Category Archives: Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/16/2009

Columbus 2 Toledo 1
Ron Chiavacci fanned 5, but he also walked 3 and allowed 5 hits for 2 runs in 5.2 innings. Fu Te Ni pitched 1.1 scoreless innings with a strikeout. Wilkin Ramirez had 2 hits and drove in the lone run. Wil Rhymes tripled.

Erie 3 Altoona 0
Erie nearly pulled off the a no hitter. Alfredo Figaro went the first 7 innings allowing 3 walks while fanning 5. Zach Simons got through his one inning. But Brett Jensen allowed a double with two outs in the 9th inning. Scott Sizemore went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles and a walk. Cale Iorg went 0 for 4 with 3 K’s.

Lakeland 0 Clearwater 1
Kyle Peter, Andy Dirks, and Kody Kaiser had the only 3 hits and they each stole a base. Duane Below struck out 9 and walked none in 5.2 innings of work. Brett Jacobson got the other out.

Lakeland 6 Clearwater 3
Michael Bertram homered as part of a 3 for 4 day. Andy Dirks and Shawn Roof each had 2 hits. Patrick Stanley pitched a 1 hitter for 5 innings. Lester Oliveros got the hold, but he allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in 1.2 innings.

West Michigan DNP

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/15/2009

Toledo 4 Louisville 3
Mike Hessman went 3 for 5 and Clete Thomas added 2 hits. Ryan Raburn walked 3 times. Scott Drucker pitched 6 innings of shutout 3 hit ball with 2 walks and 7 K’s. Casey Fien allowed a run on 2 hits in 1.1 innings.

Bowie 9 Erie 3
Max Leon, Jeff Frazier, and Cale Iorg each went 2 for 4. Jon Kibler was roughed up for 6 runs in 5.2 innings. Jay Sborz allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk with 2 K’s in 1.2 innings.

Lakeland 1 Clearwater 6
Joel Zumaya made his second rehab appearance, and he allowed 3 runs on 3 walks and 2 hits in 1.1 innings. Kody Kaiser and Shawn Roof had the only extra base hits for Lakeland.

West Michigan 6 Great Lakes 2
Ben Guez, Billy Nowlin and Gustavo Nunez each had 2 hits. Jordan Newton homered for the first time and added 2 walks. Casey Crosby allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 5 K’s with 1 homer in 3.1 innings. Matt Hoffman came on in relieve and allowed only 2 walks in 3.2 innings while fanning 4. Tyler Stohr recorded all 3 outs via the K while allowing one hit in one inning of work to earn the save.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/14/09

Toledo 5 Louisville 0
Ryan Raburn homered twice and added a double. Mike Hessman also went deep twice, his first 2 of the year. Chris Lambert was outstanding with 8 innings of 1 hit ball while picking up 11 K’s. That lone hit didn’t come until the 8th inning.

Bowie 7 Erie 2
Scott Sizemore, Alex Avila and Jeff Frazier collected the only 3 hits for the Seawolves. Jonah Nickerosn allowed 5 runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings

Lakeland – PPD

West Michigan 7 Great Lakes 3
Ben Guez was a homer short of the cycle. Jordan Newton singled and doubled and dropped his average to .429. Jade Todd allowed 2 unearned runs on 3 hits and 4 walks in 4 innings.

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 4/13/09

Toledo 6 Louisville 5
Wilkin Ramirez hit his first homer of the season, and Ryan Raburn hit his second. Wil Rhymes added 2 doubles. Ruddy Lugo went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits, no walks, and 3 K’s. Scott William pitched a shaky 9th inning allowing 2 runs but getting the save.

Bowie 2 Erie 1
Luis Marte took a hard luck loss allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits and no walks in 5.2 innings while striking out 4. Zach Simons and Josh Rainwater added scoreless innings of relief. Mike Hollimon had two hits and two walks. Cale Iorg doubled.

Lakeland 2 Tampa 4
Andy Dirks was 2 for 4. Kody Kaiser had the Flying Tigers only extra base hit. Lauren Gagnierpitched 5 innings and allowed just 1 earned run on 5 hits and a walk with 3 K’s. Trevor Feeney took the loss surrendering 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk in 2 innings.

