"On long road trips, children love to ask, "are we there yet?" This leaves frazzled parents with several refrains of "no!" and "stop hitting your sister!" and "we still have a long way to go!" This seems to have a direct correlation between casual Tigers fans and those who have examined where the organization currently is on the highway to the World Series. "Are we there yet?" Unfortunately no. This isn't to say the Tigers haven't made good decisions along the way. Signing Joaquin Benoit to pitch the eighth inning and Victor Martinez to hit behind Miguel Cabrera was a great start. Bullpen help and a middle-of-the-order hitter were top-shelf needs and Dombrowski filled them quickly and admirably. Re-signing Magglio Ordoñez was also key. Many fans did not agree with the decision to re-sign two others, however. Brandon Inge and Jhonny Peralta will be on the left side of the infield this season. People should realize that Inge and Peralta were the best options available as professional hitters who can play above average defense. Adrian Beltre was considered by many as the best option at third, but he was just paid three times what Inge makes for three times as long. Oh, and he only likes to perform well in contract years. So while those two re-signings don't get people excited, they were probably the best options at scarce positions. These transactions alone will not bring a playoff berth. The Tigers were 11th in runs scored, fifth in average, eighth in on-base percentage and 11th in slugging percentage in the major leagues last year. But offense wasn't the Tigers' biggest issue. Even when Ordoñez was healthy and Boesch was destroying the ball, the Tigers were still out of the playoffs at the All-Star break. The only hope for the offense to improve at this point is that Ryan Raburn plays consistently better than Johnny Damon, someone steps in at second base and surprises and Alex Avila can get to respectability at warp speed. Yet hope isn't a strategy, is it?" Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/201103.../Reader-column-Tigers-roster-still-incomplete
