Monthly Archives: June 2009

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minore League Wrap 6/13/09

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Rochester 2 Toledo 4
Wilkin Ramirez and Clete Thomas both had doubles and singles. Ryan Roberson was 3 for 4 with a homer. Ruddy Lugo fanned 8 in 7 innings with 2 runs allowed on 6 hits and a walk. Fu Te Ni pitched a scoreless inning, as did Casey Fien despite the latter allowing 2 hits and a walk.

New Hampshire 2 Erie 5
Deik Scram and Cale Iorg went 2 for 3 with homers. Jon Kibler allowed 2 runs in 6 innings on 7 hits, 1 walks, and 2 K’s. Zach Simons fanned 5 with just one hit allowed in 3 innings.

Sarasota 1 Lakeland 7
Audy Ciriaco and Adrian Cassanova each had 2 hits including homers. Lauren Gagnier struck out 9 in 7 innings with 1 run allowed on 5 hits and 2 walks.

South Bend 4 West Michigan 6
Brent Wyatt homered and drove in 3. Brandon Hamilton fought his was through 4 innings with 3 walks and 7 hits allowing 4 runs in 4 innings. Jared Gayhart fanned 2 in a scoreless inning.

Some DSL and VSL coverage

Not included in the wrap on a regular basis due to player obscurity and time limitations here are some stats of note from the Dominican and Venezuelan teams.

DSL

Juaner Aguasvivas – 1B, 19 years old – 310/383/548 in 11 games
Emmanuel Del Orbe – RHP, 19 years old – 10/1 K/BB, 0.67 WHIP in 2 games and 9 innings

VSL

Gilbert Gomez – 1B, 19 years old – 237/370/605 line in 15 games.
Luis Sanz – C, 18 years old – 313/422/418 with 12 walks and 5 K’s in 20 games
Yorfrank Lopez – RHP, 18 years old – 17/5 K/BB, 0.92 WHIP in 20.2 innings
Josue Carreno – RHP, 17 years old – 18/3 K/BB, 1.18 WHIP in 18.2 innings

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.062: Tigers at Pirates

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PREGAME: So it’s just the Tigers now. No more Red Wings or Pistons or Lions. Just a singular focus on the Tigers.

Tonight the Tigers will face Zach Duke. Duke walks very few hitters, so he finds himself pitching deep into games on a regular basis having gone at least 7 innings in 8 of his 12 starts. What makes it particularly impressive is that he doesn’t need many pitches to do it and he’s only topped the 100 pitch mark 6 times. With the Tigers proclivity for swinging early and often Duke could probably go 10 innings. Opposing hitters are only OPSing 476 against Duke when putting the first pitch in play.

The Tigers will turn to Armando Galarraga to drive in runs from the 9-hole this evening. Galarraga has made a quality start his last 3 outings, but he hasn’t earned a win since April.

Detroit vs. Pittsburgh – June 13, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: I saw very little of this game, and none of the game that mattered. I was at a dance recital and followed along on mobile gameday so my thoughts on this game are formed based on a barage of “line drive to left” and “line drive to center” and “line drive to right” and…well you get the idea. So not seeing any of the plays in question may hamper my ability to comment accurately about the game. But I’ll try and you tell me if I’m wrong.

  • Armando Galarraga was awful and was throwing batting practice. That the game was over in 2.5 hours and Pittsburgh had 16 hits I’d guess that at least Galarraga wasn’t nibbling and he gave up runs efficiently.
  • Nate Robertson came in and changed the complexion of the game…twice. He took over with runners on first and second and nobody out and retired the side stranding the runners thus keeping the game within reach. Huge inning for Nate. But then he gave up a grand slam in the next inning destroying the Tigers chances. Huge inning for Nate.
  • Marcus Thames and Ryan Raburn provided a boost with “in play run(s)” which was nice
  • The Tigers swung early and often because as I’d watch the pitch-by-pitch with 15 second auto refresh there were outs being made and there wasn’t even time to display the pitch or the “in play out(s)”
  • Did I miss anything?
  • Despite Galarraga going out in the 3rd, the bullpen is still in really good shape for Dontrelle’s start tomorrow. With Porcello going 7 innings, the pen was well rested coming into the game. And with an off day Monday and nobody throwing too many pitches today, everybody should be available if an “all hands on deck” situation arises.
2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 6/12/09

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Rochester 1 Toledo 2
Clete Thomas went 1 for 3 with a double. Jeff Larish walked and was hit by a pitch. Dusty Ryan doubled. Chris Lambert pitched 7.2 innings of shutout ball with 5 K’s and 1 walk. Freddy Dolsi allowed a run on 2 hits, but got the save.

