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  • links for 2007-09-30

  • Game 161: Tigers at White Sox

    PREGAME: So Jim Leyland announced that Magglio Ordonez wouldn’t be playing tonight taking away the most compelling story line for the Tigers. I guess we’ll just have to settle for seeing if the Tigers can solve the riddle that is Gavin Floyd. Floyd has allowed 1 run in his last 2 starts combined against Detroit. Floyd has a 5.71 ERA overall.

    For the Tigers it will be Justin Verlander. Verlander struggled with the White Sox last year, but allowed 3 runs in 7 innings in each of his 2 starts against the Sox this year.

    DET @ CHW, Saturday, September 29, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

    POSTGAME: Justin Verlander had a solid night with the only blemish coming on a Thome-esque 2 run homer. It did take him 117 pitches to get through 6 innings, but he picked up 7 strike outs along the way.

    For the Tigers the offense came via solo homers by Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames, and that was it for the good guys scoring.

    Doug Eddings had a poor game umping at second base, taking down Jermaine Dye and blowing a call in the 9th inning that ultimately hurt the Tigers. Eddings is famous/infamous for hit controversial call in the 2005 World Series. He’s also the ump who had the stopwatch on Rafael Betancourt.

    That said, if Rodney hadn’t walked Darin Erstad, or if Ryan Raburn picks up the ball in right field, maybe we’re still playing.

  • Tigers need a shortstop

    The decision has been made, Carlos Guillen is moving to first base in 2008. Kind of a strange time to announce it and then there is this curious quote from Guillen:

    Guillen recently said he’d only switch if he was assured that the Tigers were going to replace him with someone good — “a Gold Glover,” he said. But he said Friday, without naming names, “it’s going to be someone good, someone very good.”

    So does this mean the Tigers have already identified a shortstop and worked out a trade in principle? Does it mean that this plan only goes through if the Tigers come through with someone very good?

    If you’re holding your breath thinking that the Tigers have already worked out something with Alex Rodriguez, exhale. That would be tampering in a legal sense, and just plain silly given that Rodriguez is going to be busy with playoffs and what not.

    Guillen went on record earlier saying he’d only move for a gold glove caliber shortstop, and indicated that he wouldn’t move for a Jack Wilson type player. But Leyland has smoothed things over with Guillen and he appears ready to make the move.

    Tigers to switch Guillen to first base

    UPDATE: Scratch all that weirdness talk up there. Danny Knobler ran the full quote, which makes a whole lot of sense and doesn’t lead bloggers to wild speculation:

    “I know they’ll bring in a good (shortstop),” Guillen said. “I know it’s going to be a good one. I don’t know who it’s going to be, but I know it’s going to be a good one.”

  • Game 160: Tigers at White Sox

    PREGAME: Tonight it will be Javier Vasquez taking on Kenny Rogers.

    Vasquez has been on a mission as of late with 33 K’s, and only 3 walk in his last 21 1/3 innings pitched.

    Rogers has been solid since returning from the disabled list compiling a 2.96 ERA in 4 September starts. He’s fanned 18 and walked 7 over that span.

    Game Time 8:11
    DET @ CHW, Friday, September 28, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

  • Striking down striking out

    One of the Detroit Tigers organizational goals for the year was to address strike outs throughout the system including the minors. So how did they do on this front in 2007?
    Tigers Minor League Strikeout Rates
    The organization saw improvement in strikeouts per at-bat through every level. The improvements weren’t huge, but they were most likely real. Whether or not it was due to an emphasis on coaching, or the maturation of players, or the composition of the teams would of course require a deeper dive. Because in large part the teams are made up of new members each year, a proper analysis would require looking at how each player did as they progressed. But I’m oging to stay with the quick and dirty for now and look at the big picture.

    At the same time batting averages saw small to increases as more balls were put into play. Walk rates didn’t seem to suffer so the organization saw an increase in batting average. It does appear though that the Tigers minor leaguers sacrificed some power.

    What’s particularly encouraging is the progress at the lower levels, which to me seems that there is an emphasis on contact skills in the draft.

