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  • links for 2007-11-06

  • links for 2007-11-05

  • Newsflash: Reporter hates bloggers

    Like this story?

    Chris McCosky, the Detroit News writer covering the Pistons beat has decided to trot out the old “bloggers in the basement” bit. Normally I don’t respond to this type of drivel, and I don’t partake in mainstream media bashing because I generally respect the job that they do. It’s much easier for me to opine behind my laptop while the beat writers are out getting quotes. But this article is a complete joke.

    Let’s step through McCosky’s assertions point by point:

    But people, let’s not confuse what random fans and wanna-be pundits are tossing out there with legitimate reporting. The line is getting way too blurry now between Internet noise and actual journalism. It’s actually getting to the point now where some (too many) of the bloggers are using cyberspace to discredit the legitimate media.

    Actually this a slam on everyone because McCosky feels that the general public with their dinosaur sized brains aren’t able to distinguish between what is reported by a major news gathering source and a blog. I take everything from a message board or blog with skepticism and I hope my readers would view the few times that I’m “reporting” news as the same. At the same time if you’ve been following my site for a while you know that I don’t report stuff that isn’t solid information. I’m wrong on my opinions and analysis all the time, but stuff I report as fact is fact.

    Journalism employs trained professionals. We actually have to go to school for this stuff. We take our jobs seriously. There are rules and standards that we are beholden to. There are ethics involved. We actually talk to, in person, the people we write about. If we rip somebody in an article, you best be sure most of us will confront that person the next day and take whatever medicine we need to take.

    With blogging and Web sites, it seems the hard work, standards, accountability, courage all of that is bypassed. Who needs to study this stuff, or attend games, or conduct interviews when you can just sit in your basement and clack out whatever comes through your head, right? If I rip somebody, or if I get something wrong, who cares? Nobody will see me.

    I don’t doubt for a second that reporters take their jobs seriously, but many bloggers also take their sites seriously and do have ethics. But bloggers don’t have to confront the players/coaches/managers the next day. I’m sure that makes the job much more difficult and it compromises what gets reported and what doesn’t. It’s a tenuous relationship and one I wouldn’t be eager to pursue so I’m thankful for the beat writers who gather the info. An outsiders perspective isn’t clouded by having to maintain a working relationship with a player so the assessments can be more honest. So discrediting an analysis of a situation or being critical of a player because someone doesn’t encounter them the next day is garbage.

    And why do I need to do an interview to analyze a strategy or a play or a performance? Sometimes the background is helpful and necessary, other times it isn’t.

    A lot of times these bloggers use the work of legitimate reporters. They will lift facts and segments of stories and cut and paste them onto their blog. Rarely, if ever, though, do they bother to credit the source.

    They will write something like, “I am hearing the Pistons are going to start Antonio McDyess this year.” Well, wonder where you “heard” that. It was reported in the darn newspaper. Yet, the same blogger will go out of their way to ridicule the source they stole from.

    I can speak for myself and other Tigers bloggers when I say that this doesn’t happen. When I’m taking specific information from an article, I link to the article and that seems to be true of all the Tigers blogs that I frequent. At the same time, I can read a press release and I can listen in on a conference call like legitimate reporters and I don’t need to wait for a legitimate reporter to write the article so I can link to it.

    Bloggers are having a field day speculating on how Joel Zumaya really injured his shoulder. Nobody believes a heavy box fell on him. So the Internet is rife with stories about how he fell off his dirt bike.

    Yes, glad it is only the bloggers who are speculating. It’s not like another writer in McCosky’s own newspaper was also casting doubt on the situation. (hey look Chris, I’m citing my sources)

    And what bloggers are having a field day speculating anyways? Now might be one of those times where a real reporter would cite his sources? Right Chris? The Tigers bloggers have been very careful not to report the dirt bike rumor. I didn’t mention it at all in my story. When a commenter brought it up, I provided a link to where the report originated (the comments section of legitimate news gathering agency ESPN.com) and cautioned the source. That actually seems to be considerably more responsible than what McCosky did in his piece today. Instead McCosky practices no journalistic principles when he incorrectly assigns the rumor to bloggers.

    If I had to pick my biggest beef with this whole article is that it is hypocritical. McCosky slams blogging as a whole, only cushioning it with the this isn’t true of everyone crap. And yet he doesn’t bother to provide any sort of guidance to the reader in terms of the good blogs, or the bad blogs. Or which bloggers were running rampant with the motorbike rumor. Instead he assigns that crap to all of us. Which is why I want to make it clear I’m not slamming the mainstream media. I’m slamming this piece of drivel written by McCosky.

