Tiger Geist

What is most interesting is how “baby faced” Miguel looks on the screen, vs how muscular and massive he looks from the stands.

Rob Neyer talks about the top 50 MLB players over the next 5 years.  Almost exclusively major leaguers (only one or two minor leaguers) in their 20’s.

Tigers seem to be well represented, with Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, and Justin Verlander at 3, 12, and 37 respectively.

The biggest worry?  Cleveland lands 5 players on the list.

Biggest surprise?  4 players listed were traded in the off season, and one player was traded mid-year 2007.

Spent an afternoon with my father Don and brother in law Casey at Joker Marchant last Friday. Pictures can be found here. Thoughts on the game:

• Toronto’s fringe pitcher Jesse Litsch ate us up. Random Toronto fan in front of us said he was their fifth starter.
• Miguel Cabrera is HUGE. He was running wind sprints with Magglio and towered over him. His size really stood out in the infield, where he was playing with Inge and Raburn



• Raburn is a little guy. Not Kevin Hooper little, but it felt like Cabrera dwarfed him.

Pitching:

• Maybe we were a little to quick on the draw for Dontrelle’s contract extension. He couldn’t throw a strike. Worse, the Jays ran all over him. His elongated delivery worries me against teams who like to steal bases. His inability to throw a strike worries me against teams that have decent players. Toronto only brought one star (Alex Rios) and Willis really had some problems.
• Zach Miner looked solid in 2 2/3 innings. Nothing spectacular, but he was in control.
• Lopez / Seay / Beltran didn’t have too many issues

Hitting:

• Gary Sheffield is a machine. Got a nice shot of his home run swing on camera.
• Cabrera had a rough day but seemed to get the most out of his at-bats
• Team looked lost at the plate vs an average pitcher

Fielding

• They put Inge at short, Raburn at 2nd, Cabrera at third. Cabrera seemed to have a rough day in the field, and you wonder what goes through Inge’s head as he’s standing 30 feet away. Maybe we I’m being too judgmental about defense.
• Raburn seems like he can play anywhere and looks comfortable. He had a nice play on a pick-off by Willis.
• Willis has some nice pick-off moves. It helped with the number of base runners he allowed.
• Pudge still has a great arm.
• Raburn got a couple of innings behind the plate. I don’t remember any previous years where ‘emergency’ catchers got so much live work.

Random

• Toronto fan turns and asks us, “where are you planning on putting Inge this year?” Dad’s response: “On a greyhound”. The fan replied “seems a waste to not use him.. I had thought we should try to get him”. Made me wonder.. are there actually other fans in other cities who think Inge is a good player? Have we been blessed with such a good team in recent years that we forget that other cities would love to cheer for an average yet overplayed player?
• I remember this from last year, but both Mike Hessman and Cody Kirkland are gigantic. For some reason i get a thrill out of watching them warm up. They’re both 6′ 4″ or taller, but on the diamond they look more like 6′ 8″.

After a few weeks of the tigers repeating “spring training doesn’t always reflect the regular season”, Tim Byrdak was released today.  Yesterday Leyland stated that he was still on the team; all spring this spot was locked up.  Today, however, they have decided to go in a different direction.Byrdak looked absolutely awful on Sunday against Cleveland, and apparently was equally as bad yesteday.  Its one of those things.. you watch someone in person and say “that guy’s shitty”, yet the team tells you that it isn’t ‘important’, so you second guess yourself.  Apparently the tigers had a change of heart and wanted to offer the spot to someone else.  Who??  My guess is both Aquilino Lopez and Yorman Bazardo get the nod, barring another transaction.  Lopez has looked solid and Bazardo through three no-hit innings against the starting Cleveland lineup on Sunday.  Bazardo actually looked great sunday, esp compared to watching Willis and Rogers struggle the previous days.