Random Thoughts On An Off Day

Yesterday, in my latest Motor City Bengals post, it was all talk about Justin Verlander and his quest for MVP. Today, I'll I'll try and reach back and crudely look back at a few offseason moves that have (or have not) shaped this season.

The easy winner here is Victor Martinez. Victor signed a 4-year, $50MM contract w/ the Tigers in the offseason, and has been worth every penny so far. The other "coveted" free agent bat of the offseason, Adam Dunn, signed a slightly larger contract with the Chicago White Sox (4 years, $56MM) was rumored to be on the Tigers radar, except word was he wasn't interested in being a full-time DH, so he was out of the Tigers plans then. Good for the Tigers too. In a tale of 2 seasons, V-Mart is batting .324, with 11 HRs and 94 RBIs (.385 with runners in scoring position), while Adam Dunn is batting a cool .165, with only 11 HRs, 41 RBIs, and 163 strikeouts. Not exactly a good return on the investment. The Tigers can only hope for this in all 4 years of this deal.

The easy loser here is Brad Penny. I actually liked this deal in the preseason when it was made. Not a ton of money invested (only $3MM for this season, incentives would have made it $6MM), and if he made it through the season healthy it would have been a good deal. Except he's had an awfully inconsistent season, and his gameday pace and lack of command haven't set well with Tigers fans this season (though I'll theorize that after only 9 starts last year he may not have had the endurance for a full season). It'll be over soon, as I'd be totally be shocked to see Dave Dombrowski re-sign him beyond this season - as Jacob Turner figures to battle for the last rotation spot next spring.

Two in-house moves I also moderately embraced in the offseason were the re-signings of Magglio Ordonez and Brandon Inge. In the beginning, the signing of Ordonez was great, in my opinon: Maggs was having a productive season last year when he was lost for the season with a broken ankle. This season, his bat swing is slower, and his batting average is remarkably lower as a result. The last couple of weeks for him have been better, as he's raised his batting average up to .252. As for Brandon Inge, it's been - for the most part - a season to forget. He signed a 2-year, $11MM contract just before the winter free agency period started, citing his desire to remain in Detroit. However, his putrid offense (.170 before being designated for assignment/sent to Toledo) and his declining defense have been a season-long problem for the Tigers. Fans were getting on his case, and his alleged stubborn attitude towards getting help for his hitting woes weren't helping his cause with the Tigers. They would trade for Wilson Betemit, and DFA Inge. Inge did accept his demotion to Toledo where he was a moderately productive hitter, and has since been back with the big club where he has raised his average to .200, while fielding his position well. He's not being thrown out there everyday, which is probably helping. My hope is he works on his offense in the offseason. Doing so and improving his batting average to .250 would even be relatively acceptable to me and a few legions of other Tigers fans who can't stand the strikeouts or the lazy pop ups.

Now, while I've appeared to be more negative than positive here, keep in mind that there's room for improvement here, and even winning the AL Central should be a great accomplishment in spite of some of the downfalls. I hope that they're aiming higher this postseason, because I'm going to assume that any failure in this playoff year will result in fans wanting more this offseason, and there isn't too much the Tigers can do to make any improvements.

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You can now read more of my Tigers musings on the Fansided Tigers blog, Motor City Bengals.

Speculating the Stretch Run

I'll preface this post by saying that I didn't watch today's Tigers game (if it were live, being where I am, it would have been impossible anyway), but I'll assume that Rick Porcello was serviceable in defeat, and lost to a pretty decent pitcher (Gio Gonzalez).

Phil Coke was the Phil Coke of late, and Ryan Perry was... not good.

Now that the Tigers have wrapped up the AL Central, I'm curious as to how to go about these final 2 weeks of the regular season.  They're playing teams who have no factor in their own stretch runs, or anyone else's for that matter.  Who do you rest?  Who shouldn't you rest, for fear of rust?

