The Detroit Tiger Weblog

Month: March 2008

  • Bullpen woes spawn trade talk

    Jon Paul Morosi reports that the Tigers bullpen headaches have the team talking trade. Morosi notes that there have been “general discussions” with the Cubs. Chicago has become a favorite trading partner of Dombrowski with the two clubs completing five trades during DD’s tenure.

    Morosi notes that the Cubs may be interested in a right handed hitter who could play center. Like maybe Inge. There is the Alan Trammell factor and a recommendation from the bench coach could come into play.

    MLB Trade Rumors throws out the name Ryan Dempster as a potential target. Dempster will turn 31 and make $5.5 million this year, so for 2008 anyways the salaries would work out. Dempster fanned 7.43 per 9 innings last year while walking 4.05 per 9 and posting a 4.51 FIP. In other words he’s a poor man’s Jason Grilli (7 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 3.85 FIP). Well, with some saves.

    As for the current bullpen candidates, well, umm, yeah:

    • Matt Mantei’s arm went pop and he’s retiring and was released
    • Fernando Rodney threw for the first time today in a couple weeks. He made 15 throws from 60 feet. But that doesn’t provide a lot of hope at this point given his history.
    • Francisco Cruceta still hasn’t made it into the country.  At this point I wonder if the Tigers could get him through waivers.
    • And Todd Jones was rocked today for 6 runs in an inning.  But that’s probably less of a concern at this point.
    • At least Denny Bautista has looked good in his limited time with 3 scoreless innings.
    • I find it interesting that Yorman Bazardo has only thrown 1 inning. I thought he’d be a strong candidate to make the team given his option status.

  • links for 2008-03-04

  • Remember when Inge wasn’t talking?

    Brandon Inge, who keeps saying he just wants to play everyday, gets a chance to play and complains about it.

    “Catching right there absolutely reinforces that third-base is my all-time love,” Inge said. “It’s not even a question. If it came down to it, where I was just catching, I’d have to find a way to separate it. I don’t know if I can, because I take too much pride in the catching aspect.”

    and

    “I’m a much better hitter this year than I have been in a long time,” he said. “That feeling that I got today was much more of a downer feeling. Don’t get me wrong: The actual catching part of the game [was] fun. It was awesome. But what fires me up is the offensive part. It’s very frustrating to me.

    “It’s a fine line. I’m not saying that I’m frustrated about them making me catch. It’s frustrating because the way I feel offensively, and then how I feel catching offensively. It’s two completely different things. My mind’s not in it. Mentally, if you’re not into hitting, you’re not going to hit. Especially with the game plan I have now offensively, it’s tough.”

    I had no problem when Inge didn’t speak to the media in the aftermath of the trade. He didn’t demand a trade, but in a conversation with Dombrowski he stated his preferences. I had no problems with those preferences. I’m sympathetic to the fact that he didn’t want to become a role player at this point in his career. I appreciate the fact that he wants to play everyday and would be disappointed if he was “ok” with a bench spot. He, like the majority of athletes, has a tremendous amount of confidence in his abilities. Again, no problem there.

    I don’t begrudge him his contract and I’m not going to tell him that “he should feel fortunate” because who am I to say how someone should feel? He was lucky to be in the situation he was, playing for a really bad team that really didn’t have other catching options. Most would have been relegated to AAAA status.

    I railed against those that said he got the contract based on one good year because he actually strung together 1800 at bats where he was an adequate hitter (774 OPS).

    But these quotes were enough to put me over the edge. Stop talking Brandon and play.
    (more…)

  • Tigers Corner 2008

    Tigers Corner 2008Hitting store shelves this week is Tigers Corner 2008. This is the second edition of the book/magazine/annual from Maple Street Press. It is edited by Gary Gillette of ESPN fame (ESPN.com contributor, Baseball Encyclopedia, etc.) so it definitely lends some credibility to the motley crew of Tigers bloggers who contributed articles.

    Brian Borawski helped out with last year’s version, and this year he invited myself, Lee Panas, Ian Casselberry, Matt Wallace, and Mike McClary to submit articles as well. So at the very least you know that the writers were passionate about the subject.

    We join real writers (with apologies to Ian who is a real writer) like Bill Dow, Gillette himself, and David Laurila. The end product is actually quite impressive if I do say so myself. Keeping in mind that seeing my name in print is kind of a kick for a novice like me.

    The book covers last season, as well as some deeper dives into Tigers history. It also looks forward with profiles of Rick Porcello and other Tigers prospects.

    The table of contents is available at the Maple Street Press site, as well as ordering information. It is available on Amazon, but I understand there are some issues there with how it is classified and other things I don’t full understand. If you’re in the Detroit area I’m told it will be available at bookstores and I also saw it on the magazine rack at Kroger.

