2017 Season, Game Post, Spring Training

Spring Training 2017

64 Comments

Ah, Spring Training!

The turtle has finished its song, and retired to his turtle-nook, quietly shaking his head. What’s all the fuss about some groundhog anyway? When the turtle says it is spring, it is spring, and the boys of summer grab their gloves and take the field under the Florida sun and in the Arizona desert.

It is actually baseball weather in the midwest at the moment, but that will come and go, like the prevailing opinion of who the Tiger centerfielder will be. Florida is where it is at in Tigerland right now, albeit with the absence of Mr. Illitch clouding the skies a bit.

Still, spring is for hope, and hope and spring pair like wine and cheese. Hope isn’t really a plan though, and it seems like most of what happened in the offseason for the Tigers was a bunch of hoping that the pieces they already have will grow to fit in their many-gapped puzzle. Well, we shall see.

* * * * * * *

Miguel Cabrera, at least, isn’t writing this season off. He is focusing on hitting in addition to hitting: he has added boxing to his offseason workout.

The Donkey is back! The illustrious Don Kelly has been hired as a pro scout for Detroit.

Who will play center? This is one of the burning questions of the season, and we can hope at least someone will. Well, I guess that’s inevitable. The Tigers are hoping Gose will miraculously be good. They are rooting hard! Umm, OK. They are also hoping Tyler “Fingers” Collins will be good. Or maybe Mikie Mahtook, who they are hoping is better than he was on Tampa Bay. Then there is Jacoby Jones, who one hopes will mature into the position. I will save the Most Hopeful award though for Omar Infante, who hopes he can be the centerfielder, since he played center a little bit almost a decade ago. Hey, if not here, then where?

Also destined to spend some time roaming center is Andrew Romine, who showed up to camp with eight different gloves, and wins the Don Kelly award by a landslide.

Also there is a lot of talk about who will bat second, and I will refrain from posting links from that one, because, well, Justin Upton is batting second. Justin Upton is definitely not batting second. Could Miggy bat 2nd? Miggy is definitely not batting second. Castellenos might bat second! (That’s the latest one).

* * * * * * *

I would be remiss if I left out the doings of Major League Baseball, which has implemented the new fabulous time-saving automatic intentional walk rule. The intentional walk is now automatic, and is signaled by a gesture from the dugout (much fun was had on twitter with suggested gestures). Intentional walks totaled 1410 minutes in 2016, so the new rule will make games an average of 35 seconds shorter. Whee!!! Hold on to your seatbelts, these games will fly by now!. I’m not a fan of the rule. It could, and may soon be worse: they are testing a new extra-inning rule in the low minors, where teams start out with a runner on second base. Each out that nobody scores, everyone has to do shots (OK, I made up the second part). Obviously I am less than enamored of these changes.

* * * * * * *

Finally, a note about the website. It seems that commenting on past posts is not possible. I know no more about this than you do. Perhaps Kevin can shed some light on it.

64 thoughts on “Spring Training 2017”

  1. Pingback: Spring Training 2017 | Detroit Tigers

  2. Just FYI, the posts from this blog show up with a bunch of spam links to “free viagra”-type garbage in them. This is the only site I follow that has this happen, so I thought I’d give you a heads up in case your server/site has been infected.

    This was happening last season too, I was just too busy to bring this up then.

    See the image link below for a screenshot of what I mean:
    http://imgur.com/a/U5FN8

    Just thought I’d bring it to your attention. Go Tigers in 2017!

    1. You are the 2nd person to point this out (or maybe this is your 2nd time pointing it out?). This is a conundrum; I don’t see any of this when I look at the page, so maybe it’s something that only shows from certain operating systems/browsers/something else. How do you access the blog? And thank you for mentioning this.

      Also, the rest of you faithful readers, please weigh in if this happens to you also.

