2008 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Willis slips on to the DL, Guillen to miss time

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Dontrelle Willis is landing on the disabled list because he didn’t land correctly on Friday night. The initial diagnosis was a hyperextended knee and that was confirmed today by an MRI that revealed no structural damage. He’s not expected to miss significant time, but he wasn’t going to make his next start. Armando Galarraga will get the call, but he hasn’t been placed on the roster yet. That spot went to Ryan Raburn who will provide some positional flexibility to Jim Leyland.

Miguel Cabrera has been hobbled for the last week, and Carlos Guillen strained a hamstring that will require him to miss a few days. With uber sub Brandon Inge set to give Pudge Rodriguez his first day off behind the plate, Leyland would probably like to have someone man 3rd and do the same for Cabrera. Plus, Raburn deserves to be on the team regardless.

But back to Willis, this leg injury may be a blessing in disguise. We know the story about the 7 walks in his first start, and he wasn’t close to the strike zone in his limited time in the second start. An extra week might not be sufficient to find that elusive control, but it certainly can’t hurt. As for Galarraga the fact he’s contributing is a surprise. If he’s productive the trade in which Dombrowski acquired him might be his best of the season. All the Tigers gave up was an A ball hitter Michael Hernandez who they signed out of a tryout camp. Hernandez was subsequently released by the Rangers.

MRI reveals no tears but Willis placed on the DL; Galarraga will start | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Guillen’s injury not serious enough for the DL; Inge to catch for first time this year | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 11: Tigers at White Sox

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PREGAME: You know, after that 0-7 start the Tigers have been playing .667 ball. I’m just sayin’. They’ll try to improve that to .750 ball this afternoon with Justin Verlander taking on Gavin Floyd.

The Tigers can’t seem to hit Floyd at all so something needs to change. Floyd held them to 3 runs (all driven in by Brandon Inge) when he faced them on Saturday.

Verlander struggled in his last start, but wasn’t helped by poor infield defense. Including Carlos Guillen dropping a Miguel Cabrera throw. That won’t happen today because Guillen is out of the lineup due to the hammy he tweaked last night.

Your lineup courtesy of Jason Beck:

1. Thomas, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Sheffield, DH
4. Ordonez, RF
5. Cabrera, 1B
6. Jones, LF
7. Renteria, SS
8. Rodriguez, C
9. Inge, 3B

Game Time 1:05

DET @ CHW, Saturday, April 12, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

2008 Season, Injuries

Finding a 6th starter

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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.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-11-08

Toledo 4 Buffalo 1
Mike Hessman, Jeff Larish, and Matt Joyce all hit solo homers. Jeremy Johnson went 5 innings and allowed only an unearned run on 2 hits, 2 walks, and 3 K’s. Ian Ostlund allowed no walks and no hits while fanning 4 over 2 innings. Blaine Neal picked up his second save walking one and fanning one.

Binghamton 18 Erie 12
Tom Brookens must be a little cheesed at Lucas French. He allowed him to stay in for 4 innings and surrender 14 runs on 15 hits. That is simply a ridiculous line and it begs the question why would Brookens let that happen? Deik Scram, Jeff Frazier, Dusty Ryan, and Ryan Roberson all homered. Freddy Guzman picked up 4 hits.

Lakeland 0 Clearwater 1
Flying Tigers hitters went down on strikeouts 18 times in this game. Gabriel Benitez started and allowed 1 run on 3 hits, 0 walks and 3 K’s in 4 innings

West Michigan – Rained Out

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 10: Tigers at White Sox

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PREGAME: Jose Contreras and Dontrelle Willis. I’d put the over/under on pitches thrown tonight at 400.

The Tigers trade one set of Sox for another one. They arrived in the Windy City around 3:30 this morning. They will send out Willis who’s spring training control issues carried over into his first start. He walked 7 in 5 innings last Saturday while only allowing 1 hit.

The White Sox send out Contreras who had his own issues last Friday in Detroit. He allowed 14 baserunners in just 5 innings of work.

Gary Sheffield sits tonight due to finger swelling. Jacque Jones is your DH and Clete Thomas is your left fielder. Critique away.

