The Tigers have acquired first baseman/third baseman/designated hitter Aubrey Huff from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for minor league reliever Brett Jacobson. The left-handed Huff is only batting .253/.321/.405 this year with a .651 OPS since the all-star break. However, he is a notorious streak hitter withe a pretty good track record. He batted .304 with a .912 OPS last year and has a .818 career OPS.
I would guess that Huff will be the designated hitter against right-handed pitchers with Marcus Thames still DHing versus lefties. Huff has a career OPS of .849 versus right-handed pitchers. I also imagine he will be batting in the third spot that Jim Leyland has had so much trouble filling this year. He won't help the Tigers defensively but it's hard to imagine him doing a worse job defensively filling in at third base than Ryan Raburn.
Joel Zumaya has been transferred to the 60 day DL, in order to make room for Huff on the 40 man roster. There is no word yet on who he'll replace on the 25 man roster but my guess is it will Raburn. In terms of roles, Huff is basically a left-handed Raburn. Billfer has press conference notes about this move
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tigers Acquire Aubrey Huff
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3 comments:
In terms of his role Huff may be a left handed Ryan Raburn, but to compare the two in any other capacity is an insult to Aubrey Huff.
It will be interesting to see how often he sees time at third base.
I wonder if Clete Thomas would have hit .500 in the last three games if this deal would have been maide
Titus, I think they wanted a veteran left-handed bat regardless of what Thomas did. I think Thomas will still play but will bat lower in the order which might be good for him.
Lee
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