Arbitration Matters and Latin Links

It took them a while, but the Tigers finally announced the corresponding move to make room for Victor Martinez on the roster by designating Zach Miner for assignment. Miner is recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the DFA automatically makes him a free agent, but the Tigers are interested in bringing him back on a minor league deal (though I think the assertion that he’d compete for a bullpen spot or perhaps try to crack the starting rotation is a bit optimistic, considering that it usually takes about a year to recover from Tommy John surgery and he just had his in late May). I don’t really dislike Miner (though Jim Leyland’s plans to use him out of the bullpen to get double plays never really seemed to work out the way they were supposed to), but right now I’ve gotten myself into “think of the alternative” mode, so at this point, the DFA doesn’t really bother me. Besides, he was a prime non-tender candidate anyways. Speaking of which, that deadline is Thursday, and by my count, there are three other Tigers who are arbitration-eligible. Since Ryan Raburn is essentially the left fielder right now, I expect that to be uneventful, and as I said before, they’d be foolish to not tender a contract to Armando Galarraga. That leaves Joel Zumaya as a possible non-tender candidate because of the injuries, but Jason Beck has said that the Tigers will probably offer him a contract, and they should, because when he’s healthy, Zumaya can be very effective, and he won’t be that expensive. There’s certainly room in the payroll for him.

And now I have some links for you concerning a few Latin American players:

• Thanks to some internet browsing, I have found a couple websites that stream live television broadcasts of Venezuelan baseball. I was watching one such game a couple days ago and it just so happened that Carlos Guillen was a guest in the broadcast booth and they held about a 10-minute interview with him. I was able to make an audio recording of part of the interview, so you can have at it. The sound quality’s not great (especially since this was happening during a game, so you hear cheering in the background as one team was in the middle of scoring a bunch of runs), and it’s entirely in Spanish. Unfortunately, I can’t translate much of it (He gets asked about Victor Martinez, the high number of Venezuelans on the Tigers, and the perfect game, among other things).
• The presentation of the Luis Aparicio Award took place last Thursday (The article is in Spanish, but at least I could understand most of it). The award went to Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies, but Armando Galarraga received an honorable mention for the perfect game and his actions following it. He was unable to attend the award ceremony because he’s in Texas right now (or at least he was as of Thursday), but someone managed to get an interview with him (which I can provide a translation for, if you guys want me to).
• Galarraga was also a runner-up for Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year for 2010 (which was given to Drew Brees). Joe Posnanski wrote the nomination article about him and Pat Forde also tweeted his support.
• Via former Mud Hen Scot Drucker, we’ve learned that 2006 ALCS Game 2 hero Alexis Gomez was injured in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. We in the Tigers community all hope for the best. 
• And finally, happy 39^th birthday to former Tiger Pudge Rodriguez. And to no one’s surprise, he’s got no plans to retire any time soon (link in Spanish).

Bienvenidos Victor Martinez

As it turns out, there was some major news to be had. Yesterday morning, Ignacio Serrano of ESPN Deportes reported that Victor Martinez was close to signing with Detroit (the article is in Spanish). I happen to follow a few Venezuelan writers on Twitter, Serrano included, so I actually found this article firsthand. The incoming reports of the Tigers not offering arbitration to any of their free agents kind of pushed this report aside, but by afternoon, American baseball writers were confirming what Serrano had said. And now it looks as though the signing is official (though the Tigers have not confirmed it yet; and yes, I am slightly nervous about the upcoming corresponding move to make room for him on the 40-man roster). Now, I made it perfectly clear a couple weeks ago that I had concerns about his defensive shortcomings, but the bottom line is that he’s still a good hitter and he’ll give a fair amount of protection to Miguel Cabrera in the lineup. Still, the less time he spends behind the plate, the better (I feel for the Tigers’ pitching staff). I have no problem with him as the DH and when I take into account the fact that there really wasn’t anyone out there that I wanted, I have concluded that he was probably one of the better options in terms of offense. And with that signing seemingly done, I’d say all they have to do is re-sign Magglio Ordoñez and then they’ll be all set for the season to start.

