Category Archives: 2009 Season

2009 Season, Pitching

Tigers go closer by committee

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The Tigers are certainly making the last week of an agonizingly long spring training interesting. The other news of the day is that Fernando Rodney will be the closer on Opening Day (presuming of course they need a closer). But that he might not be after that. But Jim Leyland isn’t naming him the closer for the season and it sounds like others (Lyon/Zumaya/Perry) will get shots at it as well. There’s no word on if Fernando Rodney’s gator tooth factored into the decision.

So for everybody looking for saves on their fantasy team, probably best to stay away from the Tigers. Then again maybe you were already doing this.

2009 Season, Roster Management, Spring Training

Porcello and Perry make the team

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It appears the Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry will be breaking camp with the Tigers. Details are still thin beyond that. I’ll update as more information floats North. Also, Mike Hessman was placed on outright waivers and Ryan Raburn was optioned to Toledo. That leaves 29 players in camp including Scott Williamson, Brent Clevlen, Jeff Larish, Eddie Bonine, Juan Rincon, Zach Miner, and Nate Robertson battling for one spot in the rotation, a couple in the pen, and one on the bench.

UPDATE: Juan Rincon and Eddie Bonine are also in. Dane Sardhina and Scott Williamson were assigned to minor league camp.

UPDATE 2: Clay Rapada was optioned to Toledo and your second lefty in the pen is Nate Robertson. It’s down to Brent Clevlen and Jeff Larish for the last roster spot.

So…the pitching staff looks like this:

Rotation: Verlander/Jackson/Miner/Porcello/Galarraga (I’m guessing on the order to start the season)
Bullpen: Lyon/Rodney/Seay/Rincon/Perry/Bonine/Robertson

2009 Season, Roster Management

Some more Sheffield stuff

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I was going to just ammend the original post, but enough time has passed, and I ‘ve read plenty, and I have a number of thoughts about this, so we’ll start a new post.

Risk/Reward

When the Tigers acquired Josh Anderson on Monday I thought it was a very strong possibility that Marcus Thames career as a Tiger was over. I was apprehensive about that given the injury threat that Gary Sheffield and Carlos Guillen provided, another big bat on the bench would be nice insurance. As Jason Beck points out, the Tigers were also worried about injury. And the team decided that Thames was a safer bet to make it through the season than Sheffield.

And if the Tigers were going to keep Sheffield over Thames, they had better be sure they could get a good season’s worth of production out of him. Because it wasn’t just an Opening Day decision, but a longer-term decision. If Sheffield got hurt in late April, there would be no Thames to which to turn, unlike years past.

I still think a healthy Sheffield is a better hitter than Thames (the Tigers are giving up OBP skills), and I’d venture the Tigers may even admit as much. But they also probably didn’t like the odds that Sheffield could stay healthy.
Continue reading Some more Sheffield stuff →

2009 Season, Roster Management

Gary Sheffield released

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Wow. I actually suspected that at some point this year Gary Sheffield would get released. I didn’t expect the week before the season began. Being owed $14 million I thought that the Tigers would give Sheffield a chance to perform before cutting their losses. The timing of this is stunning and puts yesterday’s move into perspective.

I expected Sheffield to hit when healthy this year, but I didn’t expect for him to stay healthy. He’s been relatively quiet this spring, with the bat and his mouth.

As for what this means? I’d guess that Marcus Thames would be the primary DH and this may be his chance to hit those 40 home runs.

I’ll have more on this later tonight. In the meantime nice call by Scott Warheit yesterday.

UPDATE: Other roster moves announced today bring the total in camp down to 31

  • Jeremy Bonderman to the 15 Day DL
  • Clete Thomas optioned to AAA
  • Wil Rhymes and Timo Perez assigned to minor league camp.
2009 Season, Roster Management, Trades

Tigers solve crowded outfield by trading for outfielder

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Aside from trying to handicap the Tigers starting rotation battle, the other story of interest was figuring out the last 2 spots on the bench. That picture is a little clearer today with the news the Tigers have traded for Josh Anderson. In exchange they send Rudy Darrow to the Braves.

Anderson (who when I first heard of the trade I got confused with Brian Anderson AND Josh Fields), hits left handed and runs pretty fast (42 steals last year on 49 attempts), and he has hit a little at the minor league level. He’s kind of like this year’s version of Freddy Guzman except that Dave Dombrowski has said he’s made the team (Anderson is out of options). At 26 Anderson isn’t a prospect but could prove useful coming off the bench.

However, the Tigers still have a plethora of outfielders in the mix. Ryan Raburn is likely traded or using his last option. Brent Clevlen? He’s out of options and it looks like he’ll be removed from the 40 man roster. Marcus Thames? His future is also a little cloudy. Jeff Larish? Not sure where he’ll end up either. Clete Thomas, who offers the most similar skill set, gets to develop a little more in the minors.

As for Darrow, he was set to begin this year pitching out of the bullpen for Erie (8.2 K/9,2.5 K/BB between Erie and Lakeland in 2008) . Darrow has an unusual delivery and could prove to be a useful bullpen arm at some point, but it’s a fair price and one I don’t envision the Tigers regretting greatly in the future.

This isn’t a move I really dislike at the moment, but one I really don’t understand a lot either. Man, I’m ready for the roster to just be set and be done with spring training.

2009 Season, Injuries, Roster Management, Spring Training

Zumaya, Willis to DL

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The Tigers announced three more roster moves today. Not surprisingly Joel Zumaya will start the season on the DL as he tries to overcome his shoulder maladies. A little more surprising is that Dontrelle Willis will be joining him. The official reason is “anxiety disorder.”

