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DETROIT -- For years, Dave Dombrowski has been willing to sacrifice the future in order to keep the Tigers in the hunt for that elusive World Series championship.
This weekend, that practice has come back to hurt the Tigers in a big way.
On Friday, when the Tigers decided to part ways with Joba Chamberlain and Tom Gorzelanny, the best they could do for replacements was a pair of failed starters -- Jeff Ferrell and Drew VerHagen.
Ferrell had a nice run as Erie's closer, posting a 1.67 ERA, but had only pitched one inning for Toledo before getting called up to the big leagues. VerHagen, who lost a spot start for the Tigers last season, had been pitched ineffectively in eight games for Erie and Toledo.
Things got much worse during Friday's game, when Miguel Cabrera badly strained a calf muscle. He was put on the disabled list Saturday, and is expected to miss at least six weeks.
Obviously, there's not a hitter in baseball who can fully replace Cabrera in the lineup, but the problem is the Tigers don't even have a reasonable candidate. They called up Toledo's hottest hitter, Jefry Marte, but the 24-year-old hasn't had a .500 slugging percentage since he was in rookie ball at the age of 17. Marte's also a third baseman by trade, having only played 10 games at first base in an eight-year minor-league career.
Last season, Victor Martinez was Cabrera's backup, with Don Kelly available for defensive purposes, but Kelly's gone and Martinez can't play the field because of his knee problems. On Saturday, Brad Ausmus gave Alex Avila his first career start at first base, and he plans to run through other options -- Andrew Romine, Marte or even J.D. Martinez, who played two games at first base in the minors.
None of those are good choices, though. Avila is much more valuable behind the plate, given his pitch-framing skills, while Romine isn't a good enough hitter to play first base everyday and Marte and Martinez have no major-league experience at the position.
Avila got off to a great defensive start in Saturday's 8-3 win over Toronto, diving into the crowd for a pop up in the fourth inning, then blocking former Tiger Devon Travis off the bag in a fifth-inning pickoff. Still, making him the everyday first baseman would mean bringing Bryan Holaday back from Triple-A to back up James McCann.
The usual move for the Tigers at this point would be for Dombrowski to make a trade for a first baseman, but he might not be as quick to pull the trigger as he has been in years past. Even after Friday night's win, the Tigers are in third place in the AL Central, six games behind Kansas City and 1 1/2 games behind the White Sox.
So does Dombrowski give up even more low-level prospects to get a first baseman for the six weeks or two months that Cabrera is out, knowing that with Detroit's pitching staff, the postseason is going to be a tough road? Or does he sit pat and keep the farm system intact for the future?
Things are still going to be complicated when Cabrera returns, because he'll be returning from a serious leg injury, but won't have anyway to DH for a day or two without the Tigers losing Victor Martinez.
And in the the longer-term, Cabrera has now sustained a major leg injury for the third time in as many seasons, while Martinez is playing on bad knees. Both players are signed to expensive contracts, which will become a serious problem if neither can play the field on a regular basis.
Cabrera will get the best medical treatment that money can buy, because the Tigers have even more cash riding on his ability to get and stay healthy.
