Early Thursday Evening Rantings

Today’s wonderful come-from-ahead loss to the always pesky if not powerful Minnesota Twins was testimony, in a nutshell, why — to paraphrase Randolph and Mortimer Duke at the end of Trading Places while Billy Ray Valentine and Louis Winthorpe III were cornering the orange juice commodities market on them — Dave Dombrowski and the Tigers must, “Sell! For the love of God sell!” as the trading deadline nears.

This team, no matter who it might be able to add by month’s end, is not/will not be equipped to compete for an AL title much less the World Series. Not that there are a lot of commodities on this squad that can be peddled, but what is available should be offered up in an attempt to keep restocking the farm system with some live arms and left handed line-drive hitters.

Who can be dealt you ask?

The two most tradeable commodities are probably Kenny Rogers and Pudge Rodriguez.

It’s a shame that another strong start by Rogers was laid to waste by a balky bullpen that is festooned with problems. Fernando Rodney can’t seem to throw two consecutive pitches over the plate which is a definite problem for any pitcher, much less one who was once considered a closer in waiting. He was brought in a rather harmless situation today and managed to turn a solid lead into a tight game again. Todd Jones proved once again why a closer who pitches to contact lives precariously on the edge. When the ball is hit bad things can happen (please see Matt Joyce’s misplay in the ninth). Conversely, Twins closer Joe Nathan allowed only one Tiger to touch his stuff (a harmless infield fly) and though he walked three batters to create a loud puckering sound from Ron Gardenhire’s backside he was able to blow away Jeff Larish and Pudge with some serious cheese to clean up his own mistakes; something Jones is not equipped to do. This Tiger team also has a lefty specialist who, for some reason, can’t get out lefties. (Thanks for the walk to Justin Mourneau, Bobby Seay, thus forcing Freddy Dolsi into extended duty.)

I say offer Rogers to the contenders who could benefit from a veteran presence at the back of their rotation and lap up whatever prospects you can.

Ditto for Pudge. The one thing he has managed to do consistently all year is negate the opposition’s running game. What contender doesn’t need that come October? And let’s be realistic, does anyone really foresee him catching for the Tigers next season? It would certainly have to come at a great discount and I’m not inclined to think he’s taking that discount. In other words, if Brandon Inge is the catcher of the future, let’s make the future start now and get something for a player you’re probably not going to have back.

And if Dombro can find a suitor for Edgar Renteria, by all means ship him. I realize Ramon Santiago on a regular basis will be exposed offensively, but his defense is excellent and he just quietly goes about his business. Didn’t the Tigers learn anything from Renteria’s previous foray into AL waters (.276 average with 100 K’s and a career-high 30 errors for the BoSox in 2005)?

At present, Detroit sits at 46-45. I’d say 88-90 wins will be needed to win the division (depending on how the team does against the White Sox and Twins) so you’re looking at 42-29 — minimum — to end the season. Does this team really look like a 12 games over .500 type of club? I, for one, don’t think so.

Margin is about to call Mr. Dombrowski, don’t be fooled and have to pay up. Play it safe and gird for 2009.