Brad Ausmus says Detroit Tigers are fine without Stephen Drew
By Hayden Kane
Brad Ausmus might be lying.
It’s not like he would tell us he thinks his current options at shortstop stink, after all. So when Ausmus says that he thinks the Detroit Tigers will be fine without Stephen Drew after the veteran shortstop inked a deal with the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, he may or may not be lying.
The Tigers, who have already gone through veteran Alex Gonzalez as one option, will now turn to Andrew Romine and other internal options. Ausmus says that is just fine with him and that the Tigers never really talked seriously about signing Drew (quotes from the Detroit Free Press):
"“I know it’s been talked about a lot, but it really hasn’t been discussed internally…It’s nice, when Romine’s out there, to have a guy that can cover some ground…I think it’s his arm strength that makes him as good as he is going to the backhand side…You have to take it into account, but when you have a defender like that at a premium defensive position, there’s a little more slack cut.”"
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The Tigers are so loaded with talent up and down the rest of their roster that they can probably live with a plus defender at shortstop who is a little light on offensive production.
That said, you cannot help but wonder how good they would have been with Drew in that spot. Instead Drew is back with the defending champs, where the Tigers might end up seeing more of him come playoff time.