Tiger Geist

Interesting thought I had today about Leyland’s defending his coaches this week.  The whole announcement is to be expected;  he’s standing up for his guys.  But Leyland seems like a guy who avoids questions he doesn’t think need to be answered, just to appease sports talk or the fans.  In spring training, he’ll walk by the seats and everyone will scream “HEY JIMMY!” and he doesn’t even look up.  He’s very very old-school.  If someone asked him if aliens came down and took Nate Robertson’s body and switched the insides with a transvestite hooker… Leyland wouldn’t answer the question.  But in this instance, none of his coaches are in danger of losing their jobs.  Leyland will be loyal to them, and Dombrowski is loyal to Leyland.  He doesn’t care about sports talk radio, and he probably doesn’t care about the beat writers.  He cares about winning.  And I don’t think the coaches need a pat on the back via the media to feel good about themselves.

Question:  If Leyland knows the coaches aren’t going anywhere, and if he doesn’t care about the media or the fans perception of things (outside of winning or losing), why even talk about the coaches?  Why not ignore the question and move on?  If he thinks Chuck Hernandez is doing a fine job, he probably thinks a someone inferring that Chuck isn’t doing a fine job is an idiot.

My thoughts:  Leyland knows his players limitations, and thats what he’s really talking about.  Pre-season, someone on the detroit tigers podcast roundtable had an excellent point — what if this is Jeremy Bonderman.  What if he’s reached his growth potential?  What about Nate Robertson?  Probably the same issue (though Robertson is now north of 30 years old).  Kenny Rogers is Kenny Rogers — two of his best years were 2005 / 2006;  not like he’s going to continue to turn back the clock.  Leyland knows this.

Hitting — the team isn’t hitting well.  Many guys were hurt (Polanco, Granderson), some are still hurt (Sheffield), and some are hitting close to their career averages (Thames, Inge).  Some probably aren’t listening (Cabrera).

My thoughts:  Leyland’s rant was as much about calling out the players as he’s going to do via the media.  He’s very good at avoiding the elephant in the room — IE why don’t we have an answer as to why Gary Sheffield isn’t on the DL right now?  His response to the question on coaching has everything to do with sending a message to the players.

Deep down, i have a fear that this is reality:  After games, Leyland and Hernandez sit down in the office and enjoy a nice bottle of Johnny Black;  sipping it back and reading Tiger blog entries.  One starts laughing uncontrollably, and says “get this!  Some douchebag living in San Francisco wonders why Bonderman can’t throw a split finger!  Seriously!”  And the other one doubles over in laughter, responds, “bonderman?  Jeremy bonderman.. of the tigers?  HAHA.. has he ever worked with bonderman?  Who do these people think we are, magicians?  Bonderman throwing a changeup was like watching a monkey hump a football!”

Twisted, but how far from reality is it?

Doesn’t this feel like the Tiger’s management philosophy right now?  Nothing new to see.  Nothing new to try.  My only hope is that, at the end of July, all media outlets are saying “SEE!!!! Everyone who said that Sheffield was washed up was wrong!  Pudge still plays like the old Pudge!  The pitching staff has come around!”

That would be awesome.  I wonder what type of success the team could have if it were given more of a floating roster, much like the NFL / NBA / NHL. You have a roster of X players, but only (X – Y) players can be active for a given game.  Similar to how the Pistons kept Lindsey Hunter stashed away for most of the season, maybe that is what is needed for Sheffield.  Let him start playing in May or June every year and see how effective he might be.  Pitchers could get a few weeks off without going on the DL for fake injuries (tired arm?  Can you even look that up on WebMD?).

This may be at the heart of why Detroit can’t jump-start itself:  It has to wait for Sheffield and Cabrera to turn it around.  They have no roster flexibility at the moment, which is what you get yourself into when you have a veteran team with too many guys who only play one position.

Inter-league play does bring an interesting test to the hitters.  We’ll have to watch how Migule Cabrera handles this — part of his slump could be described as an issue with switching leagues.  We’ll see how this plays out (though Detroit plays the NL West this year).

