Worth could add versatility to outfield situation
LAKELAND, Fla. -- Tigers president/general manager Dave Dombrowski was going over his team's options for a right-handed hitter to help in the outfield earlier this week. Danny Worth's name came up.
"Worth has played some outfield," Dombrowski said last weekend.
Technically, Worth played only one game in left field last summer for Triple-A Toledo. He did so, however, after working in the outfield with Tigers outfield instructor Gene Roof. It was more than a spur-of-the-moment move on a shortened Mud Hens roster.
That's worth keeping in mind as the Tigers try to figure out a right-handed hitting complement to Andy Dirks in left field, at least in a backup role.
In past years, Detroit had the luxury of super utility players who hit from the left and right sides of the plate with Don Kelly and Ryan Raburn, respectively. With Raburn now in Indians camp, only Kelly remains, and he's on a non-roster invite.
Manager Jim Leyland said on Friday he isn't worried about versatility on the roster.
"I think we've got that in camp," Leyland said. "I'm not really worried about that. I don't know how it's going to play out in left field exactly, but I think we've got pretty good versatility. I think we definitely will have by the time we break camp."