1. Thomas, LF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Guillen, 1B
4. Ordonez, RF
5. Cabrera, 3B
6. Jones, DH
7. Renteria, SS
8. Rodriguez, C
9. Inge, CF

I will say putting the Jones behind Cabrera isn’t a bad move to make Contreras think a little about pitching around Cabrera to get to a left hander.

This one is on FSN+, and by now you should know the drill.

Game Time 8:11

DET @ CHW, Friday, April 11, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: For the second night in a row the bullpen is the story, but boy did they flip the script. Pressed into duty in the first inning, they picked up all 27 outs while allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks while fanning 10.

Aquilino Lopez who was supposed to be the Mud Hens closer went 4 innings and allowed the only run. He also wiggled out of a 2nd & 3rd none out situation allowing only 1 run to score.

Jason Grilli had an awful inning with a HBP and 2 walks, but wiggled out of it and chased it with back to back 1-2-3 innings.

Denny Bautista allowed a hit, but some bad baserunning and an excellent throw from Clete Thomas took care of Jermaine Dye’s single.

Todd Jones even pitched a 1-2-3 inning striking out the last 2 batters. Unreal. It was his first save opportunity of the season. Also unreal.

Offensively the Tigers plated 5 runs, and they probably deserved some more. There were multiple liners hit right at White Sox infielders. There were a couple rushed innings against Contreras, but they were generally patient.

The Tigers also got a hit with the bases loaded from Magglio Ordonez. Plus, Miguel Cabrera came up with a 2-out RBI. It’s starting to click like we had all hoped it would.

The only downside is that Willis may be out. Cabrera is becoming more hobbled. And Carlos Guillen’s hamstring started barking late in the game. There may be no bench tomorrow.

Uncategorized

Bazardo out, Rapada in

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After a miserable performance last night Yorman Bazardo has been designated for assignment. He is out of options but I anticipate that after his first 2 outings he’ll have no trouble clearing waivers. The Tigers also have the option of trying to work out a trade over the next 10 days.

Taking his place will be that second lefty Clay Rapada. Rapada had some arm problems early in the spring and has made 2 appearances for the Mud Hens. His ERA is inflated because one of the outings was good and one was bad. Working in his favor is the fact that he has 7 strike outs against only 2 walks in his 5 innings of work. Not walking people would be a step forward at this point. It will also likely mean longer outings for Bobby Seay.

I’m really disappointed in Bazardo. I had high hopes for him this season. I don’t know if he’s still being effected by the death of his father but his inability to throw strikes last night was maddening.

Site News

Programming note

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I’ll be talking Tigers with Sean Baligian on WDFN 1130 this morning. It looks like I’ll be on at 10:35. So if you’re driving around this morning, flip on the radio and take a listen. WDFN also streams over the internet so you can listen in on WDFN.com.

Update: Here is the bulk of the interview. I was actually on a few minutes more but this is most of it. Thanks to Sean and WDFN for the opportunity and to everyone for the kind comments.

[audio:http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/ferris.mp3]
2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-10-08

Toledo – PPD

Binghamtom 7 Erie 10
Wilkin Ramirez doubled and tripled as part of a 3 hit, 3 RBI day and he added a walk. Danny Worth hit a grand slam, and had a nice profile piece in Baseball America. Benjamin Fritz allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while fanning 5 in 5.1 innings.

Lakeland 5 Sarasota 10
Jeramy Laster homered and drove in 3 runs. Shawn Roof had two hits and a walk and is hitting .417. Jonah Nickerson was rocked for 6 runs and didn’t make it out of the third inning. Angel Castro followed and allowed 4 more runs in 1.1 innings.

West Michigan PPD

Minors news

Jeff Gerbe is going under the knife. The pitcher will have arthroscopic shoulder surgery and miss all of 2008.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 9: Tigers at Red Sox

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PREGAME: Time for the Tigers to put a win streak together. To do it they’ll have to get by knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Inge moves into the leadoff spot based on his 6 for 22 history with two homers off of Wakefield. The rest of the lineup is what we’ve become used to with Pudge in the 8 spot and Marcus Thames at the bottom.

Nate Robertson takes the mound for the Tigers. Nate battled through 5 innings in his start against the White Sox. He fanned 5 and only walked 2, but found himself in a full count on six different batters.

This one is on FSN+ with the Red Wings playoff run starting tonight.

