The Detroit Tiger Weblog

Author: billfer

  • The Winter Meetings and Craig Monroe

    According to reports out of Disney World, Craig Monroe is the Tiger du jour in terms of trade rumors. Jerry Crasnick first mentioned Monroe’s name on Monday. Scott Miller indicated the Dodgers might be interested in Craig. Amy Nelson chimed in and reported that the Orioles asked about Monroe and that the Tigers asked about Nick Markakis.

    Jason Beck got in touch with David Dombrowski and DD confirmed that the Orioles initiated discussions this morning, but he wouldn’t confirm it was about Craig Monroe. Basically the Tigers are listening but it sounds like they are pretty much set.

    Here’s how I see it. The Tigers probably should trade Craig Monroe. I say this as a fan of Monroe. He’s a decent player, a really likable guy, and from all accounts a great teammate. I don’t really want to see him go anywhere, but he and Thames are duplicative. Marcus Thames won’t be a free agent until 2011 where has Monroe is a free agent in 2009. Both players are the same age but Thames has posted slightly better OBP and SLG numbers (316/491 vs 310/461) than Monroe, granted in a much less playing time. Monroe is faster and appears to have a better arm and cover more ground in the outfield than Thames. However, according to the Probablistic Model of Range Monroe was slightly below average while Thames was marginally above average. I’d say it’s close enough to be a push defensively.
    (more…)

  • Tigers Rule 5 Primer

    Scout.com has a Rule 5 Draft Preview. This is particularly helpful for those of us who can’t keep tabs on all other teams minor leagues.

    In case you’re not familiar with the Rule 5 Draft, players who are typically 3 or 4 years removed from their signing(although due to the CBA it’s 4 years this year) either need to be protected on the 40 man roster or they’re left exposed for other teams to draft them. As compensation, teams that lose a player are compensated $50,000. In other words it’s a cheap way to add talent. The catch is that the player must remain on the 25 man roster of the drafting team the entire season, or they need to be returned to the original club. (Here’s a more complete breakdown of the Rule 5 draft.)

    The Tigers have one spot open on their 40 man roster meaning they could participate. The most likely need they’d target is a replacement for Jamie Walker. There are 2 interesting names who the Tigers could pursue.

    1. Charlie Manning-27

    Manning is a left-handed reliever who has posted a career mark of 45-29 and has averaged over eight strikeouts per nine innings in his six-year career. He doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting around 86 MPH with his fastball, but he has a very good cutter and the development of his slider has made him a devastating opponent for left-handed batters. He held Double-A lefties to a .163 and his strikeout ratio against them was over 11 batters per nine innings this past season. Manning could be well worth the small financial risk in the Rule 5 Draft and find a home as a left-handed specialist on a big league roster next season.

    2. Dan Smith -23

    Smith was a non-drafted free agent signed the summer of 2003 after he missed his senior season in high school with an injury. The lefty was extremely successful as a reliever in the minor leagues, but the Braves moved him into the Double-A rotation in Mississippi late last summer to allow him to work on his pitches. Smith’s performance over eight starts was scary: 2.27 ERA, 24 hits in 39.2 innings pitched, 16 walks, and 53 strikeouts. The Braves still believe he can be a big league reliever, but the work as a starter may get him another chance in that role. He’s a kid that some scouts may feel is worth sticking in a big league bullpen.

    Of course if the Tigers were going to try and fill Walker’s spot they could have just protected one of their own in Cory Hamman. The Scout article lists Ryan Raburn as another possibility to get drafted while Baseball America says Sendy Vasquez could get snagged(premium content).

  • Short cuts

    While I wait for the BCS results, I’ll let others do the heavy lifting and link out:

    • There’s an interesting look at the results by count, and more importantly by what happens after a certain count. The Tigers swung at a ton of first pitches, and Tom Gage even had some stats saying it was a good idea. My issue with Gage’s stats were that they simply showed the result when the ball was put in play. It didn’t take into account the adverse effect of fouling a ball off or swining and missing and putting yourself in a hole. He also didn’t mention sample sizes. By only looking at balls in play, he essentially takes out the possiblity of striking out which isn’t realistic and then there is the issue of not enhancing your OBP via the walk. I didn’t really have the comparisons for what those numbers should look like, but they’re available now. We still don’t know the complete picture on the Tigers at-bats, but it is an interesting comparison nonetheless.
    • Baseball Analysts took a look at the best and worst defenders in the minors from 2006. The good news is that no Tigers showed up on the worst list. Kevin Hooper rated as the 2nd best defensive shortstop last year.
    • Via Knuckle Curve Baseball America has put out a scouting dictionary. So if you want to know what a long swing is, or what it means for a pitcher to throw downhill, this is the place to check.
    • Finally, it looks like there will be a DVD chronicling the Tigers season. It will be available December 7th and exclusive to Meijer stores. The DVD will retail for $18.99. For those interested in a sneak peek, the premiere will be December 6th at the Uptown Palladium in Birmingham. Dan Dickerson, Mario Impemba, and Nate Robertson will be on hand. Tickets are $10. Call 313-471-2052 for tickets and premiere information.

