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  • It’s Opening Day

    Good morning and welcome to one of the best days of the year. Opening Day in Detroit is always sweet, but with a banner to hang this will be even better. In the past, ever year we seemed to wonder whether this was the year we’d break the .500 mark. Now we’ll try and see if the Tigers can prove many of the experts right and defend their American League crown and make a return trip to the World Series.

    So what is your Opening Day tradition, and will you be able to uphold it this year?

    I got permission from my daughter, who’s birthday is today, to still go to the game. If you want to find me, my friends and I meet for breakfast before beginning our day around 9:30 at Casey’s by old Tiger Stadium. We’ll probably leave Casey’s a little earlier than usual to get to our seats in time for the banner raising at 12:30. As for the seats, we’ll be in section 148 row K if you want to stop by and say hi.

    This will be a pretty similar script to what we’ve done for the last 10 years.

    By the way, if you’re looking for my season preview, it kind of got buried in the avalanche of news on Friday. You can find it here.

  • Opening Day Seats Hard to Find

    It’s no surprise that Opening Day is a hot ticket this year – it is every year. Still, there are usually tickets available one way or another. Last year in the postseason there were hundreds of tickets available for each game at StubHub. As I check this at 8pm, there are only 56 tickets available on StubHub (the cheapest is a standing room only for $145). The story is pretty much the same at ebay where there’s not even a full page of listings.

    Now I know that it’s only 16 hours from the first pitch, but with StubHub’s onsite pickup, and the mechanisms for season ticket holders to email tickets to buyers, this seems to be an astoundingly low number of tickets available.

    I guess this is good news, because it is more tickets in the hands of fans instead of ticket brokers. With a miniscule public sale, pretty much every Opening Day ticket was distributed to season ticket holders. But if you aren’t in that group, you’re pretty much out of luck.

    I’m sure there will be tickets available on the street tomorrow, but if StubHub and eBay are any indication of inventory, they will be few and far between.

  • Tigers set minor league rosters for 2007

    I believe all the rosters are set, but I don’t have them yet for Lakeland and West Michigan. Also, Steve Torrealba is listed on both the Mud Hens and Erie rosters that came out today. I’ll update as more info becomes available.
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  • Leyland sets Opening Day lineup

    Jim Leyland decided on a lineup, at least for tomorrow. It is:

    Curtis Granderson
    Placido Polanco
    Gary Sheffield
    Magglio Ordonez
    Carlos Guillen
    Pudge Rodriguez
    Sean Casey
    Craig Monroe
    Brandon Inge

    No real surprises. I probably would have flip-flopped Ordonez and Guillen because 1) I think Guillen is a better hitter, and 2)It spreads out the left handed bats slightly better, but I don’t think it will make a big difference regardless.

  • Final Cut DVD Winner

    Now that everything has shaken out with the roster, I’m happy to announce that Lee Panas is winner of the Tigers World Series DVD in the Final Cut contest.

    There were 19 people who guessed a “correct” answer. When the Tigers cut the roster down on Monday to 28, any of the 11 players let go were eligible for the drawing. The remaining 3 (Campusano, Colon, Giarratano) were placed on the DL which doesn’t count as a cut.

    I “drew” (when I say drew I actually typed all the responses into Excel and used the rand() function) Lee’s name, and trust me that it is just coincidence that Lee is a fellow blogger at Detroit Tiger Tales.

    Thanks to all who entered. If you didn’t win, you can still order one through the A & E Store.

  • Tigers finalize 2007 Opening Day Roster

    The Tigers Opening Day roster has been officially set. It has been practically set since Monday, or course with adjustments for the Kenny Rogers and Vance Wilson injuries. I bring this up because the disabled list assignments are now finalized.

    Tony Giarratano has been placed on the 60 day disabled list. Bobby Seay took his spot on the 40 man roster. I believe this is terrific news for Tony because I think he gets his full major league salary now which means he’ll get $380,000 (the league minimum) instead of being paid as a minor leaguer.

    Edward Campusano and Roman Colon were the two other players still technically assigned to the big league squad and they have both been placed on the 15 day disabled list. I find this especially surprising for Campusano who I understood was to have Tommy John surgery. I’d guess the decision to place him on the 15 day DL may have something to do with his status as a Rule 5 pick. I’m not sure on the rules, but it may be that he’d have to be removed from the disabled list before being offered back to his old club (if the Tigers are so inclined) and this would give them the most flexibility.

    And as a final note, Rogers is still on the 15 day disabled list. He of course could be transitioned to the 60 day if an additional 40 man spot is required.

  • Jose Mesa suspended 2 games

    I apologize if this is old news, but I just saw in today’s press notes that Jose Mesa will be suspended for the first 2 games of the season for an incident last year.

