8:39AM Monday
March 18, 2013

In many ways, the writing has been on the wall for Brennan Boesch since the end of last season.

After a miserable year in which Boesch failed to reach expectations, hitting just .240 with 12 home runs and 54 RBIs in 132 games, Boesch was left off the postseason roster.

On Wednesday, the Tigers gave Boesch his unconditional release.

"As we've gone through this, Andy Dirks, we feel, has won the job to be our left fielder," Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski told reporters in Lakeland, Fla. "And in Brennan's case, we were really looking more for a right-handed hitting outfielder out there in left field."

Dirks is hitting .310 with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs in 10 games.

Boesch, who battled an oblique injury at the beginning of spring training, was hitting only .188 with a double and no RBIs in seven games.

Boesch arrived on the scene with a splash in the first half of the 2010 season, hitting .342 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs in 65 games before the