25% down.  3rd worst team in baseball;  Worst in the AL.  In a tale of consistency, they have identical 8-12 splits for their home / road records.  Its no longer time to sit and wait for the team to come around — they have to figure out how to generate some offense, and play better defense.  This _might_ help  keep the runs against down, and an increased offense (any threat of offense) might calm the pitchers a little more, allow them to be more aggressive.

Leyland has stated that the team is too slow to ‘generate runs’ — IE hit and run, steal bases, etc.  So lets start making some moves to fix that.  Until the power hitters start turning it around, they’re going to have to cut their at-bats so the team can be competitive.  Sorry, it just isn’t working right now.

1) Clear a roster spot.

The most sense here is putting Sheffield on the DL.  Tell him he can’t play until he’s healthy.  If it comes back that he’s not healthy and can’t play every day even as a DH, then you’ve got a $26million dollar problem on your hands.  Last year’s slow start was quite different from this year — last year he was healthy.  This year he isn’t.  It isn’t simply a timing issue, and the team can’t afford a part time DH.

If the team doesn’t have the balls to put Sheffield on the DL (and seriously, thats all it is.  If Inge couldn’t throw right now he’d have been sent to the DL in  February) then designate Marcus Thames for assignement.  Either trade him in the 10 days (if the market allows), send him to Toledo, or hope someone picks him up for his sake.  Nothing against Marcus, but he’s hitting .240 and he’s a career .240 hitter, and he has limited defense.  Leyland has demonstrated the versatility that Raburn gives him with defense, hitting and running;  Matt Joyce seems to be a very good defender with a solid left handed bat (matching Thames’ home run totals in the last 3 games alone).  Both have minor league options but both give the Tigers what they currently lack — speed, hustle, defense.

2) Call up Mike Hessman or Jeff Larish

Hessman deserves it more, but Larish gives for better matchups (and would be a better late-inning defensive replacement then moving Guillen from third over to first).  Both are hitting well and should be hungry to prove themselves.  If you see fit, and can move both Sheffield to the DL and dump Thames, then call both of them up.

3) Catch Inge more.  It pains me to write that.  But Pudge isn’t producing (not that Inge is), Inge is quicker then most backup catchers, and it might help Pudge’s batting as well.  At least 2 games / week should go to Inge.  If we’re not happy with Inge’s batting, then call up someone else.

4) Put a team on the field that is better defensively and faster on the basepaths

This isn’t easy, since your two current best hitters (Guillen and Ordonez) are slow.  But what we’re getting is too much station to station base-running.  Maybe Santiago needs to play a little more as well — its possible the combination of Renteria at short and a bad third baseman is too much to handle.

5) Management needs to step up and grow a pair.

They were bullied around by Sheffield to play in the field, who now admits his shoulder is still ailing.  They didn’t move Inge (sorry, the “aren’t we glad we didn’t move Inge” due to Granderson’s injury doesn’t work — seems like we still sucked with Inge in centerfield) when they should have in the off-season.  Same with Thames.  They don’t seem to be holding players accountable for their play — Jacque Jones played in 24 games before they made a move.  If they aren’t happy with someone’s performance, sit them.  If they ARE happy with the teams performance, then they’ve got serious problems.  But if Leyland thinks they need to generate more runs with speed to spark the team, and the current lineup is incapable of that, then someone needs to give him a team that can run.  If he’s happy with the pitching coach, then he needs to sit the pitchers who aren’t performing.  Hey — if the SF Giants can sit Zito for a start or two, then the Tigers can sit Bonderman or Robertson.

There is no way to get around this, but some moves have to be made.  Or we’ll be sellers come the trade deadline… and we don’t have anything to sell.