In an earlier post, I suggested that Jacob Turner should be shut down for the rest of the season.  I still agree with myself there, except if you're not going to use him in the postseason, perhaps a spot start, or take the last start away from Justin Verlander, who after being the total workhorse needs himself some time off.  Doug Fister looks like he's well anchored in the number 2 slot, while Max Scherzer is probably in at 3.

Which leaves Porcello, who including today has 4 quality starts in his last 5 outings, and Brad Penny, someone no one wants to see pitch beyond September.  I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibility that a strict 4-man rotation be used in the playoffs, but certainly in a short series, you may only need 3, if you're lucky.

And what about the position players? Do you rest the Miggy's, the Victor's, the Alex's, hell... even the Maggs' of the lineup?  I bring up Magglio Ordonez only because he's on a bit of a tear right now, going 3 for 4 today, and has seen his batting average rise to .252.

Personally, I believe resting the offensive players any more than is already done might be a mistake.  As for your hurlers, it may be a little more important, not to mention they'll need to run out some of those bullpen arms to see just who is worth putting on the postseason roster.  Ultimately, if complacency doesn't settle in, it should be an interesting playoff for the Tigers.  Just makes me nervous to see who they have in front of them, from a competitive standpoint.

A Bit of Redemption

No, the headline isn't for Brandon Inge, but it does involve him.

In what ended up being my most viewed/hit blog post (and thanks for reading), "Broadcast Laziness", I took some shots at last weekend's MLB on Fox Team that included Matt Vasgersian and Mitch Williams.  Their call of Miguel Cabrera's walk off home run vs. the Chicago White Sox was to say the least, uninspiring.

Yesterday, Vasgersian was back to call the Tigers game vs the Minnesota Twins, only this time Hall of Fame pitcher and Twins analyst Bert Blyleven was by his side.  Vasgersian's comment before Brandon Inge hit this week's walk off shot set himself up for what would be a very good call.

Brandon Inge's walk off home run

It was an exciting call, perhaps because of the hard luck season that is, Brandon Inge, but if you're going to call a potential national telecast, you should probably leave a mark on your audience.  And not the mark Joe Buck leaves, as he calls games in a rather monotone voice (that is, when his voice isn't injured like it is now).  Vasgersian in my mind made up for the listless call he made last Saturday, and I'm sure it was much appreciated to whoever was watching.

Random Thoughts On An Off Day

It's Thursday, September 8th, the Tigers have an off day, riding a 6-game win streak, your 2 closest competitors face off against each other in a 4-game series this weekend, with 9 games separating said competition.  Things must be going well.

And they are, albeit with a little help.  But for some reason, I am a bit concerned with Justin Verlander.

Verlander now has a 22-5 record after beating Cleveland yesterday.  He hasn't lost since July 15th vs the White Sox.  He seems to be in full control of the American League Cy Young award.

Justin Verlander

But his last 3 starts have been somewhat alarming.  His numbers in that time: in 19.1 innings, he's allowed 9 runs (all earned), 18 hits, 6 walks, has struck out 20, and given up 5 home runs.  That's good for a 4.19 ERA... but the number that jumps out is his WHIP (walks + hits / innings pitched) in that stretch is 1.24, well above his 0.91 that he's averaging for the season.

Far be it for me to assume that the staff workhorse is wearing down as the season goes by, but it's hard not to think about that.  In all 31 of his starts this season, Verlander has thrown at least 100 pitches, with 9 of those starts breaking 120 and 1 beyond 130.  No matter what kind of shape you're in, even the best of us (not me, personally) get worn down.  Let's just hope he's not completely spent by the time October rolls around.  Assuming the Tigers make the playoffs, they'll need him to be ready.  So if in the next 2 or 3 starts I pray that he's pulled with minimal damage and pitches thrown, it won't be seen as the root of all evil that he's not throwing his arm off before the post-season.

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How about that Delmon Young?

