2014 Season, Players

Oh shiiiiins.

41 Comments

The Jose Iglesias shinstorm has officially hit the fan. I don’t know if someone stepped in a pile of his shins or what, but ESPN is reporting that the injury which kept him sidelined late last year could keep him sidelined for most of 2014.

The injury has been rather mysterious with a bunch of cryptic reports coming out of Lakeland. I knew there had to be something wrong when he still couldn’t run this deep into Spring Training. Recognize that the report is still speculation, but I can’t see Iglesias playing anytime soon.

Stephen Drew is avail and plays SS. That’s all I want to say about that for now.

 

41 thoughts on “Oh shiiiiins.”

    1. The shins of the shortstop shall be visited upon the team unto the third and fourth generations.

  3. No to Drew, please. Drew is costly. Drew is another injury risk. Drew’s offense wasn’t coming from Iglesias to begin with, and that was accepted.

    Dirks – Kelly > Iglesias – Worth (or Perez, or Suarez)

    Even if the Acrobat of the Future is now the Acrobat of the Past, I think the Tigers are better served waiting until mid-season to make a more forward-thinking move than signing Drew in desperation.

  6. At this rate Shins will be in a wheelchair by July 1. Overpriced Drew is not the answer. We could live with some kind of weak platoon at SS or LF, but not both. LF should be the easier fix.

      1. Yeah, a bit too much. Many Kellys. The Donkey himself is the conundrum. Hate to see him go. Hate to see him stay. It seems like keeping Kelly is at the price of adding (trading for) a Dirks-type platoon partner for Davis. Adding that guy and still keeping Kelly is at the price of Lombardozzi at SS, don’tcha think? Because… how likely is it they flip one of the guys they traded Fister for already?

  7. Fielder played on MLB Sunday Night game tonight…he looks like he has dropped 25 or more lbs……funny that he didn’t feel the need to lose that gut when he played in Detroit.

    1. I think Fielder looked slimmer last spring as well – in fact I’m certain that he was. He put it back on. Think he will again. Being on the road is stressful. Food is comfort.

  8. What does anyone think about getting Nick Franklin to play SS? Last year he was one of Seattle’s top prospects. His stock has fallen after one year in the majors, but he is still young and might come cheap now.

    1. He is healthy. saw him play in AAA ball, and was one of his boosters till he came up. He is a slightly built young man, and seemed to wear down physically as the season progressed. Plus fielder, excellent range etc, has some pop, but average speed. Seven or eight hole batter, at best. But his shins are intact.

      1. I’ve had my eye on Nick Franklin for a while, was proposing trades for him before Iglesias was a gleam in our eye (I think that trade predated any gleam, actually). As a 2B. I like him as a SS for the Tigers now, SS being where he actually had more minor league playing time, except for the trouble in LF, which to me is where you go in a trade, unless Tyler Collins is the answer, which would be a great story, except that it’s probably wishful thinking.

    1. And the possibility of stress fractures didn’t occur to anyone in Boston… or Detroit… or to any of the 17 specialists Iglesias had seen up until now? Really?

      1. Well, they don’t necessarily show up in x-rays, but still, the shin splint issue has been a recurrent one with him since his earlier days with the Red Sox, so you have to wonder. Is there is a possibility of a chronic (genetic?) condition? If so, Shins may have a very short career indeed.

  10. One good thing, which hasn’t gotten any attention lately, is the fact that we have a high K-rate pitching staff, which takes some of the pressure off of the D. Ya, it would be nice to have an airtight infield, but that wasn’t going to happen anyway. We’ll still be better than last year in that department even without Iglesias because Casty will be better than Miggy was at 3rd and Miggy will be better than Fatty was at 1st, while Worth/Pena/? should be the equal of Peralta at SS. Iglesias’ D wasn’t going to make up for our loss of offense all by itself.

    With an obvious improvement in the running game (30th last season), we should be OK if an OF who can hit RH pitching moderately is added to the roster to make up for the loss of Dirks. I just dread the thought of Kelly getting 200 PAs before Dirks comes back in July – if he comes back by then.

