Monthly Archives: March 2007

2007 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Tigers finalize 2007 Opening Day Roster

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The Tigers Opening Day roster has been officially set. It has been practically set since Monday, or course with adjustments for the Kenny Rogers and Vance Wilson injuries. I bring this up because the disabled list assignments are now finalized.

Tony Giarratano has been placed on the 60 day disabled list. Bobby Seay took his spot on the 40 man roster. I believe this is terrific news for Tony because I think he gets his full major league salary now which means he’ll get $380,000 (the league minimum) instead of being paid as a minor leaguer.

Edward Campusano and Roman Colon were the two other players still technically assigned to the big league squad and they have both been placed on the 15 day disabled list. I find this especially surprising for Campusano who I understood was to have Tommy John surgery. I’d guess the decision to place him on the 15 day DL may have something to do with his status as a Rule 5 pick. I’m not sure on the rules, but it may be that he’d have to be removed from the disabled list before being offered back to his old club (if the Tigers are so inclined) and this would give them the most flexibility.

And as a final note, Rogers is still on the 15 day disabled list. He of course could be transitioned to the 60 day if an additional 40 man spot is required.

2007 Season, Players

Jose Mesa suspended 2 games

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I apologize if this is old news, but I just saw in today’s press notes that Jose Mesa will be suspended for the first 2 games of the season for an incident last year.

On September 19th he was ejected and ultimately suspended 3 games for throwing at Mark Sweeney. Mesa appealed the suspension. With it being late in the year I’m guessing the appeal probably wasn’t heard until the offseason, thus the carryover effect for 2007.

2007 Season, Injuries

Kenny Rogers out 3 months

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So I’m watching the game on ESPN and they announce that Kenny Rogers had successful surgery to remove a blood clot and fix 2 arteries. I run to the computer and my site goes down. So I’m sorry if you were trying to hit the site between 1:30 and 4:00. It’s also the reason I’m so late to the blog with this.

D-Town Baseball seems to have the authoritative link round-up, so if you’re looking to see who said what, he’s got it.

Rogers of course is expected to miss half the season. It will be 6 to 8 weeks of rest, and then hopefully he can start throwing again. Being that he’s an athlete he may heal a little quicker than a typical person. But being that he’s 42 he may heal a little slower than a typical athlete. In any case, it will probably take him a minimum of 6 weeks to build the arm up once he can resume activity.

So while it wasn’t a worst case, career ending injury (not yet anyways), it is a far cry from needing a week or rest and some aspirin.
Continue reading Kenny Rogers out 3 months →

Contracts

Tigers ink Guillen to 4 year extension

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The Tigers will have Carlos Guillen through the 2011 season. Per Danny Knobler, the deal is for 4 years and $48 million.

This is great news, and the last item of the business that the Tigers needed to wrap up heading into the season. the deal is quite reasonable considering the contracts given to other lesser shortstops such as Julio Lugo and Orlando Cabrerra in recent years, and Michael Young just recently. Guillen’s injury history probably prevented him from getting Young type money. Still, at $12 million per year this appears to be a great deal for the Tigers. I also wouldn’t be surprised to hear that there are escalator clauses for plate appearances, similar to the deal that Guillen had in 2004 when he arrived.

The contract is such that Guillen should hopefully be able to play a productive shortstop for at least the first 3 years. If in the last year he has to move a less demanding position it will probably still be a decent value in 2011 dollars.

I don’t want to say the deal is a bargain for the Tigers, because Carlos Guillen is getting nearly $50 million. But like the Jeremy Bonderman and Brandon Inge signings, both agreed to stay with Detroit long term and while they were rewarded, they probably took less than they could have had on the open market.

Maybe the Tiger Tax is now the Tiger Tax Credit.

UPDATE: Now there are some quotes coming out. It appears guaranteeing the 4th year is what made it all possible. And like I said all along, give him the 4th year if it means keeping him for the next 3. Guillen also is amenable to a position switch later in the contract if that’s what the team needs him to do. In return the Tigers granted him a limited no trade clause.

2007 Season, Injuries

Vance Wilson to the DL

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I fully expected some players to go on the DL this week, like Roman Colon and Edward Campusano. Didn’t see Wilson and Rogers as part of the mix though.

Wilson has been bothered by some tenderness in his elbow and it has landed him on the 15 day DL. He played yesterday, but I’m guessing he didn’t feel to good today.

Mike Rabelo will assume back-up catching duties. He’s already on the 40 man roster so it won’t require additional moves.

2007 Season, Injuries

More on Rogers – a blood clot

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I was further deferring my season preview to take a deeper look at the Tigers choice of Chad Durbin, when the news came across that Kenny Rogers may be suffering from a blood clot.

