Rather than stand by and wait for things to improve on their own, Jim Leyland tweaked his roster and shook up his starting lineup on Tuesday in an effort to snap the Tigers out of their offensive funk.
        “I know some people are going to say we’re panicking a little bit, but we’re 100 at-bats into the season, we’ve played quite a bit,” declared Leyland in defense of the major overhaul.
        “I don’t think you can keep waiting and waiting and waiting until you get to 200 at-bats.
        “This is my job, this what a manager does,” Leyland said. “When you’re struggling a little bit, you change things around. I’m not trying to be a smart guy here. But obviously our offense has been struggling. I’m trying to shake things up a little bit and see if we can get something going.
        “Billy Martin drew his lineup out of a hat one night when he was here. To me, that’s a gimmick. This is common sense.”
        Before Tuesday night’s homestand finale against the Minnesota Twins, Carlos Guillen, who has been hobbled by a strained hamstring since Opening Day and then injured his right shoulder when he ran into the wall in Seattle, was placed on the 15-day disabled list and replaced by left-hand hitting first baseman Jeff Larish.
        In addition, the Tigers optioned reliever Clay Rapada to Toledo and called up speedy outfielder Clete Thomas.
        Leyland revamped his batting order, putting speedster Josh Anderson in left field, in place of Guillen, and inserting Anderson into the leadoff spot in the lineup, dropping Curtis Granderson whom had batted leadoff in the Tigers’ first 25 games, to fifth, behind Miguel Cabrera.
        “Now we’ve got a little speed up top and we’ve got speed in the middle of the lineup,” the manager explained.
        Leyland also dropped slumping Magglio Ordonez from third to sixth, and employed him as the designated hitter. Thomas took Ordonez’s place in the No. 3 spot in the order as well as in right field.
        It marked the first time since Sept. 27, 1998 with the Chicago White Sox that Ordonez, the 2007 American League batting champion, has batted sixth or lower. “I’m going to try to get Magglio settled in and relaxed a little bit,” explained Leyland who delayed posted Tuesday’s lineup until after Ordonez arrived at the ballpark and Leyland had a chance to speak to him
        Catcher Gerald Laird, who is 1-for-20 on this homestead, dropped from sixth to eighth in the order, and Ramon Santiago, who has driven in 11 runs so far this season, replaced Adam Everett at shortstop.
        Leyland declined to say whether some of the changes might become permanent or were merely for one night. “I can’t answer that,” he said.
        “I like this lineup, it’s something different, change things up a little bit, let’s see what happens,” Leyland said.
        Leyland said Guillen will remain in Detroit to work with a therapist when the team begins an eight-game road trip to Chicago, Cleveland the Minneapolis today.
        “He’s not right and we’ve got to get him 100 percent,” the manager explained. “I think a two-week period will do that. I want to have a healthy Carlos Guillen.”