- Jim Leyland picked up the BA Manager of the Year Award. He takes after his boss, Dave Dombrowski who picked up the BA Executive of the Year Award last week.
- Lee and Sam both got new looks going into the new year.
- In addition to the new look, Lee is cranking out the analysis as well. He’s got a piece up examining the batted ball type data he found in the The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2007 (Hardball Times Baseball Annual)
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- Eno rails against the idea of Joel Zumaya being anything but a set-up man.
- This isn’t explicitly about the Tigers, but the Philadelphia Inquirer interviewed Bill James and asked about the Phillies propensity for striking out. Sound like another team we know? Hat Tip Baseball Musings.
- Speaking of which, did you know that one walk undoes the damage of 3 strike outs? The Tigers problem wasn’t the K’s, it was the lack of walks.
- Joe Sheehan made a list of who’s been naughty and nice (premium). He lists the Tigers in the nice category saying the Bonderman deal was a risk worth taking, and really liking the addition of Sheffield:
I suspect that his impact on the team’s overall run scoring will be greater than we can model. Adding an OBP guy to a high-SLG, low-OBP lineup should have a larger effect than adding it to a more balanced lineup.
- I did an interview with Mike from the Daily Fungo Podcast. It doesn’t look like it’s up yet, but I’ll drop the permalink in here when he posts it. It’s nice talking baseball again.
Author: billfer
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Link round-up
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Tigers Payroll Info
With the Tigers recent signings, I thought it might be helpful to get a handle on the team’s payroll this year, and in the near future. The table below shows how the current club stacks up through the end of Dave Dombrowski’s current contract.
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Loving the English D
Could it be that Detroit isn’t such a bad place to play?
It wasn’t so long ago that the Tigers were begging players to come here. They were being rebuffed by marquee free agents such as Miguel Tejada, and having to settle for Fernando Vinas and Jason Johnsons. When they did attract the big names, it was more of as a last resort. But it wasn’t just desperation, it was because the Tigers were offering substantially more money and substantially more years. Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez came here because the Tigers were the only club willing to commit to long term deals.
Yet today the Tigers have managed to lock up a player ahead of free agency. Add Jeremy Bonderman to the ever growing list of Tigers who decided to sign at-or-below-market deals to stay in Detroit. Brandon Inge re-upped for 4 more years a couple weeks ago, just one year shy of free agency.
Placido Polanco spent less than 2 months in Detroit before deciding to stick around for 4 more years without even waiting for the end of the season – and this in the middle of a career year.
Polanco’s move wasn’t unprecedented because Carlos Guillen did the same thing in 2004 agreeing to a 3 year deal when he could have made much more on the open market after a career year.
Gary Sheffield agreed to be traded here…and with a reasonable contract extension.
Even Vance Wilson probably could have done better this offseason given the dearth of catching talent, but he signed an extension midseason as well.
Players, good players, players with options, are eschewing the monster payday for a fair wage in a place that they like. I don’t know if it is the team’s performance, or if Dave Dombrowski is just a good guy to work for, or if it is that the AL Central has 4 good teams who each have a shot at the playoffs, but players are liking it in Detroit.
Jason Beck quoted Bonderman saying:
“There’s always the idea of free agency,” he admitted, “but I love the guys here. I love the team. I love everything about playing for the Tigers right now. They’re a great organization.”
It echoes Inge’s comments
“Never,” he said. “It never (entered) my mind that I’d want to be anywhere other than Detroit. It’s all I’ve known. It’s all I really want to know.”
If this means the end of the Detroit Tax in which the Tigers are extorted for boatloads of money, or simply used as leverage on the way to bigger deals (ie Pavano), then this is probably the best news of the offseason for Detroit fans.
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Tigers lock up Bonderman
The Tigers agreed to a 4 year contract with Jeremy Bonderman keeping him a Tiger through the 2010 season. I don’t have terms yet, but I’ll update when I learn more.
Signing Bonderman to a long term deal had to be one of the Tigers’ top priorities this offseason (at least it was mine). His peripherals have improved every year and he was 2nd to Johan Santana in K/9. I’m pretty excited and I don’t even know the terms yet.
UPDATE: According to the Cut Off Man, who is citing WDFN, the deal is for $38 million. This appears to be a great deal for the Tigers, and a nice big payday for Bonderman.
As a point of comparison, Johan Santana signed a 4 year $39.75 million deal last year which also bought out his last 2 years of aribtration. Bondo is no Santana, but given the inflation in the market this year this seems reasonable. Bonderman would be likely to make $10-12 million over his last 2 years of arbitration. So the Tigers essentially got his first 2 years of free agency for about $14 million per year. Bonderman will still get to be a free agent at the age of 28 so everyone wins.
