The next edition of Detroit Tigers Weblog Live will be tonight at 10 p.m. You can check back at this here post tonight, or get the show on the ustream.tv site. There isn’t a lot of news to cover at this point, so I plan to hit on the Matt & Misty May Treanor speculation, the bullpen situation, and some fan experience stuff. And if you watched the last prime time edition, I won’t be drinking Michelob Ultra this time.
I’d like to get to 50 live users so tell your friends that after the Wings game and 30 Rock are done, to tune in.
Links from today’s show:
- Bless You Boys: Treanor the Tiger
- Tigerfest sells out. Stubhub availability.
- Turnbow interest
- Payroll info
turnbow rumor
http://freep.com/article/20081218/SPORTS02/81218009/1048/sports
I will try to tune if I remember? Sent out an e-mail to remind us.
30 Rock? Bilfer has good taste in tv outside of sports, too! Heh, I’ll try to be there tonight. 🙂
I’ll try to be “there” billfer. Be warned, as I may be drunk and/or sarcastic. JK.
the best part of that Turnbow rumor article:
“the start of spring training, which is now less than two months away.”
good to see that on a day when we are about to get a foot of snow.
The real question is, what will you be drinking?
Im in and hopefully done with work ………. See you all then
Steve
Nashville has the AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and I went to a game last year that Turnbow pitched in. He just got sent down and he was absolutely dreadful. I don’t think he recorded an out and threw as many strikes as the D-train did that Monday Night ESPN game against the Indians last year. I think he went on the DL shortly after and maybe he was hurt trying to pitch through it, but it was pretty bad. He’s got electric stuff and could find it again and be great, but he has a long way to go.
What’s going on with Juan Cruz? I really liked Bilfer’s idea of bringing him in and I haven’t been able to find out what the market for him is like right now. Anybody know what his deal is?
Cruz is a type A guy, if memory serves. I would think that would turn a lot of teams off, as that’s pretty expensive for a middle reliever.
The only time I saw Turnbow in person was at Miller Park against the Tigers. He was unhittable. But that was in 2006 – he’s gone down the toilet since then.
Something that doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of play is the Tigers bench situation. 5 guys currently for 4 spots – am I right? SS and C are givens, which leaves Thames, Raburn, and Larish as the possible odd men out. Thames has the power, Raburn the versatility, and Larish the LHB and most-needed infield depth. Who goes, who stays, and does Clevlen possibly fit in as the 4th OF (which would mean 2 other guys would have to go)?
Something I hadn’t considered when originally pondering the question was that both Larish and Raburn could be sent down to begin with. Throwing Hessman into the mix (because he’s another guy who can back up 1B-3B) and trying to come up with most sensible/likely 2 guys from 5 outcome, what do you see happening? And do you see any outside position player being acquired – say, a LHB OF – and complicating (or simplifying) the situation?
Surprisingly (to myself), I’m leaning toward Thames/Raburn (2 guys I thought could be traded during the winter meetings) or Thames/Larish. I’m not sure if I’m being objective enough when it comes to Thames.
This past August or September, I predicted (read: speculated) that there would be 7 guys on the 2009 Opening Day 25-man roster new to the organization. It looks like 4 and counting right now. How many more? And could it actually turn out to be 7, and do I win some sort of prize if it is? The bullpen could see 2, easily.
I don’t think the bottom third of the Tigers batting order is going to be this godawful black hole it’s being made out to be. If Everett/Santiago/Laird/Treanor/Inge/(Raburn? Larish? Hessman?) all put up career average numbers, I’d venture to guess that this would be a MLB-average bottom third. These aren’t Mendoza Line guys. No, not even Inge.
Of greater concern to me are injuries/decline (Guillen, Ordonez, Sheffield) or continued struggles (Sheffield) in the top 6.
I think Raburn’s versatility has been devalued, as we say in the derivative markets. A key component of his versatility was his hypothetical ability to strap on the turtle-gear if need be. This season, with Crazylegs and Misty Pie and a couple youngsters chomping at the minor-league bit, that drops off his feature list.
To be honest I cooled toward The Codpiece once I saw his r3B<2 stats, the highlight of which was an over 50% strikeout rate, or to put that in perspective, about 700% more frequently than Inge.
The bench situation was better with Joyce in the mix. I dont really think we upgraded when we got Jackson. While he does have potential the loss of Joyce to me is more than the potental upgrade.
I am looking to the oening series in Toronto (Im planning on going to two of the games). If anyone has not been to Toronto, it is a pretty decent park to watch a game in and there is a TON of great stuff to do in the city. It a 3 hour drive for us from upstate NY and we go most years.
Merry Christmas to all
Steve,
PS: I hope Smokin Loon gets a new keyboard this year as there is no way there are many keys left on the one he has with a Hall of Fame carreer in posting.
Sometimes I forget Raburn’s even on the team — and he’s my son!
Larish goes IMO, I do not think they will deal Thames
Since RayRay can back up 3rd, 2nd and the OF, and they want to win today I would give him a spot over Larish
RayRay and The River are kept….Hopefully in addition to his Pieness and RamonnyZamboni
Part off the reason the bench seems thin is that they lost a roster spot this season. One thing Inge gave them previously was the ability to carry fewer catchers on the roster than anybody else, which means they had an extra pitcher or backup they could add (actually I think at one point after the Pudge trade there was a fleeing moment when Inge achieved the zen-like state of being the catcher and also the 3rd baseman who was the backup to himself at catcher). Of course in reality the extra roster spot was mostly used to make up for guys on the roster who were unable to play…
That’s curious…the depth chart on MLB.com, I am fairly certain, is different from the one they had last week, which had Inge as Granderson’s CF backup, and Everett/Santiago at SS. Now they have CF as Grandy/Clete, and SS as Everett/Santiago/Inge. Interesting.
