That was from my offensive preview this season. In the end, he only made it to 135 games, but his RC27 of 7.6 bettered my prediction by 50%. For the season he finished with 108 runs created. Suffice it to say that Carlos Guillen by far exceeded my expectations (let’s face it, he blew us all away).

Now comes the news that Guillen’s season is done, the result of a hustle play in a meaningless September game. He was playing the game the same in September has he played all season, all out. His effort however was just one example of Guillen’s consistency this season.

A look at his offensive numbers over the course of the season reveals that he only had one “bad” month (August). And by “bad” we are talking about .260/.312/.440. Now keep in mind, that the .752 OPS during Guillen’s worst month was still the 5th best among starting shortstops this season. (In other words, for the season, there are only 4 SS’s besides Guillen who are hitting better than .752).

Here are some more splits:
Home: .320/.375/.492
Away: .316/.384/.590

Pre All Star : .321/.391/.558
Post All Star: .307/.359/.516

vs LHP: .269/.315/.457
vs RHP: .348/.416/.594

Okay, so he hits right handers much better than left. But like I mentioned before, those numbers are still better than most of the shortstops out there.

Defensively, Guillen did have 17 errors and his fielding percentage was middle of the pack. His Zone Rating of .837 was 10th best among AL shortstops. However, that is a vast improvement over the .782 that Ramon Santiago had last year. He also seemed to share a chemistry with double-play partner, and mentee (or what ever the opposite of mentor is) Omar Infante.

A final numerical way to look at his contribution to the Tigers is Win Shares. His 25 Win Shares are tops on the team. While his total Win Shares will change since he’s done for the season, he will probably still be on top because Pudge is next closest at 20 WS. It’s also noteworthy that Guillen put up these tremendous numbers while making starts at every spot in the batting order except 8 and 9.

Unfortunately the timing of the injury will leave him short of a couple benchmarks. He’s 3 doubles shy of 40, 3 runs shy of 100, and 3 RBI shy of 100. Also, he is 17 plate apperances shy of 600 which means he misses out on $150,000 of incentive money.

In any case, Guillen endeared himself to all Tiger fans when he signed a 3 year contract extension during the season. The Tigers finally have a star that likes playing for Detroit. He signed early and missed out on free agency during a career year because he was happy here.

It is ashame to see Carlos Guillen’s MVP caliber season cut short due to injury. Fortunately, he’ll be back next year. Whether he can post the same numbers remains to be seen, but it won’t take away from one of the best seasons Tiger fans have witnessed in the last decade.

Almost a month ago, on August 18th Jeremy Bonderman was shelled by the Chicago White Sox. He gave up six runs in 3 2/3 innings. Doubts about the Tigers bringing Bonderman to the big leagues too early were at an all time high (myself included). Detroit decided to stick with Bonderman in the rotation, but with the condition that he wouldn’t think so much. The plan was to “let Bonderman be Bonderman.”

Side Note: I’m not sure what to make of it, but this philosphy of having struggling Tigers players stop thinking has had tremendous success. Brandon Inge stopped thinking last year after being recalled from the minors and has become an offense force since then. Recently, Craig Monroe and Carlos Pena stopped thinking and have both been torching the ball. Alex Sanchez probably deserves mention here as well, but I just don’t know how to account for him.

In Bonderman’s first start without thinking he again faced the White Sox. This time he pitched a complete game shutout where he struck out 14. (Bonderman is the only AL starter to strike out more than 13 in a game this season). He followed that up with a respectable start in Fenway in which he allowed 3 runs in 6 1/3. A patient Red Sox team did manage 4 walks against only 4 strikeouts. The next two starts against the Devil Rays and Royals resulted in only 2 runs in 15 innings and 17 strikeouts.

Last night against Cleveland he wasn’t as sharp as he only lasted 5 2/3, but in giving up 3 runs did well enough to get the win. What was notable though is that Victor Martinez’s home run in the 6th inning, was the first dinger that Bonderman has allowed since a grand slam to Aaron Rowand back on August 18th. As you probably remember, Bonderman was giving up quite a few homers early in the season-especially for someone who pitches in Comerica.

What may have contributed to Bonderman’s recent ability to limit home runs, is that since he stopped thinking, he’s become much more of a severe ground ball pitcher. Over his last 6 games he has allowed 55 grounders and 23 fly balls for a GB/FB ratio of 2.39. Prior to this string of games, his ratio was 1.25 and last year it was 1.41.

As dire as Bonderman’s season looked a month ago, his recent string of games has made his season numbers look respectable – especially for a 21 year old. He’s 7th in the AL in strikeouts despite only having pitched 166 innings. What’s more is that his K/9 of 8.3 is third behind only Johan Santana and Pedro. That’s some pretty impressive company at any age. And while his ERA of 5.17 is a bit high, his dERA (or DIPS or Defense Independent Pitching) is actually only 4.37.

Now to be fair and temper some enthusiasm, Bonderman’s most successful recent starts have come against the Royals, White Sox, and Devil Rays which aren’t offensive juggernauts. Also, whether or not he has turned the corner or is just on a hot streak remains to be seen. Keep in mind that Jason Johnson, Mike Maroth, and Nate Robertson have all had similar stretches of dominant pitching this season. In any case, this recent stretch has shown just how good a pitcher Bonderman can be.