"Hitting .172, Magglio was not being Magglio.

And it finally got to the point that something had to be done.

"He came to me (Thursday) saying his ankle was weak and that he's not able to push off the way he'd like," trainer Kevin Rand said about Magglio Ordonez. "We decided to err on the side of caution and we're shutting him down at this point."

Ordonez was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday, retroactive to Wednesday, because of weakness in his right ankle. Andy Dirks was called up to take Ordonez's spot, but the hot-hitting outfielder didn't play in the Tigers' 3-1 victory over the Royals.

Ordonez's stint on the DL, could last longer than 15 days.

That's because Ordonez will undergo tests to determine why his ankle, which he broke last year, isn't regaining strength. But he also knows he can't be the player he needs to be with it feeling as weak as it does.

When asked about when it began bothering him so much that he could no longer play on it, Ordonez said: "It's been bothering me every day."

And when asked if he indeed can't be a productive player unless it gets better, he just nodded.

"At this time we can't answer that (how long he'll be on the DL)," Rand said. "We'll have a better idea once he's seen next week.

"We're going to send him back out to Los Angeles to see the specialist (Dr. Phillip Kwong) who did the surgery. He has good days, he has bad days. But there are days it bothers him hitting and, at times, defensively. Magglio has a lot of pride. I think he just got to the point of saying, 'I can't play at the level I'm accustomed to playing at right now. I just can't do it.'""