From the category archives:

Managing & Strategy

Rotation shuffle

14.04.2009 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 [...]

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The one about the bullpen last night

08.04.2009 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

29.01.2009 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

17.10.2008 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, and [...]

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Either Jim Leyland forgot to pack his razor…

16.10.2008 9 comments

…when he left for Lakeland. Or he’s going with a new look. A beard and no cigarette.credit Roger DeWitt (Yeah, it’s been a long week and I don’t have any analysis to post yet).

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More candid talk from the top, Leyland speaks

01.10.2008 56 comments

Manager Jim Leyland was on Mitch Albom’s show and the Free Press has the transcript in 3 parts. The links to all follow, but here are some highlights and my comments. If I was looking at the two major culprits and without pointing fingers and necessarily individuals, the two major culprits were the pitching and [...]

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Position roulette, Inge and Guillen edition

28.09.2008 41 comments

I was hoping to have a chance to run some numbers, but until I do I figured it was worth posting that Inge will play third and Guillen left field next season. I won’t completely pass judgment until I can do the math on this, but for the moment I’m thinking this doesn’t actually help [...]

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Dombrowski says Leyland will be back

24.09.2008 57 comments

Dave Dombrowski told Lynn Henning and the Detroit News that Jim Leyland will be managing the Tigers next year. Seeing as this wasn’t a sound bite, it’s tough to get a flavor for how ringing the endorsement was given this is the quote that Henning had: “Yes, oh yeah,” Dombrowski said when asked if Leyland [...]

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This new lineup isn’t a temporary thing

14.08.2008 28 comments

The last 2 games have featured Magglio Ordonez hitting 3rd and Miguel Cabrera hitting clean-up. That’s going to last awhile, like into next season. I don’t think lineups make a huge difference, but it never felt right having a hitter like Cabrera batting below the clean-up spot. And with Leyland not liking to shuffle guys, [...]

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Leyland abuses Verlander’s arm for no good reason

07.08.2008 128 comments

Jim Leyland before the game: Zumaya’s right shoulder remains a point of concern. Leyland said Zumaya reported “normal soreness” and indicated that he was able to pitch, but Leyland said that description was “not defined enough for me.” “I’m not going to have it on my plate that I got Joel Zumaya hurt, getting greedy,” [...]

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Ah, the closer by committee

05.08.2008 19 comments

The Tigers are going the route of closer by committee. Sort of. In the sense that Kyle Farnsworth, Fernando Rodney, and Joel Zumaya will all get opportunities there is definitely a committee of people who will be closing games. But it seems as if it will be pre-determined heading into the game – at least [...]

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What to make of Jim Leyland

03.08.2008 169 comments

I’ll be honest. I was going to break my rule about swearing on the blog and use some expletives in the title and direct them towards the skipper. His management – or lack of management – in the final inning of today’s debacle was grossly negligent (I’ll hit this more in a minute). But then [...]

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