Tigers look for late surge to playoffs

DETROIT — Over the past few years, baseball’s trade deadline has been a source of excitement and anticipation in Detroit.

Whether he was pulling off a blockbuster deal last year for David Price or adding players like Anibal Sanchez and Jose Iglesias in previous seasons, general manager Dave Dombrowski has always been ready to act.

Now, with the deadline approaching again, Dombrowski is facing questions about his team’s short-term goals.

“We’re trying to win this year right now,” he said recently.

The fact that Dombrowski had to reaffirm that philosophy was telling. The Tigers entered the All-Star break at 44-44, in third place in the AL Central.

After four straight division titles, they now trail first-place Kansas City by nine games, and there is speculation around Detroit that the team might be better off reshaping the roster for next year.

That talk may be premature. Although they have a significant deficit in the division, the Tigers are certainly still in contention for a wild card.

“We have to get on a roll and the only way to do that is with good starting pitching,” Dombrowski said.

It was just one season ago when the Tigers traded for Price at the deadline. In Price, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, Detroit had the American League’s previous three Cy Young Award winners.

Scherzer is gone. Price is still excellent, but Sanchez is having an up-and-down season and Verlander has made only five starts because of injuries.

Shane Greene and Alfredo Simon, who were acquired last off-season to fill out the back of the rotation, have not pitched well lately. Greene was even sent to the minors for a bit.

“Probably I am a little surprised our pitching hasn’t been better overall,” said Dombrowski, whose contract expires this year. “Some guys have pitched very well, but overall as a group, I am surprised we haven’t pitched a little better.”

Detroit comes out of the All-Star break with a seven-game homestand against Baltimore and Seattle. Win enough of those games, and the post-season race will look more promising — especially with injured slugger Miguel Cabrera due back next month.

Jays all-stars

Toronto’s Josh Donaldson batted second in the American League’s 6-3 win over the National League in the All-Star Game in Cincinnati Tuesday.

He followed Mike Trout, who clubbed a leadoff home run in the first.

“I’ve been hitting in the twohole pretty much all year,” Donaldson told bluejays.com. “It was kind of tough to follow up after Trout goes off in his first at-bat.”

Jays teammate Russell Martin entered the game as a pinchhitter in the eighth inning and struck out looking.