Ok, thats a joke. But should it be? Would that be any dumber then Spector worrying about spygate? We’re in the middle of an election year, people are worried about jobs / war / homes / mayor of Detroit.. and all Arlen Spector is worried about is whether or not the NFL correctly handled its investigation into the New England Patriots? If this is all he has on his plate, here’s an open letter of my other concerns:

Dear Senator Spector:

I understand that the current problems of the Detroit Tigers may not bother you directly, since most tiger fans can’t directly elect you. However, since you seem so interested into how professional sports teams outside of your area are doing, I’d like to request you investigate the following and provide a detailed report. The answers I am receiving to the following questions have not been answered to my satisfaction and, as a tax paying american, it just doesn’t feel right. Granted, I have not paid taxes in the state of Pennsylvania since 2004 (and that was mostly liquor tax), and i probably have an outstanding speeding ticket in Wyoming, but that shouldn’t bother you.

1. Why can’t Jeremy Bonderman throw an off-speed pitch? There are 12 year olds who can do this, but Bonderman can’t. Something is fishy here.
2. Is Justin Verlander injured? He says he isn’t. We both know that this is not an acceptable answer.
3. What was Joel Zumaya really doing when he injured his shoulder? Surely a superb athlete such as Zumaya cannot really be injured by moving boxes or playing guitar hero.
4. Who is tougher: Tiger coach Andy Van Slyke or a real tiger?
5. How old is Albert Pujols? Ok, not a question about the Detroit Tigers, but seriously, shouldn’t this be a matter of national importance?

Senator Spector, I know you’re busy, and obviously you have great concerns about the ability of this nation to function if we do not have the full answers behind Bill Belicheck and his questionable ethics. I hope you understand that we, as Detroit Tiger fans, cannot function until we get to the bottom of these five questions. Godspeed Senator Spector.

If Detroit’s main concern is starting pitching, maybe last night’s 3-2 loss was a glimmer of hope.  Nate Robertson pitched seven strong innings, allowing only two runs.  Easily his best game of the year, which really is scary when your best game means you allowed 10 hits.  The bullpen faltered, not without help from questionable defense.

Two things Detroit must correct:  starting pitching and hitting.  If they can get the pitching to come around, hopefully the hitting will come with it.

Interesting to note that Matt Joyce hasn’t had too many issues getting his swing to work in the big leagues while DHing, but we have to send out a sub-par defender (who admittingly couldn’t throw anyone out if he had to play on Sunday) former all-star who can’t get out of his funk.  Sheffield’s $13million contract for next year concerns me — unless he tears it up the rest of the year, someone’s going to have to eat that.

With the pitching woes, this comment by Sheffield is supposed to get us fired up?

“I could have played,” he said. “I just don’t know that I could have thrown anybody out. I’ve had a setback with throwing, but that’s part of the rehab process.”

On the “not quite baseball yet in the heart of Tiger fans” front, the Pistons seem to be doing well so far into the playoffs.  Detroit News / Pistons beat writer Chris McCosky had a few run-ins with the Orlando media last week, and blogs about it here and here.  Also, his saturday ‘antics’ drew more coverage from the Orlando Sentinel.

Maybe this is what the Tigers need.. maybe Lynn Henning needs to get up in in someone’s face in KC sports radio to get them motivated.

Its official, our starting rotation has the worst ERA in baseball.  I guess that isn’t much of a surprise.  Its upsetting that we’ve traded away so much pitching in the last few years (for Sheffield, Renteria, Cabrera), but we have so much money invested in our pitchers that its not likely we’d be able to eat all of those contracts.

At what point does pitching coach Chuck Hernandez get some heat?  Isn’t he the guy who is supposed to make these guys better?  If not, what does he do?  Do we think the pitchers are actually the worst starting five in baseball, or should we bestow some blame on coaching?

Jeremy Bonderman is a big question mark to me.  This is a guy who was supposed to make big strides this year, yet he doesn’t seem like a power pitcher anymore.  Thats a disappointment from a guy who is 25 years old.  He can’t seem to develop any other pitch besides his fastball and slider;  thats a concern.  Todd Jones learned to throw a cut fastball at age 37, but Bonderman can’t learn to throw anything new at a young age?  Jeremy doesn’t seem like a very good athlete – he can’t field well and can’t hit (1 for 25 — though having never gone to college might help explain).  With two solid pitches, maybe they have to start looking to turn him into a relief pitcher.  Maybe that will help ‘push’ him into another pitch.

