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?).

Doing What I Always Said I Would and Yet I Feel I Haven't Won at All

In case you don’t know, that’s a line from a song, and oddly enough, I was going to use it for Mood Music last night but I couldn’t find a decent version of it on Youtube (the song is called “Where I Want to Be” and it’s from the musical Chess; it’s a good song from a good musical; you should try looking it up yourself and see if you have better luck than I). Shame, because it would have been a very appropriate song to describe what Armando Galarraga seems to be feeling right now. He pitched well last night. The only mistake he made was a hanging changeup to Jake Fox, who did what you’re supposed to do with hanging changeups and hit it a long way. Other than that, he did a good job, but only came away with a no-decision for his efforts. After the game, he lamented the fact that he only has four wins despite being in the rotation since mid-May and pitching fairly well in that span, especially recently. I know (and he probably knows) that wins aren’t all that important when you look at raw stats, but at the same time, they’re given quite a bit of weight by the mainstream media and the average fan. Plus, they serve as a sort of reward or recognition for your efforts. It’s probably not the correct way to look at it, but it is the conventional way. Maybe he was being a little selfish in his laments last night, but I can’t say I blame him, especially when he had just watched his teammates strand a leadoff triple in the bottom half of his final inning of work. Galarraga has eleven no-decisions this year in twenty starts, and a lot of those no-decisions are due to a combination of very little run support and the bullpen blowing late leads or ties. If the Tigers had been winning those games, he probably wouldn’t be so depressed about it. But in his last four starts, he has left either in a tie or with the lead, and the Tigers have lost all four, largely in part to bullpen meltdowns. So I understand his frustration and I think he just felt the need to vent a little. Once he got that off his chest he seemed much more relaxed in his postgame interview. I just hope he continues to pitch well and do what he needs to do to claim a spot in the rotation for next year. That’s all he can control right now. Galarraga’s comments did leave me wondering who holds the record for most no-decisions in a single season. I wasn’t able to find an answer on a source like Baseball-reference or the Baseball Almanac, but I did find one website which mentioned that Bert Blyleven had twenty no-decisions in 37 starts back in 1979 (He went 12-5 that year), so I’m going to go with that for now.

The offense has been odd recently. They surprisingly chugged along just fine without Miguel Cabrera for two games (actually, three, since he didn’t contribute much in the game where he left with the biceps tendinitis). Last night, Cabrera returned to the lineup and he basically WAS the offense. It was nice to see him back in there producing, though. He hit his first home run at Comerica Park since July 19^th (another welcome sight). Outside of that, though, there wasn’t a lot going on. I already mentioned stranding the leadoff triple by Austin Jackson (who had three hits, actually). Will Rhymes struck out on a bad pitch to swing at. Johnny Damon popped out (though, in fairness, I thought that ball would bloop into shallow left; then again, my depth perception sucks). Then, after an intentional walk to Cabrera, Ryan Raburn had an absolutely terrible at-bat, swinging at two pitches that bounced into the left-handed batter’s box (And I’d have the same opinion of that at-bat no matter who was hitting). They also had a situation earlier where they had runners at second and third with one out and couldn’t get the run home. And I suppose I should mention that the Jim Joyce thing was a non-issue, just as I expected. I’ve always enjoyed his strike call, and I don’t remember ever taking issue with his strike zone. I honestly do think he’s one of the better umpires in the league, despite the blown call heard ‘round the world. Not that I familiarize myself with all the umpires in baseball.

The series continues with Max Scherzer taking the hill for the Tigers. He hasn’t fared much better than Galarraga in terms of getting wins recently, despite being one of the best pitchers in baseball since the All-Star Break. He’s got a 1.98 earned run average in that span, but the Tigers are only 4-6 in his starts. He’s coming off two consecutive no-decisions in which the Tigers have lost the game. He wasn’t as sharp as he has been in his last start, where he gave up four runs to the White Sox, but he lasted into the eighth inning. He’s beaten the Orioles already once this year, but as I’ve mentioned, the Orioles have been playing much better recently. Their starter tonight is an example of that. Jeremy Guthrie has pitched almost as well as Scherzer in the second half, to the tune of a 2.10 ERA. And so we’ve got two hot pitchers opposing each other. Something’s gotta give.

Another Speedy Victory

Photo: AP

The Tigers were very obliging in winning this game before I had to go to work. Rick Porcello was once again very good, making it two good starts in a row against a team that had previously beat him up. During the postgame interview, Leyland seemed to think that Porcello had lucked out a little, in that he left some balls up but for the most part the White Sox hitters swung through them or popped them up or whatever (I suppose that makes up for him getting blooped to death against Kansas City). The only damage to him came from an Alex Rios 2-run homer and a series of wild pitches or passed balls (not sure what the ruling was) that scored Paul Konerko. And apparently Jose Valverde was unavailable with elbow soreness (and I know Jason Beck has said that’s a recent thing, but I still wonder), so Ryan Perry got the save.

For the second game in a row, the Tigers managed to score a respectable number of runs without the help of Miguel Cabrera. The stars of the show were Johnny Damon, Will Rhymes, and Jhonny Peralta. Johnny Damon had four hits, Will Rhymes had three hits, and Jhonny Peralta had two RBIs. Peralta’s name has been popping up a lot in the discussion for next year recently. Most of the online Tiger fans (and I’m not talking about those morons on Facebook or MLive comment section) don’t seem to be all that enthusiastic about him. I’m actually not sure what I think of him. Once he moved back to shortstop, I was expecting a redux of Edgar Renteria, but it really hasn’t been like that. He doesn’t have the greatest range in the world, but he’s made nearly all the plays and Brandon Inge makes up for the range issue. Whether he’s the best man for the job next year probably depends on what shortstops are available in the offseason, although I have grown somewhat trade-weary. Therefore, at this point, I am undecided.

