Tag Archives: virgil vasquez

Roster Management

Virgil Vasquez claimed by Red Sox

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The Tigers placed Virgil Vasquez on waivers and he was claimed by the Red Sox today. Vasquez had a strong showing in the AFL in 2006 and got a couple shots to start in 2007. However he struggled in 2008 for AAA and even the pitching starved Tigers didn’t call him up.

The timing of this is a little odd. Could it be that the Tigers were clearing 40 man roster space to announce a trade at the completion of the World Series? If so why not just jettison Dane Sardinha or Macay McBride (who also could be on waivers, we just don’t know it)? Most likely this is roster pruning heading into the offseason. With Vasquez they probably would have liked to have kept him, but not at the cost of a spot on the 40 man.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Warp 5-16-08

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Toledo 3 Durham 9
It wasn’t a good night for Virgil Vasquez who allowed 6 runs on 3 homers in just 3 innings. Yorman Bazardo came on in relief and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits in 4.1 innings while fanning 5 and walking none. And in an odd night, Hessman, Larish, and Hollimon didn’t homer. But Erick Almonte did.

Erie – PPD

Dunedin 1 Lakeland 4
Rick Porcello went 5.2 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits, a walk, and 5 K’s. Brennan Boesch had a 3 hit game while Cale Iorg and Scott Sizemore had 2 hit games. Jeramy Laster homered and singled.

Lansing 3 West Michigan 6
Joe Tucker had 3 hits. Audy Ciriaco and Justin Henry had 2 hits each. Alredo Figaro allowed 3 runs on 6 hitsand 3 walks while fanning 5.

Lansing 5 West Michigan 0
Only 3 hits for the Whitecaps in this half of the DH. Manny Miguelez didn’t make it out of the first inning surrendering 4 runs and only recording 2 outs.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5-10-08

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Charlotte 3 Toledo 5
Mike Hessman and Clete Thomas homered. Brent Clevlen had 3 hits pushing his line to 313/376/563. Casey Fossum got the win allowing 1 run in 6 innings on 3 hits. Blaine Neal allowed 2 homers in one inning of relief.

Toledo 1 Charlotte 4
Mike Hessman homered and had one of only 3 hits. Virgil Vasquez went 5 innings and allowed 4 runs on 9 hits with 1 walk and 3 K’s.

Harrisburg 9 Erie 0
Wil Rhymes went 2 for 4. Ben Fritz allowed 8 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings. He walked none and fanned 6.

Vero Beach 2 Lakeland 6
James Skelton went 3 for 4 with his first homer of the year. Scott Sizemore and Ryan Strieby each had 2 hits. Rick Porcello allowed 2 unearned runs in 5 innings on 3 hits. He walked only one, but also struck out only one.

Lansing 2 West Michigan 4
Kyle Peter and Justin Henry each had 2 hits. Manny Miguelez fanned 8 over 7 innings while allowing just 1 run on 4 hits.

Roster Moves

The Tigers made a number of roster moves including Brandon Hamilton joining the Whitecaps from EST. A promotion for a VSL product. And Luis Marte earning his way to Erie. Detroit Tigers Thoughts and Take 75 North break it all down.

2008 Season, Injuries

Finding a 6th starter

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On the second batter of the Friday night’s game Dontrelle Willis slipped and hyper-extended his knee. It’s unclear at this point whether the knee injury will cause Willis to hit the DL, but given his control problems this year it might not be a bad idea regardless. If the Tigers do need a new starter, who could they turn to? Up until Friday afternoon I thought that it would be Yorman Bazardo, but now Detroit will have to turn to someone else.

Virgil Vasquez

Vasquez made a couple spot starts for the Tigers last year, with some rocky results. He was rocked at the Metrodome, and had a short outing against the A’s. In between was a 5 inning, 2 run effort against the White Sox. He’s been solid in his 2 starts so far with an impressive 14:2 K:BB ratio for the Mud Hens.

Armando Galarraga

The right hander was acquired for minor leaguer Michael Hernandez. In his first two starts he has a .67 WHIP and has 11 strike outs versus 1 walk for Toledo. Detroit Tiger Thoughts mentioned Galarraga as a candidate for a bullpen call up as well.

Rick Porcello

Controversial? Yes. But I have to believe it would be considered. Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland have been willing to rapidly promote (or rush) players through the system. He’s had an easy time of it in Lakeland in his first 2 starts – ever. And that’s the rub. He has two professional starts under his belt. While the scouting reports indicate he probably already is capable of pitching at the big league level the bigger question is should he? I’m inclined to say it would be a bad idea because he needs time to develop and do you want to thrust that on a kid? Conversely though if his stuff is ready, and if he is as poised as he appeared in the spring training appearance I saw (and by all accounts he is), would there be an adverse effect for him to collect a handful of starts?

