Monthly Archives: August 2008

2008 Season, Roster Management

Chris Lambert to debut on Tuesday

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Chris Lambert will get the call to start in Nate Robertson’s place, and in the process make his big league debut. The Tigers acquired Lambert in exchange for Mike Maroth last season. At the time, Lambert was spelling his last name a little differently, PTBNL.

Lambert was the Cardinals first round pick in the 2004 draft. He opened the 2005 season in high A ball and made 10 pretty successful starts before being bumped to AA. That’s where he languished. He walked 5 batters per 9 for 18 starts, and not surprisingly repeated the level in 2006. But the results were about the same. He started 2007 there as well, before being bumped to AAA. With the promotion came a move the bullpen where he gave up a lot of homers (10 in 57.2 innings).

He made one start for Toledo at the end of the 2007 season, and has made 26 starts this year. He’s posted a solid 7.5 K/9 while shaving a walk per nine off his career numbers to bring it to 2.9 for the season.

Another improvement leading to his 3.50 ERA is the drop in home runs allowed, with only 7 in 149.1 innings. Interestingly, or maybe troublesome-ly, is that all 7 homers have come on the road. Still, even looking at road only numbers means he’s allowing less than 1 per 9 innings pitched.

Lambert will be added to the 40 man roster, but he likely would have earned that distinction in the offseason to protect him from the rule 5 draft. Somebody will need to be sent down from the 25 man roster. Presumably this will be Aquilino Lopez who can be optioned out, and then recalled when the rosters expand.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 129: Tigers at Royals

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PREGAME: Zach Miner looks to bounce back from a rough outing against the Orioles. He didn’t make it out of the secon inning before allowing 5 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks. That came after 3 straight starts in which he pitched into the 6th inning and allowed 3 earned runs or fewer.

For the Royals it will be Kyle Davies. Davies has efficiency issues. He hasn’t recorded a 6th inning out since July 13th. In his last start against Detroit, he limited the Tigers to 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk, but he was lifted after 4 innings and 96 pitches.

DET @ KCR, Saturday, August 23, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:10

2008 Season, Players

Grandy’s a stud, is Matt Joyce?

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Baseball Prospectus just released what they call “The Ultimate Fantasy Draft.” Essentially they throw contract status out the window and rank the 50 players that teams should build around. Curtis Granderson earned a ranking of 16, right between Ryan Braun and Tim Lincecum (and two spots behind Miguel Cabrera).

Nate Silver had this to say in the Curtis blurb:

Somewhere around Webb or Braun, we really turned a corner into the next tier of talent. Granderson is just a superlative ballplayer, excelling in every phase of the game, and his work ethic is so strong that he could wind up getting even better.

Now what does this have to do with Matt Joyce? The Spot Starters recently looked at Granderson’s first extended opportunity at playing time, and Matt Joyce’s first extended opportunity. Both seasons occurred when the players were the same age (23). Here’s the kicker, Joyce’s debut has been more impressive than Granderson’s, and its not that close. Joyce hit for a slightly better average, substantially more power, gets on base better, is striking out less…
Continue reading Grandy’s a stud, is Matt Joyce? →

2008 Season, Pitching

Nate Robertson booted from rotation

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Nate Robertson is out of the rotation and headed to the bullpen. I don’t know if being in the pen for the remainder of the year will help a pitcher who is getting shelled like this, but he couldn’t stay in the rotation either.

Robertson is fighting through something right now. I don’t know if it is mechanical, injury, or if he has completely lost it. But I’m actually a proponent of Robertson as a bullpen – and maybe even closer – candidate in the future, like next year. To that extent this could be a nice trial period.

UPDATE: While Dontrelle Willis is on the same schedule as Nate, Leyland said it wouldn’t be Willis getting the Tuesday start. Willis struggled with his command while Robertson was struggling with homers on Wednesday night. Chris Lambert is a pretty likely candidate, and last pitched on Tuesday meaning that he’d have an extra day of rest.

Also, Beck has some Robertson quotes. Nothing shocking, just an athlete saying all the right things. Trying to work on the slider…low point…understands why the skipper did it

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 128: Tigers at Royals

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PREGAME: The Tigers return to Kansas City for a 3 game set. Tonight it will be Justin Verlander trying to reclaim his ace stuff. In his last start he held the Orioles to 2 unearned runs on 4 hits in 6 innings. He hasn’t had back to back quality starts in a month though.

Brian Bannister owns the Tigers, limiting them to 3 runs over his last 3 starts. But he hasn’t had that same success against the rest of the league. His last time out he allowed 10 runs on 10 hits and 3 walks with 3 homers – in one inning.

DET @ KCR, Friday, August 22, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:10

POSTGAME: It’s a win. Justin Verlander was pretty good. He had a rocky first inning, not being able to command any of his pitches. Be he later settled down. The curve ball was really working.

