links for 2008-05-29

55 thoughts on “links for 2008-05-29”

  1. I’ll apologize in advance if this has already been discussed and I missed it, but…

    Did anyone else think Leyland talking about Guillen’s ‘roids is related to his recent tirade, when he said he could “play games in the press, too”, and that it “won’t be pretty”?

    Remember, Leyland didn’t mention him by name in his rant, but it was Guillen who complained about the high expectations.

    Coincidence?

  2. I don’t think it has anything to do with it. In fact, I think just the opposite. Leyland is making clear that Carlos isn’t sitting – well, standing – because of his attitude or anything else.

  3. I don’t know whether Guillen has bad ‘rhoids or not, but I’m not going to do any investigative reporting to confirm it…

  4. If Guillen eventually has to have surgery, do you put him on the DL or the bereavement list?

    Bad joke, sorry.

  5. Didn’t Tom Gordon have roid surgery too? I thought he bounced back pretty fast from that, actually.

  6. I know Kaz Matsui started this season on the DL with anal fissures. Google that one. Ouch.

  7. It just seemed awkward to me. I mean, Leyland went into unnecessary detail with the whole “might need to be lanced” comment. Maybe it’s a personal hang-up I have, but we’re talking about a guy’s BUTT here, and that seems more than a little bit embarassing to Guillen. He could have easily said it was a hamstring or something instead.

  8. I don’t blame Sheff as much as I blame Leyland for leaving him in through the poor start. How does a guy go on the DL for an oblique when he comes up lame running out a grounder? let me tell you…The oblique was hurt long ago, he just said nothing about it.

  9. boy, Samuelson’s point about how DD has changed direction from focusing on pitching and defense to trying to batter teams to death is spot on. just two years ago, the Tigers had absurd pitching depth in their system. now it is seemingly barren.

    the sad thing is, the Tigers have tried this approach before…namely from 1991 thru 1997.

    I don’t think DD can be faulted for the Cabrera deal, but the Renteria trade looks worse every day. someone on here made this point earlier, but it bears repeating: if the Cabrera trade was made FIRST, do you think the Renteria trade would have still been made?

  10. I don’t think the Tigers have switched from “pitching and defense” to battering their opponents with offense. Jeremy Bonderman was a top 8 pitcher in the major leagues for his first 18 starts last year before his elbow flared up.

    Verlander’s been solid in his first two seasons. Had they both pitched to their expected levels, we’d have top notch pitching most of this year.

    Is Jair Jurrjens having a great start in Atlanta? Yes.

    Would it be nice to have Inge’s glove at 3rd everyday? Yes. But his elite level glove and absolutely abysmal bat neutralize each other and he’s about an average all around ball player. You win championships with average ball players in LF, not at the hot corner.

    And I know everyone will point to getting Miguel Cabrera in Andrew Miller’s wake and whatnot as gearing towards offense, but facts are, they got a guy who is 25 years old and has been a top 3 hitter in baseball with Pujols and A-Rod for the last 4 years in a pitchers ball park in the National League. It’s not like they just got a solid slugger — they got an elite slugger who’s unparalleled when you factor in his youth with his skills. It was a rare opportunity to grab a Franchise Player for a package that in my opinion (as one who follows Prospects) was pretty mediocre. Cameron Maybin can’t lift the ball off the ground or stop striking out, and Andrew Miller’s talent is there but is his control good enough and has his growth been stunted by being used in the major leagues way too much way too soon? Time will tell.

    Edit: And this is the best quote on what Dombrowski has done wrong (which isn’t gearing towards offense and ‘abandoning pitching and defense’):

    One, he was unnecessarily aggressive in giving long term extensions to mediocre players like Brandon Inge, Nate Robertson and (mediocre for now) Dontrelle Willis.

  11. Mike–

    I totally agree on the Cabrera trade..you have to make that deal. I disagree on Bonderman being a top 8 pitcher last year (ERA was still high, despite his record), but you may be right–hopefully he will come around.

  12. if the Cabrera trade was made FIRST, do you think the Renteria trade would have still been made?