So as it turns out, the Tigers were a hanging slider away from sweeping this series, but taking three of the four is nothing to sneeze at. Now comes a three-game series with the Orioles, who have been playing a lot better now that Buck Showalter is their manager (they are seven games over .500 since he took over; I’m not sure if he has anything to do with it or not, though). They just took two of three from the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, not an easy thing to do. The Tigers swept them back in July, but it was a really hard-fought sweep. Tonight’s starter for the Orioles, Kevin Millwood, pitched in that series and only lasted an inning (that game turned into an absolute slugfest on a VERY hot day). He’s currently got a 3-15 record with an ERA over five. Now, I’d definitely say he’s overpaid and was a little overrated in years past, but he’s not THAT bad. I’ve seen him pitch some games against the Tigers where he’s totally shut them down. I’ve also seen games where he got lit up by the Tigers. There doesn’t seem to be any in-between. Armando Galarraga also pitched in that series. It was a fairly decent start, but he was pitching through traffic for his entire outing before finally yielding a two-run homer to Nick Markakis. Prior to that, he had not had good numbers against the Orioles. He is coming off a shaky start in which he walked five but gave up only one run to the Royals (and that was only because a ball in the outfield was misplayed), although after the game he said he got lucky. It’s a distinct possibility that the command problems were related to elbow soreness and stiffness he was experiencing. He says his elbow feels fine now, and I hope he’s being honest (after all, he hid an elbow injury for a significant portion of last season), because he’d pitched very well in the previous three starts and I want him to finish the season strong in order to have a fighting chance at being in next year’s rotation. He’s not going to get that many chances to prove himself, though. Leyland has already announced that because of the two off-days next week, Galarraga’s next start after this one will be skipped (although I have not seen the specific reasoning; it could be from injury concern or it could be the “skip the fifth starter if you can” mentality). Not surprisingly, I’m not happy about this, for two reasons. One, I like watching Galarraga pitch. Two, I have missed Verlander’s last two starts due to work. I will miss his start on Sunday due to work. And now, thanks to skipping Galarraga, work will cause me to miss the start after that one as well. That will make FOUR consecutive Verlander starts I won’t see. That’s a long time to be deprived of Justin Verlander. Don’t get me wrong, I like Porcello and Scherzer (Bonderman I root for because he’s a Tiger, but that’s about it), but it gets old seeing only them over and over at the expense of two pitchers that I like better. But I suppose that’s something to complain about later. And in case you wanted some more intrigue, well, Jim Joyce will be the home plate umpire tonight. The media has certainly taken this story and run away with it (I saw one Free Press headline that made it sound like Galarraga and Joyce were members of a band on a reunion tour). Jim Joyce has been quoted as saying he’s glad he’s scheduled to work home plate and not first base. Galarraga has said it’s no big deal. And yet tonight’s game has kind of spurred a retrospective of sorts. Hopefully this one has a positive outcome.

A Night of Loyalty and Longevity

Photo: AP

The first bit of news from last night was that Johnny Damon has elected to stay and ride things out in Detroit, which, if you read my post from yesterday, you’ll know I approve of. By the way, that sound you heard was the collective heads of the national and Boston media circuits all exploding. They can’t fathom why anyone would want to stay in Detroit. Politics abound, so there’s no way to be sure of Damon’s actual motivating factors, but I’m still glad he’s staying. And I am also glad for Rick Porcello’s strong starting pitching. To hold the Royals to two hits is no easy feat, giving their high team batting average (granted, Scott Podsednik and Jose Guillen are no longer with the Royals, and David DeJesus is out for the season). He’s been good since coming back from Toledo. Hopefully he can keep it up. It’s a shame that the shutout bid was ruined by Kila Ka’aihue (I can say it; but spelling it is an issue), but 9-1 is nothing to sneeze at.

It was another really good night for the offense. This time, everyone in the starting lineup got at least one hit (Funny enough, Miguel Cabrera was the last one to join in on the fun). For that matter, every starter except Damon and Peralta had at least one RBI. However, Peralta led the hit parade with three. Will Rhymes and Brennan Boesch each had two RBIs, and Ryan Raburn homered again. After his 3 RBI performance on Monday, he was asked in a postgame interview why he was on such a hot streak and his response was “Well, my wife’s here. She’s got a lot of hits in her.” Needless to say, he phrased that really badly. Rod Allen cleaned it up a little bit last night by saying that Mrs. Raburn “brought a lot of hits WITH her,” (emphasis mine). However, the man of the hour was Brandon Inge, who only got one hit, but it was the 1000^th of his career, and all those hits came with the Tigers (I happened to be in attendance for Carlos Guillen’s 1000^th hit a couple years ago, but this is more special). And I hope he gets many more with the Tigers.

The Tigers wrap up the series and the homestand today with a day game (which I’m not happy about, since I have class). The Royals will start Sean O’Sullivan, whom they got from the Angels in the Alberto Callaspo trade. O’Sullivan has pitched in the big leagues for part of the past two years but none of the Tigers have ever seen him. He was really good in relief before the Angels moved him to the starting rotation just prior to his trade to Kansas City. He is 0-5 as a starter this year, but picked up the win in one of those extra inning games the Royals played over the weekend by pitching an inning of scoreless relief. Meanwhile, Armando Galarraga is coming off an absolutely brilliant performance against Cleveland. But there are some naysayers who are saying that he can only do it against the Indians. I’ve already gone over the stuff he needs to do to prove them wrong. He’s generally pitched well in his career against the Royals (although they didn’t have nearly the team batting average that they do now). He beat them twice in 2008 (one of which was the game where he was perfect for six innings). He also pitched well against them last year in three starts, earning a win and two no-decisions (the Tigers lost both those games; the latter of the two was a start he made a few days after he’d been sidelined by illness, and he was noticeably thinner). However, the last time he faced them was in a relief appearance in which things didn’t go so well. He only went a third of an inning and gave up a three-run homer to Josh Anderson, of all people (this was after he’d ‘fessed up that he had been hiding an elbow injury). I’m really hoping for a good pitching performance from him for all the obvious reasons, but also because I had a dream last night that he was claimed on waivers by the San Diego Padres (yes, it was that specific). I’m still depressed about it and it never even actually happened (although chances are something similar will happen one day; that’s the risk you take when you decide to passionately root for an underdog). On a positive note, the thought’s occurred to me that at the beginning of the season, no one (including him) could’ve guess that by the end of August, he’d become a trending topic on Twitter, be awarded a Corvette, make an appearance at the ESPYs, sign a book deal, and have a Little League team named after him. And I’ll be nervously following the action on Gameday during class today.

Can They Stop Walking Miguel Cabrera Already?

Photo: AP

This was a nice bounceback start for Jeremy Bonderman. Again (I felt like I’ve said this a lot recently), I don’t think he had his best stuff. He threw quite a few hanging sliders up there that fortunately the Royals didn’t do much with, but he managed to sidestep it (against a team with more power, he might not have been able to, and that’s something he should keep in mind with his next slated opponent, the Blue Jays). The Royals did pretty much what their scouting report said they did: Hit mostly singles, not walk much, and not score a lot of runs. The bullpen did a nice job, though Eddie Bonine got hit pretty hard but escaped with only giving up one run.

