Pregame 4: Baltimore Orioles at Detroit Tigers

It was a dark and rainy afternoon, and the Tigers continued their winning ways, cruising to a 10-4 victory over Baltimore.

The highlight of the game of course was Miguel Cabrera’s 2-run home run in the 8th inning, which also just happened to be his 2,000th career hit.

Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Mel Ott, Joe Medwick, Jimmie Foxx, Robin Yount, and Alex Rodriguez. That’s the short list Cabrera joins of players with 2,000 hits before their 31st birthday.

While thy Tigers went to 3-0 and kept Brad Ausmus perfect in his managerial career, Ausmus did lose his perfect record in challenges when the umpires refused to overturn a call at 2nd. Ausmus is still confused as to why the umpires ruled the way they did, as was I, the Baltimore announcers, and countless other people. I would hate to think that the powers that be have decided that too many calls are being overturned, and that is effecting the decisions.

Today the Tigers go for #4 with Rick “The One They Kept” Porcello making his debut. Porcello has a history of starting slowly:

ERA

  • 6.58 Mar/Apr
  • 4.51 Overall

BA Against

  • .322 Mar/Apr
  • .286 Overall

WHIP

  • 1.581 Mar/Apr
  • 1.389 Overall

At one point I painstakingly looked up how Porcello did based on game temperature for a season, and when the temperature was low he did seem to do worse, no matter which time of the season it was, so it is possible the March/April numbers are really just cold weather numbers. Does his sinker not sink in the cold? Does he have trouble with his grip in the cold? It’s something to watch for.

Game time temperature should be in the low 40s.

Today’s Chillin’ Donkey Starting Lineup:

  1. Kinsler, 2B
  2. Hunter, RF
  3. Cabrera, 1B
  4. Martinez, DH
  5. Jackson, CF
  6. Avila, C
  7. Gonzalez, SS
  8. Kelly, 3B
  9. Davis, LF

DET P: Rick Porcello (RHP)

BAL P: Bud Norris (RHP)

Pregame 3: Baltimore Orioles at Detroit Tigers

Or is it Pre-Game? I’m never sure which way to go with that. At any rate, the Tigers will make another attempt at Game 3 of their perfect 162-0 season, which will include 81 walkoffs (or is it walk offs? walk-offs?), which is the max for that stat, as T Smith pointed out.

Yesterday’s rainout means that Drew “Can’t Buy A Start” Smyly will be skipped in the rotation, and the Tigers will hand the ball to Anibal this afternoon. At least it looks like him. It’s too foggy to tell for sure. In fact today’s game will likely be delayed; there is almost zero visibility at the moment.

If and when they do tee it up, Andrew Romine will get his first start at short as a Tiger, and oh-so-briefly-ex-Tiger Steve Lombardozzi will be starting at 2B for the Orioles. And this flew under my radar somehow, but on the bench for Baltimore is our old pal Delmon Young. Will be a pity not to watch him track down fly balls in the fog.

Today’s Thick-As-Pea-Soup Starting Lineup:

  1. Kinsler, 2B
  2. Hunter, RF
  3. Cabrera, 1B
  4. Martinez, DH
  5. Jackson, CF
  6. Avila, C
  7. Castellanos, 3B
  8. Romine, SS
  9. Davis, LF

P. Sanchez

Pregame: Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers (rained out)

Tigers go for the sweep today, with Anibal “The Third Tenor” Sanchez going up against some guy in a cap we’ll pretend is not an “unknown” rookie, just to be safe.  No, he’s a grizzled veteran with a long history of success against Detroit. He’s virtually unhittable and it’s probably not even worth trying. Kelly at 1B, Miggy’s gonna sit. That’s the ticket.

The last time these two teams played on a Thursday, the Tigers pummeled Jeremy Guthrie with hits and yet not many runs, but Prince Fielder’s two-run shot early would be all they needed in a 4-1 win, with the aforementioned Sanchez turning in a typical gem (and a pretty gaudy 81 strikes in 115 pitches).

Obserwują grę, słuchają gry, następują gra. Niech widzieć niektórą reakcję tutaj. Wartościowe nagrody czekają na was dla “Post of the Game.”