    McCosky talks about how a real journalist would go out and gather facts and talk to the subjects – but he didn’t bother to do that in this case. I would have been happy to talk to him about my coverage of the Zumaya injury. I’m easy to get ahold of via email and the News has interviewed me in the past so I know they have my number. McCosky, practice what you preach.

    I know, this isn’t reporting. It’s an opinion piece so do the rules apply? It’s hard to tell because it reads an awful lot like

    what the clever dude in his pajamas is doing on his computer, down in his basement.

    Bloggers just aren’t journalists

    UPDATE: Thanks to all those who have sent emails, left comments, or opined on your own blogs. Below is a listing of sites with commentary or discussion about McCosky’s article:

  • Tigers announce ticket prices & schedule

    The Detroit Tigers today announced new ticket prices and their full schedule. There were numerous price increases, but the increases were modest with no seat raising by more than $2. Still, many of the better value seats, such as the outfield box in both the lower and upper deck as well as the right field grandstand were all effected.

    Lower Level Seats
    On-Deck Circle 65
    Tiger Den $62*
    Infield Box $42*
    Terrace 35
    Outfield Box $32*
    RF Grandstand $22*
    Pavilion 15
    Bleachers $12*
    Kaline’s Corner 10
    Upper Level Seats
    Club Seats $27*
    Upper Box $22*
    Upper Box RF $22*
    Upper Box LF $22*
    Mezzanine 15
    Upper Reserved 12
    Sykline 5
    SRO $15+

    * – reflects $2 increase

    The price increases aren’t enough to make you think “hey they’re going after A-Rod.” If you figure that half of the seats were effected, and the Tigers draw 3 million fans again next year, that’s a net increase in Ilitch’s wallet of all of $3 million.

    As for the schedule, here is the full 2008 version.

  • Visiting Tiger Stadium

    Tiger Stadium Dugout
    Over the last couple weeks fans who purchased items in the Tiger Stadium auction were able to head down to the Michigan and Trumbull and pick up their items. There were some items that weren’t bid on, or discovered after the auction ended that were also available so I went to check it out. The items available didn’t tempt me, but the field was open and that was too much to resist.

    I wandered out onto the centerfield grass and tried to soak the stadium in one last time. She wasn’t the same at all as the evening in 1999 when the Tigers brought all the greats back to roam the field one last time. We’ve all seen the pictures of paint peeling, rust, and other evidence of decay. Many of the seats had already been removed.

    Still, I couldn’t help but get chills. I’d never been on the field at Tiger Stadium. Sure it was a mix of weeds and grass now, with the weeds winning, but it was still the same plot that so many baseball greats had roamed. I looked up into the stands to see what they saw while they were playing.

    I looked up into the overhang in right field, that was warm with the glow of the setting sun and remembered right where I stood for the last game.

    But the biggest thrill came when I was about to leave, and Dan, the guy who oversaw the auction came out and offered to take my picture in the home dugout. So I wandered across the infield and crossed over the warning track which is basically all mud at this point. I got to duck my head as I crept into the dugout and peered down the dark tunnel to the locker rooms. It was simply awesome.

    I never knew if I’d want to see the stadium again. My last memories were so perfect. And yet I’m glad I went, that one more goose bump inducing time. Seeing it decaying made it a little easier for me to prepare for the wrecking ball.

  • Joel Zumaya to miss half of 2008

    Joel Zumaya underwent shoulder surgery to repair an injury sustained while moving stuff in the fires.  The procedure was an AC joint reconstruction.  The Acromioclaviclular joint is the joint effected when you hear the term “separated shoulder.”  However this procedure isn’t one that is common amongst pitchers and Will Carroll notes that there aren’t any comps to draw upon.

    I’ll have more tonight.

    Notes from the conference call:

    Dombrowski received the information Monday and talked to Joel on Tuesday. The fires were 2 miles away from his parents home and he was getting items from the attic and the box fell on his shoulder. It happened on Sunday and Sunday night Joel’s father called Kevin Rand to let him know what happened.

    Dombrowski got the call that it was a serious situation about 10 minutes after the Renteria press conference ended.

    There was no rotator cuff damage, but there is no way to know if he’ll make it back until he gets on the mound again. The doctor thinks he can come back, but there is no way to know until he starts throwing hard again.

    Dombrowski is going into the year planning on Zumaya not being available. Right now the focus is on getting Todd Jones and Kenny Rogers back. If they can’t retain Jones they will be “aggressive” in pursuing someone to pitch at the back of the bullpen. The Tigers don’t’ view Fernando Rodney as a potential closer at this point.

    Analysis

    This stinks.

