Is there trouble brewing in the clubhouse? Or is there nothing else to talk about?
The fallout from the Yahoo article I posted on Wednesday has been at least measurable, if not significant. Of course, Dotel clumsily backtracked yesterday (think Delmon Young in LF) and apologized to Miggy,
So what do you guys think?
I think that there’s a little something to this. Cabrera isn’t the most mature player out there (White Sox series in ’09 and the DUI come to mind), so perhaps someone calling him out like this will help him to grow up a bit. I have no idea what went on in the locker room last October, but SF wasn’t sweep the Tigers good. There had to be some chaos going on in the clubhouse.
All in all, I think this is a good thing. If the Tigers hadn’t won the AL Pennant, this wouldn’t be national news. It’s kind of nice to be in the spotlight.
First ST game on MLB.tv tomorrow!
Yes, I ripped off that slogan from Coleman. There, I said it.
I should have listened to TSE and trademarked it while I had the chance.
(Actually the alert DTW reader might recognize that I ripped it off from myself from last season).
Very prescient* of you.
*for any ballplayers out there, this means having the ability to see into the future.
Yawn. Time for a Brandon Inge thread?
Brandon Inge seems very thrilled to be a Pirate:
http://www.bloguin.com/theoutsidecorner/images/stories/uspw_Brandon-Inge.jpg
Must be his team passport photo.
Well played. Vince looking sharp already. Winter ball in the Venezuelan Posting League?
I’ve been working hard this off-season and am in the best shape of my career.
Porcello with 2 scoreless and 2 Ks today. I’m naming him the 5th starter now.
About this clubhouse leader thing: I don’t see Miguel Cabrera being a vocal leader (have you heard him speak?) and don’t know why anyone would expect him to be one. He has presence and commands respect, but come on – he’s a big kid. A lot of fun to watch and undoubtedly fun to play with and be a teammate of. Actually, being on the same team as Cabrera should be motivation enough for anyone.
I don’t see how a player’s-only meeting could have helped the Tigers in the postseason last year, ALCS or WS or whatever. Dotel did not elaborate upon this, as far as I know, so don’t ask Dotel. Or: Show me Dotel me.
I think the Tigers have a good thing going with or without any designated vocal clubhouse leader. They appeared to stay on an even keel through the struggles of 2012.
I always thought the clubhouse leader role was supposed to be the manager’s job.
Great article on Fangraphs about the Tigers closer situation from a financial perspective. It supports DD’s decision not to overpay for a closer in the offseason.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/bruce-rondon-and-unlikely-likely-closers/
Yeah.
I became curious about how this past offseason differed from when the Tigers overpaid for, or “overpaid for” Jose Valverde. See “Tigers find enough in the cushions for Valverde” (DTW thread from 2010). Interesting discussion there, incredible number of posts.
Well, the Tigers got their money’s worth from Valverde (see Fangraphs stats in article cited above). But the situation with the pitching staff is a world away from where it was 3 years ago.
Having a great closer is like having a great vice president. The role is largely ceremonial and only on rare occasions do you actually do something seriously important. Coming in with the bases loaded, none out and your team ahead by 1 run and not letting the tieing run score is a true save. Anything else is a team win. (But then I don’t put much stock in won/lost records for starters either.) This is not to say that there aren’t exceptions, but they are a small minority. The whole “role” thing is mostly due to misperceptions based on faulty/limited/biased interpretations of the data. Over time roles become institutionalized and their usefulness in not even critically examined; it becomes an act of faith that you just have to have one. Although I have a few qualms about the current sabre revolution, it does give us a chance to re-evaluate performance in new ways, which is a good thing. So, things are slowly changing. Is this part of the reason for DD’s decision to forgo buying an established closer this offseason or is it only a money thing? In the meantime, in most cases elite “role players” continue to be overpaid.
2 HR’s for Raburn today.
He had a good ST last year too as I recall.
He earned his post last year.
And then the real season began. He was lost from the start and stayed lost.
Watched the game against the Blue Jays today. I liked Prince Fielder’s bat release after the HR. Haven’t seen that move before. In between throwing 9 straight balls and a HR mistake, Melvin Mercedes showed a fastball with astonishing left-to-right movement. Bruce Rondon looked pretty good. Matt Tuiasosopo made a nice play at first to steal an extra base hit – would have been a spectacular play for an out but for the hurried and hilariously bad throw. Daniel Fields made a couple of nice plays in CF (although he might have made them look a bit harder than they actually were) and really terrible at the plate in his first AB. James McCann looked surprisingly good at the plate. I hope Torii Hunter’s first hit is a harbinger of things to come. It was sweet, a rocket down the first base line. I think Hunter is going to be a whole lot of fun to watch this year. Eugenio Suarez looked good running out to shallow RF to snag a fly. I hope the Tigers have their defensive communications down more than the Jays do (they suffered two outfield collisions). I’m amazed that P.J. Arencibia’s flying bat didn’t hurt someone in the stands (looked like a line drive with a bat instead of a ball and wedged itself in between seats where it came to rest), but then I’m always amazed that more spectators don’t get hurt by flying objects at baseball games.
It was weird to watch the Tigers lose 10-3 and not be concerned about it. I haven’t watched a ST game before. Even when I watch an old game where I know the Tigers are gonna get blown out, I’m not totally removed from some kind of visceral reaction. Watching a ST game, at least a very early one, is an odd exercise indeed. All study. Keeping track of who’s in the game is a challenge, especially when it’s an opposing team broadcast.
And – wow, no kidding that Jhonny Peralta has slimmed down. Looks like a new man, totally lean and mean.
And, but, also… Michael Morrison’s off-speed stuff looked really good. And from the looking for every little bit of encouragement department, although Jeff Kobernus didn’t deliver the hit with the bases loaded, with 2 strikes and 2 outs he did put the ball in play to the outfield, and it could have easily emptied the bases if Langerhans hadn’t somehow held onto the ball after being knocked down by McCoy.
Saw that ball that Miggy put into sub orbit the other day: Lead by example, or speak softly and carry a tape measure home run hitting bat…..
Somebody needs to track down where he bought that bat and see if they have any more in stock.
Castellanos has 5 straight hits…
Tigers on MLB.tv today.
caught a couple of innings, two impressions: JV, much like Vince in MN, is in mid season form, and we have some big(not necessarily fat ) players on the roster