Another part of the Royals’ scouting report came true: problematic pitching. Bruce Chen was too tentative and fell behind a lot of hitters. The bulk of the damage came against Jesse Chavez. Just about everyone had a good day at the plate. Meanwhile, according to Dan Dickerson, the last four times Miguel Cabrera has been walked intentionally (including this game), the guys behind him have come through. Every starter got at least one hit except Casper Wells and Austin Jackson. Ryan Raburn, Jhonny Peralta, and Brandon Inge all had three RBIs apiece. Of course, the big story surrounding the game was Johnny Damon. As of this writing, he had not yet decided whether to accept a deal to Boston or not (by the sounds of things, he’s all that stands in the way; the Tigers will not pull him back on their own). Granted, I am working so slowly on this thing that it’s very likely a decision will be announced before I am finished. When Damon signed, I approved of it, but I only saw him as a one-year stopgap. He hasn’t performed spectacularly in the Tigers, but he’s been decent, and his on-base percentage of .360 is definitely sound for the role he was intended for (table-setter, #2 hitter). I can’t quite figure out where he would fit in the picture for next year, but if the Tigers wanted to bring him back, I wouldn’t mind. But as far as this year is concerned, well, I just don’t get excited at the notion of letting the kids play it out. Plus, Miguel Cabrera’s still got an outside shot at the Triple Crown, and losing Damon (small of a protection as he may be) would make it all the harder for him. My personal feeling is that he should accept the deal if, and only if, the Tigers can pry away some hotshot super-prospect away from the Red Sox. A player to be named later or a middle reliever isn’t going to help much in the long run, and with all the money coming off the books next year, I doubt $1.8 million is going to be a deal breaker on any hypothetical free agent signing. In that case, I would much prefer to see Damon play out the season in a Tigers uniform. For what it’s worth, he is in tonight’s lineup.

Tonight’s matchup features Rick Porcello, who looked very good for five innings at Yankee Stadium and then fell apart in the sixth. He’s had his issues with the Royals in the past (though a large part of that was Mark Teahen, and he’s not with them anymore). He’s only faced the Royals once this year and got a no-decision in which he went six innings and gave up three runs, but ten hits (the Tigers eventually lost the game 7-3). The Tigers will face Kyle Davies, who has beaten them a couple times this year. It seems like every time they faced him, he either gets lit up or twirls a gem. There are some Tigers with some real good numbers against him. Cabrera, Peralta, Damon, and Raburn all hit over .300 against him, and Gerald Laird is not too far behind at .294 (though he is not in tonight’s lineup).

These Boys Still Have Fight (In More Ways Than One)

Photo: AP

Oh, dear. This sure was a complicated game, wasn’t it? I was able to watch it on the MLB.tv archives (with numerous technical difficulties along the way), but I already knew the final score. Watching it live must’ve been nerve-wracking. I thought Armando Galarraga was better than he had been in his two prior starts. From a pitching standpoint, it looked as though he overcame some (but not all) of those psychological hurdles I discussed (By the way, it looks as though I was right about what was going on, because the Free Press published an article within hours of my post that basically confirmed what I had speculated). He was a lot more aggressive with his pitches, and was good at throwing the first-pitch strikes, and the pitch f/x chart had his slider (velocity vs. spin angle) looking more like it did in June. At the same time, he said he thought his slider was moving a little too well because he was having trouble throwing it for strikes. It’s unfortunate that his outing had to end the way it did. Still, I think there was much more about this outing that was positive than negative. One of the negatives actually happened in the dugout, when Galarraga got into a heated argument with Alex Avila and later Gerald Laird (especially unfortunate because that probably got played over and over on ESPN). The timing of it was particularly odd because the bottom of the first had been scoreless and fairly uneventful. We’re never going to find out the whole story of what was said or what the disagreement was, but I will say it seemed really out of character for Galarraga (and Avila, for that matter). Galarraga is usually known as one of the more easygoing members of the team, but I guess even the most mild-mannered person can only take so much frustration before it boils over and you lash out at someone for something miniscule (and I can speak from experience on that as well; I’ve had occasions where frustration has gotten the better of me and I’ve said and done things I’m not proud of). Still, Verlander and Laird (both of whom seem more fiery than Galarraga or Avila) had a shouting match in the dugout last year and it blew over rather quickly. I expect this to do the same, especially since it was so out of character. I just hope it doesn’t damage his reputation.

The offense was finally not handcuffed by the opposing pitching staff. The Tigers put on a pretty good display of power for a team that had not hit many home runs recently. It’s hard to narrow down some of the highlights. All I got to listen to during my lunch break was the seventh inning and the very beginning of the eighth, and so the only highlight I was able to listen to was Miguel Cabrera’s home run (which was a welcome sound; he’d been on quite a power drought). But he wasn’t the only one to homer on the day. Ryan Raburn went opposite field, and Jhonny Peralta has his second two-homer game in a Tigers uniform. The big blow was actually Johnny Damon’s two-run triple that gave the Tigers the lead for good, however. It seems like everyone (or, at least, every spot in the lineup) contributed to the win.

And just like that, the Tigers have finally won a road series for the first time since May (and the first one of three or more games since the very first series of the year). Now it’s time to venture into that pressure cooker known as Yankee Stadium for what will probably be four very long games. Tonight’s starter for the Tigers is Max Scherzer, who got outdueled by Jeremy Hellickson. Jason Beck had previously mentioned that Verlander would start tonight, leading me to think that they might want Verlander to pitch on regular rest, but alas, that is not the case (I’m going to the game on Saturday, which means whoever pitches tonight will pitch then, and I have nothing against Scherzer, but I like Verlander better). This will be his first ever start against the Yankees, although he has faced several of their hitters before, albeit not for many at-bats (the one who has seen him the most is Lance Berkman, who is 1-for-7). The Yankees will start Javier Vazquez, who has had kind of an up-and-down year, but he pitched well in his only other start against the Tigers this season (he took a tough-luck loss since Rick Porcello tossed a shutout). Since I tortured you with some good numbers that Magglio had against other pitchers, I will mention that he’s only 7-for-39 against Vazquez. The guys who have hit him the best are Cabrera (10-for-26 with three home runs) and Damon (8-for-24 with two home runs). This might be kind of an awkward series. It’ll be Johnny Damon’s first visit to Yankee Stadium since he left the Yankees, and it’ll be the first time the Tigers have to face Curtis Granderson (remember, he was on the DL when the Yankees were at Comerica Park), although it might not be as awkward tonight, since Granderson and Scherzer were never teammates. Granderson has not really had the kind of year the Yankees probably thought he would have. He was actually benched for a couple games recently so that their hitting coach could do some major surgery on his batting stance (I really have not seen much of Granderson at all this year, but I hear from those who have that he had returned to his pre-2006 batting stance prior to this retooling). He has been slightly hotter since, although he has had mini-hot streaks at various points during the season, but they haven’t lasted long and his batting average has hovered around .240 for most of the year. Still, that’s something to watch out for, and that book I had been reading (The Psychology of Baseball) says there is statistical evidence to suggest that players actually do tend to do better against teams that traded them. Your Mood Music for tonight: Ozzy Osbourne.