Delmon Young

While not exactly fleet-of-foot defensively (watching him run down fly balls in left field is nerve wracking), his bat has been a welcome sight since he was traded to the Tigers from the Twins early last month.  Before he was dealt, he was hitting only .266 with 4 HRs and 32 RBIs... not exactly great numbers that earned him his $5.4M contract to start the year.  But since his trade, he's batting .312, with 3 HRs and 17 RBIs.  He even drew a walk for the first time, bringing that total as a Tiger to... 1.  Okay, that's not ground-breaking, but his early returns from his change of scenery are very good thus far.  It will be interesting to see what the Tigers do with him this offseason, as the organization is left with a minor surplus in outfielders.  So far though, it looks like he likes his new digs and that might be enough for Dave Dombrowski to offer Delmon arbitration after this season is over.

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The Tigers face the Twins this weekend for the final time this season and we may not recognize most of the current Twins lineup.  Last night's Twins lineup featured only 2 players from their opening day roster in the lineup, that being Joe Mauer and Danny Valencia.  The Twins have expanded their roster a bit, bringing up players from AAA Rochester as well as AA New Britain.  With what the Tigers offense has done lately, I'm going to try and hold off reporting a future 9-game winning streak, but it sets up well for the team as the White Sox and Indians battle each other this weekend.  Two or three Tiger wins this weekend could drive those nails further into Cleveland and Chicago's coffin.

Finishing Them Off?

The Detroit Tigers open up another big series in Cleveland vs. the Indians today, 1 day after completing a big sweep of the White Sox, pasting them in the 18-2 finale last night.  With the Sox at 8.5 games back of the Tigers now, they should focus on keeping the Indians at the very least, 7.5 games back.

That would mean the Tigers would have to win 2 out of 3 in this set, which is what they should be doing anyway if they are to prove their worth as a playoff-ready team.  Not too much to ask, as 2 of your rotation stoppers will go in this series, being Doug Fister (today) and Justin Verlander (on Wednesday).  We've seen the offense do what they're doing, so there's no reason to believe the Tigers can't have an extra nice cushion with only a few weeks left in the regular season.  For today's game, it can be done... Ubaldo Jimenez goes for the Tribe, and his last outing vs the Tigers yielded 7 runs.

Of course, trying not to think too far ahead of the game here, a division lead that big of course has been erased before, as the Tigers may have the ghosts of 2009 haunting their fan base, saying nothing is imminent until it's all locked up.  Fair assessment, but while the Tigers did cough up a 7 game lead with 3 weeks to go in the season, they did it against what was a scorching hot Minnesota Twins team, who came down the stretch that season at a 42-17 mark.  Impressive, if not improbable: which is a word I'll use now.  For me, it's almost impossible to believe that either the White Sox or Indians could pull off what the Twins did 2 seasons ago, largely because neither team is healthy or hitting the ball with much consistency.  That is key when making a nice little run towards the postseason, and I don't forsee the Tigers coughing this up like they did in '09.

Far be it for me to say the Tigers will win the division right now, but for a while now, it's been their division to lose.  Imagine how different the division might look if the Tigers didn't stumble out to a slow start in April/May.  If they were playing then like they are playing now, we may be talking about a more insurmountable 10-12 game lead instead of 6.5.

The Tigers will win this division, even if I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I type this.

Broadcasting Laziness

The big buzz around the Motor City tonight was the awesome comeback the Detroit Tigers laid to the Chicago White Sox.  Down 8-1, the Tigers clawed their way back into the game... 8-5 as the teams were taken off the field in the bottom of the 8th inning for what would be a 36 minute rain delay.

