What do we need to do with our line-up?

[moochman]

This team is starting to crack under the weight of Granderson Ks and Magglio DPs. Terrible ABs, atrocious base running and pathetic fielding threaten to take the luster off of a dream season. Here's what I think they need to do:

1) At lead off they need to keep Pudge there for a bit. He seems to get on base more when he is leading off. Lacks the power and RBI ability to justify him batting 3rd.
2) Guillen should hit second. Left handed bat with some pop. Well suited for the number two slot.
3) Monroe. Hit him third. He has some pop and is hitting better than anybody right now.
4) Real trouble area as the Tigers have no real power hitters. Can't justify living in the past with Maggs. His knee must be hurting because he is a liability now. Platoon of Young and Maggs shows how big a hole this spot is.
5) Loser of the Maggs/Young placement.
6) Clevlan. He has some pop in his bat, might as well try and get the most use of it.
7) 1B guy whose name totally escapes me. Too slow to hit higher in the line-up.
8) Infante. Don't trust his bat over time.
9) Inge.

I see no reason to have Thames playing regularly, nor Granderson.
Thames is slumping too much and is so bad out in the field that I don't know why Monroe would be DHd. Granderson has shown nothing for a month or more now. Let Clevlan take his Ks..er..I mean ABs.

Thanks for letting me vent, really pissed off at the hitters right now. Concerned that Maggs, Pudge, and the sparcity of talent in the minors could be the Achilles heel for this squad's future.

[mcqfesijiba]

First things first. Stop leading off Granderson against anybody. He's a young player who is lost at the plate right now and we are in a playoff race with Chicago on our heels. Batting leadoff is too much pressure for a young player mired in such a miserable slump.

I've been impressed with Pudge at leadoff. Who knew he could look good at leadoff. Maybe it's only a small sample size, but he can't do no worse than Granderson of late.

Maybe batting second is one idea, but regardless, Guillen batting 5th is too low. He's the best overall hitter on the team and has the best onbase skills. That's not a guy you want hitting ahead of the lower part of your order.

Monroe batting third, second, whatever. As long as he's in the top half. His plate discipline still leaves a lot to be desired, but he's locked in right now.

Magglio? What happened there? He showed a power revival earlier in the year. Now....poof. Maybe it's his knee, maybe it's fatigue. Something isn't right. He's now a singles hitter. Definitely not cleanup material. No harm can be done by giving DY a shot here. Then there will be days against lefties where DY sits out...

Sean Casey. Yeah he is one of the slowest guys in baseball, but I think he might need to bat 6th. I don't trust Clevlen just yet. Shelton will be back in September and hopefully will have rediscovered his swing enough to platoon with Casey since Casey will be incapable of being an everyday player from here on out, but Casey is a proven .300 hitter.

Clevlen/Granderson, Infante, and Inge is a tossup. The only one hitting well at the moment is Clevlen and it is still hard to trust the guy who was awful in AA. But then again, he can't be any worse than Granderson, Inge, or Infante, right?

1) Pudge
2) Guillen
3) Monroe
4) DY
5) Ordonez
6) Casey/Shelton
7-9) Roll the dice. You're going to get 4-5 K's per game out of these spots among Inge, Granderson/Clevlen, Infante

First 6 spots in the order (when DY and Casey play) go righty-switch-righty-switch-righty-lefty

Keep Neifi Perez out of the lineup as often as possible. Use Thames sparingly at best unless he shows some signs of coming out of his slump. He's wildly streaky, so it's possible.

Damn. This team needed some more offense and they acquired Neifi freaking Perez.

[moochman]

The more I see of Maggs lately the more I think his knees are bothering him. Seems like he has misplayed at least two hits in the outfield by simply not getting his glove on the ball.
It all looks to me like he cannot bend down well enough to get his glove to the ball on those hits, nor to reach the low pitches he insists on swinging at. Presto! Weakass grounders. I fear these are symptoms of his knees hurting.

How this team has won as much as it has with holes 1-4 in the line up is a testament to the managing skillz of smokey Jim Leyland.

All praise Leyland.

[mcqfesijiba]

WTF!? Neifi Perez is hitting leadoff tonight!?
Worst leadoff hitter ever? or are we about to see some more Leyland magic?

