I Am Going to Freak Out

Some people seem to believe that the Tigers don't need to make a move prior to the passing of the trade deadline in 10 days... because Carlos Guillen is coming back. Don't get me wrong, I like Carlos, but this Tigers team has serious offensive issues and Carlos is coming off a relatively pedestrian .286/.376/.436 line with 10 HR and 54 RBI in 420 AB last year. I really doubt how much of an impact that his return will make. In fact, the guy who Carlos would be taking playing time from has already matched Guillen's HR total from last year in 1/3rd the ABs and his only hitting 9 points below Guillen's 2008 season total.

Where exactly is this offensive explosion supposed to come from again?

"But he made the All Star game last year!" people cry. So? The All Star selection process is a joke - the fact that you played in the All Star game last year means absolutely nothing to me. For fucks sake, Tim fucking Wakefield made the All Star game this year and guys who actually deserved it such as Mark Reynolds, Miggy and *shudder* Chone Figgins get blackballed.

Also, Guillen is 33 and there is no guarantee at all that he stays healthy and contributes to the team for the entire rest of the year. Although DHing will certainly help, Guillen has never been the healthiest player - he has only played 150+ games in a season twice in his career - and so I just don't "get" gambling the team's playoff hopes on an old, injury-risk type player who isn't even coming off a good year. The Tigers are probably good enough (or the rest of the division is terrible enough, depending on your outlook) to reach the postseason without acquiring another player, but I just really feel that we need one more bat to ignite the offense. *cough*MattHolliday*cough*

Although Holliday's first season away from the snug confines of Coors Field hasn't gone well, he has been positively on fire since after the All Star break - batting .400 with 3 HR, 10 RBI and 2 SB in 5 games. Small sample size? Sure. Slight overreaction on my part? You betcha. Although guys don't always immediately produce for their new team when traded (I am looking at you, Mark DeRosa, and your .105 BA + 2 weeks on the DL since going to the Cards), Holliday is exactly the kind of hot bat the Tigers need to blow them out of their general malaise. Holliday's skills are legit and he is not as bad as his numbers in Oakland make him out to be - time to go get him Dombrowski. Magglio has been reduced to a platoon with Clete Thomas, Miggy has been good but not what everyone was expecting, Granderson is on pace for a 30/30 season and made the All Star team but is batting a painful-to-see .254 (22 points below his career average), the offensive production from the SS position has been anemic, etc. I feel that just standing pat on the season would be a mistake and that something needs to be done.