- Jim Leyland picked up the BA Manager of the Year Award. He takes after his boss, Dave Dombrowski who picked up the BA Executive of the Year Award last week.
- Lee and Sam both got new looks going into the new year.
- In addition to the new look, Lee is cranking out the analysis as well. He’s got a piece up examining the batted ball type data he found in the The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2007 (Hardball Times Baseball Annual)
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- Eno rails against the idea of Joel Zumaya being anything but a set-up man.
- This isn’t explicitly about the Tigers, but the Philadelphia Inquirer interviewed Bill James and asked about the Phillies propensity for striking out. Sound like another team we know? Hat Tip Baseball Musings.
- Speaking of which, did you know that one walk undoes the damage of 3 strike outs? The Tigers problem wasn’t the K’s, it was the lack of walks.
- Joe Sheehan made a list of who’s been naughty and nice (premium). He lists the Tigers in the nice category saying the Bonderman deal was a risk worth taking, and really liking the addition of Sheffield:
I suspect that his impact on the team’s overall run scoring will be greater than we can model. Adding an OBP guy to a high-SLG, low-OBP lineup should have a larger effect than adding it to a more balanced lineup.
- I did an interview with Mike from the Daily Fungo Podcast. It doesn’t look like it’s up yet, but I’ll drop the permalink in here when he posts it. It’s nice talking baseball again.
Category Archives: Pitching
Dombrowski on the Big Show
Dave Dombrowski was interviewed today on WXYT 1270. There were definitely more insights than you typically hear in a team executive interview. The 12 minute interview can be found here, but I’ll break out some of the highlights.
Zumaya is staying in the pen
Dombrowski stated very clearly that Joel Zumaya is not moving to the rotation. Prior to the season I would have been highly against this. I was all for trying Joel Zumaya as a reliever to get him some big league experience and take it easy on his arm at the same time. But I still thought at some point he should be given an opportunity to start. I’ve come around on this completely. Zumaya’s dominance combined with the continued strides forward of Nate Robertson and Jeremy Bonderman, the drafting of Andrew Miller, and the emergence of Zach Miner, Wil Ledezma, and Jair Jurrjens make me think this is the right move.
Zumaya likes video games
You remember that wrist injury that limited Zumaya late in the season? Apparently he’s a big fan of Guitar Hero 1 Bundle (with Guitar)
Inge isn’t moving to catcher
When Pudge Rodriguez is no longer catching for the Tigers, they aren’t going to turn to Brandon Inge. He doesn’t want to catch, and the Tigers don’t want him to catch, save for an emergency situation. He won’t be reporting to spring training early with the other catchers this year.
Extending Bonderman
Dombrowski said he’d like to keep Bonderman in the organization long term, but doesn’t feel a pressing need to get it done this season. I agree with this to a certain extent. That said, I’d love to be writing this winter about locking up Bonderman with a new 4 year/44 million contract with a 16 milliion club option for a 5th year with a $4 million buyout.
Tigers sign Jose Mesa
Jerry Crasnick is reporting the Tigers have signed Jose Mesa to a 1 year $2.5 million deal. I for the life of me can’t figure out why. Not why Crasnick is reporting it, but why the Tigers would do it.
Mesa is 40 years old, and for the last 3 years he allows more than a hit an inning. He walks a batter every other inning, and he only strikes out a few more than he walks. He’s basically a 40 year old version of Jason Grilli at 6 times the cost.
One of my arguments for not keeping Jamie Walker was that he didn’t see enough high leverage situations for the Tigers to justify $4 million a year. I only hope that Mesa doesn’t see enough high leverage situations to justify his money. My fear is that like the Tigers other aging, $2.5 million bundle of joy, he will see significant time.
This one I just don’t get.
What to do about…Jamie Walker?
UPDATE: Walker is now an Oriole pending a physical. The deal is $11.5 million over 3 years. Congrats Jamie and best of luck with the O’s.