      1. No Viagra/spam on the site noted here, and I’ve been all over it all offseason.

        The “no commenting”: Yes. I think. I first noticed this in late January with the blog entry prior to the Mr. I. one. There was no commenting allowed even though it was the *current* one. I thought something was really wrong, like maybe DTW was out of business (or that I had been banned from commenting in some sneaky and subtle way… yeah, I’ve got a bit of a paranoid/persecution complex streak. Gee, I hope I don’t get banned for it…).

        Glad that DTW is alive and well, or mostly well.

      2. Sorry for not responding sooner. I mainly read the blog through Feedly, an RSS feed. This is the only thing I follow that has that happen and it does so consistently. That said, I do not see anything when on the site, so it could be somehow connected to how feedly and RSS feeds connect to the blog.

        Now that I look further, going to the link “http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/feed/rss/” on the upper right of the page, the garbage is embedded in the XML file that connects the blog to RSS readers. I don’t know how exactly, but it seems someone is able to write to that file who shouldn’t be able to.

      3. I’m the one who brought it up last year. It comes through when you’re subscribed via RSS feeds, but is otherwise unnoticeable when you’re on the site. However, if you view the source on any page (right click, view source) and then search for Viagra, you’ll see it.

        Basically, the WordPress installation got hacked and someone with an account needs to go in and clean it up and also secure the site better so it doesn’t happen again. Maybe whoever put the theme together, or Billfer if he’s still around in some kind of capacity, can do that.

  3. Glad to see the Donkey on the payroll. Class guy.. Never a problem.. Great teammate…good roll model. Has experience at all 9 positions. That in itself is amazing! Welcome Don….

  4. Four recent signings. None of these players is likely to take the field or the mound for the Tigers, but all improve upper-level talent in the organization:

    OF David Lough: If the Tigers needed a 4th outfielder behind three set starters (they don’t), Lough would be the guy. Good defensively at all the positions. I remember him from the Royals, seem to recall that he was a pretty good baserunner, too, if not a base stealer.
    LHRP Mike Zagurski: AAA veteran back from Japan, bullpen improvement for Toledo.
    OF Matt Murton: Though his minor league contract doesn’t even include an invite to spring training, Murton actually has the best LF pedigree of anyone in the organization behind Justin Upton.
    IF Daniel Muno: Not a remarkable minor league hitter aside from an excellent OBP, but Muno can cover most of the infield, and the Tigers are remarkably thin in that department, especially at 2B and 3B.

  5. I’m in favor of speeding up the intentional walk. It’s a boring little ceremony as is. I would be even more in favor of doing away with the intentional walk altogether and awarding *second* base as a penalty for getting clever with the obviously intentional unintentional intentional walk.

    The extra-inning rule, no. Thumbs down.

    I like baseball as the slow game it is, though I’ll allow that the games could be shorter. I don’t see any good way to force pitchers and batters to hurry it up. Clocks would be a very unwelcome distraction. The best way to shorten game times would be to eliminate commercial breaks between half-innings (all of them!). Is that going to happen? Never. Baseball is brought to you by corporate advertising sponsors, as you may have noticed. Otherwise we’d be talking about the Michigan Baseball League and what to do about Anibal Sanchez’s ridiculous $16,000 salary.

    2. I think of it like 4-inch putts in golf. Should they be gimmes? That would save way more time than the intentional walk rule. I have seen in person a run score on an intentional walk wild pitch, just as I have seen on TV John Daly 3-putt from a few inches out. Maybe I’m too much of a traditionalist.

      The comparison with golf is intentional. In all of these discussions of length of games, people keep comparing baseball to football and basketball. But football, basketball, and hockey are timed sports, baseball, golf, and tennis are untimed sports. Would it benefit the untimed sports to move along a bit more quickly? Of course; but since they are un-timed sports by nature, this is of relatively minor importance.

      The most obvious way to make baseball games quicker without changing the game is to get rid of the 7th-inning stretch. That seems like an easy one. But about a decade ago everyone decided that God Bless America in the 7th inning was going to be a new tradition, so that probably won’t happen.