West Michigan 2 Great Lakes 4
Jordan Newton doubled for the only extra base hit for the Whitecaps. Brandon Hamilton had a rough start walking 4 and allowing 5 hits leading to 4 runs in 3 innings.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/12/09

Toledo 2 Indianapolis 3 (14 innings)
A whole lotta baseball in this one, and not a lot of offense. Brent Dlugach was 3 for 4 including a homer and a walk. Lucas French went the first 5 innings (3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K). Casey Fien had 3 k’s but blew the save when he allowed a homer in his 2 innings. Fu Te Ni struck out 3 and allowed 2 hits in 3 innings. Clay Rapada took the loss.

Erie – DNP

Lakeland – DNP

West Michigan- DNP

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/11/09

Toledo 5 Indianapolis 4
Ryan Roberson doubled and walked. Mike Hessman added two walks and Clete Thomas tripled. Ron Chiavacci allowed 2 runs on hits and 3 walks while fanning 3 in 5 innings.

Altoona 1 Erie 2
Scott Sizemore had two hits. Ryan Strieby had two hits and a walk. Brooks Brown pitched 5 shut out innings allowing 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3. Cody Satterwhite allowed a hit and a walk but K’d two for the save.

Tampa 3 Lakeland 5
Joel Zumaya made a rehab appearance and struggled a little allowing 2 runs on a hit and two walks with 1 strikeout in 1 inning. He started the game, so that was a little unusual for him. Brett Jacobson pitched a scoreless inning. Charlie Furbush fanned 6 and walked none in 4 shutout innings. Shawn Roof was 3 for 5. Chris Carlson homered and singled. Audy Ciriaco had 2 hits.

South Bend 0 West Michigan 5
Brandon Douglass went 3 for 4. Billy Nowlin and Luis Palacios doubled and singled. Mauricio Robles allowed just 2 hits and 1 walk while fanning 8 in 5 innings. Matt Hoffman pitched the other 4 innings and allowed 2 the same while K’ing 3.

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 4/10/2009

Toledo 4 Indianpolis 2
Scott Drucker allowed 1 run on no walks, a strike out and 3 hits in 5 innings. Casey Fien allowed a homer in 2 innings. Brent Clevlen was 2 for 5. Wil Rhymes and Mike Hessman each walked twice (Hessman also struck out 3 times).

Altoona 0 Erie 2
Max Leon tripled in both runs in a 1 for 3 effort. Cale Iorg added a double. Alfredo Figaro pitched 5.2 scoreless innings allowing 5 hits and a walk while fanning 4. Brett Jensen picked up his second save fanning 1 in 1 inning of work.

Lakeland 1 Tampa 2
Kyle Peter had a hit and a walk as the leadoff hitter and added 2 stolen bases. Thad Weber allowed 2 runs, both unearned, in 5 innings.

South Bend 4 West Michigan 6
Billy Nowlin was 2 for 3 with a walk and drove in 3 runs. Gustavo Nunez added 2 hits. Luke Putkonen fanned 4 and walked none but allowed 3 unearned runs in 3.2 innings. Victor Larez fanned 6 in 3 innings and Brayan Villarreal struck out 3 in 1.1 innings.

Tigers trade James Skelton for Brooks Brown

The Tigers have sent James Skelton (or actually they just let the Diamondbacks keep him after the Rule 5 pick cleared waivers) to Arizona for Brooks Brown. I’ve written about Skelton in the past, so we’ll focus on Brown for a moment.

Brown started at AA for the Diamondbacks last year and had a 4.18 ERA with 112 K’s in 144 innings pitched. He’ll be assigned to Erie to start the year. The right hander is 24 years old. Brown didn’t make the BA top 10 for Arizona, but his name did come up in the chat and Will Lingo had this to say:

Will Lingo: That is a pretty good analysis. Brown took a 3.63 ERA into the final month last season, but he was pretty bad from there on out and in the AFL. His stuff also hasn’t been quite as good as it was in college, so some people think he should just take his sinker-slider combo to the bullpen. But his big frame and durability still suggest he could provide more value as a starter. He’ll get another shot in the Triple-A rotation, but I think if he gets to the big leagues it will be as a reliever.

