Comments on: Tigers Minor League Wrap 6/25/09

By: Rick G

Rick G — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:23:14 +0000

Yeah, I get that mail grooming add usually too, but for some reason I get underwear girl every once in a while. It must be the web sites that my wife visits makes it think I’m in the market for some lingerie!

By: billfer

billfer — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:38:19 +0000

I can get behind the idea of Clete getting regular ABs in Toledo, and with the Tigers in a NL park for 3 more games that becomes even more true. But in terms of his value versus Josh Anderson’s it’s not even close. Thomas is just as good a defender and a better offensive player. Anderson’s greatest asset is his speed, and despite that he rates as a poor baserunner (-1.1 runs according to Baseball Prospectus). And yes, he doesn’t have options but that doesn’t concern me at all.

By: Keith (Mr. X)

Keith (Mr. X) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:17:09 +0000

I agree with you 100%.

We can’t just send Anderson to Toledo either. He’s out of options. He’s what we need as a 4th outfielder. Someone who can pinch run and replace Magglio in RF late in the game. The defensive upgrade is a nice luxury to have. Clete needs to play full-time.

I like Clete Thomas too. If somebody gets hurt again, he’s my top option.

By: RPS

RPS — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:11:37 +0000

I guess it all comes down to whether the Tigers want an overall player or a defensive replacement for Magglio. If Clete’s only function would be to come in for Maggs in the eighth, keep him down. Anderson is slightly better in the outfield. If there are going to be even spot starts involved, Anderson sure better not be here to get them.

By: Jerry the Tiger Fan

Jerry the Tiger Fan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:29:37 +0000

Thomas hit a game winning grand salami for us less than a week before he got demoted. I don’t have his complete splits in front of me, but it wasn’t like he was in a Maggs-type of slump/power outage.

By: David

David — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:53:42 +0000

The big thing is – Thomas is getting regular action in AAA. With Ordonez and Thames back and Raburn on a mini platoon tear I just don’t see him getting regular ABs.

If you want him and Raburn to platoon vs RHP and LHP fine, but who are you going to demote?

Anderson’s speed is too valuable to this team, unless Thomas has been clocked within .1 seconds of him going 90 feet on a dash I think you leave it as it is.

When someone in the OF gets injured or falls into a huge slump and if he is still going red hot then bring him up, I just think that now the best thing for him is to play everyday which he can do in triple A.

By: billfer

billfer — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:24:10 +0000

His swing lengthened in a couple weeks, I’m sure it can shorten just as quickly.

By: Mark in Chicago

Mark in Chicago — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:08:56 +0000

Clete was sent down to “shorten his swing”, which I imagine is not something that can be corrected in a couple weeks. Promising returns so far, but I think the club would bring him back if they thought he was ready.

By: rings

rings — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:25:45 +0000

…I’m concerned with Anderson’s baserunning mistakes, as of late, recently managing to get picked off first in a PR role and making an ill-advised attempt to go from first to third on an infield base hit. He needs to use his powers for good, not for evil!

By: T Smith

T Smith — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:43:55 +0000

Anderson vs. Thomas:

Clete is on fire now but I’m not so sure he can preform the same facing major league pitching. Once he gets shut down for a while by quality pitching, his problems seem to compound mentally. He starts slumping and then overcompensates by overswinging. Take the pressure off, on the other hand, (e.g. AAA) and he turns into a doubling machine. At least that’s what it looks like to me. He didn’t look so good at the plate for a considerable stretch before he was demoted.

Anderson doesn’t provide any upgrade offensively, even to a slumping Thomas, but he does provide a better small-ball option for Leyland. Until Thomas can demonstrate a little more consistancy, I like having have Anderson on the bench for the automatic “2 bagger” anytime we need a rally.

By: Coleman

Coleman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:21:58 +0000

Oops my bad on the first name, I thought the “e” was silent.

I owe him an apology if he doesn’t high-tail it out of there before I get a chance…

By: Coleman

Coleman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:14:48 +0000

Whoa! hold on! Cause I’m seeing nothing but Braun BodyCruzer ( = TotalNameFail by the way), with some mostly shirtless, and no-doubt OK-ish looking for the women here guy…well, him and that scowling blue-haired thing in the back with the peacock feather backdrop which she no-doubt lugs around for all her scowling appearances.

And no, The Refresh has never heard of Maidenform either..but perhaps you’d be interested in the Braun Bah-D-Crew-Sr, for the senior who bodyshaves? Never too early to shop for next year’s Father’s Day…(hmm…actually, shouldn’t it be Fathers’ Day?)

By: Coleman

Coleman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:05:46 +0000

Hmm, I’m a bit disappointed…mostly in myself I suppose. I took my eye off of the ball and missed that our old friend the little catcher guy went and tied Rusty and Brooks for 10th all time in the Grounding-Into-2-outs-for-the-price-of-one accomplishment. No doubt someone thought to save the ball for him–actually probably the SS, 2ndB and 1stB all thought of it, cause that’s how those things usually work best–and no doubt Rusty Staub was there to witness it, considering that he used to play for the Houston team way back when they were named after a malt liquor beverage.

But still the odds are quite good that we will get to see GIDPudge grab the #8 spot from Harold Baines (who really doesn’t belong here, since he hit the majority of his as a DH, not playing the field, much less catcher…catcher!…some would say there is a slowness-aided advantage the catcher has in this category, but, I mean, seriously, you’ve never seen Harold Baines run have you? I didn’t think so…)

As far as the Tigers go…as a TEAM they are clearly the class of the league as far as GIDPs go, but individually…

Pudge is shaming them all but Ordonez, who like Pudge has 11 GIDP…but even as a Tiger fan I have to admit that I noticed it has taken Ordonez about 40 extra PAs to keep pace…and no I can’t count Treanor’s stats, not because he is a catcher, but knowing he was playing with half a hip or whatever, yeah that’s not at all the same. Still, we’ll never know how far beyond 3 GIDP before his first hit he could have gone if he had been healthy…

By: Rick G

Rick G — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:47:52 +0000

And when they call him by his first name, he just fakes like he’s gonna go one way, then goes the other! The guy is impossible to deal with!

By the way, kudos to Billfer for landing the Maidenform account – I’m digging underwear girl!!

By: Coleman

Coleman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:20:21 +0000

Clete would be my choice of the 3 also (although I give Anderson an extra point for not also have the two-first-name thing going)…and yet I don’t know if Kelly really is due for a crash, for a couple of reasons. One is, he doesn’t have ALL that much to crash down from; it’s not like he’s on a Thames-like HR binge or anything, he’s just be surprisingly competent, is I guess the word I’d use. A lot of the big cheers for Kelly were for drawing a walk before each of 2 2-run HRs. That’s not the sort of thing I see and think, yeah enjoy it while it lasts, soon you’ll crash back to reality and start drawing walks MUCH less frequently…well anyway you probably get my main point. And the more Anderson starts to show a somewhat frantic quality in how he is playing, the more dependable Kelly starts looking.

But Clete, I can agree on that. (He also is only 25 vs 26 for Anderson and 29 for Kelly; none of them exactly young, but Clete is at least young-ish…hmm, this may actually explain why Kelly seems to be handling things somewhat maturely…he’s closer in age to Inge than he is to Clete…