Rick Porcello to the Rescue

Photo: AP

After so many close games, followed by Saturday’s ugliness, it was nice to have a relatively laidback win. Rick Porcello did a very good job. It looked like he had a very good slider yesterday. His outing was a nice bounceback from being lit up by the White Sox (and by the way, they are his next scheduled opponent). Meanwhile, it was nice to see the offense score a bunch of runs for a change (By the way, Trevor Bell is the grandson of the original Bozo the Clown. How much did he get teased about that?). There still wasn’t a whole lot of extra-base power, but they managed to string together enough singles together to make it not matter. They also manage to work around a couple of bad baserunning mistakes (Avila getting picked off, Kelly trying to take second on an airmailed throw, etc). It was a big day for Alex Avila and Johnny Damon in particular.

It’s now time to face the Rays again. They are currently on a five game losing streak that has seen their pitching staff give up eight home runs on Saturday and striking out seventeen times while coming to within an out of getting no-hit again yesterday. Still, I don’t really have a good feeling about tonight’s game. I really like Armando Galarraga, but I know full well that he can’t outpitch David Price, and therefore he should not try to (Granted, I get really paranoid that every start that Galarraga makes will be his last start, so perhaps this is clouding my judgment). My baseball guru actually gave me a little bit of a catcher’s insight on Galarraga the other night. He likes the movement on Galarraga’s pitches, but says that he’s seemed distracted in his last couple starts (he phrased it as “not quite there”). His theory was that Galarraga was still upset about having been sent to Toledo last month, but I don’t really think that’s the case. I told him my theory about Galarraga’s primary weakness (He’s a very smart person, and smart people have a tendency to overthink things when they’re in trouble; the subsequent advice was that his catcher needs to get him back on track and make him throw whatever sign gets put down). Another thing is that from the quotes I’ve read from him in recent starts, Galarraga is getting increasingly frustrated at giving up home runs. The thing is, he’s always been prone to giving up home runs (which I don’t have a problem with so long as they are solo shots or, at worst, two-run homers). I’m worried that the frustration will cause him to come unfocused should he give up another home run. He’s made three starts in his career against the Rays. One was a good start, one was a decent start in which he got charged with five earned runs after giving up a three-run homer to straightaway center field with two outs in the eighth inning, and the last start (which came late last year) was an unmitigated disaster after trying to rush himself back from an elbow injury. Meanwhile, David Price has not given the Tigers a whole lot. The only Tiger in the lineup with decent numbers against him is Ramon Santiago (he also possesses the only extra-base hit in the group). Both Miguel Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta are 0-for-7 against him. Still, it would be nice to see Cabrera at least get an RBI in this game. He’s gone seven games without one (and in a slump update, he did hit two loud outs in his last two at-bats yesterday).

And Sometimes It Doesn't Make Sense

Could a single game get any weirder? I felt like it was a west coast game (and it certainly ended about the time a west coast game would). Throughout the whole mess, there were clues that things just weren’t going to go the Tigers’ way last night. Obviously, the big blow is that Brandon Inge suffered a broken hand and will be out 4-6 weeks (Now, is that including “resuming baseball activities” and rehab assignments, or is that separate?). That’s going to be tough to work around, no matter what the Inge haters say, because there’s no organizational depth at third base. I guess the rumored plan is to eventually move Carlos Guillen back over there (yuck) and call up Scott Sizemore, but for tonight at least it looks like Don Kelly will fill in and Casey Fien has been called up. That makes sense, because the bullpen has got to be running on fumes right now and you have to be prepared should the worst happen. Just about the only guy in the bullpen who is at full strength is Brad Thomas. I’d say Ryan Perry and Robbie Weinhardt are definitely unavailable, Eddie Bonine would only be available in an emergency, Jose Valverde and Enrique Gonzalez are questionable, and Phil Coke is probably available. I wonder if it is either Justin Verlander or Rick Porcello’s side session day (I can’t remember if that happens two days after you start or three). If it is, one or both might be held back just in case. There were other clues that things weren’t going the right way. The normally sure-handed Austin Jackson made two errors. Robbie Weinhardt kept getting weak ground ball after weak ground ball that kept finding holes, and then when he finally got the double play ball, the Comerica Park infield was momentarily transplanted with that of the Metrodome and the ball bounced right over Santiago’s head (Seriously, that bounce looked like something straight out of Angels in the Outfield). The home run that Nelson Cruz hit did not look like it would travel that far off his bat, but it found the camera well where the wall is low (although the runner was on the move at the time, so even if it went off the wall instead of over it, a run probably would have scored, and it was hit in a spot that I don’t think Magglio could have caught up to, if you’re thinking about him possibly catching it).

The Tigers beat up on Scott Feldman the way they usually do, scoring five runs in five innings. Then those little clues started to emerge again. Johnny Damon hit a bullet that was snared by Chris Davis, saving a run. Later, Damon should have scored the winning run on Brennan Boesch’s single, but got deked by Nelson Cruz and lost the ball in the lights so he had to hold up at third and Carlos Guillen bounced into an inning-ending double play (though I still don’t know why the Rangers were playing at double play depth and not infield in, given that the winning run was at third). Let’s not forget that Damon is normally a very good baserunner (so it’s akin to the two Austin Jackson errors in that respect). There was some complaining about the strike zone throughout the game. However, every time there was a questionable call, Gameday would confirm it as a strike, although just barely, except once, and that was the called third strike to Austin Jackson that ended the game. That was definitely outside. On the bright side, it was nice to see Cabrera swinging the bat well again. He ended up with three hits, two home runs, and two RBIs. Now if the pitching staff could only hold down Josh Hamilton so Cabrera can get back in on top in batting average.

