Last week the Detroit Tigers trotted out a lineup that was so unimpressive, it resembled the infamous 2003 Detroit Tigers. You know the team that set an American League record for losses in a season, and finished just one win ahead of the 1962 New York Mets, the most abominable in MLB history. So here’s the lineup from that day, juxtaposed against the lineup from that day seven years ago.
You tell me who would win.
By H. Jose Bosch
Let’s look at the lineups:
Batting 1st:
‘03: Alex Sanchez-CF
‘10: Will Rhymes-2B
2nd:
‘03: Warren Morris-2B
‘10: Johnny Damon-LF
3rd:
‘03: Bobby Higginson-RF
‘10: Jeff Larish-DH
4th:
‘03: Dmitri Young-LF
‘10: Miguel Cabrera-1B
5th:
‘03: Kevin Witt-DH
‘10: Brennan Boesch-RF
6th:
‘03: Carlos Pena-1B
‘10: Ryan Raburn-CF
7th:
‘03: Shane Halter-3B
‘10: Sizemore-3B
8th:
‘03: Ben Petrick-C
‘10: Alex Avila-C
9th:
‘03: Ramon Santiago-SS (yeah, that’s not a typo)
‘10: Danny Worth-SS
OK, so that ‘03 lineup is pretty bad. But it was a Sunday afternoon getaway game against a first place team. This was their B lineup. Inge was the usual starting catcher; Eric Munson was the third baseman (he was certainly hitting better than what the Tigers have now) and Craig Monroe was the regular left fielder.
So what that lineup has over this night’s lineup is they have a bench that can pinch hit. All the Tigers have now is Austin Jackson, who should be starting, even if he’s just the DH. The Tigers should just not make any more moves. (If you count With all the injured players back they can make one last push for the playoffs (this is the central division after all) and then look to 2011. They have big contracts coming off the books and with that extra money they could fix some of those gaping holes they have.