Category Archives: 2007 Season

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 6/22/07

Indianapolis 5 Toledo 6 11 innings
Jack Hannahan pounded 2 homers and Timo Perez went 3 for 5. Jon Connolly was bumped up to Toledo and allowed 2 runs in 5 innings on 3 hits, 2 walks, and 5 K’s.

Trenton 9 Erie 6
Jackson Melian hit a 3 run homer and walked. Andres Torres added a triple and a walk. Jair Jurrjens was knocked around for 8 hits and 6 runs in 4 innings. He walked 3 and fanned 3. Roman Colon, assigned to Erie following his suspension, pitched 2 innings allowing 2 hits and a walk.

Lakeland Tampa suspended
They only got 2 innings in before suspending this one. Chris Cody made his Hi A debut and allwed 2 runs on 3 hits. He was opposed by “starter” Kevin Whelan who the Tigers sent to the Yankees in the Sheffield trade.

West Michigan 4 Dayton 3
Ryan Strieby hit his 7th homer. Jeramy Laster, Scott Sizemore, and Audy Ciriaco all had multi-hit games. Jeff Gerbe allowed 6 hits and 2 walks while fanning 4 over 7 innings.

Tri-City 1 Oneonta 3
Kody Kaiser added 2 more doubles. Chris Carlson and Cory Middleton had the only other hits. Mark Brackman pitched 4 innings of shutout ball allowing only 3 hits. Jose Fragoso followed that with 1 run on 2 hits and 5 K’s over 4 innings.

GCL Tigers 10 GCL Yankees 0
This one was called after 5 due to rain. Brent Clevlen finally got going with a 3 for 3 effort. Carlos Ramirez and Roger Tomas were a triple short of the cycle and Hayden Parrott was 2 for 2. Twenty year old Luis Marte allowed just 2 hits over 5 innings while fanning 6.

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2007 Season, Game Post

Game 72: Tigers at Braves

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PREGAME: Kenny Rogers returns from the disabled list and will be taking on John Smoltz.

Game Time: 7:35

POSTGAME:
This game was just a real pleasure to watch. A couple of pitchers on top of their games, except that the Tigers managed to dissect John Smoltz while the Braves couldn’t solve Kenny Rogers.

It took Smoltz only 34 pitches to make it through the order the first time. He was wicked with even Placido Polanco swinging and missing at a ball that broke a foot off the plate. But then the second time through the Tigers were able to hang in and see a few more pitches. They didn’t have great results, but it took Smoltz 51 pitches to get through the order the second time. The Tigers had some exteneded at-bats including a 9 pitch effort by Sheffield.

Now the third time through the Tigers had put it together. Starting with Curtis Granderson they went single-single-pop out-dingle-double-double-walk-single. This offense still continues to amaze me.

Kenny picked up right where he left off. I was a little surprised to see him lifted as early as he was, but the bullpen came through again. Three innings with only a walk allowed from Jason Grilli, Bobby Seay, and Eulogio De La Cruz was quite impressive – even against a team who is struggling at the dish.

Tigers 5 Braves 0

2007 Season, Trades

Maroth traded, probably?

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So Ken Rosenthal says Mike Maroth was traded to the Cardinals. The Tigers deny the story. Then the St. Louis Post Dispatch says that league sources confirmed the rumor. According to the article it was for a player to be named later. The old PTBNL makes it hard to evaluate the trade. But I’ll update as more info becomes available.

This really doesn’t come as a surprise, it was more a matter of what they got in return.

I feel for Maroth who became the odd man out in a rotation crunch. He suffered through baseball hell in 2003, missed out on being on the playoff roster due to his injury, and now he’s going from a first place team to a team that is 5 games under .500. I wish Mike the best of luck with the Cards.

UPDATE:
A couple notes on PTBNL: The transaction has to be completed within 6 months. So it wouldn’t be a recent draft pick, because they can’t be traded for 12 months after signing (it could be someone drafted last year). It could be a player currently on the disabled list. DL’s players can’t be traded without permission from the league, but they can be included as PTBNL. This could give some credibility to the Braden Looper being said player because he’s currently on the 15 day DL.

UPDATE: Tiger players have confirmed that Mike Maroth has been traded.

UPDATE: It will be a minor leaguer. The teams have agreed on a list of potentials and the Tigers will make their selection later this summer.

I’ll reserve judgement on this trade until we find out who the PTBNL is. I’d caution that just because it is a PTBNL doesn’t mean that it won’t be someone of value. It won’t be a premiere prospect of course, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see it be someone near the bottom of the BA top 10 prospect list either.

Now the deal does nothing to help with the bullpen, but I really do think the Tigers are still waiting to see if Eulogio De La Cruz can be helpful and if Fernando Rodney can regain 2006 form. There’s still plenty of time until the trade deadline if those options don’t work, and the Tigers have been lockstep with the Indians and holding on to the wild card lead so there’s no need to panic.