The Tigers didn’t have a ton of hits, but what they did have were hit a long ways. Cabrera picked up another 2 homer game, the second being a monster off a car on top of the waterfalls.

Fernando Rodney wasn’t good, but he got out of it. Usually the fastball command dictates the outing for Rodney, but he had more trouble with the change up. A couple doubles, a walk, and a single with 2 impressive strike outs in between put the tying run on 3rd with 2 outs. A wild pitch with a fortunate bounce, and Rodney remembering to cover homer, led to Dave DeJesus being tagged out easy to end the game.

2008 Season, Defense

Tango’s Scouting Report By the Fans

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Once again Tom Tango, aka Tangotiger, is conducting his scouting report by the fans, for the fans. I’ve linked to this in the past, but basically you the fan get to rate players defensively across several categories. Tom then compiles the data and makes it available to the masses.

He has instructions on his site, and the one I’d want to highlight is :

Try to judge “average” not as an average player at that position, but an average player at any position. If you think that Willie Bloomquist has an average arm, then mark him as average, regardless if you’ve seen him play 2B, SS, 3B, LF, or CF.

DO NOT CONSIDER THE POSITION THE PLAYER PLAYS!

It’s an off day for the Tigers, so take 5 minutes of the time you’d spend watching the game, and take the survey. It’s quick, and easy. And the bigger sample size the better.

Minors

One less inefficiency to exploit

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When the Tigers pulled off the Cabrera/Willis trade, Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller were the two key pieces. They had something in common – they slipped to the Tigers due to signability issues. The same thing happened in 2007 with Rick Porcello and the Tigers hungrily snapped him up, and like with the aforementioned players, were willing to go above slot to sign him. When the Tigers made the trade it was assumed that they would be able to replenish quickly due to Mike Ilitich’s willingness to spend for premium talent in the draft – but it appears that there will be less talent slips.

Peter Gammons notes that the small market teams have realized that the draft is the best chance to be on a level (or at least level-ish) playing field with the big spending teams. They can’t get the same free agents, but they can get the same quality of entry player. Gammons lists the top 10 teams in terms of signing bonuses to top 10 picks:

Royals, Rays, Red Sox, Giants, Pirates, Brewers, Rangers, Twins, Orioles and Astros

Many of these teams are the ones that were passing on the Maybins, and Millers, and Porcellos in past years.

This was a concern I had when the deal was initially made. That the league would see the Tigers were able to make the trade by spending big on the draft, and big on the draft is much more affordable than big on the free agent market.

As for the Tigers, they ranked in the bottom 7 in draft bonuses (or is it bonii?) in 2008. At the time I wondered if it was a matter of them saving money for international signings, which haven’t been formally announced by the team to the best of my knowledge but TigsTown notes that there had been 7 as of August 1st. I have no idea how much they spent, or how it compares to past years. It’s possible that the organization felt this wasn’t the draft to invest in, and that the players didn’t warrant the slot busting bonuses. Or because so much depth had been traded away, they wanted to avoid the risky picks for a year to get a quick infusion. Or the worst case scenario, the spending at the big league level may have taken a chunk out of David Chadd’s budget.

Regardless, and I don’t say this to diminish the work that Chadd and his staff do, the Tigers probably can’t rely on other teams passing on talent at the same rate they did in 2005 through 2007. Then again, the Tigers performance this year is dictating that they’ll have a chance at a pretty good player as they move down the standings and up the draft order.

2008 Season

The 7th Inning 2008

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Last year Sam Hoff started breaking down the season into 18 games segments, each representing 1/9th of the season, or an “inning.” Here is the 7th inning report.

The 7th Inning is over.

Each 18 games represent 1 inning of a baseball season. The Tigers record for the first 7 innings in 2008:

                                                          Starters:         Bullpen:
    W-L   RS –RA     HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L-IP-   ERA     W-L-S-ERA
1:  6-12  74 -112    15-10-262/345/404    3-9- 96.2-5.96    3-3-3-5.28 
2:  9-9   98 -87     21- 6-261/350/426    5-8-105.2-5.11    4-1-2-3.61
3:  8-10  89 -75     19- 2-275/326/442    8-5-109.2-4.19    0-5-4-3.83
4:  11-7  85 -74     19- 8-268/350/416    8-4-113.0-3.27    3-3-5-5.17
5:  12-6  86 -78     25- 6-297/347/476    6-4-106.1-4.23    6-2-6-3.43
6:  9-9   118-96     25- 8-299/368/483    8-6-105.0-5.49    1-3-2-4.03
7:  7-11  93- 103    26- 8-265/353/455    7-7-104.0-4.67    0-4-4-4.92

In the 7th inning found the Tigers start the inning with a 5-game losing streak that seemed to drain the life and energy out of the team and their fans. The season thus far can be broken into 3 distinct segments: The abysmal 24-36 start that dug a huge hole, the 28-13 run that started June 7th with a Thames’ lead comeback win against Cleveland that got the team to 52-49, and the most recent 10-15 run that was started July 25th with Dye’s 2-run 9th inning homerun off of Todd Jones.

