Paraphrasing some comments from Gerald Laird during his conference call today:
- Thoughts on the Tigers pitchers: looking forward to being on the same side as Verlander, Bonderman and other guys and catching them instead of hitting them.
- Doesn’t really know the guys on the team that well aside from playing against them
- Comerica is a great hitting park
- Jimmy Leyland is one of the greatest managers in the game. Excited to pick his brain and learn.
- Excited to play everyday. Was very frustrating in Texas not knowing whether or not he was the guy. He’s looking forward to relaxing and not looking over his shoulder.
- Looks forward to working with a stable rotation – there was a lot of flux in Texas
- He started getting text messages while at the Arizona Cardinal game and found out later that night
- His priority is to get the most out of the staff and throwing guys out and making plays at the plate. The bulk of his preparation is defensive game calling.
Laird now Everett
Wood then Putz
“He’s looking forward to relaxing and not looking over his shoulder.”
Understandable, but I hope Ryan will make him look over his shoulder, beginning in the spring.
Isn’t Comerica considered a great pitchers’ park? I’d only be concerned about this knowledge gap if Laird was a catcher. Oh, wait.
CoPa has actually been more favorable to hitters in recent years (102 park factor according to baseball-reference.com). Whether this has to do with the Tigers having better hitters on the roster these days is unknown.
Yeah, it’s one of the bizarre flukes of the last few years. Everyone is hitting better in Comerica now, both home and away teams. Hmm… considering our recent rosters, perhaps it’s not all that bizarre.
Smoking Lunatique: “He’s looking forward to relaxing and not looking over his shoulder.”
Understandable, but I hope Ryan will make him look over his shoulder, beginning in the spring
Looking over one’s shoulder is generally a bad sign whilst catching and probably either means that Angel Hernandez is the home plate umpire or that the Tigers have been forced to use Dontrelle Willis in the rotation…
Its a good hitters park, especially for guys like him (he had no power in Texas and he’ll never homer at the Copa), because there’s more open space to hit into and the batter’s eye and backdrop is HUGE, making it easier to see the ball.
FWIW, my man Keith Law was mildly critical of the Tigers in this deal, seeming to think that the 17 year old kid has tremendous upside potential. I must respectfully disagree. He’s a minimum of 4 years from making any kind of impact, and Gerald Laird will be a distant memory by that point.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=law_keith
If Keith Law is critical, that’s probably good news for the Tigers.
Keith’s right — we totally should have picked up Zaun or Varitek for the sake of a seventeen year old who may or may not contribute in four to eight years.
From now on, we must refer to Laird as the catcher acquired in the Carlos Melo deal. I’m looking forward to 2009 parodies of the hand-wringing over JJurrjjens every time Laird disappoints.
He’s disappointed me already. Did you know that Melo has thrown more pitches professionally at seventeen than Laird has at 29??
Shocking. Although it could be argued that Laird has simply been pitching from a different direction. He does things his way, and I like that.
He’s a loose cannon!
Added bonus – Laird has been known to play a mean 3B should the need arise. He’s versatile, I tells ya. He’ll also help Miguel Cabrera. How, you ask? Well with Gil’s on again/off again weight issues, having a guy whose name anagrams into A Lard Girdle can only be beneficial.
Anagrams are back!
“Looking over one’s shoulder is generally a bad sign whilst catching”
We’ve missed you, Coleman. Well, I’ve missed you, anyway.
I’m pretty sure Inge was looking backwards at least half the time whilst catching last year.
Wait, the Tigers traded Carmelo Anthony? I didn’t even know they had him.
who are we gonna get to play the 3 now?