  • links for 2008-03-02

  • Virtual waiting rooms are as much fun as real waiting rooms

    Detroit Tigers single game tickets went on sale March 1st, and it was a record setting day for the organization. The team sold over 80,000 tickets in the first 2 hours after the tickets went on sale. With a crush of demand it meant long lines no matter how fans tried to obtain tickets.

    I heard reports on the radio of people waiting 4 hours at the Comerica Park box office. I swung by Hockeytown Authentics in Troy shortly after noon only to find a line that was still probably 50 people. And for those trying to buy from the comfort of their own homes, most experienced the tickets.com phenomenon of the virtual waiting room. Which like any good waiting room involves waiting for an indiscriminate amount of time and very little feedback as to when your turn might come up. I was trying the phone all morning as well never getting through.

    Those that weren’t having luck with the prescribed methods were peppering Google with inquiries. Around the middle of the day “detroit tigers tickets” was the 3rd most popular query for the search engine.
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    Still, there seemed to be good tickets available early on, even for the bigger series with some On Deck Circle seats even popping up. But at this point you’re out of luck for some games unless you get lucky on some returned tickets or you become familiar with Stubhub and the like.

    Some games, such as the Yankees series were down to standing room only tickets when I checked in the late afternoon. Others, like the Friday games for the Dodgers and Rockies, and the Labor Day game against the A’s had no tickets available.

    In all the Tigers sold 176,000 tickets as of the ticket office closing at 6pm. With a season ticket base of 26,000 combined with today’s sales the Tigers paid attendance is already over 2.25 million. A report earlier in the week revealed that nearly all of the 300,000 tickets set aside for group sales were reserved meaning that over 2,500,000 tickets are spoken for.

  • D-Train rockin’ the D against C.C.

    Dontrelle’s Spring Training Debut
    credit Deran @ lftblog.com. Click pic for more.

    While a game the first week of spring training probably means little, you can’t help but wonder if today’s 3-3 10 inning tie between the Tigers and Indians could be an indicator of how the 2008 season will transpire for these teams.

    Of more immediate importance today was the debut of Dontrelle Willis in a Tigers uniform. Dontrelle was admittedly nervous at the start of the game. Willis allowed three hits, including a homer in two innings of work. But the reports were positive with Leyland complimenting Willis’s fastball and Willis tipping his cap to Ben Francisco who’s homer came on a good pitch. No word on whether Willis was using his full repertoire of if he was focusing on fastball-change as the other starters have done in their first appearances.

    Other notes:

    • Brent Clevlen made a couple of nice plays in center field, at least according to Dan and Jim on the broadcast.
    • Speaking of Dan and Jim, they gave listeners a little bit of a scare saying that Miguel Cabrera limped to the bench after a ground out. They later clarified saying that everything was OK, but jeez. Don’t scare us guys.
    • I don’t put a lot of stock in spring stats, especially for established players. Like I’m not worried that Carlos Guillen doesn’t have a hit. But it is worth noting that Brandon Inge has only made 2 outs over 4 games. He’s 3 of 5 with 4 walks.
    • It was the locks for the roster that gave up the runs today with Willis, Todd Jones, and Tim Byrdak all surrendering a run on multiple hits. But it was a solid outing for Denny Bautista who fanned one and allowed a lone hit in his 2 innings.

  • Feeding Frenzy: Single game tickets on sale

    Today at 10 a.m. single game Detroit Tigers tickets go on sale. We’ll use this post as a place for you to share your experiences. Some details about the sale today:

    • If you’re buying in person at Comerica Park, you’re probably already in line, and if you’re not you probably shouldn’t bother. Wrist bands were distributed last night so find a different avenue for getting tickets.
    • Don’t use ticketmaster! The Tigers dropped ticketmaster last year so don’t go to a TM outlet because you’ll just be disappointed.
    • Meijer: Meijer stores in the greater Detroit area will be selling tickets. That’s probably your best bet for buying from a ticket window. For those in the greater Troy area, Hockeytown Authentics at Big Beaver and John R will also be selling tickets.
    • If you want to buy from the comfort of your own home, the phone (866-66Tigers) and internet (tigers.com) are both valid options.
    • There will be no Opening Day tickets available. Those all went to season ticket holders. Red Sox and Yankees tickets will also be limited because new, partial season ticket holders who couldn’t get Opening Day tickets were given the option to purchase tickets for those games.
    • And if you’re into the goodies, here is the Tigers promotional schedule.

    If you don’t get everything you want, there is always the after market for a second chance at those tickets.

    Good luck, and let us know how you made out.