Jamie Walker is the Tiger free agent who I’d most like to see back. The lefty reliever is coming off his best season where he posted an ERA of 2.81 over 56 appearances. He fanned 6.9/9IP which is pretty respectable for a finesse pitcher. The real strength of Walker comes in his control. For his career he only walks 2.2/9 but in 2006 he only allowed 8 walks in 48 innings (1.5BB/9). Continue reading What to do about…Jamie Walker?
Lloyd McClendon to be hitting coach
Jim Leyland has decided to move Lloyd McClendon in to the hitting coach vacancy that was created when Don Slaught resigned. McClendon of course served as bullpen coach last year and spent 4 years as the Pirates hitting coach.
Jeff Jones will be promoted from Toledo to assume the role of bullpen coach. Jones had considerable success working with Wil Ledezma and Zach Miner last year. This will be his 5th stint as Tigers bullpen coach.
Britt Burns will be promoted from A Lakeland to take Jones spot in Toledo and former Tiger Joe Coleman will assume pitching coach duties in Lakeland.
Now a radar gun story
Now this is getting out of control. This World Series really needs more action and less speculation. Now there is controversy over the
radar gun and Joel Zumaya . Please.
The radar gun has no impact on the game. Yes, Zumaya looks at the gun. But if he’s throwing to the gun instead of the batters, the Tigers have bigger problems.
What I’m really surprised about is that nobody was mentioning that Zumaya was wearing the same batting practice hat that has become a flashpoint around Kenny Rogers. You know, the one with the black underbill that makes it easier for Rogers to hide his gunk?
Who do you start
Starting with the assumption that game 4 is played at some point, who do you start in game 5? It appears that the Cardinals are leaning towards Jeff Weaver (tip o the DTW hat to Viva El Birdos). For the Tigers I really think it depends on the outcome of game 4.
If the Tigers even the series, I think they’ll keep the rotation the way it is and hope Justin Verlander is good enough. If the Cardinals do in fact move Weaver up, he’s the one guy the Tigers knocked around in this series. I know the Tigers only scored 3 off of Weaver, but the lack of timely hits is much less a concern than the total lack of timely situations in the other games. If the Tigers have similar success against Weaver, then Verlander doesn’t have to be perfect in a game the Tigers must win.
Now if the Tigers drop game 4 they move into a clinch-avoidance situation. At that point I think Kenny Rogers has to be moved up. I know the desire to keep him pitching in Comerica where’s he’s been dominant. And I know the grief he’ll get in St. Louis with the dirt and such. But saving him for a game that might not happen would be ridiculous.
And just to clear up any confusion I might have raised last night (and it really was MLB.com’s fault), Jeremy Bonderman is still pitching game 4.
The one about the gunk
There’s really no getting around the Kenny Rogers and the yellow thumb of crud. I was hoping this would go away as a non-story, especially with all of the principles involved saying it is a non-story. Despite that, everybody and their brother has become an expert on pine tar and it’s physical properties and they can spot it instantly. We’ve also all become very well versed on section 8.02 of the rule book.
Here’s what I think and don’t think about the situation:
- Yes, the media is making a big deal out of this. This is what the media does. I don’t think there is any sort of McCarver-pro-Cardinals conspiracy going on. It was actually one of the more astute observations made by McCarver. It was definitely something worth noting and pointing out. McCarver also mentioned it was common for pitchers to do this in cold weather.
- I think the sequence of events is critical to understanding the situation – or for at least assigning blame. Fox did their best to make this confusing and I haven’t really seen it clarified. If in fact Kenny Rogers finished the first inning, and then somebody told each bench what was happening, Rogers could very well have gone down and washed off the stuff all on his own. This is probably the same time that Steve Palermo notified the umpiring crew of what was going on. If Rogers comes out for the 2nd with a clean hand, what could La Russa or the umpires do at that point? There was nothing to find.
It doesn’t change the fact that Rogers pitched with stuff on his hand in the 1st inning, but if he was in fact cheating he’d gotten away with it – at least in baseball terms.
- If in fact La Russa could have made something about it but didn’t, I’m willing to bet it has nothing to do with his relationship with Leyland. That doesn’t even seem like a realistic possibility. I’d be more inclined to believe it had to do with La Russa understanding the context, and that this appears to be a pretty common practice.