[moochman]

Leyland is a wizzard, pure and simple. I think the Perez thing is simply due to his D. With the rest of the infield playing so poorly he doesn't think he could afford to have Infante botching DP grounders.

I still think he should put Clevlen in full time and even move him up in the line-up. Granderson is spent. He needs a week off to recharge.

[mcqfesijiba]

Hopefully Neifi at leadoff was a one time thing (defense in the field does not make a guy a good leadoff hitter or a good hitter in general), but I will lay off of Perez for the rest of the season and realize that this team will live and die with it's pitching. The offense will still have to hold it's own and put enough runs on the board, but this team goes nowhere if the pitching regresses. Of course, that also means there is little margin for error in the lineup. Leyland still makes it work, which is amazing.

I still don't know what to think about Clevlen. I'll be the first to tell anyone I believe in his potential, but he is not THIS good right now. That said, he's playing well, and Granderson is hitting awful to say the least, and I'm always a big fan of riding the hot hand. Granderson is better on D, but I had no idea Clevlen could handle CF as well as he has. It's nice to have a legit alternative to Granderson.

[mcqfesijiba]

What an offensive explosion by the Tigers in today's 10-0 loss to the White Sox. The Tigers pounded out 6 hits (all singles and 2 of those hits were by subs after the game was out of reach). The numbers 2-5 hitters came up huge going 0-12. Neifi Perez continued his onslaught by going 0-4. With a chance to take the series against the Sox, they came out just a bit short.

I don't think it can be said enough that this team has a very frustrating offense at times.

[moochman]

True, mcq. They had a chance to severely damage the Sux but couldn't finish the job. I think the Sux have figured out some sort of pitch pattern the Tigers are using. Seemed like they hit a lot of off-speed pitches deep. That only happens regularly if they are looking for it.

I hope the hitters can start to produce. There is still enough season left that the Tigers could meltdown.

[mcqfesijiba]

Another gem by the Tigers' juggernaut offense last night.

Magglio Ordonez looked clueless....again. Not good from the cleanup hitter. He now has a sub-.800 OPS. He definitely needs a day off...or 5.

Neifi Perez led off again. WTF!? is all I can say. Sorry, I don't know what Leyland's love for the guy is. Neifi is one of the worst offensive players in major league baseball. Period. He should not be leading a game off. Not that the guys behind him did much anyways.

I'll give Sowers and the Cleveland bullpen credit. After they got on a roll, they played the Tigers' hitters like puppets.

I'm not thinking that the order of the lineup is going to be a huge factor going forward, although little things like throwing offensively-challenged Neifi Perez atop it certainly will not help. Moving up Guillen, who is actually capable of working the count and showing something other than hacking, has looked like a good idea for a while. Leyland seems way too comfortable with Guillen where he is. Other than that, I think this lineup is pretty much pick and choose at this point. Patient, professional looking hitters? Sorry, Guillen is pretty much alone on that one.

[moochman]

I hate to say it but the Tigers are starting to find their own level. And for the hitters that's not good. Nefi has no business being in pro baseball. He can't hit and his supposed gold glove feilding looks shakey to me. He doesn't seem to field balls very cleanly. Could be nerves, but his bat is an out we cannot afford. Plus, did you see the look on Infante's face when he tossed the ball to Nefi so he could try to throw to first? He looked as if it were a mixture of Polanco would have made the play (not that they would have gotten the out) and Oh, great. Now I am going to spend the next week on the bench.

Leyland is totally misplaying Infante. One of the few things he has done wrong. Infante has done everything he's been asked and he sees his time come, then leave for a hasbeen with inferior skills.

Maggs seems to be hitting some balls hard, but he really needs a week off. Too bad they didn't take care of business against the Sux. They have no room to sit players.

Cleven should be the everyday CF and Granderson spot started. Curtis is lost at the plate and needs some select pitchers to hit against.

Have we seen this season that Bonderman will never be an ace? How many times did we need him to step up and stop a losing streak only to see him throw a stinker? I wonder if they might want to have Wilson catch him. Maybe Pudge just doesn't give him a good target when he is pressing. I dunno, troubling it is.

Now once again we will ask our rookie to stop a losing streak. V is for Vendetta. Lets hope he has a vendetta against losing.