If you speculated that Will Rhymes will be sent back to Toledo after just being promoted yesterday in response to the Delmon Young trade today, you've won a tasty burrito. One can't help but feel bad for Rhymes, who was tweeting earlier today how excited he was to be back in the D.
When it was being reported that Delmon Young was going to be hitting 3rd in the lineup tonight, the lineup spot Jim Leyland has designated to Magglio Ordonez over the years, it seemed like the writing was on the wall -- Maggs, hitting a cool .235/.286/.550 since the All-Star break, is a goner. However, that is not the case, as Ordonez is still in tonight's lineup and will bat 7th.
Jim Leyland made it clear, though, that his primary outfield henceforth will consist of newly acquired Delmon Young, Austin Jackson, and Brennan Boesch, leaving Ordonez as merely a bat off of the bench.
Given how Ordonez has hit in the past couple seasons, that's not going to go over well with fans. Jon Morosi expressed his displeasure with the decision in a few tweets on Twitter:
Magglio has been an excellent player for many years. But he’s a career .179 hitter in PH role. I don’t think he helps the bench. #Tigers
Good bench players offer (a) power, (b) speed, or (c) good defense. Magglio, at this point, does not possess those attributes. #Tigers
To be clear, I like the Delmon Young trade for the #Tigers. But to add him and keep Magglio doesn’t make sense to me.
Another interesting note Morosi made is that Casper Well has been better than Delmon Young this season. If you look at it like that, and ignoring the Minor Leaguers involved in the deals who would be non-factors this season, would you rather have Casper Wells and Charlis Furbush over Delmon Young and Doug Fister?