Have you ever wondered who had the worst offensive season of all time in a Tiger uniform? Well, I hadn’t either until this morning. I came across (via Knuckle Curve) a post at the Blue Jays blog Batters Box that looked at the worst pitching seasons in the organization’s history. This peaked my interest.
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Blog
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Most Offensive Offensive Seasons
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Tigers acquire Yorman Bazardo
The Tigers today made a trade with the Seattle Mariners for right handed pitcher Yorman Bazardo. In exchange the Tigers have sent the Mariners outfielder Jeff Frazier.
Bazardo will turn 23 in July. Last year he had a solid season in AA with a 3.64 ERA over 25 starts. For his career he has a pretty meager strike out rate of 5.54 per nine innings but with decent control (2.31 BB/9). He had a solid winter pitching in the Venezuela. He appeared in 21 games with Aragua in the Venezuelan Winter League following the season, posting a 2-0 record, 1.78 ERA (30.1IP/6ER) and one save. Additionally, Bazardo saw action in two games with Venezuela during the Caribbean World Series, fanning six batters in five scoreless innings of relief.
John Sickels rates him a C+ and as the 9th best prospect in the Seattle organization.
Jeff Frazier is coming off a pretty brutal season for Lakeland in which he posted a 625 OPS. Prior to that he posted a nice final line in pitcher friendly West Michigan of 287/349/453.
To make room on the 40 man roster for Bazardo, Preston Larrison was designated for assignment.
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Tigers sign De La Cruz, Vazquez, and others
The Tigers today signed righthanded pitchers Eulogio De La Cruz, Preston Larrison and Virgil Vazquez, lefthanded pitcher Edward Campusano and catcher Mike Rabelo.
Detroit now has 26 members of the 40 man roster under contract for 2007
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Spring has Sprung
The Tigers are invading Lakeland. Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, and Joel Zumaya are among those who have reported early to camp. I’m particularly fond of the World Series hat that Verlander is wearing.Pitchers and catchers are due to report en masse on February 15th.
Oh yeah, and you can save the pitchers-fielding-practice jokes.
Photo Credit: Roger DeWitt
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The Tigers and Baserunning
In today’s mailbag Jason Beck answers questions about the Tigers aggressiveness on the basepaths. Beck notes:
I think what you’ll see this season is an emphasis on more aggressive baserunning aside from stolen bases, such as going from first to third or second to home on singles more often. They have the personnel to improve in that area. Guys like Placido Polanco and Ivan Rodriguez aren’t speedsters, but they’re intelligent baserunners, and their stats on taking the extra base back it up. Brandon Inge and Craig Monroe also have potential in that area.
This makes the perfect reason for me to link to the detailed work that Lee has been doing on the Tigers and baserunning. (more…)
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Who’s Your Tiger in 2007
The very popular Who’s Your Tiger campaign will be back for 2007. What started out as a way to introduce Detroit fans to the current roster in 2005 took on a life of its own last year.
Who’s My Tiger? Curtis Granderson.
Who’s your Tiger?
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The Extra Innings DirecTV deal and Tiger Fans
I’m sure you’ve all heard about the pending deal that would put MLB’s Extra Inning package exclusively on DirecTV. Previously, it was available on most major dish and cable systems. I live in Southeast Michigan so I unfortunately won’t be effected by this. However, I anticipated that many DTW readers wouldn’t be so lucky.
To get a handle on this I’ve been running a poll in the sidebar. Now that the poll is 10 days old, and we have 94 votes it’s probably time to take a look at the results.
How does MLB’s exclusive deal with DirecTV effect you Response Results I live in SE Michigan, it doesn’t make a difference 27% I already have DirecTV and subscribe to MLB EI, so no change 6% I’ll be watching the Tigers on MLB.tv now 26% I’m switching to DirecTV because of this 2% I’m out of luck. I can’t/won’t switch to DirecTV so I’ll miss the games 39% -
Group Project: Preserving Tiger Stadium
Okay, so we’re not going to all start a campaign to save the old girl before she gets it from the wrecking ball. What I’m talking about is preserving some of Tiger Stadium’s history and charm. Moving some of Michigan and Trumbull to Montcalm and Witherall.
A couple weeks ago I flashed back to the overwhelming sense of green when entering a stadium. The comments went down the road of remembering Tiger Stadium. A commentor named Ed left the following:
I wish parts of Tiger Stadium had been integrated into Comerica. Sometime in July or August I wrote Dave Dombrowski about that very thing. He wrote back…personally!…to say that they have been thinking about that very thing. His letter stated too that they would be considering what they might do and thanked me for my suggestions.