UPDATE 2: The contract breaks down like so:
2007 -$4.5 million
2008 -$8.5 million
2009 -$12.5 million
2010 -$12.5 million
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Tigers add to Toledo
The Tigers signed 6 players to minor league contracts, including 2 past Mud Hens. Lance Davis and Jason Karnuth will both be back with Toledo. Joining them are pitchers Felix Heredia and Dennis Tankersley, outfielder Brandon Watson, and catcher Dane Sardinha.
It’s not that inspiring of a group, but minor league free agents rarely are. I don’t know much about Sardinha, but he must be a heck of a defender by the looks of his offensive numbers. Watson is a career 304 hitter in the minors, but with very little power. Watson is only 25 so he’s got that going for him.
Heredia will turn 31 next season. Other than 3 apperances for the Mets in 2005, he hasn’t played a role on a big league club since 2004. I’m guessing he has been injured the last 2 seasons based on stints in the Appalachian League and GCL – places that typically aren’t stops for 30 year olds.
Tankersley has posted some pretty good numbers in the PCL over his career. But in his limited stints in the Majors, he’s walked 6.4/9IP. At 27, he’s not a bad addition in terms of organizational depth.
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TigerFest Announced
The 2007 edition of TigerFest will take place on January 20th from noon to 6:00pm. For the first time it will be held at Comerica Park. According to the release:Most fan access areas within the event will be heated and covered – as the Tigers create the ultimate “summer time” experience in the middle of winter!
It will be interesting to see how this comes off. There are numerous areas under the stands where autograph tables could be set up as well as areas like the Tiger Club and Beer Hall. But it just seems like it could be pretty congested trying to get around.
The players who’ll be attending won’t be announced until January, but the event will feature the typical photo booths, seminars, tours, face painting, etc. One new item will be the opportunity to see the AL Championship Trophy.
Tickets go on sale at 10am Friday. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for kids.
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Dombrowski on the Big Show
Dave Dombrowski was interviewed today on WXYT 1270. There were definitely more insights than you typically hear in a team executive interview. The 12 minute interview can be found here, but I’ll break out some of the highlights.
Zumaya is staying in the pen
Dombrowski stated very clearly that Joel Zumaya is not moving to the rotation. Prior to the season I would have been highly against this. I was all for trying Joel Zumaya as a reliever to get him some big league experience and take it easy on his arm at the same time. But I still thought at some point he should be given an opportunity to start. I’ve come around on this completely. Zumaya’s dominance combined with the continued strides forward of Nate Robertson and Jeremy Bonderman, the drafting of Andrew Miller, and the emergence of Zach Miner, Wil Ledezma, and Jair Jurrjens make me think this is the right move.
Zumaya likes video games
You remember that wrist injury that limited Zumaya late in the season? Apparently he’s a big fan of Guitar Hero 1 Bundle (with Guitar)
and played it all the time. At least this is a correctable problem.
Inge isn’t moving to catcher
When Pudge Rodriguez is no longer catching for the Tigers, they aren’t going to turn to Brandon Inge. He doesn’t want to catch, and the Tigers don’t want him to catch, save for an emergency situation. He won’t be reporting to spring training early with the other catchers this year.
Extending Bonderman
Dombrowski said he’d like to keep Bonderman in the organization long term, but doesn’t feel a pressing need to get it done this season. I agree with this to a certain extent. That said, I’d love to be writing this winter about locking up Bonderman with a new 4 year/44 million contract with a 16 milliion club option for a 5th year with a $4 million buyout.
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Gomez is out
To make room for Jose Mesa on the 40 man roster, the Tigers didn’t tender a contract to Alexis Gomez. The Tigers can still negotiate with Gomez, as can every other team because he is now a free agent. Dave Dombrowski indicated that the Tigers would like to keep him in the organization if possible.
As expected, Jeremy Bonderman, Craig Monroe, Omar Infante, Nate Robertson, and Fernando Rodney were all tendered contracts.
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Tigers sign Jose Mesa
Jerry Crasnick is reporting the Tigers have signed Jose Mesa to a 1 year $2.5 million deal. I for the life of me can’t figure out why. Not why Crasnick is reporting it, but why the Tigers would do it.
Mesa is 40 years old, and for the last 3 years he allows more than a hit an inning. He walks a batter every other inning, and he only strikes out a few more than he walks. He’s basically a 40 year old version of Jason Grilli at 6 times the cost.
One of my arguments for not keeping Jamie Walker was that he didn’t see enough high leverage situations for the Tigers to justify $4 million a year. I only hope that Mesa doesn’t see enough high leverage situations to justify his money. My fear is that like the Tigers other aging, $2.5 million bundle of joy, he will see significant time.