  • Tigers sign Santiago

    Jon Paul Morosi reports that the Tigers reached agreement with Ramon Santiago on a one-year deal. The deal is for $500,000, or about $120,000 more than the league minimum. The Tigers probably could have signed him as a minor league free agent, but this is a low cost move that rewards Santiago for his contributions last year.

    Santiago is quite good as a defensive replacement/pinch runner/designated bunter type of player. The thing is, the Tigers have 3 utility infielders. If this means Neifi Perez won’t be back I’m thrilled. Although with Perez being owed $2.5 million it will be nearly impossible to trade him so him going might mean an outright release. If this means there is no room for Omar Infante then I’ll be disappointed. Infante has the most talent offensively of the group and is competent defensively. At 24 years old he’s the youngest of the trio as well.

  • The DIBS Awards

    Others have beat me to the post, but the Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes announced their Tiger awards today. The press release is below: (more…)

  • Tigers announce 2007 Ticket Prices

    The Tigers announced their 2007 ticket prices, and as expected there were some increases. This only makes sense as the American League Champion Detroit Tigers are surely a better ticket than the xx consecutive losing season Detroit Tigers. And even though there were increases, they were modest.

    Ticket prices for the entire upper level of the ballpark will remain the same in 2007 and have not changed since the ballpark opened in April of 2000. Total seating capacity at Comerica Park is 41,070 and over 11,000 of those seats are priced at $15 or less.

    For the upcoming 2007 regular season, the On-Deck Circle ($65), Infield Box ($40), Outfield Box ($30), Right Field Grandstand ($20) and Pepsi Bleacher ($10) areas have all been increased.
    The ten remaining seating price areas are unchanged for next season. Those seating areas include the Tiger Den ($60), Terrace ($35), Club Seats ($25), Upper Box Infield ($20), Upper Box RF ($20), Upper Box LF ($20), Pavilion ($15), Mezzanine ($15), Upper Reserved ($12) and Skyline ($5).

    Fans with full and partial season ticket plans in 2007 will continue to see a discount of up to 40% off the regular ticket price, based on seat location. Season ticket packages of 81, 41 and 27 games will be available in 2007 and include Opening Day tickets, complimentary food vouchers and post-season ticket priority.

    The areas that increased all appear to have increased by $5, with the exception of the Bleachers which increased by $2. Those seats that increased were a pretty good value for the most part. While I typically didn’t spring for the infield box or Tiger Den seats, I did enjoy the bargains on Outfield Box and the Grandstand. The Grandstand seats always seemed to sell quicker than the rest, and I have a feeling would have been increased regardless of the teams’ outcomes.

    Also of note, the 21 game packages are gone in favor of 27 game packages.

    I have to say I’m happy about this. Mike Ilitch gets additional revenue, yet it is still affordable for a family to head down for a game.

  • BA’s Top 10 Tiger Prospects for 2007

    Baseball America announced the Tigers top prospect list today. The top of the top 10 certainly looks promising, but the bottom half is full of question marks. Part of the thinning came from the promotions of Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya while the Gary Sheffield trade pruned away 2 other top 10 prospects in Humberto Sanchez and Kevin Whelan.

    Now most of this is premium content, but I will share the top 10. To get scouting reports and commentary you’ll need to subscribe.

    1. Cameron Maybin, of
    2. Andrew Miller, lhp
    3. Brent Clevlen, of
    4. Jair Jurrjens, rhp
    5. Jordan Tata, rhp
    6. Eulogio de la Cruz, rhp
    7. Gorkys Hernandez, of
    8. Dallas Trahern, rhp
    9. Jeff Larish, 1b
    10. Scott Sizemore, ss/2b

    The problem with the list, and it isn’t so much the list but the players on it, is that there isn’t much in terms of immediate help. Only Jordan Tata, Jair Jurrjens, and Eulogio de la Cruz have had success above A ball. Brent Clevlen had a nice run of 39 at-bats at the Major League Level, but posted only a 670 OPS for Erie. He did show good on base skills drawing 18 walks in the AFL, but still fanned 35 times in 92 at-bats and only slugged 326.