    Yesterday, out of curiosity, I went back and checked reaction here at the time of the Renteria deal. I was surprised how many people had misgivngs even then, if only because I thought a lot of the mourning of Jurrjens was “now they say so.” Not so.

    William’s comment here brings back something I was thinking as I read through about the Renteria deal yesterday. No WAY that deal happens if the Tigers had reason to believe they’d be getting Cabrera. But that’s no reason to regret it.

    Renteria was brought in to replace Guillen at SS, and so far I think his overall performance compares favorably with Guillen if you look at 2007 to date vs. 2008 to date. The Tigers have gotten what they wanted from Renteria, pretty much, no matter what Jurrjens does this year or for the next 20.

    Not that I don’t want Cabrera, but the aftermath of that deal is the troublesome one. Lots of things weren’t thought out, dealt with. followed through on. There might not be anything wrong with Cabrera at 1B in the long run, but how he got there was just a big mess that shouldn’t have happened.

  13. I just think that DD should be issued a moratorium after seasons end where he is not allowed to make trades until the winter meetings. I was against both knee-jerk trades in 06 and 07.

    Also, i hope I don’t have to eat crow this weekend. I have been asking for the sheffield DL stint and Larish replacement for the past three weeks.

  14. Let me start by saying that I have no issues with the Cabrera trade. You have to make that trade. BUT…as it relates to this season, I think it may have thrown the entire organization off their plan. My sense, is that Dombrowski, Leyland, etc. entered the off-season with a plan for ’08. They immediately grabbed Renteria with the trade for Jurrjens/Hernandez. This happened quickly. I would say it was premeditated and thought out in terms of team strategy. That’s not to say it was a great trade – just that DD had a plan to get a veteran SS so they could comfortably move Guillen to 1B. They also picked up Jacque Jones rather quickly, hoping to fill their needs in LF (oops!).

    But the Cabrera trade obviously came out of nowhere. It wasn’t on the radar until right before it happened. They had to make it – but they weren’t ready for it. There was still ample time in the offseason and spring training to adjust, but it seems we were slow to do so. I would say that Leyland and his assistants were especially slow to adapt to the new situation. At minimum they should have had the defensive alignment figured out before opening day. JL called moving Cabrera to 1B a “no-brainer”. If it was so obvious, why wasn’t it done in March instead of the end of April? It’s like the last couple of months have been a terrible case of growing pains that threaten to turn this into a lost season.

    I’m getting the sense that the team is starting to settle down now, and even though the Win-Loss isn’t showing it they’re playing better baseball. Maybe they’re all starting to be more comfortable with the team they have. Will they heat up enough to actually make a run at it? Who knows?

  15. TOP 5 SITUATIONS TO BLAME FOR TIGERS POOR START

    5. Loss of Jose Mesa comes back to haunt them. The bullpen atmosphere has grown stale and stagnant since Mesa’s departure. Todd Jones misses his presumptive sidekick, and it has shown in his melancholy demeanor this season.

    4. Mishandling of Justin Verlander. A look at the schedule reveals that Verlander has consistently been started in Tiger losses. Contrast this with the Red Sox’ handling of Josh Beckett, who is more frequently scheduled to start when the Red Sox win. The lesson? Respect your ace.

    3. Ramon Santiago’s mysterious health problem. Renteria has filled in adequately, some would say, but the puzzling inability of Santiago to appear in more than a handful of games so far has been keenly felt nonetheless. Not only that, his performance in games where he has not appeared has left much to be desired.

    2. Leyland distracted by personal issues. What started with an innocent comment from buddy Tony LaRussa has become a full-blown obsession, as Jim wrestles with the question of whether to switch to a pipe, and how the more contemplative image of a pipe smoker might affect public perception of him as a scrappy, street fighting man type.

    1. Miguel Cabrera is a bust. Cabrera in 2007: .320, 34 HR, 119 RBI. Cabrera in 2008: .271, 8 HR, 30 RBI. Talk about falling off a cliff. So Miggy has cost the Tigers 89 runs this year. Even a comparison of his numbers through October of 2007 with those through May 2008 reveals a big dropoff. No excuses.

