Granderson to play Center Field against lefties

05/28/2008 10:07 PM ET
Granderson to play against lefties
Move designed to get Tigers' leadoff man going
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

ANAHEIM -- The name atop the Tigers lineup was certainly familiar. The situation in which he played was not.

It's not that the Tigers didn't want Curtis Granderson playing against any left-handed starters, manager Jim Leyland insisted Wednesday. It's that as few lefties as they've seen, there proved to be few opportunities to start someone else in Granderson's place and keep the bench fresh.

That mind-set is done. For the near future, Granderson is going to be an everyday player.

"He's a catalyst for us," Leyland said. "We've got to get him going. That's important."

It's not a revolutionary experiment for Leyland, who talked in Spring Training about having Granderson see more left-handed pitchers and has had him do so for brief spurts over the past couple of seasons.

Granderson, for his part, has said several times over the past couple of years that he doesn't mind seeing left-handed pitchers, that doing so often helps him against right-handers because it forces him to concentrate longer on the pitch.

"You have to stay on them. In order to have success against them, everything has to go right," Granderson said. "So having success against a lefty can translate into success the next day against a right-hander. But you have to do everything right that day. It's not going to just happen automatically jumping in against a lefty."

The way Granderson has been struggling lately, though, it's worth putting him in there to try. He entered Wednesday's start against Angels lefty Joe Saunders batting .194 (13-for-67) in 18 games since May 7. He has four two-hit games over the last two weeks, including Saturday's romp over the Twins, but was out of the starting lineup the day after three of them because of a lefty. He was 1-for-9 through the first two games of the current series. He entered Wednesday batting .241 in 31 games this season with five doubles, six home runs and 16 RBIs.

Part of the trouble, Leyland said, has been a tendency to pull off on the ball, something Granderson can't do against left-handers.

"I think there's been some at-bats where he's pulled off the ball," Leyland said. "I won't say every at-bat, because that's not fair to him. But he has pulled off the ball some. So I'm going to give it a shot and play him."

Plus, Leyland added, "We want to make him a regular player in the big leagues."

Leyland also has openly wondered whether Granderson's right hand, which he injured near the end of Spring Training, is bothering him. Granderson, however, says it is not, and the Tigers athletic training staff has seen no sign that would suggest otherwise.

The difference, it turns out, will be minor on this trip. The Mariners shuffled their lineup for this weekend series against the Tigers, pushing back lefty Jarrod Washburn out of the series altogether and moving up Felix Hernandez to Saturday and Miguel Batista to Sunday. Considering the Tigers are batting .301 this year against lefties, there was reason for the move. The next lefty Detroit is scheduled to face will be Oakland rookie Dana Eveland next week.

By playing Granderson Wednesday, the Tigers were able to rest Carlos Guillen, whom Leyland had planned on using at designated hitter. Ryan Raburn, who would've otherwise started for Granderson in center field, moved over to right. Magglio Ordonez shifted to DH.

Guillen said Wednesday he was starting to feel better in his bout with hemorrhoids, but Leyland felt it best to give Guillen a day off ahead of Thursday's off-day, then see how he felt for Friday's series opener at Seattle.

"I'm going to stand him for a couple days," Leyland said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

GO GRANDERSON

There should have never been any other thought then have Granderson play every fucking day anyways.

Curtis is a superstar already, and if you think about it he is not even a full time player.

This is the Main reason of many reasons I Hate lungcancer. You dont have someone like CG with talent that he has and the huge numbers he put up last year and not play him everyday.

When I see Curtis talk I see someone that doesnt kiss any ass. And if you dont kiss lungcancers ass you are not playing.

I was really hoping that Curtis would have gotten traded over the off season so i could watch him on a team i might be able to enjoy.

Im 30 years old and have been a tigers fan since i was 4 and just like the rest of you have seen many years of suck. But you know what? It was still fun to go to games, or watch on the tube, even when you knew they were not going to win.

Ever since they got lungcancer I have not enjoyed anything other then watching Curtis. Yeah they went to the WS in 06 but it still didnt seem to mean anything. Yeah it was nice to see the Tigers do good, but I had no care if they won or lost. It wasnt like 84 or even 87. Those were fun. Hell even the 91-93 were fun with Deer, Tettleton, Fryman, Cecil hitting the balls out left and right.

I just cant get into it. I cant even watch a full game on tv. If someone hits a grandslam, all they talk about is how lungcancer is so smart.(shit i forgot he wears cleats) The players have not got any credit for the last 3 years.

I watch the rays everyday, and dont hear 1% about the manager as you do watching the tigers.

austin

Very true Austin.

