I’m an optimist at heart, so I want to believe that Alou will make a fine mentor for Luis Pujols. Long-suffering Tigers fans deserve a little hope. My concern is just whether or not Alou, a National Leaguer, will understand the different balance of tactical and strategic options a manager has in-game and in-season in the American League. But this is the Tigers, and almost anything different has to be an improvement.
With the logjam of DH/1B/LF/3B types on top of the uniquely Tigeresque problem of having three catchers who can hit on on the roster, and with scheduling permitting no actual need for a fifth starter until April 20, the Tigers did a good thing in making the exchange of Nate Cornejo for Oscar Salazar. Salazar is an appropriate understudy for Jose Macias in a supersub role, while Cornejo will get to make his next start for the Mudhens and still be available for that start on the 20th.
I finished reading Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life and I would highly recommend it to every Tiger fan. In addition to providing a look at the life of Hank Greenberg, along the way it chronicles the great Tiger teams of the thirties and forties. Hank discusses the challenges of being the first Jewish superstar, his decision to give four and a half years of his career to the military, and his post playing career endeavors. Hank dictated the bulk of this book while sitting by his pool in his final years. Ira Berkow took the tapes, wove in some interviews with friends/family/teammates, and added some old newspaper accounts to create this wonderful book. Hank’s story has also been made into an award winning documentary.
In a meritocracy, Randy Smith would just be labelled “Tal Smith’s idiot son” and put in a position to never influence baseball decisions again. Smith loved to pull the trigger on blockbuster deals, but they were never done with the consideration of where the team was, where the team needed to go, or any of the team’s strengths or weaknesses.
Look at this year’s Tigers lineup and what you see is a combination of players who should never have been allowed out of Triple-A (center fielder Jose Macias, shortstop Shane Halter, pitcher Nate Cornejo), players who would be better served as spare parts on contending teams than as regulars on a franchise taking on water more quickly than the Titanic (third baseman Craig Paquette and outfielder Randall Simon) and players who are out of position (there are way too many first base-types, as evidenced by Robert Fick’s transition into an outfielder).
I don’t mean any disrespect to Felipe Alou, who was a fine manager six or eight years ago. But there simply isn’t any reason to think that Alou is the right man to guide the Tigers back to something resembling respectability. Of course, we don’t know if Luis Pujols is the man for the job, either. He does have (relatively) youthful exuberance on his side, but for the rest we’ll have to trust Dombrowski.
My question is the same as it always is in these situations: how can a manager be the right man for the job from October through March, then suddenly become not the right man six games into the season? I don’t mean to defend Garner, who although he was dealt a lousy hand in Detroit is very high on the list of managers whose reputation far outstrips their performance. I just have to wonder what good it does to let one guy run the team all through spring training, pick the roster, set the rules, get to know the players, then dump him because the team has a six-game losing streak.
He failed to properly evaluate the personnel he inherited, so he let guys like Frank Catalanotto slip through his fingers. He failed to spend money properly, making people like Todd Jones and Brian “Speedy” Hunter rich. He made bad, convoluted deals that always seemed to involve Brad Ausmus. His drafts, which in theory should have reflected his skills as a talent maven, didn’t turned out particularly well.
I finished reading Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life and I would highly recommend it to every Tiger fan. In addition to providing a look at the life of Hank Greenberg, along the way it chronicles the great Tiger teams of the thirties and forties. Hank discusses the challenges of being the first Jewish superstar, his decision to give four and a half years of his career to the military, and his post playing career endeavors. Hank dictated the bulk of this book while sitting by his pool in his final years. Ira Berkow took the tapes, wove in some interviews with friends/family/teammates, and added some old newspaper accounts to create this wonderful book. Hank’s story has also been made into an award winning documentary.