New Hampshire 5 Erie 0
Scott Sizemore triple, singled, and walked and was most of the offense. Luke Stanley allowed 5 runs on 5 hits (2 homers) and 2 walks in 5 innings. Cody Satterwhite walked 2 in 2 innings but also had 3 K’s.

Sarasota 1 Lakeland 9
Jordan Newton doubled and homered. Michael Bertram and Jeramy Laster also went deep. Charlie Furbush allowed 1 run in 5 innings on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 2 K’s. Scott Green fanned 2 in his inning of work.

South Bend 1 West Michigan 3
Brent Wyatt tripled and drove in a run. Anthony Shawler pitched 6 shut out innings with just 2 K’s but no walks. Tyler Stohr got his 11th save and now posts a 1.80 ERA.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.061: Tigers at Pirates

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PREGAME: I can’t help but wonder if there are more Tigers fans in the stands tonight that Pirates fans. I think Tigers fans would be well represented with many planning to make the relatively short drive to see their team in a gorgeous ballpark. But with Game 7 tonight, I’d guess many Pittsburgh fans would be blowing off the Pirates for the Penguins, and will it just be Tigers fans who made the journey left in the stands?

Whoever decides to go will see Rick Porcello take on Ian Snell. Porcello is looking to regain his May-ish form after 2 outings that weren’t great.

Snell hasn’t had a very good season. He’s walking a batter every other inning and not striking out very many and the result is an ERA over 5. He has been much better at home where he’s only allowed 1 of his 7 homers.

Detroit vs. Pittsburgh – June 12, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Rick Porcello is the answer to what ails ya. Porcello had an incrdible individual effort both on the mound and in the batters box. Porcello went 7 innings and threw 99 pitches (a career high) and held Pittsburgh to 1 run, which was in part gifted due to a blown call at 2nd base.

But that was only half the story for Porcello. He also had 2 singles and drove in the first 2 runs. Who needs designated hitters?

Other stuff:

  • Fernando Rodney was much better this time out. He threw 12 pitches, and 11 of them were strikes.
  • Zach Miner as the primary set-up guy? He’s turned in a few nice relief appearances in a row now.
  • The offense was far from stagnant tonight with 11 hits and 4 walks. That only 3 came around to score was odd and annoying and frustrating, especially with 4 of the hits being for extra bases.
  • Placido Polanco with an excellent game with 2 doubles, 2 singles and a sacrifice bunt.
2009 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Ryan Perry rejoining the team?

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UPDATE Again: Now it’s official. Bondo to the DL for continued rehabilitation.

UPDATE: While there still hasn’t been an official announcement from the team, it does appear that Jeremy Bonderman is hitting the DL. I’ll update with more as I know it.

The Free Press is reporting that Ryan Perry is not with Mud Hens and is believed to be on his way to Pittsburgh to rejoin the team. Perry was optioned down to make room for Jeremy Bonderman. Perry has to stay on assignment for 10 days unless he is recalled to take someone’s place due to injury. So if he’s coming back it means someone is going on the DL and it is likely Bonderman.

If Bonderman does hit the DL it will be interesting to see how the Tigers handle his rehab. Once he starts pitching for a minor league club he is limited to 30 days. Will they start him right away hoping he gets the velocity back in a month or do they wait a while?

2009 Season, Roster Management

Clete’s Out, the Cougars Cry

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Following today’s game Clete Thomas was optioned to Toledo and Don Kelly was called up in his place. Beck quotes Leyland on Thomas and the decision:

“Thomas has to work on shortening his swing,” manager Jim Leyland said. “This is not a punishment. This is a player that we love.”

Kelly is versatile. He is a veteran of the Tigers system who has typically posted good batting averages and he’ll take some walks. He’s been raking for Toledo this year (341/409/478) while playing predominantly in centerfielder though he has a history as an infielder.

This move still surprises me greatly. Yes, Thomas has been struggling and swinging through a lot of pitches. But up until this afternoon Leyland thought enough of him to bat him 3rd and he is a very good defender. But his 237/315/412 line is dramatically better than Josh Anderson’s 252/289/330 line. Really, if anybody should be going out it should be Anderson who is absolutely anemic at the plate and despite his speed he managed to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. But he’s your leadoff hitter…sorry…back to the topic at hand.

