Yearly Archives: 2009

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/28/09

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Toledo 5 Louisville 6 (11 innings)
Chris Lambert allowed just 2 runs despite 6 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings. Jeff Frazier went 3 for 5 with a double. Mike Hessman homered. Scott Sizemore went 3 for 6. Wilkin Ramirez donned the golden sombrero.

Erie 4 Akron 7
Casper Wells homered and singled. Alex Avila also homered, his 12th. Pat Stanley allowed 5 hits and 4 walks leading to 4 runs in 6 innings. Robbie Weinhardt allowed 3 hits and 2 runs in 2 innings.

Palm Beach 1 Lakeland 5
Devin Thomas went 2 for 4. Charlie Furbush allowed just 1 hit and he fanned 10 in 6 innings of shut out ball with no walks. Lester Oliveros recorded 5 of his 6 outs via the K, but he did allow a solo homer.

Burlington 2 West Michigan 7
Jordan Lennerton went 3 for 4. Brandon Douglas singled, doubled, and walked. Gustavo Nunez doubled and singled in his return to West Michigan. Mark Sorensen pitched a complete game with 5 K’s, 2 runs, and 7 hits.

Vermont 5 Oneonta 9
John Murrian hit a grand slam. Jamie Johnson, Michael Rockett, Wade Gaynor, and Luis Palacios all had 2 hits. Adam Wilk fanned 6 in 7.1 innings.

GCL Braves 3 GCL Tigers 7
Francisco Martinez homered. Eddie Rush doubled and singled. Jose Diaz allowed 3 runs on 5 hits, a walk, and 5 K’s in 5.2 innings.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.099: Tigers at Rangers

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PREGAME: There’s a late change in this one as the swine flu ridden Vincente Padilla won’t make his scheduled start. In his place will be Doug Mathis. This will be Mathis’ second start of the season and 12th appearance. In his only other start he allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits, 3 walks, and no strike outs in 5 innings. Those were the only 4 earned runs he’s allowed this season.

Luke French gets the nod for the Tigers. Presumably he’s not being afflicted by anything other than a lack of run support. Here’s hoping that condition clears up tonight.

The lineup is:

  1. Granderson
  2. Polanco
  3. Thomas
  4. Cabrera
  5. Guillen
  6. Ordonez
  7. Inge
  8. Santiago
  9. Ryan

Detroit vs. Texas – July 28, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: So which team has had flu running through their clubhouse because the Tigers sure did look sick tonight. This may have been their worst effort of the season. There have been tougher losses, but few that have left such an awful taste and have been so dismal. Let’s look at the lowlights:

  • Ramon Santiago boots a ball on the first pitch that French threw
  • Magglio Ordonez catches a ball flat footed and Ian Kinsler tags up and goes to second…on a fly ball to right field
  • French picks off a runner and Cabrera throws the ball away
  • Everett makes a nice play in the hole but one hops the throw and Cabrera can’t pick it
  • On a Kinsler triple Granderson makes an inaccurate throw creating a long route for Polanco’s relay

Throw in the fact that Luke French got pounded, and the offense mustered one lousy single after the 4th inning and it is a recipe for disaster. Do you realize that none of the top 3 hitters in the lineup reached base tonight? Cabrera had 2 weak singles and a bad defensive game, but you can’t blame him for not driving any runners in.

If there was any good news it was that Santiago and Ryan got key hits early on. And Everett made 2 nice plays defensively. Otherwise this was just miserable, and you could see Leyland seething.

2009 Season, Trade Rumors

The Trade Front Rundown

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This time of year always makes me a little crazy. Rumors are all over the place, they are often contradictory and 96% of it is noise. Bits and pieces of information flow freely, some of it is legitimate, some of it is probably intentionally false (on the part of the source, not the reporter), and some of it is completely made up (see the Milton Bradley to the Tigers rumors). But it is always intriguing.

