Okay, so we're nearly a quarter into the season, and we're all still waiting for the Detroit Tigers to get things going. I'm not sure how long we're going to have to keep waiting, or if the Tigers are ever even going to get out of the cellar, but they may have taken a step towards getting on track.Gary Sheffield has never been shy when it comes to speaking his mind, and he'd been letting Jim Leyland know that he'd much rather be out in the field than relegated to nothing but a designated hitter. Well, going into the weekend Leyland finally listened to Sheffield, and put him out in left.
Sheffield responded by going 5-for-15 over the Tigers latest homestand, and raised his batting average 23 points in the process. Sure, it's still only at .208, but it's a start.
"I say it all the time. It's just tough at DH to have that fire going, and intensity with which I play," Sheffield said. "I never accepted that I was just a pure DH."
The problem is that Sheffield's right shoulder still bothers him from time to time, and he's still in the process of rehabbing it. That means he's not going to be able to play left field everyday, because his throwing arm is going to become a problem. The Tigers are already having enough trouble keeping the other team from scoring, and adding another liability in the outfield won't help.
Still, if Sheffield's bat only comes alive when he's playing the field, any damage he may cause out in left will probably be more than offset by the damage he can do with his bat.