As expected, Miguel Cabrera finished second in the MVP race. He received five first-place votes. Those votes came from Tom Gage of the Detroit News, Steve Kornacki of Booth Newspapers, Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald (in Chicago), Jim Ingraham of the News Herald (in Cleveland), and Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Note that all these writers are from AL Central cities, and as such, they had a better opportunity to watch Cabrera over the entire season. Also, for those of you who know Spanish, you might be interested in this interview with Miguel Cabrera from yesterday. Unfortunately, while I am pretty decent at reading Spanish, I’m rubbish when it comes to understanding spoken Spanish, so I can’t really give you a translation. I know he gets asked about Victor Martinez at one point, as well as finishing second in the MVP voting. However, I did talk to one of the interviewers in the audio clip on Twitter, and she was nice enough to give me a partial translation. When asked about the MVP voting, Cabrera said “Hamilton deserves it. I need to work harder. The Tigers need to be in the playoffs and then I’ll be the MVP.” She also asked him if he planned to play winter ball. She didn’t translate this part for me, but from what I can tell, he said he might if things were going well (I’m assuming his ankle is pretty much healed up by now, since I don’t think he mentioned it).

And now I return you to your regularly scheduled turkey, sleep, and shopping.

Torturous Names + MVP Talk

There are no major moves to speak of today, but the Tigers did add some players to the 40-man roster in preparation for next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Now, I’m not a prospect expert, nor do I wish to be, so I will leave the detailed analysis of the additions to those bloggers who have more of an interest in minor league matters. This is probably the first year that I recognize the names of all those added, though again, I can’t tell you much about them besides the bare minimum. After all those moves, there was one space left on the 40-man roster. That got filled a few hours later when the Tigers signed a career minor league reliever by the name of Alberto Alburquerque, and he is supposed to compete for a bullpen job in spring training. Are the Tigers trying to make my life difficult? Am I going to have to repeatedly type “Alburquerque” all through next season? If that’s the case, then the Tigers owe me one (And I know what that could be!). Anyways, Alburquerque has never pitched above Double-A, but a lot of teams were after him, hence why the Tigers had to sign him to a major league contract. And since I’m not the prospect expert, I’ll leave it at that.

Because of Thanksgiving, I don’t expect there to be a ton of signings or trades this week, but this has been kind of a strange offseason because of the stepped-up deadlines, so you never know. Tomorrow is the deadline to offer arbitration to the departing free agents with Elias ratings. The Tigers have three: Gerald Laird and Johnny Damon are both Type Bs, and Magglio Ordoñez is a Type A. MLB Trade Rumors, for one, does not expect the Tigers to offer arbitration to any of them. I understand not offering arbitration to Damon or Laird, since I find that there would be a good possibility of them accepting and the Tigers don’t have much desire to have them back, but I don’t see that there’s much risk in offering arbitration to Magglio. I really don’t think Scott Boras would let him accept, and speaking purely as a fan, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he did. However, there is probably some compelling argument out there for why they won’t and I just haven’t picked up on it, and since the arbitration process is not really something I’m interested in, I’ll leave it at that. Tomorrow will also mark the announcement of the AL MVP. As I said last week, for Miguel Cabrera to have had a shot, we would had to have seen Austin Jackson beat out Neftali Feliz for Rookie of the Year, and that didn’t happen. And of course, there are plenty of valid arguments for Josh Hamilton just as there are for Cabrera. However, the arguments for Hamilton that I keep seeing are really dumb ones. There was one MLB.com article that quoted a voter who said he voted for Hamilton because of an “incredible 3-month stretch” and that took the Rangers from a first-place tie on June 1^st to a 9 ½ game lead on September 1^st. Too bad the season is five months long, not three. If you’re going to use that argument, you may as well have given Michael Cuddyer the MVP last year. It was his ridiculously incredible September that gave the Twins their surge last year. Second, this argument ignores the fact that the Athletics and Mariners weren’t very good to start with, and the Angels lost Kendry Morales on May 29^th and never recovered (in stark contrast to the Twins, who only get better when they lose their big stars). And the arguments about his battles with drug addiction are compelling, but Miguel Cabrera has also overcome substance abuse problems of his own. And by the way people dismiss Cabrera by saying “The Tigers were not a playoff team” you’d think they’d started the season in last place and stayed there, which is not how it happened. In the end, however, I think my arguments will fall on deaf ears because there’s just too much media love for Hamilton. What’s a Tiger gotta do to get himself an MVP?

