The Detroit Tiger Weblog » virgil vasquez

Virgil Vasquez claimed by Red Sox

billfer — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:38:15 +0000

The Tigers placed Virgil Vasquez on waivers and he was claimed by the Red Sox today. Vasquez had a strong showing in the AFL in 2006 and got a couple shots to start in 2007. However he struggled in 2008 for AAA and even the pitching starved Tigers didn’t call him up.

The timing of this is a little odd. Could it be that the Tigers were clearing 40 man roster space to announce a trade at the completion of the World Series? If so why not just jettison Dane Sardinha or Macay McBride (who also could be on waivers, we just don’t know it)? Most likely this is roster pruning heading into the offseason. With Vasquez they probably would have liked to have kept him, but not at the cost of a spot on the 40 man.

Tigers Minor League Warp 5-16-08

billfer — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:50:26 +0000

Toledo 3 Durham 9
It wasn’t a good night for Virgil Vasquez who allowed 6 runs on 3 homers in just 3 innings. Yorman Bazardo came on in relief and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits in 4.1 innings while fanning 5 and walking none. And in an odd night, Hessman, Larish, and Hollimon didn’t homer. But Erick Almonte did.

Erie – PPD

Dunedin 1 Lakeland 4
Rick Porcello went 5.2 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits, a walk, and 5 K’s. Brennan Boesch had a 3 hit game while Cale Iorg and Scott Sizemore had 2 hit games. Jeramy Laster homered and singled.

Lansing 3 West Michigan 6
Joe Tucker had 3 hits. Audy Ciriaco and Justin Henry had 2 hits each. Alredo Figaro allowed 3 runs on 6 hitsand 3 walks while fanning 5.

Lansing 5 West Michigan 0
Only 3 hits for the Whitecaps in this half of the DH. Manny Miguelez didn’t make it out of the first inning surrendering 4 runs and only recording 2 outs.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5-10-08

billfer — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:41:43 +0000

Charlotte 3 Toledo 5
Mike Hessman and Clete Thomas homered. Brent Clevlen had 3 hits pushing his line to 313/376/563. Casey Fossum got the win allowing 1 run in 6 innings on 3 hits. Blaine Neal allowed 2 homers in one inning of relief.

Toledo 1 Charlotte 4
Mike Hessman homered and had one of only 3 hits. Virgil Vasquez went 5 innings and allowed 4 runs on 9 hits with 1 walk and 3 K’s.

Harrisburg 9 Erie 0
Wil Rhymes went 2 for 4. Ben Fritz allowed 8 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings. He walked none and fanned 6.

Vero Beach 2 Lakeland 6
James Skelton went 3 for 4 with his first homer of the year. Scott Sizemore and Ryan Strieby each had 2 hits. Rick Porcello allowed 2 unearned runs in 5 innings on 3 hits. He walked only one, but also struck out only one.

Lansing 2 West Michigan 4
Kyle Peter and Justin Henry each had 2 hits. Manny Miguelez fanned 8 over 7 innings while allowing just 1 run on 4 hits.

Roster Moves

The Tigers made a number of roster moves including Brandon Hamilton joining the Whitecaps from EST. A promotion for a VSL product. And Luis Marte earning his way to Erie. Detroit Tigers Thoughts and Take 75 North break it all down.

Finding a 6th starter

billfer — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:41:42 +0000

On the second batter of the Friday night’s game Dontrelle Willis slipped and hyper-extended his knee. It’s unclear at this point whether the knee injury will cause Willis to hit the DL, but given his control problems this year it might not be a bad idea regardless. If the Tigers do need a new starter, who could they turn to? Up until Friday afternoon I thought that it would be Yorman Bazardo, but now Detroit will have to turn to someone else.

Virgil Vasquez

Vasquez made a couple spot starts for the Tigers last year, with some rocky results. He was rocked at the Metrodome, and had a short outing against the A’s. In between was a 5 inning, 2 run effort against the White Sox. He’s been solid in his 2 starts so far with an impressive 14:2 K:BB ratio for the Mud Hens.

