Line-up imbalance

It is well known that the Tigers have a very right-handed dominated line-up. The only regulars who bat left-handed are Curtis Granderson and switch hitting Carlos Guillen. They have made a number of moves to get more left-handed including the acquisition of Jacque Jones during the off-season. Jones didn't work out so they have dipped into the minors for Clete Thomas, Matt Joyce and most recently Jeff Larish. The early season injury to Granderson did not help matters.

How much of a problem is this imbalance? Looking at Table 1 below, we can see that they hit for a much much better average versus left handed pitchers (.300) than right-handed pitchers (.256). They also slug much better versus southpaws (.481 vs LHP and .405 vs. RHP). Compounding the problem is the fact that opponents have recognized this trend and avoid pitching lefties against the Tigers. They have fewer plate appearances vs. LHP (351) than any team in the league (league average = 536).

Table 1: Team totals vs RHP and LHP

	PA	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Tigers vs RHP	1,806	.256	.331	.405	.735
Tigers vs. LHP	351	.300	.351	.481	.832
AL vs.RHP	1,645	.259	.328	.402	.731
AL vs. LHP	536	.261	.330	.398	.719

Table 2 below shows that several Tigers are doing substantially worse versus right-handers than left-handers: Placido Polanco (.698 OPS vs RHP and .910 OPS vs. LHP), Guillen (.813 and .911), Edgar Renteria (.603 and 1.138), Ivan Rodriguez (.630 and .748) and Marcus Thames (.524 and 1.256). Two players - Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera are doing equally as well versus RHP and LHP. Gary Sheffield and Brandon Inge have both hit RHP better than LHP but neither is doing particularly well against any kind of pitcher.

So, the line-up imbalance has been a significant problem and it's not likely to go away any time soon. I think we will continue to see the Tigers face an inordinate number of right-handed pitchers and probably suffer because of it. One key player who can make a difference is Granderson who is off to a slow start after his injury. After posting a 1.014 OPS versus righties in 2007, he is hitting just .783 this year. Another is the right-handed hitting Cabrera who hit .910 versus RHP last year as opposed to .824 this year. Other than that, we can probably expect to see Thomas, Joyce, Larish and probably some others shuttled between Detroit and Toledo throughout the year.


Table 2: Individuals versus RHP and LHP

Player	vs RHP		vs LHP
	PA	OPS	PA	OPS
Granderson*	138	.783	9	.444
Polanco	173	.698	39	.910
Sheffield	132	.719	31	.499
Ordonez	198	.929	37	.897
Cabrera	199	.824	36	.818
Guillen#	176	.813	33	.911
Renteria	175	.603	34	1.138
Rodriguez	151	.630	38	.748
Inge	117	.774	27	.442
Thames	53	.524	30	1.256
Jones*	86	.429	15	.067
Thomas*	60	.615	7	.571
Joyce*	57	.810	2	.000

* Bats left-handed
# Switch hitter