Granderson takes baby steps toward Tigers return
by Gary Bond
The Grand Rapids Press
Monday April 21, 2008, 8:56 AM
AP Photo
Detroit Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson rounds third base during his game with the Toledo Mud Hens on Saturday. Granderson will play for the West Michigan Whitecaps again tonight and plans to play for Toledo again Tuesday before rejoining Detroit.
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Detroit Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson did not take a major step toward rejoining the team's roster Sunday after Day 3 of his rehab assignment. But he did not take a major step backward, either.
He took baby steps, though, with the Toledo Mud Hens, the Tigers' Triple-A minor league affiliate.
A broken bat check swing in the fourth inning against the Louisville Bats caused a little discomfort in his fractured finger, but not as much as the check swing he had Saturday with the Mud Hens, and it was nowhere close to the check-swing pain he experienced with the West Michigan Whitecaps on Friday at Fifth Third Ballpark.
That is an important baby step.
And although Granderson went 1-for-5 (a single) at the plate Sunday, he hit the ball hard four times. In his first three appearances, he hit the ball the opposite way, followed by a one-hop laser off the pitcher that started a double-play, followed by a strikeout swinging.
Seeing the ball better is a baby step. When he starts hitting the ball hard into the right side, his timing will be where it needs to be.
cont'd...
Cabrera, Guillen switching corners
DETROIT -- It didn't take long into this struggling start for the Tigers to pull off a major swap. All they had to do was shuffle Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen across the infield.
In a brief announcement after Tuesday's win over the Rangers, manager Jim Leyland said he was making the switch full-time. Cabrera, who has made four starts at first base this season while Guillen has either been at designated hitter or off, will stay at first full-time. Guillen, meanwhile, will move to third base for the first time since 2003.
"We think at this particular time it gives us a better team," Leyland said. "So that's what we're doing."
That was the extent of the analysis, but the performances to date in the field provided the evidence.
When the Tigers traded for Cabrera in December, team officials said from the outset that he would be their everyday third baseman. With that in mind, infield coach Rafael Belliard worked with him extensively during Spring Training on his fielding.
In 14 starts at third, however, Cabrera has five errors in 50 total chances. Though he has had some highlight plays, his miscues have included fielding plays and throws. He made his first professional appearance at first base on April 12 at Chicago and has seemingly adapted well.
After the game, Cabrera said he was OK with the move. Leyland broke the news to them during pregame batting practice.
Up until now, Cabrera's time at first has been as a fill-in, while the Tigers have shuffled their lineup around various injuries. Each time, Brandon Inge has filled in at his previous position at third. With the more permanent move, however, Guillen becomes the full-time third baseman, a role he filled early in his career in Seattle when Alex Rodriguez was still a Mariner and for other points beyond that.
Guillen essentially became a first baseman down the stretch last season as a way to ease the wear and tear on his knees after nearly four seasons as Detroit's everyday shortstop. While his range has been a benefit at first, he has had trouble this season handling the footwork. At one point earlier this season, he was risking putting his foot in the baseline when fielding throws. He had one error this season when he dropped a throw April 6 against the White Sox.
Guillen said he was not surprised by the move, suggesting he had pondered the possibility before.
"It's fine for me and it's good for this team," Guillen said. Guillen has played 100 games at third base over the course of his career. All of those came while he was with the Mariners, including 32 games during his final season in Seattle in 2003.
Tigers awaiting Granderson's return
DETROIT -- Not only are the Tigers hoping to get their all-around sparkplug back on Wednesday, they hope to get the guy behind him, too.
If Curtis Granderson's sore legs check out OK on Wednesday afternoon, he'll likely make his first appearance in a Tigers uniform this season on Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers, and the Tigers will finally get an appreciation for how much they missed without him. If Placido Polanco's back feels fine, he could be back in the lineup behind him.
Statistically, the gain is obvious. Granderson joined the elite company of Willie Mays, Jimmy Rollins and Wildfire Schulte last year by hitting 20 home runs, 20 doubles and 20 triples while stealing 20 bases. Combined with a batting average topping .300, his total bases rivaled totals put up by American League MVP Alex Rodriguez, AL batting champ Magglio Ordonez and All-Star slugger David Ortiz.
Physically, the Tigers will have him back. He's expected to head back from Class A West Michigan to Detroit on Wednesday. Whether he's in the lineup is another story.
Granderson went 1-for-3 with a walk in his final rehab game for Whitecaps, leaving him at 7-for-20 over five games between West Michigan and Triple-A Toledo. However, he left the game early, reportedly with continued soreness in his legs, and Tigers medical officials will check him out on Wednesday afternoon.
"We're going to wait and see him to make sure [he's healthy] before we make the move [to activate him]," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.
The soreness in Granderson's legs is believed to be an adjustment to playing again regularly after missing about three weeks since a fastball in on the hands broke a bone in Granderson's right middle finger on March 22. In many ways, his rehab stint has been as much or more a matter of getting up to game conditioning and speed as it was about making sure he was fine hitting and throwing with the finger.
If Polanco's back is fine, he's expected to take on more of his old form after struggling for much of the season's first few weeks. He hasn't played since Friday, when he felt numbness in his left leg that continued into Saturday.
Doctors diagnosed Polanco with inflammation in a nerve in his back, and he has spent the last few days under rest and medication to calm it down. Once the inflammation is out, he shouldn't have to deal with it for the remainder of the season.
"When he tells me he's ready to play, I'm going to play him," Leyland said.
In other words, it'll be up to Polanco to tell Leyland when he needs a day off. Add in Gary Sheffield, who has a slight chance of returning to action on Wednesday after taking cortisone shots in both of his shoulders on Tuesday, and the Tigers have had the top third of their batting order out of action. Sometime soon, that should change.
