Tiger Geist

Well, i’ve had an interesting season attending Tiger games.  I attended the Nationals no-hitter against Detroit in spring training;  also during spring training I watched Brandon Lyon get bombed (four home runs in a row vs Boston).  Porcello’s loss on Monday, and today’s struggles against Oakland.  Joe D wrote about it and then talked about it on the podcast yesterday.  SO I BLAME JOE D FOR BRINGING IT UP.

Its hard to recap a game I attend, since you rarely see replays, and the screens in the Colesium in Oakland were described as “maybe from 1985?” by the person next to me.  Tix were 30 rows behind home plate.  So here’s my memories:

• Granderson’s bunt was a horrible idea.  Either Granderson or the coaching staff thought the best idea, following a lead off double early in the game, was to have the team’s lead off hitter AND leading home run hitter sacrifice the runner to third.  I disliked this move greatly.
• Verlander was starting to warm up, and was pitching pretty well (albeit with a high pitch count).  He got pissed off at the call on an infield single.  Then, he got more pissed about the balk call.  After dominating Giambi all game, he lost his concentration and Giambi killed one.  Giambi’s batting under .200.  Just saying.
• Not sure why Miner only pitched to one batter.  I guess he had to get some work in?
• Brandon Lyon came back to earth.  I have had thoughts that Lyon might be trade bait back to an NL team that needs a closer (Marlins?).  “Sell High”.
• Gerald Laird is swinging the bat very well.  With some rest that hopefully Dusty Ryan can help provide, I think Laird may be poised to have a better offensive second half.
• I seem to remember the first base umpire calling most balks;  I could be wrong.  But today, it was the home plate ump, who then danced a little jig with his leg (showing Verlander’s movement) after he called the balk.  An interesting move
• At one point, Brad Ziegler was warming up in the bullpen and shot a pitch into left field, on the warning track, behind Raburn.  No one on the field seemed to notice, making the crowd excited that a double into the corner might confuse the left fielder about which pitch to throw in.  While a foul drive did head down the line, nothing came out of the excitement.
• Forgot to mention before, but Monday night’s game featured a recording of Huey Lewis and the News singing “the star spangled banner”.  A Cappella.  Probably the only stadium with that recording;  tearfully, didn’t play it today.

Joe D at Motor City Bengals pretty much banned me from the game tonight, but was kind enough to invite me to talk with some other Tiger bloggers in a combo live feed / podcast this evening.  I’m pretty excited to talk with J. Ellet from eyeofthetigers.com, Ian from blessyouboys.com, and Greg Eno from Where have you gone, Johnny Grubb?

7PM!!!!  Otherwise, Joe should have it posted as part of his “this week in tigers baseball” podcast.

Links?  Links:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/motor-city-bengals-live

Actually I think the pictures will look quite nice.  Game 1 vs Oakland, Detroit did not look that nice.

Detroit made Oakland’s Brett Anderson work, but failed to convert on too many chances.  Rick Porcello looked solid, not great, but suddenly Oakland put together a string of hits that ended his game in the bottom of the fifth.  Fu-Te Ni baffled Jason Giambi in his first major league action (Giambi didn’t know what to make of his delivery);  Ryan Sweeney was not as easily fooled.

I got great seats (first row) next to Detroit’s bullpen, and I’ll give a run-down of what I enjoyed during the game:

Gerald Laird:  After warming up Porcello, he came next to us with a catcher’s mitt full of baseballs for the kids leaning over the railing; this got a round of applause from the Tiger fans sitting there.  As he walked away, i asked “Laird, how’s the back?” and Laird turned around to me and said, “much better, thanks!” and flashed me a thumbs-up.  My wife quickly kicked me in the knee.  Quickly becoming my Tiger.

Fu-Te Ni and Freddy Dolsi:  In the beginning of the game, they were the only two in the bullpen.  They seemed to try to talk it up quite bit, but with a lot of hand signals.  Dolsi seemed to like Ni’s red mitt.  Eventually it looked like Ni called for a curve ball down low and they stopped talking for a while.

