Tuesday, July 25, 2006

TUESDAY MORNING MANAGER: Week 16

Even With Soriano, White Sox Can't Catch Tigers

(my weekly take on the Tigers)

Last Week: 4-2
This Week: (7/25, 26: at Cle; 7/28-30: at Min)

According to reports, the Chicago White Sox are very close to acquiring Alfonso Soriano from the Washington Nationals -- that big name bat that some hand-wringers around here think the Tigers need so badly.

That's OK.

The Tigers are the hunted. They are the team others chase. And conventional wisdom -- not to mention common sense -- dictates that if you're the leader, then things must be going alright. A 7 1/2 game lead means it even more so.

So why change? Why do the tweaking, when your team is not the one that needs to be tweaked?

The White Sox need tweaking. They are on the business end of that 7 1/2 game margin. They're the ones who've pitter-pattered out of the gate following the All-Star Break to the tune of 2-8. They would seem to be the ones that need the help.

The White Sox, I believe, don't pursue Soriano if they're within, say, three or four games of the lead. But it's not the Tigers that they should be worried about anymore. The Twins are hot on their heels, and their lead for the wild card is razor thin.

So the Chisox think Alfonso Soriano might be the cure for what ails them. Again I say, OK. Let them tweak themselves silly.

The Tigers are in need of absolutely nothing. The hue and cry for a lefthanded bat is balderdash. Why can't Dmitri Young fill that bill? Young hit a homerun last night, and had two hits in the Tigers' 9-7 win over the woeful Indians.

The Tigers don't need fixing. They're not the ones trying to catch them. The other teams are, so they're the ones that need to be tweaking and scrambling leading up to the July 31st non-waiver trading deadline.

Being in first place by 7 1/2 games on July 25th means never having to say deal.

1 Comments:

Blogger Big Al said...

This is this one area where I think we agree to disagree. I still think the Tigers need to add an impactful player. Be it a Soriano, Abreau, Green, Lee, I'd like to see them shore up the lineup with a stick.

9:11 PM  

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