- If you’re in the camp of “how do you explain how a guy who was awful in the postseason can suddenly be dominating?” I’d just respond with sample size. Rogers was bad in the playoffs – 7 & 10 years ago – in a small sample size. Maybe he’s learned a thing or two, or maybe he’s cheating. I just don’t think that argument is very damning.
- Don’t look for any suspensions. It has passed. If they had caught Rogers, and by “they” I mean the umpires, he should have been ejected and suspended. That window closed when Rogers washed his hand.
- This is really a different subject but Fox is impacting on field game play. It happened when the start time of Game 3 of the ALCS was moved up to accomodate the New York Mets game. It happened again last night when it prompted Steve Palermo to talk to the umpires during a game. Where should the line be drawn.
- Finally, I understand being pissed off if your a Cardinals fan. But I’m not sure what emailing me will hope to accomplish. I don’t want to paint Cardinals fans with a broad brush, and I know this isn’t indicative of the majority. But if you are a Cardinals fan, and you’re thinking of sending me something like:
Hey Pine Tar, or I mean Detroit,
Did you ever try cheat yourself to a world series victory. Your baseball team
sucks and so does your filthy city. I guess you need to do whatever it takes
to try and make the big time. Fat chance that will ever happen. Do the good
guys a favor, quit wasting our time trying to cheat and get the f&%# out of
baseball.you can probably just keep it to yourself. I’ve gotten several of this ilk today. My only question for these people is, “is this just your internet personality or are you actually an idiot?” And in a similar vein, please no more butt-wiping jokes.
Finally, there were some actual articles of interest related to this saga. Via Baseball Musings, Uniwatch details that Kenny Rogers wears the batting practice hat instead of the standard issue 5950 during games. It’s a different material and the underside of the brim is black as opposed to gray.
Also, Nate Silver took a look at Rogers home and road splits to see if Rogers is cheating at home and not ont he road. The stats don’t clear him, nor do they convict him.
Finally, someone having some fun with the situation.
World Series Rotation
As reported in the comments here, and on Kurt’s blog, Jim Leyland has set his playoff rotation. It will be Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers, Nate Robertson, and Jeremy Bonderman.
I like that Rogers is set up to pitch twice in Comerica Park. I like Nate Robertson taking the first start on the road.
I’m not a big fan of Bonderman being the guy to pitch just once in the series. He’s been second only to Kenny Rogers in the postseason while Justin Verlander has struggled in his 2 starts. He has allowed 19 baserunners and 3 homers in 10 2/3 innings. He survived against the Yankees and the offense picked him up against the A’s. As for his success against the Cardinals lineup, over 29 at-bats they have an OPS of 911 against them.
This also makes it very likely that Verlander will pitch twice in this series. That’s fine if it is a matter of circumstance, like if your team was pushed to 7 games and you have to go with who is most rested. The Tigers had the luxury of avoiding that and chose not to.
Now as I’ve said before each series, I don’t think the rotation will matter a great deal because it is quite balanced. I just don’t understand why Leyland would put the struggling rookie in this situation. Perhaps he thinks that the Cardinals will be just so fatigued it won’t matter. Or perhaps the advance scouts – who seem to have done an excellent job in the postseason – have seen something that indicates that Verlander would have the most success.
Any rotation would cause second guessing. And to a large extent Jim Leyland has earned the benefit of the doubt. Starting with Verlander just seems like a strange choice to this blogger.
UPDATE: The Cardinals named their rotation. It will be Anthony Reyes-Jeff Weaver-Chris Carpenter-Jeff Suppan
The Pitching Mechanics of Verlander and Zumaya
There is a fascinating post over at Baseball Analysts that has slow motion video breaking down the deliveries of Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya. It is a detailed look comparing and contrasting their mechanics with the 2 pitchers synched in the same video.
