Saturday, March 22, 2008 @ 10:47 am
I was very much a proponent of the Tigers bringing back Kenny Rogers for another season, while at the same time worried about depending on him filling a slot for the entire season. Not worried only about potential injuries but also control which seemed to be lacking in a number of starts last season. Since Kenny is a finesse pitcher, he relies heavily on control and the defense behind him to get outs.
This spring he has been solid putting up the type of numbers that we’d all like to see throughout the season. He’s shown he very much is in control of his pitches allowing only 3 walks in 14.1 innings pitched, below his historical averages. There has been very little chatter or concerns expressed about Kenny this off-season and I hope it stays that way. Kenny will take the mound for today’s game against the Phillies and, assuming nobody is skipped in the rotation, again on Thursday.
You can listen to the game on AM 1270 WXYT @ 1:05 PM. Cale Iorg will also be joining the big league club today. BP has Cale as the Tigers #3 prospect and he was the Tigers 6th round draft pick last year.
Friday, March 21, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
According to Jon Paul Morosi with the Free Press the Tigers are eying Cub Michael Wuertz. An acquisition of this sort could go a long way in helping secure some solid late inning relief until the duo of Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya are back in action. Detroit’s need of solid bullpen help has been over discussed the past few weeks but little action has been taken by GM Dave Dombrowski.
Maybe teams are just reluctant to part ways with pitchers right now or maybe Detroit doesn’t have good enough bargaining chips in Marcus Thames and/or Brandon Inge. Either way, help from outside of the current organization is very much needed to help the team protect leads handed off by Tiger starters and the all-star lineup. Manager Jim Leyland doesn’t seem too optimistic however of the prospects of outside help:
“Nobody’s going to parachute in here that’s going to be our savior,” Leyland said. “We can’t make our bullpen, in the next 10 days, as good as if we had Zumaya and Rodney. We can’t do it. So, forget about it.”
Leyland is probably correct that replacing those two isn’t going to happen but it also isn’t needed. The current bullpen does have some good arms in Bobby Seay and hopefully in Denny Bautista. Zach Miner will continue to eat innings and, while inconsistent, has always provided the team with some solid pitching. A pitcher like Michael Wuertz can only help bring consistency to the Tiger bullpen instead of games that see 3-4 pitchers each outing as Leyland tries to keep his guys fresh. Wuertz’s 79 K’s in 72 innings pitched last season could also add some much needed pop to the ‘pen.
Friday, March 21, 2008 @ 8:14 pm
We’re 11 days away from Opening Day 2008 at Comerica Park and it is snowing like crazy outside. Quite a bit can change in 11 days but right now things are not looking good. According to the current 10-day forecast, March 30th is supposed to be filled with snow with a high of 45 and low of 35. One can only assume that March 31st will be near as bad, this if you can trust the weatherman at all, and make sure to plan your route early. The I-75 closures could cause some serious issues during this season.
Being that my tickets showed up a few weeks ago, I couldn’t be more ready to go to the game and get the season started. I’m hoping that it doesn’t turn out like the Cleveland Indians 2007 Opening Day in which the snow just wouldn’t stop. If you’re going to the game be sure to keep an eye on the weather.
As for other news today:
Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 9:20 am
Maybe a bit late on this, but yesterday’s Free Press states that Fox Sports Net (FSN) has secured the rights to Tiger broadcasts for at least the next decade. I’m not entirely certain what this means for over-the-air broadcasts but I have been pleased with the FSN coverage of the Tigers. Over the last few years their coverage of games has grown quite a bit and I like Mario and Rod. So does FSN apparently:
“George Blaha is a real legend,” Hammaren said, “and who doesn’t love Mickey Redmond? Mario Impemba and Rod Allen have developed a real cult following. Talent-wise, we’re at the top of our game.”
I’m pleased with this. In the upcoming season, FSN will air 152 games with 103 of them being broadcast in High-Definition (HD).
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
Jason Beck had a good post last week on some comments made this spring by Ivan Rodriguez. The comments revolved around a change in his approach to the plate and his goal to see more pitches. As Jason points out this is crazy talk coming from a hitter such as Pudge, especially so late in his career.
The main thing about it is I’m just doing what I want to do and just be more selective at the plate, try to hit some strikes and take the balls. I’m just trying to see 4-5 pitches per at-bat.
A noble goal for Pudge but it got me thinking about how much patience other Tiger batters show. To take a look at how patient Tiger batters are I took a look at two stats in particular. The first stat is Pitches per Plate-Appearance which is a straight forward look at how many pitches the batter sees. The second stat is Walks per Plate Appearance which will show the percentage of plate appearances in which the batter works a walk.
The below table shows how the Tiger batters fared in each of the described statistics.
| Batter |
P/PA |
|
Batter |
BB/PA |
| Brandon Inge |
4.23 |
|
Gary Sheffield |
.142 |
| Mike Hessman |
4.21 |
|
Miguel Cabrera |
.116 |
| Gary Sheffield |
4.06 |
|
Magglio Ordonez |
.112 |
| Curtis Granderson |
3.98 |
|
Mike Hessman |
.088 |
| Edgar Rentaria |
3.83 |
|
Carlos Guillen |
.087 |
| Magglio Ordonez |
3.68 |
|
Edgar Rentaria |
.085 |
| Miguel Cabrera |
3.68 |
|
Brandon Inge |
.081 |
| Ryan Raburn |
3.65 |
|
Curtis Granderson |
.077 |
| Jacque Jones |
3.64 |
|
Jacque Jones |
.069 |
| Carlos Guillen |
3.61 |
|
Placido Polanco |
.058 |
| Marcus Thames |
3.60 |
|
Ryan Raburn |
0.54 |
| Ivan Rodriguez |
3.51 |
|
Marcus Thames |
.046 |
| Placido Polanco |
3.51 |
|
Ivan Rodriguez |
.017 |
| Ramon Santiago |
2.84 |
|
Ramon Santiago |
.014 |
There were some surprises for me in these stats. Brandon Inge lead the team with 4.23 pitches seen per at-bat which didn’t quite mesh with my expectations. Brandon struck out at a high rate last year but also made pitchers work. Detroit’s other solid defensive replacement, Ramon Santiago, was at the other end of the spectrum seeing the least number of pitches per at bat and walking very little.
