Off Day Linking and Site News

  • It appears that comment spam problem is taken care of. It wasn’t a specific attack on me, but Akismet, which is a service that does spam filtering went down. The tide has been stemmed so no need to register for now
  • Tiger blogger night is one week from Tuesday. Big Al will be joining the ranks and I received emails from a couple readers as well. If you’re interested in joining us, we are sitting in mezzanine section 212 row 1.
  • Greg Eno draws parallels between the upcoming series, and a labor day series against the Yankees from 1961.
  • Baseball stat guru Tom Tango (aka TangoTiger) and author of The Book is conducting his annual Fan Scouting Report. In past years the Tigers have been underrepresented in the polling. With a little more interest this year, there might be more response. (Hat Tip Tiger Tales)
  • Kurt broke down the Tigers recent string of losses. It just goes to show there are many ways to lose a game.
  • While I disagree with Pat Caputo on a regular basis, we’re on the same page in terms of Neifi Perez. While other local writers are still defending the move and Leyland’s decision to play him everyday, it’s nice to see one member of the media see what everyone else is seeing.

15 thoughts on “Off Day Linking and Site News”

  1. I haven’t seen much spam lately after picking up an average of 200 a month. hopefully it doesn’t find me. BUT if you ever did want registratino I’d be fine with it.

  2. Junior,at Fire Joe Morgan,has a lengthy post on the Tigers today,in rebuttal to a MSNBC article.The folks who run that site not only know a few things about baseball,but it’s consistently the funniest baseball blog on the web.

  3. Junior,at Fire Joe Morgan,has a lengthy post on the Tigers today,in rebuttal to a MSNBC article.The folks who run that site not only know a few things about baseball,but it’s consistently the funniest baseball blog on the web.Worth a look and possible link.

  4. Speaking of the Media and Perez, here is Danny Knobler defending the use of Perez.

    Q: Is it surprising that Neifi Perez has started every day since he was acquired?

    A: No, it’s not surprising. That’s exactly why they brought him in the first place – to play him when Polanco is out.

    You can look at it two ways: He’s a veteran player, he was a gold glove shortstop at one point. He’s good at second base. He can do some things once he gets on base, but his OBP isn’t very good. (This is what Leyland believes.) Or, you can look at it like the stat people believe: “They look at him as a terribly useless player offensively. He doesn’t hit for a high average. He doesn’t walk. And he doesn’t hit home runs. The same stat people who don’t like Neifi Perez don’t like Placido Polanco, either.” We’ve seen over this year and last year that Polanco fits very well in the Tiger lineup. Perez doesn’t fit as well as Polanco does, but they don’t have Polanco right now. Jim Leyland definitely believes that Neifi Perez is a better player at second base than Omar Infante.

    What’s everyone’s problem with “Stat People” Leyland knows the stats on Perez and they are horrific. So then we must assume that DD and leyland expect Perez to come here and produce…which is the actually something he hasn’t done his entire career. This movement to shun statistical evidence is a bad sign. Isnt that how we got into a war?

    KNobbler then goes on to say that the reason magglio is still in the clean-up spot is because we don’t have any options in the 4 hole. Well I feel that Thames or even Monroe would fill that spot better then the Feckless Magglio. But hey, I’m a “Stat man” I don’t make decisions on a player based on how he played 6 years ago when he played for me in colorado!

  5. I heard Knobler make those comments yesterday and I was dumbfounded (the Perez part). I’ve always liked Knobler, but it seems that this year he has this unwavering belief in all things Leyland. Leyland has done many things right. He’s also made strange decisions that have worked out. It doesn’t mean he’s always right.

    As for Ordonez, in listening to Knobler, I think he was talking about a lineup in which Ordonez is still playing – which like it or not is the reality and that won’t change. If Ordonez is in the lineup, then cleanup probably is still the most likely spot for him. Now removing Ordonez on occasion for Thames is a whole other discussion – but it’s one that we’ve already had.

  6. It would be nice to see Ordonez drop down to 6th (I still like Guillen fifth) for awhile though, we just aren’t getting any production out of the 4 spot. My likely candidate would be Monroe with Pudge second and Thames or Young third. Just off the top of my head.

    And Infante over Perez any day, I agree. Knobler is usually one of the sanest of the beat-bloggers, so I was surprised too.

  7. i would be into seeing Thames hit in front of monroe. why not give it a go. hit Ordonez 6th and move pudge back up to 3. maybe even 2. It do get worried with pudge hitting 3 because he hits into way too any DPs.

  8. It amazes me that editorial pundits just throw their support behind Perez trade. i can understand if you want to argue about the lineup and weather thames or DY should DH. But you just cannot tell us that perez is a good player and a better player than Omar. That is just bad.

  9. The fact that Knobler gives Leyland the benefit of the doubt doesn’t surprise me. Keep in mind that someone like Knobler has seen the effects of losing on the clubhouse day in and day out for a number of years. I think people like him are less likely to forget exactly how amazing this season has been. We might think we live and die with the team, but it’s not how we make our living.

    I’m for (1) Infante over Perez and (2) giving Thames more playing time, but I’m also willing to give Leyland the benefit of the doubt. I’m as big a numbers guy as anyone, but you can’t discount the impact of a manager who knows how to manage personalities and expectations.

  10. Agreed, Mike.

    While we’re on the issue – I don’t think batting order matters very much, but it would be silly to srgue that it doesn’t matter at all. I know it isn’t always possible to shake things up, since there are repercussions with the morale of the players, etc. Anyway, Guillen should be 2nd or 3rd, if anything, since he is one of the only players on the roster who will take a walk. He is the best player on the team, and he has an OBP of something like .370. Anyway, I’d like to see him and Thames somewhere in the top four. I know it isn’t going to happen because it makes too much sense.

    I’ve never been a fan of Monroe’s, since I think he will stop hitting at a moment’s notice, with absolutely no warning. He’s just not very good, and he’s exclusively a mistake pull hitter. That being said, I don’t mind him batting 2nd, since he does have some power, and he hits the ball in the air most of the time. We don’t need Perez or Pudge or Casey or someone like that hitting into DPs every time the leadoff hitter gets on first.

    Prediction for tonight: The Yankees draw a bunch of walks against Ledezma and score about 9 runs.

  11. Robertson is pitching tonight dan. Plus its raining big time in New York. Maybe it will wash the games with the Yankees clear off the schedual!

  12. Batting order matters-there’s more at bats for hitters at the top of the order.Better hitters get on base more often ,where they can score more runs.

  13. You’re right, Bob. It matters in that every spot you move up in the order will provide you about 17 more plate appearances. For Neifi Perez that’s 4-17 with 4 singles, and for Marcus Thames it’s at least one homer, a couple of walks, and two doubles, so yeah, it matters.

    But even acknowledging that, I’d argue it doesn’t matter as much as you might think.

    Oops, I was talking about tomorrow against the Yankees. We really need to win a couple of these games…

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