Today is the deadline for the Tigers to announce who would and wouldn’t be protected from the Rule 5 draft on the 40 man roster. Below is the roster, and highlighted are the 5 players who the Tigers just added: Alfredo Figaro, Casper Wells, Zach Simons, Guillermo Moscoso, and Wilkin Ramirez. That brings the total to 38.
Continue reading Tigers set 40 man roster
Yearly Archives: 2008
DTW’s new look
Every offseason I realize that after looking at this site for a whole year I’m tired of it. I need to freshen things up a little. I also discover there are some functional things that I’m not really happy with, and so I try to fix those as well. So every year about this time I break out the toolbox and start hammering away behind the scenes. With that I present DTW 2009. I’d go with version numbers but I can’t keep track anymore.
I kept things fairly similar to what has been here in the past appearance wise with a few tweaks to hopefully improve readability. But below the surface everything has been gutted thanks to the wonderful Thesis theme. It’s a highly customizable and somewhat sexy wordpress theme that should allow me even great flexibility to make changes in the future. It is also much more sound structurally than my former theme which actually started out as Kubrick at one point and was heavily modified into its current state (if the last few sentences mean nothing to you, just know that the new stuff is better).
Also, older stuff can sometimes break and I don’t have the inclination to go through 3000 posts and see if they all still look okay. So if you see broken stuff please let me know. This is most helpful if you provide the page, the problem, and your browser. Thanks!
The only functional change at this time is Gravatar support. Gravatars are those little pictures by your names in the comments. To get one go that Gravatar link, and when you comment here just use the same email address that you did to sign up for the Gravatar.
I do have some more changes coming to the comment area, and that should happen with the release of WordPress 2.7 which should be soon. In the meantime let me know what you think of the new look. I’m still building out the sidebars with the links from the old site, it’ll just take me some time because I’m going to do it right. And I’ll probably still make a few tweaks here and there.
Catch-all post
I know there is a lot of interest in some of the rumors swirling around the Tigers (like Julio Lugo) and that people want to comment on signings that may or may not effect the Tigers (Jeremy Affeldt). While I don’t have a lot to say about these things (though I don’t want Lugo and Affeldt for 2 years at $4 million per is pretty attractive) I know that others do want to talk about it. In an effort to keep the discussion on other research-y type posts centered on the topic of the post (this is a blog afterall and not a message board), please use this as your catch-all thread for rumors and signings.
Of course if anything related to the Tigers breaks, we’ll be sure to cover it in depth.
Pounding the zone by count
In part 1 of the series I dumped some big tables in here that looked at the rate at which teams threw a)strikes and b)the ball in the strike zone. Today we’ll continue along the same path, but we’ll start to differentiate based on count.
Pitches In the Strike Zone by Count
In 2008 teams pitchers through the ball in the strike zone (as defined by pitch f/x) at the following rates:
- 0-0: 48.0%
- 1-1: 45.0%
- 2-2: 43.0%
- 0-1: 40.0%
- 0-2: 27.1%
- 1-2: 34.6%
- 1-0: 49.8%
- 2-0: 51.6%
- 3-0: 49.9%
- 2-1: 51.2%
- 3-1: 55.9%
- 3-2: 53.8%
The Tigers according to PMR
The Tigers defense was the cause of much consternation this season, and rightly so. Now that David Pinto has released his PMR defensive metrics, we can take a detailed look at each position.
If you’re not familiar with PMR, it is a system that looks at each ball hit into play and the probability that the ball should be converted into an out. That probability is based on a number of characteristics including the handedness of the batter and pitcher, the type of hit, the direction of hit, and how hard the ball was hit. It is based on data from BIS which also provides the data behind the +/- system and revised zone rating.
The table below shows how the Tigers fared at each position, as well as the primary players at each position. It shows the number of balls in play (this is constant at the team level), the actual outs and predicted outs, the plays made above or below expected and then a conversion to runs. The last 2 columns scale the plays and runs to 4000 balls in play which is approximately 150 games or the normal workload of a full time player.
Continue reading The Tigers according to PMR
Tigers make some ticket price hikes
The Tigers are adjusting some prices, on some games. The following areas won’t see an increase to their base ticket prices: Outfield Box, Right Field Grandstand, Bleachers, Kaline’s Corner and the Upper Level. That comprises 70% of the capacity. The base price is the key here because the team will have premium pricing for 21 of the 81 games.
The variable pricing will apply to the three-game series with the Cubs and Red Sox, and Friday and Saturday games in June, July, and August, and Opening Day.
Basically it seems that the team is trying to make the majority of games affordable to a majority of the people while trying to get a little extra revenue on the premium seats. Given the economy any price hike isn’t going to be received well, but considering the increase in payroll that the team committed to last year and this year, this seems to be pretty minimal.
Those who get season tickets will still get discounts and be immune to variable pricing.
Individual game tickets will go on sale March 7th.
links for 2008-11-11
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A very respectable showing. He faded a little in September which probably kept him from finishing higher. Not bad for one of those trades that didn't mean anything over the winter.
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TigsTown has started rolling their top 50 list (premium content). They're starting at the back end so no Porcello sightings yet 🙂
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Our friend Lee contributed to the 2009 edition of the book The Graphical Player. And Samara provided the cover photo. Go Tigers bloggers.
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BA ranks the Yankees top prospects. For those still wringing their hands about the Sheffield trade, none of the players the Tigers sent (Sanchez, Claggett, Whelan) made the top 10 or were even discussed in the chat. Claggett was recognized for having the best slider in their system though.
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The Tigers have talked with Brandon Lyon's agent. I like it, not as in handing him the closer's job, but as in adding a bullpen arm for under $4 million. Lyon has a low K-rate but a very low walk rate as well. He was hurt by a very high BABIP last year that resulted in probably 15 more hits than would have been expected.