    But beyond that, the Tigers need bullpen help. Duh. I really think the intention all along by the Tigers was to sign Todd Jones to be the transitional closer, but in the event that Jones didn’t want to come they would have gone after an established set up man. Now that changes things. Now it looks like they will be going after the established set up man regardless. As for the closer’s role, it is Jones if he wants it. Dombrowski said as much in today’s call. But if Jones doesn’t return I think the Tigers will jump into the Francisco Cordero/Mariano Rivera fray. That’s what I take away from them being “aggressive.”

    Of course this has other implications as well. Instead of the team needing to spend $6 million or so to shore up the bullpen for this coming season, a move for one of the premier closers and a set up guy more than doubles that cost. What impact this has on acquiring a left fielder or starter beyond Kenny Rogers hasn’t been determined yet. It also means that the Tigers stand a good chance of losing their first round draft pick because both Rivera and Cordero are Type A free agents.

    MLB Trade Rumors compiled the following list of relievers, their age, and their ranking (A means losing a first round draft pick)

    Closers
    Armando Benitez (35)
    Joe Borowski (37) – $4MM club option for ’08 – Type B
    Francisco Cordero (33) – Type A
    Octavio Dotel (32) – $5.5MM mutual option for ’08
    Eric Gagne (32) – Type B
    Hitoki Iwase (33)
    Masahide Kobayashi (34)
    Todd Jones (40) – Type B
    Al Reyes (37) – $1MM club option for ’08 – Type B
    Mariano Rivera (38) – Type A
    Bob Wickman (39)

    Middle relievers
    Jeremy Affeldt (29)
    Antonio Alfonseca (36)
    LaTroy Hawkins (35)
    Jorge Julio (29) – Type B
    Joe Kennedy (29)
    Scott Linebrink (31) – Type A
    Troy Percival (39) – Type B
    David Riske (31) – Type B
    Julian Tavarez (35) – $3.85MM club option for ’08
    Mike Timlin (42) – Type B
    Luis Vizcaino (31) – Type B
    Kerry Wood (31)

    Given the message sent by the Renteria trade, I’d be stunned if the Tigers didn’t look outside the organization to fill both spots (considering Jones an outsider at this point) – especially given that Dombrowski is going to operate as if Zumaya won’t be available at all. Trying to mix and match with Eulogio De La Cruz, Jose Capellan, et al was one thing when the team had to adjust in mid season. But with a full off season to work with Dombrowski won’t be content to mix and match and hope with the guys he already has.

    Of the above list, in addition to Cordero and Rivera I like Eric Gagne. I don’t think he’s as bad as he showed in Boston. He won’t cost a draft pick, and he could be relatively cheap. Who knows, he may even do a one year deal to re-establish his value like Pudge Rodriguez did with the Marlins in 2003. Jorge Julio has posted solid strike out rates through out his career, but he has struggled with walks at times, and is only 29. And Kerry Wood wouldn’t be a bad option if you didn’t have to rely on him. He has upside and could help in the rotation or out of the pen.

  • links for 2007-11-01

  • Happy Halloween

    Magglio Ordonez Pumpkin

    My son requested a Tigers pumpkin this year, and Magglio Ordonez is “his Tiger” so a couple hours later this is what we came up with.

  • Tigers on pace for club record payroll

    I did some long overdue updates to the payroll information. And already the Tigers have $90 million committed to next season, and that’s with only 15 players under contract.

    My total is a tad under the $90 million mark, but I don’t have the data for Cameron Maybin’s contract which has to be in the vicinity of one million.

    I’ve also tried to do my best to update the players’ status. When players are under club control I had to estimate when there arbitration years would kick in, so that is subject to change.

    The Tigers have a number of players eligible for arbitration this year. Nate Robertson is a lock to be back, and at least one of Bobby Seay or Tim Byrdak (I’m thinking both) will be retained as well. I’m also inclined to believe the chances of the Tigers keeping Marcus Thames are pretty strong as well. So to resign those 4 players will probably require $10 million, give or take 2 million. At that point the club is at $100 million.

    A veteran pitcher will be inked, either Kenny Rogers or someone else meaning the Tigers will commit another $8 million or so. And then there is the Todd Jones question, and whether or not the Tigers retain Jones, stay inside, or sign an established reliever on the open market. I think they’ll probably be spending $6 million or so to answer that question.

    That raises the Tigers payroll over the $110 million mark. A utility infielder should be cheap, and relievers Joel Zumaya and Zach Miner should also be cheap. But Curtis Granderson is another matter. I still need to do some analysis on Grandy, but I think it is a given that it is in the Tigers best interest to lock him up for the next 5 years. While the big bump would come later in the contract, Granderson is still due to make double what he made last year. (also worth noting it would make Grandy the only player signed in 2012).