And with that, I probably won’t post again until next week unless there’s some major news to be had. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Say Hello to the First New Tiger of the Offseason

With all the signings (and one trade) going on at these GM meetings so far, it’s almost like the Winter Meetings are already happening. Dan Uggla went very quickly for what I find to be a song for the Braves. I didn’t really want Uggla (and apparently I’m the only Tigers blogger to have taken that stance; seriously, for such a small rumor it produced a lot of drooling and mancrushes), so I don’t mind that the Tigers weren’t “more aggressive” (although that’s not a real good accusation to make given that we have very little information as to the negotiations, if there were any), but I feel kind of sorry for Marlins fans (although I do like Omar Infante). This afternoon brought the news that the Tigers have signed their first new free agent of the offseason in setup man Joaquin Benoit. He’s coming off a really good season with the Rays, and he’s a Type B free agent so the Tigers don’t have to give up a draft pick (though they probably will at some point; while we’re on the subject, I believe Magglio projects as a Type A, so they might as well offer him arbitration, since there’s no chance that Scott Boras will let him accept). It’s a three-year, $16.5 million deal, and the reaction to it on the blogosphere is generally positive. I think he’d be a good compliment to Joel Zumaya and Ryan Perry, and if Zumaya hurts himself again, Benoit should be able to slide into an even bigger role. I do have a slight concern that prior to this year, he had a tendency to walk quite a few batters, but the Tigers have prioritized velocity over control for a long time now, so I can see why they wouldn’t find that to be a problem. Overall, I approve of the signing, if for nothing else but the fact that I have no established allegiances to any of the existing relievers like I do the starters, so he’s not a “threat” to anyone (unless the Tigers plan to convert him back into a starter, but that’s unlikely; on a related note, Dave Dombrowski said yesterday that he’s not counting on Andy Oliver to be part of the 2011 rotation, but take that with a grain of salt for now). And with a new setup man in hand, I’d be perfectly happy for them to sign that big bat or two (and maybe a lefty reliever) and then call it an offseason, so that I can sit back, relax, and not stress out for the next four months.

Guys I Don't Want + Rookie of the Year

I don’t have a whole lot of new things to discuss, but I do want to keep posting at least once a week so that you don’t think I’ve up and abandoned you. It should go without saying that I still haven’t gained much enthusiasm for the Hot Stove. The GM meetings start tomorrow. If it follows the pattern that it did in years past, there will be a few signings or trades, but mostly it’ll spur a bunch of rumors about who is on the block. This year, all the deadlines (free agency, exclusivity window, arbitration, etc) are all earlier than they had been, so whether this affect what goes on at these meetings remain to be seen (I’m not going to even get into the frightfest that is the Winter Meetings yet). However, the more I read all these rumors about who the Tigers might be interested, the less enamored I am of available candidates (with the obvious exception of Magglio Ordoñez). It’s like getting a bunch of money, then arriving at the store and discovering that there’s really nothing you want to buy. I’ve gotten fairly adept at recognizing the weak points of anyone the Tigers have been rumored to be interested in. The name that’s popped up most often is Victor Martinez. He’s a good hitter, but he’s a terrible catcher. I suppose he’d make for a decent enough DH (And yes, I have heard the argument that he’s more valuable as a catcher than as a DH because his offensive numbers look better when compared to the average catcher than the average DH, but I personally don’t care what position the offense comes from as long as it comes from somewhere, though when it comes to catchers, I place a very heavy emphasis on defense; besides, Victor Martinez would provide more offense at DH than most of the Tigers’ DHs have given in the past several years). Obviously, the Tigers aren’t publicly saying what they would do with him if they do sign him, but the most commonly held belief is that they would have him DH against right-handed starting pitchers (with Alex Avila catching) and catch against left-handed starters. I send condolences to any of the Tigers’ starting pitchers who have to oppose a lefty (especially since at least three members of the starting rotation will be right-handed), but I suppose it’s preferable to the other way around. However, if Alex Avila is destined to be the Tigers’ catcher of the future, he’s got to start against left-handed pitching at some point. As far as the other big bats the Tigers have been linked to (though more from a conjecture standpoint than any actual rumor), Adam Dunn’s defense is worse than Victor Martinez’s and he doesn’t want to DH, Jayson Werth is too streaky, and Carl Crawford is enticing at this moment, but he’s likely going to demand a contract length that takes him past his sell-by date.