  16. Glad you enjoyed it, Dave. I don’t even know where “presumptive sidekick” came from. I think that if you read enough sports writing, you learn to subconsciously mimic it.

  17. Sean, it’s clear that you have mutliple logins using some fictitious “Ryan in Brooklyn” moniker. I know this is so because you essentially posted the same thing twice regarding the Cabrera and Renteria trades.

    While your point is a good one, it’s not necessary to post it multiple times. Furthermore, the “conversation” you had with yourself that followed, as well as the compliments to yourself are definitely uncalled for.

    Please stop clogging up the message board with your self-aggrandizing posts. 😉

  18. Going back a few posts…

    I think the Renteria deal gets done even if it’s after the Cabrera deal. The deal I don’t think gets made was the Jacque Jones one. If they hadn’t pulled that one off, Cabrera could’ve been shifted to left with Inge still at third. Renteria was acquired because Guillen was moving to first. Anyway, I think Jurrjens and Gorkys was too high of a price tag for a one (or potentially two) year solution at SS. They basically gave up 11 years of service time for two. Given how smart DD generally is, I’m kind or surprised that he would pull the trigger on that one.

  19. Bilfer the Director of CoSe is calling.

    Leyland’s cell phone rang – “Maybe that’s somebody telling me what to do,” he joked.

  20. I think the MO with DD is he tends to gamble a little bit. Especially when he is familiar with the players firsthand, i.e. Renteria, Cabrera, Willis — so perhaps he’s not relying so much on the scouting reports — but rather on personal experience with the players coupled with the gamble that they will preform to the ability of which he’s personally aware (see also Inge, Roberston contracts)

    The deal for Maggs is another case in point. Although I believe this was a free agent deal, there were a lot of raised eyebrows at the time, and a lot of other teams wouldn’t touch Maggs because of the knee. DD gambled. And it paid off.

    In hindsight, I don’t know any franchise that wouldn’t have jumped at signing Maggs if they knew then what we all know now about Maggs production the past few years. Here is a case where the gamble paid huge dividends.

    The deal for Cabrera is one you have to take (and admittedly, Willis is a coat tail to that deal) but Willis and Renteria are both classic examples of DD gambles.

    I personally feel like Renteria may not preform up to the expectations DD had in mind — which renders an already dubious Jurrjens/Hernadez trade extremely suspect. The jury is still out on what Renteria will do behind the plate, but I was expecting a much better defensive showing out of the gate, and he’s shown me nothing spectacular — I’d say nothing too much of an upgrade over Gullien. In fact, I would say Guillen has better range and agility even, albeit a less reliable arm and less reliable glove on the routine play.

    I very much hope Renteria will go on a tear this summer and be one of the leaders driving the team back to contention. Anything short of that and we’re gonna be having this same discussion many more times.

  21. Mark – I assure you – I’m my own person. Brilliant and funny as he is, there is only one Sean C. in Illinois.

  22. T, you’re right DD likes to gamble, he gambled giving Pudge a four year deal when he had the bad back and he gambled giving Magglio $100+ million with the sketchy knees as you point out. But he covered himself in both cases, insisting that the contract was structured such that certain games played/AB criteria be met before the later years kicked in. These were gambles, but they were calculated risks with some downside protection.

    I agree completely that the Cabrera deal is not really much of a gamble when you consider what you’re getting, although a couple people have pointed out that DD probably (and understandably) wasn’t ready for that trade, and the handling of the situation left much to be desired. Taking on Willis is the risky part of that trade, and so far the returns there aren’t so good.

    I see the Renteria trade as less of a gamble than you do, I think. Guillen was moving to first and DD needed an impact guy to put at short. Otherwise, you’re not really upgrading over Casey at first/Guillen at short from 2007. Not many impact SS were availble and the White Sox were also looking, so DD identified the guy he wanted and ponied up a couple good prospects to get him. Less of a gamble than a necessity in my mind. (I have a much longer post on the Renteria trade in the “Joyce down, Clete up” thread if you’re interested, I’d love to discuss.)