The starting pitching improved as a unit from Horrible to Mediocre, the exception being Galarraga who was great. Displaying from best to worst:

Name	      GS	IP	W	L	K	ERA	WHIP
Galarraga	4	26.2	3	0	19	2.36	1.16
Verlander	3	18    	1	2	16	5.50	1.39
Robertson	3	18    	1	1	12	4.50	1.72
Miner	        4	18.2	1	1	12	4.82	1.82
Rogers	       4	22.2	1	3	22	6.75	1.81

In the Bullpen, the emergence of Fernando Rodney as a closer was a bright spot. Bobby Seay continued to do well and Gary Glover provided 2.2 innings of perfect work. Other than those 3, it was pretty much like throwing gasoline on a fire. Displaying from best to worst:

Name	       G	IP	W	L	S	K	ERA	WHIP
Rodney	       7	9 2/3	0	1	4	14	1.86	0.83
Seay	        9	8    	0	0	0	9	3.38	1.13
Glover	       2	2 1/3	0	0	0	2	0.00	0.00
Dolsi	        4	5 1/3	0	0	0	3	1.69	2.06
Lopez  	       5	9 2/3	0	0	0	6	5.59	1.66
Beltran	       4	5 2/3	0	0	0	3	6.35	1.59
Fossum	       6	7 2/3	0	1	0	6	8.22	1.57
Farnsworth	7	7 1/3	0	0	0	7	7.36	1.91
Zumaya	       5	4    	0	2	0	4	9.00	2.75
Jones	        1	 2/3	0	0	0	0	0.00	9.00

The offense did OK. The 93 runs do not match a 1,000 runs/season pace, but scoring over 5 runs per game should be sufficient. Overall, I would give the individual hitters in the 7th inning a passing grade except our Catching tandem (Inge and Sardinha), and the extremely cold Marcus Thames. Displaying from best to worst:

Name	        G	AB	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG
Cabrera	      18	71	6	17	0	.282	.362	.606
Polanco	      17	69	3	9	2	.319	.390	.565
Granderson	18	74	4	11	2	.270	.372	.554
Renteria	17	59	2	6	1	.322	.385	.508
Guillen	      12	48	1	3	1	.292	.393	.438
Sheffield	17	63	5	13	1	.254	.347	.508
Joyce	        16	42	2	6	0	.262	.311	.476
Ordonez	      17	68	1	10	0	.279	.380	.368
Santiago	7	15	0	0	0	.267	.389	.267
Raburn	      12	32	0	2	1	.281	.324	.312
Inge	        18	60	1	8	0	.200	.314	.333
Thames	       8	27	1	2	0	.111	.111	.222
Sardinha	6	14	0	0	0	.071	.133	.071

Even if the Tigers were to go 28-8 over the remaining 36 games to get to 90 wins, both Chicago and Minnesota would have to play at or below .500 to win the division. The Wild card is even more daunting as the Tigers are 11 games back and would have to pass four teams. The last two innings should tell a lot about 2009 and what kind of direction the team will take in the off season. That is the only reason to keep watching this train wreck at this point.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 127: Tigers at Rangers

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PREGAME: Is broom-osity in order? Could the Tigers manage a sweep? I still think that if the Tigers go 27-5 over their next 32 games, things might get interesting.

Tonight it will be Nate Robertson going for the Tigers. The last time the Nate started in Texas he didn’t record an out, allowing 6 runs in the first. Here’s hoping for a little improvement. Robertson walked 5 in his last start, which is just too many.

Kevin Millwood takes the mound for the Rangers. He’s made 1 start since coming off the DL and the Rays got to him for 10 hits, 4 of which were homers, in 4.2 innings.

DET @ TEX, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:05

POSTGAME: Nate was unbelievably craptastic. He wasn’t helped by his outfield defense early on with Granderson playing a ball into a triple (a pretty poor series for Granderson defensively – a rarity), and Matt Joyce playing a double into a triple. But holy crap, there’s nothing outifelders can do about 5 freakin’ homers.

Dontrelle Willis was also starting last night, but he kind of sucked too with 8 hits and 5 walks allowed in 5 innings – so he’s not ready. I can’t believe that Robertson would be allowed to stay in the rotation. Early on this season he was getting a little unlucky. Since the All Star Break he’s getting obliterated.