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 6/22/07

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toledo 3 Ottawa 4 10 innings
Jack Hannahan was a triple short of the cycle and added a walk. Chris Shelton doubled and singled. Ron Chiavacci went 8 innings and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and 4 K’s.

Altoona 3 Erie 12
Nate Robertson made his rehab start and pitched a no-hitter for 6 innings. He threw 72 pitches with 1 walk and 6 K’s. I know it was less competition and results don’t always correlate to stuff, but I’m thinking something was working for him today. Mike Hollimon doubled, tripled, and walked twice.

Altoona 1 Erie 2
Dallas Trahern went the distance, with the distance being 7 innings in a double header. He allowed 1 run on 5 hits, 3 walks and 4 K’s. Mike Hollimon pushed his season line to 274/394/469 with a double and a walk.

Lakeland 6 Tamnpa 7
Wil Rhymes and Max Leon both had 3 hit games. Wilkin Ramirez hit his 8th homer, and it was off of Anthony Claggett. Claggett you may remember was one of the 3 pitchers sent to the Yankees for Gary Sheffield. Burke Badenhop allowed 6 runs, 4 of which were earned, on 5 hits and 3 walks in 4 1/3 innings.

West Michigan 7 Dayton 6
James Skelton and Audy Ciriaco each homered for the Whitecaps. Michael Bertram doubled, tripled, and singled. Duane Below allowed no runs on 3 hits, 2 walks, and 8 K’s over 5 innings.

Oneonta 8 Lowell 13
Michael Sullivan had 3 hits, as did Jorge Patino. Sendy Vasquez came off of his illegal substance suspension and allowed 8 runs on 5 hits and 6 walks in 3 innings.

GCL Yankees 0 GCL Tigers 3
Hayden Parrott was 3 for 4. Wade Lamont – Gene’s son – singled and homered. Roger Tomas was 3 for 3. Elezar Aponte pitched 7 shutout innings allowing just 3 hits and walk while fanning 6.

Minors News

The Tigers formally announced the signing of 17 players fro this year’s draft as well as 2 undrafted free agents. These aren’t really surprises, because many of these players have been playing. Charlie Furbush (4), Devin Thomas (7), and Justin Henry (9) are the only 3 picks from the first 10 rounds to have signed at this point.

2007 Season, Game Post

Tigers Minor League Wrap 6-20-07

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Toledo 8 Ottawa 2
Timo Perez was 2 for 5 with a homer. And Ramon Santiago added a single and homer as well. Chris Shelton picked up 3 hits and Ryan Raburn added 2 hits and a walk. Jordan Tata started and allowed 2 runs on 9 hits, 1 walk, and 4 K’s in 7 innings.

Altoona 4 Erie 1
Matt Joyce was the offensive leader with a double and a walk in a game without much offense for the good guys. Andrew Kown allowed 4 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings. Zach Miner pitched an inning of relief and allowed 2 hits and fanned 2.

Altoona 4 Erie 3 (8 innings)
Mike Hollimon doubled and singled. Jeff Larish didn’t play in either end of the double header. Randor Bierd moved from the pen to make the start in the double header and allowed just 1 walk and 1 hit in 3 innings.

Lakeland 4 Dunedin 6
Ryan Roberson doubled and singled and Cameron Maybin doubled and walked. And Ovandy Suero is up to 51 stolen bases now. Jsoh Rainwater allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, no walks and 3 K’s.

West Michigan – All Star Break

Oneonta 4 Lowell 2
Kody Kaiser likes pro ball and he added a single and a double and 2 RBI tonight. Catcher Devin Thomas doubled and singled.

GCL Tigers 1 GCL Phillies 6
Luis Arlet had 2 hits and a walk. Wade Lamont added 2 hits as well. Brent Clevlen was 0 for 4. Aaron Fuhrman allowed 4 runs, 2 earned, on 4 hits, 2 walks, and 2 K’s in 3 innings.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 71: Tigers at Nationals

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PREGAME: The Tigers have a chance to sweep the Nationals tonight. They’ll send Jeremy Bonderman out to the mound. Bonderman has allowed 5 earned runs in 6 innings in each of his last 2 starts. His last time out he allowed 4 homers. But he also got a single so I guess that evens out.

Mike Bacsik starts for the Nationals and he throws lots of pitches. I don’t know about different pitches, just that he’s not terribly efficient. He hasn’t made it to the 6th inning in his last 3 starts.

The Tigers lineup has a different look tonight with Gary Sheffield and Placido Polanco getting the night off. Craig Monroe will bat second and Marcus Thames will hit 3rd and play first base.

