All posts by billfer

2009 Season, Trade Rumors

Trade Deadline Live Chat

7 Comments

Will the Tigers be buyers or sellers? That remains to be seen, but no matter what happens we will be taking you right up to the trade deadline. Who is we? That remains to be seen, but the list is growing. So far the we will include:

And hopefully many more. Invites are out and going out and I’ll update things as we go. So stop back here or at any of the above mentioned sites between 2 and 4 tomorrow afternoon. You can also submit questions (or break news) on Twitter. Just use #TigsTrade in your tweet and it will pop into the chat automagically.

2009 Season, Trade Rumors

Tigers remain on periphery of trade deadline action

53 Comments

It was just a matter of time before things started to pick-up ahead of the trade deadline. The Tigers are still on the sidelines, as are their main competitors in the AL Central. Dave Dombrowski has said he’s having quite a few conversations, but things are still quiet and Danny Knobler tells The Cutoff Man that there are some front office disagreements about the Tigers biggest needs.

Even with things quiet in the Tigers front office, some of the moves today could impact the Tigers, Twins, and White Sox.

  • The Pirates move Ian Snell and Jack Wilson to the Mariners. The Tigers have been involved in Jack Wilson rumors for the last 2 years. To see him go somewhere else is, well, weird. The impact though is that this either means the Mariners are buyers,  or they could be preparing to move Jarrod Washburn. Washburn is a possible Tigers target as they look to bolster their rotation in the short term and the Mariners have had interest in Jeff Larish in the past (it would almost certainly take more than Larish).
  • Freddy Sanchez goes to the Giants. The Twins have been looking for a middle infielder, and have been attached to Sanchez, Marco Scutaro, and Orlando Cabrera. Brian Sabean gave up a pretty good pitching prospect in Tim Alderson. It’s something that the Twins probably wouldn’t want to beat, but you wonder if the Giants may have se the market unnecessarily high for middle infield help.
  • Cliff Lee goes to the Phillies. The immediate impact is that the Tigers will no longer face Lee this weekend. The broader implication is that the Indians are rebuilding again. The more interesting implication is that the Roy Halladay talks have stalled.
  • Halladay is still a Blue Jay. The Blue Jays have been waiting to see if Halladay goes anywhere before they start to unload other pieces, one of those being Scutaro. The Twins are interested, and I’d like the Tigers to be interested as well given Brandon Inge’s balky knees. But with Halladay’s main suitor now sated by Lee, it’s not a sure thing that Doc goes anywhere.
  • The Yankees are interested in Josh Anderson.  Ironically Anderson was in part responsible for 2 of the Yankees victories over the Tigers this year as balls scooted through his legs leading to runs. If the Tigers trade him, it will be for a C level prospect. Really not much to see here.

As always, the best way to stay on top of this stuff is to keep hitting refesh on MLB Trade Rumors.

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/29/09

Toledo 3 Louisville 7
Scott Sizemore, Jeff Larish, and Jeff Frazier all had 2 hits. Mike Hessman homered. Eddie Bonine went 6 innings and allowed 5 runs on 8 hits, a walk, and 2 K’s.

Erie 1 Akron 5
Jeff Kunkel had 2 hits. Jonah Nickerson allowed 5 runs on 6 hits in 6.2 innings.

Lakeland PPD

Burlington 3 West Michigan 1
Gustavo Nunez went 2 for 4. Bryan Pounds had a hit and 2 walks. Luke Putkonen allowed just 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings.

Oneonta PPD

GCL Tigers 12 GCL Braves 10
Elvin Soto was a double short of the cycle and he added a walk. Jordan Cruz homered. Francisco Martinez went 2 for 4 with a walk.

Minors News

The Tigers had 2 players on their VSL team suspended for testing positive for PEDs. Pitchers Carlos Alvarado and Frank Penalver are the guilty parties.

2009 Season, Injuries

Oh them injured arms

17 Comments

Two injured Tigers pitchers are on the way back, and one is on the way back to Alabama.

Joel Zumaya

Zumaya started to feel pain again in his shoulder and with that comes a “diagnostic” trip to see Dr. James Andrews. There is a possibility that Zumaya will need surgery to clean up bone shards that is a part of last year’s stress fracture.

While I hope for the best for Zumaya, this story is probably a non-factor for the Tigers and their chances this year. If Zumaya can come back that’s great, but it shouldn’t even factor into the Tigers plans one way or the other.

Jeremy Bonderman

Rod and Mario mentioned during the telecast that Bonderman was set to pitch a simulated game prior to the Indians game on Friday. Bonderman is supposedly feeling great and Dave Dombrowski has said that a bullpen role could be in Bonderman’s future. With Porcello’s recent struggles and the uncertainty around what Luke French can contribute down the stretch, I have to think the Tigers need to at least explore Bondo starting down the stretch.

Nate Robertson

Robertson, like Bonderman will throw a simulated game before the weekend. Robertson is recovering from a procedure to clean out his elbow. I have no idea if it would be a successful endeavor, but the Tigers should look at an extended rehab session for Robertson to stretch him out as well.

Fu-Te Ni and Bobby Seay have made a nice left-handed tandem out of the pen and I can’t see Robertson dislodging either one of them at the moment. The mission to make him a starter does a)buys the team more time with him in the minors and b) if he pitches well it’s another potential starting option.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.100: Tigers at Rangers

72 Comments

PREGAME: When the Tigers were being swept by the Yankees, they were at least ultra-competitive games that saw the series come down to a 9-5 score. The Tigers have been outscored 12-5 so far in this Rangers series. I think I preferred the ultra-competitive heart wrenching games than the games without heart.

The Tigers will try to muster some offense against Scott Feldman who sports a 3.59 ERA. Feldman’s peripherals are unimpressive. His walk rate is a touch under 3 per 9, but he only fans a batter every other inning. But he has managed to go at least 6 innings in 14 of his last 15 starts.

Justin Verlander takes the hill for Detroit. Verlander is coming off a huge 127 pitch dominant performance against the White Sox. The Tigers look to him once again to pick up a much needed win.

Detroit vs. Texas – July 29, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Can you believe the Tigers stranded 13 runners tonight?! It’s not nearly as problematic when you plate 13 as well. The Tigers haven’t had a lot of laughers in the last couple months, and the team needed some smiles after looking dead the night before. Early runs, a big cushion, and Verlander pitching nasty meant the drama was pretty limited in this one.

  • The Tigers were quite patient early on and made Feldman work, which worked to their advantage. They left the bases loaded in the first, but Feldman threw 38 pitches. Unlike other games though where they’ll let a starter off the hook, they came back in subsequent innings and plated runs.
  • Grandy had homers in his first 2 at-bats.
  • Cabrera had 4 hits and his 2 outs came on great playes from Byrd and Vizquel. He also got hits with guys on base. With it being a blow out they weren’t really “clutch” but hopefully it relaxes him.
  • Ordonez still found himself in a double play situation. This time he roped a liner at the pitcher who caught Guillen off second base.
  • Verlander matched a career high with 13 strike outs. He got in a jam in the 5th inning and what ensued wasn’t really the art of pitching. Fifteen of the last sixteen pitches the threw that inning were fastballs.
  • Texas pitchers threw 195 pitches
  • Jim Leyland had a wonderful opportunity to give Verlander a light outing and Inge a full day off. He did neither bringing Verlander out for the 7th inning despite a 9 run lead, a rested bullpen, and an off day tomorrow. Inge also came in as a defensive replacement. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/28/09

1 Comment

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

53 Comments

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

21 Comments

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

1 Comment

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

55 Comments

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

6 Comments
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