Scranton 1 Toledo 2 10 innings
Ramon Santiago, Ryan Raburn, and Jack Hannahan all had 2 hits. Chris Shelton went 0 for 4 with 2 K’s. Virgil Vasquez was strong again with 7 innings of shut out ball. He allowed 5 hits, 2 walks, and he fanned 7. Vasquez now has 41 strikeouts and 8 walks in 35 innings.
Reading 4 Erie 6
Jeff Larish singled and hit his 5th homer. Mike Hollimon tripled, singled, and walked. Brent Dlugach added 2 doubles. Dallas Trahern started and had his first rough outing. He only allowed 3 runs over 5 innings, but he also allowed 5 hits and 4 walks.
Reading 8 Erie 1
Andrew Kown was touched for 6 runs on 2 homers in 3 innings. Anthony Tomey pitched another scoreless inning stretching his string to 8 2/3 innings over 8 games between Lakeland and Erie. Jeff Larish was the offense with his 6th homer.
Lakeland 4 Dunedin 5
Mike Hernandez hit his 4th homer. Cameron Maybin added 2 hits and his 10th stolen base. Justin Justice drew 3 walks. Andrew Miller continues his up-and-down season with 6 innings of shutout ball. He allowed 5 hits while walking 2 and fanning 5.
West Michigan 3 Kane County 5
James Skelton had 3 hits pushing his average to .304. Chris Cody allowed 4 runs on 4 hits over 6 innings. He struck out 7 and walked only one.
Minors News
- Kevin Hooper hits the DL. Kevin Mateo was signed to take his spot.
- The Whitecaps are giving away Brent Clevlen bobbleheads on May 9th
Wow. It would seem that Vasquez has got to have them thinking about swapping him out with Durbin. I hope Chad can pull it together, but 41 K’s in 35 innings and a 2.57 ERA is hard to ignore.
Maybin stealing his 10th base is exciting. Does he have too much power to be a legitimate leadoff hitter?
I read a rumor on the Yahoo Sports Rumors section that the Tigers might sign Brian Lawerence (formerly of the Pads and recenlty released by the Rockies) to possibly be the 5th starter. Is this really a possibilty? I thought I’d see what the word around Detroit was on that…I don’t really see a need to sign a 5th starter. Durbin is doing about all you can expect out of a 5th starter, and if they are going to go in another direction, I’d rather see Vazquez get a chance, personally at least.
Sorry, screwed that up.
Maybin stealing his 10th base is exciting. Does he have too much power to be a legitimate leadoff hitter?
Does Granderson?
Depends on the price. Any time you can pick up an extra arm for a reasonable price, you do it. The extra depth would make it easier to trade one of our pitching prospects in the future.
I’m just not seeing replacing a prospect with a bad pitcher as a good thing.
Disclaimer: I know nothing about Lawrence. I’m assuming they wouldn’t even bother talking to him if they didn’t believe he was serviceable.
Having said that, of course you wouldn’t just replace the prospect with this guy straight up. I was just saying that having a little more depth in the organization gives you a little more leeway to fill other needs. No matter how bad Lawrence is, he’s still better than 90% of the pitchers in the organization.
Let’s assume Lawrence can perform equally as well as Durbin (or anyone else in the organization, for that matter). Let’s further assume that our front office believes Durbin has already reached his ceiling. Wouldn’t it make sense to pick up Lawrence at a reasonable price and then deal Durbin to someone who still believes in (and is willing to pay for) his upside?
Lawrence didn’t pitch last year, because of shoulder surgery, but, in 2003-2005, he was below average (ERA+ of 94, 97, and 80). The guy didn’t even make the Rockies out of spring training.
In answer to the second part of your scenario, I don’t think anyone has much faith in Durbin’s upside. The guy is hardly a prospect. He’s 29 years old. I doubt anyone would trade for him.
No one would trade for Durbin and he’s not a prospect. He’s a mediocre pitcher who threw a complete gem in Chicago and another solid outing against the White Sox. Aside from those starts he’s been mediocre or worse.
Instead of Lawrence, let’s put Wilfredo-freaking-Ledezma in the 5th spot.
And is just me or does Shelton go 3-4 one day and the next day is 0-4 with 3 K’s?
I was just using Durbin as an example. Replace his name with anyone who projects as a probable #5 guy with a slight chance of going higher. I’m not saying you could get a top prospect for a guy like that, but you could get some bench or bullpen depth. Many of the basement dwellers have no choice but to take a chance on borderline MLB pitchers. How many Tigers starters over the past 15 years went on to pitch meaningful innings for anyone else?
Yes, that’s why Thames is the one platooning with Casey. 🙂
I guess, in my view, if the Tigers signed Lawrence, this is exactly what they would be doing — taking a chance on a borderline MLB pitcher. I don’t see how signing Lawrence would make them any better than they would be if they subtracted Durbin and added Vasquez or Jurrjens.
I’m also not sure that the Tigers need to add a mediocre pitcher, in order to trade a Miner, or (when they’re healthy) Tata or Colon.