The Stat: 5. The number of men left on base by Gary Sheffield on Wednesday. Sheff must be channeling his inner Craig Monroe these days.

I’m Just Sayin’: This season has been so bizarre that it’s difficult to wrap the brain around it. Beyond the oh-fer start, the pitching has been sub-optimal and the hitting — oh, the hitting! But what in the world is happening when Placido Polanco starts, as Ian Casselberry said this evening, a new streak based on consecutive games with an error?

It’s been a while since Tigers fans hoped for a 2-7 record, but that’s the sitch tomorrow night.

• Buster Olney reviews the Tigers’ active — and decisive — off season so far.
  

  [W]e’re not even out of the second week of November, and the Tigers already have put together a lineup that will be formidable, and a rotation that has a chance to excel. 

• We all know Magglio Ordonez is going to finish second to Alex Rodriguez for the A.L. MVP award, but that doesn’t mean he will walk away empty handed this winter. Fans can vote for Ordonez as baseball’s Hitter of the Year in the sixth annual MLB.com This Year in Baseball Awards.

So Craig Monroe’s back in the division? Wait until Twins fans get a load of that one-handed-rally-killing swing.

First, a morsel of Kahrl’s Tigers assessment:

[D]id hauling [Cameron Maybin] up really have to involve discarding Monroe? And what’s up with demoting Infante? In each case, my initial readiness to complain turned out to be pointless. Yes, Monroe’s really too good to be discarded this way, especially on a team that could use his bat against lefties, especially when that lineup’s carrying Casey’s carcass in one of its nine slots. 

Ouch.And now for the Cubs:

I’m as ready to bang on Monroe for his limitations as the next stathead, but I actually like this well enough for the Cubs. He’s coming over to the weaker league—just ask Jason Kendall if that hasn’t made a difference—plus he’s a guy who can play some center for a club that needs a center fielder. 

Monroe in center? Ooooh, Lou Piniella won’t much like the looks of that. This edition of TA is a must-read if only for the outstanding Gregg Jefferies reference — and half-hearted comparison to Maybin.

“I don’t want to talk about me,” he said. “If you have some questions about the team, that’s fine.”

“I have no problem with Todd Jones. None,” Leyland said. “He’s done an outstanding job, and he’s a heck of a pitcher.“But he’s such a perfectionist and competes so hard, what I think happens to him on occasion is that he outthinks himself. You try to pitch too carefully, it can backfire on you.”

Ahem.And this from the GM in the Freep:

“He’s our closer. He’s done a solid job for us. He’s pitched well at times. Other times, he hasn’t. He’s pitched very similarly to the way he did last year. He’s not your dominant-type closer, but we know what Todd is.”

Insert your own punchline. Or, better yet, don’t:

“It’s not fun to be the butt of everybody’s jokes,” Jones said Wednesday.

Will Jones be summoned from the ‘pen this afternoon? Yeah, probably. Settle in.How’s that for not writing about Todd Jones? Now, on to the Non-Sequiturs:

• Peter Pascarelli, the new host of ESPN’s Baseball Today Podcast, is a Tigers believer. He’s been on board for a while now and again this morning said he knows this Tigers have inquired about both Eric Gagne and Akinori Otsuka. Earlier this week he interviewed Leyland about the Tigers’ season so far. Check it out here.
• One other Pascarelli note, he said that if the Tigers get the bullpen together they could run away with the division.
• I don’t know about you but yesterday’s rainout was just what the Tigers needed to put the Tuesday nightmare behind them. Let’s see how they respond today. (Rod Allen just said the same thing on the telecast.)
• Remember in the winter of 2005-06 when Tigers fans were clamoring for Kevin Millwood? Remember, too, the outcry (I might have been the loudest) when the Tigers signed Kenny Rogers instead? So how’d that workout for both teams?
• Looking to buy the ugliest Detroit Tigers hat ever created? Here it is.
• I suppose I’m in the minority when it comes to the Tigers first base situation and its lack of pop. I know that the offense is clicking and all that but I’m sorry, one dinger from Sean Casey and six from Marcus Thames is unacceptable. Detroit hasn’t had a full-time power threat at first since the days of Cecil Fielder and Darrell Evans. (Apologies to Tony Clark.) Get Mark Teixeira, if not for this season then at least for the long haul and before the Yankees scoop him up. Here’s what Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal has to say about it:

Tigers: An obvious possibility, considering that the team ranks 11th in the American League in on-base/slugging percentage at first base. However, Sean Casey’s OPS is over .800 since his horrid April, Marcus Thames helps against lefties and Chris Shelton is performing decently at Class AAA.”Our offense is not a problem,” GM Dave Dombrowski, noting that the Tigers are on pace to set the all-time franchise record for runs scored. “I don’t think we would put resources into position players at this time. Our biggest need is the bullpen.”

• Question for you: Who gets an All Star Game invitation as a reserve: Gary Sheffield, Curtis Granderson or Carlos Guillen? One, two or all of the above?
• Another question: If the Tigers do take the plunge and shore up the bullpen via trade(s), who are you willing to give up for relief help? Nate Robertson? Craig Monroe (but of course)? Thames? Shelton? Omar Infante?

Finally, during the rain delay on Wednesday I had to endure the Monroe spotlight on FSN Detroit. Mike McClary enjoyed Craig Monroe talking about Craig Monroe in the third person. Mike McClary particularly enjoyed the segments of the show in which Monroe was wearing a Texas Rangers uniform.If only it weren’t six-year-old footage.