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Players

What’s up with Verlander in the stretch?

26.04.2009 19 comments

Justin Verlander has gotten off to a rough start in 2009. People are starting to question his “ace-hood” and with an ERA of 9.00 after 4 starts it is probably justified. What makes his start so perplexing is that his “stuff” appears to be back. His fastball velocity is over 95mph and he’s fanning 10.7 batters per 9 innings. The numbers that really need a deeper examination though are those when runners are on base. Verlander is stranding only 39.6% of runners (a normal rate is 65-75%) and hitters post a 457 OBP with men on and only 296 with the bases empty. What’s up with that?

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Granderson talks to Tiger Tales

16.12.2008 1 comment

Lee Panas of Detroit Tiger Tales recently interviewed Curtis Granderson. Lee asked several thoughtful questions and Granderson responded with some pretty thoughtful answers. My favorite was an exchange about Granderson’s defense last season: TT: In the past, you have indicated that you take pride in your defense and that you have worked hard on that [...]

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Todd Jones retires

24.09.2008 25 comments

It’s really not all that surprising, but Todd Jones has announced his retirement. This was likely to be Jones last season regardless, but the injury and resulting ineffectiveness likely sealed the deal. Jones is the Tigers all time saves leader and his 319 career saves places him 14th in the history of the game. I’m [...]

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Rotational Flux

07.09.2008 1 comment

The Tigers are going to be mixing and matching down the stretch it appears. Kenny Rogers will miss his next start. This is due to hip pain that is believed to be rendering him completely ineffective. (Yes, the old guy has a bad hip. The jokes seem to easy to make, but too easy to [...]

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And that will close the book on Todd Jones

27.08.2008 19 comments

It is looking more and more like Todd Jones has thrown his last pitch. He was with the team the past couple days, but the shoulder isn’t getting better and he is headed home to Alabama. Jones called a team meeting before the Tigers went out on the field for batting practice and, with hugs, [...]

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Grandy’s a stud, is Matt Joyce?

22.08.2008 8 comments

Baseball Prospectus just released what they call “The Ultimate Fantasy Draft.” Essentially they throw contract status out the window and rank the 50 players that teams should build around. Curtis Granderson earned a ranking of 16, right between Ryan Braun and Tim Lincecum (and two spots behind Miguel Cabrera). Nate Silver had this to say [...]

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Sheffield talks about stuff

10.08.2008 58 comments

Gary Sheffield still isn’t happy with his DH role. In a Boston Globe article Sheffield was his typically candid self. “I can be in the outfield and play every day. I don’t want to DH. I don’t feel like a baseball player when I DH. I don’t know how to be the leader that I [...]

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Random Friday factoids

01.08.2008 15 comments

Some stats and such that may or may not be interesting: Edgar Renteria might not totally suck Edgar Renteria is hitting 288/351/404 since the All Star Break. He is a career 290/347/404 hitter. He also has only 4 strike outs in his last 57 plate appearances (and 4 GIDP – eek). A return to normalcy [...]

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A little Pudge appreciation

31.07.2008 61 comments

When I was driving home last night shortly after the trade came down, I was listening to WDFN. I was more than a little taken aback by the number of callers saying good-riddance to Ivan Rodriguez. While there may be something to that in terms of evaluating the trade, there also seemed to be a [...]

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Is there hope for Renteria?

16.07.2008 65 comments

Edgar Renteria has had a half season that everybody would probably like to forget. The.259 batting average looks great compared to the .301 OBP and .326 slugging percentage. Couple this with the fact that Jair Jurrjens is pitching well and the Tigers are a long shot for the playoffs at this point, and the trade [...]

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Inventorying Miguel Cabrera’s locker

09.07.2008 28 comments

In the wake of Miguel Cabrera’s 2 homer performance on Tuesday, we learned a little bit about what Cabrera keeps in his locker and it seems to be an eclectic mix. He has 3 unopened candy bars. (yeah, yeah, weight jokes, yeah) We don’t know the brands, and I think this is pretty important information. [...]

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I will not title this post “Shef is cooking”

27.06.2008 52 comments

So maybe adding Gary Sheffield to the lineup won’t disrupt chemistry. Maybe the winning streak coinciding with Sheffield on the DL was coincidence and maybe he isn’t a cancer. And just maybe, the guy can still play. I was amazed at the number of people who thought there was causation in that Sheffield being on [...]

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