Pitchers / bullpen:  They slowly stroll out to the mound as the game goes on.  Some of them go back and forth (Zumaya and Lyon).  Bobby Seay is one cool customer as he walks through.  Upon their first visit to the dugout, they fist pump everyone who’s out there.  Right before leaving to start the game, Rick Knapp, Jeff Jones, Laird, Porcello, Dolsi and Ni did a quick group fist pump.  Fernando Rodney had it down though;  he strolled to the bullpen in the early innings (the last to arrive) and glanced through the crowd as he walked.  Right next to the bullpen was the kid they dress up in an A’s uniform to take care of ground balls;  Rodney stopped and shook the kid’s hand to say hello (the only one to do this move), and then slowly slapped hands and hugged everyone around the bullpen. It was also interesting to see Jeff Jones watch Dolsi warm up, and then show him a clipboard of what you’d assume was the plan of action on the upcoming batters.

Crowd:  The attendance was listed at 10,500-ish.  I think that’s probably exaggerated by about 89%.  I’ve been to bigger crowds in spring training.

Magglio:  Hard to say his bat speed has diminished, as he swung at bad pitches and let a lot of strikes go by.  I’d have to say he’s either sitting on off-speed pitches exclusivly in tonight’s game, or maybe he should have his eye’s checked.

Cabrera:  His glove work continues to impress me; lots of bad/short hops he nailed tonight.  He also seems like quite the clown when they warm up;  while doing some light running, once in a while he’d grab his hamstring and fake an injury, just to look around to see if anyone noticed.

Last, Female point of view:  My wife went with me, and it was a cold night with swirling winds in Oaktown.  Not being a huge fan of baseball, I was surprised she didn’t complain about the weather;  instead, she actively enjoyed being so close to the action (though she feared for her life due to foul balls).  Her statement as we walked home “… so, there was a lot of cup play out there.  Yeah.  A lot of ball scratching.”

Have to say I love Buster Olney.  At least he’s not afraid to bring up hot topics that he hears from scouts.

In today’s article/post/blog, he discusses the whispers around the Yankee ball club, now that Alex Rodriguez is hitting .210.  Magglio doesn’t have those rumors around him, but both players have had the same scout evaluation in 2009:  They look slow and old.

Here’s my theory on both player’s dismal 2009 (so far):  THEY’RE BOTH OLD.  Well done, scouts, you’ve figured it out!  Seriously though, Magglio’s 35, A-Rod is almost 34.  On top of that, both of them missed significant time this spring – A-Rod with his hip injury/surgery, Magglio with the WBC.  This point is where I feel their age caught up to them.

So here’s the intersection –> as the players age, they have to refine their game.  Maybe this is the year that they realized they needed more time to get ready, and they just didn’t have the time.  Maybe they never got their legs.  Maybe they needed to adjust their swing a little to jump when they guess fastball.  Maybe they’re such natural athletes (or at least, natural hitters) that they refused to believe they needed extra work.  Maybe they realize they need to drop five pounds. Maybe they need a haircut.

As Magglio hit a solid two-run home run this afternoon, I’m not sure if its an indication of things to come for 2009 or not.  I do think that, with the proper preparation heading into 2010, he’ll have a better year next year.  I’d say the same for A-Rod.  Probably not good enough to justify either of their contracts, but they probably will be better.  Carlos Guillen might be in the same boat, however, he has had so many injuries over the last few years that you have to question if he ever has enough time to get himself ready for a season.

As a side note, Rasheed Wallace is actually about 8 months younger then Magglio, and Pistons fans just watched him age poorly over the last few years.

For today’s game, it looks like Galarraga was improved.  I think that’s basically what you can expect out of Armando – 6 innings, 4 or 5 runs scored against; your basic back of the rotation type of guy.

Last, TigerGeist will be dark for a few days, as I drag myself to Cabo for a short stay.  Hopefully I’ll have some time sunday night to watch the archived games on mlb.tv against Houston.  Unless I have some time to post tonight…. hasta la vista.

Going into the 2009 season, I really felt this might be a decent team.  But i REALLY felt Detroit might be a very good 2010 team.  Silently, I was waiting for Detroit to make some moves to bolster its AAA team and maybe shed some salary to try to make a run next year.  Then, it became apparent that teams were not taking on contracts; trades for major league players have been nearly impossible.  Of course, a few things happened along the way.  Rick Porcello happened.  The steady decline of Magglio Ordonez and the non-existent play of Carlos Guillen (and to some extent, Marcus Thames) did not doom the team.  In fact, the defensive play of Detroit matched its solid pitching and led to Detroit leading the central divison for much of the season.  As of tonight (June 24), they have their biggest division lead of the year, at 5 games.

