Dave Dombrowski signed a 4 year contract extension meaning he’ll be leading the Tigers through the year 2011.
This of course is great news as Dombrowksi has been instrumental in the Tigers success. It is also sure to irritate the bejeesus out of Rob Parker who called Dombrowski the worst GM in Detroit earlier this year.
I had a great time with my fellow bloggers on Tuesday night despite the soggy losing-ness at Comerica Park. I’ll point you to Ian, Brian, and Samara who have done an excellent job wrapping up the night. But if you want one phrase to summarize the conversation it would have to be “What would Neifi do?” And I encourage you to check out the photography of the supremely talented Sam who managed to make rain look beautiful.
On to some links:
About a week or so ago, I received an email about a San Diego Padres Family Tree that he created. He was inspired by Will Young who had compiled one for the Twins. Thinking this idea was cool, I decided to try and do one for the Tigers which you can find here.
The tree aims to identify how each member of the 40 man roster came to be with the Tigers, be it through free agency, the draft, Rule 5, or trades. In the case of trades, it traces back to find out how the players involved in the trade were acquired. In some instances this was pretty easy, like when the Tigers traded for Carlos Guillen they gave up 2 players (Juan Gonzalez and Ramon Santiago) who were signed as free agents out of Latin America. In other cases, like when the Tigers acquired Nate Robertson it can be traced back to Brad Ausmus and CJ Nitkowski.
Continue reading The Tigers Organizational Family Tree
Stuff of note from the last couple days:
Where Ramon Pena was pretty much responsible for all of Latin America, the Tigers now have specific people assigned to DR and Venezuela along with a director of International scouting.
Lynn Henning covers the lack of Tiger games on TV again this year, and rips the Ilitchs in the process.
The Tigers are notorious for having been latecomers to the table. It was the biggest reason why Channel 50 had to say sayonara a year ago. A television station needs, at some point, to get on with its programming life. Why Ilitch fails, annually, to understand this is hard to fathom.
Channel 50 ran into another dead-end during the offseason. Net result: Those folks who can’t swallow a monthly cable bill — and they are many — can stretch their imaginations and visualize what the field and the players look like as they tune into Dan Dickerson and Jim Price on local radio. That is, assuming you’re in one of those areas where radio reception along the Tigers network isn’t fuzzy or non-existent.
We’re not finished. FSN Detroit would have at least soothed the cable-payers with its ambitious offer: 140 games, minimum, for 2006. FSN’s lavish package moved up the ladder at Tigers headquarters and straight to Ilitch’s office. There it died, for reasons no one seems to understand.
The Tigers continue to spend, although not on free agents. Today they announced two more additions to their scouting staff. Detroit named Miguel Garcia as Director of Venezuelan Operations/Central American Scouting and Tom Moore as the club?s Assistant Director of International and Professional Scouting.
You may remember that earlier in the month the Tigers announced the hiring of 4 scouts and Manny Crespo as Director of Latin American Operations.
Garcia and Moore assume similar positions to those they held with the Boston Red Sox. Garcia left the Red Sox earlier this year when they lost their Venezuelan facility. As for long time Tiger scout/employee Ramon Pena, he was promoted to the nebulous position of Special Assistant to the General Manager. Curiously, while Garcia and Moore have been added to the Tigers front office listing on the web page, Crespo isn’t.
Once again, I’ll say the Tigers are doing some things right this offseason. While it won’t help the team this season, investing in amateur scouting will hopefully bear fruit in the coming seasons. The Tigers difficulty in signing free agents without grossly overpaying highlights the need for homegrown talent. These hirings are at least a step in the right direction. Unfortunately that’s little consolation for fans heading into 2006.
The Tigers announced today that they have name Manny Crespo as the director of Latin American Operations. Previously Ramon Pena handled Latin America, and I’m not sure if he is still involved or not (he’s still listed on the team’s website).
The Tigers also announced the hiring of 4 amateur scouts. Ray Crone Jr. and Jim Olander were added as national crosscheckers, Grant Brittain as an area scout and Steve Barningham as a part-time scout. Brittain will scout North Carolina and South Carolina, in addition to northern Georgia. Barningham will scout in the Pacific Northwest.
One of the drawbacks of signings like Magglio Ordonez is that discussions on sites like Baseball Primer focus on the theme that the money would be better spent on scouting and development. Assuming that these hirings are additions and not replacements, it shows that a team with enough money can do both.
While I’m not qualified to comment on the quality of scouts, I can say that the investment in scouting is probably one of the most encouraging moves this offseason. This appears to be the second offseason in a row where Detroit has been committed to scouting and development. Last year the Tigers hired David Chadd to head up scouting, as well as leasing a new training facility in the Dominican Republic. While the dividends will take longer to payout, the Tigers are trying to do the right things.
Bonderman’s Prospect Retro
John Sickels has a prospect retrospective on Jeremy Bonderman.
The Tigers promoted Bonderman directly to the majors in 2003, skipping Double-A and Triple-A entirely. This kind of decision carries a large risk of backfire with the psychological health of a young player. Although Bonderman pitched terribly in 2003 and almost lost 20 games, he retained confidence in himself. His ’04 and ’05 seasons were qualified successes, as he emerged as a .500 pitcher with an ERA slightly below league average. Given his age, that’s certainly acceptable, and scouts remain very high on his future.
The Lakeland Ledger reports that the Tigers finished up their organizational meetings in Florida. The article featured an interview with Jim Leyland. Here are the highlights:
On Pudge: