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.

Sneaky Power!

Doug Fister threw 6 perfect innings to start the game.  Broken up in the 7th, and trailing by the end of the inning. 1-0, in what looked like might be a hard luck loss for the guy who has struggled mightily to get run support all season.

Magglio Ordonez, who has certainly lost a step or four and is at the twilight of his career, had a clutch, game tying single in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game at 1.  I will be quick to admit that I have said over and over, that Maggs shouldn't be in the lineup on a regular basis.  His offense AND defense are suffering.  But since Brennan Boesch is still nursing a thumb injury, we need him.  And he came through.  Then... Up came Ramon Santiago.

Ramon Santiago, walk off HR.

In the bottom of the tenth, in the game as a pinch runner in the 8th inning, connected off of Aaron Crow and sent the ball over the right field wall, sending 34,000 fans at Comerica Park home very happy.  His first career walk off home run, 4th HR of the year, 2-1 final score.

Great, because for a while it may have turned out to be one of the more egregious losses of the season.  Doug Fister pitched extremely well for his new ballclub, essentially making a mistake to leadoff batter Alex Gordon in the 7th inning, who drove Fister's first pitch into the gap in left center field, for the Royals first baserunner of the game.  He would score on a Billy Bulter sacrifice fly, and the way Royals starter Jeff Francis had started his game, it was looking like another flat performance from what is regarded to be a good offense.  The Royals pitching isn't special.  We saw that tonight, as Louis Coleman worked the 9th inning for Kansas City, walking the bases loaded with 2 outs.  Taking advantage of such an action was apparently a tall order, as Crow came in and struck out Wilson Betemit on 3 pitches to end the threat.

If it weren't for 2 clutch swings of the bat, we might be very angry with how this game could have or would have ended up.  Ultimately, the 2 bats that figured for a winning formula at Comerica tonight were probably the last 2 bats we all expected to clutch-up for the Tigers.  And for that, we thank Magglio, and Ramon... with the hopes that they contribute like that again down the stretch.