In essence, I felt Detroit would be best off moving some of their free-agents-to-be for talent that might be ready in early to mid 2010.  Maybe a free agent could be signed in the off-season; maybe some money could be free’d up.  But something happened in recent months:  Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis have proven they can’t pitch;  Jeremy Bonderman’s question mark is larger then ever, and Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson may very well pitch themselves into gigantic contracts.

So let’s start at the beginning:  2009’s payroll.  I’m basing this all off of cot’s contracts btw… a fantastic site.  2009’s payroll is listed at ~129 million (with Sheffield’s contract), down from ~137 million in 2008.  2010’s contracts currently list Detroit on the hook for 84.5 million… but for only 9 players.  Assuming a miracle doesn’t happen, you have to factor another $12 million (or so) for Magglio’s contract, and you’re looking at $99 million for 9 players.  Since you normally play with 25, this is a problem.  Side Note:  Detroit’s current attendance figures show them down ~30% on the year (through 32 home games).

Next, you have to build on this payroll to finish the roster.  Arbitration is available to Verlander, Jackson, Thames, Laird, Seay, Santiago, Treanor, Zumaya, and Miner.  Here’s where it gets tricky — can you say, right now, that Verlander and Jackson won’t each get $7 million+?  Let’s be conservative and say they both get awarded contracts at $6 million.  Let’s assume Thames and Laird get slight upgrades (to $3.5 and $3 million, respectively); Santiago goes to $1.5, Seay to $1.5, Zumaya and Miner to $1 mil, and Treanor is not retained.  Now you have 17 players (the core of your team) signed for $122.5 million.  Also, realize that based on the potential 2010 short stop free agents, Adam Everett has a very good chance at being resigned, but for probably closer to $3 million.  $125.5 for 18 players.  And you still need 7 players.

Now, lets look at the dead-weight.  I don’t believe Detroit will carry Willis and Robertson on the 25 man roster next year.  I also am not sure about Carlos Guillen (I’m going to assume they’re stuck with Magglio for now).  So out of this $125.5 million, you have $35 million in dead contracts, and that doesn’t include $27.5 million to Bonderman and Ordonez.  I think you can safely assume Detroit will be very quiet in the 2009 / 2010 free agent market, though its possible (I can dream) that some of this will be eaten by insurance money.  Don’t Uwe Krupp us again, Mr. Illitch.

So what’s my point?  Mike Illitch stated he would be willing to do what it takes to get the 2009 Detroit Tigers into the playoffs.  I initially thought this was short sighted, since I thought the 2010 Tigers could be a superior team and I didn’t want to see any remaining talent in the minors ravaged for a short term trade.  Now, looking at the contracts, I’m nervous that Illitch is willing to take a huge loss in 2009 and might pull back the spending in 2010.  The Guillen and Ordonez contracts are serious financial burdens that run through 2011.  It will be very interesting to see how Detroit plays their very high-school rich 2009 draft class, many of which have serious options to play a few years in college.  Will they spend the money to convince them to sign a contract?  Or will Detroit try to play hard ball, further saving costs?

It may be interesting to see how Detroit handles its two major pitchers.  If Rick Porcello continues to develop, the Tigers might have the best 1-2-3 punch of any rotation, rivaling Atlanta’s historic trio of Maddux / Glavine / Smoltz (and Avery???).  This sounds great, but could Jackson and Verlander command $10 million each in salary arbitration?  Can Detroit honestly afford that in 2010?  If they can, do they look to move one (in a CC Sabathia / Dan Harden type deal), to land a ton of prospects?

So I watch tonight’s game against the Cubs and see a very flawed team.  Holes in the lineup, holes in the bullpen.  A roller coaster setup man followed by a roller coaster closer.  Don Kelly batting fifth.  Little talent in the farm clubs making trades difficult.  Yet, they remain in first place.  And the idea that, in a short series, Detroit might have an advantage against everyone if they can shorten their rotation to four pitchers.  Does management and ownership ride this advantage and possibly sacrifice the 2010 and 2011 seasons?

Big series for the Tigers.  Why?  Chicago Cubs draw very well wherever they go (the “Notre Dame Football” of major league baseball, if you will).  For a weekday series before summer vacation, it might go even further to show fan interest to Mike Illitch.  And that, coupled with thoughts that Detroit might add payroll (link via blessyouboys), might make pulling the trigger on a deal that much easier.  Or, just eating a pitcher’s salary.  Just sayin’.

I was reading something about deadline deals this year… and I really bet there are a lot of deals done after the waiver deadline.  Too many big contracts will get passed through waivers and some teams will be scared to touch them, for fear of being stuck with them.  I bet teams that are in contention through mid august will continue to look for help, and they might be able to get it.****

Last, looks like Magglio will get the start tonight, batting seventh, sandwiched by Inge and Laird.  I think its a great spot for him to be in — less concern to drive in runs, probably less chance he’ll be asked to sacrafice; he can just work on his swing and his timing.

**** Note — as crazy and Jose Canseco’s life has become, and all of the negative thoughts he portrays about baseball, I think its interesting that his waiver deadline deal with the Yankees (described here if you’re not familiar with it) will be referred to forever every July and August;  sort of like the infamy of Tommy John (of the Tommy John Surgery), The Wally Pip, the Munson, and the less infamous “Theo Ratliff’s expiring contract”.

A series win is always nice;  a sweep over a very good National League team is even better.  After a 5-6 road trip, it was exactly what Detroit needed, and gave them a 4 game lead in the AL Central.

I thought I was going to be able to watch the majority of the series, but Fox F’d me by blacking out MLB.tv for Saturday’s game.  I was excited to watch the rookie Alfredo Figaro, but I listened to the entire game instead.  He ’sounded’ like he had a solid game, with decent location.  The rain shortened Friday night game started a much needed power injection into the team;  I’m probably in the minority but I thought Armando Galarraga wasn’t too bad.  Brandon Inge normally turns a double play on the grounder in the first inning, which may have weakend the Prince Fielder shot.  That said, Galarraga wasn’t great by any stretch, but once he settled down he had a lot of movement on his pitches.  He was inconsistent, but I think he can straighten it out down the stretch (I have hope).

The big story of the weekend was the full arrival of Marcus Thames;  he batted cleanup all weekend and he’s starting on another power run, similar to last June.  Don Kelly is also hot;  most likely he won’t hit .400 all year.  But he’s intriguing because he’s in that ‘28 year old career minor leaguer’ stage that many players finally figure it out.  In essence, his swing seems to be similar to what they’d like Clete Thomas to be like, though I feel Thomas is the better defender (and a better arm).

Thoughts on the series (and the team):

• Still think its embarrassing to have Magglio sunglass give-away day today.
• For a bullpen that walks WAY to many batters, that was a nice show-down between Bobby Seay and Prince Fielder today.  Three pitches, strikeout.
• Ryan Perry was demoted after the game;  A good move.  I think Joel Zumaya could use some work, but he won’t see any time in Toledo unless he has a complete melt down.
• I don’t know what Detroit would have to give up to get a corner outfielder, but I’m not comfortable with grabbing an NL player.  If Miguel Cabrera, one of the best hitters in the game, took half of last year figuring out the AL pitching staffs, what would make us think an expendable outfielder from an NL team would pick it up in time for a playoff run?
• The way the team has been playing, it was unthinkable that Detroit could win four straight games without Edwin Jackson pitching in one of them.
• Dusty Ryan is a big dude.  If he can hit, you could see him getting some work at first base at some point in his career.  He’s kind of a bizarre squatter behind the plate.
• I’m a huge Gerald Laird fan.  I’m hoping that he sees some push/competition from Ryan and kicks off some hitting.  In reality, Laird has another year before free agency and still hasn’t seen his big pay-day yet.  I’m hoping he gets that payday (though it probably won’t be with Detroit).
• I was concerned that even if Detroit could make the playoffs, they’d be over-matched by every other team.  Now i’m not so sure that they can’t compete.  I’m not entirely sold quite yet.
• I realized Detroit makes two trips to Oakland this year; for some reason I thought the Oakland / detroit series in August was at CoPa.  This excites me — NO ONE is going to games in Oakland right now.
• I’m decidedly not excited about Verlander or Jackson being on the all-star team.  Its a nice honor, but I’d rather they get some extra rest for a stretch run.  Plus, in recent years the managers seem to abuse the pitchers.
• Speaking of all-stars, there is a good chance Cabrera won’t make the team due to a crowded first base field.  If Detroit makes a serious playoff run, he would be in MVP contention.  Does that make any sense?  Not good enough to be voted in the top three at your position, but good enough to be voted the most valuable player in the league?  Yes, its called ‘most valuable player’ and not ‘best player’, but it still seems quite odd.

I was preparing to do a post on thoughts for the recent Tiger roster movement, and then this day really has turned into one of the more entertaining ones (in terms of Tiger news) in recent memory.

So let’s start:

Dontrelle Willis goes to the DL; Alfredo Figaro promoted.  Big news here, as I didn’t see a DL stint coming.  Also, I think Alfredo Figaro might have the second best name on the team (I still like how Armando Galarraga rolls off the tongue);  We can call him Fredo.  Or Freddy.  Or F-squared.  Or F^2 (which technically is F-squared but gives me more leeway in my writing).  Problem here because I’d rather have a Sonny or Michael vs Fredo.  But when life gives you lemons…

Fredo impressed in spring training and has talent, but hasn’t pitched above AA.  I still think the team needs a left handed starter at some point, and Armando Galarraga might equally be on a short leash.  Let’s see how this one plays out.  Its always exciting to see the youngsters get a shot, but how often does a team make the playoffs with two rookie starting pitchers giving significant contributions?  Still, lets see where this goes.

For Dontrelle… I’m perplexed.  I know its been reported that Detroit has been submitting medical records to the MLB office to prove their diagnosis on his anxiety disorder, but I really really think they’re on thin ice (though they’re not the only team to use this excuse this year).  I’m guessing there will be some rules passed this offseason on how to handle these situations.  I don’t quite understand how the system works either, since Dontrelle could just agree to take a demotion to Toledo and deal with a DL stint.  Maybe its money/insurance related.

Magglio Ordonez remains on the team, but not on the field. Not too big of a surprise.  Interesting quotes from Leyland:

“I think he’s just befuddled right now,” Leyland said. “I don’t think he can figure it out. I don’t think I can figure it out. I don’t think Mac [Lloyd McClendon] can figure it out. I don’t think anybody can figure it out right now. If anybody can, I’m open for suggestions.”

So if no one can figure it out, and Magglio is so befuddled, I’m not going to try to figure it out either.  I don’t think they’re getting out from under the contract (at least not for 2010 anyway), so I’m hoping they’re just working on his swing and not building a legal case.  Otherwise its just going to get nasty in terms of PR.  Scott Boras already started taking shots at management.  I’d never compare Mr Boras with a cuddly teddy bear, but I have to say… he kind of has a point.  However, I still don’t understand why Magglio was playing when his wife was having so many medical complications; would anyone have been upset if he took two weeks off instead of just four days?  That screams “i need to guarantee my contract” more then “I’m playing to help the team”.

And onto today’s news, in no particular order:

Jim Leyland’s contract is extended. Now that this has happened, I don’t know what Lynn Henning will start complaining about next.  For a manager who claims there is no such thing as clubhouse chemistry, and from a guy who seems to demand respect from his players, I don’t see why this became such a big deal.  But its done, he deserved his extension, let’s move on.

Dusty Ryan called up (technically replacing Dontrelle Willis on the 25 man roster).  Needed and not unexpected;  once i realized Gerald Laird had caught every St Louis game in the stifling heat, it was a signal that something was coming quickly.  I don’t know if they’re hoping to do a ‘knowledge transfer’ between Sardinha and Ryan for a night or what, but I guess they didn’t have to send down Sardinha so they won’t until this weekend.  We all know Ryan — big, strapping lad.  If Ryan can give Leyland the confidence to rest Laird more often, this could be very beneficial.

With these moves, Detroit accomplished 2.. well… 1.5 of my 4 suggested cheap and easy moves to improve the club.  Dontrelle is off the 25 man roster, but that issue hasn’t been resolved yet.

