You could make an argument for several players as the most valuable player for the Detroit Tigers during the regular season.

In the postseason, there’s no doubt of who’s been the most valuable employee of the organization: trainer Kevin Rand.

With starters for the Tigers dropping like flies, it’s fallen to Rand to keep the squad wired together with duct tape, ace bandages and tongue depressors.

The latest two to get dinged up are Delmon Young and Victor Martinez, both of whom have strained muscles in their sides. Young strained an oblique muscle in Game 5 of the ALDS last Thursday, and has played just once.

Martinez strained an intercostal muscle in his side after his home-run swing in Tuesday’s Game 3 win. He joked after the game, “The only way I don’t play tomorrow is if I wake up, and I’m dead.”

Sure enough, both were back in the lineup for Wednesday’s Game 4, hitting fourth (Martinez) and fifth (Young).

“Victor Martinez is one of the toughest guys I’ve ever been around. I’m talking about tough. I take my hat off – and Delmon Young the same. I don’t mean to downplay that,” Leyland said. “And Adrian Beltre, the same way. Players on both teams are tough, and I think they’re showing that. And I think they’re showing why they’re who they are. Big-time players expect to be in a lineup. They know the fans want to see them in the lineup. They know it helps their team.

“Actually, for a manager, it’s a little bit different, because you really hae to sit down and think about if the guy wants to play. I appreciate that, but if his effectiveness is not good because of this, just to put him in there, maybe you’re not always doing the right thing.”

While the major injuries are easily quantified — add the season-ending injuries to Magglio Ordonez and Brennan Boesch to those, along with the off-and-on injury status of Carlos Guillen — there are always nicks and bumps and bruises for those who’ve toughed out a full season.
Count catcher Alex Avila among those. Aside from the constant wear and tear of foul tips and blocking balls in the dirt, Avila’s also dealing with a strained knee.

“Pretty well banged up. You know, we’ve had our share of all that stuff, obviously with Magglio and Boesch and you can go on and on. And Alex is banged up pretty good,” Leyland said.
“You talk about tough, what you’re seeing earlier is what these guys are all about. It’s hard for the average person to understand what these guys are going through. His knee was swelling up pretty good not to long ago. The trainers are doing the best they can to take care of that.

“Everybody is banged up.”

But nobody is going to use it as an excuse.

“Not this team. Everybody’s battled all year,” utility man Don Kelly said. “And we’re not going to stop playing hard.”

The Tigers knew they were going to need all the right-handed hitters they could put together for the American League Championship Series, where they'll be facing the lefty-heavy rotation of the Texas Rangers.

But they won't have Delmon Young, who clubbed three home runs in the AL Division Series against the Yankees. Young left the deciding Game 5 against the Yankees with a strained oblique injury in his side on Thursday. He was checked out by doctors on Friday, but later told reporters that he was having trouble throwing.

The Tigers left Young off the ALCS roster to start, replacing him with Danny Worth, apparently the best option "plan(s) B" that manager Jim Leyland and staff discussed in a Friday meeting.

Should rest improve Young's injury situation, the Tigers could add him to the roster later as an injury replacement. The conundrum the Tigers were in, however, was that if they carried him on the ALCS roster, and needed to replace him midway through, he'd be ineligible to play the rest of the way through the playoffs. By leaving him off, they can add him to the roster again later, should they advance to the World Series.

ARLINGTON, Texas — If you were picking an MVP for the Detroit Tigers in the American League Division Series win over the Yankees, bet that Delmon Young makes the short list of candidates.

The slugger, who hit eight home runs in the 40 games he played with the team after he was acquired by trade, hit three more in the five-game ALDS win over the Yankees, becoming the first in franchise history to ever slug three in a series.

With the Tigers facing a lefty-heavy rotation for the Rangers in the AL Championship Series, Young should be a huge factor — if he can play.

Young left Thursday’s Game 5 with a strain of an oblique muscle in his left side.
“He’s being evaluated right now. ... We’ll see if they have to take any further steps than an evaluation. We’re hoping not. He actually felt better last night, later,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said before Friday’s workout.

Young was going to try to take batting practice, but did not. If he cannot go, the Tigers staff will likely switch up the playoff roster.

“We really haven’t discussed that yet. We do have — I will say plans B, not plan B. We have plans B,” said Leyland, who was going to discuss the issue with the coaching staff and GM Dave Dombrowski after the workout.

Young was immediately plugged into the lineup in the No. 3 spot, in front of Miguel Cabrera, the minute he was acquired, and sat just two games down the stretch. Despite being nearly impossible to walk (five in 178 plate appearances), Young has gotten plenty of strikes to swing at, given who comes up behind him.

“That was the first thing he told me when he got here. I told him he was going to hit third. I said, ‘Are you OK with that?’ He said, ‘Yeah, are you kidding me? Hitting in front of Miguel Cabrera? I’m really happy with that.’ It’s worked well for us. He extended our lineup a little bit,” Leyland said.

The first option to replace Young would probably be Ryan Raburn, who is a sure bet to be in the lineup, either in left field, or at second base. Magglio Ordonez, who hit .385 in the 19 games he played after the Young trade, would likely move back into his old slot in the No. 3 spot.