On the Tigers there haven’t been many new revelations. Dave Dombrowski said that the return of Carlos Guillen wouldn’t prevent the Tigers from still going after a bat. That type of acquisition would likely mean bad things for Marcus Thames and/or Ryan Raburn as Guillen is locked into DH at least for the time being. One target, Josh Willingham, made news by hitting grand slams in 2 consecutive at-bats last night. The Giants were also believed to be interested in Willingham, but they just acquired Ryan Garko.

The other Tigers need that is floating about is for a back-up catcher. Leyland doesn’t seem to have any faith in Dusty Ryan as Laird has played every game but 2 (and one of those was the back end of a double header) since the All Star break. I don’t think that Laird can handle the workload he’s under right now (his numbers are quite similar to the only other time he was a full time catcher 224/278/349 in 2007 and 235/315/353 this year), but I don’t know that the Tigers will be able to improve on what they have. Perhaps Baltimore would part with Gregg Zaun who has a 815 OPS when hitting from the left side this year.

Bless You Boys has pretty thoroughly covered the Pirates trade possibilities. For a team that struggles so much, they always seem to have worthwhile players to spin off at the trade deadline. The Tigers could be looking at Zach Duke or a middle infielder.

Finally, one of the areas of trade rumor mongering that I find to be most interesting is the after-the-fact stuff that comes out. Like the back story surrounding the Indians and the Mariners/Mets three way trade that spurred the Edwin Jackson/Matt Joyce deal. In this case, BYB points us to a column by Gordon Edes about the Tigers involvement in the Matt Holliday sweepstakes.

The Detroit Tigers were in hard on Matt Holliday(notes) before he went to the Cardinals, but Oakland turned down a package that included the Tigers’ top shortstop prospect, Cale Iorg. Right-handed pitcher Freddy Dolsi(notes), currently on the DL, would have gone to the Athletics as a player to be named later.

Presumably it should be Alfredo Figaro and not Freddy Dolsi. That was a fair offer, but given the A’s preference for performance and Iorg’s struggles with the bat this year, it’s not surprising they balked.

Twins stuff

The Twins are having some issues of their own with Kevin Slowey now out for the season due to a wrist injury. This comes on the heels of Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer begging the front office to make a move. A move or non-move could have longer term implications when it comes to Mauer’s willingness to resign in Minnesota.

One potential target is A’s shortstop Orlando Cabrera who has caught fire in July. But Billy Beane’s asking price is apparently too high. The Twins also asked the Blue Jays about Roy Halladay but the Twins aren’t one of the Doc approved teams.

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/27/09

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Scranton/WB 4 Toledo 0
Wilkin Ramirez went 2 for 4. Brooks Brown allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks with 3 K’s in 6 innings.

Erie 0 Akron 9
Casper Wells doubled and tripled pushing his line to 269/384/521.Jon Kibler gave up 7 runs in 6 innings on 2 homers, 10 hits, and a walk.

Palm Beach 5 Lakeland 1
Jordan Newton homered. Maurico Robles fanned 7 in 5 innings, but he allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and a walk.

Palm Beach 1 Lakeland 3
Audy Ciriaco doubled and drove ina run. Lauren Gagnier scattered 5 walks and 3 hits over 5 innings. Brett Jacobson got the save with 1 K in his inning of work.

West Michigan 2 Clinton 3
Joe Bowen doubled and walked. Brandon Hamilton allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks with 3 K’s.

Vermont 4 Oneonta 5
John Murrian went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles and a homer. Wade Gaynor doubled and walked. Clemente Mendoza surrendered 4 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings.

GCL Phillies 0 GCL Tigers 1 (10 innings)
Gustavo Nunez homered and singled. Rayni Guichardo allowed just 1 hit…and 4 walks in 6.2 innings with 5 K’s.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.098: Tigers at Rangers

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PREGAME: Oh boy, the Tigers are on the road again. That hasn’t exactly been their forte this summer. It should be hot and steamy at the Ballpark in Arlington (I always liked this place for the shout-out to Tiger Stadium with the upper level in right field).

