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.

Brookens of course knows baseball. The former 4th overall pick in the 1975 draft had a 12 year big league career and has managed in the Tigers organization at Oneonta, West Michigan, and Erie. But very little of that career came in the outfield. Very little.

I know that you don’t have to have been a great hitter to be a good hitting coach, and the same is true of pitching. There is clearly a difference between having the knowledge and communication skills and having the physical talent to carry that out. But hitting coaches still typically were hitters and pitching coaches still typically were pitchers. Brookens was primarily and infielder. Brookens himself addressed his lack of experience in the outfield in a conversation with Jason Beck.

"I think handling all those facets in the minor leagues will help me some," Brookens said. "Certainly my playings days didn’t take me to the outfield much. I know plenty about the fundamentals of the outfield, [such as] footwork, release points, and that’s a lot of what it comes down to, really. I’ve always considered myself a good baserunner. I don’t foresee any real problems with any of those."

Brookens did presumably pick up a great deal of experience coaching outfield in the minors. Managers at that level need to be a jack of all trades. But is there any value in having a coach who can share insights about reading the ball off the bat or subtleties of positioning that come from years actually playing the position? I don’t know. I’m just asking the question.

None of this is meant to discredit Brookens in any way. That same article from Beck mentioned that Brookens is viewed as a great communicator. Because he has spent the last half decade in the Tigers system, he probably brings with him some valuable insight into many of the players who the Tigers will rely on over the next couple seasons.

As for whether or not this move signals Tigers are grooming Brookens to become the next Tigers manager, that remains to be seen. I think Leyland has pretty much total control over his coaching hires. I do agree the Tigers have been promoting him through the system with that possibility in mind, but I don’t know that this promotion changes it at all. What it may mean though is that Leyland is trying to position his successor.

The Alex Rodriguez to Detroit rumors just won’t die. Going into the offseason I thought the Tigers chances would be similar to their playoff chances in September. Stuff had to fall their way, and it was a longshot, but that they were still in a better position than most teams. But since the end of the World Series, the rumors haven’t stopped.

I thought that the acquisition of Edgar Renteria would take care of that speculation. It didn’t even put a dent in it. Ken Rosenthal still thought it was a fit. Even if it meant bringing in the fences. Meanwhile Jayson Stark was saying that he saw Rodriguez ending up with the Mets or Tigers. Jon Heyman from SI.com lists the Tigers as one of 3 teams moving up in the A-Rod race.

So to squelch all this talk Dave Dombrowski flat out said:

“We don’t have any interest”

…

“We filled our spot when we acquired Renteria”

Still, that isn’t enough to dampen the A-Rod to Detroit enthusiasm. Buster Olney reports that other executives think that Boras could just negotiate directly with Mike Ilitch. But interestingly Jerry Crasnick spoke with 15 GM’s and none mentioned the Tigers as a potential destination for Rodriguez. Maybe the latter group of GM’s read the Business Week article about Ilitch from September when Ilitch said the Tigers weren’t ready to make the $30 million a year leap.

And 3 more A-Rod/Boras-y articles I couldn’t work into the above narrative:

• SportingNews.com – Appraising A-Rod
• The Sporting Scene: The Extortionist: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
• Battling Boras — The Hardball Times
• UPDATE: Found one more Choose Your Own Adventure – Congratulations you’re a Tiger

Tigers lose 2

It looked like the Tigers were grooming their next manager in Matt Walbeck. He had 3 successful seasons and asked for and was granted a promotion to Erie last year. Now he’s the Texas Rangers 3rd base coach. Maybe this is just some MLB seasoning for the 2010 season? No replacement has been named but Tom Brookens, the Whitecaps manager in 2007, will be considered.

The Tigers also lost scout Greg Smith who will be scouting director in Pittsburgh.