The trade market is even less enticing. One of the more puzzling rumors is that the Tigers are interested in Dan Uggla. Uggla’s got some good power, but I don’t really think he’s that good a fit in Detroit at this time. First of all, the Tigers already have Will Rhymes, Scott Sizemore, and possibly Carlos Guillen jockeying for playing time at second base. Granted, Uggla could provide more offense than any of them, but it’d still be better to avoid such a traffic jam (although having a position already occupied has not stopped the Tigers in the past). Second, Uggla is not a good defender. The Tigers have already re-signed Jhonny Peralta to play shortstop, and I’d probably categorize is defense as slightly below average (even though he exceeded my expectations of him this year). Having Brandon Inge at third makes up for this somewhat, but I’d prefer to have a good defender at second to make up for it in the other direction (yes, that means I do prefer Will Rhymes over Scott Sizemore, but spring training should be a factor). Third, Uggla’s a year away from free agency. The Marlins are likely to ask for a lot (supposedly they’re after relief pitching), and the price is probably too high for just a one-year rental, especially since I don’t think the Tigers are going to fill all their holes in one offseason. And I have a feeling that extending him would be unwise.

My final note for today is that Austin Jackson has placed second in the Rookie of the Year voting. The reason that this note is buried is because I had started this post with the intention of previewing the Rookie of the Year race. However, I expected the results to be announced sometime after four o’clock, so I was shocked when the announcement of Neftali Feliz was all over Twitter at about 1:30 (not necessarily shocked that he had won it, just shocked that it got announced so early). And yes, I know that it is now way past four o’clock, but as the results were posted before I finished, I lost the need to hurry this post. Anyways, I’m not sure I can be fair about this, because all I really saw of Feliz this year was when he pitched against the Tigers and then when he pitched in the postseason (which wasn’t much). He wasn’t that great against the Tigers. One of his three blown saves came against the Detroit (he proceeded to get the win in that game because Ryan Perry had a meltdown in the bottom of the inning). He also gave up two home runs later in the same series. Even in the appearances in which he pitched scoreless, it didn’t seem like the Tigers were overmatched against him. In the postseason, he looked scared and he walked quite a few. I guess what I don’t really like is that he pitched 31 innings last year. The cutoff to retain rookie status is 45 innings, so he wasn’t exactly green. Austin Jackson hadn’t so much as seen one pitch in the majors before this year. I’m not as disdainful of saves as those who believe that anyone right down to the guy who plays the trumpet outside Comerica Park all the time should be able to get three outs in the ninth inning, but it just seems like Austin Jackson had more of an impact. And then when the voters talk about Feliz leading his team into the postseason, they’re being hypocritical, because they picked Andrew Bailey last year and he was on a last place team. However, what this does do is make it all but certain that Josh Hamilton will be named MVP. The assumption was that if Austin Jackson was Rookie of the Year, then Miguel Cabrera would have a chance at MVP because it would demonstrate that the voters were at least paying a little bit of attention to Detroit baseball this year. But it’s becoming clear that baseball awards are a lot like the Academy Awards (which I love watching; don’t get me wrong): The winners tend to be those who get the bigger buzz and more screen time, whether they’re the best ones or not.

Peralta's Staying + More Venezuelan Uneasiness

First off, a belated congratulations to the San Francisco Giants and their fans for the World Series win. They simply outpitched the Rangers and totally shut their big bats down. And they beat Cliff Lee twice. Meanwhile, the Rangers kind of looked like they had the yips, kind of like the Tigers did in 2006 and the Rays in 2008. And now, onto Tiger news...