I agree with Kurt that this move is mostly about versatility with 6 games coming up in NL parks and Leyland is itchin’ for some double switchin’ and Kelly will be his left handed Raburn. Or maybe they are just looking for some rookie spark. Still, I think the wrong guy got sent out.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.060: Tigers at White Sox

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PREGAME: The Tigers have already won the series, but they really have a chance to put an exclamation point on it today. With Edwin Jackson on the mound, Tigers fans expect a dominating pitching performance because we’ve been so spoiled this year.

Gavin Floyd is on a roll of his own though. In his last 4 starts he has a 2.12 ERA with 31 strikeouts and 8 walks in 29.2 innings. He’s only allowed 1 homer in that span as well. So despite the 5.35 ERA on the season, this isn’t a struggling pitcher. But the Tigers haven’t done much against struggling pitchers anyways.

Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – June 11, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: At least it was interesting and the loss was much easier to take with the series already in hand, but the Tigers had to watch the White Sox win a walk-off. That it got to a bottom of the 9th was probably the biggest surprise though.

Gavin Floyd absolutely dominated the Tigers. Ramon Santiago homered, but that was really the only damage against him. Meanwhile, Jackson gave the Tigers a chance to win, but his control wasn’t on and he couldn’t get the call on breaking balls low in the zone and he was done after 5 innings.

Thankfully Curtis Granderson took Bobby Jenks deep to tie the game in the 9th. Listening to Hawk’s call was fun in that it sounded like he was punched in the gut. Listening to him when Podsednik bounced one between first and second to win was miserable.

2009 Season, Pitching

Willis will start Sunday

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The Tigers have made a decision, at least for the time being, to stick with Dontrelle Willis in the starting rotation. Jeremy Bonderman will head to the bullpen…for now. Keeping Willis in the rotation is probably the right decision if Bonderman is the other option. Of course I kind of agree with Lee that perhaps that pool should include Zach Miner. That doesn’t seem like an option the team is exploring at the moment though, so what can we take from this decision?

First of all, Bonderman isn’t ready. I don’t think there is a lot of questioning of this point. I don’t see him being able to rebuild his arm strength pitching in sporadic low leverage situations in the pen. My guess is he gets optioned to Toledo (assuming he clears waivers and agrees to it) to work in the rotation and hopefully get his velocity back. He’s in the pen now because they need another arm in the pen, and likely want to bring Ryan Perry back. But Perry has to stay on optional assignment for a minimum of 10 days.

As for Willis, it appears he is pitching just well enough (not necessarily good) to hang in the rotation. This will be another test. I guess the goodish news is that we get to see Dontrelle hit for the first time.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.059: Tigers at White Sox

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PREGAME: It seems like only yesterday we were anxiously awaiting the Tigers first round pick, and waiting to see if the Wings would clinch, and kind of dreading a Buehrle-Willis pitching match, and trying to figure out how to fix my refrigerator. Well, it was only yesterday. The Tigers got their flame thrower, we’re still waiting on the Wings, the Buehrle-Willis pitching match-up wasn’t so bad, and my refrigerator still doesn’t work.

With that in mind let’s turn our attention to the less dreaded Justin Verlander and John Danks pitching match-up. Verlander has been kind of awesome for about 6 weeks now. BUT…things haven’t always gone swimmingly for Verlander at the Cell. In his career he has a 5.92 ERA and 11 homers allowed in 51.1 innings.

Danks has been struggling this year, sort of. He only has one quality start in his last 5 outings and his ERA is 5.10. BUT…his peripherals aren’t as bad as his ERA. He’s actually striking out more batters this year than last, but he’s also walking more meaning the ratio has dipped from 2.79 to 2.25. Not as good as last year but not bad either. What has hurt him is that he’s allowed 1.35 HR/9 this year compared to .69/9 last year.  And really, it’s not like the Tigers have been feasting on struggling pitchers anyway.

Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – June 10, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: The Tigers had lost 4 games in a row, people were freaking out and the Twins were only a couple games back. Then Edwin Jackson pitched a complete game 1 run effort striking out the heart of the Angels order to end the game with 98mph heat. That started a run of 5 wins in 6 games culminating with Justin Verlander pitching a complete game 2-1 effort and punching out Josh Fields (who came in for Paul Konerko when Verlander jammed him on a ground ball) with 98mph heat. I like symmetry.