    I won’t pretend to know what DD expected from Renteria, but it’s very clear (as you point out) that he has a comfort level with players he already knows. GMs should take risks, in my opinion, and we as fans need to accept that not all of them are going to work out. At a minimum, at least he’s not Randy Smith trading only with the Astros, and only to get Brad Ausmus back. Talk about someone who’s averse to taking a risk!

  23. Sean C.,
    It’s ridiculous to call Miguel Cabrera a “bust” after 50 games. Slump is the better word to use.
    No excuse? How about new team, new league, new position, huge contract (feeling the pressure a bit). Give him time to adjust. I watched the guy in Florida for 4+ years, and he’s an incredible hitter. The guy’s track record mirrors Hank Aaron’s through age 24.
    Remember what happened with A-Rod his first year with the Yankees?

  24. Carolyn,

    Welcome to the board, I don’t think I’ve seen you post before. For the record, Sean C. was joking when he was referring to Cabrera as a “bust”. That entire post above is tongue-in-cheek, and specifically calling Taco Bell Miguel a “bust” is sort of a running joke around here that is really making fun of a few other board members that truly do believe he now sucks. In my opinion Sean and many others around here are staunch defenders of Cabrera, given his track record as a hitter, etc.

    Admittedly we do enjoy making fun of his weight.

  25. Sean C:

    I certainly hope any prospects you may be courting get you a little bit better than Carolyn

  26. Ahh. Thanks, Mark. Should have probably figured that one out myself. 😉

  27. I guess it would have helped to read Sean C.’s entire post.
    And yes, I’m a first-timer here.

  28. Tongue-in-cheek, eh? I hope Miguel doesn’t have his tongue in his cheek – he might try to eat it. Hey-oh. Anyway I agree with all of you who are of the opinion that Fatso will be just fine. You can’t argue with his track record. Heck, I’d take 80% of his past production.

  29. Don’t sweat it, Carolyn, Sean is the forgiving sort. He may take you to task in another post, but it’s nothing personal. Just business. 😉

    Debate is welcome around here; this is one of the best sports blogs on the net because of the knowledge and insights of the posters. Plus billfer always has great thought-provoking ideas and posts to keep us going. No matter how much you know now, you’ll learn a ton around here.

  30. welcome Carolyn! Any defender of Miggy is a DTWfriend of mine. And he’s not even that fat!

  31. I agree with Mark up there. This is a really good site as far as the content (thanks, billfer) and the knowledge of the commentors go (thanks, y’all). And no, tiff, Miggy isn’t that fat anymore. I’m still going to make fun of him though 😉

  32. Carolyn:

    We also generally think Sean C. is quite charming around here most of the time, and rather insightful — despite his staunch support of Leyland every now and then after he terminates our best pitching preformance of the year after 80 pitches, or his incessant call to bring Neifi Perez back to the team, etc. Admittedly, he has a soft spot for Jose Mesa, but aside from this, he has his moments.

    Did I mention he lives in Illinois?

    (I’m workin’ it for you buddy — you need to take it from here)

  33. T Smith. I think I just went blind. I was reading your post, and I saw “he has a soft spot for…” and then everything just went blank. All I could see was a silouhette of a chubby pitcher with a blue glove. Thanks.

  34. Renteria has been pretty much exactly what I expected defensively. Guillen gets to more balls but that gets wiped out by the ridiculous number of errors.

    Renteria is just an average-ish defender. Slightly below average range, but generally sure handed on the balls he gets too.

  35. One thing that puzzles me more than anything is Leyland’s lineups. I’m sure this has been talked about on this board before. How do you justify batting Sheffield in the 3-hole with his paltry .200 batting average? They should put Cabrera in the 3-slot, with Maggs behind him. Who knows? Maybe the protection will help Miggy. Instead, people named Jones, Pudge and Joyce have batted behind him. I don’t know what Leyland has against batting Cabs 3rd; he seems to have tried every other conceivable lineup, and Miguel has been a 3-spot guy most of his career. Batting him 5th gives him less at-bats and less RBI opportunities. Basically, Leyland’s saying he wants Sheffield to get more at-bats. I remember last season with the Marlins, Cabrera was moved to the cleanup spot for a few weeks. Some of the fans thought this was a bad idea because it didn’t guarantee Cabrera an at-bat in the first inning. Should be interesting to see who mans the 3-spot tonight.
    Once the real Cabrera shows up, Leyland will have no choice but move him up in the order.
    Anyway, I like something like this:

    Granderson
    Polanco
    Cabrera
    Ordonez
    Guillen

  36. Man, the humor on this site has been outstanding of late. I need to drink a pint of Diet Mountain Dew and get my game face on.