And the offense didn’t do much.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8-19-08

Toledo 2 Norfolk 1 (11 innings)
Freddy Guzman was 2 for 4 with a walk. Clete Thomas walked twice. Mike Hollimon singled and walked. Chris Lambert pitched 7 innings and allowed 1 run on 5 hits, a walk, and 5 K’s. Clay Rapada, Casey Fien, and Francisco Cruceta went 1.1, 1.2, 1 innings respectively with each allowing a lone hit, no walks, and combining for 5 K’s.

Erie 5 New Britain 6
James Skelton went 3 for 4 with a walk and has pushed his average to .298 at Erie. Wilkin Ramirez doubled and singled. Josh Rainwater allowed 4 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks and 5 K’s. Rudy Darrow allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks while recording only 1 out and took the loss.

West Michigan 10 South Bend 9
Justin Henry, Chris Carlson, Ronnie Bourquin, and Kody Kaiser all had 2 hits. Alex Avila singled twice, doubled, and drove in 4 runs. The pitching was hurt by 4 errors. Lauren Gagnier allowed 6 runs in 4 innings on 8 hits, 2 walks and 3 K’s. Brett Jacobson pitched a scoreless inning allowing a hit and a walk while fanning 1.

NY Penn All Star Game
Mike Gosse went 2 for 2 with a walk. Brandon Douglass was 0 for 1. Tyler Stohr blew the save and took the loss allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk in .2 innings.

GCL Tigers PPD

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 126: Tigers at Rangers

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PREGAME: In the wake of the team’s disappointing season, Dave Dombrowski has been hammered for the moves he made or didn’t make this offseason. One move that did work out that never gets mentioned is picking up Armando Galarraga from the Rangers for nothing.

Galarraga returns to Texas tonight, but Jim Leyland doesn’t want him to make too big a deal out of it. Galarraga is content to let his performance, improved by Chuck Hernandez, do the talking. One thing to keep an eye on his Galarraga’s endurance. He went 121 pitches his last time out, farther than he’s gone this year.

The Tigers will face Vicente Padilla. The Tigers knocked him out after 7 runs in 3 innings his last time out. But he shut them down for 6 innings in 2007. He was pushed back due to some neck pain. He was rocked by the Orioles and Yankees in his last 2 starts.

The Tigers send out these 9 tonight:

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Santiago, 2B
  3. Ordonez, RF
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Guillen, 3B
  6. Sheffield, DH
  7. Joyce, LF
  8. Renteria, SS
  9. Inge, C

Santiago doubled and homered off of Padilla back in April and is 5 for 9 lifetime off him. So I guess Leyland is playing the match-up.

DET @ TEX, Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:05

POSTGAME: Nice win and a 2 game winning streak. Woot. Armando Galarraga was dominant through 5.1 innings, but then got knocked around for 3 runs before getting out of the 6th. It was another quality start, and another win which should help his ROY chances.

Gary Glover is still perfect as a Tigers reliever making me look stupid again. At least I’m used to it. And Casey Fossum had a 1-2-3 9th. The only guy that struggled was Bobby Seay who I had been arguing to be the 7th inning guy.

The offense overcame some early futility to bludgeon the Padilla and the bullpen in the 7th. They had runners in scoring position in the first 2 innings with nobody out and didn’t score them. They were undermined by 3 double plays. But Matt Joyce’s 2 homers, made those early struggles irrelevant. Everybody had hits tonight except Miguel Cabrera who hit a couple of balls hard again with nothing to show for it.

There was some very slick defense for the Tigers. Ramon Santiago made a nifty play up the middle and Carlos Guillen started a quick double play earlier on.

And credit to the Texas scorer for ruling Matt Joyce’s flyball an error. Normally if the ball doesn’t get touched it’s ruled as a hit. This time they ruled it an error, but they gave it to the wrong guy. It should have been Hamilton’s error.

Good news everyone. The Tigers moved ahead of the Rangers in the wild card chase. Only 4 more teams to go! (that’s sarcasm).

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8-18-08

Toledo 0 Richmond 3
Timo Perez went 2 for 2 with 2 walks. Derek Wathan had the other hit. Anastacio Martinez went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs on 2 walks, 4 K’s, and 2 homers.

Erie DNP

Lakeland – Cancelled

West Michigan 0 South Bend 3
Joe Tucker had 2 hits. Mauricio Robles allowed just 1 run on 1 walk, 3 K’s and 4 hits in 7 innings. Orlando Perdomo allowed 2 runs in 1 inning of work.

Oneonta DNP

GCL Tigers 6 GCL Braves 9
Derek Lehrman was 2 for 3 including a homer and a walk. Luis Palacios doubled and singled. Casey Crosby, returning from Tommy John surgery, pitched a scoreless inning allowing 1 hit. But everybody else allowed runs.