Fast forward slightly to the bottom of the 9th, with the score 8-6, Ryan Raburn at the plate as the tying run, Fox broadcasters (and MLB Network talking heads) Matt Vasgersian and Mitch Williams become part of 2 of the worst HR calls in recent memory.  Raburn crushes his 2-run, game tying shot to left, only to hear Mitch (the color analyst) mutter "It's gone" before Vasgersian gives a rather spirited HR call.  Not to be outdone, Vasgersian takes Miguel Cabrera's HR call and erases his pretty good call from the previous blast and offers up this broadcasting gem:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=18781581

Vasgersian

Williams

 Now, I know for a national audience, there needs to be a good balance of objectivity and good play calling.  While the former was there, the latter sure wasn't.  The bigger problem was, neither one of these guys were deep into what has really happened with either club in recent weeks, making them sound rather ignorant when it came to talking about the clubs and their tendencies.  Which leads to the next problem, this wasn't really for a national audience, more for the regional crowd instead.  Fox's three broadcasts today included the actual national broadcast, which feature the Red Sox and Rangers from Fenway Park, the Cardinals and Reds from St. Louis, and the Tigers and White Sox.  As you might imagine, the Tigers/White Sox game was delivered to the smallest audience, which begs the question, why not mix and match?

In this case, it's my assumption that Fox and Comcast Sports Net aren't at all affiliated with each other, so you wouldn't see a possibility of Ken (The Hawk) Harrelson or Steve Stone working with the likes of Mario Impemba and Rod Allen.  But it really needs to be fixed like that, because if you're going to suck the emotion out of what should be the most exciting play of the game, why the hell should anyone watch?  Vasgersian's HR call was boring, worse than "matter-of-fact" like, with he and Williams sounding like they were both at home on the couch drinking a couple of cheap beers instead of actually doing "play calling", which is what they were being paid to do.  At least if you bring in the local talent for the regional broadcasts, you're likely not going to cheat the fans who know that the people who are calling the game actually know a thing or two about how their team operates.  Except the egregious thing here is, these clowns actually work for the MLB Network, and they still called the game like they did little to no research whatsoever.  Fox would have been better off bringing in long time announcer and play-by-play dinosaur Dick Stockton to call the game.  At least for his stuttering and bouts of forgetfulness, he probably wouldn't have been any worse that the two talking heads we were forced with today.

Fox has to get this right, for the love of baseball and humanity.  If you want people to watch your sport in October, especially when those people don't necessarily have a rooting interest for who's playing, they'll need to find someone who can call the game with passion, knowledge, and a genuine love for the game.

Vin Scully comes to mind...

The Most Important Series to Start on September 2nd

Okay, there's no real research done to warrant that headline, but I suppose if you include 2011, then we're on to something.

The Tigers start up a very pivotal series this weekend with the Chicago White Sox, after a rather disappointing 4-game split with the last place Royals.  The Tigers and their pitching staff got roughed up in yesterday's 11-8 loss, though some might argue that with the abuse of the bullpen, there won't be much of a need for that for tonight's game.

Justin Verlander

Of course, that must mean Detroit Tigers workhorse Justin Verlander takes the mound, and he'll need to be at his best as he'll face White Sox starter John Danks, who after starting the season 0-8, is 6-1 in 9 starts since the end of May.  After being relatively unhittable in the months of June and July, he was touched up in August for 13 runs (12 ER) in 5 starts, compiling a 2-1 record for the month overall.  Another factor about the White Sox as a team: terrible at home, but somehow better on the road, which is what they'll be facing this weekend, and early next week when they travel into Minnesota.  The Tigers would be wise in taking care of business here, especially since the Sox will play a day-night doubleheader the day after their Sunday night ESPN telecast.  Currently the Tigers hold a 5.5 game lead in the Central over the Sox and Indians, and winning 2 out of 3 at the very least would be easier to stomach for fans than losing 2 of 3.  And if the Tigers want to convince their nervous fan base that they can compete and pull off this division, they'll hopefully do what's necessary.

John Danks

We may also be disappointed in the lack of Sox first baseman, designated hitter, and strikeout machine Adam Dunn, who has been on the bench as of late because of his horrible production at the plate.  And while it's fun to watch him windmill his way through an at-bat, they Sox have been doing some winning without him in the lineup.  For manager Ozzie Guillen, it's probably a lot easier than expected to put a guy making $12M this season on the bench... after all, he's not signing the paychecks.