Javair Gillett, the Tigers’ strength coach, says the team has long visited players during the off-season, but he has stepped up his travels lately, even flying down to Venezuela this winter to see shortstop Carlos Guillen. Drills he runs in his visits include one in which the player stands on an unsteady platform and tosses a medicine ball back and forth with a partner, which works the abdominal muscles, the back and the arms while also aiding hand-eye coordination and balance. Mr. Gillett follows up with players once or twice a month by phone and also consults with personal trainers that some players hire for themselves. “If they don’t come back stronger and faster and quicker, that looks bad on me,” Mr. Gillett says.
It’s nice to hear about the efforts that Gillett and the Tigers’ organization have made to keep the players ready to perform. It becomes especially relevant for a team that is playing veterans at so many physcially demanding defensive positions (catcher, shortstop, second base). detroit tigers
Well, no team ever really has too much pitching, but right now it looks like the Tigers have enough talent to build decent rotations in both Detroit and Toledo. There are still 4 legitimate candidates for the 5th starter spot, and none of them are making the decision easy on Jim Leyland. Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, Jason Grilli, and Roman Colon seem unwilling to surrender their shots at the position.
Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander started off the spring shaky, but has made improvement with each start. That improvement culminated in yesterday’s outing against the Dodgers. Granted, the team LA fielded was devoid of starters, but 4 scoreless innings with no walks and 3 strikeouts is still impressive. The Dodgers managed 3 hits, two of which were bloop singles.
Verlander certainly would be a sexy pick for the rotation. He has Rookie of the Year potential, and it is always exciting to see home grown talent excel. The argument against is that if there are other capable arms, why rush someone with only one year of pro experience. Continue reading Tigers have too much pitching→
How about that lineup? It’s nice to see some regular names in there. Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez saw their first action since Venezuela was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic. The game also marked Dmitri Young’s return to the lineup from his quadricep injury. Todd Jones should be on his way back, and we should also be seeing Pudge Rodriguez shortly. That leaves only Placido Polanco and Fernando Rodney MIA. Continue reading St Patty’s Bracket Busting Tiger Round Up→
Okay, so maybe they weren’t quite the first cuts. Earlier in the week they sent catcher Chris Robinson to minor league camp, and optioned Kyle Sleeth. But today marked the first big cuts.
Firstly, if Matt Mantei does comeback from his injury, he won’t be doing it with the Tigers. Mantei received his unconditional release. Continue reading Tigers First Cuts→
Ten homers were hit in a 14-10 slugfest that saw the Detroit Tigers beat the Indians. Me thinks that the wind may have been a factor. With that, on to some Tiger news:
Injury Update
There has been mixed news the last couple days on the injury front. Mike Maroth made the start on Sunday, and so far things sound good. Omar Infante has also returned to game action, and he did so with a flourish. He went 3-3 today with a homer. In other news, there is a chance that Craig Monroe may be starting the season on the DL. While it is bad news for Craig, it is probably good news for Marcus Thames and/or Nook Logan (who has been struggling mightily). Finally, Dmitri Young may be close to returning. Continue reading Wind Blown Tiger Updates→
Over the last few weeks of spring training, I’ll be writing about the storylines that I think will be most interesting, or at least most vital to the team’s success. The first subject will be pitching coach Chuck Hernandez and how he sets the tone with Tiger pitchers and throughout the organization.
One of the least reported on changes this past offseason has been pitching coach Chuck Hernandez. Given the youth and potential of the pitching staff the topic seems especially relevant.
In the case of Kenny Rogers, I’m not all that concerned. At age 41 he’s probably his own pitching coach anyways.
It does become much more interesting though with the other 3 veteran starters – Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson, and Mike Maroth. For those 3, especially Bonderman, the bulk of their professional instruction has come through Bob Cluck. Continue reading Keep an eye on: Chuck Hernandez & the Pitching Staff→
The Tigers and Fox Sports Net finally announced the broadcast schedule for the 2006 season. FSN will broadcast 112 games this year, or two more than last year. There is no word yet on whether or not the Tigers will also broadcast games on an over-the-air channel.
For Tiger fans who have been anxiously awaiting the start of the season, they better get used to tuning in their radios. Only 5 of the first 12 games are scheduled to be telecast on FSN. The season opener will be broadcast, as will the Thursday night game against the Rangers. However, the Friday and Saturday games will not be broadcast. After back-to-back airings on Sunday(Apr 9th) and the home opener(Apr 10th), fans are out of luck until the following Sunday (Apr 16th).
After the initial excitement of pitchers and catchers reporting, and the surge of enthusiasm after the first few spring training games, baseball settles into 3 weeks of games that become somewhat tedious while fans anxiously await the beginning of real games. The World Baseball Classic has helped break up the monotony, as has some interesting developments in the Tigers camp.
After Gammons blogged about the possibility of Carlos Pena being cut in a financial move, Danny Knobler followed up a day later saying that Pena and Nook Logan just weren’t manager Jim Leyland’s type of players. What remains to be seen is what becomes of players who aren’t Leyland’s type. Does the manager have the final say or does Dave Dombrowski hold the trump card? I’d say when it comes to which members of the 40 man roster head north with the big club (the Nook Logan scenario), Leyland might have more say, but when it comes time to decide who is on the payroll (Pena) Dombrowski’s vote probably carries more weight. Continue reading Dog Days of Spring Training→
A traveling collection of Cooperstown artifacts titled Baseball As America has come to The Henry Ford. At a special preview today, media were able to view the Hall of Fame exhibit, as well as some Hall of Famers. Former Tigers Al Kaline, George Kell, and Sparky Anderson were joined by Fergie Jenkins and Ryne Sandberg to kick-off the special exhibit.
Detroit is the 10th stop for the exhibit which began touring in New York in 2002. The Baseball as America display features over 500 artifacts from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. The Detroit stop was to be the final stop on the tour, but Jane Forbes Clark (chairman of the board of the hall) said that there may be 4 additional cities that will receive the exhibit.
It was only yesterday that I was yearning for Justin Verlander or Joel Zumaya to have one of those WOW type outings wasn’t it? Well Zumaya came through today in split squad action against the Blue Jays. De Facto DTW Lakeland correspondent Scott Galbraith had this to say about Joel’s effort today:
Rippin
News, views, and analysis on the Detroit Tigers and baseball
Well, no team ever really has too much pitching, but right now it looks like the Tigers have enough talent to build decent rotations in both Detroit and Toledo. There are still 4 legitimate candidates for the 5th starter spot, and none of them are making the decision easy on Jim Leyland. Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, Jason Grilli, and Roman Colon seem unwilling to surrender their shots at the position.
A traveling collection of