This is the 3rd time this season the Tigers have gone up against a Rangers team that was hot. This time the Rangers have won 7 of 8 including a sweep of the Red Sox. In addition to playing well they are hot in the sense of febrile as H1N1 is traversing the clubhouse.

Former Ranger Armando Galarraga gets the nod for the Tigers. Galarraga was a hard luck victim of no offensive support and a Bobby Seay-allowed homer in his last start.

Tommy Hunter goes for the Rangers. He’s been solid in his last 4 starts not allowing more than 2 runs in any of them.

I don’t know if this has more to do with Ordonez or Raburn, but Maggs is starting against the right hander tonight.

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Thomas, LF
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Guillen, DH
  6. Ordonez, RF
  7. Inge, 3B
  8. Laird, C
  9. Everett, SS

Detroit vs. Texas – July 27, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Well, at least the Tigers scored 2 runs instead of 1 and once again it could have been more. Granderson led off the game with a homer, and the Tigers didn’t score again until the 8th inning. Sigh.

The biggest wasted chance came when the team had runners on 2nd and 3rd and only 1 out. A walk to Polanco loaded the bases but Clete Thomas hit a dribbler back to the mound (his second of the game) and nobody scored. Miguel Cabrera had a 3-0 count but ended up in a full count and he swung and missed at a pitch around the letters.

  • Galarraga was mostly good, except for the 6th inning when he got rattled and balls got peppered around the park. The slider was encouraging again. I’d count this as a positive outing.
  • Curtis Granderson got charged an error when he threw a ball that nearly hit second base that neither Polanco or Everett picked up which then trickled away from everyone allowing a run to score. I’m not sure why Galarraga wasn’t behind the plate backing up for a throw home.
  • Ordonez turned on another fastball and ripped it for a double. It’s been a decent little stretch for the struggling Ordonez.
  • Ryan Perry had a couple balls hit hard. His first struggles since his recall.
  • Tim McClleland not making many friends tonight. I can’t remember so many disputed called strike 3’s in a game. The strike zone was small early in the game, but got pretty wide at the end.
Links

links for 2009-07-27

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2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/26/09

Scranton/WB 2 Toledo 10
Brent Clevlen was a triple short of the cycle. Jeff Frazier singled twice and homered. Mike Hessman singled and homered. Nate bump went 8 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks.

Erie PPD

Lakeland PPD

West Michigan 4 Clinton 2
Brent Wyatt went 4 for 5. Avasail Garcia had 3 hits. Casey Crosby struck out 7 and walked 1 and only allowed 1 run on 2 hits in 5 innings.

Tri-City 0 Oneonta 4
Luis Palacios tripled and singled. Cory Hamilton pitched 6.1 shut out innings allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks.

Tri-City 9 Oneonta 1
Oneonta’s offense was a double from Eric Roof and a double from Rawley Bishop. Mike LaLuna started and allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks in 3 innings.

GCL Tigers DNP

Uncategorized

Game 2009.097: White Sox at Tigers

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PREGAME: A series split would have been acceptable. Going 3-1 tilted towards the home team would have been a positive step. A sweep, well, that would be freakin’ awesome (technical term). Fortunately the forecast for the Tigers is a positive step with a chance of freakin’ awesome.

Rick Porcello had some rust last time out and he wasn’t keeping the ball down and getting his customary bevy of of groundballs. The rust should be off, but there may be some adrenaline and jitters in play on the ESPN National stage.

Clayton Richard goes for the White Sox. Richard has struggled completing 6 innings just twice in his last 7 starts. But one of those times was his last start when he held the Rays to 1 run in 8 innings, with 7 Ks and 2 walks. The Tigers faced him in June and ran his pitch count to 100 before the end of the 5th inning.

