Catching Up

I’ve got a couple of bits of old news (as in, from just before Christmas) to catch up on. Unfortunately, it’s been so long that I don’t have proper links anymore, so you’ll have to bear with me, but let’s get to it:

First up is news out of Venezuela that Miguel Cabrera will not be playing winter ball because he is still rehabbing the ankle he sprained during the last week of the season (I verified this story myself with Venezuelan sportscaster Marfa Mata on Twitter; she works with the Tigres de Aragua and is therefore a good source of information on Cabrera). The fact that he won’t be playing winter ball is a bit disappointing, but I wasn’t really expecting him to. The fact that he’s still rehabbing his ankle is a bit odd, considering the injury happened three months ago. However, because the injury happened right before the end of the season, we really weren’t given a clear picture as to the extent of the damage, so to speak (and the Tigers’ front office seems to be very stealthy and quiet about almost everything, be it player moves or injuries, which is both good and bad, I suppose). As I said at the time, high ankle sprains cover a very wide range of severity, so if all you have to go on is the fact that it is a high ankle sprain, you don’t have much to base your assessment on (although they do tend to be more severe than regular ankle sprains). I’ve seen guys miss anywhere from a month to the entire season with high ankle sprains. However, as I am not a physical therapist, I will not speculate as to his readiness for spring training (which is, after all, still about six weeks away).

The second piece of information is that they announced the winners of the This Year in Baseball Awards (which seem to have been rechristened as “GIBBYs”) on MLB Network. If you’ll recall, the Tigers had nominees in three categories: Miguel Cabrera for Player of the Year, Austin Jackson for Rookie of the Year, and Armando Galarraga for Performance of the Year (Yes, Joaquin Benoit was nominated for, and won, Setup Man of the Year, but since he did that with the Rays, I’m not counting it). Now, Player of the Year ended up going to Josh Hamilton and Rookie of the Year went to Buster Posey, and I really don’t have a problem with that because both of them are worthy candidates. What I don’t like is that Cabrera and Jackson weren’t even in the top three in their respective results. However, the Tigers did get a top spot out of the awards, because Galarraga won Performance of the Year by a rather large margin over Roy Halladay and Dallas Braden (Don’t feel too sorry for them; Braden won Moment of the Year and Halladay won Pitcher of the Year), so congratulations goes out to him.

Fun with the 2010 MLB.com Holiday Catalog

It’s a little late this year, but it’s here. It’s my annual post where I poke good-natured fun at some of the stranger items found in the MLB.com Holiday Catalog. As usual, I’ve included a picture and link to the Tigers version of the item (if it exists), and some may be repeats from last year, but I get the feeling I’ve gained quite a few more readers since then, so either way, enjoy.

Team Sleeper Stocking Blanket: This is one of the ones that doesn’t come in a Tigers version (just Yankees, Phillies, and Red Sox). And seriously, the online picture doesn’t convey just how strange this item is. Online, it just looks like a stocking. In the catalog, it looks like a giant stocking-shaped Snuggie and the guy in the picture is wearing it.

Comfy Throw with Sleeves: Speaking of Snuggies…

Holiday Ornament: Okay, a lot of you (not me) are clamoring for the Tigers to sign a starting pitcher, any starting pitcher. Well, here you go. I present to you lefty Bob Gingerbreadman. I hear he’s got the edge on that fifth starter spot.

Connect Four: If you get the Tigers version of this game, that’s all you get is Tigers logos on each chip. Other teams have “rivalry” versions, but this merely consists of Yankees-Red Sox and Mets-Phillies.

Holiday Santa: The item itself isn’t all that odd. It’s the fact that the catalog used the White Sox Santa (pictured above) as its example. And that one is almost entirely dressed in black, which makes Santa look like he’s the Prince of Darkness or something.

ProToast Toaster: Last but not least, this is my vote for strangest item in the catalog. Yes, it’s a toaster that burns the team logo onto your toast. This is truly the gift for the Tigers fan who has everything else (and I mean everything).

The 2010 DIBS Awards

The Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes (est. 2005) has come out with their year-end awards, but this year they’ve introduced some off-the-wall categories, because you know as well as I do that Justin Verlander is the team’s best pitcher, Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter, and Austin Jackson is the top rookie. And without further ado, here are the results:

Best On-Field Celebration: Jose Valverde (13 votes)
What Tiger fan doesn’t love the Big Potato’s dancing once he nails down a save? He’s certainly one of the biggest characters on the team, and he’s generated his share of enjoyment on the internet. “On-field celebration” made me think of walk-off home runs, so I gave Brandon Inge a second-place vote. Other Tigers who got first place votes were Inge, Joel Zumaya, and Armando Galarraga.

Best Hair, Facial or Otherwise: Phil Coke (10 votes)
Phil Coke certainly had an ever-morphing look, from mullet to normal to mohawk and back to normal. I thought the mullet was kind of fun, but the whole mohawk thing was completely stupid (not to mention unoriginal), so he did not get my vote (actually, to tell you the truth, I didn’t really think about mohawks when I was casting my votes; Coke never even entered my thought process). My first place vote went to Justin Verlander (mostly because of the facial hair, but he is a rather attractive specimen overall). I decided to have some fun with my second place vote and give it to Miguel Cabrera, because the jheri curl was the source of a lot of entertainment for me throughout the season (although I did consider giving my second place vote to either Armando Galarraga or Alex Avila, because both of them have hair that grows at an astonishingly fast rate, and this amuses me). In addition to my first-place vote for Verlander, Will Rhymes got three first-place votes, Magglio Ordoñez had two, and Johnny Damon and Joel Zumaya each got one.

Best Pitching Face: Justin Verlander (6 votes)
I think I was supposed to interpret this category as the pitcher with the most intimidating look. However, I could not get these guys’ mid-pitch expressions out of my head and I went for Justin Verlander because he looks the least weird in mid-pitch (in case you’re wondering, Armando Galarraga would definitely have been my vote for weirdest mid-pitch expressions, although Rick Porcello occasionally comes up with something strange). Still, when Verlander pitches his best, he’s got such a badass aura about him that no one can match. I gave Jose Valverde my second-place vote, because with all the dancing and getting pumped up over strikeouts, he can generate some amusing expressions. Valverde also got five first-place votes. Jeremy Bonderman and Max Scherzer each got three first-place votes, and Joel Zumaya had two.

Best Use of Social Media: Will Rhymes (17 votes)
Rhymes won this one handily, and if you don’t follow him on Twitter, you should. He’s definitely the most chatty of all the Tigers on Twitter, and what I really enjoyed was that he provided a bit of insight into facing certain pitchers during the postseason. My second place vote went to Robbie Weinhardt, although he hasn’t tweeted nearly as much recently. Weinhardt also had three first-place votes. The other Tiger on Twitter is Casper Wells, by the way. Those three need to get the rest of them online.