Mike Hessman showed that there is some difference between him and Marcus Thames, thought his average and slugging stats from Toledo look eerily close to Marcus. Hessman ranked in the upper half of the team for both key plate discipline statistics seeing more pitches per PA than Sheffield.
The Tigers haven’t been known in the past few years as being a particularly patient team. Of this past off-season acquisitions of Edgar Rentaria, Miguel Cabrera and Jacque Jones, Rentaria shows the most patience. Cabrera, while a very talented hitter already, is still a young batter so more patience will come with time but he already brings OBP. Jacque Jones shows the least discipline of the three.
If Pudge is looking to climb up the ladder, the good news is there is nowhere but up to go.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 @ 9:22 pm
I had heard very little about Denny Bautista before the Tigers traded Jose Capellan to the Rockies for him. With the bullpen looking like the Tigers weakest link for the upcoming season, Bautista’s potential ability to fill some major holes for the team is being closely watched. So far he’s been given as many innings as some of the more established ‘pen pitchers, if you can call them that, Grilli and Miner and he has certainly impressed.
Denny has yet to allow a run in eight innings of work and given up only 3 hits and 3 walks along with 8 Ks. Impressive, given the lackluster performances thus far of Todd Jones, Zach Miner and Tim Byrdak. Yet this is only eight innings in the life of a very well traveled 26 year-old who has seen 115.7 innings over work at the major league level over the past four years, 8 innings in ‘07, and not put up numbers close to these.
Going into the 2005 season, Baseball America ranked him as the Royals #2 prospect, right behind Billy Butler and ahead of Mark Teahan. Additionally he was rated to have the Royals system best fastball, curveball and slider. Initially a starter, Denny was moved to the bullpen in mid-2006 after starting a total of 15 games. After being moved to the bullpen and pushed to Triple-A he had a pretty good 2007 season with Colorado Springs Sky Sox.
Denny is extremely solid against right-handed batters but far from it against lefties. This might be OK in a bullpen that has some strong LHP’s in Byrdak and Bobby Seay. With the continuing troubles of Fernando Rodney and the idiotic moves by Jordan Tata, Bautista is very likely to make the team out of camp. He has the potential to put up some solid numbers for the team this year but it is even more likely that we will get to sit through a number of Grilli-esque innings. PECOTA seems to agree (subscription required.)
Monday, March 10, 2008 @ 8:21 am
There is an interview with Ryan Raburn over at BP Unfiltered. Ryan talks about how he’s been putting a few reps in behind the plate. This isn’t a surprise and has been mentioned earlier in spring but it is sounding like it won’t be a viable option for this year. I can only assume that Detroit is trying many players out as catchers since they currently have plenty of outfielders and there is some depth for infielders in the farm system with Sizemore, Hollimon and Danny Worth.
DL: Have you been behind the plate at all?
RR: I’ve done a little work back there, and in a couple of days we should be doing a little more. But right now catching is kind of a work in progress. It’s nothing major yet.
If Inge goes there is no real good backup. I sure hope that Dombrowski and company don’t start to look in the area of Neifi Perez. :)
Sunday, March 9, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
Went to my first game at Joker Marchant Stadium here in Lakeland Florida today. The stadium itself was quite an upgrade from Knology Park yesterday but with that improvement, there were some drawbacks. It is quite a bit harder to get close to the players than at other parks in the area, though significantly easier than at Comerica Park. The ushers are very diligent on keeping fans off the gates and out of the aisles to the point of being annoying.
There are still plenty of opportunities for those looking to get an autograph though, but it’s best to arrive very early if that is your goal. I doubt there is a really bad seat in the house and today made for a nice day for a ballgame.
Nate Robertson looked outstanding. He threw consistent strikes and he remained in control for his entire four innings of work allowing a single hit while striking out four. It’s hard to get too excited about this outing for a number of reasons:
- Nate has outings such as this all the time during the regular season and they are constantly followed by horrible showings. Consistency has always been Robertson’s nemesis but he’s shown more control over the years.
- It’s Spring Training and it was against the Pirates.
The bullpen was the problematic piece of todays game as well as the most worrisome moving into the season. Aquilino Lopez and Macay McBride each had a solid outings but Byrdak and Larrison both struggled. Todd Jones was the major let down allowing four runs. His stuff was not fooling any of the Pittsburgh minor leaguers. According to Jason Beck he is still working on locating his fastball:
Jones said afterwards that he was working on locating his fastball, with obviously dire results. He spent the rest of the game in the dugout with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez trying to talk over mechanical issues. With just under three weeks before the Tigers head to Detroit, Jones has time to get his fastball location down.
I sure hope so since the last thing Detroit needs to go find early in the season is another closer.
Click on the Continued button below to view some pictures from today’s match up.
(Continued)
Sunday, March 9, 2008 @ 8:42 am
Below is a collection of my favorite pictures from yesterdays game. Check back tommorow as I will be putting up some pictures from todays match up with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1. Knology Park in Dunedin, FL.
(Continued)
D-Town Baseball