      If they are going to screw up the extra innings, I say skip the weird automatic guy on 2nd thing, and go one extra inning. If nobody scores, then each team sends out one guy for a home run derby to decide the game. If you are going to ruin the tradition, you might as well do something fun.

      1. Good thoughts Coleman. Also being a purist I have noticed a lack of outfield arms. How about putting a baserunner on third during the homerun derby that allows him to tag up and score? Maybe outfield arms will improve? Yeah. Of course we can’t have the runner colliding with the catcher!?

        BTW, wife and I are up in Baltimore for family business. While here we ate lunch at Pickles next door to Camden Yards. Between Pickles and the Yard is a recently laid statue of Brooks Robinson. The statue show Brooks just fielded a ball and is ready to throw to first. The statue is a faded green except for Brook’s glove which is casted in bright shiney gold. Well done, for a well done ballplayer! Oriole fans do have class!

      2. I’m with Coleman, the intentional walk speed up is a bad joke. Plus, in my lifetime I can recall at least 4 or 5 times where a blown IW cost runs, a game and do I recall a world series game? Want to speed it up, eliminate commercial breaks and warm ups between innings (good luck). Have a home run shoot out instead of extra innings. I don’t even like it in hockey. Sorry, baseball is not hockey or football. One sure time saver, no stepping out of the batters box and a timer for pitchers to throw the ball. Players only one trip to mound for anything. Other than that I’m not upset with even a 0-0 14 inning game.

      3. There’s really no reason for baseball to mess with extra innings, but here’s another fun alternative that would never actually happen:

        Game ends in a tie after 9 innings. There’s a 1-inning tie-breaker. Each team fills out a new lineup card, 9 players. No DH. No substitutions except in cases of injury. Players/pitchers taken out of the game earlier may not re-enter for the tie-breaker. Pitcher and catcher are obligatory fielders and may not bat. For the other 7 players, teams must designate who will bat and who will field. The conservative strategy would be to select 3 batters and 4 fielders.

        Example: Tigers are due up in the top of the 10th. They send Kinsler, J.D., and Cabrera to the plate. Once Cabrera has batted, the half-inning is over, regardless of outs. Detroit takes the field in the bottom half, sending out (in addition to the battery) Romine, Iglesias, and two outfielders, all of whom can be positioned anywhere. The other team sends their batters to the plate. When the last one has batted (again, regardless of outs), the game is over.

        If the tie is not broken, the game either counts as a tie or does not count in the standings at all (as though it were rained out and never made up).

  6. Friends –

    Let me know if the commenting is working again.

    Looking into the XML issue. Do those products help? Asking for a friend.

    1. Commenting… well, not sure. Still works where it did and doesn’t where it didn’t. But I don’t recall if old posts on DTW were traditionally closed for comments after a certain amount of time (or a certain amount of commentary content?) to begin with. I don’t think they ever were, but the problem was originally noted in January on Coleman’s post from October or November.

      Do which products help? Spam certainly works, especially when pan-fried. Viagra, I’m not sure, but I’m curious. I mean, a friend of mine is curious. Baseball has made me leery of PEDs.

      Or do you mean XML? I don’t think that’s a product, exactly, but I’ll sell you some if you insist.

  7. Detroit has signed former Cuban league SS Luis Valdes, perhaps because they expect to lose Dixon Machado on a waivers claim, or perhaps just to continue shoring up the middle infield talent deficit.

  8. Pelfrey (SP today) got pounded today 5 runs in 2IN, and I’ve been sporadically looking at box scores for ST (yes, I know its only spring training), but have noticed that Sanchez, Lowe and Rondon (and some other bullpen pieces) have been bad or nothing to get excited about… just sayin

  9. also looking at today’s boxscore (against BAL) – AAvila played 1B, 3 AB’s 3 K’s

  10. Yeah, I’m already worried about SP. And I’m still pissed about JV not winning the Cy Young.

    1. One of the joys after New Year is to listen to the weekly Tiger Talk podcasts with Dan Dickerson before all head south to Florida. During those podcast there was much talk about what to do with Sanchez and Pelfry when the season opens. That is, if they have a good Spring they should become starters until their production heads south. Too many dollars tied up in their contracts is the thinking. Given Pelfrey’s results this Spring, it would be hard to even put him in the bullpen. Meanwhile has anyone discussed Avila’s batting average with the folks he has signed? Meanwhile I know this is Spring and pitchers try new things. Also the WBC will make it harder to decide who goes north?

