It’s a really good question without a good answer. He’s back trying to work his way into baseball shape again, which though Dave Dombrowski said he never doubted, a lot of people on the outside couldn’t see one way or the other. But once he gets in shape, goes to Toledo and plays, what then?

If Dmitri Young had been healthy all season, Marcus Thames probably would’ve never had the opportunity to do what he’s doing now. Yet here he is, still putting the ball over the fence at an alarming rate, hitting .300 for almost an entire month until now, and being one of the most difficult Tigers to pitch to. The bases-loaded walk he had Wednesday said plenty, because he took a 3-2 pitch. And he’s hitting well over .300 against right-handed pitching.

If Young is to become a regular again, he has to perform that way unless someone is injured and creates a void to fill. If he’s going to get back on the roster, again barring injury, he at least has to outperform someone on the bench, probably Alexis Gomez. Considering Gomez can play several different outfield positions and has become a versatile tool off the bench for specialty situations and pinch-running, that’s not a given.

For Dmitri to come back, you get the feeling it’s not going to be enough just to get back into playing shape and get up to the plate a few times like he did earlier this year in Erie. He has to show he can hit good pitches again, run the bases with some sort of mobility, and play a position at least occasionally, whether it’s first base or the outfield. This isn’t going to be rushed, and I don’t think it’s a guarantee he gets back up if he doesn’t show he can help this team. I believe it’s still in him to show that, but it’s going to take some work.

I’m not going to take on what he allegedly did in April. That’s a whole other issue. However you feel about what has happened this year and what he was accused of doing before pleading no contest, this would be a dramatic way to watch your career fall apart — go from the one star player on a 119-loss team to a bad headline once that team finally becomes a contender. We’ll see if he can rewrite the script.

The Tigers made room for Dustan Mohr on the Triple-A Toledo roster by demoting Nook Logan to Double-A Erie. He was batting .185 in 19 games this season, .180 in 18 games since coming back from a fractured finger suffered on opening day, and was in a 5-for-43 slump.

He’s heading to Lakeland to begin rehabbing at the spring training complex. While he has supposedly been conditioning, the rehab is intended to get him into baseball shape. Once he’s done with that, hopefully within a week to 10 days, he’ll start a rehab stint at Triple-A Toledo, and it won’t be a quick stop. He will not be called up, according to GM Dave Dombrowski, until his swing is back and he’s ready to play. At this point, they’re anticipating he’s at least 3-4 weeks away from that. There was no comment from the team on his legal issues or on where he has been for the last month. His personal issues, Dombrowski said, are something he’ll have to deal with.

As for whether Dmitri’s return would affect the Tigers’ search for a left-handed hitter, Dombrowski indicated it would not. If he’s at least a month away from getting back here, that would give them little to no team to evaluate how much he can contribute and react from there before the July 31 trade deadline.