The righty-heavy line up is:

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Ordonez, RF
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Thames, DH
  6. Raburn, LF
  7. Inge, 3B
  8. Laird, C
  9. Everett, SS

Chi White Sox vs. Detroit – July 26, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Rick Porcello had a rookie moment…either that or he just had no control tonight. From the beginning Porcello couldn’t locate the ball and to the White Sox credit they made him pay. An infield single was fine, but then Porcello hung a curve ball that Alexei Ramirez ripped to left. And then a walk. And then a near double play ball that wasn’t. And then falling behind to Paul Konerko. And then the get-me-over fastball that got over the seats. And that was the ball game.

Like his last outing, Porcello’s pitches didn’t appear to be lacking in movement, but they sure were in location. He eventually settled in, but the damage was already done from the top of the first inning.

The offense didn’t get the favorable bounces that they had found in the first 3 games and Detroit only managed 1 run. It looked like they might break through in the 4th when Ordonez and Cabrera ripped back-to-back singles, and then Marcus Thames crushed a ball to centerfield that Podsednik tracked down. Three hard hit balls in a row could have been a sign that they were figuring Richard out, but that really was the only rally to speak of.

  • Casey Fien made his debut in a bases loaded situation, and got Konerko to pop out. He went on to pitch 2 more innings and strike out 2. Very nice outing and very encouraging.
  • Zach Miner was awful. He threw only 13 of his 34 pitches for strikes and created the aforementioned bases loaded situation on walks.
  • Ryan Raburn had a pretty poor game as well. He went all out on a ball ealier in the game, but he also dropped a routine fly and hit into a double play. He did drive in the only run, but that was on a ground ball force out.
  • The announcers went on and on about Porcello being late to the bag in the first inning. Yes, he was late but Thome still beat the throw. It wouldn’t have been a double play. Plus the throw wasn’t good. Maybe they save the 2nd run from scoring on that play, but Konerko hit the homer in the next at-bat anyways. Clearly there is room for improvement there and I’d guess he won’t be late to the bag again for quite some time, but I don’t think it was that big of a deal.
  • Speaking of the announcers, I rejoiced a little bit when I saw Joe Morgan wasn’t in the booth and he was replaced by Orel Hersheiser. But I was disappointed in the overall broadcast. The announcing team didn’t seem to have enough information about the Tigers, and didn’t provide enough context for a lot of the situations. For example, they talked about the Ordonez platoon without mentioning the vesting option (or if they did I missed it).
  • Richard balked when he picked off Granderson. It was so blatant I have a hard time figuring out how it was missed. He started coming home, and then changed direction. I can’t blame Granderson at all on that one. He didn’t progress his secondary lead until Richard made the motion towards home.
  • Inge looked awful at the plate. I know his knees are hurting, but that shouldn’t effect pitch selection that much. He is totally out of whack. He’s taking pitches down the middle and repeatedly swinging at pitches at his eyes.
2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.096: White Sox at Tigers

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PREGAME: Can the Tigers pick up another win against the White Sox? To do so they’ll have to get past Gavin Floyd who has kind of owned the Tigers since even before he was good.

Floyd has fanned 14 and walked just 2 in his last 2 starts. However he has allowed 5 of his 12 homers in those last 2 starts as well.

But things aren’t that easy for the White Sox either who will have to deal with Edwin Jackson. Jackson has been walking too many lately but has still pitched into the 7th inning in his last 5 starts.

This is a Fox game of of the week. Chris Rose and Mark Grace are your announcers, and unfortunately if you’re not in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, or Indianapolis you’ll be watching this one through the magic of MLB Gameday.

Chi White Sox vs. Detroit – July 25, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Yay. Baseball is fun again. The Tigers have found some clutch mojo and the timing couldn’t be more clutch. This team was a disaster 48 hours ago and now they have a 3 game lead in the division. I love baseball.

Edwin Jackson’s control wasn’t as sharp as it was early in the season, but once again you look and he’s gotten the team into the 7th inning stretch and has only allowed 3 runs. Yay.