    Aready the Tigers are poised to shatter their previous record payroll that was set this year. And that is without the club spending for a left fielder or left handed bat which is still a strong possibility.

    As for when the free agent shopping starts, and arbitration decisions are made, we still have some time. The complete calendar of important dates is available from MLB.com.

    The above spreadsheet is kept fairly up-to-date and can always be found on the Payroll page.

  • Tigers Acquire Edgar Renteria

    The Tigers traded for Edgar Renteria. They’ll send the Braves Gorkys Hernandez and Jair Jurrjens.

    I’ll have more on this later when I digest it, but wow. Renteria is a nice player and affordable, but the Tigers just traded 2 of their top 4 prospects for a shortstop on the wrong side of 30. This team just got a lot older.

    Renteria of course has ties to Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland, and Dombrowski has shown a preference for the familiar. Renteria was signed as an amateur free agent in 1992 by Dave Dombrowski (I think Al Avila was a scout at the time, but not sure if he was the one who signed him). And of course Renteria was part of the 1997 Marlins team managed by Leyland.

    UPDATE: It appears that the Braves are sending some cash to the Tigers. I find this odd, since the contract is fairly manageable with $9 million owed next year and an $11 million option for 2009. Are the Tigers going cheap now, saving money for another big free agent, inking Granderson/Verlander long term? Odd for cash to change hands in this one.

    More later…

    It’s later…

    Analysis

    I continue to waffle on this trade. All along I liked picking up Renteria, but was having a hard time getting comfortable with the price. Granted Jurrjens was likely a 3 or 4 guy in a rotation, but since when did that designation carry an “only” with it? Especially for someone that comes cheap for the next 6 years. But that’s only half of the price.

    The Tigers also shipped Gorkys Hernandez, their 2nd best positional prospect. A guy who held his own in the Midwest League at the age of 19. He’s someone with Granderson’s feel in the outfield with Cameron Maybin’s speed. Granted he doesn’t project with a ton of power, but for his age and the park he played in the .391 slugging doesn’t bother me.

    Now I can try to balance with my natural fan tendency to overrate my own team’s players by drawing on the negatives in Jurrjens and Hernandez’s profiles. Gorkys needs to add some walks and some power, plus he shouldn’t be expected to contribute at the MLB level until 2010. Jurrjens has dealt with some neck issues each of the last 2 seasons. Maybe it’s a chronic thing?

    And I can also justify it by looking at all the Tigers are adding.

    More offense?

    So in the lineup the Tigers are essentially swapping Sean Casey for Renteria. I’m not too worried about Renteria’s one awful season in the AL. I don’t know if it was a Boston thing, or just a bad season. Either way at this point I’d call it coincidence.

    Renteria is coming off the second best season of his career with an impressive .332/.390/.470 line good enough for a 125 OPS+. Since it was an exceptional year, maybe it makes sense to look at Renteria’s performance over the last 3 years which was 298/360/437 – still a nice line. It is 264 runs created and 5.9 runs created per 27 outs.

    Sean Casey had 197 runs created over the same span, but battled some health issues so his RC 27 is 5.5. Now I used the quick and dirty TB*OBP calculation, so the difference is probably a little greater when you factor in Renteria’s 37 stolen bases (and 12 caught stealing) versus Casey’s 4 stolen bases and 3 caught stealings.

    So the difference in offense between Casey and Renteria over 145 games is about 1 win.

    More defense

    Acquiring Renteria was necessitated by Carlos Guillen bottoming out defensively. He appeared to have decent range early in the year but various errors (botching routine plays, errant throws, bobbling the transfer) and knees that turned creaky later int he year torpedoed what range he had.

    Ultimate Zone Rating data which was released in July had Guillen rated at -26 runs per 150 games. Edgar Renteria at the time was rated at -13 runs per 150 games. Of course Guillen would be a longshot to make it 150 games at short, but if he did the result would likely be worse than -26 runs. And in 2006 Renteria was +6, but in 2005 he was -14. So perhaps the -13 wasn’t a sign of a trend. The fans scouting report rated Renteria a 61 in 2007, but only a 53 in 2006 so I’m not sure where the truth lies. But for the sake of argument let’s use the partial season data rated at 150 games and call it 13 runs or a little more than a win.

    Net impact

    So in terms of performance the Tigers have added 2 to 2.5 wins. For a team that is on the playoff bubble though that isn’t inconsequential. And Renteria comes with an affordable price tag with $12 million guaranteed over the next 2 years which could go to $20 million if the Tigers exercise a club option. Nate Silver has broken down the dollar implications of the deal and says both teams won in this trade.