Biggest Surprise: Brennan Boesch (9 votes)
I understand the reasoning behind this choice. He kind of burst onto the scene in a big way and then fell from grace just as quickly. I didn’t vote for him because I was interpreting “surprise” in a strictly positive way. My vote went to Will Rhymes (and to tell you the truth, I don’t remember who my second-place vote went to). Rhymes got two first-place votes (including mine) and Austin Jackson got eight.

Best Value: Austin Jackson (11 votes)
He nearly hit .300 in his rookie season, he plays amazing defense, and he did a very nice job stepping into the role vacated by a very popular player in Curtis Granderson. And he makes league minimum right now. You could make the same argument for Max Scherzer, who got 4 votes (actually, I had Scherzer first and Jackson second, but I could easily flip them around. Miguel Cabrera had two (He’s paid $20 million but he’s worth every penny) and Brad Thomas had one (I assume someone was being facetious).

Most Valuable Tiger: Miguel Cabrera (Unanimous)
This one is a no-brainer, and Justin Verlander was the overwhelming vote for second place (including me).

2010-11 DIBS members

Kurt Mensching – Bless You Boys

Allison Hagen – Bless You Boys

Matt Wallace – Bless You Boys

David Tokarz – Bless You Boys

Al Beaton – Bless You Boys

James Schmehl – Mlive.com

Matt Sussman – Mlive.com

Ian Casselberry – Mlive.com and SB Nation Detroit

John Parent – Motor City Bengals

Matt Snyder – Motor City Bengals

Zac Snyder – Motor City Bengals

Chris Hannum – Motor City Bengals

Jennifer Cosey – Old English D

Scott Rogowski – DesigNate Robertson

Bill Ferris – Detroit Tigers Weblog and TigsTown

Austin Drake – Detroit Tigers Scorecard

Mike Rogers – Tigers by the Numbers and Bless You Boys

Greg Eno – Where Have You Gone, Johnny Grubb?

Samara Pearlstein – Roar of the Tigers

Lee Panas – Detroit Tigers Tales

Erin Saelzler – Tigers Amateur Analysis

Brian Borawski – TigerBlog

Mike McClary – The Daily Fungo

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).

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.

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.

Welcome Back Brandon and Postseason Thoughts

The big news coming out of Detroit yesterday was that the Tigers have re-signed Brandon Inge to a two-year, $11.5 million deal with an option for 2013. You guys should know me well enough by now to know that I am thrilled that I’ll be able to see Brandon Inge in the Olde English D for at least two more years. With the payroll flexibility that the Tigers have right now, it’s a reasonable contract. During the press conference, Dave Dombrowski really didn’t drop any new hints regarding offseason moves. He talked about the infield as a whole, and he seemed to imply that their next step is reaching an agreement with Jhonny Peralta. He also reiterated that at this point they are committed to having either Will Rhymes or Scott Sizemore (or possibly Carlos Guillen) at second base. And so I now know that three of my Top Five are safe. Now it’s time to continue fretting about the remaining two.

I’ve been keeping myself busy by watching the postseason. Currently, both the ALCS and the NLCS see the teams I’m rooting for up three games to two. However, I keep thinking of 2007, when a bunch of Indians fans in my Spanish class were bragging that their parents were buying them World Series tickets. A few days later, I walked into class to find them all sitting there looking shell-shocked. Of course, that was the Boston Red Sox, a team that can bring itself back from the brink like no other (they came back from a 3-1 deficit in 1986 and 2007, almost did that again in 2008, and came back from a 3-0 deficit in 2004). They’re annoying like that. I still feel like the Rangers have a good chance of advancing to the World Series, although it may take a Game 7 for them to do it. Cliff Lee is a pretty good equalizer. The Giants, on the other hand, may well have blown their chance when they didn’t seal the deal last night. They are stuck going back to Philadelphia, which is, in the words of Rod Allen, “a very hostile environment.” There are some ballparks where the fans just seem to be in attack mode moreso than others. Citizens Bank Park is one of those ballparks. Other examples are Fenway Park, U.S. Cellular Field, and Target Field to some extent (Of course, these are all just observations I have made watching them on TV; I have never been to any of these ballparks). I don’t sense this as much at Comerica Park. Tiger fans seem content with cheering for their own team (I have been told that Yankee Stadium is largely the same). Anyways, the Giants certainly have the starting pitching to pull it off, but their bullpen has been shaky and their offense isn’t very potent. Cody Ross has been red-hot and a good story. However, I watched a lot of him with the Marlins and I like him, but he is a streaky hitter. He could go cold at any time and if he does, someone else is going to have to heat up or the Giants won’t stand a chance. But in that series, I really think that the momentum has completely shifted to the Phillies and I can’t see how they won’t manage to pull off the comeback, which is unfortunate because I am tired of the Phillies winning all the time. Also, I am so glad that Carlos Ruiz does not play in the American League, because if he did, I guarantee you that he would be a Tiger killer extraordinaire.

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to talk to the Baseball Guru about several things (to review, he’s a former catcher, he’s a Yankees fan, he’s very old school, and he’s totally computer illiterate or I would definitely get him his own blog). This was during Game 2 of the ALCS and at the time, he seemed to honestly believe that the Rangers were the better team. We discussed the Rangers’ Game 1 bullpen meltdown, and he maintained that you’re never going to see something like that again. He agreed with every move that Ron Washington made in that inning (in terms of them being what he would do if he managed the Rangers, not in terms of them giving the Yankees an advantage). I get the feeling that he thinks Sabathia is overrated, but at the same time he thinks he’s a strong Cy Young candidate because of his win total (I know that’s gonna annoy some of you, but as I said, he’s old school; he keeps bringing up the fact that the one year that Nolan Ryan led the league in ERA, he had a losing record, and he still thinks that Felix Hernandez or Justin Verlander should have won the Cy Young last year and not Zack Greinke; with that in mind, I didn’t even bother bringing up King Felix as a candidate this year). He’s torn between Miguel Cabrera and Robinson Cano as his preference for MVP (because he honestly believes the Yankees would not have made the postseason without Cano because many of their other key hitters had down years), but his prediction is that Cano will win it because voters won’t like that Cabrera was not on a playoff team and Josh Hamilton missed the final month of the season. However, his pick for Rookie of the Year is Austin Jackson because he’s an everyday player and Neftali Feliz is a relief pitcher. On the NLCS, he picks the Phillies because of their pitching and their offense is built like an American League team (actually, with the Rays having been eliminated, I think he’s picking the Phillies to win it all).

One final note: This is nothing more than a glorified popularity contest, but if you’re interested, MLB.com has posted the nominees for the 2010 This Year in Baseball Awards. Three Tigers are up for awards. Miguel Cabrera is up for Hitter of the Year, Austin Jackson is up for Rookie of the Year, and Armando Galarraga is up for Performance of the Year. Go vote, if you have a chance.

