From the category archives:

Managing & Strategy

Either Jim Leyland forgot to pack his razor…

10.16.2008 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

10.01.2008 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

09.28.2008 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 [...]

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Dombrowski says Leyland will be back

09.24.2008 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 would [...]

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This new lineup isn’t a temporary thing

08.14.2008 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 [...]

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Leyland abuses Verlander’s arm for no good reason

08.07.2008 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,” Leyland said. [...]

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Ah, the closer by committee

08.05.2008 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 [...]

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What to make of Jim Leyland

08.03.2008 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). [...]

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Todd Jones out as closer

07.27.2008 91 comments

Jim Leyland hasn’t been shy about making changes to established roles this season. He quietly announced a big one on the radio pre-game show with Dan Dickerson when he said that Todd Jones is out as closer and Fernando Rodney would primarily assume the role.
It had become clear over the last couple weeks that [...]

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Willis being mixed into rotation

05.31.2008 7 comments

It’s been a couple weeks since Dontrelle Willis came off the disabled list. He’s made all of one appearance. That will change this week when he splits a start with splits a start with Armando Galarraga.
Willis will pitch the first 4 to 5 innings and Galarraga will pitch the rest. It’s an [...]

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McClendon- “batting average is the most overrated statistic”

05.31.2008

Hitting philosophy
Hitting coach Lloyd McClendon said runs scored, followed by on-base percentage, are the most important statistics.
“Batting average is the most overrated statistic in baseball,” McClendon said. “Pete Rose told me, ‘When you are scoring runs, you are doing the job.’

I don’t have a lot to comment on here, but I thought the quote was [...]

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Shuffling the deck and rehab news

05.31.2008 10 comments

A cornucopia of Tigers news that has come out today. Jim Leyland is prepared to make some changes, even if it means hurting some feelings. The skip says:
“So I’m going to change some things around here and see what happens. I think that’s important. As I said, I don’t know if it’s going [...]

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