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A very respectable showing. He faded a little in September which probably kept him from finishing higher. Not bad for one of those trades that didn't mean anything over the winter.
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TigsTown has started rolling their top 50 list (premium content). They're starting at the back end so no Porcello sightings yet 🙂
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Our friend Lee contributed to the 2009 edition of the book The Graphical Player. And Samara provided the cover photo. Go Tigers bloggers.
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BA ranks the Yankees top prospects. For those still wringing their hands about the Sheffield trade, none of the players the Tigers sent (Sanchez, Claggett, Whelan) made the top 10 or were even discussed in the chat. Claggett was recognized for having the best slider in their system though.
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The Tigers have talked with Brandon Lyon's agent. I like it, not as in handing him the closer's job, but as in adding a bullpen arm for under $4 million. Lyon has a low K-rate but a very low walk rate as well. He was hurt by a very high BABIP last year that resulted in probably 15 more hits than would have been expected.
Monthly Archives: November 2008
No on Varitek, No on Laird, Yes on Bard
The Tigers are in the hunt for a catcher. Brandon Inge has been moved to third base and Dusty Ryan may be ready to contribute at the big league level, but I don’t think anybody is comfortable with him being handed the full load at this point. With this need has come speculation about where the Tigers may turn. Two names that have been floated out repeatedly are Jason Varitek and Gerald Laird. I’m not particularly a fan of either. So I turn my attention West to the discarded Josh Bard.
Continue reading No on Varitek, No on Laird, Yes on Bard
For you Twitter-ers out there
If you’re a Twitter user, I created a new profile that just tracks Detroit Tigers news. It is @TweetingTigers. I’ve set it up to pull in the RSS feeds from all Tigers blogs (well, I’m working towards all and plan to get there) and I’m planning to add in the Tiger related feeds from the big dailies as well. The result, you get notified whenever a Tigers blogger or another traditional Tigers source posts a story.
As an aside, if you’re interested in following my updates you can do so @billfer.
As a further aside, or what should probably be a precursor, Twitter is a microblogging service. Think of it as a cross between blogging and instant messaging. If you’re interested in learning more Twitter has a how-to video and Darren Rowse recently launched a blog of called TwiTip.
links for 2008-11-06
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And another new Tigers blog worth introducing.
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Just wanted to introduce a fairly new blog to the Tigers blog scene.
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David Pinto has started rolling out PMR. I'll delve into this a little more as he posts more positions, but here is the aggregated data by team. The Tigers were 4 players below expected, which is a little better than I anticipated.
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Nothing new here, but a reiteration that the Tigers are very high on Cale Iorg and are looking at a stop gap at shortstop. Also that there are a bunch of lefty relievers available, but the Tigers already have Bobby Seay and Clay Rapada and a statement from Dombrowski that Nate Robertson could end up in the pen as well.
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The title kind of says it all.
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A brief review of Tigers prospects.
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Lee looks to see who carried the biggest stick, and it was a Tiger.
Fun with the Bill James leaderboards
The Bill James Handbook is always one of the first baseball books to come out each year. It’s not a riveting narrative by any means and it consists largely of tables of numbers. But there are always some interesting pieces and there seems to be something new every year. Last year it was the Young Talent Inventory. This year it is a bullpen analysis. They sit alongside managerial stats, baserunning stats, and the Fielding Bible awards. But one of my favorite sections is the leaderboard.
I’m not going to copy a bunch of leaderboards for you here. That might be kind of tedious and boring for everyone, and it would definitely be a copyright violation. But I will point out some Tiger related items that are either interesting, or surprising, or noteworthy.
- Despite coming back from a horrific shoulder injury, and ending the season early, Joel Zumaya still let the AL with 18 pitches thrown over 100MPH. Brandon League was next closest with 4. Fernando Rodney even managed 2 over the century mark.
- Speaking of fastballs, Justin Verlander’s 93.6 average was 6th in the AL and Kenny Rogers’ 85.2 MPH heater was slower only than Tim Wakefield’s.
- Armando Galarraga threw a slider 38% of the time which was the highest rate in the AL.
- Despite Verlander’s struggles, his .377 slugging percentage against was good enough for 8th best.
- Rogers and Nate Robertson both ranked in the top 5 in GIDP/9. Just think how bad things would have been if they hadn’t had so many twin killings.
- Edgar Renteria was 4th in SS pivot percentage. Renteria also had the 2nd highest batting average against left handed pitching with the 7th highest batting average at home. If only the Tigers faced lefties at home more often…
- Curtis Granderson continued his maturation by taking the 8th highest percentage of pitches and seeing the 5th most pitches per plate appearance.
- Placido Polanco struck out less per plate appearance than anyone else in the AL, but it didn’t help him in run production where he had the 8th lowest RBI percentage (5.96)
Rumors, Rumors everywhere
A lot of talk, A lot of speculation piping out of the GM meetings in California. Right now it seems like most teams are in on most players. But there are some names being rumored to the Tigers. Today’s rumor and moderately relevant news rundown:
- The Tigers are in on Rafael Furcal, or at least plan to talk to him. Furcal is of course a stud. He’s also been a stud who’s had a hard time staying on the field the last 2 seasons. The Tigers won’t get into a bidding war, but I could see them going for a year deal or one and an option year. That would only prove attractive to Furcal if nobody else is willing to offer him an extended deal and he wants a short contract to prove his worth/health.
- If the Tigers want to buy low, there is a chance they could pursue Khalil Greene. Rumor has it they have at least kicked the tires – as have the Orioles and Reds. Greene is slated to make $6.5 million next year before becoming a free agent. The length is right, but 20-25% of the team’s budget on a player coming off a 213/260/339 season that saw him 4 plays below average at short. If the Tigers were to pick up the salary, he should come essentially free in terms of prospects though. Which is good since he’s a .304 career OBP guy.
- Scott Boras says that Magglio Ordonez doesn’t expect to be traded. I don’t actually believe anything that Scott Boras says though so take that for what it’s worth.
- AJ Burnett opted out of his Blue Jays contract. I don’t bring this up because the Tigers have been connected to him, but because he’s now another arm in the free agent pond. And if the Tigers go fishing there, it may help with the team’s chances at Lowe’s or Garland’s or others.
- Junichi Tazawa, who I thought might be a worthwhile bullpen target for the Tigers, has been offered a major league deal by the Braves. Too rich for my blood.
- The Tigers have made Fernando Rodney available. Rodney is frustrating to be sure, but he’s not the worst guy to have in the pen and for the cost it would be hard pressed to increase on his production – when healthy. That’s a big factor though as Rodney has really only maintained health in 2006.
Dombrowski talks payroll and closer
Jon Paul Morosi is covering the GM meetings from California and he caught up with Dave Dombrowski. Among the nuggets Dombrowski spoke about the 2010 closer situation and the payroll.
On a closer for the year-after-next, Dombrowski believes the candidate is in house. Given the college-reliever heavy draft this summer, that isn’t surprising. Among Ryan Perry, Cody Satterwhite, and others (Casey Fien, Joel Zumaya, Freddy Dolsi) I’d hope that’s a safe bet. It also makes it unlikely, as Morosi points out, that the Tigers are going to go after a top shelf free agent closer who will command multiple years.
Dombrowski also revealed that the 2009 payroll would not see “a significant difference” from 2008. With the team already committed to spending a little over $100 million on 11 players, that means the Tigers have about $25 million left to find a shortstop, a catcher, resign Justin Verlander, bolster the bullpen and rotation, and fill in the rest of the spots with league-minimum players under club control (like Matt Joyce).