      PS….does anyone notice the time stamps for these posts are really off?

  11. http://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2017/03/06/detroit-tigers-spring-training-pitching-woes/98825794/

    apparently we’re not alone in expressing concerns w/the pitching staff

    i agree w/Ole Miss that in ST is where pitchers are experimenting…but based on the past two seasons w/many of DET pitchers, the ‘concern’ is justified

    if Sanchez, Pelfrey and Lowe don’t turn it around this spring, if i were AA Sr, i’d cut my losses, and DFA the underperformer(s) of those three, and give some younger guys a shot – either at the end of ST or end of April

    1. I agree, but I might DFA Pelfrey no matter what. A youngster can’t hurt the way the staff is shaping up (Glad Teresa doesn’t think like that). Looking forward to 1st TV game Saturday.

    1. If Verlander, Zimmermann, Fulmer, Norris, and Boyd can make it to April healthy, that’s a good rotation. The only thing to worry about is some circumstance that would force Sanchez or Pelfrey into it (or Lowe into the bullpen). Those guys have got to go, and I’m actually not unhappy to see them making a case for it themselves.

      The bullpen, on the other hand, is up for grabs. That’s fine. They could use some fresh faces. None of the holdovers from 2016 did anything amazing last season. There’s nothing to lose.

  13. I know it’s early and the games don’t count but Kevin has a good point. Zim gave up 5 ER in 1 1/3 innings. Hopefully Van-Man will look better tomorrow in first TV game. Could be a brutal 2017.

  14. Smoking makes a good point about the 4 starters but it is exactly why I am not too confident thus far. JV is JV but age could be a factor. We can’t expect him to be the workhorse he has been. Norris is serviceable as a starter. Boyd needs some work before he top notch. Fulmer I expect to be very good, as he was last year. Can’t count on Sanchez or Pelfrey based on past 2 years. When Loon says the pen is up for grabs, he’s correct. The pen is not as bad as it seems sometimes. I’m hoping Mark Lowe regains some of his old competence. Both Wilsons are good enough and our closer should have an acceptable season. Notice no real 5th starter is apparent. Rondon could be a pleasant surprise from the pen based on last year. The scariest thing about the ball pen to me is the lack of our manager to utilize them wisely. Maybe we can force him to watch all of the Indian’s games from last year to teach him how to manage relief pitchers. So far I see a long season for the fans.

  15. I have been greatly enjoying watching the World Baseball Classic. The tourney is unique…think of putting together a team where salary doesn’t come into play. Only nationality. Given this, I think Leyland invited true “ballplayers” to play on Team USA. We all know the comments about Ian Kinsler being a called a “ball player.” Well do the same and pick 24 other similar players. They know how to play the game with heart and unselfishness. Last night, Adam Jones was interviewed after the game on his 8th inning tying home run. Instead of taking credit for the win, Jones complimented the USA pitchers for keeping them in the game that allowed his home run to mean something. Truly a classy guy! And btw, the USA starting pitcher was Drew Smyly who stuck out his last five batters including Miggy and V-Mart.

    Now it looks like the USA game against Puerto Rico is gonna be a good one on Friday night and wil help determine who moves on to the finals. Enjoy!

    1. I echo OTFIM’s comments… I take spring training games with a grain of salt, watching maybe an inning or two. This Tourney, which I was not crazy about at first, has produced some remarkable and enjoyable baseball. Manny Machado’s play at third last night was outstanding! The energy that all of these ball players show in these games makes me hope that when the dog days of August come around, and we are just hoping/waiting for the post season that I will remember these March WBC games as the true spirit of the sport.