I still think it will be Vasquez. He’s done it before and it is the sensible pick. But don’t fool yourself if you think that Porcello wouldn’t be at least discussed.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-8-2008

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Charlotte 9 Toledo 7
Ryan Raburn homered and knocked in 3 while Mike Hessman doubled and tripled. Brent Clevlen went 3 for 4 and continues a promising start to his season. Matt Joyce hit his second homer of the year to go along with a walk. Virgil Vasquez was knocked around for 7 hits but limited the damage to 2 runs while fanning 6 in 5 innings. Clay Rapada and Preston Larrison combined to allow 6 runs in 3 innings.

Erie 3 Harrisburg 2
Wil Rhymes 3 run homer was the offense. Wilkin Ramirez doubled and walked. Josh Rainwater went 5 2/3 innings allowing just 1 run on 3 hits, no walks, and 6 K’s. Brett Jensen recorded his first save of the season with a scoreless 9th inning.

Lakeland 3 Sarasota 7
Rick Porcello made his 2nd start and was excellent again. He was tagged for 4 runs, but all were unearned and came in a 3 error 4th inning. He allowed 4 hits, one of which was an infield single, while fanning 4 and walking none. Cale Iorg, who made 2 errors, went 3 for 5. James Skelton and Scott Sizemore each added 2 hits.

Great Lakes 5 West Michigan 1
Kyle Peter doubled and walked and Jordan Newton added 2 singles. Ramon Garcia gave up all 5 runs on 7 hits, no walks,and 6 K’s over 6 innings. Wilton Garcia fanned 4 in 2 scoreless innings of relief.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-3-08

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At least everyone else in the organization won their opening days. Some great starting pitching efforts including the debut of Rick Porcello.

Durham 2 Toledo 3
Dane Sardinha homered and singled. Mike Hessman had a 2 hit day as well. Jeff Larish struggled in his AAA debut going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Virgil Vasquez went 5 2/3 innings allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and a walk while fanning 8.

OPENING DAY POSTPONED – Erie SeaWolves
They’ll make it up with a doubleheader Saturday.

Lakeland 4, Tampa 1
Let the Rick Porcello hype begin. Five innings of one hit ball in his professional debut is a nice beginning. He fanned 3 and walked 2. Freddy Dolsi struck out the side, but also walked two and allowed a run before doing so. Cale Iorg tripled and James Skelton picked up 2 hits. Check in with LFT Blog who was attending the game and taking pictures (they’re just not posted at “press” time)

West Michigan 15 South Bend 2
Found the Tigers missing offense. It’s in Grand Rapids where the Whitecaps scored 10 times in the first inning. The whole offense did good needless to say. Ramon Garcia went six shut out innings allowing only 4 hits while fanning 5. The Surge was on hand and has filed a report.v

2008 Season, Interviews, Minors

Talking Tigers prospects with Jonathan Mayo

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Jonathan Mayo covers the minor leagues and the draft as a senior writer for MLB.com. Mayo also has a book coming out that has some remarkable timing. It is a look at what it is like to face Roger Clemens and is appropriately titled Facing Clemens. The book was written and put to bed prior to the release of the Mitchell Report and will be available on March 1st, though you can pre-order it now.

Regardless of your feelings about Clemens, steroid users, and their place in history, the book looks to be a fascinating read. Mayo interviewed many of the great hitters about what it was like to dig in with Clemens on the mound. Whether or not Clemens did it naturally doesn’t change what the batters experienced when squaring off against the Rocket.

Mayo was kind enough to answer some questions about the now-depleted Tigers farm system as well as a look forward to the 2008 draft.

Detroit Tigers Weblog: After the trades this off-season, the Tigers seem to be deepest in the middle infield. Of Scott Sizemore, Mike Hollimon, Danny Worth, Cale Iorg, Tony Giarratano, and Audy Ciriaco who do you see having the highest ceiling, and who is most likely to make it to the majors?
Jonathan Mayo: From a pure upside standpoint, I think Ciriaco is still the guy. I know he only hit .224 in his full-season debut, but he’ll still be just 20 when the season starts. I think he has to start taking the raw tools and turn it into performance this year. As for “most likely to succeed,” I’d probably go with Worth or Hollimon at this point. I’ve seen Hollimon play several times and he just looks like a big leaguer to me. He also has the best bat of this group as of right now. Those kinds of offensive skills will play at 2B in the bigs. Worth, even though he hit when he got pushed up to Erie, will be a big leaguer more because of his glove. How much he can hit will determine whether he’s an every-day shortstop or a utility guy.

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