Looking Ahead to the Offseason: Fasten Your Seatbelts

As I’ve said repeatedly, I’m not a fan of the offseason, and it seems every year I like it less and less. In free agent negotiations, someone always comes off looking bad. In trades, someone’s feelings get hurt. You get the idea. The worst part about it is simply not knowing what’s going to happen. And even if things work out, going through it is still rough. Take last year. The trade that sent Austin Jackson and Max Scherzer to Detroit worked out fabulously, but as a fan, it was very hard to say goodbye to a player like Curtis Granderson. And with many, many changes certain to be afoot for the Tigers, this will be a stressful five months indeed, and there are a couple of players I’m very fond of whom I might be forced to part with, and I’m not looking forward to that. But, to the business at hand, at the present time, Dave Dombrowski has said that the top priorities are finding an RBI man to help out Miguel Cabrera and bolstering the bullpen. With that, I’m going to take a position-by-position approach to this offseason preview, and as I warned last time, if you’ve even only half-paid attention to this blog, you already know a lot of what I’m going to say already, so forgive me for sounding repetitive.

Catcher
At the present time, it seems like the Tigers are ready for Alex Avila to take over as the starting catcher. His bat needs to perk up a little more for him to keep that job (and I still have no idea why there’s this notion that left-handed offense from a catcher is more valuable than left-handed offense from, say, an outfielder or a shortstop; people always tell me that it’s because it’s a position where you can only throw right-handed, but if you look all around the majors, there are plenty of first basemen and outfielders who bat left but throw right), but his defense has made major improvements, and I definitely approved of his caught stealing rate (because the last thing I want is someone like Brian McCann or Victor Martinez, who are only in their respective lineups for their bats and can’t throw the ball worth anything). In the meantime, we already know that Gerald Laird will not be re-signed. Now, back in 2008 when it was clear that the Tigers needed a catcher, Laird was my first choice among the realistically available catchers of that offseason, and I will maintain that that was a good trade. He was everything I could’ve hoped for defensively (I’m still annoyed that he didn’t win a Gold Glove last year). He just couldn’t get things going with the bat, and even though I think he hit into some bad luck this year (it seemed like every single game in the first half, he hit at least one lineout), he probably “should” not have hit much above .240. The time is probably right to bid farewell. To replace him, the Tigers are apparently looking to either sign or acquire a right-handed hitting veteran to either back up or platoon with Avila. Now, I have my own pipe dream about that, but it’s not gonna happen so I’m not even gonna get into it. Some of us online were discussing Bengie Molina the other night. He is a free agent, he’s a great thrower, he’s passable with the bat, and as an added bonus, he’s Puerto Rican. The downside to Molina is that he is The Slowest Man in the World (and yet somehow he hit for the cycle this year). I can’t really think of any other desirable candidates off the top of my head, but it goes without saying I’d prefer a free agent signing to a trade.

First Base
Unless Miguel Cabrera’s season-ending ankle sprain turns out worse than originally thought (last I heard was three week recovery time), this is absolutely not a concern.

Second Base
It’s possible that the Tigers might try to get someone for this, but they’ve got in-house candidates in Scott Sizemore and Will Rhymes. Sizemore’s put up the better minor league numbers, has more power, and most stat geeks are in his corner as being more likely to put up “sustainable” offensive numbers. Rhymes has become the fan favorite of the two, is a better defender, has more speed, and bats left-handed, so at this point, it’s a toss-up. Leyland has said he does not want to use Sizemore and Rhymes in a platoon, so at the moment it’s looking like a spring training competition. However, we’ve seen instances in the recent past where it looked as though the Tigers had two prospects for one position (or rotation/bullpen spot) headed to a spring training competition, only to see one of them traded at some point during the offseason. This could very well happen in this situation (and remember, they still have the switch-hitting Ramon Santiago as the backup infielder). Carlos Guillen’s name also gets stuck into the mix for second basemen, but he’s likely not going to be fully healthy when the season starts and Dave Dombrowski has said right now Guillen is a man without a position. It sounds as though the Tigers would like to somehow trade Guillen if they could, but his huge contract will probably prevent this from happening (I’m only advocating him staying because saying “I want the Mafia to stay intact” sounds more fair than “I’d like three of the Mafia members to stay and I don’t care about the fourth”).

Third Base
I like Brandon Inge very much and I did not want to see him go, and after a lot of uncertainty, it looks as though there’s a very good chance we’ll be seeing him in the Olde English D a bit longer. The Tigers want him back and Inge wants to stay, so it’d be shocking if they didn’t work something out. Inge is still a streaky hitter (Did you notice he was starting to get hot again right at the last couple games of the season?), but his defense is invaluable.

Shortstop
Back in late July, I never imagined I would find myself typing this, but keeping Jhonny Peralta around for another year might not be the worst thing in the world. Once Inge came off the DL and Peralta moved back to shortstop, I thought sure we’d spend two months watching Edgar Renteria Redux, but Peralta actually did a pretty good job. And his offense was acceptable, if a little bit streaky, Besides, this year’s shortstop free agent class leaves a lot to be desired, and the trade market isn’t much better. I know there are rumors floating around that the Diamondbacks offered Stephen Drew straight up for Rick Porcello around the Trade Deadline, but I don’t know how I would feel about that trade.

Outfield/DH
I’ve grouped those together because any DH the Tigers might bring in will likely (ostensibly) be an outfielder. Austin Jackson will be in center, we know that, and Johnny Damon will not be with the Tigers anymore. I like Johnny Damon. His low average with runners in scoring position was puzzling (and likely an aberration), but he did a good job at getting on base and he was well-liked in the clubhouse. However, I can’t really see where he would have a place on the team going forward. So that leaves us with an open DH and question marks at left and right. Of the Tigers in my Top Five, two are in very real danger of not being with the Tigers next year. One of them is Magglio Ordoñez. Now, there is mutual interest, and I would very much like Maggs back next year. There are a couple problems, though. One is that Dave Dombrowski has already said that he would prefer this hypothetical RBI/DH-type to be a left-handed hitter (though if Magglio’s ankle heals well, he should still be able to play right field at a reasonable level). The other problem is Scott Boras. He will drag negotiations out as long as he can. He will try to get other teams involved. He will try to get the Tigers to bid against themselves. Dave Dombrowski has been able to work with Boras in the past, but if these negotiations go on long enough and another opportunity presents itself, he may go that route instead. I hope that doesn’t happen. As far as that left-handed RBI man talk goes, a lot of media people think Dombrowski is hinting at Adam Dunn. Dunn profiles as a good DH, but I’m not sure he would want to. There are a lot of fans who would like the Tigers to go after Carl Crawford, but he is going to take an enormous contract (remember, in two years, the Tigers will already have two players on their roster making around $20 million a year; having three players account for $60 million of your payroll does not sound like a good idea) and he strikes me as more of a table-setter than an RBI guy. In-house, apparently Ryan Raburn has been promised more of a regular job next year (though I can’t find the original article/interview in which this was said). I’ve noticed something with Raburn. For the past three years, he’s started off the season very slowly and then had a hot second half. It might not be a bad idea to see if the Tigers could possibly sell high on Raburn, seeing as how good the end of his season was. In addition to Raburn, the Tigers have Brennan Boesch and Casper Wells. Boesch is probably gonna have to tear it up in spring training to avoid starting his season in Toledo. I’m not sure where Casper Wells fits in at this time. He hit pretty well in September, but the Tigers may see him as minor league depth for now. Of course, there is also the possibility that one or both will be traded.

