Leading Off: What’s the worst part of the Tigers two-game skid?

A) It smells like last year when they were swept by the Indians to start the second half.

B) They’ve lost six of their last eight series.

C) It comes at the hands of the White Sox.

D) A two-game losing streak is cause for concern?

Yeah, it could be all the above. Let’s add another one: they were blanked by Edwin Jackson. Jeez … On the bright side, Carlos Guillen returned to the lineup after 11 months and went one for three … From the AP story: “It’s a tough injury,” Guillen said. “Sometimes you feel good for one week, and the next day you’re sore. Right now, I’m at the point where I’ve been playing 15, 20 days in a row, and I feel good every day.” … Hey, speaking of second baseman, look who broke out of an 0-for-18 slump with a game-winning hit.

Around the Central: The Orioles did their best to blow it but somehow they held on to beat the Indians, 6-5 and end their eight-game losing streak. In Minneapolis, the Twins beat the Royals, 4-3.

A-Jax Still Hurting: Austin Jackson has missed the past five games with a sore wrist and seems likely to miss today’s game too. Speculation here is that if Jackson goes on the disabled list, Clete Thomas might be first in line for a call up. It sure would be nice to see ol’ Clete back in Detroit.

For Me, It was the Jason Thompson Trade: This blog post in the New York Times asks a terrific question: When Did You Lose Your Fan ‘Innocence’?

As we are constantly reminded, major league sports are, at heart, a business. Many personnel decisions are based on dollars and cents, not legacies and fan favorites, and it is often the fans who take these decisions the hardest.

What about you? What trade hurt you the most (and it doesn’t have to be a Tigers player)? Or maybe it was a work stoppage or something else.

Finally, Happy 94st Birthday to Phyllis Diller. Yes, she’s still alive.

Second baseman Scott Sizemore was sent to Triple-A Toledo today.

Scott Sizemore said he was disappointed about being cut today by the Tigers. It has to be even more disappointing for a player who, by most accounts, was reestablishing himself as a promising big leaguer this spring only to lose the job to a guy (Will Rhymes) who didn’t runaway with the job.

As much as I like Rhymes — and loved having him on the podcast last fall — I still believed Sizemore would emerge as the Opening Day starter.

Clete Thomas’s demotion wasn’t as surprising as Robbie Weinhardt’s. All spring long we heard about how Weinhardt would be a key component in the Tigers’ bullpen.

Poor Clete. If he could hit like Brennan Boesch, he’d probably be on the 25-man roster.

• With the trade of Nate Robertson to Florida, Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman (or Jeremy Bonderman and Dontrelle Willis) the rotation appears set. But for how long?

• Alex Avila has made the big club and will backup Gerald Laird. As of this writing he’s hitting .361 this spring. Avila beat out Robinzon Diaz who was designated for assignment.

• Brad Thomas joins Fu-Te Ni as a lefty relief option.

• Jeff Larish got sent down to Triple-A but will hang around with the Tigers for the last few games.

All that’s left to decide is the 25th man. Will it be Don Kelly or Clete Thomas? They both bat from the left side, so you can cross that off the list of criteria.

In this episode we discuss:

• Is Nate Robertson on the trading block?
• Bobby Seay‘s torn rotator cuff
• The Tigers’ batting order
• Last man on the roster: Don Kelly, Jeff Larish or Clete Thomas?
• The Sporting News pre-season predictions
• Did anti-Semitism cost Hank Greenberg a shot at 60 homers in 1938?

…and much more.

Show Notes

Links to articles and items referenced in this episode:

• Fox Sports.com’s Jon Paul Morosi tweets that the Tigers are shopping Robertson.
• ESPN’s Jayson Stark starts a Scott Sizemore rumor and identifies Tigers pitchers that might be on the trading block. [$ubscription required.]
• The Tigers’ Opening Day lineup
• The Boston Globe‘s Nick Cafardo ranks MLB managers.
• The Globe also ranks the MLB teams for 2010. The Tigers are number eight.
• Anti-Semitism and Hank Greenberg’s run at 60 homers From The New York Times.
• “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg” — The movie.

Download the audio file or grab the RSS feed here.

•••Comments? Leave a message on the listener line: (602) 903-5174. Or, reach us on Twitter: @TigersPodcast or Facebook @ www.facebook.com/tigerspodcast

Reach the hosts via:

• Mike: @DailyFungo, @MikeMcClary and www.DailyFungo.com
• Ian: @IanCass and MLive’s Cutoff Man Blog

Theme music for the podcast produced by Paul Minshall.

1. I’ve long been a fan of the Oakland A’s. Admittedly, it was because I loved their gold, green and white ensemble they wore in the 1970s, but also because of Billy Martin‘s Oakland clubs in the early ’80s. The other day I picked up “Champions: The Story of the First Two Oakland A’s Dynasties and the Building of the Third” by Glenn Dickey, at the library.