The Baseball Analysts: Zoomlander: Starting, Relieving and Throwing Hard
Mid Week Thoughts
Briefly covering some topics and links as I watch game 6 of the NLCS…
The Rotation
One of the benefits of all the off time is that the rotation can be set however Jim Leyland desires. What we’ve learned is that Jim Leyland’s desires are often different than our own. But if it were up to me, I’d go with one of following 2 rotations:
Rogers-Bonderman-Robertson-Verlander: Kenny Rogers has been pitching like a man possessed and needs to be at the front of the rotation. In the interest of alternating arms, I went with Bonderman next. He’s pitched better than Justin Verlander in the postseason. Also, I think the Tigers would like to limit Verlander’s starts just to protect his arm. Robertson has started the first road game of each series so far, and it would seem to work in this situation also.
Bonderman-Rogers-Robertson-Verlander: This is almost identical with just the first 2 spots flipped. Everybody will be on extended rest, but Bonderman would be closest to his regular routine. Also, if the series were to last 6 games both of Kenny Rogers starts would come at Comerica Park. This isn’t a huge concern because Rogers has an ERA of 3.05 at Shea Stadium. But all of those starts came in 1999 so they are terribly relevant. If it means going to St. Louis, none of the starters have pitched in the new stadium so it is a wash.
As I’ve said before though, I don’t think the rotation makes a significant difference with this team. They are balanced and all very good so there aren’t clear advantages in who starts when and where. The other issue is that the Tigers don’t need to set their entire rotation. They can wait and see what happens in the first 2 games before making their decision on the next 2.
The layoff
There is a justifiable concern that the layoff will hurt a team that is red hot. Last year the 2005 White Sox – who have been compared to the Tigers many times – won the ALCS on October 16th and didn’t start the World Series until October 22nd. The White Sox swept the Astros.
!n 1996 the Yankees has a full week off while waiting for the Braves who’s series went to 7 games versus the Yankees 5. New York won that series 4 games to 2.
Finally in 1995, the Braves swept the NLCS while the Indians battled the Mariners for 6 games. The Braves had a week off and won the World Series in 6 games.
So in the 3 instances since the Wild Card where one league Champion has a week off and the other doesn’t, the rested team has prevailed. I think the bigger issue for the Tigers (and their eventual opponent) is the length of the NLCS series, not the length of the layoff.
Links
- There’s talk that Andrew Miller is in town and could be on the World Series roster. This is catching me by surprise, and at first glance I don’t see how this could be a good idea.
- A reader tipped me to this article from Baseball America BaseballAmerica.com: Prospects: Arizona Fall League Feature: Brent Clevlen
- Get your game-worn Dmitri Young Erie Seawolves jersey.
Tigers set ALCS rotation
The Tigers are sticking with what worked in the ALDS in terms of their rotation. Nate Robertson will pitch game 1 and he’ll be followed by Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers, and Jeremy Bonderman. This will be ripe with second guessing.
First of all, Robertson had the least success against the Yankees, and he’s had the least success against the A’s this season.
Second, everyone by now is aware that Kenny Rogers has proven to be nearly invincible pitching in Oakland.
Third, the A’s have hit lefties better this season with a 790 OPS against southpaws as opposed to a 740 OPS against righties.
Despite all that, I don’t think it will make that much of a difference. As I said prior to the Yankees series, the Tigers have 4 very good pitchers that are all pretty similar. That right there negates some of the impact of the ordering.
As for Kenny Rogers success in the Coliseum, it is true that he has a 26-4 record with a 3.46 ERA. His other Coliseum stats are K/9 – 5.0, BB/9 – 3.4, HR/9 – .88, and K/BB – 1.47. The thing is, Kenny Rogers is pretty good in Comerica Park also. There he posts a 3.32 ERA, K/9 – 4.6, BB/9 – 2.7, HR/9 – .69, and K/BB – 1.72. In fact there’s really no drop off.
As for Leyland’s reasoning, I can only speculate. Maybe he wanted to show confidence in Robertson, or avoid a long lay off for him. Maybe he didn’t want to saddle Verlander with the pressure of a game 1 assignment, or he wanted to still try and limit his workload. Maybe he wanted Jeremy Bonderman Kenny Rogers to be pitching in a potential game 7.
Now if I were picking a rotation (knowing that Bonderman can’t go in either game 1 or 2) it would be Verlander-Rogers-Bonderman-Robertson. But in the end, I don’t really see it being a big deal.