Dmitri Young released!!

[Dannomyte]

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Tigers unconditionally released designated hitter Dmitri Young after Wednesday's loss to the Seattle Mariners.

Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said the move was "strictly performance related."

Young was activated from the disabled list July 21 after he left the Tigers on May 22 to undergo treatment for substance abuse at a California rehab center.

He was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in Wednesday's 5-4 10-inning loss to the Mariners.

"I'm not going to talk," said Young, whose bags were packed for the upcoming series at Minnesota.

Young spent 30 days in the rehabilitation facility and three weeks working out with minor league teams. He concluded his time away from the team by hitting .452 in eight games at Triple-A Toledo.

Young, a switch hitter, was batting .250 with seven home runs and 23 RBIs for the Tigers this season. He hit .271 with 21 homers and 72 RBIs for Detroit last year.

http://www.mlive.com/sportsflash/baseba ... ichiganmlb

Strictly performance related?? Something doesn't sound right here.

Perez has been HORRIBLE but he continues to find his way to the top of the line-up.

Granderson has been struggling BIGTIME since the All-Star break but yet he's still leading off. Absolutely no excuse for him in the line-up against lefties ESPECIALLY leading off against them.

Thames and Magglio have a decent game now and then but mostly have looked over matched recently.

Inge has 1 good offensive game a week and 5 or 6 stinkers.

Now I realize you aren't going to release guys like Granderson, Inge and Magglio but I just don't see any benefit by releasing DY. Unless something happened during the rain delay today or he was released to send a message to the rest of the team.

I'm beginning to think the Tigers/Leyland have forgotten that they're right in the thick of a pennant race.

[moochman]

Given the lack of performance by so many Tigers, both at the plate and in the field, I can only deduce that DaMeatHook was released because he was either drinking again or he was truely a cancer in the clubhouse. Let's face it, eveyone was happy he was back when we were winning, but the losing that has followed his recall probably led to bitching from teammates, and even could have had Dmitri stop his best behavior and start to infect the clubhouse again.

If they were just doing it for performance defecits than they should have released Nefi Perez and Slaught. Slaught is the batting coach, isn't he? The way the Tigers give away ABs is inexcuseable given the seriousness of every blown opportunity. I'm not talking about rocket science either. Today we had the Mariners on the ropes with their pitcher trying to walk whoever came up. So the Ex-Tiger Young swings and pops up on a 2-0 count, and that is followed by another spectacular Maggs AB. Popping up a 1-0 pitch. Why didn't Slaught tell both those players not to swing until there was a strike? Instead we let them off the hook and now face the prospects of going into Minnesota leading the division and leaving in second place.

WE ARE BLOWING WAY TOO MANY GAMES OF LATE!!!!
It is time to panic, and it looks as if the Tigers are either panicing or taking out the trash. I'm doing the panicing, so I assume the Tiges are cleaning out the clubhouse.

[mcqfesijiba]

Strictly performance related

My ass

I wonder if we'll get the real story soon. As noted, he is not necessarily playing any worse than some other players on the team, so something obviously happened. Releasing a guy immediately following a game where he started just doesn't happen too often. Should be interesting to see how things play out from here.

[moochman]

Strictly performance related

My ass

I wonder if we'll get the real story soon. As noted, he is not necessarily playing any worse than some other players on the team, so something obviously happened. Releasing a guy immediately following a game where he started just doesn't happen too often. Should be interesting to see how things play out from here.

What just occurs to me is that he was playing today, then they release him? He must have blown up in the clubhouse after the game. I don't think Leyland is the kind of guy who is going to let players question him or their teammates. Or maybe he got drunk during the rain delay. There were stories of him drinking during games last season......

Hopefully this will lift the curse placed on the Tiger bats faster than Jobu's shrine.

[Dannomyte]

Good Freep article on the Dmitri release

The word of the day was "performance."

Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said that's why Dmitri Young was released Wednesday: "strictly performance."

In other news from the Ilitch empire, Little Caesars Pizza is healthy and Joe Louis Arena is state-of-the-art. Sure they are.

"I've said five times that we were not satisfied with Dmitri's performance and he was released," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, and he could have said it 105 times and I still wouldn't have believed it.

Leyland was so unsatisfied with Dmitri's performance that he made him his No. 3 hitter Wednesday. That is traditionally the most important spot in the lineup.

In other words, at 1 p.m. Wednesday, the Tigers were counting on Dmitri Young more than any other hitter on the 40-man roster.

And by sundown, they decided they'd seen enough.

Sure, Young had struggled lately. He only had three hits in his last 19 at-bats. But Young has hit .292 with a .504 slugging percentage since his return from alcohol rehab in July. If he is such a hopeless case, why did Leyland put him in the three-hole Wednesday?