Over the weekend, it became apparent that the Tigers have found themselves a shortstop for the time being. Jhonny Peralta has agreed to a deal that is for two years with a third-year option. Actually, the deal looks remarkably similar to the one Brandon Inge got a couple weeks ago (I’m not sure if the fact that they have the same agent has anything to do with that). The announcement has been met with a bunch of grumbling about how Peralta is Edgar Renteria Redux. I actually said as much when the Tigers first acquired him, but that never really manifested, and his defense wasn’t all that bad. Still, I would rather they had just picked up the option on his prior contract and try to upgrade the shortstop position next offseason. At the same time, there has to be a reason why Dave Dombrowski didn’t want to pick up that option, and he hasn’t said what that was. Therefore, there is currently not enough information available to make an educated opinion on this deal. But I do know that there was not a very good selection of shortstops on the free agent market this year, and right now I’m so gun-shy when it comes to trades that part of me doesn’t even want to fathom that as an option. Besides, I’m more concerned with other players, so I really don’t feel strongly towards this deal either way (positive or negative).

Speaking of which, a couple of articles appeared on Tigers.com that dealt with a couple guys I have concern for. As I pretty much expected, Armando Galarraga has been granted Super Two status for his arbitration years. Before I go on, I would like to point out that I know perfectly well what Super Two is, and I do not need to have it explained to me. What puzzles me is Jason Beck’s reaction to the whole thing. His tone in the article seemed to suggest that it changes everything in regards to how the Tigers would deal with Galarraga this year. I’m not sure why it would. After all, I fully expected him to be arbitration eligible this year (that stemmed from the fact that I overestimated his service time, not that I expected Super Two status). Beck even mentions in his own article that the Tigers fully expected him to be arbitration-eligible, so I’m not sure what the issue is. I find it hard to believe that having four arbitration years instead of three has any effect on the outcome of the first arbitration year. It’s not like all of a sudden they have to pay him ten million dollars next year just because he’s a Super Two. And as I said before, non-tendering him would be a foolish move, and Jason Beck seems to be the only one entertaining that as a serious possibility. Still, the article does nothing to instill confidence that he’ll remain with this team much longer.

While we’re on the subject of pessimistic news, we have another article telling us that it’s going to be very difficult to re-sign Magglio Ordoñez. Scott Boras is up to his old tricks, to no one’s surprise, telling everyone who stands still long enough that “lots of teams” have contacted him about Magglio. Boras is going to do what he does with all of his clients: get teams in a bidding war, get teams to bid against themselves, and make every team’s fans sick of the process. I am going out on a limb here, but I have noticed that one of Boras’s favorite tricks seems to be getting a player’s old team involved in the bidding process. He did it a couple years ago, trying to get the Texas Rangers involved while the Tigers were trying to negotiate re-signing Kenny Rogers (Rogers, to his credit, proceeded to fire Boras and represented himself). Therefore, it would not surprise me to see Boras trying to court the White Sox. I know there’s some bad blood between Maggs and Ozzie Guillen, but I’ll hearken back to my previous example and point out that Kenny Rogers was not on good terms with the Rangers when Boras tried to bring them into it. Plus, the White Sox are in need of an upgrade at DH, no matter what Ozzie says. But whatever he does, Boras is going to make sure this becomes a knockdown, dragged-out fight and we’re all going to hate it. Missing from this analysis is what Magglio thinks of all this. Near the end of the season, Miguel Cabrera told reporters that Magglio told him he wanted to return. Maggs himself echoed that sentiment to a Venezuelan reporter about a month ago, but it remains to be seen who is more in control in this player-agent relationship. It also remains to be seen just how long Dave Dombrowski will put up with Scott Boras’s antics. The Tigers have been pretty good at dealing with Boras in the past (re: Pudge, Maggs, Rogers, and most recently Johnny Damon), which is probably the only good sign in this saga, but with a big bat being their most pressing need, if they tango with Boras too long and lose out on Maggs, the alternatives may already be gone. And people wonder why I’m developing a serious distaste for the offseason.

Random Thoughts

Sorry for not blogging much recently, but I’ve had a ton of exams and I don’t have much to say anyways. There’s no point in discussing Hot Stove stuff unless something happens, because all you need to do to guess my opinion of a particular rumor is to read my offseason preview. I believe I was thorough enough in that regard. However, there are a few odds and ends I can discuss.