Leyland inherited this team, he did not build it. Of course they did great in 06, DD and Tram and his coaching staff developed the players. Leyland came in at the peak of this process and received all the honor! But it was not his coaching or management that got them here. If it was, then we should have gotten better in 07 and 08.

But we see all our players doing worse instead each year. And why is it we get players from Toledo, who are doing well and by the time Leyland has them a month or so, they are also in a funk and have to go to Toledo to get proper coaching! Something stinks in Tigertown! And it isn't the players!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Very true Austin.

Leyland inherited this team, he did not build it. Of course they did great in 06, DD and Tram and his coaching staff developed the players. Leyland came in at the peak of this process and received all the honor! But it was not his coaching or management that got them here. If it was, then we should have gotten better in 07 and 08.

But we see all our players doing worse instead each year. And why is it we get players from Toledo, who are doing well and by the time Leyland has them a month or so, they are also in a funk and have to go to Toledo to get proper coaching! Something stinks in Tigertown! And it isn't the players!

Excellent insight! I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that feels that way.

BRING IN KIRK GIBSON!!!!!
(sorry, JMHO)

Gibby as Manager would be GREAT for the city of Detroit!

No matter where he's gone and who he's played for or coached for Gibby will always be a .

I miss Gibby!

what can we do to get him to come back?

Start a petition! Or wait for Leyland to be fired or resign!



We need Gibby and Tram back!





Lance Parrish too!

TrammMan wrote:

There should have never been any other thought then have Granderson play every fucking day anyways.

Curtis is a superstar already, and if you think about it he is not even a full time player.

This is the Main reason of many reasons I Hate lungcancer. You dont have someone like CG with talent that he has and the huge numbers he put up last year and not play him everyday.

When I see Curtis talk I see someone that doesnt kiss any ass. And if you dont kiss lungcancers ass you are not playing.

I was really hoping that Curtis would have gotten traded over the off season so i could watch him on a team i might be able to enjoy.

I totally agree!

TrammMan wrote:

I just cant get into it. I cant even watch a full game on tv. If someone hits a grandslam, all they talk about is how lungcancer is so smart.(shit i forgot he wears cleats) The players have not got any credit for the last 3 years.

I watch the rays everyday, and dont hear 1% about the manager as you do watching the tigers.

austin

Wow! I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. I feel like such a horrible fan this year I got extra innings this year to mainly watch Miller, but I gotta tell you, given the choice between watching the fish, a young exciting team that WANTS to win, and the Tigers, who seem to make up new ways to lose everyday, it has become a no-brainer. I just can not get into these games this year.

SoulRat wrote:

TrammMan wrote:

There should have never been any other thought then have Granderson play every fucking day anyways.

Curtis is a superstar already, and if you think about it he is not even a full time player.

This is the Main reason of many reasons I Hate lungcancer. You dont have someone like CG with talent that he has and the huge numbers he put up last year and not play him everyday.

When I see Curtis talk I see someone that doesnt kiss any ass. And if you dont kiss lungcancers ass you are not playing.

I was really hoping that Curtis would have gotten traded over the off season so i could watch him on a team i might be able to enjoy.

I totally agree!

TrammMan wrote:

I just cant get into it. I cant even watch a full game on tv. If someone hits a grandslam, all they talk about is how lungcancer is so smart.(shit i forgot he wears cleats) The players have not got any credit for the last 3 years.

I watch the rays everyday, and dont hear 1% about the manager as you do watching the tigers.

austin

Wow! I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. I feel like such a horrible fan this year I got extra innings this year to mainly watch Miller, but I gotta tell you, given the choice between watching the fish, a young exciting team that WANTS to win, and the Tigers, who seem to make up new ways to lose everyday, it has become a no-brainer. I just can not get into these games this year.

I agree with both of you as well. This team just isn't much fun to watch - they're getting worse every year.

At least we have 2006 and 2007 archived on MLB.tv!

Granderson Rules!



Maybe Leyland feels he has to shake things up.


But Granderson is an awesome player who should be in the lineup

Maybe Leyland needs to cut back on the Marlboro's

and the potato chips!

Actually, with a lot of Leyland's decisions lately, I get the impression he smoking crack!

wonder if anyone is allowed to question him....

Nope!

I would guess there are more problems between Leyland and the players than we could ever guess. The way Leyland blew up about just a couple player's comments... tells us he has his hands full of players who disagree with him! No wonder they have not been trying hard on the field. They probably hope he resigns, or is fired!

Me, too

Tired of Leyland!