    On September 19th he was ejected and ultimately suspended 3 games for throwing at Mark Sweeney. Mesa appealed the suspension. With it being late in the year I’m guessing the appeal probably wasn’t heard until the offseason, thus the carryover effect for 2007.

  • Kenny Rogers out 3 months

    So I’m watching the game on ESPN and they announce that Kenny Rogers had successful surgery to remove a blood clot and fix 2 arteries. I run to the computer and my site goes down. So I’m sorry if you were trying to hit the site between 1:30 and 4:00. It’s also the reason I’m so late to the blog with this.

    D-Town Baseball seems to have the authoritative link round-up, so if you’re looking to see who said what, he’s got it.

    Rogers of course is expected to miss half the season. It will be 6 to 8 weeks of rest, and then hopefully he can start throwing again. Being that he’s an athlete he may heal a little quicker than a typical person. But being that he’s 42 he may heal a little slower than a typical athlete. In any case, it will probably take him a minimum of 6 weeks to build the arm up once he can resume activity.

    So while it wasn’t a worst case, career ending injury (not yet anyways), it is a far cry from needing a week or rest and some aspirin.
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  • Tigers ink Guillen to 4 year extension

    The Tigers will have Carlos Guillen through the 2011 season. Per Danny Knobler, the deal is for 4 years and $48 million.

    This is great news, and the last item of the business that the Tigers needed to wrap up heading into the season. the deal is quite reasonable considering the contracts given to other lesser shortstops such as Julio Lugo and Orlando Cabrerra in recent years, and Michael Young just recently. Guillen’s injury history probably prevented him from getting Young type money. Still, at $12 million per year this appears to be a great deal for the Tigers. I also wouldn’t be surprised to hear that there are escalator clauses for plate appearances, similar to the deal that Guillen had in 2004 when he arrived.

    The contract is such that Guillen should hopefully be able to play a productive shortstop for at least the first 3 years. If in the last year he has to move a less demanding position it will probably still be a decent value in 2011 dollars.

    I don’t want to say the deal is a bargain for the Tigers, because Carlos Guillen is getting nearly $50 million. But like the Jeremy Bonderman and Brandon Inge signings, both agreed to stay with Detroit long term and while they were rewarded, they probably took less than they could have had on the open market.

    Maybe the Tiger Tax is now the Tiger Tax Credit.

    UPDATE: Now there are some quotes coming out. It appears guaranteeing the 4th year is what made it all possible. And like I said all along, give him the 4th year if it means keeping him for the next 3. Guillen also is amenable to a position switch later in the contract if that’s what the team needs him to do. In return the Tigers granted him a limited no trade clause.

  • Vance Wilson to the DL

    I fully expected some players to go on the DL this week, like Roman Colon and Edward Campusano. Didn’t see Wilson and Rogers as part of the mix though.

    Wilson has been bothered by some tenderness in his elbow and it has landed him on the 15 day DL. He played yesterday, but I’m guessing he didn’t feel to good today.

    Mike Rabelo will assume back-up catching duties. He’s already on the 40 man roster so it won’t require additional moves.

  • The 2007 Tigers Season Preview

    For a stat heavy guy, here is a decidely stat-less look at the season ahead…
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  • More on Rogers – a blood clot

    I was further deferring my season preview to take a deeper look at the Tigers choice of Chad Durbin, when the news came across that Kenny Rogers may be suffering from a blood clot.

    Now this could be bad, or it could be really minor. Tom Glavine had some coldness in his ring finger last year which was caused by a blood clot like malady. He was back pitching in 2 weeks after treating the problem with medication.

    On the other hand, players have had to undergo surgery which have sidelined them for the better part of a season.

    Dave Dombrowski has been downplaying the issue saying that it may be only a one start thing while Jim Leyland is worried about making sure that Rogers is OK before he wories about playing time. I don’t say this to paint Dombrowski as callous, just that there seem to be some different messages coming out.

    I’ve been trying to get smart about blood clots, so I checked with Mrs. Billfer who is a heart nurse who happens to be working tonight. She checked with some physicians who identified 3 main causes for blood clots. Keep in mind I’m not a doctor, but I’m married to someone who talks to doctors while I watch TV.

    The first is hypercoagulability which is inherited problems with anticoagulation. It isn’t uncommon for it to be diagnosed for people in their 40’s. A second cause is malignancy (cancer). The third cause is trauma. Given that pitching is a traumatic act on the shoulder, this doesn’t seem far fetched.

    Of course speculation is pretty moot at this point. Rogers was to see a specialist and one name you might want to look for is Dr. Robert Thompson, a vascular surgeon from Washington University in St. Louis who has performed a couple surgeries on Major Leaguers.

    (disclaimer: I’m truly not a clinician and don’t want to promote any false information. If you know better than me, please post corrections in the comment)