Rotation
This is the part where I ramble a lot. The three locks are Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Rick Porcello. Verlander and Scherzer speak for themselves and don’t require any further discussion. Porcello will be in the rotation as long as he doesn’t get traded (which is a possibility, although for now I feel as if it’s a remote one). On the final day of the season, Jim Leyland announced that Phil Coke will be the fourth starter. I grant that the Tigers know more about their pitching staff than I do, but when you say you’ve made it your priority to improve the bullpen, is it really the best idea to take the guy who was your best reliever and stick him in the rotation? I’m all in favor of having a lefty replace Jeremy Bonderman, and perhaps the Tigers feel as though they won’t be able to find a suitable lefty on the free agent or trade markets (since they’ve already said they won’t be pursuing Cliff Lee and it looks as though Ted Lilly will return to the Dodgers). However, we’ve heard promises like this from the Tigers before. Remember April of 2008, when Miguel Cabrera was “only” going to play one game at first base and there was nothing else to read into it? Or when it looked like their starting catcher for 2009 would be Dusty Ryan? Or when Carlos Guillen was “definitely” their left fielder and the Tigers were “fully prepared to rely on” Joel Zumaya as their closer? How’d those turn out? I’m not saying the Tigers were wrong to break any of those assertions (as a matter of fact, in most cases breaking the promise turned out to be the better move). But it’s safe to say that something the Tigers have said about next year will turn out to fall by the wayside (be it Phil Coke as a starter, Raburn getting more playing time, or Alex Avila being the starting catcher). But I’ll count him in as the fourth starter until something happens to change that. That leaves the fifth starter, and you already know what I’m going to say about that. I really want it to be Armando Galarraga, but I think he’s going to be traded (it would not surprise me to see the Tigers aggressively shopping him, as a matter of fact). Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski at least had the decency to pay him some lip service on the last day of the season. Actually, if you just looked at the quotes themselves, you’d think as it stands right now, Galarraga would be the frontrunner. Leyland’s quote was to the news media and was something to the effect of “If Galarraga pitches the way he’s capable of, he’ll have a real good shot,” but I don’t know what the original question was, so it’s unclear if he was prompted to say that or not. Dave Dombrowski’s comments came during his in-game interview with Fox Sports Detroit, so I can tell you for sure that he brought up Galarraga’s name on his own without being prompted. His comments were basically the same as Leyland’s, albeit a bit more encouraging, if anything. However, in his offseason preview which was posted on Tigers.com a few days later, Jason Beck seemed to hint that the Tigers considered Andy Oliver to be the frontrunner with Charles Furbush as a dark horse candidate and the only mention of Galarraga was to say that the Tigers “might have to make a decision” on him (if that doesn’t sound ominous, I don’t know what does). For all the talk about Galarraga being inconsistent, in most of his starts, he went between five and seven innings and gave up between two and four runs, which in most cases is at least giving your team a chance to win. Now, if in the course of the offseason, the Tigers have met their other needs (namely, offense and bullpen) and they have an opportunity to make a clear upgrade (either through free agency or trade), then yes, they should go that route. I may be carrying around inexplicable emotional attachments to players, but the well-being of the team is still my top priority, same as anyone else’s (although there have been times where I have been tempted to waver). If that happens, I will most definitely go through a long and arduous grieving process, but I’ll understand the move. However, notice that I phrased it as “CLEAR upgrade.” A gamble on a formerly dominant pitcher coming off an injury or a bad year is NOT a clear upgrade. A formerly so-so pitcher who is coming off a very good year is NOT a clear upgrade. An aging veteran is NOT a clear upgrade. Andy Oliver is NOT a clear upgrade, at least, not at this time. He’s got good stuff, but can you honestly say he couldn’t benefit from a full year in Toledo? The same argument could go for Charles Furbush or another team’s super-prospect. Plus, I always hear about how spring training is a horrible time to evaluate anyone, and I’m starting to believe that’s the case. We’ve seen guys dominate in spring training only to crash and burn once the season starts, and if Justin Verlander’s rotation spot depended on his spring training performance, he’d have started each of the last two seasons in the minor leagues. Let me put it another way: If you start the 2011 season with Galarraga in the rotation and something goes wrong or there’s an injury, Andy Oliver will be right there in Toledo, ready and waiting. But if you go with Oliver and lose Galarraga and it turns out that Oliver was, in fact, not ready for the bigs, then you’re stuck (and don’t even think of suggesting Alfredo Figaro). But as I said, I think Galarraga will be traded long before spring training even starts, so this whole argument will probably turn out to be moot. But for God’s sake, PLEASE don’t trade him for a reliever.

Bullpen
Along with offense, Dave Dombrowski has stressed this area as a priority, although I’d prefer they focus on the free agent market as opposed to trades because I’d hate to see anyone traded for a reliever unless it’s another reliever (or Alfredo Figaro). We know that Valverde’s still the closer. Most blogs that I’ve read blame his second-half struggles on being used too much in the first half (although a lot of the struggles themselves are limited to late July and August; granted, he spent a good chunk of September battling injuries). I’d say there’s a reasonably good chance he bounces back, because his second-half numbers this year did not match his career second-half splits (which were typically better than his first-half numbers). Ryan Perry projects to be the primary setup man, although he had stretches where he looked ineffective. With Phil Coke moving to the rotation, the job of primary lefty falls to Daniel Schlereth at present, but this is a spot the Tigers may look to upgrade. The most notable lefty relievers on the free agent market are Scott Downs, Will Ohman, and Joe Beimel. Downs is the most effective, but he’s a Type A free agent and the Blue Jays will likely offer him arbitration. On the righty side of the ledger, there are a bunch of fans who would just as soon throw Joel Zumaya overboard. I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Zumaya can be a very dominant pitcher when he’s healthy and throwing strikes. HOWEVER, there needs to be backup plan already in place when the season starts, because they can’t keep getting caught off-guard whenever Zumaya injures himself. To that end, that probably means signing another right-handed late-inning reliever. Some of them coming off good years include Grant Balfour, Jesse Crain, Jon Rauch, Joaquin Benoit and J.J. Putz (although Balfour is a Type A, so proceed with caution there). Under no circumstances should Kyle Farnsworth even be considered.

