Jones cut; Sheffield to left field

Jacque Jones was cut today, prior to the start of the Tigers first of four games against the Red Sox. Jones had been hitting only .165 with one homer and 5 RBI's in 24 games with the Tigers. Jones had been acquired from the Cubs for infielder Omar Infante during the offseason and is in the final season of a 3 year, 16 million dollar deal he signed with the Cubs after the 2005 season. The Tigers called up Matt Joyce from AAA Toledo, who had been hitting .299 with 5 homers and 21 RBI's in 28 games for Toledo. Joyce started against the Red Sox in right field tonight and batted 7th.

Gary Sheffield, normally the starting DH (a role he was not enjoying), took Jones' spot in left. Excited about returning to the field, Sheffield had the following comments:

"I need to be a baseball player, I'm not a baseball player sitting there,"

Sheffield hadn't played the outfield since last July, when he injured his shoulder in a collision with second basemen Placido Polanco.

A good move by the Tigers in my opinion. Jones was overpaid and is probably headed for a sharp decline as he begins to lose bat speed and power, not to mention the fact that hes average as a BA hitter and has a poor eye that leads to a low OBP. His offensive capabilities don't match up with what you should get from a LF and he isn't what he used to be defensively in RF. He might have a few more decent seasons in him, but his days of .280/20/80 are long gone, as if that needed pointing out.