Postgame 2: Tigers 2, Royals 1 (10)

POST OF THE GAME:

potg2

We’ll probably never know if Vince did that on purpose.

1: Scherzer was lost and a bit flustered. Hard to believe only 4 batters in this long inning. Billy Butler really did us a favor.
1: Jason Vargas did a number on Cabrera for the called third.
2: Collins comes in hard and leaves his feet for the catch, and Max is fired back to form – we hope.
2: Jackson hits the ball hard for an out (there wouldn’t be much of that against Vargas.)
3: Nice K on Nori Aoki for Max.
3: Avila drawing a walk is becoming a rally-starting pattern. Oh, not today. But the SB attempt by Avila wasn’t bad, but good. It was close, friends.
4: Oh! Sweet to see an opponent do the inning-ending line drive to 1B lightning-quick double play (Butler scorched it right at Miggy.)
4: Kinsler looked like AJ on that home run swing. 1-0 with runs at a premium!
5: Salvador Perez struck himself out, but Max, really in command now, did the rest.
5: Tigers struck out in order. Did I mention that Avila will never hit above .220 again?
6: Fine play and well-bounced throw by Castellanos to get Omar Infante, Scherzer retires the side in order.
6: Gutsy challenge by Ausmus overturns the call! Rally. Miggy lets us down, Mike Moustakas makes smart choice and goes home for the out, rally fizzles to zip.
7: Max only getting stronger, pitch count in great shape.
7: Did I mention that Avila will never hit above .200 again?
8: Give Perez full credit for that double on a good pitch. This guy is dangerous. Now imagine trying to finish this inning with PR Jarrod Dyson behind you at 2B. Scherzer was just superb.
8: The bats sleep on, Kelvin Herrera makes Collins look like a rookie.
9: OK, Nathan is in, rest easy. Right? Wrong. Joe has the kind of 9th Scherzer had in the 1st, only worse. Yes, the Royals really had to scratch and scrape for their run, but the inexplicable balk right after? What up, Nathan? Darn good thing Brett Hayes was batting instead of the lifted C Perez, eh? 1-1.
9: You can’t often say Cabrera had a crap day at the plate, but you can today. Wade Davis made a fool of him. I really didn’t want extra innings. I watch late. I work in the morning.
10: Al-Al done good, again. Should Gonzalez have charged? I think Lorenzo Cain flat out beats it regardless. Cain gets to 2B despite Avila’s first good throw of 2014, and it’s getting nail-bitey again. Aoki tapper, beats it out, steps on Miggy’s foot – WAIT! Brad’s gonna challenge again!! OVERTURNED, INNING OVER! Damn good judgment by Ausmus and his support crew, game-changing good. I love replay!
10: Wow-whee! I thought Kinsler’s hit was gonna leave the park, but the LF gap was far enough. Jackson scores, Tigers win.

Max Scherzer deserved the W and got most of it. Just-in-time hitting and smart challenges by Ausmus got the rest of it. Woo-hoo! Oh, and Ian Kinsler drove in all the runs. (And I love the way he throws.) How ya doin’ there today, Prince (0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts) Fielder?

Pregame 2: Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers

They’re back at it today, with lefty Jason Vargas opposing Max Scherzer.

The last time these two teams faced each other in game two of a three-game series, it was another 2013 nail-biter pitched by a couple guys since departed for the NL. Ervin Santana (so glad he’s gone) stymied the Tigers as usual, while Doug Fister (not so glad he’s gone) was putting ’em on (8 H, 4 BB) but not letting ’em in over 7.2. Detroit came out on the losing end by virtue of a 1st inning run. The game ended with Prince Fielder being thrown out at home trying to score on an Omar Infante double. I’m sure Tom Brookens had nothing to do with this.

Ver el partido, escuchar el juego, seguir el juego. Vamos a ver alguna reacción aquí. Valiosos premios te esperan para “Post of the Game.”

Postgame 1: Tigers 4, Royals 3

POST OF THE GAME: (You do need to step it up, though, guys and gals. Regular season now. Spring training is over.)

potg1

Started off with great Opening Day enthusiasm. 90 minutes later I was in a bad mood, and the Tigers hadn’t even relinquished the lead yet. It wasn’t the game. It was the inability to watch it. Don’t know if it was the network, my ISP, or mlb.tv itself, but after 3+ innings of hiccups and start-overs, I settled on radio.

