Detroit Tigers Could Have Major Roster Dilemma When Star Returns From Injury

The Detroit Tigers earned their first victory of the season on Monday night in a hard-fought 9-6 win over the Seattle Mariners with their best offensive performance of the season thus far.

Spearheaded by a six-run, 11-batter first inning to take some of the pressure of rookie Jackson Jobe making his first career start, the Tigers' bats came alive and stayed hot throughout the night.

Ironically, the performance came just hours after it was revealed that a player who was expected to be one of the team's most important offensive pieces - second baseman Gleyber Torres - was sent to the injured list and Justyn-Henry Malloy was called up in his place.

Coming off a big spring which saw him just miss the final cut as well as a massive opening weekend in Toledo, replacing Torres with Malloy in the lineup was a no-brainer. Malloy responded with two hits and an RBI, building on a strong last month at the plate and making a difference in the team's first win.

With Torres out, the configuration in the lineup becomes clear. Spencer Torkelson - whose bat has been quite the pleasant surprise itself so far - reassumes his natural first base position while Colt Keith moves back to second and Malloy - whose defensive limitations kept him off the team at the start - slides into the designated hitter role.

If Torres were willing to play third, something which does not appear to be the case, it would produce the best possible outcome in terms of getting the best hitters into the lineup.

The most obvious solution for when he returns to the keystone is Malloy getting sent back down, but what if Malloy continues to be on an absolute tear?

Detroit is going to have what at the very least is an extremely difficult decision, especially if Torres is not willing to move over. Torkelson earned the DH role over Malloy and Malloy is likely not capable of playing defense at an even average level, leaving likely no choice but to send him back down no matter what he does at the plate.

The reality with Torres is that not only did he sign a lucrative $15 million deal with the Tigers, he did it under the promise he was not going to be asked to move to third as the New York Yankees wanted him to do.

Set to hit free agency again next year, Torres has no real reason to be willing to transition to a position he has no real experience at professionally, not to mention the drop off on defense an important position would see to him from the platoon of Andy Ibáñez, Zach McKinstry, and Javier Baez.

As unfortunate as it is, there simply is not room for everybody, and unless Malloy suddenly looks like one of the best hitters in baseball over the next couple of weeks while Torres is out, a decision which is difficult on the surface really only has one possible outcome.

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