Let me be the first to say that I have no idea what’s going to happened tonight. Armando Galarraga is back up with the Tigers (it was nice seeing him in the dugout again, and I had a thought that it was an amazing coincidence that his friend Miguel Cabrera had a big night at the plate). I know there’s not a lot of confidence in him from the fans, and I feel as though the odds are already stacked against him. Texas has a good offense (even though most of their threats are from right-handed bats and Galarraga can shut down righties when he’s going good), plus Galarraga’s schedule got all out of whack last week. He ended up in Los Angeles at the ESPYs, which was cool, but it left him unable to make his scheduled start in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and ended up pitching three scoreless innings in relief the following night (He threw 48 pitches, if I remember correctly). Therefore, he’s starting on short rest, which isn’t exactly routine. He’s faced the Rangers three times before, with one not-that-great, one excellent, and one decent start. The not-that-great start was the most recent, however, and he’ll be up against the guy who beat him in that start, Tommy Hunter. He’s one of the hottest pitchers in baseball right now. He’s 6-0 with a very good earned run average. He beat the Tigers last year by holding them to one run in seven innings (though if I remember correctly, the Tigers stranded a lot of baserunners in that game; I also happen to know that I went to the drive-in that night, for some odd reason). Miguel Cabrera struck out twice against him (once with the bases loaded, I think). He has not faced a lot of the guys he’ll be facing tonight, though. And one more thing: I refuse to quit on this season just because of Inge’s broken hand. There are only two guys whose loss(es) would make me believe the Tigers have no chance, and they are Verlander and Cabrera. There’s still a long way to go, and the White Sox and Twins are both dealing with injuries of their own. And now for Mood Music (it came up on my iPod and I thought it appropriate).  

Fever Swing

Photo: AP

The Tigers have been good this year at giving us victories that don’t entirely feel like victories, although this one comes from the front office. Armando Galarraga seemed to be fighting himself the entire time he was out there. Fastball command wasn’t quite there, as he fell behind a lot of hitters. He dealt with multiple baserunners pretty much every inning, but managed to make good pitches when he needed to, and he was helped out by his defense (Avila throwing out a couple runners, Cabrera making a heads-up throw to third, Kelly’s diving catch, etc). I really don’t think he should’ve gone back out for the seventh, and I was right in thinking that, because Nick Markakis finally touched him up for a two-run homer. The Orioles have not been known for getting that many baserunners in a game, but when you take into consideration the fact that nobody else on this pitching staff so far has been able to keep them off the bases either, Galarraga really wasn’t all that bad. And he gets rewarded by being sent down to Toledo after the game. I understand the logic (they won’t need him again until the 20^th, so they might as well go with an extra reliever while he gets a regular start for the Mud Hens), and were it not for the fact that the Tigers are playing the Twins this weekend instead of any other team in the league, Andy Oliver probably would’ve been the odd man out. It is the right tactical move, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I can only hope that Dave Dombrowski will keep his word and that Galarraga will be back on the 20^th. In the meantime, the Tigers have called up Robbie Weinhardt, who I just met on Sunday.

In the meantime, there were a lot of offensive heroics late. Miguel Cabrera told the Free Press that he had a fever before the game. Combine that with the heat and that had to suck. And all he did was finish a double shy of the cycle, including a game-tying moonshot in the bottom of the ninth. Of course, Johnny Damon played a really big role in the win. He drew a leadoff walk in the ninth and scored on Cabrera’s home run, and he delivered the win with a walk-off home run of his own. Also of note are runs that were driven in by Alex Avila, Brandon Inge, and Brennan Boesch.

Tonight wraps up this series. Max Scherzer is coming off a very strong start against the Mariners where he went eight innings and only have up one run. Only three Orioles have seen him before. Miguel Tejada is 2-7 off him with a walk. Cesar Izturis is 0-1 and Corey Patterson is 0-2, so there’s not a lot to gauge there. The Tiger hitters will face Brad Bergeson, who has an ERA of over six. He’ faced five of the Tigers before, and it looks like it was just one game, because the most plate appearances anyone has against him is four. Magglio is 3-4, while Cabrera is 1-3 with a double.  

Did Atlanta Move to the West Coast When I Wasn't Looking?

More on crappy strike calls in a moment, but first I gotta talk about the pitching (surprisingly, the game was still going on when I got home, but they were in the ninth inning). From what I hear, Max Scherzer did pretty well, although he had some issues with walks near the end of his outing. Walks victimized Joel Zumaya even more (and again, I point out that wildness has been a warning sign of injury in Zumaya’s past), but all I heard from Jim Price the last two days is that Chipper Jones has no batspeed. If that’s true, how was he able to catch up to 100 MPH and launch it? Talk about lack of offense all you want, but once the setup men come in and you have a one-run lead, they’ve gotta protect it, whether the score is 1-0, 3-2, 5-4, 9-8, or 16-15. There’s no such thing as run support for relievers. If you’re eighth inning guy needs a 3-run cushion to pitch effectively, then he shouldn’t be pitching the eighth inning (and I don’t mean that as a knock on Zumaya at all). The Braves somehow got an insurance run in the eighth, which turned out to be big. The offense finally started to rally in the ninth, starting with a long home run by Cabrera. Then the walkathon followed. Everyone keeps complaining that those were gifts and that the Tigers should’ve hit more, but at least give Brandon Inge some credit. That was an epic at-bat, one of the best I’ve ever seen from him. He earned that walk. The walks to Worth and Laird were probably gifts, but the called third strike to Johnny Damon was a gift from the umpire to the Braves. I know it’s probably because I’m a Tigers fan and I watch all their games, but it seems like the Tigers get victimized by blatantly bad calls more than any other team (and I’m not talking about borderline strike/ball calls or bang-bang plays where it could’ve gone either way, but the replay shows that the guy was technically out/safe, and no, the Jim Joyce call is NOT included in that category). They say it all evens out, but I’ve yet to see a blatantly bad call go in the Tigers’ favor. Maybe that Denard Span call, but as I said at the time, Span had his back turned to the umpire, so I’m not sure there was a good way to see that he had caught it.

