Dmitri, Gum, and a bunch of other links

  • Dmitri Young talked with Rob Parker abouth is battle with alcoholism and his journey back. Young is facing a battle on 2 fronts. He has to overcome his off the field issues, and show that he deserves a spot on the team and in the starting lineup. It’s interesting that the Phillies and Brett Myers have received a lot of flack for their handling of Myers’s spousal abuse situation. Yet the Tigers and Young haven’t felt the same wrath. Maybe it’s because Young’s incident didn’t happen in front of a throng of people, or maybe it’s because Young has been MIA since the incident. In any case, the Tigers need to speak about their stance on the issue. I know there are legal ramifications for Young, but the organization can’t appear to condone the alleged behavior.
  • On a lighter note, Nate Robertson has started a Gum Time blog. At first I thought the gum thing was funny. It was a bunch of guys making millions of dollars acting like little leaguers – which is cool. I think at this point it’s a little silly, but who am I to mess with what works.
  • All 4 of the Tigers starters (I’m not counting Maroth/Miner) have allowed exactly 94 hits. This is insignificant but mildly interesting at the same time.
  • The Hardball Times has a nice piece on the Tigers success thus far. This looks to be part of a series so keep checking back.
  • The Baseball Crank took a look at how proficient teams are at not losing their baserunners by looking at GIDP, CS, SB, SH. Three teams that have been doing very well this year, the Mets, White Sox, and Reds, are at the top of the list. The Tigers however are in the bottom 3rd, which just shows there more than one way to skin a cat. In the Tigers case it comes back to pitching, defense and power.
  • Keith Law at ESPN Insider ranks the top 10 rookie pitchers. The top 4 are Francisco Liriano, Jon Papelbon, and then Zumaya and Verlander. I was a little surprised to see Zumaya ranked ahead, but I agree with Law when he says

    But unless there’s a compelling physical reason to make his move to the bullpen permanent, the Tigers should let Zumaya start and move him only if he pitches his way out of the rotation.

  • The Tigers have asked about Cliff Floyd, but the Mets aren’t sending him anywhere.

4 thoughts on “Dmitri, Gum, and a bunch of other links”

  1. If the Tigers put Young back on the field this year, I think they are condoning his behavior regardless of anything they say. And really, what are they gonna say, “We don’t condone choking women”? If you actually have to publically make that stance clear something is very seriously wrong.

    I think the big difference between the Young and Myers situation is the fact that Myers started the day after the incident happened, whereas Young’s incident didn’t really get that kind of exposure when it actually happened.

  2. Since he hasn’t actually been convicted of anything, were the Tigers’ organization to issue a statement about Young’s behavior, it would imply that they know the truth of the situation. And since the organization surely doesn’t know the details of the incident, any public statement statement about the case would damage Young’s chances before the arraignment even begins. Then Young could probably sue for defamation of character. After all, he’s still considered innocent by law.

  3. There’s a nice article in the Freep this morning about Kenny Rogers. I remember last year I was kind of agains him starting the All-Star game because of the whole cameraman incident, and I was skeptical when the Tigers signed him in the off-season. However, he seems to have kept himself out of trouble and made a good impression here, not to mention brought the veteran presence our young pitchers needed. So what do we make of that? Is letting him start the All-Star game the same as saying MLB condones shoving camermen? Do the Tigers condone his behavior by signing him? If we can let Rogers move past his mistakes, why not at least give D the same chance? As I said before, my personal feelings about Young have changed for the worse, but the article this morning about Rogers made me see things a bit differently.

  4. The Hardball Times really needs to swallow a little before choking out an article like that. Money, money, money is NOT the reason for this year’s Tigers team, not matter how you look at it…..unless it’s simply a thorn in your NY-BOS rotefest.

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