DET @ BOS, Thursday, April 10, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: That was an absolutely inexcusable performance by the bullpen. It was poorly managed, it was poorly coached, and it was poorly executed. The bullpen recorded 8 outs and allowed 8 runs, powered by 7 walks. The pitchers have to throw strikes, and if they can’t throw strikes (which they couldn’t) they need to be lifted. This is a bullpen with 8 pitchers and yet they were left out there to throw over 35 pitches in 2 different innings. Zach Miner averaged 15 pitches per out, that’s about the league average per inning.

Moving beyond the bullpen…

  • Nate Robertson looked great with the exception of the 4th inning where it all went south. He basically matched his pitch count from the previous 3 innings combined in that dreadful 4th. But he did rebound and had an easy 5th.
  • The offense looked pretty good for a second day in a row with everyone reaching base. The Tigers had 7 walks of their own, and yest they stranded most of them early on. But Wakefield had the knuckler dancing (part of the reason there were so many walks) and they just couldn’t find it.
  • Pudge with walks in consecutive games?????
  • Finally, the defense didn’t have any miscues today.
Links

links for 2008-04-10

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2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-9-08

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Charlotte 3 Toledo 10
Ryan Raburn is trying to show he deserves to be with the big club coming up a triple short of the cycle. Jeff Larish hit his 4th homer of the season. Erick Almonte homered and doubled. Armando Galarraga fanned 5 and walked none as part of a 7 inning, 3 run night. Aaron Fultz pitched 2 scoreless innings to finish it.

Erie 1 Harrisburg 2 (10 innings)
Quiet night for the Seawolves bats with no extra base hits. Danny Worth picked up 2 hits and scored the lone run. Jon Connolly allowed 1 run over 6 innings of work on 3 hits, 3 walks, and no strike outs. Casey Fien pitched 2 scoreless innings.

Lakeland 4 Sarasota 2
Duane Below started and pitched 6 shut out innings allowing just 3 hits and 3 walks while fanning 9. Freddy Dolsi picked up his second save with a scoreless 9th. James Skelton was 1 for 2 with 2 walks and Scott Sizemore was finally held hitless. Brennan Boesch homered.

Great Lakes 0 West Michigan 9
Kyle Peter reached base all 5 times out of the leadoff spot with 3 hits and 2 walks. Casper Wells added 2 hits, as did Kody Kaiser and Chris Carlson. Alfredo Firgaro pitched 6 shut out innings fanning 7 against 2 walks and 3 hits.

2008 Season, Game Post

Is it wrong to pop champagne in April?

25 Comments

Has an April win ever felt so good? If it wasn’t dark and 11:00 p.m. I’d be inclined to say that the sun is shining and the birds are singing. Regardless, the Tigers and their fans can sleep a little better tonight. I was confident that the team wouldn’t finish 0-162 but am very happy to no longer have to test the theory.

Some thoughts from the game:

  • The Tigers actually hit a couple balls hard early on, but they were gobbled up by Red Sox defenders. But unlike in other games, the offense didn’t go in a shell.
  • The Tigers worked 8 walks tonight chasing Lester early. Nice to see the patience, but Magglio Ordonez still swung at the first pitch in 3 of his plate appearances.
  • Meanwhile Carlos Guillen had a tremendous night seeing pitches working Lester for 15 pitches in his first 2 at bats.
  • But the offensive star was Edgar Renteria who got the big hit with a 2 run gapper in the 4th. Everyone could take a breath and Marcus Thames followed with the 2 run bomb. Renteria kind of tormented Boston fans when he played for them, now he did it again.
  • Jeremy Bonderman had one of those Nate Robertson type battling nights. His defense hurt him early on forcing him to get extra outs and raising his pitch count. But he limited the damage to 2 runs. He seemed to be getting quite a few swinging strikes but only 3 K’s. Also, his fastball really dropped off again around the 80 pitch mark where he was sitting in the high 80s.
  • The bullpen did an excellent job. Bobby Seay got all 4 hitters we was called on to face. Francis Beltran and Denny Bautista did their jobs as well.
  • And it was another scary Todd Jones night. He didn’t exactly get hammered with a handful of grounders and a pop up doing most of the damage. The only part that bothered me was when he lost the strike zone. Still, some add on runs courtesy of Inge and Guillen provide a cushion.

Okay. Time for a 7 game win streak and we’ll just start the season over again.

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