Rumors were swirling Monday night that Scott Sizemore might have earned the call-up from Triple-A Toledo after last year’s Opening Day starter at second base for the Tigers last season was a healthy scratch for the Mud Hens’ game vs. Pawtucket.

Tigers president and GM Dave Dombrowski confirmed the move — calling Sizemore up, and optioning Will Rhymes down — after Monday’s game. Sizemore was leading the International League with a .408 average, while Rhymes was hitting just .221 after the weekend.

"As you know, we’ve been scuffling from an offensive perspective, and Sizemore’s been hitting very well ... We figured it was a way to get a little more pop in the lineup, maybe get some extra-base hits and try to get things going at the top of the order for us," Dombrowski said.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland was quick to point out that the struggles of the Tigers' offense — which include leadoff man Austin Jackson hitting just .188, and No. 3 hitter Magglio Ordonez posting an anemic .151 average, a slugging percentage of .164 and just one lone RBI — are not all the fault of Rhymes, normally the No. 2 hitter.

“Sometimes, you’re the victim of a situation of ... you’re not really tearing it up — and we didn’t really expect him to — but sometimes you’re the victim of a situation where a few guys aren’t hitting, and he’s a second baseman, and the guy who’s hitting .400 is a second baseman. So, it’s not like Will Rhymes did so bad,” Leyland said. “I certainly don’t want to indicate to anybody that we’re blaming all of our offensive woes on Will Rhymes. That’s not the case. The case in this matter is, we’re looking for a little punch. ... So he kind of caught the short end of the stick, to be honest with you.”

As highly anticipated as the move has been — there was a populist movement to "free Scott Sizemore" on Twitter — it won't be the cure-all to a team that's struggling in all aspects of the game.

And it might not be the only move coming. Victor Martinez, who will resume his role as the primary DH, is eligible to return from the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday. His return will mean that Ordonez will either have to spend more time in the outfield, or possibly sit for a while. Leyland noted after Monday's game that Ordonez could be moved down in the order at times, or out of it.

Sizemore's promotion to the big club will also mean that Ryan Raburn will spend most of his time in the outfield again, rather than splitting his starts between left and second base. That, too, would indicate that Ordonez might be destined for some time off, since Leyland's more likely to leave Brennan Boesch (.300) in the lineup, as either the right fielder or DH.

Finally, Phil Coke's solid start against the Indians — more reminiscent of his first two starts of the season than his last two horrible outings against Seattle — may have staved off the conversations about moving him back to the bullpen, at least for now.

But if he begins to struggle again, it will be hard for Leyland and Dombrowski — both men in the final year of their current contracts with the Tigers — to ignore the seasons that young lefties Andy Oliver (3-1, 3.64 ERA, 31 K/29.2 IP) and Charlie Furbush (2-1, 1.90 ERA, 32 K/23.2 IP) are putting together in Toledo.

The Tigers made their final three cuts Saturday morning to get down to the 25-man roster for the regular season.

To get there, the Tigers optioned reserve infielder Danny Worth to Toledo, and assigned two of this spring's biggest surprises, outfielder Andy Dirks and lefty pitcher Adam Wilk, to the minor league camp. All three had impressive springs, making Leyland's decision that much harder.

"You are breaking hearts. We've broken a couple and we'll break a couple more," said Leyland about having to make the final roster moves, which were the most scrutinized of the spring.

Barring any last-minute moves, the moves mean that Brennan Boesch and Casper Wells will both make the team as reserve outfielders, and Ramon Santiago will be the extra infielder. Utility man Don Kelly can play both infield and outfield, as well.

The final two bullpen slots went to 23-year-old Venezuelan right-hander Brayan Villareal, who ranked second-best in the Tigers' minor league system with 136 strikeouts between single and double-A a year ago, and veteran right-hander Enrique Gonzalez, a non-roster invitee who split time between Toledo and Detroit a year ago.

A little over two weeks ago, Leyland had praised his corps of young lefty relievers — including Wilk, last year's minor league pitcher of the year in the organization, rookie Charlie Furbush, veteran Fu-Te Ni and youngsters Daniel Schlereth and Duane Below — saying that it was conceivable that all of them could stick with the parent club. In the final evaluation, however, it will only be Schlereth who heads north with the Tigers. He and veteran Brad Thomas will be the bullpen's two southpaws to start the season.

The Tigers' minor league player of the year last season, Dirks hit .333 with four doubles, three triples and a homer this spring, further complicating what was already a logjam of outfielders competing for just one or two slots. But his spring couldn't match what Boesch and Wells had done in the regular season for the Tigers a year ago. The Tigers' second-best defensive outfielder, Wells can play all three outfield positions, while both he and Boesch can provide pinch-hit pop off the bench.

A career .251 hitter in the minors in the four seasons since the Tigers selected him in the second round of the 2007 draft, Worth's bat finally caught up to his glove this spring, as he too hit .333, with six doubles. Leyland has said that he's a major league-ready defender, but Santiago is a veteran of nine major league seasons, seven of them with the Tigers.