0-0: Verlander started off throwing strikes and getting hit in about equal measure. Nice early outs v. Billy Butler and Alciedes Escobar were about as good as it got for Justin… When the game is still tied at 0, you can overlook things like a misplayed attempt at a shoestring by Jackson, or a routine flyball dropped by Hunter. And forget them when Martinez homers to RF in his first AB of the season.
1-0: Not an easy 4th inning to watch (or watch by listening). Verlander really scuffled. (A scuffling 6 innings overall for JV.) Gonzalez raised the doubt level by bobbling the bases loaded and keeping the inning alive, but walking Omar Infante to drive in the 3rd KC run – that’s on Verlander…. Salvador Perez was hitting everything all game.
1-3: There was a bit of good fortune going for James Shields, especially in the 4th inning, but for the game, he pretty much owned the Tigers. Tough luck for Detroit, with a near 2-run homer by V-Mart going just foul and a bad 3rd strike call on Jackson with Cabrera standing at 3B. Cabrera left standing on 3B as Avila swung through a breaking ball, well, that’s not luck. Did I mention Perez was hitting everything?… So the game started to get that flat, we can’t win this feel, despite a pretty close score. Watching for encouraging signs, or at least interesting ones, there was JV making a fine play to start a 1-6-3, Castellanos testing Alex Gordon’s arm and paying the price (mixed feelings about that one, however dumb it may have looked), and Davis flashing that speed to make Eric Hosmer work for an out that would have been easy in 2013 (unless it was Iglesias). .. 7th inning rolls around. Reed has a slider? No one told me. Kinsler and Gonzalez make a couple great plays behind Evan. The tide may be turning. Tigers up, and Shields is starting to come down to earth. Jackson smashes a triple to the LF gap, Avila walks. Tigers favorite Aaron Crow comes on in relief (goody!). Castellanos strikes out, but oh no becomes oh yes when the afore-praised Mr. Perez lets strike three (swinging) get away, and Jackson scores. And then Alex Gonzalez – yes, that one – triples in the tying run! It’s a game again.
3-3: Alburquerque and Nathan get the job done handily, and it’s down to the bottom half. Jackson is again burned by a strike zone apparently reserved for him alone. Facing Wade Davis, Avila draws his second walk in a clutch situation (kudos). Collins comes in to pinch-run (kudos to Ausmus). Castellanos singles Collins to 3B – this is MAKING IT HAPPEN! And then, facing Greg Holland, who needs no introduction to Tigers fans, Alex Gonzalez does make it happen, singling in Collins to win it. Welcome to Detroit, Alex Gonzalez. To think that I doubted you. (And still do.)

A game won by a bullpen that was everything Verlander wasn’t, and by late-inning offense (and some +1 managing by Ausmus) – how about it? A game taken back from an opposing starter who was largely dominant. Sweet, that too.

Pregame 1: Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers

(Read Kevin’s “Realism” first. It’s better, especially when you consider that he wrote it without looking, not even once. I am continually amazed by touch-typists. How do they do it? I’m all hunt and peck.)

Here we go! The next “Play Ball!” and the 114th season of Detroit Tigers baseball will commence. The last 29 have gone by without a World Series championship, and yet we find ourselves in something of a Golden Age: Only 3 losing seasons over the past 10 (and only 1 over the past 8), 2 World Series appearances in that span of time, and ownership of the AL Central from 2011 to the present day, not to mention 3 consecutive ALCS appearances. Despite a new manager (and a rookie manager at that) at the helm, a new approach (particularly on the offensive side), and a fair amount of turnover in personnel, it is safe to say that most of us will be disappointed if the Tigers don’t at least advance to the ALCS come October. Pessimist and optimist alike. The reason is spelled s-t-a-r-t-i-n-g r-o-t-a-t-i-o-n.

This season’s quest begins at home against the Kansas City Royals. That’s got to mean Shields vs. Verlander, and it does. Tigers-Royals made for a challenging and interesting rivalry last season. Detroit has become a bit more like KC, perhaps, while the Royals have countered by snagging Omar Infante, the only Tiger who could hit the Royals in 2013.