Now this could be bad, or it could be really minor. Tom Glavine had some coldness in his ring finger last year which was caused by a blood clot like malady. He was back pitching in 2 weeks after treating the problem with medication.

On the other hand, players have had to undergo surgery which have sidelined them for the better part of a season.

Dave Dombrowski has been downplaying the issue saying that it may be only a one start thing while Jim Leyland is worried about making sure that Rogers is OK before he wories about playing time. I don’t say this to paint Dombrowski as callous, just that there seem to be some different messages coming out.

I’ve been trying to get smart about blood clots, so I checked with Mrs. Billfer who is a heart nurse who happens to be working tonight. She checked with some physicians who identified 3 main causes for blood clots. Keep in mind I’m not a doctor, but I’m married to someone who talks to doctors while I watch TV.

The first is hypercoagulability which is inherited problems with anticoagulation. It isn’t uncommon for it to be diagnosed for people in their 40’s. A second cause is malignancy (cancer). The third cause is trauma. Given that pitching is a traumatic act on the shoulder, this doesn’t seem far fetched.

Of course speculation is pretty moot at this point. Rogers was to see a specialist and one name you might want to look for is Dr. Robert Thompson, a vascular surgeon from Washington University in St. Louis who has performed a couple surgeries on Major Leaguers.

(disclaimer: I’m truly not a clinician and don’t want to promote any false information. If you know better than me, please post corrections in the comment)

2007 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Kenny Rogers to DL

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Danny Knobler reports that Kenny Rogers is headed to the disabled list. No other word is available on the injury.

The corresponding moves are that Chad Durbin joins the rotation and Bobby Seay has been recalled. There will need to be another 40 man roster move, but that hasn’t been announced yet. (EDIT: the 40 man move will probably be Edward Campusano going to the 60 day DL)

I’d guess that the rotation would be shuffled to something along the lines of Bonderman-Robertson-Verlander-Maroth-Durbin.

2007 Season, Players, Spring Training

Oh-mar

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If you peruse the Tigers spring training stats, you’ll see a roster full of guys with some pretty impressive numbers. Sure, Carlos Guillen is slumping a little but his 8:6 K:BB ratio is still favorable. But if you look at Omar Infante this spring, there isn’t much to like.

Infante has a 172/179/250 line thus far. He’s fanned 12 times in 64 at-bats and only picked up one walk. He has no stolen bases. He has more errors (4) than extra base hits (3).

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been following Infante everyday, so I don’t know if this has been a March-long slump or a nosedive the last 2 weeks. I do know that a third of his strikeouts came the last 2 games. Either way he’s not building towards the regular season at this point.

Now you never want to make too much out of spring training stats, but you hope to see something encouraging. Since Infante is slated to be the first guy off the bench to spell Inge, Polanco, and Granderson he will get a reasonable amount of playing time.

In Infante’s limited career, he’s been an every-other-year kind of guy. He struggled a ton in 2003, rebounded in 2004, struggled enough in 2005 to warrant trading for Polanco (I know Urbina helped negotiate that deal as well), and did okay as the super sub last year.

At 25 years old anything can still happen with his career. But avoiding a down year could be a big step for Infante – at least if he wants to be more than a career back-up.

Contracts

Promising news on Guillen front?

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From the Freep today:

Guillen, however, is optimistic that he will have a new contract before Monday’s opener. He has asked for a four-year deal and indicated that progress has been made. His agent, Peter Greenberg, is due to arrive in Lakeland today.

“They’ve been talking on the phone,” Guillen said. “It looks good.”

Clearly it’s not a done deal, but the last reports I had heard were talks had broken off. David Dombrowski, per usual, has declined to discuss the negotiations in the media.

If there is a linchpin on the team, it is probably Carlos Guillen, so this is promising news to say the least. I know many would prefer a 3 year deal, but to me giving him the 4th year is worth it to keep him around for the next 3.

Related: The Guillen Gamble

2007 Season, Fan Experience, Injuries, Previews

Ticket hiccups, injuries, and more previews

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Another link round-up while I watch Lost and work on my Tiger preview…

Ticket snafu

Things are kinda hectic for the Tigers ticket department about now. A problem with the printer has season ticket shipments coming at the last minute. Tickets are just starting to arrive today, but the club expects everybody to have their tickets by Friday. Extended box office hours have been created to help with any problems that crop up.

Now if you’re not a season ticket holder, you probably had to get your opening day tickets from a broker. It could be tricky to get those tickets in time for Monday.

Injuries

Indians starter CC Sabathia took a line drive off his forearm today. X-rays came back negative so if he misses time it probably won’t be for very long. But in what looks to be a tight AL Central, all absences of frontline players could be significant.

Meanwhile, the Tigers are dealing with an injury of their own. Vance Wilson had an MRI on his elbow.

Other links