  37. This is an exchange I wish a reporter would have with Leyland:

    Following last night’s game, SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt asked Willie Randolph, “It seems like all the things that were illing this club…it’s like they’ve all come together, is it just timing,” to which Randolph smiled, laughed and asked, “Illing? Is that like the hip-hop term, illin’. You’re illin’, man.”

    Burkhardt, clearly embarrassed, and speaking up over his fellow reporters, who were all laughing as well, said with a smile, “I’m trying to be a rapper at the same time, what can I tell you.”
    Randolph, ready to answer the question, continued by saying, “Uhh, well, yeah, we been illin’ for a while,” which was followed by even more laughter from reporters.

  38. Mark (in Chicago)

    The acronym LOL is used a bit loosely and a bit too much, I think. But I did literally laugh out loud when I read your post. (And I don’t mean the one on the trades.) That was way funnier than mine.

    I try to be funny, sometimes too hard. Some people just are funny. I see a lot of that here, and it’s a big payoff for me when something I write that made me giggle starts a wave and comes back as something to really make me laugh.

    And thanks for the compliment, “Ryan in Brooklyn.” We really are brilliant and funny, aren’t we? I know you agree, but go ahead and say so anyway. Just to teach that Mark guy a lesson.

  39. Re: Pudge, Maggs, Cabrera. All 3 hand-picked by Ilitch. The rest of his family vetoed Maggs and yet Ilitch still wanted him. He’s always been willing to take a gamble and comes up with gold at least so far.

  40. Carolyn

    As you know by now, I was only playing on a running joke about Cabrera, started by the one poster here who really does think Cabrera is a bust. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to assume that he is joking as well, even if he’s not.

    I’m a one-trick pony with my humor here. Silly, stupid stuff, delivered with a very straight face. This has the benefit of providing cover when I really do say something stupid. I can always claim I was joking.

  41. T Smith

    Thanks for the support. I’ll ignore the less complimentary statements, because I know you’re just jealous that you don’t have an autographed Jose Mesa card. Or a blue glove. Or a chubby silhouette. (Help is on its way, Chris in D, though you can no longer read this to know it.) But I still don’t know why you had to tell everyone I live in Illinois. That was uncalled for.

  42. Your one trick pony-ness is great Sean. I’ve been limiting my humor to hemmorhoid-based jokes lately so it’s all good. As a side note, I can’t believe I just said “it’s all good”. billfer can feel free to ban me from his site for a week on account of that.

    Anyhoo – do the Tigs whip Carlos Silva like a government mule again tonite? They better get a bunch of runs early so I can get some sleep. These West Coast start times are a killer.

  43. given the chemistry on this board today, I think the Tig’s will beat Silva “like he stole somethin’!!” tonight.

    I said a few games ago it was almost time to buy low on this team. Maybe I’m just giddy from the fun I’ve around here lately, or perhaps it’s the lack of sleep from the late starts (we’re only an hour behind you Michigan folks), but I think we’ve bottomed. I don’t know what the numbers will be, but I’m calling for a hot June where we go 20-7 or some such thing. That’s right, you read that correctly. I am calling for the Tigers to be above .500 by the end of June.

    and to prove my confidence, I am putting actual money on the Tigers to win the division when I’m Vegas next Wednesday. In my world, I eat my own cooking…

  44. I’m getting all those same good vibes Mark. I’ve come to realize that an offense that can score 19 runs in a game *twice* is a good offense (of course you could also say that a team that’s been shutout 8 times is a bad offense, but bear with me here). All of those preseason prognostications about PlayStation-type offensive numbers weren’t guesswork. These guys can hit. Now that they seem to have figured out how to pitch and catch, there will soon be no stopping them when the guys in the batters box start putting it together.