The last time the Tigers faced the Royals on Opening Day, Zach Greinke outpitched an ineffective Justin Verlander, but the hapless KC bullpen collapsed and the Tigers exploded for 6 runs in the 7th inning on their way to the 8-4 victory. Joel Zumaya picked up the win for his 1+ inning of work. I remember it well.

OK, we know who The 25 are now. Any votes of “no confidence”? Mine would have to go to Phil Coke, Al Alburquerque, Alex Gonzalez, and Alex Avila’s hitting. But they are Tigers, so this can only mean “show me.” Not looking forward to any I-told-you-so’s.

Watch the game, listen to the game, follow the game. Let’s see some reaction here. Valuable prizes await you for “Post of the Game.”

Realism

re·al·ism

[ree-uh-liz-uhm]  

noun

1. interest in or concern for the actual or real, as distinguished from the abstract, speculative, etc.
2. the tendency to view or represent things as they really are.

Now that we’ve read the best case and worst case musings of our other regular contributors, let me hit you with a dose of reality.

1. The Tigers are not going to stroll to the central title. The Central is going to be tougher than last year. Remember that the Indians only finished 1 game behind the Tigers last year, and the Royals won 86 games. Those teams are maturing and learning how to win. I don’t think that the Tigers will finish third, like Mr. Henning does, but it’s going to be a dog fight for sure.

2. There will be second guessing on DTW. Brad Ausmus is going to make mistakes. Lots of them. Since there is really only one spot nailed down in the bullpen, there will be a lot of room for what-ifs. Also, platooning will be a hot topic in LF and at C, starting in week one. This gets exacerbated if ANY position player gets injured.

3. There will be heartache for the DTW faithful. There are going to be 60-70 nights over the next six months when we go to bed (or wake up) with the sour taste of a L. (If there are more than that, then the season, and the recurring sour taste, will end early).

4. There will be celebrations. I know that we all take pride in the success of the Tigers. It’s a right of fandom. A great play or a nice win are always cause for a high five, or maybe a drink. I think that we’ve become spoiled over the past few years as Tigers fans and have become accustomed to winning, so our expectations have been raised. But even so, this team should deliver.

5. We’ll have fun. It’s America’s pasttime for a reason. My kids are still too young to get it, but I’m looking forward to sharing all of this with them in a few years. There is no doubt that it will rekindle a part of my appreciation that I didn’t even know I had lost. Looking forward to watching 2014 with everyone.

***************

On another note, I don’t get the Cabrera contract extension at all. You could have paid him the exact same money next year (or seemingly less), and had the benefit of monitoring his core over another full season. Keith Law predictably trashed the deal, but if you want to read something worthwhile, check out Dave Cameron on Frangraphs. The conclusions aren’t too far apart, however.

We really don’t have much of an insight into Mr. Illitch. Certainly not the access that I’m used to with Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones. But I assume that this is his doing. Or that Dombrowski wants to retire in a few years.

After what looked like a prudent move in passing on Scherzer’s offer, the Tigers have confused a lot of people with this one. Though spending has never been a problem here, so let’s worry about the Cabrera contract when it’s time to worry. Yes, this could eat us up in 2020. But with Verlander and Cabrera now wrapped up into baseball infinity, if we’ve got two WS rings come 2020, it may be pretty easy to digest.

Pessimism

Just to be clear, I’m not “the pessimistic one” here. If The Loon had put up a post called Pessimism, I would be doing the Optimism one.

We like to cover all angles here at DTW. Opposing views are encouraged.

Barely a month after the postseason, the Tigers traded Prince Fielder and his $214 million salary (and and a whole lot of cash) to the Texas Rangers for 2B Ian Kinsler.   Oh. We weren’t expecting that, were we? While the trade may have seemed puzzling at first, the more you looked at it the better it looked. Fielder’s 2nd season in Detroit was marked by personal problems and his 2nd consecutive postseason failure, and moving him allowed the Tigers to move Cabrera back to first, open up a space for Castellanos in the lineup, let Omar Infante go (he was great for Detroit but about to become expensive), and improve the team defense and speed.