And so it is time to turn to Justin Verlander to avoid the sweep. He didn’t have it in his last start against the Mets. He’s faced the Braves once before and beat them, with their only run coming on a Chipper Jones solo shot. The Braves will counter with hard-thrower Tommy Hanson, who was lit up even worse than Verlander in his last start, giving up nine earned runs in 3 and two-thirds innings. However, Hanson, like Verlander, is a much better pitcher than that. The only Tiger he’s faced before is Max Scherzer, which isn’t a big help. Maggs is supposed to get the day off today as well, so things get a little tougher for the offense. And I’ll be at work, with no chance of seeing any of this game. Boo again.

Viva Galarraga

Photo: Getty Images

Call it playing well at home, call it weekend mojo, but after a bad Friday night, that turned into a pretty good series. Armando Galarraga was quite good. He needs to throw more first-pitch strikes in future starts, but he only walked three (two in the first inning, and the other was the last hitter he faced). His pitches looked similar to how they did in spring training, at least to me. Fastball command was an issue at times, but he had the slider working real well. I have not seen that sidearm angle from him before, but it seems to be working for him, and he was throwing harder than I’d seen from him before (He got up to 94 at least once, and 93 a couple times). I wish he’d been able to get the last out of the sixth, and I know he wasn’t super thrilled with his outing, but I certainly approve of it.

Perhaps the offense didn’t hit John Lackey all that hard (though Lackey certainly found a lot of things to complain about), but they made him throw a lot of pitches and he walked quite a few. Granted, it looked as though he was dealing with a tight strike zone. Both pitchers were, but I think Lackey was victimized more by it than Galarraga. He walked Johnny Damon to start off the bottom of the first, but according to Gameday, at least three of the four balls were actually in the strike zone. Some of the pitches in the bases-loaded walk to Damon that came later were very close as well. Danny Worth made his major league debut and got the first hit out of the way quickly (thanks to Lackey not being able to step on the bag). Ramon Santiago had a good day with his first home run of the season (after I jokingly made the prediction last month that he’d be the first non-Venezuelan to homer for the Tigers).

Tonight begins a brief 2-game series with the White Sox (As a matter of fact, every team in baseball will spend the next four days all playing 2-game series). I’d be shocked if they got this game in (since it’s raining and the radar indicates that the patch of rain is large and not moving very fast), but if they do, Rick Porcello will take on Freddy Garcia. Porcello had his best start of the season last time against the Yankees. He only faced the White Sox once last year, and it didn’t go too well. It was on ESPN and he gave up five runs in five and third innings (victimized largely by Paul Konerko). And I don’t care how crappy the White Sox are playing right now, they find a way to pummel the Tigers’ pitching staff. A couple of their starters have had some issues, but the Tigers won’t see them. At any rate, Freddy Garcia won his last start, which was against the Twins. The last time the Tigers faced him, he shut them down, which may or may not have been aided by a hungover Miguel Cabrera. Fast forward to now, and Miggy is sober and happy and still sports a career .455 average against Garcia with two home runs (though he didn’t really produce much in the Boston series). Magglio has also hit him well (.304, and he’s had a LOT of at-bats against him). Brandon Inge hasn’t (.200 with sixteen strikeouts in 45 at-bats), but he does have two home runs off him. Here’s what I find kind of strange: Gerald Laird is only 1-for-11 off Garcia. There’s a day game tomorrow where the White Sox are starting a lefty. So given the low level of success plus the day game/lefty combo tomorrow, I was certain that Alex Avila would catch tonight. And yet, Laird’s in the lineup. Is this suggestive of a lack of confidence in the way Avila’s (not) swinging the bat? He did have one good 12-pitch at-bat yesterday that resulted in a walk, but oh well. I am hardly qualified to manage (and that’s not sarcasm; it’s true).

The Johnny Damon Show

Photo: Leon Halip (Getty Images)

Short post today, since I really didn’t see this game (except for video highlights later) and since today’s game starts in about 45 minutes. I was able to listen to bits and pieces during work, as well as the bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth on the radio in my car during my lunch break.  The top of the sixth featured JOHNNY DAMON throwing out a runner at the plate, which is hilarious in and of itself. From the sounds of things, Bonderman pitched pretty well (and Laird threw out two runners; he should get bonus points for that since Bondo was on the hill). The bullpen came through again, and kind of lost in all this was the fact that Ryan Perry got his first major league win. Meanwhile, I did see that the Tigers weren’t very effective with runners in scoring position, but looking at that stat in a box score doesn’t have the same emotional impact as experiencing it. I do know that Johnny Damon’s first home run with the Tigers came at a very opportune time.

Today, the Tigers will go for the sweep as two good pitchers with bad ERAs against the opposing team will go against each other in Jered Weaver and Justin Verlander. Their previous meetings have resulted in some wild games. Verlander still threw too many pitches in too few innings against the Twins, but he looked better. The Angels have shown that they can foul off a lot of his pitches (the baseball guru tells me that is because Verlander’s stuff is so good that they can’t get enough of it to put it in play). Jered Weaver actually had one of his better starts against the Tigers the last time they saw him, though it was a game that the Tigers won. Magglio is back in right field, and Alex Avila will catch Justin Verlander for the first time. Hopefully he’s up for the challenge.

Winning a Game You Thought You'd Lose

Photo: AP

Anyone else feel like they just watched a spring training game? I did not get home until the bottom of the third. I was able to listen to a few seconds here and there on the radio prior to that point. Whenever I turned the radio on, it seemed like one of the Rangers was hitting a scorching line drive somewhere and a run was scoring. The whole time, Dan & Jim never mentioned the name “Brad Thomas” and I thought they were teeing off on Dontrelle Willis. So it’s hard to have a negative emotional connection to something you didn’t see and thought was someone else. All I saw of Thomas was the bottom of the third, where he pitched reasonably well. The rest of the bullpen (Bonine, Zumaya, Valverde) was terrific.

The Tigers, for the second time on this road trip, poured all their runs on a starting pitcher and didn’t do anything against the opposing bullpen. Johnny Damon in particular seemed to be the catalyst for Scott Feldman’s downfall. He saw a lot of pitches, walked a couple times, and doubled in two runs. The tying and go-ahead runs scoring on a wild pitch/error combination was almost as weird as Alex Avila’s error the night before. The big boys (Maggs and Cabrera) also pitched in, and Brennan Boesch had his first big league RBI.