    1. I guess it’s safe to say that OTFIM and I are home watching baseball on Saturday night! The thing I liked about Adam’s catch ( why is he not a Mariner???) was the tip of the hat from his Oriole teammate who he had robbed of a home run. Stanton’s blast was thrilling too, I have been in Petco, and those seats are way up there! 110 mph ! He hit that ball really hard….

  18. United We Grind is the call! Team USA wins 2-1 against a tuff and proud Japan. Now on to the final against Puerto Rico! Who’s your American?

  19. I only wish the games were on national TV. So it’s PR vs USA. This creates a minor family issue in our family. My wife Teresa was born in PR (as was my mom).I was born in the Bronx but always disliked the Yankees a lot. We all secretly hate too much success! Since everyone born in PR is a natural born US citizen anyway, this is USA vs USA Tropical as far as I am concerned. But since it is Jim Leyland and I suffer through the Tigers every year, the choice is easy. GO USA! It’s nice that Ian is a big part of this also.

  20. Marcus Stroman was awesome pitching six innings of no-hit ball in the WBC final and the good pitching silenced good hitting. This was the last time Jim Leyland put on a ball uniform and a great way to go out. I was glad to watch and I hope Alan Trammell picked up on Leyland’s style during this tournament for future use. Always for the fan. Also good to see Jeff Jones and Tom Brookens in a uniform again

    http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/world-baseball-classic-team-usa-jim-leyland-championship-puerto-rico-032317

    The final sentence of Leyland’s final postgame speech, according to Kinsler, was, “You come to the ballpark every day to win, to beat the other team regardless of who it is.” Doesn’t sound like much, but the U.S. team, full of baseball rats, could relate. That’s how they approached the game.

    Later, as Leyland concluded his postgame news conference, the moderator said, “Jim, World Series champion. World Baseball Classic champion. Congratulations.”

    “Thank you, all. I hope you enjoyed it,” Leyland said.

    Always did, Jim. Always did.

    1. Kind of sad today thinking that the WBC is over, it was amazing baseball, and even though I was a willing participant in the bashing of Jim Leyland during his time with the Tigers, he did an outstanding job with this team. I am not the type of guy who wears his patriotism on his sleeve, but I did wear an USA WBC shirt to my 12 year old’s birthday dinner last night. He looked awesome in a sombrero, by the way. So now everyone goes back to their teams, some guys are a little dinged up, but it’s two weeks till we have games that count again….

  22. Glad to see that even with JD unavailable they sent Anthony Gose to Toledo. Should give Jones and Mahtook some time in the outfield. Zimmerman still has some issues. Casty looks like he can hit anything, two (to quote the Atlanta announcer) “majestic” home runs and more. He also looks fit physically. I’d probably let Jones play CF even against right handed hitters, he could be a pleasant surprise. (my opinion was just agreed with on TV by Al Kaline, but what does he know.) Mahtook could fill in RF unless you think Moya has learned how the play the outfield. The pen’s biggest issue is still management, ie: has Brad learned anything about when to use who?

    1. The pen’s biggest issue is still talent, Tony. I’m afraid I have to take issue with the old chestnut of in-game bullpen management as the culprit in bullpen failure.

  23. I wonder if the reinvented and resurgent Anibal Sanchez is attracting the interest of any other teams willing to pick up maybe $10MM of his salary.

    Alex Presley has earned a shot at being Detroit’s RF of the Month for April (we still don’t know how things are going to turn out with J.D.’s foot), but I don’t know that Steven Moya can be quite written off. Not a great spring for Moya, but the strikeouts are way down, and he’s got that one swing of the bat… bat.

    I doubt that things are ever going to really pan out with Bruce Rondon. I’d take a flyer on Daniel Stumpf, myself, and deal Rondon.