Bottom line: Fielder’s WAR (regular season) was 1.7 in 2013, he had off-field issues, had a history of postseason struggles, and was expensive. Kinsler had a 2013 WAR of 4.9, a history of postseason success, and was less expensive. Optimism seemed called for in November.

Then in December, Doug Fister was traded to the Nationals for Robbie Ray, Ian Krol, and Steve Lombardozzi. This was a head scratcher. There was some salary reduction, which it was assumed would help extend Max Scherzer (oops), but otherwise it looked lopsided, and the press agreed. The Tigers had an extra arm in the starting rotation, wanting to work in the young lefty Drew Smyly, but it seems they could have gotten more and should have waited longer.

So the Tigers entered Spring Training with two big trades behind them, but reason for optimism, and very few questions to be answered.  They had added Joe Nathan as a closer, added Joba Chamberlain for some bullpen depth, added Rajai Davis as a right-handed bat (and base-stealing threat) in LF, and the lineup looked pretty set.

**********

Then came March Madness.

First down was Andy Dirks. Suddenly Left Field was Rajai Davis, who can’t hit righties, and…Don Kelly. It looked like the Tigers would have to pick up an outfielder, or use newcomer Lombardozzi there, neither which looked like good options. Perhaps the most troubling thing about the loss of Dirks was Dombrowski’s statement that Dirks had had back problems since high school. Oh.

Next to drop was Jose Iglesias, from his shin splints, that turned out to be shin fractures, and this was a big blow–likely the whole season.  It turns out he probably should not have been playing last season (which takes the shine off of last year’s trade for Iglesias).

Dombrowski tried to patch holes by trading for backup shortstop Kevin Romine from the Angels, and four days later for quasi-retired Alex Gonzalez for Lombardozzi, (which makes the return on the Fister trade look even thinner).

Then down goes Rondon. Currently the set-up man in the bullpen is Joba Chamberlain (cue laugh track from Yankee fans).

Suddenly, the nagging thought clears its throat and taps one on the shoulder: the two most important Tigers, Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera, are both returning from offseason surgeries.

What a way for a new manager to start his career. I was sold on the “speed and defense” emphasis that Ausmus preached, but the two best defensive players on the team are gone (Iglesias had a Gold Glove worthy glove, and–which was way under publicized–Andy Dirks was a Gold Glove finalist).

Hopefully that is all of the bad news for now, although I should point out that Don Kelly strained his hamstring, and he is backup for 11 of the 9 positions.

Here is the actual depth chart.  At least the trades for Romine and Gonzalez have taken Kelly out of the shortstop mix. As it is he is backup for 3rd, left, center, and right. As if that weren’t bad enough Davis in left was meant to be a platoon player, Hunter in right is 38, and Jackson in center plays fewer games every season (153 in 2011, 137 in 2012, and only 129 in 2013). Gonna be a whole lot of Donkey Time this year.

[This is one of the interesting things about doing these posts. Until I was in the middle of writing this it never occurred to me to be worried about Austin Jackson’s durability].

One more thing, as Columbo would say–the Tigers announced that they failed to extend Max Scherzer. That in itself may or may not be bad news. but it was certainly bad news that the Tigers are seemingly engaged in an uncharacteristic PR war with Scherzer/Boras. I think the Tiger-Boras honeymoon is over. Worth noting: unlike all other major negotiations, owner Mike Ilitch  had no direct contact with either party,  There are murmurings that Ilitch may be passing the reins, and that the open checkbook is no more, which may put the Fielder and Fister deals in a different light.

We are doomed. Doomed, I tell you!

(Pessimism is actually sort of fun if you don’t do it very often).

Less than one week until opening day. Go Tigers!

 

Optimism

Back, shins, elbow, shoulder, hamstring. Welcome to 2014, Season Of The Body Parts. Wait, that’s the lead-in for a pessimistic article I’m not going to write.