Today is not the rubber game of this series, because they play another game tomorrow, but a win would assure the Tigers of at least a split and a satisfactory road trip. Leyland is not pushing everyone back a day, so Rick Porcello will get the start. He needs to bounce back from two rough outings in a row and get some innings in, because I imagine the bullpen is near its limit. Leyland has also said that if Dontrelle Willis is feeling better, he will be available out of the ‘pen. Porcello never faced the Rangers last year. As such, the only Ranger who has a history against him is the red-hot Vladimir Guerrero (0-for-3). The Rangers counter with Colby Lewis, who apparently pitched very briefly for the Tigers in 2006 (I don’t remember him). He’s spent the last couple years in Japan, and he’s been a good pickup for the Rangers so far, pitching very well. The Tigers (at least the ones starting today) don’t have a lot of at-bats against him, so it’s hard telling how they’ll do. Maggs will get the day off, and Leyland has loaded his lineup with lefties (Damon, Avila, Santiago, Boesch, and Kelly are all in). And, as an aside, it’s my grandpa’s 94^th birthday today.

And We're Off and Running

Photo: Getty Images
 
I should have known things would turn out all right, because I wasn’t as terrified as I had been during previous Opening Days. The starting pitching matchup turned out kind of strange. It seemed like Verlander was more on top of his game than Greinke, but he gave up more runs. Still, despite the bad critics reviews at Yahoo, no one in the Tigers blogosphere seems too concerned. But there was quite a strong outing by the bullpen, helped out by Austin Jackson a little. Valverde had a rocky ride in the ninth, though things were compounded by Santiago’s error and Valverde forgetting how many outs there were (though the perception of that play was completely different if you listened to it on the radio).  

The offense didn’t do a whole lot against Greinke, but they were able to get his pitch count up by the sixth inning and since it’s April, that was enough. It was an especially good day for the new position players, particularly in the seventh-inning rally. Scott Sizemore drew a leadoff walk and took third on Santiago’s pinch-hit single. Austin Jackson doubled him in, and Johnny Damon doubled in Jackson and Santiago to give the Tigers the lead for good. We also got some good stuff from Maggs, Cabrera, and Inge. And we got more fountain spray on the center field camera, which at one point led to a lovely shot of a blurry green towel wiping off the lens. 

After we get teased with one game, we now have to sit through this off-day before we get to enjoy another one. And this one is a night game (which my professors will probably appreciate, since that means I won’t be trying to follow a game on my iPod during class, like I was all through spring training). Max Scherzer will make his Tigers debut. Obviously he’s new to the American League, but the Baseball-Reference stats would seem to indicate that he’s made one start against the Royals in Interleague play. He’s 1-0 against them, having pitched six innings and given up two earned runs and striking out five. I’ll certainly take a repeat of that. Obviously, there’s not much to go on in terms of individual hitters, but Mitch Maier of all people is 3-for-3 against him. Since Gil Meche is on the DL, Luke Hochevar will pitch for the Royals. I remember him. He pitched in the game I went to last year. The Tigers scored a bunch of runs off him. I remember Santiago homering off him as well. And you think Miguel Cabrera’s licking his chops? He’s 8-for-9 off him. Hochevar is capable of putting together a really good start every once in a while, though (I do remember one game in 2008 in which he outdueled Justin Verlander and shut out the Tigers).

Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!

You knew someone had to use that pun, so there. I used it. Now you don’t have to submit to the humiliation. It’s official. After a long and very bizarre courtship, Johnny Damon is now a Detroit Tiger. I know when this first cropped up, I was totally against it, but I think the Verlander signing softened me (even though those two events have nothing to do with one another). I still have concerns about his defense (particularly the weak arm; and in case you’re wondering, I don’t really have an opinion on Carlos Guillen’s outfield defense because I did not see that much of him in the outfield, so I can’t compare the two), but in the end, the Tigers need the left-handed bat. Damon has been a successful leadoff and #2 hitter, I won’t argue with that. Now you don’t have to worry about sticking two rookies at the top of the lineup. Either have Austin Jackson bat leadoff with Damon batting second, or have Damon lead off with Scott Sizemore behind him.

Eight million is a tad more than what I would have preferred, but overpaying by a little bit beats seeing him do damage to us in a White Sox uniform (and when that whole “cosmopolitan” story surfaced, I think a lot of Tigers fans forgot the ramifications of just letting him go to Chicago). And it’s just one year, which is the important part. If things don’t work out or if Damon’s age catches up with him, well, he’ll be gone at the end of the season. And if the Tigers are out of contention by the time July rolls around, they could trade him for a nice piece or two (I know he has a no-trade clause, but I’d imagine he’d waive so long as the Tigers were trying to trade him to a contending team). He seems to be winning friends and admirers down in Lakeland already, both with the players and with the fans.

So in short, the Tigers filled a need, and though Johnny Damon’s not perfect, I’m happier about it than I thought I’d be a month ago.

Spring Training, Damon, and Lopez

This LONG offseason is finally over with at last, as pitchers and catchers have now reported. Time to rejoice, Tiger fans. And if you want to see your boys working out down there in Lakeland but can’t make it down there yourself, I recommend Roger DeWitt (aka hueytaxi)’s photos on Flickr. I would love to go there someday, as it seems to be fairly easy to meet players and get autographs. In case you don’t know, I am a total autograph hound but I suck at it. I have been to four Tigers games in the span of three years and I’ve yet to get an autograph. In my defense, in only two of those games did I really have a good opportunity (since there was one game where I was in the suites and another where it was raining). I do have an autographed baseball from a rained-out game I went to on my eighth grade field trip in 1997. I identified the autographs a couple years ago: Justin Thompson and Omar Olivares (and I’ll say that, as a dumb 13-year-old, I had them autograph it with a ballpoint pen and the signatures are badly faded now). In the coming weeks before Opening Day, I will finish my schedule feature and I’ll do my traditional spring training columns (my introductory FAQ, the fashion guide, and the season preview).