    Context is always helpful because it’s hard to know what constitutes good or bad rates. The table below shows how each team ranked in their leagues the last 2 years.
    Tigers Minor League Organizational Rankings
    The upper levels still strike out more than most teams, but the Oneonta and West Michigan teams, the teams comprised of players drafted in the last 2 years, are among the best in their leagues at not striking out.

  • links for 2007-09-28

  • Site upgrade

    A couple of site tidbits I wanted to make you aware of.

    First, I upgraded the site this evening to WordPress 2.3. Everything went pretty smooth…I think. If you come across funky-ness or broken stuff, please let me know. And this of course would be the reason the site was unreachable or serving up a bunch of error messages tonight.

    Second, I made the site more mobile friendly through the use of a handy plug-in. So if you access it through a cell phone, blackberry, pda, etc. you’ll only get the content know. And by content I mean posts and comments. No waiting for a header or sidebar to load and no excessive scrolling.

    I also have a couple of enhancements planned for the offseason, but those will have to wait for the time being.

  • links for 2007-09-27

  • Game 159: Twins at Tigers

    PREGAME: The last home game of the year. [blogger looks melancholy]

    A couple years ago I started going to the last home game of the year and it’s kind of become a little tradition. Kind of like opening day only sadder. Still, it’s my own way of saying good bye to summer. It’s overcast and drizzly and it really does seem like the summer is over now.

    In any case, it will be Johan Santana taking on Jair Jurrjens. Jurrjens was roughed up in his last start as he battled his command – the element that had made him so effective in his other starts. But in his last start against the Twins he took a no hitter into the sixth inning. I’m hoping for more of that.

    And chances are he’ll need it because I don’t like the Tigers chances of tagging Santana for 4 runs again in the first inning like they did in his last start.

    Game Time 7:05 pm
    MIN @ DET, Wednesday, September 26, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

    POSTGAME: No, I didn’t stay through the rain delay this time. It was a slightly different circumstance, being with the kids on a school night and all. Still, we enjoyed our abbreviated night.

    There was a nice on field ceremony to recognize Pudge’s 2000 games caught, Granderson’s quad-20, Polanco’s errorless streak, and Todd Jones 300th save. Meanwhile, their teammates were signing a ton of autographs and talking with the fans. An hour and a half before the game, Fernando Rodney was the only player from either team out on the field, and he was signing for whoever had something.

    As for the game itself, Jurrjens couldn’t find the strike zone in the first inning, and it resulted in 4 runs. Fortunately Johan Santana couldn’t find the strike zone, and got no help from his defenders, and it resulted in 3 runs for the Tigers.

    In this situation the rain delay favored the Tigers as both starting pitchers were knocked out, and as well as Jurrjens has done, he ain’t no Santana. And the Tigers jumped all over Blackburn, Santana’s replacement, as they batted around in the 4th. That proved to be the end of the scoring as the rains once again came.

    So they shut the lights off at Comerica for the last time tonight, and the Yankees made it official by stomping the Devil Rays. Sigh.

  • links for 2007-09-26

  • Game 158: Twins at Tigers

    PREGAME: Yorman Bazardo will make his second career start, and like his first it will come against the Twins. He wasn’t dominating by any means, but he held the Twins to 2 runs in 4 2/3 innings on 4 hits and 2 walks.

    The Tigers will be up against Matt Garza. In his last start against Detroit the Tigers worked 4 walks and combined the free passes with 4 hits to plate 4 runs. Garza typically doesn’t make it out of the sixth inning before running his pitch count up into the 90’s.

    Game Time 7:05 but there is a chance of thunderstorms.

    MIN @ DET, Tuesday, September 25, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

    POSTGAME: Very nice start tonight for Bazardo who kept the ball out of the outfield for the most part. He induced 14 ground outs, and the few times he got into trouble he was able to get strike outs with his change up. Most impressive was the back to back strike outs with 1 out and runners on 2nd and 3rd.

    The Tigers bats came alive in the 6th after killing rallies with double plays in 3 straight innings. A 3 run inning turned a tight game into what would become a laugher. The biggest blast was a Magglio Ordonez moonshot that made it to the aisle way that bisects the pavillion in left field. It was his second hit of the night pushing his batting average to .359. Add in a Granderson triple and it was a pretty nice night for the Tigers.

  • links for 2007-09-25