    I don’t see JaCoby Jones starting the season with Detroit, and think that is for the best. Put the pressure on Collins and Mahtook to keep him at Toledo. Because if he is up… they is gone. Or at least one of them is.

    I see where Al Avila explained that Alex is back because Detroit had no one in the minors they could call up. Come on, Al. Whatever the benefit to staff or clubhouse, Alex Avila’s hitting is going to be so predictably, brutally bad (worse than 2016 Salty by far) that we should resolve not to even complain about it. Just pray that McCann can begin to hit RHP.

    It looks like we’re in for the all-incumbent bullpen, and I wish them better luck this time, but may the force of the short leash be with the Tigers.

    I don’t care who bats #2 or when. Even if Miguel Cabrera would make the most sense (especially when the other names being trotted out to bat in front of him are not strong OBP guys).

    They’ve got to release Pelfrey now, right? Dixon Machado makes the team, right?

      1. Thanks Stormin..Presley sure had a good Spring compared to Collins and Mahtook. Jones is a good defensive player and I hope he can adapt to MLB pitching

        1. Collins was out of options, so that likely factored into the decision to cut Presley

  28. The combination of releasing Moya *and* cutting Presley was a surprise to me. Doesn’t mean either or both might not be back as soon as some time in April or May, though. Either it is all systems go, sink or swim for Jones in CF, or there is some hidden card.

    1. Well I hope Jones’ bat will work. He certainly has the skill sets for roaming CF. I will definitely be rooting for the Mississippi player to do good. It sounds like he is a good clubhouse mate too.

      Meanwhile, who was responsible for bringing Pelfrey, Lowe, and forth that matter Upton and Zimmermann? I haven’t seen much press about that.

      Ok all, just a short weekend between us and our long awaited MLB season. Remember the only thing between making the playoffs last year were the Indians. Certainly the Tigers can have a better 2017 record against them than 2016?

      1. Jones is good enough in the field even if he only hits .250 in 2017.He can probably increase his average by putting down a bunt occasionally. Mikie had a good year in 2015 but tanked last year with a bunch of K’s. We can hope, remembering what JD looked like when he got here. I would platoon Mikie and Fingers unless one of them gets hot and play the hot hand no matter who’s pitching.

  29. my top 3 primary concerns for DET going into ’17 are: 1) relief pitching, 2) starting pitching, 3) bullpen management

    barring any key injuries, DET offense should be good enough to get this team to compete for a playoff spot IF (and only if) DET pitching can show meaningful improvement over the past two seasons… and i’m kinda skeptical they (DET pitching) can

    1. Getting rid of Lowe and Pelfrey makes room and opportunities for others to excel. Meanwhile a good late Spring improvement has cast a ray of hope on Sanchez.

      Perhaps Jones deserves time at the plate like Castey needed? A .250 hitter will be a blessing while I expect .220 this year.

      Did you see Gose had a productive bullpen outing? I never would have put him in the pitching square. I wish him good luck.

      Don’t forget Romine adjusted his swing with good Spring results. That can pay off too.

  30. Ok Boys…for the first time ever, the setup of my MLB TV via my Direct TV MLB Extra Innings package went seamless! I am now already for Opening Day. Meanwhile Zimmermann gets pegged for four runs in the first two innings.

  31. Why do I get the feeling that things aren’t quite right with Zimmermann, and that Sanchez won’t be in the bullpen very long? It’s kind of funny to have $40MM wrapped up in what may effectively be a tandem of #5 starters, but I suppose there are worse problems to have. The moral of the story: Always have a spare albatross.

      1. And so went the contract negotiations for Sanchez and Zimmermann. Thanks for the archival footage, Coleman.

        Maybe 2017 is the year Sanchez and Zimmermann pay off.

  32. Checked the Chicago weather for next week. Looks dismal. I wish the schedule folks would start the season in warmer or covered stadium venues. I just hope they cancel the games before we burn our starters with an inning, long delays.

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