Tiger Notes

“The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated”

- Mark Twain

It began last season when Magglio Ordonez reached the vaunted at bat that vested his contract for 2010. Detroit Tiger fans scratched their heads in mystery, some jumping the very bandwagon they called home after Magglio hit the famous HR to send Detroit to their first world series since 1984.

We’re going to have to cut a lot of dead weight now, they’d type angrily at various message boards found on the world wide web.

And then the fateful day of December 8th, 2009. Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson, two very important pieces to a second place team during the regular season were traded. Detroit got lefty reliever Phil Coke and outfield prospect Austin Jackson from the Yankees, plus touted young pitchers Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth from Arizona.

The fall out was fierce.

Granderson, 28, has a very loyal fan base with the Tigers. The fans, to say the least, were not happy with the deal.

But than it began; “They are cost cutting”, “Giving up on 2010 for a run in 2011″. And sure, in the epicenter of this hurricane was a lot of things that proved this theory correct. Why would Detroit send a beloved Tiger (this generations Willie Horton?) away WHILE also trading a guy that had just won 13 games for the organization.

But few looked at the arms Detroit stocked with this move – nor did they think about the possible future of highly touted Yankee prospect Jackson. And I understand why – broken hearted fans don’t see clearly right away.

But then something happened.
Something big.

The Tigers committed 80 million dollars to superstar-ace Justin Verlander over the next five years. How’s that for cost cutting? Verlander was coming off easily his best year, statistically. The move made a lot of people happy – but now their was the seed of doubt planted … why sign Verlander to this deal now?

Aren’t we supposed to be cutting cost?

And now reports are coming out that Detroit has officially made an offer to Johnny Damon. No one is sure if its 1 year, $7 million or 2 years $14 million. But the offer was authorized by Mike Illitch.

You know, the owner of the club.

So ask him, if this team is cutting costs.

So if Detroit does sign Johnny Damon, many speculate this will take away a lot of playing time for Carlos Guillen.

And I hate to be critical of any one wearing the Tiger uniform … but if that’s the case … good.

His defense has been a liability for far too long. So much so that Manager Jim Leyland – who is a HUGE Carlos Guillen fan – would bench him in late innings for defensive purposes.

My breaking point with Guillen was after the one-game playoff with the Twins. Guillen was pulled for defensive purposes. Not happy about this, and siting that you don’t treat a former all-star like this, he publicly criticized Leyland.

Strike three Pudg…er, Guillen.

Is he capable of being a decent DH? Maybe, if he can stay healthy, which isn’t a given. In the six years he’s played in Detroit, Guillen has missed significant time on the DL four of those years. At 34-years old, I don’t see that trend coming to an end anytime soon.

So, if it means Guillen playing less – or even being traded – I’m all for the signing of Johnny Damon.

Over at Motown Sports, they are predicting what the Detroit Tigers are going to do this season. Great idea!  As you can see, I’m projecting/predicting Verlander to pick up right where he left off last year, while Rick Porcello stay right about where he was last year. Max Scherzer is going to be great at times, but will struggle by a lack of Tiger offense from time to time.

Jeremy Bonderman and Phil Coke are the wild cards in this scenario. We really don’t know what we are going to get this season with Bonderman, and we really don’t know if Coke will even make the rotation.  But, this is what I think will happen.

What say you, Tiger fans?

The Bleacher Report has a Best/Worst blog entry today. The Tigers make an appearence in the “Worst” department:

George Fitopoulos : Max Scherzer (Traded to the Detroit Tigers)

He has to face a DH instead of a pitcher now, which will only hinder his ability to pitch past the sixth inning. He already had enough trouble with that in the National League, so wins will be hard to come by for the third-year pro.

He brings up a valid point on the DH situation. I don’t think it’s far fetched to say that AL pitchers going to the NL benefit a lot more than vice versa. Two examples off the top of my head are CC Sabathia (2008: 6-8, 3.48 ERA in 122 innings with Cleveland, 11-2, 1.65 ERA in 130 innings with Milwaukee) and Cliff Lee (who started out gang busters in the NL after being traded to the Phillies, but leveled off towards the end of the season.)

Scherzer has only pitched 226 innings of MLB baseball, so it’s still up in the air what he’s really going to bring to the big leagues. He’s obviously a strikeout machine, punching out 174 hitters in 170 innings. He also gives up almost a hit per inning. With Scherzer facing a “real” hitter four more times a game, one wonders how that will effect his ERA.

I’m not an expert in the game of stats, so I’ll leave that to Lee Panas or Bill Ferris. But I will give credence to Fitopolus’s theory that this could be an issue – but I’m leaning towards it being a very small issue. Most #9 hitters don’t put too much fear into a pitcher of Scherzer’s ilk.

Scott Sizemore also made it on the list, under the “Batter positively affected (indirectly).”

Bryan Curley: Scott Sizemore – Positively Affected (Starting after Placido Polanco signed in Philadelphia)

Sizemore is a front-runner for AL Rookie of the Year, and he should bat atop the Detroit lineup with players like Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez to drive him in.

This basically agrees with my theory that Sizemore should get some opportunity leading off for the Tigers this season. He’s got a good bat, with capable speed. I think he’s a more traditional lead off hitter than Curtis Granderson was; and Austin Jackson is slated to be hitting in the bottom third of the lineup. Of all the moves/non moves, I think Sizemore is going to be the brightest spot.

Go and read the rest of the column, it’s a good read.

© 2009 Ronald S. Irving

The cold winterly snow this morning reminds me that Baseball is still a couple months away. We got a couple inches of fresh white stuff. I’m not a fan, but my dog loves it. So we’ll call it a wash, this time.

Now, onto some baseball content.

I was tinkering around with my baseball mogul lineups when I decided to throw together what I think will be the Detroit Tiger lineup for 2010 – now, I grant you that this is WAY early. We still don’t know if Johnny Damon will be added to the team, or who might surprise us coming out of spring training.

This is just an exercise in attempting to forget the snow that fell last night.

1. Scott Sizemore 2B
2. Ryan Raburn LF
3. Carlos Guillen DH
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Magglio Ordonez RF
6. Brandon Inge 3B
7. Adam Everett SS
8. Austin Jackson CF
9. Gerald Laird C

I have great concern putting Sizemore in the lead-off spot, but he does have good speed, if we’re going with the formulaic #1 has to have speed ideal he fits that spot. From everything I’ve read they want to keep Austin Jackson in the bottom third of the lineup, so you’ll see him in either the 7th or 8th spot.

I’d like to see Maggs get some At bats in the #2 spot, if his power continues to elude him. Guillen, who knows if he’ll even play, right?

Miguel is the only player in this lineup we can depend on – but that’s like saying the sky is blue.

So what say you, Tiger fans?