I approach the news that Gary Sheffield is back in Detroit today with some apprehension. He, after all, did not do much this season while in Detroit. He also insisted on playing left field and quickly hurt himself. He also batted third and hit the ball at whatever player wore an opposing uniform. In his rehab stint with Lakeland, he really didn’t do too much, either. Sure he hit a monster home run Monday — “and it’s still going” someone there told me — but outside the homers, he hasn’t seemed all that effective. In fact, he’s 0-for-11 when the ball stays on the playing field. Of course, in classically Sheffieldian play, he walked six times and only struck out one. So that’s good.

Is he ready to contribute back in the majors? I don’t know. But you know what? The designated hitter wasn’t exactly that productive in his absence, so it really doesn’t cost much to find out. Jeff Larish was sent back to the minors for the corresponding move of Sheffield’s callup, and he had hit .200 with just seven RBIs in his time in the majors. That, and Sheffield is batting seventh today against the Cardinals, rather than the three hole which he clogged up. So I guess I’m interested to see if Sheffield can pick up where he left off. If he can, it is obviously great news for the Tigers.

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Related posts

• May 27, 2008 -- Sheffield placed on 15-day DL
• August 12, 2008 -- Miner good. Tigers bad.
• August 11, 2008 -- The Sheff Soap, Day 2
• June 27, 2008 -- Game 78: Can you throw a strike, Fernando? Yes you can!
• April 28, 2008 -- Question of the day: What to do about Sheffield?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 5:00 pm and is filed under 2008 season, roster moves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.