Bullpen Retiring the Side
First there was Craig Dingman’s artery injury that will probably force him to retire. And then there was Troy Percival’s failed attempt to come back that has resulted in his retirement. Then yesterday the oft-injured Matt Mantei strained his oblique. Mantei had been impressing everyone this spring and was a likely candidate to make the team. Now it looks like Mantei is a likely candidate to retire as well.
Verlander improves
After a rough first outing, Justin Verlander improved somewhat this time out. He finished with a single home run allowed in 2 2/3 innings. The problem was that he needed 60 pitches to get through less than 3 innings. Danny Knobler viewed the outing as a postive saying:
Verlander was much better today, and so was Ledezma. With Verlander, his composure was better, and so were his curve and changeup. In fact, even if you include his two big-league starts last summer, this is the first time we’ve really seen the complementary pitches from Verlander that we had heard about. He still needs more consistency, and it’s not great that he needed 60 pitches for 2 2/3 innings, but it was much better.
But Jason Beck was a little more reserved in his assessment:
He gave up a home run to Michael Ryan, the first batter of the game, and worked into a lot of full counts early. He showed a nice pickoff move to retire Edgar Renteria straying off first in the third inning, but gave up a single and a walk after that and was pulled with 60 pitches, a lot of them fastballs.
While I’m happy to see the improvement, and I’m far from worried, I’d really like to see either Justin Verlander or Joel Zumaya turn in a performance that makes everyone say WOW! We hear about the potential, and the minor league performances, but I need to see them do it while wearing the Tiger uniform.
If neither have that type of outing where they look spectacular this spring, I’d prefer to see them both start in AAA. When Bonderman made the team in 2003, it was after a very strong spring where he pitched his way on. I don’t see any reason to rush either pitcher at this point.
Again, I’m not at all worried at this point because there is a lot of spring training left. I’m just anxious for them to show us something.
New blogs on the block
I’ve recently updated my sidebar with some new Detroit sports blogs. I’ve added the following:
Also, long time Padres blogger Geoff Young has moved his blog from All-Baseball to www.Ducksnorts.com.
Not at all surprised that Mantei’s hurt. I’m convinced by now that full health is a rare state for the poor guy.
this guy German – he’s got to go. Just watched him struggle mightily v the Braves (Wednesday); gave up the lead and allowed ’em to tie….all due to his inability to find the plate. He walked a guy, hit 2 others, went deep in the count to everybody….just terrible. Only reason he survived was he struck out the final 2 guys he faced, or it would’ve been worse. Yuck! Go somewhere else and pitch!…..
I don’t remember. Was his spring that impressive or were we just that desperate?
Scott –
I view German a little differently… Yes, he’s frustrating, but here’s why: His pitches have a ton of movement on them. This is usually a good thing, but it can be overdone. Basically, when he throws those pitches, he’s pretty much got no idea where the hell they’re going. Neither do the hitters, however. On the other hand, if he can’t throw the pitches for strikes, the hitters just let the nasty stuff go by, and draw walks. If anything, it’s a case of too much of a good thing with Franklyn. Now, whether he’ll ever learn to harness this movement, that’s what we’re all waiting for. Unfortunately, he’s “out of options”, so he is probably down to his last chances to show he can harness his pitches while wearing the Olde English D.
Jeff M,
I think it was pretty impressive, plus they were desperate. But really in terms of the 5th starter spot this year, it’s not like there is anybody to supplant.
Scott- I understand your frustration with German. I have a feeling he’ll break camp with the team (because of the options issue that JeffK raised), but I don’t know that he’ll still be with the team at the end of the year.
Re: German, it’s still spring training. I’m not worried if he’s working out location stuff in spring training. If he’s all over the place when the season starts, well, blech. But, I dunno, I hate judging guys on their ST performances when, for all we know, they could be using the games to work out some mechanical kinks or try new things or what the heck ever.
watched Zumaya pitch today v Toronto….superb!! Rippin’ fastball, snappin’ curves – mostly strikes. Kept the batters off balance. He threw a couple curve “diggers”, but I can overlook that; nobody throws strikes on every pitch. Only allowed 1 run in his 3 innings; unearned. And the only hit he allowed was a chump hit on a fastball low + away; the batter lunged at it and hit a grounder past first to score the run. If all his outings are like this, he’s a cinch. All in all, I was quite impressed with this guy – he’s a keeper.
“Sweet swingin” Johnny Grubb. A fave of mine also.
German will save 40 games for somebody, someday. When is anybody’s guess. He may be 30 before he figures things out. Unless he does it pronto he won’t be a Tiger for long.
I would like to see Colon and Ledezma step up particularly if the phenoms got to Toledo. But they haven’t done much either. Actually I hope both Verlander and Zumaya go down because I will be in North Carolina in April and will see the Hens in both Durham and Charlotte. So I’m greedy.