

“Every team gets nagging injuries,” Leyland said. “But I believe Guillen played hurt all last year. I think his back really bothered him. And it showed. I don’t want him to have to go through that again. That’s not fair to him.”

Legitimate Beefs

Guillen didn’t need to air these things in public. That’s not to say he didn’t have reason to be frustrated. He couldn’t crack the lineup when the Tigers faced a string of left handers (prior to his return to switch hitting) and he could barely even get pinch hitting duty because Leyland was worried about them bringing in a lefty – but Aubrey Huff would still get to play. He was lifted for a pinch runner in Game 163. He saw his friend and the hottest hitter on the team forced into a platoon role and become a 3 plate appearance per game hitter.

There were certainly grievances to be had, and things were exacerbated by missing the playoffs and what had to be a second consecutive season of frustration for Guillen. Jason Beck told WDFN that things had been simmering since early September but Guillen stayed quiet so as not to be a distraction (h/t Bless You Boys).

Selfish?

Leyland responded to the criticism by naming Guillen the everyday left fielder. That really isn’t that much of a surprise and it doesn’t mean a whole lot in October. But this is a delicate situation for Leyland because Guillen is a leader in the clubhouse and generally seems to be a good teammate.

When Sheffield started talking about Latin American players being easier to control than African American’s, Guillen came to Sheffield’s defense. When Bonderman underwent emergency vascular surgery it was Guillen who hung Bonderman’s jersey up in the dugout. When Miguel Cabrera was being hounded by the press it was Guillen trying to get him some privacy. When there were problems on the Venezuelan WBC team Guillen was among a group that called for change. He sticks up for his teammates.

It will blow over

In the end I don’t think this will amount to much of anything. Guillen will likely start the majority of games in left field when he’s healthy. He’ll probably start a game or two per week at DH. He probably will get lifted as a defensive replacement, but it probably won’t come until the 8th or 9th inning, though he could mitigate some of that by improving his defense.

Based on last year he’d be a win below average in left field. Whether he can improve remains to be seen but a)he lost valuable practice time due to the WBC and b)he was never really healthy enough to play more than a month at a time in 2009. There were a few pretty poor plays and he played too deep, but visually I didn’t think he was as brutal as everyone made him out to be.

He shouldn’t have taken things public, but it became a bigger story because there just isn’t a whole lot to talk about right now.