So I thought maybe we could come up with a list of ideas. I’d love the rightfield overhang to make the journey, but that may be a little too hard to pull off. Something simpler might be to the have flags from the other American League teams ringing the top of the stadium.
What would you like to see brought from the old place to Comerica Park?
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161 Tiger Games on TV
What a change from the last couple years when the Tigers were scrambling to get games on TV. This year the Tigers have ensured that all but one game will be televised – and they did it before the end of January. Last year they were still adding games in mid April.
Fox Sports Net Detroit will pick up 134 games (plus 3 spring training games). Fox 2 WJBK will be the over the air partner which will air 17 additional weekend games, plus simulcast Opening Day. For those who are out-state a network of over-the-air affiliates is being lined up throughout Michigan and the Toledo area to carry the package of games airing on WJBK. An additional 10 games will be on National television in the form of Fox Saturday Baseball or ESPN Sunday night baseball.
The lone game that won’t be aired is an April 7th tilt against the Royals that falls during Fox’s exclusive rights window.
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Beane, Prospects, and Options
- Athletics Nation interviews Billy Beane. Beane comments on the ALCS and the Tigers:
Blez: You mentioned the series against the Tigers. I felt as though the Tigers changed their fundamental batting approach and sort of gave the A’s a taste of their own approach in being very patient with our starters. The Tigers weren’t exactly known to be patient hitters.
Beane: I think that’s exactly what they did. They were coming off a pretty emotional win against the Yankees and they had a very talented team. They were swinging the bats kind of like when we played the Reds back in the `90 World Series. They had a lot of self-confidence and when they got down a run or two it didn’t seem to bother them. We caught them at a bad time. The better team won that series and that needs to be said. I don’t think anyone should’ve walked away thinking, oh we should’ve won that series. We got boat-raced.
- Keith Law has his top 25 prospect list(insider). A big component of his list is proximity to the Majors and he also qualifies that players should have a full season of pro ball experience (so no Andrew Miller). Cameron Maybin comes in 15th with these criteria.
15. Cameron Maybin, CF, Tigers
More tools than Home Depot, but lacks the polish of Fernando Martinez or the discipline of Jose Tabata. With development, he could easily be one of the top three or four prospects in the game next winter. - Jon Paul Morosi notes that despite Zach Miner’s success last year his option years might keep him in the minors in favor of an out-of-option player like Roman Colon or Chad Durbin. Larrison is also out of options, but if he makes the team out of spring training I’d have to imagine things have gone horribly wrong. Morosi also clarifies a couple other option rules:
Correcting an earlier item in this space, also relating to options: Infielders Omar Infante and Ramon Santiago each have at least one option remaining, but would have to clear waivers to be sent to the minors. (Reason: Three calendar years have passed since their first appearances in the major leagues.) Neifi Perez has options remaining, as well, but can refuse any minor league assignment because of his service time.
- Athletics Nation interviews Billy Beane. Beane comments on the ALCS and the Tigers:
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Weekend Roundup
- The Daily Fungo interviews Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey. It’s a very interesting listen, and I think it’s great that Petroskey took the time for a blogger/podcaster.
- Keith Law ranks the minor league systems. Detroit ranks a respectable 11th. (Insider).
The Gary Sheffield deal kept them out of the top 10, but Cameron Maybin is just a tick below the Jose Tabatas and Fernando Martinezes of the world, while Andrew Miller should be one of the top five pitching prospects in the minors by midseason.
- John Donovan says the Tigers are the only team without a weakness.
The Tigers, top to bottom, are the most solid team around. Stronger than ’06. No holes. Really. As long as Sean Casey stays healthy at first, they’ll be tough.
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Catching up with Dan Dickerson
Detroit Tigers play-by-play announcer Dan Dickerson was kind enough to take a few minutes out of his much-shorter-than-normal offseason to chat with me. We discussed 2006, the Magglio Ordonez call, and the outlook for 2007.
DTW: 2006 was a special season for everyone involved with or rooting for the Detroit Tigers. Was the season more fun and/or satisfying for you as a lifelong fan of the team or as a member of the organization?Dan: It’ll be hard to draw a line between the two. Obviously I am fan because I grew up a Tiger fan. I think it probably is the most satisfying because it is your job and you’ve been part of something that’s been a lot of fun, but without a lot of success. And then, if it wasn’t out of nowhere, then it was certainly unexpected tremendous success. So to be a part of the organization, to be a part of watching that team, it was incredibly satisfying and gratifying. It was a lot of fun to be a part of it.It was amazing to me to see them go from a situation where over the previous two years you’d go into a series and think “they have a chance” to going into every game expecting them to win. And for that to transform that quickly was an incredible thing to watch.