It’s September 1st, so it’s the annual rite of infusing of rosters with up and comers and AAA fill-ins. The Tigers announced their round of call-ups. They include: Dusty Ryan, Mike Hessman, Dontrelle Willis, Chris Lambert, Clay Rapada, and Freddy Dolsi.
Dolsi had some nice moments this season, is already on the 40 man roster, and could be a piece of the bullpen puzzle next year. He gets more evaluation time and can pitch some innings as the starters continue to falter. Ditto for Rapada.
Lambert is also a slam dunk, seeing as the Tigers will need to keep him on the 40 man roster if they are inclined to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Plus they need a 5th starter and they get a closer look at him.
Dusty Ryan has a legit shot at being the back-up next year, and like Lambert will be on the 40 man roster anyways. He’ll probably get a start or two before heading to the AFL.
Hessman hit a lot of homers and struck out a lot (139 times in 396 ABs). But he also plays a solid third base and the Tigers don’t have their regular third baseman. Chances are Hessman will be removed from the 40 at the end of the season.
As for Willis, who knows what will happen. He’ll pitch a simulated game tomorrow. But given his forearm issues, I don’t know if he’ll contribute anything.
As for the guys left out, Mike Hollimon, Brent Clevlen, Casey Fien, and Francisco Cruceta would seem to have been candidates. Hollimon struggled mightily once being sent back to AAA seeing his average drop to the low .200s. Fien and Cruceta were probably victims of roster machinations. Fien wouldn’t need to be added to protect him from the Rule 5, so it makes sense to defer his possible promotion to next spring. Clevlen is probably the biggest surprise. He will be out of options next year, and while he slumped late (.645 OPS in August) it wasn’t to the extent that Hollimon suffered.
Hollimon’s got elbow problems- there’s speculation he’s going to hit the DL as opposed to being called up.
David –
I believe it is Clete Thomas who has the elbow problems. But I forgot to mention this as well. I hadn’t heard that about Hollimon.
we can’t lose clevlen …he has a shot to be a real good ball player if he shows he can hit consistently, which he did in AAA…his defense is excellent….keep him.
whats our opening day lineup looking like next year???
The Tigers need to re-think their philosophy. They need to pay some much needed attention to the pitching and defense problems. This was DD’s philosophy when he first came on board and he successfully built up the farm system with it, but for some reason he has gotten away from this and gone the route of loading up on mashers (how many DHers can one team have?) prone to long slumps, who can’t run. It has not worked.
At least an upgrade of the left-side infield should be in order. Guillen should be the DH and Renteria should be gone, so they will need to address 3B and SS. Playing Mendoza-line Inge at 3B would solve the D there, but then they have to concentrate on getting a decent catcher. I prefer this approach, since we know what Inge brings at 3B and there is enough overall offense to give up some production there. I don’t really see Inge as the answer at catcher anyway.
Detroit Tiger Thoughts idea of going after Oakland’s Mark Ellis to play short is an intriguing thought.
As far as the pitching staff goes, they need to go after a #1 starter and a do some kind of an overhaul of the bullpen. Get pitchers who throw strikes!
They are going to have to give up some players to get, since they can’t increase payroll yet again. Since they have an abundance of outfileders, the biggest return might come from trading Ordonez. I’d hate to see him go, but no one else on the roster would bring as much in return and they could reduce some salary at the ame time.
They also need to get a new manager and coaching staff. One that is actually concerned about pitching and defense. With the exception of the first half of ’06 the bottom line results have been all down hill with JL. I think this is a testament to the old adage about not hiring your friends to do a job they are not qualified for. I am not hopeful in this regard. I am afraid we may have to sit through another year of on-field mismanagemant and be forced to wait for ’10 for the real re-build to begin.
“The Tigers need to re-think their philosophy.”
And how.
Just throwing my 2 cents out there:
I would guess the reason Clevlen is not up is two fold. One, the Tigers have two full time OF’s and Three guys looking to play LF (Joyce, Thames, and Raburn). With Larish and Hessman at third, Raburn will ose some at bats there. Bringing up Clevlen would clog up that spot. Also, I think management has a feeling he is never going to be a major league starter so why cut the at bats of guys who can hit for a athlete like Clevlen?
Hollimon had an awful demotion and would not be called up. Thomas may be in the same situation as Clevlen. But with the injury, there was no need for the call up.
“Also, I think management has a feeling he is never going to be a major league starter”
That’s what I think, too.
From the Useless Stats Department:
a) 40
b) 39
c) 32
d) 26
What do these numbers describe? Clue: They add up to the total number of games played so far.
From the Useless Answers Department:
a) Wins where the Tigers were behind at some point
b) Losses where the Tigers never led
c) Losses where the Tigers had the lead at some point
d) Wins where the Tigers were never behind
c) gets very near to making me rage-vomit. Simply winning 50% of those games would’ve made a large difference in this season. Of course, they could’ve lost some of those from category a), but still. Come from ahead losses make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
Yeah, some of those come-from-ahead losses, just looking at the line score will make you mad. Probably best not to delve into the play-by-play and relive the pain (but sometimes I still do).
What I like less, somehow, is b). 39 games where you just roll over and die (40 counting last night, though a bit of an exaggeration since it includes games where the Tigers might have at least tied it). Unless you’re the Mariners or the Nationals, that’s a lot.