I’m not going to get into stuff about arbitration and the Rule 5 Draft or anything like that, because those things really don’t interest me (although I obviously wouldn’t complain if the Tigers got more draft picks). Obviously, once the Tigers start making moves, I’ll be weighing in (or venting, depending on what it is). I hope you guys enjoy watching the ALCS and NLCS over the next few days. I’ll be rooting for the Rangers and Giants.

A Blast From the Past

I'm still working on the offseason preview, but in the meantime, a few posts ago, I made some offhand comment about finding a tape with Armando Galarraga doing the Tigers lineup before a game. Someone expressed a desire to see it, so I encoded and uploaded it. I don't have the greatest VCR/encoding software ever. The video quality starts out not-so-great and gets progressively worse, and the sound goes out of sync right at the end, but the sound quality itself is good enough. Also, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this video up before MLB gets wind of it and pulls it, so get your viewing in quickly. 

 

The 2010 Season Review

And so the prognosticators got it right, but only the end result. The Tigers finished their season at .500 exactly, but I don’t think those people who predicted that would have expected the long and winding road that got them there (so basically, they were right for the wrong reasons). This was one roller coaster of a season. There were magical moments of euphoria, and there were times we were thrown into the ultimate depths of despair. And at the same time, it felt like this season absolutely flew by. All this brings about a real random jumbling of thoughts, but I will attempt to organize them here.

In my season preview, I wrote that the theme of the season could be “Redemption.” In some ways, that was fulfilled, and in other ways it wasn’t. The Tigers as a team certainly didn’t make up for being passed by the Twins at the wire last year. But on a personal level, Miguel Cabrera certainly more than redeemed himself to the fanbase. He did not have a good ending to his 2009 season, to say the least, and I know for a fact that there was a lot of lashing out at him by the fans. But whether it was the bad press or the loss in game 163, Miguel realized he had a problem and he got help for it. And with those demons seemingly behind him, he had himself one hell of a year, one which unfortunately ended six games too soon. With the exception of a few trolls on MLive and Facebook, he’s earned the respect and love of Tiger fans everywhere (and thank goodness Facebook changed their display so that I no longer have to read those moronic comments). Now it’s up to the voters to acknowledge that. Obviously Cabrera’s big hurdle is that the Tigers fell out of the playoff picture by late August (although I’d like to point out that Josh Hamilton had a horrible April and missed almost all of September and the Rangers still made the postseason easily). I really don’t think that the postseason should play a factor in MVP, just as I think offense should not be a factor in Gold Glove selections, but such is the case with subjective voting. The last time a player in a non-playoff team won the AL MVP was in 2003. It’s happened more recently in the NL. Albert Pujols won MVP in 2008, a year the Cardinals finished in third place, so there is historic precedent, just not a lot of it. But MVP or no, it was a lot of fun to watch Cabrera this season. There were a couple games in which he came to bat in the ninth inning when the Tigers were trailing, and I just knew he’d tie the game. The two specific instances I remember were a game against the Angels and another one against the Orioles. Obviously, those instances dwindled once injuries claimed the other big hitters in the lineup, and he had somewhat of a slow September, but it was still a great season for him.

It’s a pity that injuries took out so many of the key Tigers all at once. You can extrapolate and spit out all the numbers you want, but the reality of the situation is that you don’t know what would have happened. Still, the trouble started right out of the All-Star Break, when they were swept in a four-game series in Cleveland, and this was before anyone major got hurt. Whether they would have been able to turn things around with Magglio and Guillen will forever remain unknown (plus, you don’t know if Dave Dombrowski would have been more aggressive in a Trade Deadline deal if those two were healthy). Obviously, July 24^th was a real low point in the season (and a really bizarre point for me, because I subliminally predicted that something bad would happen in that game). Getting no-hit a couple days later was even less fun. Throughout that whole bad stretch, I sensed a lot of fight in the team. There were a lot of close games and one-run losses, but they just kept coming up short. Maybe they were overachieving in the first half, but I don’t think they were as bad as they sometimes looked in the second half. Sure enough, things did finally even out and they did play pretty well in September up until the last road trip.

You can’t discuss 2010 without mentioning what at times seemed like a thousand different rookies playing for the Tigers. I’ve spent the past several days sorting through what seems like hundreds of unlabeled videotapes, many of which are games from the 2008 season (It may have sucked as a season, but damn, there were a lot of guys on that team I liked; by the way, I will probably have a post later on some of the more amusing moments I saw on those tapes). Watching those tapes, the thought crossed my mind that it’s amazing how quickly the Tigers have gone from being one of the oldest teams in baseball to being one of the youngest. However, they have a strong Rookie of the Year candidate in Austin Jackson, who unfortunately couldn’t quite finish his season over .300, but was impressive nonetheless. And as good as his offense was, his defense was even better. Brennan Boesch had a good first half and then just fell off the map in the second half. I knew he would have to regress a little bit, but I don’t think he was supposed to drop THAT much. And then there was the parade of rookies including Casper Wells, Robbie Weinhardt, and Will Rhymes, all of whom have become fan favorites (I don’t suppose the fact that they’re all on Twitter hurts the matter).

On a personal level, it was quite a season for me. I got to go to Comerica Park three times, and saw three really good games. I also went to three Mud Hens games (though none of those went as well; the Hens lost all three of those games). Between the Tigers and Mud Hens, I saw four out of the five pitchers in the Tigers’ starting rotation (the only one I did not see was Bonderman, which I’m not too sad about). And thanks to those Mud Hens games, I got to meet several players, including Robbie Weinhardt, Casper Wells, and Rick Porcello. I had a question answered by Armando Galarraga in an online chat. My Venezuelan Mafia picture was seen by Magglio Ordoñez. Perhaps my biggest nerd moment of the season was when Miguel Cabrera came down with a kidney infection. I knew with about 95% certainty what his treatment regimen would be. One thing I do regret (a lot, actually) is that I didn’t go to any Mud Hens games in April or early May (the reason for why I regret that should be obvious).

But of course, the moment that will resonate the longest will be Armando Galarraga’s 28-out perfect game and the blown call heard ‘round the world. So many facets of that make it an incredible story. This is a pitcher that very few fans believed in, so the feat in and of itself is quite an accomplishment. And I hope one day it will be counted officially as a perfect game. But he created such a moment of class and sportsmanship out of it, a moment that took him above perfect games and blown calls and all that sort of thing. There was such a huge outpouring of love for him in the following days. It was incredible to watch. I know things didn’t go the way he wanted to after that. He spent most of the rest of the season frustrated, for a variety of reasons. First he had some problems with thinking too much on the mound, then he rattled off about six really good starts in a row but only won one of them due to lack of run support or bullpen meltdowns, and then he had three terrible starts in a row (one of which I would consider to be my personal low point of the season, just because of the way I reacted to it). I think that final start was very important for him from an individual perspective. He may have taken the loss, but he was tremendous, and his postgame interview would seem to suggest he finally found peace with himself. We’ll probably never see him again in the Olde English D, but he’s given us a story that will not soon be forgotten (unless you’re the MLB ad person in charge of “Year of the Pitcher” commercials).