For stats and such see: DET @ WSN, Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Here’s hoping that Pudge’s hamstring spasm doesn’t keep him out too long. The off day tomorrow is very fortunate. Nothing against Mike Rabelo, but I’d just assume see the Kenny Rogers-Pudge battery on Friday.

  • Note to Todd Jones – if you pitch like that people won’t pick on you. Very nice effort tonight by Jonesy. Eight pitches, 7 strikes, 3 outs.
  • Jason Grilli, Tim Byrdak, and Fernando Rodney had pretty good results but were far from perfect. Grilli allowed a couple of balls to the warning track. Byrdak allowed 3 hits. Rodney was erratic around the strike zone. But I’ll take one run in 4 innings from the pen.
  • How spoiled am I by Magglio Ordonez that when he doesn’t get an extra base hit I’m disappointed despite the fact he reached base in 4 of 5 PA’s? And even a couple of those hits were cheap. C’mon Maggs!
  • I totally understand pinch hitting for Bonderman in the 6th. That decision is one that could be defended either way. I think if the Tigers had one more run at that point, Bondo would have stayed in the game. I can’t blame Leyland for wanting to get all the offense he could in that situation. It’s just the beauty of NL baseball where pitchers get taken out prematurely.
  • The first 3 innings Jeremy Bonderman looked every bit as good as Verlander did in his no hitter. Then the 4th inning happened where Bondo was hammered. It reminded me of the Mets game where he was cruising, and then struggled in the 7th.
2007 Season, Trades

Tigers trade Wil Ledezma, get Macay Mcbride

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I expected a left hander to get traded this week, but I expected it to be Mike Maroth. Instead the Tigers sent Wilfredo Ledezma to the Atlanta Braves for lefty Macay Mcbride.

Mcbride is a year younger than Ledezma, and I believe he has options left. That second option might be the bigger factor. Mcbride has posted high K-rates throughout his career in the minors – 8.38 per 9 innings. He’s translated that in limited experience at the big league level averaging a strikeout an inning over 85 innings. His problem is control where he has walked 3.27 per 9 over his minor league career and 15 in 17 innings this year. He has limited lefties to a .514 OPS at the big league level.

Me thinks Mcbride will be the bullpen arm who is sent down on Friday so we might not see him for awhile.

I’ve always been a fan of Ledezma and hard throwing lefties are hard to come by. But the stuff and potential just never seemed to materialize into consistent results. He’s 26 so he probably still has a lot of baseball in front of him.

This move also shows how much confidence Jim Leyland has in Bobby Seay and Tim Byrdak to hand lefty specialist duties over to those two.

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 6/19/2007

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Toledo 1 Ottawa 1 (9th inning in progress)
Pitching has been the story so far. Virgil Vasquez allowed 2 hits and left after 6 innings and only 69 pitches – not sure if there was an injury. Yorman Bazardo allowed 1 run in 3 innings of relief.

Erie – PPD

Lakeland 3 Dunedin 5
Ryan Roberson knocked out 3 doubles and Michael Hernandez had 2. Ovandy Suero and Cameron Maybin each had 2 hits. Lucas French allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 5 K’s over 6 innings.

MWL All Star Game

Oneonta 2 Lowell 3
Kody Kaiser had a nice debut with a homer and a double out of the lead off spot. Ronnie Bourquin who is repeating was 0 for 3 with 1 walk and 2 K’s. Alfredo Figaro allowed 3 runs in 5 innings.

GCL Phillies 9 GCL Tigers 6
Luis Arlet hit 2 homers. Carlos Ramirez doubled and singled. Brent Clevlen is getting in some work before heading back to Toledo and went 0 for 5.

Minors News

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2007 Season, Injuries, Pitching, Roster Management

Pitching news – rotation set for Atlanta

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Rod and Mario kept talking about Jim Leyland mentioning that changes were a-comin’ with the pitching staff. I’m sure that much of that has to do with injuries – or recovery from injuries – but a fraction has to do with performance.

We know that Kenny Rogers is back on Friday night. We now know that Andrew Miller will pitch on Sunday night in Atlanta. But beyond that we don’t know much. Either Chad Durbin or Mike Maroth will pitch the beginning of the homestand.

We also know that Zach Miner and Nate Robertson will be donning Erie Seawolves uniforms for rehab. Miner will pitch an inning tonight and make a couple of appearances. Nate Robertson will start on Thursday.

We also know that a spot a spot on the 25 man roster will need to be made for Kenny Rogers and that could be any reliever that’s not Todd Jones or Fernando Rodney or it could be Mike Maroth if he is traded. Rogers is on the 60 day DL, and will need to be “added” to the 40 man roster. But there is a spot available with Jose Mesa’s departure plus Vance Wilson could be moved to the 60 as well.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 70: Tigers at Nationals

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PREGAME: Baseball Reference continues to develop really cool stuff. My game thread prep was usually drawn in large part from that site. Now they’ve made it even easier – by compiling game preview. Here’s tonight’s for the Tigers/Nats match-up.

