It appears that the Tigers have had enough, and the Toledo shuffle is beginning. First, Brandon Inge is heading to Toledo and being replaced by AJ Hinch. I love Inge’s defense, but .150 at this point in the season is just unacceptable. No time table has been set for his return. Also, Andres Torres is being called up to replace Ernie Young. Young didn’t really get a chance to prove anything. He only had 11 AB in 4 games and hit .182. However, he also walked 4 times for an OBA of .400. The recall of Torres is somewhat perplexing because the reason he’s been in the minors this year is to make sure he keeps getting playing time. The Tigers had said they would rather him play every day at AAA, then sit on the bench in the majors. With his recall, this raises the question…”Where’s he going to play?” My only guess is that when he plays he’ll take over center for Sanchez (who has no arm and allows too many extra bases by playing so deep), and Sanchez will move to one of the corner spots, with D-Young seeing more time at DH. Dmitri has hit much better this year as a DH than a fielder. As a third basemen his OPS is .631, and it’s .790 as an outfielder. In 75 AB’s as DH though, his OPS is 1.137.

And that’s just the position player moves. The pitching rotation is being shaken up for the first time this year on Saturday. Matt Roney will be taking Gary Knotts spot in the rotation. While I’m happy to see Roney get a shot (and hopefully Ledezma will in the near future as well), the selection of Knotts to the bullpen was a little surprising.

The reason the Tigers gave for moving Knotts is that he hasn’t been consistent enough. Well, in fact he hasn’t been consistent. In 5 of his starts he went 7+ innings and allowed two or fewer runs. He also had 7 starts in which he couldn’t make it 5 innings. Bernero on the other hand has been more consistent. He’s had fewer “good” outings (using the same measures as Knotts) with 3, but fewer bad outings as well, with 3. So which is the better situation for a team that scores 3 runs per game? I don’t know. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ledezma take Bernero’s spot after the All-Star break.

Other notes: The Tigers had two extended at-bats last night, that both resulted in runs. In the 6th Shane Halter had an 11 pitch at-bat in which he singled in Higginson with two-outs. Then in the 8th Munson had an 11 pitch at-bat that resulted in a solo homer…Bernero had a hard time keeping the ball down last night, as evidenced by his ground ball to fly ball ration of 1 to 10. Not really a surprise that 3 balls left the park.