(3rd is Inge/Larish/Raburn; I’m less confident about this part, but I think i remember 3rd being Inge/Larish/Santiago previously. Thames has replaced Joyce as backup to Ordonez, and Raburn has replaced Joyce as backup to Guillen/Thames in LF.)
“Sometimes I forget Raburn’s even on the team — and he’s my son!”
I detect a heritable traits joke in here somewhere.
“PS: I hope Smokin Loon gets a new keyboard this year”
Ah, S eve in NY – i had i all wrong. I hough he S eve in Kzoo was he S eve razzing e abou pos ing so of en. I don’ see a new keyboard in y i edia e fu ure (hard i es), but I do have high-speed in erne a ho e now, so I expec o be earing i up in he ga e hreads co e 2009.
I’m thinking it’s going to be Raburn that doesn’t make the team. Thames and Larish both provide offense and will be able to pinch hit late in games (when trailing) for the bottom third of the order. Pinch hit for Inge, put Larish or Guillen at third. Pinch hit for Everett/Santiago, put Santiago/Everett or Guillen at short. Pinch hit for Laird, put Mr. Misty May or Inge behind the plate. Raburn doesn’t seem to provide anything that you can’t get by shuffling the other guys around.
Leyland seems to have some inexplicable dislike for Marcus, so he will probably be the odd man out.
The Tigers’ bench wouldn’t need to be so thin, if only they could abandon the foolishness of carrying 12 pitchers and a batter who can’t play any position at all.
Thames and Raburn does seem to be the most balanced (offense/defense) choice for the final 2 of the presumed 4 spots, but the lack of any LH power off the bench at all can’t be very appealing to Jim Leyland. If Clevlen is still around and has a tremendous spring, i wonder what happens then.
“Larish goes IMO, I do not think they will deal Thames”
Do you think they’ll trade Larish, David?
I wonder if the Tigers will bank on Cabrera and Inge being Iron Men at their positions. There is a lot more injury vulnerability in the OF.
“Leyland seems to have some inexplicable dislike for Marcus, so he will probably be the odd man out.”
Rick, do you mean odd man out as in getting traded at some point during the season? It’s pretty clear that Marcus isn’t going to start, and even if Guillen the LF gets injured, Leyland will find a way to not give Thames LF every day (or maybe even any day). And as others have pointed out, the Joyce trade makes it seem less likely that they’d trade the only proven power on the bench right now. But could he be gone as soon as, say, Thomas was ready to go?
Loon, I wouldn’t be surprised if Marcus got traded for some single A level hard throwing right hander at some point, and to be honest I’d like to see what he could do in an every day role for the Nationals or the Pirates, etc. But I also think the Tigers would be stupid to let him go, and would guess that they won’t trade him in the end.
I think you mean when Guillen the LF gets injured, don’t you? Yeah, they’ll move Raburn, Thomas, Clevlen, Perez, whoever to the everyday spot (two days after announcing that Marcus was the everyday LF!)
But really, does it matter who the last guy on the bench is? The pitching still looks so bad that even the vaunted 2008 lineup that scored 2,721 runs would have trouble contending. Another $130 million payroll, another fight for the basement.
Thames has been given the starting LF’s job twice and he lost the job twice.
As far as I’ve seen, Thames has not been able to stay healthy either.
I won’t miss the Joyce that hit .163 in September. He wasn’t the solution for Thames, he was part of the problem.
I can’t remember the last time the Tigers had a solid left fielder. Carlos Guillen might be the best all around player they’ve had there for quite some time. Only if he were more durable.
Loon that was good and well thought out.
Is your name taken from the wine smokin loon? I saw some at the store the other day and I thought maybe thats where you got your nick name
Steve
Steve – Yes, it’s from the wine. Wines are a goldmine for silly nicknames. You’d think there would be more humor in the names of beers, ales, and stouts, but I’m not seeing it.
Anticipating a contest where we get to vote on what billfer drinks during the next DTW Live, I vote for Blue Moon. A Belgian wheat ale (or is it a beer? Can’t remember). Good stuff.
Blue Moon is some sort of hefeweizen or somesuch. Goes well with an orange wedge. I think I’m going to change my name to ’47 lb. Rooster’. This board needs more wine-related handles.
Blue Moon is a White Belgian Ale, which is a little different than a hefeweizen. A hefeweizen is a heavy wheat beer from Germany, a true beer as opposed to an ale. Blue Moon is a light, fresh ale that resembles a german lager.
And Tony (the Tiger?) wins the award for accurately describing the virtues of Blue Moon. FWIW, their seasonal brew Harvest Moon is mighty fancy as well.
My wife is a German citizen, so I spend a lot of time is Germany drinking various beers. My favorite is a hefeweizen called Schoefferhofer (as far as I know, it can’t be bought or sent to America…no preservatives). They sell them in liter bottles in cases of 12 for about 5 euro. Man I love Germany.
Good show, gentleman. My knowledge increaseth.
Say, did anyone else takre a look at that ’68 WS play video that was up on WHYG, Johnny Grubb recently? I think Northrup was right. Flood wouldn’t have gotten to it even without the stumble. He came across or even slightly in at first on Northrup’s drive, not back at the angle that would have been required to catch it.
All I know is Granderson would’ve caught that ball in the ’06 WS if he didn’t slip. Ugh.