Ending the week 2-4, Detroit gets a much needed rain-out on Mothers Day.  Much needed so they can pull themselves back together;  fans (including my sister and brother in law) had to go downtown, park, get soaked, only to have the game called.

Off-day today, going up against Greinke the destroyer and the rest of the KC Royals starting tuesday.  Maybe a little more rest will help our starters get focused

Blah.  Detroit loses series to Boston, 3 games to 1.  Verlander isn’t great, team scatters 7 singles.

Of note:  Ryan Raburn to get a few more starts.  Something to read into?  Probably not.  I would guess they’re trying to groom Inge to a few more starts behind the plate and at third, and to have Inge focus his skills in those areas.

An area of concern is this piece by Rob Neyer.  Namely, the rest of the league seems to think Miguel Cabrera is mailing it in at this point (Or, as Bill Simmons wrote in this weeks espn mag, “texting it in”).

Of note:

the surprise is that Cabrera has been: (a) an offensive disappointment, (b) such a defensive disaster at third base that he had to be shifted to first within three weeks, and (c) so lackadaisical that players on other teams are privately questioning whether he flicked on his cruise-control switch after signing an eight-year, $153.3-million contract this spring. “I expected him to come in there and be superman,” said one scout. “He’s been anything but that.”

Another scout’s note on Cabrera:

“For $150 million, you’d like to at least see him run a ball out. I watched him for a week, and I think there was one ball all week where he tried to extend himself. That was a double-play ball, and he was still like 4.8 [seconds] getting down the line. On a routine ground ball, he’s 5.2, maybe 5.1. It’s ridiculous to even pull the clock out.”

Rob also mentions how Atlanta has had the better end of the Renteria deal.  I would agree, but I don’t think Detroit knew how bad their starting pitchers would be this year (namely, Verlander and Willis).  I think they made the right move knowing that Guillen can’t handle short stop this year, and going into the year without a real starting option at short.

Rob Parker has a nice piece on the Tigers and Barry Bonds today. I agree with what he says, though I disagree that Gary Sheffield and Bonds can kiss and make up. I think Bonds can (he’s notorious for not getting along with anyone his entire life), but not sure if Sheffield can do it.

Another issue — Sheffield is having a slow start, partially (according to him) for not getting enough swings in during spring training. Bonds hasn’t had any swings, and its almost the middle of May. Sheffield is having a hard time adjusting to DHing full time. Bonds has never DH’d in his life, outside of inter-league play. Cabrera is having a hard time adjusting to american league pitching. Bonds might have the same issues, though, truth be told, there probably is not a better hitter at reading pitchers and adjusting to them since Ted Williams (granted, thats an opinion not a fact. Because i can’t prove it. I also can’t prove that Barry Bonds reads pitchers better than Brandon Inge does. But i bet thats true as well).

Parker is right on what Bonds SHOULD do — reach out to detroit and offer to play for the minimum. No idea how they could use attendance records as an incentive, since the Tigers are a hot ticket anyway. But, from all reports, this is something Bonds simply will not do. He sees the need to be paid appropriately for his status, and that status is the best baseball player in the modern era. He has never shown any reason why he might play for less; if so, he might be in Oakland right now, close to fans that have ignored his other issues.

I do have a slight issue with Rob’s assessment that Bonds “hasn’t been convicted of anything”. That is true. It was helped by the fact that Bonds reportedly lied to a Grand Jury, and his best friend (if Bonds is capable of having friends) sits in prison, refusing to testify. With everything reported, ex-girlfriend testimony, BALCO reports, etc etc… how can you even write this? Al Capone was only guilty of tax evasion. Should we ignore all other reports on his wrong-doings? Thats a little hard to swallow.  I do agree, if baseball wants to ban him, they can ban him.  If they don’t want to ban him, then he’s fair game to sign.