I did a writeup on MLB’s fantastic ‘at bat 2009′ app for the iphone back on opening day.  As of today, they have expanded the offering to include streaming video (with an upgrade to iphone 3.0 software and mlb at-bat 1.2 ).  This video is currently limited to only a few games / day, but they claim they will be expanding the offering in the coming days / weeks / months.  I was able to watch the Detroit / St Louis game  (the second offering on the new software), so here are my updated thoughts on the application.

First… its limited.  Again, they plan on offering up more games, but there is no guarantee that you will have any use for the video portion of the application for a while.  I still state that the original application, at less then $10, is well worth it.  So the video feed is just ‘gravy’.   I tested this app in both wi-fi and 3G networks.

Overall, the app works as advertised.  Included with the app is a “30 second rewind” which seemed to work well;  a “pause” which worked, and a ‘fast forward’ button that really just took you to the live feed.  Unlike mlb.tv or the original at-bat 2009, you have no selection over the audio or video feed;  it seems like you’re stuck with the home team’s feed/video.  I can live with that, but a nice feature of the original app was being able to choose between the radio station feeds.  Since this was day one, maybe it will change in future offerings.  As a slight reservation, the app must be ‘live’ at all times, or you must restart it entirely (this is different then the behavior if you’re listening to music or a podcast on your iphone while use other applications).  One negative is the start time for starting the app to watching the game can take close to 30 seconds.  Not the end of the world, but not immediate gratification.

Calling:  If you receive a phone call, you are offered to take the call or decline the call, just like any other phone call.  If you take the call, the app is stopped and you must restart later (see app start up times above).  If you decline the call, the app keeps running.  Text messages are very similar — if you get a text, you can read the text and close the text without any issue;  if you choose to reply to the text message, the app will stop.  So, unlike listening to music or a podcast, the application must always be living or you must pay the 20+ second penalty of getting your video feed again.

Unlike the mlb.tv application (which costs a lot of money obviously), you can’t get live stats.  You can break out of the video to get stats, game summary, etc, and going back into video doesn’t seem to take as much time as switching the app out for a live phone call.  An additional bonus is the game feed seems to be further ahead then the mlb.tv feed;  the at-bat 2009 feed is maybe 20 seconds behind the game, while the mlb.tv application (via your browser) is more like a minute.  This is an improvement, but the radio feed that the app is known for seems to be almost live.

For Wi-Fi, the app is fantastic.  Initially, it takes between 10 and 20 seconds to get to your game (there is a quick geo-location to make sure you aren’t blacked out, similar to mlb.tv but with less passwords).  The initial quality is spotty, but but every 20 seconds or so the quality seems to re-adjust itself.  After about a minute, you’ve got a pretty good game to watch.  Once in a while the video will have issues or reset, but I couldn’t complain.  I would say that I was very impressed by the quality.

With 3G, the quality is decent but not great.  I kept waiting for the quality to improve over time (like it will on wifi) but it didn’t seem to happen.  Granted, this is day one, but if it doesn’t change, watching in 3G is kind of pointless.  its not bad if you have no other choice, but you’re really watching a pixelated mess.  But it works.

I can’t speak to the battery life on wifi;  its probably good but not great.  For 3G, it absolutely destroys your battery and leaves it for dead — stay near a power supply.  Its probably the same as streaming 30 minutes of video from youtube on your phone over 3G.  I’d say you are over-estimating battery, phone, and video compression technology to think this would work without decimating your battery life.  Based on the quality of 3G, you’d be hard pressed to watch it for very long either.  I could see it more as a “i’m out and about and have some free time” vs “i’m spending the next 3 hours watching baseball”; at least over 3G.  I was pretty impressed with wifi.

Overall… yes, this thing rocks.  I paid $10 in April for it (and something like $100 for mlb.tv to watch games on a computer) and this is about the most impressive application for the iphone there is.  I know mlb has been highly successful and profitable with it;  i think thats great, the app works as expected.  For video, i’m slightly concerned.  Not because it won’t live up to the hype, but that the previous app was absolutely perfect.  Up to the minute feeds; live audio (pick your radio station), etc, it was all there.  An absolute steal at $10.  Now, the video is free.  Why?  Because they’re using us as beta testers.  Through the rest of the summer, they’ll add some more games, maybe even making it available in some form for all games.  And I’m fine with that.  My concern is for the MLB at-bat 2010 — what will they charge?  If it costs $100 for mlb.tv, and I already find the iphone app more useful for my situation (and that doesn’t factor the cost being a fraction of mlb.tv), what will they charge next year?  $20?  $45?  Maybe some package deal between the tiers?