Verlander was incredible once again with only one bad pitch to Thome against 121 pretty good ones. Some of you may be expecting me to be upset about the pitch count, and I’m not in the least. This is the time to extend him, in a tight game where he’s still got gas against a team he’s owning, on a night with a depleted bullpen. This is when you lean on your guys.

The offense wasn’t much to speak of, but Adam Everett homers always deserve mention. The other run came on a bases loaded walk so the Tigers weren’t really crushing Danks. But with a series win assured, there isn’t really anything to complain about.

2009 Season

The rest of the draft

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NOTE: I added in all the day 2 picks and did some Googling for half of them so far. Feel free to use this post to make comments. I’ll drop it off the top spot in a day or two.

After the first round, there are like lots more. The Tigers made 2 additional selections Tuesday night. Andrew Oliver, a hard throwing lefty from OSU was their second selection, and Western Kentucky third baseman Wade Gaynor was their 3rd pick. Mack Avenue Tigers has already done some hunting and gathering for these guys.

This post will be here for those who choose to comment on the draft, I won’t be able to upate the picks though until much later tonight.

  1. Jacob Turner – yeah, we talked about him already
  2. Andrew Oliver – Keith Law has him ranked as the 54th best prospect and notes that while his fastball is a plus pitch, the rest of his arsenal leaves something to be desired. Baseball America notes that the fastball is good enough that even if he fails to develop a breaking ball, at worst he should succeed as a reliever. Tigstown thinks that the organization will give him a shot to start though.
  3. Wade Gaynor – The scouting reports are a little thin on Traynor, but he does have some big time power with 25 homers. Considering the Tigers only have one 3rd base prospect and he’s yet to play in the states, this might be a need pick.
  4. Edwin Gomez – He’s a 6-3 shortstop our of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy HS. Alex Cintron is his cousin.
  5. Austin Wood – In the 5th round the Tigers selected an arm surgery. You may know Wood from his 169 pitch relief outing in the college world series. (video interview)
  6. Daniel Fields – Fields is a shortstop, a top 50 prep talent, and the son of former Tigers coach Bruce Fields. He also has committed to Michigan and the Tigers will need to pay him way over slot.
  7. Jamie Johnson – Johnson is a Sooner and a centerfielder.
  8. Craig Fritsch – Another college product, a 6′ 4″ right hander from Baylor. He features a low to mid 90’s fastball and a change-up. (video)
  9. John Murrian – the first catcher the Tigers select is a 20 year old from Winthrop University.
  10. Chris Sedon – the 5′ 10″ 175 pound second baseman from Pitt won first team All Big East honors.
  11. Adam Wilk – He’s a Dirtbag and a southpaw. He made the transition from the pen to the rotation this year. (video profile)
  12. Matthew Thomsom – Another college player, this time a righty from San Diego. (video interview)
  13. Michael Rockett – He’s a centerfielder with the name Rockett. What’s not to like. And he’s a collegian.
  14. Kevan Hess – He’s the brother of Tigers prospect, FSL All Star, and blogger Andrew Hess.
  15. Mark Appel– A big tall high school kid with a commitment to Stanford could be a tough sign.
  16. Kenny Faulk – LHP, 22yr, Kennesaw State University
  17. Nathan Newman – RHP, 22yr, Pepperdine
  18. Eric Roof – C, 22, Michigan State
  19. Rawley Bishop – 3B, 23, Middle Tennessee State University
  20. James Gulliver– SS, 23, Eastern Michigan
  21. Giovanni Soto – LHP, 18, Puerto Rico
  22. Matthew Mansilla – CF, 23, College of Charleston
  23. Cory Hamilton – 21, UC Irvine
  24. Wade Kapteyn – RHP, 21, University of Evansville
  25. Almon Roache – RF, 17, Lincoln High School (MI)
  26. Edgar Corcino – 3B, 17, Adolfina Irizarry De Puig HS (PR)
  27. Patrick McKenna – SS, 21, Bryant University
  28. Tobin Mateychick – RHP, 18, Enid HS (OK)
  29. Michael Morrison – RHP, 21, Cal State Fullerton
  30. James Robbins – 1B, 18, Shorecrest HS (WA)
  31. Andrew Walter – RHP, 18, Cactus HS (AZ)
  32. Parker Markel – RHP, 18, Mountain Ridge HS (AZ)
  33. Cody Keefer – CF, 18, Davis Senior HS (CA)
  34. Derek Kline – RHP, 21, Millersville University (PA)
  35. Patrick Biondi – CF, 18, Divine Child HS (MI)
  36. Benjamin Crumpton – SS, 18, Lakeside HS (AR)
  37. Daniel Canela – C, 18, Florida Christian School (FL)
  38. Tarran Senay – OF, 18, South Park HS (PA)
  39. Chad Duling – SS, 18, Bishop Carroll Catholic HS
  40. Ben Bechtol – C, 18, Neshannock HS (PA)
  41. Larry Balkwill – C, 17, Ursuline College Chatham (ON)
  42. Nicholas Avila – RHP, 20, Central Florida Community College
  43. Andrew Allen – 1B, 19, Central Arizona College
  44. Charles Markson – 18, Whitefish Bay HS (WI(
  45. James Brennan – RF, 18, Suffern HS (NY)
  46. Nathan Goro – 3B, 18, Lafayett HS (MO)
  47. Kevin Chambers – RHP, 19, Capistrano Valley HS (CA)
  48. Jake Porcello – RHP, 18, Seton Hall Prep School (NJ)
  49. Cameron Giannini – RHP, 17, Hargrave Milittary Academy
  50. Nicholas Rosthenhausler – LF, 20, South Mountain Community College
2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 6/10/09