The offense never really figured out Gavin Floyd, but they took advantage of Paul Konerko error and did that whole “score the runner from 3rd with less than 2 out thing.” Miguel Cabrera got a hit with a runner in scoring position. Yay.

And when the Tigers needed some late inning runs, they got bloopers and worked counts and scratched out a run in the 9th off of Jenks and one more in the 10th, and you can put it on the board.

  • The number 3 hitter sacrifice bunting in the 1st inning is, well, unconventional. But it worked.
  • I can’t figure out why the Tigers weren’t more aggressive on the bases today. Granderson and Thomas both found themselves on 1st base but weren’t green lighted and both ended up the front end of double plays. AJ Pierzynski is throwing out nobody. Run wild on him. Raburn got caught stealing, but that’s only because he slid off the base.
  • Carlos Guillen seems pretty comfortable. The winning hit wasn’t crushed by any means, but he hung in there with 2 strikes and got his second hit of the day.
  • What do you think of the decision to not bunt Guillen in the 10th. I really wanted to see what Guillen would do in that situation, but I have to say I would have bunted to get the winning run to 3rd. It worked out, but that took some stones from Leyland because if that grounder turns into a double play ball he’d never hear the end of it.
  • Fernando Rodney, 11 pitches and 3 outs. That’s 2 very clean outings in a row. Knock on proverbial wood.
  • Ryan Perry looked very much in control and turned in 2 clean innings.
2009 Season, Minors, Trade Rumors

The Weekend Trade Rumor Roundup

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It’s that time of year when trade rumor talk is through the roof. Combined with the Tigers recent struggles, I know this is top of mind stuff for many. I don’t do a lot of trade speculation here, mostly because I’m too lazy to conjure up potential deals. However, I do know this is a hot topic so please use this space to discuss things. Below are a couple of my thoughts on who the Tigers shouldn’t give up, as well as some links to current-ish rumors.

Continue reading The Weekend Trade Rumor Roundup →

2009 Season, Roster Management

Casey Fien gets the call

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Casey Fien had his contract purchased and will join the team tomorrow. He’ll technically take the place of Eddie Bonine, but practically take the place of Freddy Dolsi.

Fien has been nails for the last 2 months and since the end of May he has pitched 23.2 innings with 28 strike outs and only 7 walks. He is much better against righties than lefties, almost to the point of being a ROOGY.

I thought it would be Zach Simons getting the call, and that was from a 40 man roster point of view. What I forgot was that a space opened on the 40 man when Anderson was DFA’d this morning.

2009 Season, Minors, Trade Rumors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/24/09

Toledo 8 Scranton/WB 7
Scott Sizemore went 2 for 5 with a homer. Jeff Larish doubled twice and walked twice. Scot Drucker allowed 11 hits, 6 runs, and a walk with 3 K’s in 4.1 innings.

Minor League Baseball: Gameday: Scranton/WB vs. Toledo (in progress at blog time)

Binghamton 3 Erie 16
Supposedly the Nationals had scouts watching Erie, and they had quite a show. Alex Avila (one of the guys I would put in the untouchable category) homered 3 times. Brennan Boesch went 4 for 5 with 2 doubles and ahomer. Casper Wells, Ronnie Bourquin, and Michael Bertram also went deep. Thad Weber fanned 7 in 7.2 innings and Robbie Wenihardt struck out 2 and allowed 2 baserunners in 1.1 innings.

Lakeland 2 Jupiter 3
Chris Carlson had 2 hits and a walk. Ryan Ketchner allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 3 K’s in 2.2 innings. Trevor Feeney fanned 4 in 4.1 1 run innings.

West Michigan 4 Quad Cities 8
Alden Carrithers went 2 for 3. Luke Putkonen only recorded 1 out and he allowed 2 hits and walked 3.

Oneonta PPD

GCL Tigers 3 GCL Pirates 1
Gustavo Nunez went 3 for 4 with a double. Jacob Cruz had 2 hits. Zach Samuels allowed 1 unearned run in 7 innings on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 4 K’s.