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links for 2009-09-07

16 Comments

16 thoughts on “links for 2009-09-07”

    1. Mark:

      Thanks for the update. As a fellow returned missionary (and Tigers fan, of course), I’m really pulling for Cale. That article makes me feel a lot better.

  2. It’s too bad Ernie is wrong on Torii Hunter’s defense. It’s great to see him passing on the knowledge though. Hopefully there are several more Ernie articles ahead.

  3. Picked this up watching the Ray’s broadcast of Jackson’s start, and had never heard this before: Jackson is a converted infielder. The broadcasters brought it up, saying that in terms of accumulated pitching knowledge/experience, Jackson was/is still “playing catch-up” in relation to other pitchers his age.

    Thought that bit was interesting and maybe went some ways towards explaining his “late bloom”.

  4. Tom Brookens (starting lineup article) is supposedly the heir apparent to Leyland (wiki)? Anyone else heard that…? I mean, I liked Brookens..but Id imagine we’d replaced Jim with a more seasoned manager.

    Also- Id take Dontrelle’s win with a grain of salt. After callups, the minors teams are without their best players.

    1. I agree to take it with a grain of salt…but primarily because we’ve been here before.

      But the important detail is not how they hit him, but whether or not he threw strikes.

        1. 2 BB in 6 innings for one game doesn’t tell you much. We’ll wait until next spring I guess to see if there is real improvement. Whether it is his anxiety disorder, simple mechanics or whatever that is the trouble, hopefully during the off-season he can build on this last performance.

      2. But the important detail is not how they hit him, but whether or not he threw strikes.

        At the professional level, the two are inseparable. There are hundreds of thousands of men who can throw BP fastballs for strikes. Major league pitchers are major league pitchers because they can consistently hit specific spots with their key pitches. It doesn’t matter if he can throw pitches that weak prospects can’t hit; he has to be able to throw pitches that major leaguers can’t hit. If he didn’t face any guys that are already on the cusp, the box score doesn’t matter. You’d have to actually watch him work to see if the approach he used would fly in the majors

    2. In two or three years, after Leyland’s extension expires and he retires, the Tigers may well be in a rebuilding mode, when it would make a lot of sense to bring in Brookens – home grown fan favorite, cheaper, can learn on the job while working with the youngsters he managed in the minors, etc. I also understand that he is already highly regarded for his managing skills.

  5. Rodney has been suspended for 3 games, for throwing the ball into the crowd :/

    kinda figured that would happen.

    1. He should probably start serving it right away. Lyon has proved fully capable of filling in, and with the series vs KC beginning tonight, he may not be needed that much (I hope!).

      1. yeah, but in the fear of losing his touch (he already had sunday/monday off), maybe have him appeal it today- pitch tonight, then drop the appeal tomorrow and serve it out.

        1. Good idea. I think he had Saturday off, too. If he serves it now, he’ll have had almost a week off.

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