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Toledo 9 Norfolk 4
Wilkin Ramirez walked 3 times and homered. Brent Clevlen and Jeff Frazier each had 2 hits. Jeff Larish doubled and walked. Luke French allowed 4 runs on 8 hits in 6.2 innings. Casey Fien fanned 2 in 1.1 innings.

Portland 2 Erie 11
Brennan Boesch homered and drove in 5. Scott Sizemore and Alex Avila had multi-hit games. Alfredo Figaro fanned 8 and walked none pitched 7 innings of 2 run ball.

Lakeland 0 Fort Myers 2
Lakeland had 2 hits so there is no offense to speak of. Matt Hoffman allowed 4 runs on 6 hits, no walks and 3 K’s in 5 innings. Lester Oliveros struck out the side in 1 inning.

Lakeland 4 Fort Myers 5
Michael Bertram walked twice and doubled. Christopher White went 3 for 3. Trevor Feeney allowed 4 runs on 5 hits in 3 innings.

West Michigan 5 Lansing 3
Ben Guez and Avasail Garcia both singled and tripled. Jared Gayhart pitched 4 innings of relief allowing a walk and a hit while fanning 3.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.058: Tigers at White Sox

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PREGAME: There’s a lot going on tonight. The MLB draft, the Red Wings trying to clinch the cup, and my refrigerator isn’t working. So this is a pretty short game post. Basically this as lopsided of a pitching match-up as you’ll see. Mark Buerhrle against Dontrelle Willis. Party on.

Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – June 9, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: It seems so long ago since I wrote the pregame. This is one of those nights when I’m glad I’m not a real writer and have to craft a game story. For one thing they had to rewrite the story a couple times. For another, I couldn’t put a cohesive one together and I can resort to bulleted thoughts.

  • I honestly thought the Tigers had little hope going into this game. The pitching match-up wasn’t favorable. Mark Buehrle struggled with his control, which is rare, but to the Tigers credit they waited him out. They also executed multiple times.
  • Dontrelle Willis wasn’t good, but he gritted it out enough to give them a chance to win. It looked scary when the first 6 pitches missed the zone, and he looked rattled during the Pierzynski altercation. But he did enough. Did he do enough to save his spot in the rotation? I don’t know.
  • Pretty much everybody chipped in with the bat. Inge had a great night, Raburn did his part, Laird had 2 big sac bunts, Everett and Polanco with clutch knocks and Miggy with the big blast to win it.
  • But the bullpen. (Except Zach Miner who was excellent). Everyone else walked at least one batter. Rodney looked like his delivery was all out of whack and he completely lost it. Brandon Lyon fanned Dye but allowed a 2 out double to Konerko to tie the game after a Thome walk (not a horrible strategic decision). And he did get the last 3 outs relatively easily.
  • What’s left of the bullpen for tomorrow is Robertson/Seay/Rodney.
  • And yes, I think the White Sox have a beef. I think Wise got the hand in there. It wasn’t a blatantly bad call (notice I said “I think”), but I do think Wise was safe.