"I was hoping he would get a hit, obviously," Leyland said.

There are two possibilities here. One is that the Tigers really think Young's performance was so bad that they are better off without him. But if that's the case, Dombrowski hasn't been watching the rest of his team flail away at pitches for the last month.

The other possibility is that Young did something terribly wrong. Dombrowski said this was not a relapse. Three teammates said they had seen no signs that Young had fallen off the wagon -- no strange behavior, no showing up late, nothing.

If Young did have a relapse, the Tigers could say they were releasing him and leave it at that. None of this "strictly performance-related" stuff.

Maybe Young flipped out when he was pulled for Kevin Hooper on Wednesday. But if that's the case, none of the other Tigers seemed to know about it -- and they would have had a three-hour rain delay to find out.

Performance-based, huh? The Tigers owe a better explanation than that. They owe their fans, who have supported the team rabidly this season after a dozen years of incompetence. And more important, they owe their players, who were as stunned as anybody.

"I heard it was performance-based," centerfielder Curtis Granderson said. "At the same time, he did play well when he came back. Recently not as great. But he could finish up great. For him to be let go like that, it's going to be a tough loss for us."

Speaking of tough losses, the Tigers suffered yet another one Wednesday. They scored three runs to tie the Mariners in the eighth inning, waited through a 3:09 rain delay, then lost in the 10th inning.

The Tigers have now lost 18 of 27 games, for those scoring at home, which the Tigers are not. I have written that the Tigers are likely to make the playoffs, and I still believe that, but I would believe it more if they didn't try to win so many games by the score of zero to negative-one. Lindsay Lohan touches her plate more often.

In other words, they need a professional hitter in the worst way.

I guess that's why they happily trudge along to Minnesota with Hooper (one career hit) and Alexis Gomez (one home run in 143 career at-bats) on the roster.

And why Dmitri Young, who has hit at least .270 for eight straight seasons, is of no use to them.

To be fair, Hooper and Gomez aren't taking Young's spot. But do you know who is?

Nobody.

That's right. The Tigers have released Dmitri Young and replaced him with an empty locker.

Maybe they'll call up a minor leaguer to replace Young, but how would that help?

Did we mention that the Tigers are short on left-handed bats and Young hits better as a lefty than a righty?

Surely the Tigers have a plan. Who will replace Young as the primary designated hitter?

"I don't know," Leyland said. "I've got Marcus (Thames), I guess. I might DH (Carlos) Guillen."

Dombrowski and Leyland are obviously hungry to make the playoffs. I doubt they would release Dmitri Young on a whim. But Leyland must have had a reason to bat Young third, too. What if he had hit a home run Wednesday? Would one swing have saved his Tigers career?

The Tigers still have the best record in the American League. They still have an excellent chance at the playoffs, especially if they play well in Minnesota this weekend. They just need better hitting, especially in the middle of the order.

I don't know who will bat third tonight, but I assume it's the guy they are most likely to release.

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? ... 050/SPORTS

[moochman]

I have to think Dmitri blew his lid after being pinch hit for. The rain delay gave DaMeatHead too much time to stew. I'll bet he waddled into Leylands office and questioned him, prolly got heated and Leyland simply told him to leave.

The thing is is there had to have been a build up leading to this. I can remember when he first came back seeing him hit a double and I thought "hmm no more hot dog knocking his helmet off BS. Flip forward to a few HRs ago and I remember thinking that his is hamming it up again as I watched him trot off a HR with his flap down. I'm guessing that his model clubhouse behavior had also reverted to form. Then when he started hitting poorly he was ready to explode.

Good Luck, DY. Keep your cool and act professional. It will help you land a job next season.

[FantasyGURU802]

Lindsay Lohan touches her plate more often.

Lately I'd say that is true...

[moochman]

Lindsay Lohan touches her plate more often.

Lately I'd say that is true...

Keira Knighley then? (pardon my atrocious spelling of the anorexic's name)

[mcqfesijiba]

Well, I still don't know that not hitting enough is going to get a guy like DY released, especially at a point in the season where roster room is not a problem. The thing about him having a problem being pinch hit for is probably a good possibility, but I would have to think unless he went ballistic that it would have to be the tip of the iceberg for him to flat out get released. I'd heard hints in the past that DY has had an attitude problem for some time now, so perhaps it was an example of him exemplifying an attitude not conductive to winning (to an extreme, mind you)? Complaining about being pinch hit for would support that, if that indeed is the case. All's I know is whatever finally caused this to happen, happened sometime during that game, and was Dmitri's final straw.

This may be the final turning point for this team, one way or the other.

[moochman]

This may be the final turning point for this team, one way or the other.

Let's hope last's nights game was the Tigers response.


Freaking V