From the category archives:

Managing & Strategy

The week that was

12.05.2009 5 comments

Things have been very quiet here at DTW lately. While it wasn’t my intention for things to go dark here, when it’s a one person gig sometimes life gets in the way. Fortunately life will be out of the way this coming week so my winter meetings coverage should be pretty robust and very timely. In the mean time I’ll use this post as a way of catching up on everything that got neglected including Placdio Polanco, Joel Zumaya, Cale Iorg, and Brian Peterson.

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Brookens returns to the big leagues

11.10.2009 2 comments

The Tigers announced yesterday that Tom Brookens would be the new first base and outfield and base running coach. Brookens is an organizational soldier and it’s nice to see him get the opportunity to don the Old English D again. But it does raise the question about the qualifications or importance of positional coaches.

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Junkballing: Pitchers, Playoffs, Plunkings

10.03.2009 24 comments

Debating Saturday’s starter, some news on a tiebreaker playoff game, and more from MLB’s punishment roulette wheel.

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Porcello’s 15 starts

07.19.2009 4 comments

Earlier in the week Jim Leyland made the announcement that Rick Porcello’s  next start would come July 21st and that he has 15 starts left. Porcello has been on inning and pitch restrictions as the Tigers try not to burn out one of the most promising young arms in the game. Through his first 16 [...]

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Maggs and Clete to platoon

07.08.2009 11 comments

The latest technique to milk productivity from Magglio Ordonez is to platoon him and only give him starts against left handers. Clete Thomas will form the other side of the platoon which means he’ll get the bulk of the starts, especially with the team facing more right handers.
For his career, Ordonez has hit lefties about [...]

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The Ordonez Kerfuffle

06.20.2009 9 comments

The Magglio Ordonez benching/non-benching is the story that just keeps on giving. At this point I think everybody except Barack Obama has had their say. Let’s put it all together and see what we can come up with:
Thursday
Jim Leyland announces that Ordonez wouldn’t be starting that night in St. Louis and that he would be [...]

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Tigers extend Jim Leyland

06.19.2009 45 comments

The Tigers today announced the extension of Jim Leyland’s contract through the 2011 season.
“We are happy to announce a two-year contract extension for Jim Leyland today,” Tigers President, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager David Dombrowski said. “Jim is an outstanding manager and he has done a great job for the Tigers.  We look forward [...]

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Edwin Jackson’s 132 pitches

05.21.2009 26 comments

Edwin Jackson threw 132 pitches to help the Tigers complete a sweep of the Texas Rangers. Pitch counts and the hubbub around them are fodder for controversy. I tend to favor caution in these scenarios but am willing to consider each game on an individual basis. Who was the pitcher? What was the game state? Is there an off day coming up? How much rest is he pitching on? What is the pitcher’s injury history? And on and on. I don’t think there is a simple answer to the right number of pitches, but today Jim Leyland left Edwin Jackson in too long. I worry if this is going to be a pattern in 2009.

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Rotation shuffle

04.14.2009 6 comments

With today’s rain out, the Tigers have changed their rotation, or have they demoted Zach Miner to the bullpen?
The two different stories have a different feel to be sure. First though, the upcoming pitchers are: Galarraga, Verlander, Jackson, Porcello. That’s what we know for sure. The Tigers are effectively skipping Rick Porcello this turn through [...]

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The one about the bullpen last night

04.08.2009 13 comments

Gut wrenching losses are good fodder for second guessing (and page views). My thoughts and perspective on what happened last night (some of these may sound like a defense of decisions made or not made, that’s not necessarily the intent).
1. Why take out Edwin Jackson, he was pitching awesome? Edwin Jackson had been pitching [...]

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Oh those intentional base on balls

01.29.2009 13 comments

The Tigers struggled with walks in 2008. This is well documented and fairly obvious with the Tigers issuing more walks than every team other than Texas. It resulted in Chuck Hernandez losing his job and the Tigers bringing in a coach who built his reputation on pounding the strike zone. But a significant chunk of [...]

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Tigers name Rick Knapp pitching coach

10.17.2008 71 comments

The Tigers found their pitching coach, and they poached him from the Twins. He is Rick Knapp and he’s served as the minor league pitching coordinator for the last 12 years in the Minnesota organization.
I really like this move. The Twins have a tradition of producing striking throwing machines on a regular basis, [...]

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