Nothing has changed with Magglio
I kept watching for signs, any sign, this week that Magglio Ordonez might be a different hitter during the second half of the season than he has been since the early weeks of spring camp.
I saw nothing to change a deep belief that he won't get his old bat-speed back. Ever.
It's a shame, and it's difficult to believe, but the Tigers are dealing with a hitter who can' t any longer handle fastballs. He can make contact -- basic contact -- but he can't drive the ball. Not a bit.
This was the view even before Friday night's 5-4 loss to Houston became the latest manifestation of a hitter who kills more innings than he can sustain. With men on base and fewer than two outs, you sit and wait for the double play that all too often follows.
The home run Ordonez hit Thursday off Ted Lilly might have been the most ridiculous pitch I've seen thrown in 2009. It was even less forgivable than the change-up Joel Zumaya threw to Micah Hoffpauir in Tuesday night's game at Comerica Park that the Tigers ended up winning.
Lilly had Ordonez down 0-2 in the count after having just buried him with the previous pitch, a fastball, that Ordonez couldn't have been more overwhelmed by.
Then the change-up -- the only pitch Magglio seems able to hit these days with any real power. It was his first home run in two months and 150 at-bats.
And so the inevitable seems to be closing in. I continue to believe the Tigers will be forced to release Ordonez at, or near, the All-Star break. They can't go into the season's second half with a hitter who no longer can hit in the manner necessary of run-producing outfielders.
And they sure can't risk triggering the vesting options that could bring back Ordonez and his big paydays for 2010 and possibly 2011.
It's an utter shame. There is no finer person in sports -- none -- than Magglio Ordonez. He and Carlos Guillen are bookends for what you want people to be as athletes, and as individuals.
But this is baseball, this is business, and a team must do what it can to fulfill its mission to win. And the sad reality with Ordonez is that he no longer is a plus player.
