Comments on: Midseason Musings

By: scotsw

scotsw — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:43:09 +0000

This seems like as good a place as any to throw out the question: What is the greatest need for this team right now? Should Dombrowski make any moves?

I believe their greatest need is a very good 2-way outfielder: Someone who is very good defensively, and a real threat with the bat as well. Could Guillen be that person? If he’s ever healthy, maybe. But too many of the guys in the Tigers lineup force Leyland to make trade-offs. Raburn: just an average hitter; Ordonez: Slow, no power in 09; Anderson: Fast, but only an adequate hitter; Thames: pure power, but meh defensively; Everett/Santiago: adequate hitters. Nobody has stepped up this year to claim the job definitively.

This is why Don Kelly and/or Wilkin Ramirez are so important for the Tigers… The whole Sheffield/Larish/Joyce/Clete/Raburn/Kelly/Anderson/Guillen/Thames/Ordonez saga is the perpetual search for an outfielder who can play both sides of the ball. They’re looking for another Granderson.

By: rings

rings — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:30:10 +0000

As an Inge critic, I’m sure I’m included among the “Inge Haters,” but my view was always one of overall value…I certainly “liked” him as well as any Tiger, but found the unrealistic devotion to him by many to be distasteful and over the top…and his public pouting after losing his job for the second time to be repugnant.
As a player, he was spectacular at times with the glove, but also had too many brain-farts for my taste and his offense was largely abysmal. In his 9th season, he’s finally delivered a consistent, major league, offensive performance and actually become steadier defensively…which would’ve been wonderful if he’d been doing this since year three (especially once he received the big contract).
That said, he’s still probably the 4 or 5th best offensive third baseman (Longoria, A-Rod, Young, Rolen) in the AL. Good, but not a top performer, which was one of the things keeping him from All Star honors – largely based on offense, not defense – at the moment, despite Leyland’s lobbying.
Congrats to Brandon on a great start to the season…we all hope for more of the same and, perhaps, his first Gold Glove this season.

By: Ian C.

Ian C. — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:06:53 +0000

I invited some Inge hating of my own when I “became a fan” of Inge on Facebook. There’s still residual bruising. Sure, that happened before the season, when we had no idea that Inge was capable of this. But his team MVP performance has been very therapeutic.

By: Coleman

Coleman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:38:23 +0000

I’m worried; I was Inge-neutral last season (nice term there), but this season I’m testing Inge-positive. Do I need to see a doctor?

(And those check swings, by the way–very athletic, oblique-ripping check swings. Sheffield’s maybe the only recent Tiger that could have handled the Inge-check-swing; and it’s always good for the fans to know when he check-swing-strikes-out, it’s quite painful…)

By: Coleman

Coleman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:36:11 +0000

Yeah, that crossed my mind…but since my intention was to post a positive stat, I ignored the thought for the moment (gotta balance out all my posts about how the Tigers will never score in the first inning for the rest of history; did I mention Granderson has more leadoff strikeouts than anyone in the league? Well, OK, actually he’s tied for the most with BJ Upton–see, that’s a positive addition there…)

By: Andre in Chi

Andre in Chi — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:43:19 +0000

I noticed those splits too, but I just chalked it up to his adjustment to the AL. his career numbers tend to favor the 1st half…

By: Coleman

Coleman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:28:48 +0000

It might be worth pointing out that this is about the point last season that Cabrera started up, going on a 8 HR 31 RBI tear for July, to be followed by an August tear with 10 HR 25 RBI…so let’s hope for an encore…

By: Coleman

Coleman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:54:46 +0000

I agree–with the added note that one element of the strong starting pitching has been the strong defense, with Inge, as expected, Everett/Santiago (usually), Polanco sometimes, Laird, and Cabrera (not-so-expected perhaps) and some good outfield arms on top of that. Having a strong defense allows the pitchers to feel more comfortable throwing strikes, and I think that has a big overall effect on the pitching.

And it has been a quiet .325…in the “Go-ahead-hits” category so far this season we have Inge-13 Granderson-9 Cabrera-8. (Although the 1-3 hitters didn’t exactly have the bases overflowing with runners for Cabrera either). And there are those 13 GIDP…

By: rings

rings — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:39:24 +0000

T Smith said it well. For positional players, Inge has to be the team MVP…his “big hits” have been more meaningful than Miggy’s, who’s actually a rather “quiet” .325, in my view. That said, I think JV and EJ have clearly been the most valuable contributors to date, with JV getting an edge, simply because he has more wins (although the lack of W’s has certainly not been EJ’s fault). While there are many other factors certainly, the strong starting pitching is the biggest reason we’ve gone from worst to first.

By: T Smith

T Smith — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:56:49 +0000

I think Inge-haters are generally misunderstood. I submit this sect of fans never “hated” Inge the person — they simply hated Inge the dismal preformer, check-swing-strike-out-king-in-clutch-at-bats, circa 2007 – 2008. Take away dismal preformance out of the equation, what is there to hate?

We all know Billfer is Inge neutral, so no need to apologize. Further, anyone who has followed this team knows Inge is certainly a legit MVP candidate for the first half — regardless of personal sentiments. There are others players on the team who deserve mentioning as well, e.g. Jackson, Verlander, Cabrera, but to tread lightly on Inge discussions on account of alledged Inge haters (if they even exist) simply gives too much credence to what just may be an imaginary irrational bias.

By: Mark in Chicago

Mark in Chicago — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:00:14 +0000

Great writeup as always, billfer, but you are inviting the wrath of the Inge-haters. Completely agree he’s been pretty much the most consistent offensive player during the first half.

By: Skip

Skip — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:51:50 +0000

Seriously, the Tigers as a team are pretty much a big (and pleasant) surprise. All the sports pundits quickly wrote them off after a disappointing 2008 season. People all over the baseball world thought the Tigers would have a fire sale at the trade deadline (shipping off names such as Cabrera, Maggs, Verlander, etc.). This has been an up-and-down-and all-over type of season so far, but we are in first! (and three all-stars, including Edwin Jackson, who everyone thought that was another bad move by DD)
Go Tigers!

By: Ryan P.

Ryan P. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:48:49 +0000

Yay, I attended the start of the year

By: Jerry the Tiger Fan

Jerry the Tiger Fan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:15:58 +0000

I would nominate Adam Everett as on e of the surprises of 2009 based on his offense being pretty far above what was advertised for him. I basically expected him to hit about .209 and provide us with a steady defensive glove at SS. He has had a number of clutch hits for us and has been a pleasant surprise with the bat in his hands. I have been slightly disappointed by his glove, but he has made some poor defensive plays for a veteran SS (yesterday comes to mind), including booting a few routine groundballs.

By: charlie

charlie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:01:19 +0000

i’ve been a ramon santiago fan for a while now…always hoping he would get a chance to play more often. reading your sentence above “Ramon Santiago’s power surge gets honorable mention.” makes me wonder a little…how does a ball player go from weak and anemic to powerful all of a sudden?