This one I just don’t get.
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Inge gets a new deal – is he worth it?
The Tigers appear close to a long term contract with Brandon Inge. The deal is believed to be for 4 years and $24 million. This certainly seems like a reasonable deal for the Tigers, even before taking into account the current free agent landscape. The Tigers don’t have anyone in the minors knocking down the door to play third, so he won’t block anybody for awhile.
Inge has posted OPS+’s of 108, 100, and 99 over the last 3 years. So he’s pretty much a league average offensive player at a position that typically is above average offensively, making him a little below average with the bat.
American League third sackers hit 269/338/442 while Inge hit 253/313/463 last year. I’d love more OBP, but he does compensates somewhat with extra power. He’s 29 so I don’t expect much improvement at this point, but given his body type and athleticisism I also think that level of production is sustainable for the length of the contract. While the article says the intention is for Inge to play third throughout the contract, there is also the added bonus that if the Tigers can’t find a replacement for Pudge Rodriguez, Inge is certainly equipped to fill that need as well.
But of course the lightning rod of Brandon Inge discussions always focuses on defense. Detractors will look at the high error total and say he isn’t any good. That he makes some spectacular plays but that doesn’t make up for the easy ones. Proponents of Inge’s defense – like myself – will say that even with the errors he still saves more than enough runs to make up for the minor deficiencies in his offense. And so we’ll do that again here.
Turning to the Probabilistic Model of Range, Inge ranked near the top of all Major League third basemen. (PMR looks at the rate at which fielders turn ball put in play into outs while adjusting for the type of hit, where it was hit, and handedness of batter and pitcher) Inge made 26 more plays than expected. This is includes all those errors on plays he didn’t make. Using a value of .80 runs for each play made means that Inge saved the Tigers 20.8 runs with his glove which is more than enough to make up for the slight deficiency with his bat.
As a little more proof, other advanced defensive metrics agree with Pinto. Inge came out on top in the AL in Chris Dial’s sytem. Dial had Inge saving 20 runs per 150 games played. In the Bill James Handbook John Dewan listed the +/- leaders at each position. (the +/- system involves people watching every single play and giving credit based on whether or not others had made a similar play, a +/- of 0 means you’re average) Inge led all third basemen here as well with a +27.
Whether or not Inge is the best third basemen in the AL can be debated. Whether he is one of the best can not. Inge’s bat didnt’ earn him the contract. But his combined value with the glove and his versatility certainly did.
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Tigers get lefty in Rule 5 draft
The Tigers acquired left handed relief pitcher Edward Campusano today. Campusano was drafted from the Cubs by the Brewers. The Tigers then sent the Brewers cash considerations for Campusano.
Campusano only has 25 innings above A ball under his belt, but was very impressive in the Southern League (AA) last year with a 34/8 K/BB ratio.
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Leyland gives us something to talk about
Jason Beck has been all over the Winter Meetings. Today he’s got some Jim Leyland nuggets that warrant some discussion.
The leadoff spot
So the Tigers don’t have a prototypical leadoff hitter, or at least prototypicaly in the sense that most people think of leadoff hitters: fast guys who steal bases, bunt, and don’t strike out a lot and don’t hit for power. Many view Juan Pierre and his 330 OBP last year as perfect. But I digress. The point of this is that Jim Leyland is talking about Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco, and Ivan Rodriguez to be the leadoff man.
Granderson is a logical choice because he held the post last year, and he’s the closest to that qualification for fast. Polanco is fine as that pesky guy who will always put the ball in play. The name that will raise eyebrows is Pudge Rodriguez. The same Pudge that more than doubled his walk total from 2005 by picking up 26 free passes.
But I don’t think this is a bad thing to try. Pudge led off in 3 games in 2006, and drew 3 walks. Three games is of course and insufficient sample, but when placed into that role he seemed to make a concerted effort to see more pitches. I don’t know how likely it is that he would be successful in the role, but if it helps him improve his plate discipline the Tigers will benefit.
Marcus Thames at first
Leyland wants to give Thames a shot at first base. I think this is a wonderful idea. After all, first base is often a last option for defensively challenged players. The upside is that Thames is passable defensively, and you have quite the platoon partner for Casey. You also keep Thames on the team. You also keep Santiago/Perez from being Casey’s injury replacement (by extension of course when Guillen moves from short to first). It certainly wouldn’t help Chris Shelton’s cause, but Shelton has an option year left. Thames doesn’t.
Omar in the outfield
Leyland also said that Omar Infante will most likely be the backup centerfielder barring a trade. Infante is athletic enough to pull it off, and any indication that Leyland sees a role for Infante is a positive.