Carlos

Pena

He is batting .296 with 11 home runs in his last 40 games and Detroit manager Alan Trammell seems satisfied that Pena will be his starting first sacker in 2005.

Pena has been a disappointment this year, even for a Tiger. He should be back in the lineup today.

Pena later pinch-hit for Greg Norton, and homered in one of his two at-bats. He should continue to have a nice season.

In Trammell’s words: ''[Pena’s] been hampered by the injury a little more than we thought. He’s not going to hurt it any more by playing, and he’s not in any pain, but something in the back of his mind is not allowing him to run without a limp. Until he can play back-to-back games without showing a limp, we’re not going to bring him up.’'

Detroit manager Alam Trammell plans to sit Pena, Rondell White and Dmitri Young for one of the three games in both of the Tigers’ series in National League parks this week.

Pena will only start when Chris Shelton or Dmitri Young needs a day off, so don’t expect much, even if he was hitting .311/.424/.525 in 71 games in Triple-A. He’s unlikely to have value in AL-only leagues unless another injury strikes the Tigers.

Pena started at DH and Dmitri Young played left field with Magglio Ordonez sitting out. Pena was hitting very well at Triple-A and he’ll probably produce for the Tigers if he gets the chance, but he’s not going to push Chris Shelton off first base and Dmitri Young still figures to DH on most days.

We don’t understand the reasoning behind this one. Pena is batting .352 (12-for-34) since coming off the DL late last month.

Pena would be nice to have around to make the occasional start against right-handers at first base, with Kevin Youkilis sometimes moving back to third. It’s not a role that figures to give him a lot of fantasy value, and we’re not sure how it fits in with the Eric Hinske rumors. Expect to see him in Boston by Sept. 1.

Pena requested the move. The 27-year-old will try to find a bench spot somewhere after hitting .260/.370/.454 with 19 homers in 381 at-bats for Columbus.