Clearly the team thinks that Dontrelle’s problem is mental which presumably means they still believe in his pitching ability. He worked with a performance coach during his Lakeland sabbatical last season, but the problems seem to be recurring. The reports are glowing when he pitches in camp or minor league games, but the results aren’t appearing in regular exhibition events.

This seemingly means that Willis can stay on the DL indefinitely. The trick is that there are limits to rehab assignments. So while he can be on the DL to work through these issues, he has limited time to demonstrate a recovery.

This is a very sad story for Willis and I wish him the best.

The third and least notable move is Kyle Bloom was returned to the Pittsburgh Pirates. That leaves 35 players in camp.

2009 Season, Injuries, Spring Training

Bonderman not quite ready

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According to Jim Leyland it is “highly unlikely” that Bonderman will be available to start the season. While Bonderman isn’t feeling pain at this point, his arm strength (or lack thereof) has his fastball sitting in the high 80’s instead of the low to mid 90’s.

They are clearly playing things by ear at this point, but it does bolster Miner’s and Porcello’s chances of making a start. If it is Miner that gets the nod, that also means a bullpen position may be temporarily open.

Hopefully this situation resolves itself fairly quickly. I view Jeremy Bonderman as one of the keys to the season. If he can’t get back to normal, thoughts of an 85 win season become harder to envision.

2009 Season, Injuries, Pitching, Spring Training

Starting pitching not so ready

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The news from Lakeland today is that Joel Zumaya and Jeremy Bonderman may not be ready by Opening Day. The Zumaya news isn’t at all surprising. The Bonderman news isn’t especially surprising, but a little concerning as he looks to regain velocity. But that’s not all…

There is of course the Nate Robertson thumb injury which thankfully doesn’t sound too serious. Still, it’s not a lock that he’ll make his next scheduled turn.

And option Rick Porcello hasn’t been quite as dazzling since the finger injury. He’s struggled somewhat with his control against the Yankees on Saturday. Tonight he walked 3 and allowed 3 hits in 2.1 innings against Tampa.

This spring has seen a lot of ups and downs from the various members of the rotation. Verlander was working on stuff and all over the place before finding his groove. Robertson was washed up and done before turning in back to back nice outings before the thumb injury. Porcello was the best pitcher in camp before his finger injury. Zach Miner was relegated to the bullpen before he seemed to figure things out. Who knows what will happen over the next week. Maybe Dontrelle Willis and his new leg kick will give us reason for hope.

2009 Season, Injuries, Spring Training

Injuries for everyone

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So the Tigers just get everybody back from the WBC, and then they lose Adam Everett and Nate Robertson in the first inning today.

Everett sprained an ankle sliding into second and Robertson took a throw from Danny Worth on his pitching hand resulting in a sprained thumb.

Neither injury sounds especially serious, but with a week left in camp with the whole team together, this is at minimum a nuisance. It also puts into jeopardy Robertson’s ability to start the season in the rotation, a position he was working himself into with his last couple outings.

On the other hand, Zach Miner who was almost assured of a spot in the pen, has now pitched two strong outings in a row and may find himself back in the hunt.

One guy who may have pitched himself off the roster today was Scott Williamson. Williamson allowed 5 runs in one inning of work today. He was probably on the wrong side of the bullpen bubble, and today certainly didn’t help his cause.

2009 Season, Spring Training, Trade Rumors

Is this the year Thames gets traded

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The trade winds are blowing. On Sunday Peter Gammons mentioned Marcus Thames as a player the Tigers have made available. Now the Freep has two articles mentioning the fact that Thames is a trade candidate and that with 2 weeks left before the season, the phones are getting more active.

In the past when Thames name was floated, it was usually in an effort to acquire another big league player, like a relief pitcher. But with the pen seemingly in decent shape at the moment, this is more a matter of balancing a crowded outfield situation.

The starters are pretty well set (Guillen/Granderson/Ordonez) and the bench is tight and predominantly right handed. Working against Thames are his right handedness and the fact he can’t really back up in centerfield. Other right handers like Brent Clevlen (out of minor league options) and Ryan Raburn can play all 3 outfield positions. Thames spot could become Jeff Larish’s who could spell Cabrera and Inge on the infield and provide some left handed pop. Or it could become Clete Thomas’s who can also play all 3 outfield positions.

The downside to trading Thames is that you know what you get with Marcus. In the event of injury to a corner outfielder who you have veteran who will be able to provide some plus power. And if you look at left field an injury is really very likely. The other guys mentioned have much less of a track record and ceilings that aren’t remarkably high. It also would mean an end to the annual “Why isn’t Marcus Thames starting” debates.

2009 Season, Spring Training

Fien, Dolsi cut

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A couple of bullpen candidates have been trimmed from the big league camp. Freddy Dolsi was optioned to Toledo and Casey Fien was assigned to minor league camp. Fu Te Ni was also assinged to minor league camp.

The Fien move is a little surprising because he has pitched so well this spring, but as a young player not on the 40 man roster the Tigers may choose give a veteran like Juan Rincon a shot first. Of course Perry is in the same boat, young player not on the 40 man roster, but he’s also a first round draft pick.  Still I think Fien’s assignment means Rincon in particular is in a good position.

With Venezuela eliminated from the WBC, I’d expect some of the surplus outfielders to be cut very soon as well. Wilkin Ramirez is likely in the next round of cuts. After that it gets interesting between Clete Thomas, Ryan Raburn, Brent Clevlen, and Jeff Larish.