I’ve reflected upon the boss man’s instructions to tackle the spring issues one at a time, and it seems to me we’ve covered most of them already. Position by position, there wasn’t a whole lot of debate coming into camp. I was going to do some kind of bench/depth write-up just before the even more still worser news about Jose Iglesias broke. The one issue (to date; please no more injuries) that hasn’t been covered is the overarching one, the one that’s been around since…

Last year. Did it begin with the acquisition of Iglesias? No, that was an emergency response, albeit a well-reasoned one. But in a fairly rapid flurry of after-season moves, chief among them Jim Leyland’s retirement, the Fielder/Kinsler trade, and the hiring of Brad Ausmus, it was clear that a Big Shift was going on. The offensive strategy was going to go from slugging it (or not) to a team that could make it happen even when hits were hard to come by. It was and maybe still is daunting to have lost a lot of proven run production in Fielder, Peralta, Infante, and also some bench with bigger bats, but the writing was clearly on the wall. A starting rotation like Detroit had in 2013 deserves better than 93-69. Those starters could have taken the Tigers to the World Series, but they were let down by the bullpen and a feast or famine offense that couldn’t often make up for said bullpen. The Tigers were no-hit by the Marlins in the final game of the regular season. Whoever was or wasn’t in the lineup, that remains a disgrace.

The best starting rotation in baseball remains virtually intact (fingers crossed on Sanchez and his shoulder). Fister out and Smyly in should be little if any loss, though I’ll miss Doug’s yellowhammer, best curveball on the staff in 2013. Anyway, still very strong (in the art of pitching?) here.

Joe Nathan and the law of averages all by themselves decree that the bullpen should be better. The sudden loss of Bruce Rondon isn’t good news, but it’s hardly the “crushing blow” I saw asserted in one headline. Better than 2013 here, I think.

Position players consist of 5 stars (you know who they are), 2 guys we’re not really sure of yet (Avila and Castellanos), and 6 more guys we’re really really not sure of. Is that a championship team? See “Starting Pitchers,” look up and down some MLB rosters and at a bit of history. Yes, it is a championship team, or can be. There are no all All-Star teams. (OK, for a day in July there are.) Maybe fantasy baseball has contributed to the fiction of that being a necessity. Justin Verlander says that the Detroit Tigers are a great team, and I believe him. Great teams are great teams. Detroit has enough elements in place, in spite of losses at SS and LF that cloud things a bit.

So the issue is: Can the Make It Happen offense really make it happen? At least I hope that’s the thing to watch. If it turns out not to be, we might be in bigger trouble than offense alone could possibly solve. For now… great optimism here. The evidence of spring has been that this offense certainly can make it happen, and can even explode like it used to. Then again, we’ve also seen some famine along with the feast, but for that we invoke the “it’s only spring training” clause.

ST GAME 12
ST GAME 13
ST GAME 14
ST GAME 15
ST GAME 16
ST GAME 17
ST GAME 18
ST GAME 19
ST GAME 20
ST GAME 21
ST GAME 22
ST GAME 23

OK, sorry, but I’ve got one more mini-topic. Would’ve put it up before or at the beginning of ST, but it hadn’t occurred to me then. What were the 5 best and 5 worst moves of 2013? Consider 2013 to have ended with the ALCS. My answers to the question tomorrow, as I wait for the resounding echoes of silence to subside.

BEST

1. Rick Porcello in the rotation, Drew Smyly in the bullpen
2. Signing Torii Hunter
3. Trading for Jose Iglesias
4. Sticking with Victor Martinez through a very cold start
5. Bringing Jhonny Peralta back after the suspension

WORST

1. Bringing back Jose Valverde
2. Leaving Quintin Berry and Danny Worth off the Opening Day roster
3. Not putting Miguel Cabrera on the DL
4. Underutilizing Brayan Pena and Matt Tuiasosopo
5. Making Tom Brookens the 3B coach

9 days until it all counts. Stay healthy, get healthy, be healthy, o Detroit Tigers. Oh, and play very well, too.

Oh shiiiiins.

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.

 

Right Out Of Left Field

Andy Dirks, our presumptive mostly-everyday LF, is having back surgery. He’ll be out 12 weeks at the least. The alarmist in me reads this as: Dirks will be out 4 months minimum, will struggle mightily when he does get back, and in essence, he’s done as a Tiger. Even the non-alarmist has to admit that chances of Dirks staying in the long-range plans for LF, 2015 and beyond, have fallen considerably. 2014 was Redemption Year for Andy, and I no longer see any redemption (or patience for it) happening. I think there will be a new direction entirely.