    Yay or Nay

    A tentative yay. I like the acquisition but I don’t like the cost, but I’m not alone in that sentiment. I also agree with Lee who notes that this is a trade we could be talking about for years to come.

    Other stuff to consider:

    • This ends any A-Rod speculation before it barely got started. I was kind of looking forward to that. It also means that there will be no Jack Wilson speculation which I had my fill of this summer.
    • The tigers do have some shortstop candidates in Danny Worth, Mike Hollimon, and Cale Iorg and at least one of the three should be ready by 2010.
    • Renteria has the Carlos Guillen seal of approval so there shouldn’t be animosity about the position switch for Guillen.
    • Maybe this means that the Tigers are happy with what they’ve seen from other outfield prospects like Deik Scram and Matt Joyce. They aren’t nearly as toolsy as as Hernandez but maybe there is more there than I’m seeing.

    Other Coverage

  • links for 2007-10-29

  • Playing in the spray

    I love looking at spray charts of batted balls and seeing where hitters have success. I’m funny like that. Fortunately Dan Fox, proprietor of his own blog and writer for Baseball Prospectus has released an application that shows ball in play distributions for the last 4 years and he just released the updated version including 2007 data. With the heavy lifting done for me, I thought I’d take a look at 3 of the Tigers more interesting hitters from the last year.

    Brandon Inge

    First up is the ever controversial Brandon Inge. Inge had an awful season at the plate as he posted a meager 236/312/376 line. Part of his problem was what seemed to be an endless supply of check swing strikeouts. And that appears to be the largest difference over the past few years. Inge’s batting average on balls in play was .334 which wasn’t out of line with his past performances. His batted ball distribution didn’t differ greatly from his fairly productive 2006 season.

    BABIP GB FB LD PopUp
    2003 R 0.262 44.8% 31.3% 17.9% 6%
    2004 R 0.344 42.6% 30.3% 19.4% 7.6%
    2005 R 0.333 39.5% 34.3% 18.7% 7.6%
    2006 R 0.324 39.9% 34.1% 15.1% 10.9%
    2007 R 0.334 37.9% 31.8% 20.6% 9.7%

    Inge actually upped his line drive rate and had a small improvement in his pop up rate, yet his overall performance dipped.  Maybe he was a little unlucky like he claimed earlier in the season?

    Another complaint about Inge is that he became too pull happy.

    Left Center Right
    2005 41.0 28.3 30.6
    2006 48.1 27.0 24.8
    2007 48.1 22.0 29.8

    Inge did become more of a pull hitter in 2006 and it worked to his benefit as he slugged .463 and 27 balls left the park.  He pulled just as much in 2007 but with a lot less success and a lot less power.  We also saw Inge go to the opposite field more often, but it was at the expense of going up the middle.  Based on observation and the data, it seems like it was more a function of Inge being late than looking to punch the ball to right.

    Curtis Granderson

    Nobody complained about Granderson pulling the ball too much, and he actually was more likely to pull the ball than Brandon Inge was. Of course, when you’re among the league leaders in extra base hits it doesn’t really matter where you hit the ball.

    GB FB PU LD %
    Left 25 45 26 16 25.2%
    Center 25 57 4 19 23.6%
    Right 116 40 10 62 51.2%

    With Granderson’s proclivity for pulling the ball on the ground, it wouldn’t surprise me to see more teams shifting the shortstop closer to second base. I wouldn’t expect an Ortiz type shift because of Granderson’s speed and ability to bunt, but Curtis did hit .600 on grounders through the middle in 2007.

    Magglio Ordonez

    It seems that any look at Tigers performances isn’t complete without at least glancing at how Ordonez fared. It was a popular refrain from Rod Allen that Maggs was using the whole field, and it really was true. Ordonez hit 42% of his line drives to right field. And overall he hit the ball to right field as much as he hit it to left.

    GB FB PU LD %
    Left 126 14 8 34 37%
    Center 32 51 4 30 24%
    Right 62 65 18 46 39%

    That kind of balance made it impossible for any team to load up one side. And in a spacious outfield like Comerica Park that gave Ordonez a lot of room to work with. Now granted he was still lucky in 2007. You don’t exceed career norms by that much without some things going your way. In the case of Ordonez it was a .318 batting average on ground balls and a .361 batting average on fly balls. MLB norms for the last 4 years were .233 and .272 respectively.

    There’s a ton of information available, and it’s all free. So thanks to Dan Fox for his hard work, and let me know if you see anything interesting.