So there you have it;  if you haven’t purchased mlb at-bat 2009 for the iphone yet, run don’t walk your fingers to the iphone store.  Its amazing that it worked on day one.  I’ll be interested to see how the video offering expands throughout 2009, and how the pricing model expands throughout 2010.  Though, who am i kidding, i’ll probably pay it anyway.

I’ve been looking at numbers for the Tigers, and I’ve come up with four moves that they can make, inexpensively (relatively speaking), to improve the current ballclub.  I don’t follow fantasy baseball, so I’m not nearly as good as picking random players that other teams are ready to move or discard as others; however, I’m trying to trend what type of player Detroit could use in the short term, while they figure out any bigger moves.

1) Designate Nate Robertson, recall Clay Rapada.

Best blog name ever BTW.  Its an easy call, and its ‘relatively’ cheap.  Rapada doesn’t cost anything, and Robertson is not helping the team, and Leyland’s lack of faith in him further taxes the bullpen.  Rapada can be used in a very similar role to Bobby Seay, who is on pace to pitch 2,487 inning this year.  It also might help ease some of the pain between Leyland and the front office.  Interesting tidbit– out of 20 pitchers on the 40 man roster, only five are left handed (Robertson, Willis, Seay, Rapada, and French).  If Robertson could possibly find talent and improve, he could help with #2:

2) Do something with Dontrelle Willis that doesn’t involve him being on the 25 man roster.  Replace him with a left handed starter.

I don’t care if they put him in the broadcast booth while Dan Dickerson is out; he cannot remain on the active roster.  Release him, demote him, it doesn’t matter.  What does matter is Detroit needs a competent left handed starter in the rotation;  they’ve gotten along alright so far with either 5 right handers or more recently four right handers and three innings from Willis.  If they have a chance this year, it will come down to head to head games against Minnesota, who sport two of the best left hand hittters in the league.  13 games remain against Minnesota, including four of the last seven games.
Lucas French seems like the most likely internal candidate;  it seems a competent back of the rotation guy could be had for cheap otherwise.  I could go with Zach Miner in the short term, but I think a left hander will eventually have to be in the rotation full time.

3) Find a catcher.

Notice I didn’t say ‘backup catcher’.  Dane Sardinha is awful.  Gerald Laird isn’t much better.  Based on Laird’s career, it seemed he was at his best when you could watch his workload.   Now I’m not sure what they’re going to do, as you can’t catch Laird 120 games and expect Sardinha to catch 35 or so.  There has to be some backup catcher somewhere else in the world that can hit .225.  If not, bring up Dusty Ryan.  Ryan hit .318 late last year in Detroit, including .429 against left handers.  He’s hitting .308 against lefties in Toledo right now.  Platoon him for now; Laird still can get the bulk of the starts.  My only concern here is that Toledo’s staff isn’t exactly lighting up the league either;  I have no idea if the rotation is lacking talent, or if Ryan isn’t helping them.  Want to keep Ryan in Toledo?  Find a 35 year old defensive catcher.  He’ll hit at least .200.

4) Find a right handed backup center fielder.  Platoon him with Curtis Granderson.

I’ve been staring at this stat all week — Granderson just doesn’t hit left handed pitching well.  He’s hitting around .220 against lefties in 2009, which is at his career average.  When he had his best year in 2007, hitting .302 overall, he actually only had an average of .160 against left handers.  As he’s struggling a little this year, give him some extra help — just have him work against righties.  This gives you the option of finding a decent defensive center fielder who can hit left handed pitching at .275 or above.  This HAS to be easy and cheap.  Internally, you’d think that Brent Clevlen would be an easy option — he’s warming up in Toledo and hitting .275 against lefties for the year.  He would also probably give you better defense in a reserve role at a corner outfield position then Raburn.

The case against Ryan Raburn here is he actually hits right handed pitching better then he hits left handed pitching, and he’s really not hitting either very well.  And Granderson is still pretty good against righties.  This move would allow you to start your backup CF and Magglio against left handers;  you can then pinch hit with Granderson for either Magglio or the CF if the situation presents itself.