That just about does it for the season review. Coming soon: The offseason preview, although if you’ve been paying even the slightest bit of attention, you’ll know most of what I’m going to say.

Where Will I Be? Back Where I Started

Photo: AP

This is probably the first time I've quoted the same song for two different things in the same season. After all the ups and downs that this roller coaster of a season brought us, the Tigers end the way they began: .500. Apparently, it’s only the second time in their history that they finished at exactly .500 (I think the other time was 1958, but I’m too lazy to look it up right now). And what’s more, their home record (52-29) was exactly the inverse of their road record (29-52). This was a bizarre game because I’m not sure what all I’m supposed to glean from it. There was lots of news concerning 2011, but I should probably wait until I write my offseason preview to get into those tidbits in detail. But one piece of news is that Leyland (for now) wants Phil Coke in the starting rotation next year. He was shaky yesterday, although at this point I’m not going to interpret that as anything other than a bad outing. But the pleasant surprise was that he was the only guy out of the bullpen to be shaky. Everyone else did a nice job. Daniel Schlereth had a really nice-looking curveball going for him. As I expected, it felt like a spring training game with all the pitchers, but having Jose Valverde in the ninth restored some normalcy, although it looks like he now spins on the mound in addition to dancing. And there could not be a better end to this season than to have Brandon Inge make a highlight-reel diving catch to end the game.

Speaking of Brandon Inge, one of the announcements made yesterday is that the Tigers want him back. They’ve made him a multi-year offer (I heard somewhere that it was a two-year deal, but I haven’t seen that anywhere else to confirm), and knowing how much Inge loves it in Detroit, I find it hard to imagine that the two sides won’t come to an agreement. In fact, on the Tigers.com article, Inge talked almost as if he’d already signed the contract. And in addition to the great catch that ended the game, he hit a two-run home run that tied the game at that point. While Inge now seems all but certain to return, Johnny Damon has played his final game as a Tiger. However, before he departed, he hit an RBI single to give the Tigers the lead for good. It was also a good day for Will Rhymes, who had two doubles.

Normally, this paragraph is where I’d preview the next game, but sadly, the next game is not until March 31^st of 2011. I’d say there’s a good chance that the starting pitchers will be Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia (Again! That’s gotta be about the tenth time those two have matched up), but it’s such a long way off. Hopefully within the next week I’ll have a season review and an offseason preview for you (although if you have been paying any attention at all, you’ll already know about 90% of what I’m going to say in the offseason preview). I won’t be posting every day, but I’ll try to check in two or three times a week. And in the meantime, I’ll chime in on the postseason if I feel like I have something substantial to say about it. Out of the eight teams that made it in, I’ll be rooting the most for the Rangers and the Rays (who unfortunately are playing each other in the first round, so one of them won’t last very long). The only AL team I’d like to see eliminated swiftly is the Twins, and given the fact that I was born without the Yankee-hater gene, I have no problem wishing them to beat Minnesota (although my dad apparently promised the Baseball Guru that both he and I would root for the Yankees because the Tigers didn’t make it in). The NL doesn’t really have any team I’m all that enthusiastic for. I’m sick of the Phillies winning all the time. I don’t have a strong feeling for the Braves, but I used to absolutely despise them when I was a kid. I don’t really care for the Giants all that much. The Reds are okay, I guess. Living in Ohio, there are a few Reds fans around here (though they’re badly outnumbered by Tigers and Indians fans). But any baseball is better than no baseball at all. And it’s certainly better than Hell’s Hot Stove (Have you learned by now that I don’t care much for the offseason and the deals and signings that go with it?).

I Just Hope This Isn't Goodbye

Obviously, neither of these options is anywhere near ideal, but if I had a choice of only these two (both difficult) outcomes, I’d rather Armando Galarraga’s final Tigers appearance be a tough-luck loss than a game in which they had to nurse him through five innings to get him the win (unless, of course, there was a playoff spot on the line or something, but there isn’t, so that caveat is moot). I mentioned all the ways in which the odds were stacked against him for this start, and just about none of that mattered. Galarraga was absolutely brilliant. He looked like the Galarraga of 2008, pitching-wise. He showed the type of pitcher he can be if he trusts his stuff. And his stuff was excellent. He was throwing strikes and pitching efficiently, enough to give him another complete game. Unfortunately, it was a complete game loss and he deserved better (as Jason Beck has pointed out, that could be the theme of his season), and he got bitten by the home run-friendly nature of Camden Yards (I didn’t get the distance on Nick Markakis’s home run, so I’m not sure if that’s out at Comerica Park or not). Still, only giving up two runs on three hits and one walk with seven strikeouts in a complete game is nothing to be ashamed of at all. I was worried he’d be hung up over the fact that he couldn’t get a win out of it, but he seemed to be taking a positive spin on things in his postgame interview. But was it his last postgame interview as a Tiger? I am still very much inclined to say yes (and even the Baseball Guru now thinks he’s going to be traded). This brilliant outing probably increased his trade value more than his rotation chances (and don’t worry, I’ll save the sappy eulogy for when the end actually comes). I dearly hope I’m wrong, because I’m not ready for the end just yet.

I’m not sure why I’m devoting a paragraph to offense, because there wasn’t much. Brandon Inge homered (and my sentiments about Galarraga can parallel with Inge; I hope that wasn’t his last postgame interview as a Tiger, either). That was pretty much it. Ryan Raburn had the other two hits in the game. The Orioles made a couple of highlight-reel defensive plays to snuff out a potential rally in the eighth. And that’s all I can say about the offense, cuz they just struck out the rest of the time. It’s a shame Max St. Pierre didn’t get more chances with his call-up, but I think he did a terrific job handling Galarraga last night. I have to give him thumbs up on that (He caught Galarraga while both of them were in Toledo at the beginning of the season, and Galarraga put up good numbers there, so maybe there’s something to that).

The Tigers need to win today to have a .500 season. This season has totally flown by. It seems like only yesterday that we were watching with wide-eyed optimism as Austin Jackson stepped in against Zack Greinke for the first pitch of the season. And it’s going to end with a bullpen day. Phil Coke will officially get the start, and fans are trying to read all sorts of things into that. I’m not sure why there’s this big obsession over him possibly starting next year. For right now, Leyland says not to read anything into it and that Coke will only go about three innings at most. There’s no point in me previewing the Tigers’ pitching beyond that because it’s just going to look like a spring training game. The Orioles will start Brad Bergesen, who pitched very well in September before finally getting knocked around in his last start against the Rays. The Tigers beat him back in July, but that was with help from hitters they don’t have anymore. This game may be the final time we see Brandon Inge and who knows how many others in a Tigers uniform. So I find it fitting to use this song as the final Mood Music of the season.