  45. Chris in Dallas

    If the Cabrera deal had gone down first, the Tigers would have still had needs at SS and LF, true, but I think it would have changed their approach to filing them. I don’t think they would have offered as much for Renteria, and assuming they failed there, I think they might have filled the hole with Santiago (assuming that was OK with Guillen – no sarcasm intended). In the back of my mind, I seem to recall statements from – Leyland? – that totally contradict that last, though. So they might have traded for
    a defensive specialist, then.

    They could have and should have done better than Jacques Jones as a platoon partner for Thames in LF. I want to say that Santiago/Defensive New Guy as the SS solution would have influenced the Tigers in getting a more substantial bat in LF, with more left to trade for it – Juurjens and Hernandez, perhaps, or even Jurjjens straight up? – but I can’t say what was was available at the time.

    Something I realized in hindsight was the question of why Sheffield wasn’t in the LF picture to begin with, with his desire to play in the field already known and with the Tigers already not just hoping for but relying upon his return to health. But in acquiring Jones, they essentially nixed that, just to replace Sean Casey’s bat in the lineup, really. And later they give (struggling) Sheffield the shot in LF and release Jones. Then they try Joyce, and finally Thames gets what he should have gotten in the first place. The whole muddled mess now looks like a scheme to do everything but start Thames in LF full-time. Why was that so scary? They could (now) at least afford Thames the same patience they afforded Sheffield, no?

    I think the acquisition of Jones was probably the worst off-season move, and I don’t base that on his failure. It just didn’t make a lot of sense, not that I saw this at the time. My thought was – Jones? Lefty. OK. Not real popular with Cubs fans, but hey, maybe he’ll blossom here.

  46. I actually thought getting Jones would be an under the radar good pickup. I just remember hating the hell out of him as a Twin, perhaps becuase he drilled 13 career HR against the Tigers. Obviously he completely sucks these days, though. Maybe if the Cabrera deal had gone down first, they would have revisited the oft-rumored Jack Wilson trade with Pittsburgh which wouldn’t have cost 2 grade A prospects like the Renteria fiasco. Yes, I’m officially calling it a fiasco. Anyway, the Hindsight Game is fun. When all the chips fall, the Tigers will have made out with Miggy. He’s Manny Ramirez, sans the looniness (although Miggy does seem to have a bit of a goofy quality to him). Gotta go my DTW brethren. Enjoy the weekend and let’s hope for another sweep of the Sub-Mariners.

  47. Tongue-in-cheek, eh? I hope Miguel doesn’t have his tongue in his cheek – he might try to eat it. Hey-oh.

    Now why can’t I come up with stuff like that? I’m too cerebral, too Monty Python. I over-manage, like Tony LaRussa. You have the instinctual, gut-level stuff, Chris. You are the Jim Leyland of comedians.

    I mean that as a compliment.

  48. The whole muddled mess now looks like a scheme to do everything but start Thames in LF full-time. Why was that so scary?

    Country Strong is a powerful, scary thing.

  49. Carolyn

    Leyland kept Sheffield #3 based on what he was supposed to do there, what he did there last year when healthy, what everyone hoped he was going to do there. Leyland gave him more rope than anyone else would get, to the detriment of the team. It was a gamble that didn’t work, but don’t be surprised to see it played out again when Sheffield comes off the DL.

    A properly functioning Sheffield would make Cabrera ideal for #5, with some of the best protection around in the form of Guillen at #6. Without Sheffield – on the DL or off the team for good – I still think Cabrera is a good fit at #5. Protecting Ordonez, and even more importantly, getting another lefty in Guillen higher in the order (#3).

    I would really hope for Thames behind Cabrera. Other teams may find out to their cost that you don’t pitch around Cabrera to get to Thames. I don’t know his career numbers in this regard, but for a full 2 months Marcus has been on fire with men on, and the trend is our friend.

    Yes, I’m a shameless Marcus Thames booster. Please don’t bring me down with any contradictory career splits, now.

  50. Yeah, tiff! Country Strong is the REAL reason the Mariners don’t dare throw a lefty at us!

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