    I’d have ranked Larish higher, and de la Cruz lower (if at all) but otherwise the list is close to what I’d expect.

    Gorkys Hernandez is a centerfielder who had a very strong season in the GCL at the age of 19. Scott Sizemore was a 2006 draftee who put together a nice season for Oneonta.

  • The problem with Sean Casey

    When Sean Casey was resgined I indicated I didn’t like the deal, but never really elaborated. My issue is that as nice a guy as Sean Casey is, he just isn’t very good.

    Offensively Casey is at best an average hitter. His OPS+ since 2002 looks like this (OPS+ indexes a players OPS against the league average. 100 means the player is average, values above 100 mean above average)

    Year	OPS+
2002	78
2003	98
2004	142
2005	104
2006	87

    Over the last 5 seasons Casey has had 1 good year, 2 average years, and 2 bad years. Even if Casey can regain his earlier form, that merely means he is an average offensive player at a position where considerable offense is expected.

    So for the sake of argument let’s assume that Casey gets back to be a league average hitter. That puts him slightly below average at his position. But what about defense? (more…)

  • Roster Finalized

    The Tigers turned in their finalized roster to MLB with one final addition. Virgil Vasquez, who pitched 28 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings in the AFL, had his contract purchased today. The streak is particularly impressive given the hitter friendly nature of the league.

    The roster is set at 39 which means the team will be able to participate in the Rule 5 draft at the upcoming winter meetings. If they choose to participate I’d guess they would be looking for a lefty reliever. Of course if are going that route, they could have just added one of their own lefty relievers, Cory Hamman. (more…)

  • The week in links

    I’m way behind here, and some of this hardly qualifies as newsworthy anymore. But in the interest of completeness…

    • Gary Sheffield will wear Alan Trammell’s #3, and Trammell is okay with it. I have mixed feelings on this. First it is only a number and too much shouldn’t be made of it. But on the other hand it will be weird, to say the least, to see someone else sporting that number. Trammell is too classy to make a stink of it, but I can’t figure why Sheffield would even ask for it. It is sure to not endear him to Tiger fans, but that never seems to be an issue for him anyways. Even with 10 and 11 not available (and if 11 isn’t available is this to mean that Sparky’s # will be officially retired?), there were lots of other numbers to choose from. It almost seems intentional and calculated.
    • Lee has started doing a Runs Created analysis for the Tigers. It is a series of posts, here is the first. I love the runs created stat because it boils offensive production down to a value that all baseball fans can relate to.
    • This is actually 2 weeks old, but Beyond the Boxscores takes a look at former Tiger first round pick Scott Moore who is flourishing with the Cubs.
    • The Lakeland Tigers are no more. They are now the Lakeland Flying Tigers. This will be helpful for me when I write up my minor league wraps next year because I was never a fan of L-Tigers. More importantly, it will help the organization tie in the aviation aspect of the Tigers facilities in Lakeland. The complex is on an old aviation school.
    • This is a new link, but Alfonso Soriano is going to the Cubs for a mere 8 years and $136 million.

    Gary Sheffield, Alan Trammell, Lakeland, Detroit Tigers

  • Tigers Ink Seven Minor League Free Agents

    The Tigers signed 7 players to minor league contracts. They are righthanded pitcher Craig Dingman, lefthanded pitchers Tim Byrdak and Vic Darensbourg, catcher Steve Torrealba, infielders Mike Hessman and Kevin Hooper and outfielder Jackson Melian.

    Dingman missed all of last year with a blood clot in his shoulder. Mike Hessman and Kevin Hooper were members of the Toledo team and Jackson Melian played for Erie.

    Vic Darensbourg returns to the organization. Barring a trade or signing of a lefty reliever, he may be given the chance to claim Jamie Walker’s role from last year.

  • Sean Casey signed?

    The Tigers scheduled a conference call today with Sean Casey. I’m guessing that means they signed him. If so, I’m not a big fan of the deal. I’ll have more later tonight.

    UPDATE: Jason Beck says it’s a 1 year deal. At least it is short, but the fact the Tigers are content with Casey as the first sacker/left handed bat they need is disappointing.

    UPDATE 2: Sean Casey is here to be the starter. That was made very clear by Dave Dombrowski who indicated that Chris Shelton would need to earn his way on to the team in spring training and would otherwise be optioned to Toledo.

    Dombrowski also said that the starters appear to be set and he isn’t looking to make any more deals for starting players.

    As for Casey, he is thrilled to be back and said Detroit was his first choice.