Fumes

It seems like the team is running out of gas before the season actually ends. Jeremy Bonderman just totally fell apart. He was having issues with walks early, but got double play balls to get himself out of trouble. But a combination of poor command and not a lot of movement on the pitches finally caught up to him in the fourth. After a bunt single to start the inning, the Orioles hit a lot of balls hard. And a lot of those hits went for extra bases. Rick Porcello only gave up one extra-base hit, but it was enough to seal his fate. He also gave up eleven singles, which seems excessive, but he did have the double play ball working. It was a respectable final start, but he didn’t get any run support. In both games, the bullpen did a decent job with the exception of Alfredo Figaro, who was the only reliever to give up a run.

The offense just could not get anything going against the Orioles’ starting pitchers. Don Kelly was pretty much the only one with consistently good swings. He hit a home run in each game, and was the only Tiger to homer. They did put some runs up on the board against the Orioles bullpen in the first game, but they needed one more big hit to make things interesting, and they didn’t get it.

The Tigers need to win one of these last two games to finish the season at .500, and both to secure a winning record (there are some that would rather have the Tigers lose both games in order to protect their draft pick, but I’m not one of them). Lefty Brian Matusz will start for the Orioles, and he’s had a very good second half. He hasn’t had a bad start since mid-August, and he beat the Tigers in a game last year. No one’s seen him more than six times (and that’s Jhonny Peralta, who is 1-for-5 with a walk). Meanwhile, I’m continuing a trend I started a couple weeks ago and saying that I am just about certain that tonight will be the last time we see Armando Galarraga on the mound in a Tigers uniform. A lot of you may be happy about that, but I am not. There’s a little bit of writing on the wall to be had. I haven’t seen a single interview with either Jim Leyland or Dave Dombrowski where he’s mentioned as a candidate for the rotation. When Rod and Mario have discussed the two open rotation spots for next year, they’ve talked about Phil Coke, Andy Oliver, Jacob Turner, and even Alfredo Figaro, but not Galarraga (although I did see where he got roped into being the guest of honor on that Tigers promotional cruise that they do every winter). I would love for him to go out on a high note, but it seems like the odds are stacked against him. Camden Yards is very home run-friendly, he’s prone to giving up home runs, there’s a couple of Orioles who have hit multiple home runs off him, he hasn’t figured out what the problem was in his last start, and he’s never pitched well in Baltimore. Still, if he could overcome those issues somehow, it’d be great, for old time’s sake, so to speak. I was sorting through old video tapes and I came across a start of his against the Angels in 2008. It was a very good one. He got very close to a complete game shutout and had one out in the ninth inning before a two-run homer chased him. It was also somewhat humorous, because I only watched a little bit of it, but I suddenly realized that the home plate umpire was Jim Joyce, resulting in a “little did they know” moment. It’s also amazing how different Galarraga looked back then, appearance-wise. It’s nothing that I can put my finger on. He just looked different. I did notice from watching the tape that he seemed calmer and his mechanical delivery looked a little slower back then. I’m not sure if that’s an adjustment that needs to be made, and I’m not a pitching coach (nowhere near), but if I picked up on it, then they had to have, right? On a lighter note, I found another tape of a Fox game where Justin Verlander started (not well) and Galarraga did the lineup, and he was hilarious. He had a nickname for just about everyone in the lineup (another bizarre thing was that Miguel Cabrera was batting sixth in this particular game). It was funny to watch and kind of heartbreaking at the same time, because as I said before, I’m not ready for him to depart just yet. I know he doesn’t have the win totals he wanted, but with the way the Tigers’ offense is struggling right now, he can’t think about wins or run support or trying to throw a shutout. He just needs to do the best that he can, not overthink, not get picky with the strike zone, etc. The other four members of the rotation are all going into the offseason with bad feelings. I don’t want him to make it a complete set of five. Your Mood Music for tonight: I wanted to give kind of a swan song for Galarraga, and I decided to go the Broadway route, although this particular rendition of “The Impossible Dream” is in Spanish. I believe the singer is from Spain, not Latin America, however. But the dude can sing.

Limping Out of Cleveland

That wasn’t exactly how I wanted our top two pitchers to end their seasons. Max Scherzer didn’t have very good command. He had quite a few three-ball counts and threw a lot of pitches in five innings. Travis Hafner certainly proved in this series that he could hit hanging changeups. He homered off both Galarraga and Scherzer, both of whom threw him a hanging changeup, and if he’d been in the lineup for the night game and Verlander had thrown him a hanging changeup, he’d have homered off that too (as it was, Verlander threw a hanging changeup to Jayson Nix, who hit an RBI single off it). On a side note, the fifth inning was a problem for all three starting pitchers in this series. Anyways, Jim Leyland said that Scherzer was rusty because he was pitching on eight days’ rest. There’s no way to test that theory, because the next time we see Scherzer (other than in the background of a shot of the dugout), it’ll be spring training, so we’ll have to take his word for it. Meanwhile, Justin Verlander had good stuff, but the mistakes he made were capitalized on and he got outdone by the suicide squeeze. I’m not sure how. The Tigers sniffed out the squeeze, Laird got out of his crouch, Verlander threw a 97 MPH fastball that was nearly over Trevor Crowe’s head and Crowe was still able to get the bunt down. However, Verlander did leave me with some good memories of his seventh inning. With the bases loaded, he struck out Crowe and Choo rather impressively. His last seven pitches were all at 100 MPH or higher. As he said, no sense in leaving anything in the tank (and by the way, it’s moot now, but had Verlander won, Leyland said he would have indeed considered letting him start Sunday on short rest, but that won’t happen now).

There was not much to speak of in terms of offense, and maybe the absence of Miguel Cabrera had something to do with that, but the others have shown that they can score runs and win games without him in the lineup (they can’t do that for a sustained period of time, of course, but they could certainly do it sufficiently for a week-long stretch or so). Ryan Raburn did a nice job in the cleanup spot, going 4-for-8 with an opposite field 2-run home run, but obviously he is nowhere near anyone’s first choice for an ideal cleanup hitter. Cabrera’s not even with the team anymore. He apparently got sent home early yesterday afternoon, and that makes sense. There’s no point in him traveling around with the team right now. But without him, it seems like the team’s soul is gone. I’m just not sensing a lot of passion or fire from the other guys. Still, life has to go on. I did notice there were a lot of instances in the series where the Tigers ran themselves out of innings, oddly enough. There was that botched hit and run in the first game of the series, then yesterday there was a line drive double play with the runner going, as well as a couple of caught stealings. They did hit the ball harder against Josh Tomlin than they did against Mitch Talbot, but they didn’t do anything against the Indians’ bullpen.

The Tigers’ final series of the year will have to wait, as game one of the series in Baltimore has already been rained out thanks to the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole. They will play yet another straight doubleheader tomorrow (personally, I don’t care what gets played when so long as I get to see Galarraga’s start). Jeremy Bonderman will start the first game. It could well be his final start as a Tiger (there might be a couple of those in this series). His last start didn’t go so well. He gave up three home runs including a grand slam, and seven runs overall. He has not faced the Baltimore Orioles since April of 2007 (I actually remember that game. He got into a shouting match with Miguel Tejada, the benches cleared, and Gary Sheffield later hit the angriest home run I have ever seen). Rick Porcello, who starts game two, is coming off a terrific start against the Twins (he ended up bookending the home portion of the schedule, as he started the home opener and the final game).