Looks like my work here is done. Off to play a quick game of pickle with the family before the game starts.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: So that’s what a real blow out feels like…

  • Sean Casey finally goes yard. I didn’t call it tonight (cuz I didn’t expect it) so I won’t take credit for being a couple days off. The silent treatment in the dugout was great.
  • And Neifi doubles. You know things are going right.
  • Rod and Mario seemed very loose in the booth tonight. Favorite moment came early on when Rod lamented not going to Montreal. He said it was a great city, clean. Mario asked him his favorite part – pregnant pause – Rod “umm..the restaurants?” – Mario – “I see”
  • All 3 pitchers made cases to keep their current roles tonight. Durbin was very solid again – 5K’s, no walks and a 4.37 ERA for the season. Wil Ledezma fanned 3 in 2 innings and Frankie DLC looked very good for the second consecutive night.
  • With a 3 for 3 and another double, things keep going well for Magglio. Baseball Musings notes that even if he returns to his normal double pace here on out, he still threatens the record of 67. Never mind. Bad math. But still visit Baseball Musings on a regular basis. Nice catch Kyle
2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 6/17/07

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Toledo 11 Ottawa 8
Ramon Santiago had a 4 hit night. Ryan Raburn went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles. Mike Hessman hit his 20th homer. Jack Hannahan was 2 for 3 with 2 walks. Chris Shelton was 0 for 5. Cory Hamman allowed 7 runs, 4 earned, on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. Preston Larrison allowed 1 run on 3 hits in 3 1/3 innings of relief.

Erie – DNP

Dunedin 11 Lakeland 2
Burke Badenhop allowed 6 runs, 3 earned, on 8 hits in 3 innings. Alfredo Figaro couldn’t stop the bleeding with 4 more runs allowed in 2 2/3 innings. Ryan Roberson and Max Leon had the only 2 hits for Lakeland. Cody Collett and Cameron Maybin walked twice.

Lakeland 3 Dunedin 2
All the offense came on solo homers with one each for Wilkin Ramirez, Cameron Maybin, and Wil Rhymes. Maybin added a wlak and 2 stolen bases. Kyle Sleeth started and allowed 2 runs on 2 hits in 4 innings.

West Michigan – All Star Break

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 69: Tigers at Nationals

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PREGAME: One NL series down, 2 to go. This time the Tigers head to Washington D.C. to take on the Nationals. The Nats are chuck full of former Tigers including Nook Logan, Dmitri Young (who is really doing well, sobriety – who knew?), and Robert Fick. Each made their mark on the Tigers in their own special way with Logan being the only member of the trio not to be a Tiger All Star representative.

The Tigers will send out Mike Maroth who may be auditioning for several teams tonight with Kenny Rogers definitely returning to the rotation on Friday. Maroth wiggled out of jams in his last start and handed a 1 run lead to Fernando Rodney and well, we know how that worked out.

The Tigers will take on Matt Chico. His peripherals are pretty unimpressive with him fanning only 5 per 9 and walking almost 4. But he’s been much better in his last 4 starts with a 2.74 ERA.

Game Time 7:05pm

POSTGAME: Well the bullpen looked good for awhile. Bobby Seay allowed a couple inherited runners to score, but also got a couple outs which were more important at the time. Jason Grilli went an 1 1/3 pretty easily. Eulogio De La Cruz looked very good in his debut, attacking the strike zone and showing a good fastball, a sharp curve and a change that subtracted 12mph. And then Jones happened.

It’s questionable whether Jones should be in the game, and in Leyland’s presser he says that 4 runs is a save situation for them this year. It’s hard to argue with that given the collective struggles and inconsistency this season. So Jones comes in and it’s basically batting practice. It took 5 hits before Leyland bothered to get anybody up in the bullpen, because you don’t want to mess with your closer’s confidence. Funny thing is, is that once Tim Byrdak started warming up, Todd Jones got the next 3 outs. Ugly.

  • Maroth was cruising in this game. He’d even racked up 4 K’s in the first 5 innings. And then his defense collapsed behind him. He could have been out of that inning with nothing scoring. Instead after a single Gary Sheffield really misplayed a flyball into a double. Curtis Granderson threw a bullet to third, right on the bag in plenty of time but Brandon Inge misses the ball. Worst case is it should have been one out and none on and one run in. Next Carlos Guillen boots a ball, so instead of none on, 2 out another run scores and an a runner is on first. That’s what shortened Maroth’s outing.
  • Curtis Granderson continues to hit the ball well, with a couple more hard hit balls off a lefty. He’s got to see more time in the lineup and less platooning.
  • Carlos Guillen saw his batting average dip below .300. He’s now hit in 7 straight and has pushed his average to .317, and he’s crushing the ball.