Armando Galarraga

The right hander was acquired for minor leaguer Michael Hernandez. In his first two starts he has a .67 WHIP and has 11 strike outs versus 1 walk for Toledo. Detroit Tiger Thoughts mentioned Galarraga as a candidate for a bullpen call up as well.

Rick Porcello

Controversial? Yes. But I have to believe it would be considered. Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland have been willing to rapidly promote (or rush) players through the system. He’s had an easy time of it in Lakeland in his first 2 starts – ever. And that’s the rub. He has two professional starts under his belt. While the scouting reports indicate he probably already is capable of pitching at the big league level the bigger question is should he? I’m inclined to say it would be a bad idea because he needs time to develop and do you want to thrust that on a kid? Conversely though if his stuff is ready, and if he is as poised as he appeared in the spring training appearance I saw (and by all accounts he is), would there be an adverse effect for him to collect a handful of starts?

I still think it will be Vasquez. He’s done it before and it is the sensible pick. But don’t fool yourself if you think that Porcello wouldn’t be at least discussed.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-8-2008

billfer — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:34:03 +0000

Charlotte 9 Toledo 7
Ryan Raburn homered and knocked in 3 while Mike Hessman doubled and tripled. Brent Clevlen went 3 for 4 and continues a promising start to his season. Matt Joyce hit his second homer of the year to go along with a walk. Virgil Vasquez was knocked around for 7 hits but limited the damage to 2 runs while fanning 6 in 5 innings. Clay Rapada and Preston Larrison combined to allow 6 runs in 3 innings.

Erie 3 Harrisburg 2
Wil Rhymes 3 run homer was the offense. Wilkin Ramirez doubled and walked. Josh Rainwater went 5 2/3 innings allowing just 1 run on 3 hits, no walks, and 6 K’s. Brett Jensen recorded his first save of the season with a scoreless 9th inning.

Lakeland 3 Sarasota 7
Rick Porcello made his 2nd start and was excellent again. He was tagged for 4 runs, but all were unearned and came in a 3 error 4th inning. He allowed 4 hits, one of which was an infield single, while fanning 4 and walking none. Cale Iorg, who made 2 errors, went 3 for 5. James Skelton and Scott Sizemore each added 2 hits.

Great Lakes 5 West Michigan 1
Kyle Peter doubled and walked and Jordan Newton added 2 singles. Ramon Garcia gave up all 5 runs on 7 hits, no walks,and 6 K’s over 6 innings. Wilton Garcia fanned 4 in 2 scoreless innings of relief.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-3-08

billfer — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:48:45 +0000

At least everyone else in the organization won their opening days. Some great starting pitching efforts including the debut of Rick Porcello.

Durham 2 Toledo 3
Dane Sardinha homered and singled. Mike Hessman had a 2 hit day as well. Jeff Larish struggled in his AAA debut going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Virgil Vasquez went 5 2/3 innings allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and a walk while fanning 8.

OPENING DAY POSTPONED – Erie SeaWolves
They’ll make it up with a doubleheader Saturday.

Lakeland 4, Tampa 1
Let the Rick Porcello hype begin. Five innings of one hit ball in his professional debut is a nice beginning. He fanned 3 and walked 2. Freddy Dolsi struck out the side, but also walked two and allowed a run before doing so. Cale Iorg tripled and James Skelton picked up 2 hits. Check in with LFT Blog who was attending the game and taking pictures (they’re just not posted at “press” time)

West Michigan 15 South Bend 2
Found the Tigers missing offense. It’s in Grand Rapids where the Whitecaps scored 10 times in the first inning. The whole offense did good needless to say. Ramon Garcia went six shut out innings allowing only 4 hits while fanning 5. The Surge was on hand and has filed a report.v

Talking Tigers prospects with Jonathan Mayo

billfer — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:00:36 +0000

Jonathan Mayo covers the minor leagues and the draft as a senior writer for MLB.com. Mayo also has a book coming out that has some remarkable timing. It is a look at what it is like to face Roger Clemens and is appropriately titled Facing Clemens. The book was written and put to bed prior to the release of the Mitchell Report and will be available on March 1st, though you can pre-order it now.