And Then There Was One

For a great deal of the season, the Tigers were a veritable powerhouse of Venezuelans, so much so that they earned their own nickname of the Venezuelan Mafia (And I can say with certainty that at least one of them knows about the nickname and the picture, thanks to JerseyTigerFan of Bless You Boys). At one point, the Tigers had five Venezuelans on their roster. While Enrique Gonzalez was not particularly prominent (he never even made it into the picture), the other four possessed some strong credentials: several All-Star appearances, a batting title, MVP candidacy, and a perfect game with a whole lotta class. But once the second half began, they started dropping like flies. Magglio’s season ended with a fractured ankle while sliding into home plate on July 24^th. Carlos Guillen was lost for good about a month later when Brett Gardner slid into his knee. Enrique Gonzalez was designated for assignment and quietly faded away in Toledo. And now we have an answer to the question we hoped would never have one: Armando Galarraga is the last Venezuelan standing. My mention of high ankle sprains yesterday turned out to be prophetic, as that’s what has knocked Miguel Cabrera out of action for the remaining six games (I also woke up with a killer cramp in my right ankle, and I’ve never had ankle cramps before. I didn’t even know you could have ankle cramps). All I’ve seen as far as a timetable for recovery is that the Tigers.com article mentioned that the MRI revealed no major structural damage, which would seem to indicate a quicker recovery, just not fast enough with so little of the season remaining. Still, it’s not the way I wanted his season to end. As I said, I was excited at the prospect of him hitting forty home runs, and his RBI totals (and he was two away from establishing a career high in that category) might get passed by either A-Rod or Jose Bautista (or both). And these last six games just won’t be as much fun without him.

Okay, there is other business to attend to. Because of the rainout last night, the Tigers and Indians will play a “traditional” (i.e. you see two games for the price of one ticket, so it’s not done as often cuz ballparks don’t make as much money that way) doubleheader starting at 4:00 today. The pitching matchup for the first game is the same as it was last night, so no need to rehash that one. The second game features Josh Tomlin against Justin Verlander (in his last start of 2010, unless he wins tonight and can somehow talk Leyland into letting him start on Sunday). Both of them are coming off complete-game wins. Verlander was brilliant in his last start, and would have shut out the Twins if not for some untimely errors in the ninth that led to an unearned run. That was his second complete game in a row. Tomlin was beaten by the Tigers back on August 21^st (I was at that game), but he has pitched decently in September. He has given up exactly three earned runs in every start he’s had this month except one, where he gave up six to the Royals. And so Tigers fans have a big block of baseball in store for them tonight. I do not know how I'm going to do this. I may do a brief post between games or I might do one big post tomorrow on both games.

Not a Good Night For Venezuelans

I know, I know. I’m too compassionate for my own good. Strangely enough, I’m not nearly as depressed as I was after Armando Galarraga’s last loss. Still, I said he needed it. He didn’t get it, and as maddening as his struggles can be to some people, I’m sure he feels a hundred times more frustrated about it. Part of the problem (I think) is that it hasn’t been the same problem each time. It’s more like he’s alternated problems in these last three starts. In Texas, his stuff wasn’t there. Against Kansas City, his stuff looked good but he lost his nerve and didn’t trust himself. Last night was more like how things went in Texas. I noticed early on that his pitches just didn’t seem to be moving right (or, to paraphrase Leyland, they weren’t moving much at all). The Indians were hitting a LOT of pop-ups for the first four innings, and I didn’t think he was going to go the whole game without giving up a hit/run, because he normally has a much more equal distribution of ground ball to fly ball outs (maybe a little skewed towards fly balls, but not dramatically so). Once Matt LaPorta broke the seal with a home run, Galarraga was unable to stop the bleeding, which is also unusual, because while he is prone to giving up home runs, he generally doesn’t give up three in one inning. An outing like that makes me suspect a little bit that he’s not being honest about the elbow again. But regardless of the reason, the fact remains that the fifth inning bit him again. At least this time he was willing to talk to the media about it. There wasn’t a lot to be happy about, but it was nice to see him interviewed again. I hadn’t seen one with him in almost three weeks (I hadn’t seen so much as a quote from him in three weeks and I was starting to get concerned; up until then, he’d almost always been willing to talk about his starts, good or bad). He basically rehashed the fifth inning and said he wasn’t sure what went wrong because things went downhill so quickly. He also said he had to figure it out because he’s got one more start to get things right. I just hope he can, and that it’s not too late for him.

Things weren’t any better on the other side of the ball for the Tigers. They stranded a lot of runners early and then didn’t mount a comeback against the Indians’ bullpen. There were a couple of untimely double plays as well as a botched hit and run. I’m not sure how much stock you put into the analysis of Rod Allen, but his assessment was that the Tigers had some nice, patient at-bats when the bases were empty, but once there were runners in scoring position, they swung at bad pitches. Of course, all that pales in comparison to the loss of Miguel Cabrera, who sprained his ankle while trying to make it back to first base on a pickoff attempt from Luke Carlin (between that and the home run he hit off Galarraga, I wasn’t feeling too friendly toward Carlin by the end of the evening). I am unsure of his status other than the fact that x-rays were negative and he is not in tonight’s lineup, but I’m guessing it depends on the severity of the sprain (As an aside, how is it that Progressive Field doesn’t have an x-ray machine? I thought all ballparks had them on-site). Again, my schooling fails me, because we aren’t really taught orthopedics in pharmacy school, but I know of instances where guys suffered high ankle sprains in spring training and then missed the whole season. I suppose this is why it’s taking me so long to write this post, because I’m waiting for further word on whether this is the case for Cabrera, but if he has to miss the remaining six games, that can’t bode well for his MVP chances (let alone my near-certainty that he’d make it to forty home runs), because the Tigers’ most compelling argument was that Cabrera has stayed healthy while Josh Hamilton has missed almost the entire month of September. I suppose, if anything, this’ll help Robinson Cano’s case (that and the fact that the Yankees and Rays have yet to sort out who gets the division and who gets the wild card).

The series continues tonight, Venezuelan-less. Max Scherzer is coming off a strong start against Kansas City, where he shut them out. He beat the Indians the last time he faced them (I was there). That was at Comerica Park. He has not pitched well at Progressive Field so far. Mitch Talbot, on the other hand, has pitched strongly against the Tigers in two of his three starts against them this year (and the one in which he was somewhat roughed up happened all the way back in April). Two starts ago, he left the game without retiring a batter after suffering an injury. In his last start, he gave up three runs in five innings to the Royals and took the loss.