Sometime it’s the moves you don’t make as opposed to the ones you do that come back to haunt you. Yesterday I wrote about the Tigers troubles at second base. Scott Sizemore is gone (and I think they gave up on him way too early), Wil Rhymes is at Toledo and now the Tigers have a mish mash of Ryan Raburn, Ramon Santiago and Danny Worth playing second base.   Who knows when Carlos Guillen will be back but he’s been somewhat pegged as the savior so until his fate is clear, the Tigers won’t make a move. What’s probably the most frustrating part of all this is, the Tigers had a good second baseman and they let him go.
After the 2009 season, the Tigers decided not to offer Placido Polanco arbitration. He had a good but not great year and the Tigers were worried he was going to take it because Scott Sizemore had been pegged the second baseman of the future. He had his share of injuries in 2010 but still had a nice year but in 2010, he’s hitting .321 with 18 walks and 16 strikeouts. You put him in the number two spot in the lineup for the Tigers and this is a much different team. He’s averaging a little over $5 million a year for the Phillies and my guess is, the Tigers could have gotten him a little cheaper then that had they held on to him.
Hopefully Rhymes gets back on track and can help the team. Or maybe Carlos Guillen has another half season in the tank. Still, not holding on to Polanco for another year (or two) was still a big mistake.