Regardless of your feelings about Clemens, steroid users, and their place in history, the book looks to be a fascinating read. Mayo interviewed many of the great hitters about what it was like to dig in with Clemens on the mound. Whether or not Clemens did it naturally doesn’t change what the batters experienced when squaring off against the Rocket.

Mayo was kind enough to answer some questions about the now-depleted Tigers farm system as well as a look forward to the 2008 draft.

Detroit Tigers Weblog: After the trades this off-season, the Tigers seem to be deepest in the middle infield. Of Scott Sizemore, Mike Hollimon, Danny Worth, Cale Iorg, Tony Giarratano, and Audy Ciriaco who do you see having the highest ceiling, and who is most likely to make it to the majors?

Jonathan Mayo: From a pure upside standpoint, I think Ciriaco is still the guy. I know he only hit .224 in his full-season debut, but he’ll still be just 20 when the season starts. I think he has to start taking the raw tools and turn it into performance this year. As for “most likely to succeed,” I’d probably go with Worth or Hollimon at this point. I’ve seen Hollimon play several times and he just looks like a big leaguer to me. He also has the best bat of this group as of right now. Those kinds of offensive skills will play at 2B in the bigs. Worth, even though he hit when he got pushed up to Erie, will be a big leaguer more because of his glove. How much he can hit will determine whether he’s an every-day shortstop or a utility guy.

DTW: James Skelton had a great season for West Michigan, yet there is still concern about his size. How big of a concern is this, and if he does prove to be too small to play catcher is his offense enough to warrant moving him somewhere else?

JM: I sometimes think that too much is made of size when assessing prospects. That being said, catching is one of the few places where it can be a concern – more strength than pure size, actually. It all comes down to how durable he is. Skelton shared catching duties in West Michigan – the Tigers clearly didn’t want to run him into the ground – catching 84 games and picking up 353 ABs along the way. Still, his numbers did decrease in the second half – not precipitously, but enough to make you wonder. I think if he were going to move, it would have to be to the outfield, where his speed, athleticism and arm strength would play well. He doesn’t have the pop to play a corner infield position, in my opinion. For now, I’d leave him behind the plate and take advantage of the arm that threw out 42.5 percent of would-be basestealers and make him prove that he can’t handle the rigors of catching at higher levels.

DTW: Rank Yorman Bazardo, Jordan Tata, and Virgil Vasquez

JM: I’ll go: Vasquez, Bazardo, Tata.

DTW: With Maybin and Hernandez gone, who do you see as the Tigers top outfield prospect?

JM: Well, if they take my advice and move Skelton out there… In all seriousness, it’s slim pickings, isn’t it? I’d probably say Brennan Boesch, though I like Deik Scram, not necessarily as a high-ceiling prospect who’ll wow you. I just like the way he plays. I’m operating under the assumption that Ryan Raburn no longer qualifies as a prospect because of his big-league time.

DTW: Ilitch/Dombrowski/Chadd have ignored the draft slotting system with great results and it’s widely accepted that they’ll replenish the system with the same methodology. Do you think that this will still be an advantage going forward, or will other teams learn from Detroit’s example and finding “signability” guys will become more difficult?

JM: Sure, it will be an advantage for as long as that loophole of sorts is open. Other teams might learn from Detroit’s example, but few will be able to do much about it. Most of the teams who pass on the Rick Porcellos of the world do so because they can’t afford the price tag. Or, more importantly, they won’t. So as long as the Tigers braintrust doesn’t mind getting a scolding now and again, there will always be opportunities to pick up high-end talent that others feel they can’t sign.

DTW: How does the 2008 draft class look at this point? Where is it deepest?

JM: It’s so early to tell, but right now, it’s looking kind of balanced. If there is one strength right now, I think there’s a slight edge towards college bats at the high end, but there are some good college arms as well. But at the same time, there are some interesting high school players who’ll be interesting to watch how they progress once the season gets under way. But if you’re going to force me to go in one direction, especially at the top of the draft, I’ll go with the college bats.