First of all, Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity featured a Tiger sighting (although I did not find out about this until later and luckily my mom recorded it on her DVR so I was able to watch it eventually; what’s funny is that the segment immediately preceding this featured a shot of a guy wearing a Tigers hat). Armando Galarraga was presented with a “Medal of Reasonableness” for his actions following the blown call in his perfect game. He wasn’t actually at the rally because he’s apparently gone back home to Venezuela, but they did show a taped acceptance speech from him (which looked like it was filmed in his kitchen, because there was a refrigerator in the background). Unfortunately, there is no video clip of this either on Comedy Central’s website or on Youtube, so if you missed it, you’re kind of stuck. Live or taped, though, it was nice seeing him again, even if my mom kept making fun of the way he said “umpire.”

Secondly, the “big” awards from the BBWAA are still yet to come, but some others have been streaming in. Austin Jackson has been duly recognized as Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News and by the MLB player voting. Miguel Cabrera hasn’t been as fortunate. In fact, he’s yet to win anything. The Sporting News gave their Outstanding Player award to Josh Hamilton, and the player vote (which does not give an award for each league) went to Carlos Gonzalez (who is one of my absolute favorite non-Tigers and I would love to see him in the Olde English D, but still). Carlos Gonzalez also won the Luis Aparicio Award, which is given to the top Venezuelan player in the majors each year (It’s voted on by Venezuelan baseball writers, it does not separate the leagues, and it can go to a pitcher). I’m starting to get the feeling that Venezuelans might not be all that enamored of Cabrera. I visited a website for a Venezuelan sports radio station (I’ve been listening to a little bit of winter ball via online streaming radio, although I’m not all that good at understanding spoken Spanish; I’ll understand words but not entire sentences; I am pretty good at reading Spanish, though). There was a poll on the homepage asking (in Spanish) who would win the Luis Aparicio Award, with three choices: Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Gonzalez, and Felix Hernandez. Carlos Gonzalez had about 60% of the vote, with King Felix second and Cabrera a very distant third. Then last night they announced the winners of the Hank Aaron Award, and the American League recipient was Jose Bautista. Now, I don’t expect Cabrera to come away from this season empty-handed. If he doesn’t win the Silver Slugger, there’s something really strange going on because no other first baseman put up anywhere close to the numbers he did. Joe Buck seems ready to hand the MVP award to Josh Hamilton, and that will probably happen, but I’d like to point out that Hamilton had a terrible April and he missed almost all of September. Therefore, the Rangers only got four good months out of him and they would have made the playoffs with or without Hamilton because the other three teams in their division really weren’t all that good. Robinson Cano is the only other candidate from a playoff team. The criteria that the BBWAA voters look for is something I haven’t figured out yet (likely because there are different voters each year). It seems like some years they prioritize raw numbers, others it’s how valuable he is to his team. I do wonder my MVP has playoffs as an important factor and yet Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award do not (Manager of the Year also has playoffs as a big factor, but that I understand). I wonder what would happen if someone put up absolutely monster numbers or even won the Triple Crown yet played for a team that was in last place for the entire season (it’s unlikely to happen, but it could if this hypothetical player’s team had really bad pitching or something).

As far as the World Series goes, the Texas Rangers seem to have gotten a case of first-time nerves like the Rays did a couple years ago. They are now on the brink and have to find a way to bounce back and get this series to a Game 7, partly because I want them to win and partly because the World Series is all that separates us from the big, scary offseason starting. There was some argument about how they should’ve started Cliff Lee on short rest last night, but really, that argument is pretty pointless when the offense doesn’t score any runs. I kept having flashbacks to Anthony Reyes in Game 1 of the 2006 World Series last night (although Madison Bumgardner appears to have far more upside than Reyes). They do have Cliff Lee going tonight, although he got lit up in his last start. Tim Lincecum wasn’t lights-out, either. I can’t imagine that both of them are going to give up as many runs as they did for two starts in a row, but who knows? As a side note, I missed where Pudge caught Nolan Ryan's first pitch the other night, but I did see a picture of him later. I wasn't expecting him to be there, because technically he is still a Washington National (though it would not surprise me to see him get traded in the offseason), but I guess he's so beloved by Rangers fans that it seemed right for him to be there. And I'm certainly not going to question it.