All right, I suppose I ought to throw in some thoughts on the Johnny Damon mess and other things (Hey, people say they’re tired of talking about it, but it keeps coming, and until it gets resolved one way or the other, we’re not going to be able to have realistic discussions about spring training). I was amazed at the number of people who supported Damon coming to Detroit but now have kneejerk angry reactions at the current rumors that Damon does not want to sign with the Tigers and that his wife wants to be in a more “cosmopolitan” city. I never believed any of those things Scott Boras said about Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings. I don’t know why anyone else did. They should know better (and I observed very early on that none of those comments were coming from Damon himself). Never trust Scott Boras. I presume Boras would want Damon to sign with the team offering the most money, which seems to be the Tigers. In addition, you’ve now got both owners involved (From the Tigers’ viewpoint, the belief seems to be that Illitch and Leyland are more enthusiastic about Damon than Dombrowski is). So it’s a question of who wins out: Boras or Mrs. Damon. I’m just wondering what specifically happened in the last 48 hours to cause the dynamic to change so dramatically. I also kinda wish the blogosphere would stop just reporting/opining and go back to prognosticating on this issue, just so I know where they stand (since they were all convinced that Damon would sign with Detroit). Then they can go back to reporting and opining. And for the great many people who had that kneejerk reaction and are now angrily spitting “Fine, let the Sox have him,” chew on this: I’m not the strongest supporter of Damon, mostly because I’ve spent the last three years being taught that he’s the worst defender in the history of the game, but even I’ll admit that his bat is still strong. If he were to sign with the White Sox, that would directly spell trouble for the Tigers. If it was a case of him being more interested in, say, the Braves or the Rays, I’d be content to let him go, too. However, since we’re talking about a division rival, it’s not that simple. I’m not sure I want Damon with the Tigers. But I definitely don’t want him with the White Sox.

Several people who jumped off the Johnny Damon bandwagon have now jumped onto the Felipe Lopez bandwagon. I don’t think that’s such a good idea. In my experience, a bad defensive infielder is more likely to hurt your pitchers than a bad defensive outfielder (unless your entire staff is of the extreme flyball variety), and Lopez was horrible for Arizona last year. Plus, you’d have to push someone out of their job (likely Scott Sizemore, since the majority of Lopez’s playing time last year was second base), and Lopez’s bat doesn’t have the track record that Damon’s does. So I say ix-nay on Felipe Lopez.

Hot Stove Thoughts

Sorry for the postings being so sparse. I’ve grown a bit weary of all the offseason complaining and squabbling that’s been going on around the blogosphere, which has left me wishing it was April. There are times where I feel that everyone else has succumbed to the darkness and that I am the lone remaining beacon of hope. And yet, the Winter Meetings seem like they were such a long time ago. I’m almost starting to forget that Curtis Granderson ever existed. Still, I have a duty as a blogger, and to that end, I will weigh in on the recent deals and rumors regarding the Tigers:

Closer: It appears we have one now. The Tigers have agreed to sign Jose Valverde for two years, $14 million with a $9 million option for a third year. Valverde is a Type A free agent, which means the Tigers give up their first round pick (#19 overall) to the Astros, though they still have the two supplemental picks they got from losing Brandon Lyon and Fernando Rodney. I have yet to read a whole lot from the mainstream media, but the Tigers bloggers sure aren’t happy, though a lot of it stems from their belief that relief pitchers are overrated. Personally, I’m not sure what my perception on closers is anymore. I’m not exactly with the “pop culture” view that they’re worth millions, but I’m not exactly with the blogger belief that any average Joe off the street should be able to come in and easily get the last three outs of a ballgame either. My baseball guru says that mentality is more important than stuff (which, according to him, is how Mariano Rivera gets 500 saves with only one pitch; additionally, he thinks Joel Zumaya would make a good closer if he ever stays healthy because he has that mentality), although he believes that in an ideal world, all relief pitchers would be unnecessary because starters would finish their own games like they did back in the day (Remember, he’s old school). And I don’t think the mentality issue should be overlooked, no matter what the numbers and sabremetrics say. You can’t quantify psychology. The Tigers have a bazillion relief prospects in their system right now, but I don’t think any of them are ready. Letting them take their lumps at the major league level and force-feeding them (as some have suggested) may lead to lightning in a bottle, but it also runs the risk of destroying them and then a promising “closer of the future” merely becomes a burned-out casualty. Not everyone can do what Rick Porcello did. Ryan Perry could probably do with one more year of seasoning. I’ve heard some people trying to promote Daniel Schlereth as the closer. This is someone who walked 15 people in 18.1 innings last year. Unless he really impresses in spring training, it’d probably be best for him to start the year in Toledo or Erie (letting Bobby Seay and Phil Coke be the two lefties in the ‘pen). I believe Joel Zumaya has the ability to close now, but with his injury history, sending him out there with no safety net would be unwise. Therefore, it was clear to me that a stopgap was necessary. Now, two years and $14 million is a little bit more than a stopgap, and I believe that Valverde could have been had for less, but as it stands right now, it’s hardly a crippling move. I don’t really know a lot about Valverde, since he’s spent his entire career in the National League (really, the only memory I have of him is Brandon Inge hitting a game-winning two-run homer off him, and I would imagine that would skew my perception just as stuff like that does with Zack Greinke). However, he could probably be traded once one of our closer candidates is ready. Also, Valverde’s numbers look a hell of a lot more attractive than the man the Tigers were talking to at the Winter Meetings: Kevin Gregg. At the very least, those of you who fall under the category of “jaded” and “cynical” can just pretend that Valverde is the relief pitcher the Tigers would’ve drafted with that #19 pick.

Hitter: Shortly after the Valverde deal was announced, rumors picked up about the Tigers possibly being interested in Johnny Damon. Dave Dombrowski shot down those rumors the following day (though Jason Beck doesn’t seem quite convinced, judging by his tone). I can’t say I was disappointed to hear that. Johnny Damon may boost the offense a little, but he’s not getting any younger and his defense is terrible (Seriously, the man’s gotta have the weakest throwing arm in the Majors). Plus, I’d never be able to look my baseball guru in the eye ever again. As far as someone else...well, the free agent market just doesn't look that attractive. Pretty much the only ones left are aging DH types (and while many of us desire a productive DH, bear in mind that once you reach your late 30s, your production can decline suddenly and sometimes rapidly; signing anyone like that would be a gamble).

Arbitration: I don’t like it. I’m not very well-versed in it (though I take reassurance in the fact that quite a few high-profile bloggers don’t entirely understand it themselves), but I understand enough to know it’s a messy and ugly process, one likely to leave both player and team looking bad. Therefore, I’m not likely to comment on it unless it becomes extremely prominent and to that end I hope the Tigers come to quick and satisfactory resolutions with their four remaining arbitration-eligible players (signing Verlander long-term would be a nice bonus).

Minor Leagues: Remember Mike Rabelo? He’s back.