   The first chapter, fittingly, is about long-time A’s owner Charlie Finley. Dickey shares this nugget: Before Finley bought the Kansas City A’s, one of his many failed attempts to buy a club included the Tigers. Can you imagine? Denny McLain and Charlie Finley? And we thought Jim Campbell was cheap…

2. I can’t abide by Batting Stance Guy.

3. If you’re an autograph hound, and I mean that lovingly, you can score a Zach Miner and Clete Thomas autograph on Saturday. Just donate new or gently used baseball equipment, or who provide a cash-money donation, at ABC Warehouse at 30280 Plymouth Road in Livonia from 12:30-1:30 p.m.

   The donations benefit Gloves For Kids, a program designed to provide Detroit’s youth the proper sporting equipment to participate in organized baseball and softball. Tell them The Fungo sent you…and be prepared for a blank stare.

Wanted to mention a couple of housekeeping items. Over the years I’ve grappled with the notion of advertising on The Fungo; I don’t want to clutter up the site with stuff that you have no interest in. You might have noticed that I added an Amazon block ad to the sidebar and Google Ads w-a-a-a-y down the page. A couple of things to point out. I control the Amazon ad and I’ve customized it so it shows only Tigers-related books. So, if you click on the ad and end up buying a copy, I get a morsel of revenue. And I mean morsel.

The Google Ads are there more as an experiment than anything else. I’ve had an Adsense account for about five years and in that time I’ve accrued a whopping $50 in revenue. (Google only cuts checks for $100 or more, so at my current pace I’ve got another five years before I get paid.) Of course, if you feel moved to click an ad, by all means do so.

Bottom line: I’m not going to get rich on these but every little bit helps.

The dad, possibly sauced, assuredly angry, took every opportunity to rip the Tigers’ DH that night, Gary Sheffield. His major beef was the wasted talent sitting on the bench in the person of Marcus Thames. His poor teenage son looked weary and sat mute as dad ripped Sheff — who, by the by, went 2 for 4 that night. In other words, at least four times he tore into Sheffield and twice he had to pull back a bit.

Until the bottom of the ninth.

That’s when Thames appeared from the dugout as a pinch hitter for Clete Thomas — and promptly shot a single to left. Even before Thames got to the plate the duo jumped — jumped! — into the cool evening air, missing each other with high-fives and spilling dad’s fifth beer. They became even more giddy with Thames’s single and, man, did pops lob a rapid-fire series of I-told-you-so‘s toward Jim Leyland. Two hitters later, Cabrera went yard and the father and son went home vindicated.

With the news of Sheffield being jettisoned this morning, Marcus Thames is now the Tigers’ more-or-less regular DH and we’ll see if he really can hit 30-plus homers if given the chance. (Actually, I thought we learned last year that the Thames-as-Hank-Greenberg theory carried no weight, but I guess we’ll see…again.)

If you stayed with me through that circuitous tale, I owe you one.

Now, what to make of this roster move. I’ll admit it falls into that category of surprised but not surprised for me. I wanted Sheff to succeed in Detroit and thought he would. Even in 2009. The basis of my reasoning, at least in the past six weeks, were reports from Lakeland that he was scalding the ball again.

Or, as we learned today, not.

Either way, I tend to agree with Lynn Henning that getting Sheff was a wise move at the time. The Tigers had just lost the World Series and wanted to add another weapon to a lineup that slept through that painful week against St. Louis.

I don’t know that I agree with Henning that the Tigers will regret it later this season. The move was made for versatility reasons and, if that’s the story, then not having Sheffield clogging the DH spot and freeing-up more at bats for Jeff Larish and others is a good thing. Probably a great thing.

Yet, it’ll be interesting to see where Sheff lands. (My hope is that it’s not with the Blue Jays where he could hit #500 off Justin Verlander on Opening Day. Oy.) And can you imagine if he goes to the Phillies and underachieves? Think the Philly fans would be forgiving? Woo-doggie. And if the White Sox sign him, look out.

As the Tigers’ DH, Marcus Thames will make about $12 million less than Sheffield this year. But ultimately, the move was about giving the job to a younger guy who can produce at a higher level. The Tigers believe it’s Thames.

And I know of at least two fans who agree.

Here’s how Baseball Prospectus 2009 summed up Josh Anderson:

Now 26, he’s still nothing more than a fifth outfielder.

Nice.

Atlanta gets pitching prospect Rudy Darrow.

More to come, but three things come to mind:

1. Does this mean it’s the end of the line for Marcus Thames?
2. Why would the Tigers give up pitching for a fifth outfielder?
3. Is he insurance for the recuperating Clete Thomas?

What do you think of this move?