    Another scenario to address the SS/hitting issue would be to go with a 5-man bench and a 6-man bullpen, but I don’t know how likely that is. That still requires the addition of another hitter from outside the organization I think.

    We should still be in control of the division, but I don’t like the idea of just muddling along with crossed fingers for half of the season if we don’t have to.

  12. I think Samuelson reads this blog. Expect him to make a plea for outfield depth soon.

  15. This just in…….no Rondon….TJ surgery…out for year

    We might get stuck with Coke yet!!!!

    2. We can kiss Rondon and his 100MPH fastball goodbye until ’16, IF he makes it back.

      1. Alvarez for Romine? Huh? OK, *now* I’m getting confused. I was really optimistic just a minute ago.

        Rondon, ah, well. Tigers career over as far as I’m concerned. No big deal. They still have Mercedes in the minors, probably a better version of Rondon. And more room for Ortega, Putkonen, and Hardy.

        1. Went out and got a 3B to play SS. Now all we need is a RF to play LF, preferably one that can’t hit but is scrappy and speedy. A starting pitcher for the bullpen and an All-Star for the bench, and we’ll be all set.

          What was Lombardozzi for? Oh, right, vital depth at second base, since Hernan Perez and Devon Travis are only imaginary. Plus, you can’t have too many Don Kellys. Next, Krol will be displaced by Coke and head to Toledo.

          Things are getting weird.

          1. Dealing pitching for position players is DD MO, so no surprise there. An expendable LH starter for a UT guy is not a big deal whether it works out or not. Romine’s D is supposed to be good which conforms to the “new look” philosophy, which is the main reason behind the deal I think.

            The cupboard is pretty bare in the minors, so I’m not sure what pitcher is left for DD to deal for an OF. May have to wait for other teams’ cuts and sign someone at the end of camp. Drew seems to be out of the picture, so that’s good. Rondon’s injury, well, that’s baseball.

            1. Romine could very well be Iglesias Junior for all I know about him – completely out of the blue for me. Too much news yesterday. I don’t like it when I think I’ve scoped out all the potential moves and the Tigers pull a fast one on me, but I get over it, as I’d better, since it happens all the time. Yes, better Romine than Drew.

              The loss of Rondon doesn’t bother me so much because it’s a loss of potential. He didn’t do anything particularly outstanding with the big club in 2013 and was hardly a linchpin of the bullpen. The Tigers need pitchers who retire batters, not pitchers who throw 100 MPH and are always sore or tender until they break down entirely. You throw that hard, you should be unhittable. When you’re not, it says something.

              1. You’re right about Rondon. It’s best not to get captured by the hype, which has been pretty intense for the last year and one-half.

                I just remembered that with the signing of Ledezma and Robertson to Toledo contracts, maybe DD does have some excess stock (of lefties anyway, which are always in demand) down there that he can use in a deal, but not them obviously.

              2. True, I suppose Alvarez was excess and about the only seriously tradable excess. I kinda liked him, though. The young crafty lefty, not sure how often you see that. Getting shelled once took care of his ERA. Otherwise, pretty decent, though he seemed to run out of gas 5-6 pretty quick for a young guy. Maybe that’s what made the Tigers think he really wasn’t much of a lefty starter backup plan, more like bullpen in his future. But… another good run at Toledo could have made him more valuable later this season. Not sure if Romine was really *that* necessary. I was satisfied with the internal options, myself.

  16. If Romine can hit .250 and shows more range than Peralta …we will all be ok with this.Although Alvarez was one of the best pitchers I saw, not in the present starting rotation, this spring..but if they are looking at him strictly as a starter…he is/ was expendable!

    1. “But the Tigers are looking primarily for defensive prowess in place of the slick-fielding Iglesias and believe Romine could provide that. He played mostly shortstop in the Minor Leagues, and Dombrowski said he ***comes with an enthusiastic recommendation from Tigers first base and infield coach Omar Vizquel, who served as a roving infield instructor in the Angels’ system last year.”***

      Aha.

  18. If he is good enough for Visquel..He is good enough for me…Afterall Visquel should know quality when he sees quality!

  19. If he is good enough to be recommended by Visquel..He is good enough for me…Afterall Visquel should know quality when he sees quality!

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