Sickels had him as the 15th best prospect in the organization but noted a loss of velocity and command.
Continue reading Tigers trade James Skelton for Brooks Brown

Toledo Mud Hens make offer to Manny

Yesterday afternoon the Toledo Mud Hens send Scott Boras the parameters for a Manny Ramirez contract I like the aggressive move by the Mud Hens to put an end to this insanity. Plus it would probably help with AAA attendance and would provide a nice insurance policy should something happen Timo Perez. The proposal is below:

February 27, 2009

Scott Boras

3 San Joaquin Plaza

Suite 100
Newport Beach, CA 92660-5944

Dear Mr. Boras,

Here we go again.

If you remember, we offered your client Alex Rodriguez a $35 million dollar contract in October of 2007. For some reason, he decided to pass on this lucrative windfall.

We would now like to make an offer for the services of outfielder, Manny Ramirez.

Manny’s bat would provide some nice protection in the middle of the line-up between Mike Hessman and Jeff Larish. With a short porch of 320 feet down the left field line, Manny is sure to hit a few homers out onto Monroe Street.

With the tough economy, we do not have as much money to offer your client as we did with A-Rod but are confident that the terms below are more than fair.

Mr. Ramirez would receive an hourly wage of $10.54 (this number was calculated by taking his 527 career HR and doubling it). We had to double it as $5.27 is below minimum wage. So if Manny gets to Fifth Third Field early on a game day, he could make nearly $100.

That is not all. Manny is welcome to still wear jersey #24 with the Mud Hens. In fact, Manny will receive a 24% discount on all merchandise in the Swamp Shop souvenir store, and he can enjoy 24 complimentary Muddy Dogs (chili, cheese, and onions) per homestand. Yummy!

We look forward to hearing back from you on this somewhat lucrative and delicious offer!

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Joe Napoli

President/General Manager

Toledo Mud Hens Baseball Club

Winter meetings end with a bang (my head against the wall)

Things started out so promising with the acquisitions of Gerald Laird and Adam Everett. And they end so disappointingly with the loss of James Skelton and Matt Joyce. To be fair the Skelton thing was set in motion weeks ago when the Tigers chose not to protect a young athletic lefty catcher with a 416 career minor league OBP.
Continue reading Winter meetings end with a bang (my head against the wall)

Winter Meetings – Heading to Day 4

Could James Skelton be looking at a new team - cr Roger Dewitt
Could James Skelton be looking at a new team - cr Roger Dewitt

On the last day of the Winter Meetings things shift a little bit to the Rule 5 draft. Okay, not everything shifts to that, but it will be the focus in this here blog post.

A quick rule 5 primer is that teams can’t bury players in the minors forever. Eventually they have to add them to the 40 man roster or risk losing them to other teams. The time limit for this varies based on the player’s age when they signed. Teams with open space on their 40 man roster can select from this pool of players, but the catch is said player has to stay on the 25 man roster all season, or the player has to be offered back to the original team.
Continue reading Winter Meetings – Heading to Day 4

Tigers Top 10 Prospects according to Baseball America

Rick Porcello - cr Roger DeWitt
Rick Porcello - cr Roger DeWitt

It’s another one of those rites of the offseason, the Baseball America top 10 list. The list itself is available to anyone, but for additional information (like scouting reports) you need to be a subscriber.

As for the list, here it is:

  1. Rick Porcello, rhp
  2. Ryan Perry, rhp
  3. Cale Iorg, ss
  4. Casey Crosby, lhp
  5. Jeff Larish, 1b/3b
  6. Wilkin Ramirez, of
  7. Scott Sizemore, 2b
  8. Cody Satterwhite, rhp
  9. Dusty Ryan, c
  10. Guillermo Moscoso, rhp

Continue reading Tigers Top 10 Prospects according to Baseball America