This picture has nothing to do with the links in the post. I just really liked it. Notice the high socks on Jeremy Bonderman. That has to bode well for the upcoming season. You can see more pictures from Lakeland at both Roger DeWitt’s Flickr page and the new Lakeland Flying Tigers blog. Expect many links to these sites over the next six weeks as they present first hand information from Tiger Town.
For all the talk of the Tigers being old, they do have some young talent. Including 3 of the top 10 25 year olds in the game.
Bless You Boys notes the passing of Roy Scheider. After he went fishing for a shark and before he captained Seaquest DSV, Scheider played the role of Tigers right fielder Billy Young in TigerTown. The fictional Tigers legend, who sported the number 6 if I recall correctly, brought joy to a boy who had lost his father.
Bless You Boys also points us to some archived radio related to the Tigers. No play by play, but a couple of the clips have Paul Carey saying “Tigers Baseball” as only Paul Carey can. Plus, there is this gem, along with Bless You Boys.
There’s a blog looking back on the 1988 Topps baseball card set. Some recognizable names already have been profiled including: Jim Walewander, Dan Petry, and Lance Parrish.
Lastly, The Hardball Times Season Preview is now out. I’ll confess that I don’t have a copy yet so I can’t vouch for it. But I do know many of the bloggers on the list, and I’ll be happy to vouch for their work. Included in that list is Brian from Tigerblog who wrote the Tigers section.
I posted the link to the contest a while ago, but the winners went to the game this week. The Pistons org hooked up the blog with a suite, a tour, and all kinds of goodness. Very, very cool for the most passionate of fans.
Premium content, but debunking the AL Central is the strongest division notion, plus some graphs on projections at the end including Ordonez and Sheffield.
Very interesting scouting heavy article on Dontrelle Willis. Henning spoke with scouts and really broke down his repertoire and strengths as well as his problems last season. Excellent piece.
Not Tiger related specifically, but an interesting case study in how the GM can dictate who the manager should be giving playing time to. One thing about Dombrowski is he seems to give the manager a lot of latitude in personnel decisions (Grilli, Perez,
More stat-y goodness about Granderson’s season. In addition to joining Willie Mays for his acomplishments, he can also be mentioned alongside Stan Musial and Ducky Medwick
Lee continues to push through his defensive rankings. It’s a very thorough series on the various defensive metrics and I highly encourage you to peruse the whole series.
The article also mentions Dontrelle Willis’s delivery and how Hernandez is in the process of studying it. That was one of my questions when they made the trade, how long does it take a pitching coach to get familiar with that delivery?
Not a Tigers thing, but sharing the link love with another Detroit blogger. Natalie has the hook-up with a luxury suite for a Pistons game, and is holding a contest to fill it.
Using retrosheet play-by-play to judge historical defense. From 56-86 Whitaker was the best defensive 2nd baseman using this method – and that was only a fraction of his career. Plus Al Kaline was tops in right field.
Baseball Reference is doing a free trial of the Play Index. PI is wonderful and I highly, highly recommend it and use it on a daily basis during the season. You can use this free trial to try and win a free year subscription.
Dan Fox looks at those individuals who are a good candidate for a shiift (like for Big Papi, Hafner, Thome, etc). Curtis shows up on the list, but his speed and bunting threat would probably be a deterrent.
Plugging a fellow blogger here. Dylan has launched what looks to be an excellent blog about UM Hoops. As someone who blogged through the 2003 Tigers – God Speed Dylan
Posnanski hates the Morris for Hall of Fame argument that he was the best pitcher of the 80’s. I tend to agree. While a case can be made for Morris, it rings hollow as long as Bert Blyleven is on the outside looking in.
But Posnanski does agree that Lou Whitaker got the shaft and echoed my thoughts on his candidacy rather precisely. I don’t know if Whitaker is a HoFer, but the disparity between Whitaker’s and Sandberg’s treatment is inexplicable.