No on Varitek, No on Laird, Yes on Bard
The Tigers are in the hunt for a catcher. Brandon Inge has been moved to third base and Dusty Ryan may be ready to contribute at the big league level, but I don’t think anybody is comfortable with him being handed the full load at this point. With this need has come speculation about where the Tigers may turn. Two names that have been floated out repeatedly are Jason Varitek and Gerald Laird. I’m not particularly a fan of either. So I turn my attention West to the discarded Josh Bard.
Continue reading No on Varitek, No on Laird, Yes on Bard
For you Twitter-ers out there
If you’re a Twitter user, I created a new profile that just tracks Detroit Tigers news. It is @TweetingTigers. I’ve set it up to pull in the RSS feeds from all Tigers blogs (well, I’m working towards all and plan to get there) and I’m planning to add in the Tiger related feeds from the big dailies as well. The result, you get notified whenever a Tigers blogger or another traditional Tigers source posts a story.
As an aside, if you’re interested in following my updates you can do so @billfer.
As a further aside, or what should probably be a precursor, Twitter is a microblogging service. Think of it as a cross between blogging and instant messaging. If you’re interested in learning more Twitter has a how-to video and Darren Rowse recently launched a blog of called TwiTip.
links for 2008-11-06
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And another new Tigers blog worth introducing.
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Just wanted to introduce a fairly new blog to the Tigers blog scene.
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David Pinto has started rolling out PMR. I'll delve into this a little more as he posts more positions, but here is the aggregated data by team. The Tigers were 4 players below expected, which is a little better than I anticipated.
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Nothing new here, but a reiteration that the Tigers are very high on Cale Iorg and are looking at a stop gap at shortstop. Also that there are a bunch of lefty relievers available, but the Tigers already have Bobby Seay and Clay Rapada and a statement from Dombrowski that Nate Robertson could end up in the pen as well.
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The title kind of says it all.
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A brief review of Tigers prospects.
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Lee looks to see who carried the biggest stick, and it was a Tiger.
Fun with the Bill James leaderboards
The Bill James Handbook is always one of the first baseball books to come out each year. It’s not a riveting narrative by any means and it consists largely of tables of numbers. But there are always some interesting pieces and there seems to be something new every year. Last year it was the Young Talent Inventory. This year it is a bullpen analysis. They sit alongside managerial stats, baserunning stats, and the Fielding Bible awards. But one of my favorite sections is the leaderboard.
I’m not going to copy a bunch of leaderboards for you here. That might be kind of tedious and boring for everyone, and it would definitely be a copyright violation. But I will point out some Tiger related items that are either interesting, or surprising, or noteworthy.
- Despite coming back from a horrific shoulder injury, and ending the season early, Joel Zumaya still let the AL with 18 pitches thrown over 100MPH. Brandon League was next closest with 4. Fernando Rodney even managed 2 over the century mark.
- Speaking of fastballs, Justin Verlander’s 93.6 average was 6th in the AL and Kenny Rogers’ 85.2 MPH heater was slower only than Tim Wakefield’s.
- Armando Galarraga threw a slider 38% of the time which was the highest rate in the AL.
- Despite Verlander’s struggles, his .377 slugging percentage against was good enough for 8th best.
- Rogers and Nate Robertson both ranked in the top 5 in GIDP/9. Just think how bad things would have been if they hadn’t had so many twin killings.
- Edgar Renteria was 4th in SS pivot percentage. Renteria also had the 2nd highest batting average against left handed pitching with the 7th highest batting average at home. If only the Tigers faced lefties at home more often…
- Curtis Granderson continued his maturation by taking the 8th highest percentage of pitches and seeing the 5th most pitches per plate appearance.
- Placido Polanco struck out less per plate appearance than anyone else in the AL, but it didn’t help him in run production where he had the 8th lowest RBI percentage (5.96)
Rumors, Rumors everywhere
A lot of talk, A lot of speculation piping out of the GM meetings in California. Right now it seems like most teams are in on most players. But there are some names being rumored to the Tigers. Today’s rumor and moderately relevant news rundown:
- The Tigers are in on Rafael Furcal, or at least plan to talk to him. Furcal is of course a stud. He’s also been a stud who’s had a hard time staying on the field the last 2 seasons. The Tigers won’t get into a bidding war, but I could see them going for a year deal or one and an option year. That would only prove attractive to Furcal if nobody else is willing to offer him an extended deal and he wants a short contract to prove his worth/health.
- If the Tigers want to buy low, there is a chance they could pursue Khalil Greene. Rumor has it they have at least kicked the tires – as have the Orioles and Reds. Greene is slated to make $6.5 million next year before becoming a free agent. The length is right, but 20-25% of the team’s budget on a player coming off a 213/260/339 season that saw him 4 plays below average at short. If the Tigers were to pick up the salary, he should come essentially free in terms of prospects though. Which is good since he’s a .304 career OBP guy.
- Scott Boras says that Magglio Ordonez doesn’t expect to be traded. I don’t actually believe anything that Scott Boras says though so take that for what it’s worth.
- AJ Burnett opted out of his Blue Jays contract. I don’t bring this up because the Tigers have been connected to him, but because he’s now another arm in the free agent pond. And if the Tigers go fishing there, it may help with the team’s chances at Lowe’s or Garland’s or others.
- Junichi Tazawa, who I thought might be a worthwhile bullpen target for the Tigers, has been offered a major league deal by the Braves. Too rich for my blood.
- The Tigers have made Fernando Rodney available. Rodney is frustrating to be sure, but he’s not the worst guy to have in the pen and for the cost it would be hard pressed to increase on his production – when healthy. That’s a big factor though as Rodney has really only maintained health in 2006.