The short-term “what to do?” is well-covered by Jason Beck. I can’t reprise it any better. I will offer that this boosts Don Kelly’s stock. “Useful” may have become “nearly indispensable.” A plausible bench at this point would be Kelly, Worth, Lombardozzi, and Holaday. If that seems odd, consider how the Tigers could possibly carry less than two infielders with uncertainty at two positions there. Don Kelly can play all three OF positions well. I see him as less of a platoon partner for Rajai Davis and more of a 4th outfielder who might be in for a lot of playing time on a running basis. Not a whole lot different than last year’s role, really.

Which brings us to Rajai Davis. Who is this guy? Well, he’s scary fast. He’s also no great shakes as an OF defender (particularly in LF), doesn’t hit that well for average and has a low career OBP, and has no power, not even gap power (look at his triples numbers). He’s especially mediocre against RHP. I’m looking for some sign that he could surprise as more of an everyday LF than we think, and not finding it. Acquiring a solid replacement for Dirks might be in order, and forget the business with Kelly. This could be selling Trevor Crowe and Ezequiel Carrera short, though. Lots of ST to go yet.

ST GAME 6
ST GAME 7
ST GAME 8
ST GAME 9
ST GAME 10
ST GAME 11

And now, our live and in-person Detroit Tigers ST correspondent. More excerpts from the Book of Jud:

3/3: Smyly was down – down..down… change slowed down on everyone except Peralta. high FB crank…second time up high hanger crank out again…next batter he goes down again easy ground ball. ..Both of Peralta’s were fly balls carried in the wind..just barely cleared fence. Worth played all nine innings.. no one does that…read into that what we want. Davis ran from home to third on that triple in a frickin flash!!!!..faster than AJ. Ortega threw about 11 pitches in his inning 9 were 94-96..9 were strikes. Coke was pitiful of the 5 hits he gave up..4 were to lefties. He didnt pitch with the starting D but maybe Kinsler would have gotten to acouple of the GB hits. Not one pitch over 89…one at 76 everything else at 84-88. Castellanos muffed an easy GB…but made up for it with the longest HR of the day. It was a bomb.

3/6: I was thinking about this while the rain cones down but in the game Rajai Davis hit the triple guys who are fast like Jackson round the bases so fast the bow way out so that its almost a circle the are running rounding first….Davis is different he cuts the bases so fast and tight, he almost runs a straight line between bases..I bet he takes 10-15 less steps than most fast guys on a triple.While he was running I thought he was running 65 ft softball bases …he is crazy fast!!!

3/7: Any way these pitcher drills were always kind of a joke with Leyland..lot of laughing and screwing around. The drills I am watching seem to be taken a little more seriously. Maybe cause guys are fighting for spots or maybe its because of Ausmus ..I don’t see JV and I know I would recognize him. I am outside the fence about 100 feet away. It’s still pretty wet from yesterdays rain but it always amazes me how efficient and fast the ground crew gets things done. This whole complex is beautiful. And theres lots to take care of… Marte balks in winning run…wont matter he looks exactly like Coke from the right side. batting practice pitches all 86-87 nothing on them.  Lombardozzi is like a talented Kelly. he can run and hit…Castellanos runs good. I failed to mention before that I have seen Jackson bat 6 times now and he has hit the ball on the button all 6 times. he looks good. Robby Ray is going to be just fine.

3/7: At Steinbrenner stadium the absolutely best thing is the grotto just outside the entrance to the field. there are big rocks with brass plaques of retired Yankee numbers. One for each going right up..1..Martin, 3 Ruth, 4 Gerhig, 5 DiMaggio, 7 Mantle, 8 Yogi, 9 Maris, 15 Munson……..etc….it is the coolest display ever. People whisper when in there…the ground is spotless…I am not anywhere near a Yankee fan but I am in awe when I walk thru there.

3/8:  Joba was throwing a lot of breaking balls and so was Ray. maybe it was the plan and there were some walks. but both got out of there inning. wheres as Marte just like last time was straight and pounded…we didn’t see Miggy take BP here but before the Cardinal game he went over the berm with acouple and hit the 420 CF sign in BP…he looked “normal” to me.