I have my reservations about having Nate Cornejo up right now this instant. He had a bad camp, he’s scuffled in two starts, and it’s hard to ask any young pitcher to work with an infield defense that has Shane Halter at shortstop, waving at grounders. Perhaps letting someone a little more experienced, like Matt Perisho, work every fifth day, while Cornejo gets ironed out at Toledo, makes sense. You’d hate to see a young, talented starter get into bad habits because he starts thinking twice about his stuff on the basis of outcomes he can’t entirely command.
Randy Smith’s supporters argue that he didn’t have enough time to develop the talent stream, and that while the current team — with three utility players and three DHs in the lineup — is undertalented and overpriced, there is some hope. Jeff Weaver is a frontline starter, and Steve Sparks is not only good, but invaluable to a young team. Nate Cornejo has a chance to be a command starter, and former No. 1 pick Seth Greisinger is nearly ready to join the rotation after years of injury. RHP Kenny Baugh and LHP Andy VanHekken are legit prospects, so Pujols can develop a pitching staff in a pitchers’ park. But while Andres Torres looks like a keeper in center, there are mixed reports on infielders Omar Infante and Ramon Santiago and 1B Eric Munson. Impossible? No, but it may be awhile before they get into 90-win level.
Jayson Stark’s Rumblings & Grumblings
It isn’t the Yankees’ system or the Astros’ system. But Baseball America just ranked the Tigers [farm system] ahead of the A’s, Indians, Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox and Cardinals, among others. And one scout who covers the minor leagues told Rumblings and Grumblings he would give Detroit’s minor-league talent a “B” grade, based just on the number of prospects at Double-A last year.
Rivera to take over as starting catcher
This article also says that Pujols told Halter to be ready because Meluskey wasn’t available and Halter is the emergency catcher. Why wouldn’t Fick be the emergency catcher?
Peter Gammons reports what an Eastern League scout said about a couple Ramon Santiago and Seth Greisinger
Ramon Santiago (Tigers) is extremely overrated. He’s smooth, but he’s so small. I don’t think he’ll ever hit enough to be a regular and his arm is not good enough for shortstop. Seth Greisinger (Tigers) looked very good. Very sharp. He’s not overpowering, but he’s totally in command of what he’s doing and should be a good fourth or fifth starter now.”
Tigers’ batters and pitchers near bottom in late innings (Free Press)
When the bases are loaded, the Tigers have compiled this hard-to-do ratio: They have allowed more bases-loaded hits than they have had bases-loaded at-bats.
Detroit 8, Chicago 2
Did anybody happen to Salazar’s home run in the 3rd inning? It was actually between periods in the Wings game so maybe some of you flipped over. With a runner on second and two strikes, he fouled off several pitches as he tried to hit behind the runner. Then he got a pitch he could handle and ripped it. It was just a great piece of hitting that you don’t generally see from anyone on the Tigers other than Fick. What’s great is that Mike Rivera had a similar at-bat prior to Salazar that went almost the same way, and resulted in a double.
As spare parts go, I like Shane Halter a lot, especially if he can hit as well as he did last year. He can do a team a lot of good as a second baseman or spotting at third base, and even making a start once in a blue moon at shortstop on days when a relatively flyball-oriented pitcher like Jose Lima or Mark Redman is on the mound. Making him an everyday shortstop is a great way to make your pitchers wonder about whether they can get people out on routine grounders. They’d be better off with Craig Wilson, if only until Omar Infante might be ready later this summer.