Avila May Finally Get A Day Off

Alex Avila is expected to get a day off from catching -- but not from Thursday's game at Tampa Bay.

Manager Jim Leyland didn't want to talk about his lineup options after acknowledging the Tigers are bringing up Omir Santos as the one-day replacement for Miguel Cabrera, who is taking a one-day paternity leave to be with his wife Rosangel when she gives birth to the couple's third child.

"I'll sleep on it," Leyland said of who would play and who wouldn't with Cabrera absent. He is expected to rejoin Detroit on Friday in Minnesota. "I've got plenty of time to think about it. We don't play for 12 hours or so."

One likely scenario is to have Victor Martinez play first base -- his sore left knee permitting -- with Avila playing DH to keep his hot bat in the lineup.

That is contingent on Martinez being able to get in the field on a left knee that won't let him give Avila a break from regular catching.

Writing a lineup that doesn't have either Cabrera or Avila in it is not something Leyland wants to do.

Bringing Santos up to sit on the bench doesn't make sense, although that is what Detroit did when it brought the veteran up when Martinez was placed on the disabled list early in the season. Santos pinch-hit in his first game and caught his second but never sniffed a lineup until being sent back to the minors.

If they weren't going to play Santos, they likely would have brought up a left-handed pitcher as the three lefties in the bullpen probably won't be available to pitch in back of starter Doug Fister.

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