Delmon Young has struggled to put up the power numbers he did for the Tigers in 2011 after coming over in a trade from the Twins.
The Tigers fifth spot in the batting order is quickly becoming an object of ire for Detroit fans. Pop-ups with the bases loaded, rally-killing strikeouts and inning ending double plays have become the mantra of the spot in the order. It doesn’t seem to matter who hits in that spot — primarily Delmon Young, but also Brennan Boesch and Alex Avila as of late — they seem to fail miserably. If Victor Martinez were healthy and hitting fifth, Jim Leyland would look like a genius. However, he’s not and his return seems unlikely. Additionally, if Martinez were healthy, the fifth spot would still be an issue because it’s all but guaranteed that Prince Fielder would not be on this team.
With two of the games perennial best hitters — Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder — hitting in front of the dreaded five hole, the cumulative of the batters post a line of .250 with 12 home runs and 47 RBI, far less than ½ of what Cabrera has produced on his own. The spot in the order is the 2nd least productive in the American League, producing the least amount of runs and extra base hits. It’s hitting just .250 with the lowest on-base percentage and slugging percentage in the AL, all while grounding into the second most double plays. These are statistics that may make Brandon Inge envious, but make the Tiger faithful cringe.
With Andy Dirks now settled into the number two spot in the lineup, the four batters in front of the fifth spot in the order are Jackson, Dirks, Cabrera and Fielder. They have on-base percentages of .397, .383, .386 and .399, respectively. You’d figure that the fifth batter should thrive, seeing plenty of softballs with runners on base. It’s been nothing close to that and the problem is severely damaging the Tigers’ playoff hopes. As he tries to find a permanent solution to the tremendous gap in the lineup, Jim Leyland will have to get creative. He’s failing miserably with his bullpen rotation lately and can’t afford many more mistakes as the season winds down.
Leyland might need to think outside of the box on this one. Whether it’s shuffling someone from the top four to that spot, calling up a prospect — Nick Castellanos, I hear you knocking — or scouring the waiver wire, the Tigers cannot continue to sit on a problem that is not resolving itself. Their season depends on it.
andy dirks should be moved to fifth.
How about dropping Young from the lineup, moving Boesch to DH, inserting Q-Berry back in LF and the #2 spot in the order, and place new RF Dirks in the 5 hole? That gives us an element of speed that I was very excited to have at the top of the lineup, solid OF defense, and a reliable 5. Trade Young if any NL contender would take him.
It drives me crazy to see Berry not playing whle Boesch, D-Young, Santiago and Rayburn are penciled into the line-up!
How about keeping Berry in the #2 slot and playing LF and Dirks at #5 and in RF? Running the stiffs (i.e. Boesch, D-Young, Santiago and Rayburn) up there makes zero sense… especially Young and Rayburn!
Berry should be in the fifth place.
I agree with all of the above making better sense then what Jim Genius has done to this point. And why isn’t Castellano’s here? Because Jim Genius would rather have his career minor leaguers (Boesch, Raburn and until let go Inge) who remind him of himself. This guy is a joke of a manager! How he was voted best in the A.L. by his peers is their way of laughing and saying hey Detroit keep him there it makes it easier for us! He has managed over 3,000 games in the M.L. and has a career record of less then 10 games over 500! How or who did he know to keep managing for so long? He had a team bought for him in Florida had star player’s in Pittsburgh and now in Detroit and wins NOTHING but one LUCKY title that Cleveland lost more then Florida won. And what happened to the ONE team he had with No talent? That was Colorado and he ran from there crying about burn out. Yeah right he just didn’t have any players and QUIT on them! DO you think he would still be in the D if he didn’t have talent? Detroit ownership and fans deserve better then this! This team should have won well over 100 games and might not even make the playoffs because of his managing! He should do the honorable thing and quit and refund some of his pay! If Mattingly, Torre, Sciosca, Giradi, Francona or any other manager out there had this team they would have ran away with the division by now! The only manager worse then ole Jimbo has to be the nit wit Valentine in Boston.