Tiger Geist

Marcus Thames smashed another “I’m not planning on going anywhere” home run yesterday vs the Nationals, and Jeff Larish did his best “and i’m the left handed power guy on a team of right handers” with two solo shots, off of both a righty and a lefty.  Zach Miner wasn’t great, but it sounds like he might not have the makeup to be a reliever:  His sinker seems to work best when he has adequate time to warm up.  Is it mental or mechanical?  No idea.  If he’s a good starting pitcher (and history has shown he is), it may be a bad idea to force him into a different role.  Injuries (Bonderman) and ineffectiveness (Robertson, Willis) may force it anyway.

• Lynn Henning thinks Larish is a lock for this team, unless he falls hard.  This was written before the power outburst vs the Nationals yesterday.  I totally agree, and for an additional reason:  Miguel Cabrera will get a lot of action for team ‘Zuela.  He was 2-4 (with 2 more RBI’s!!) against Atlanta yesterday, with 9 innings at first base.  For health reasons, Leyland HAS to monitor Cabrera’s workload early in the season.  Let’s be honest:  Miguel is a big dude who will hit a ton of doubles.  Leg injuries linger.  Larish would be the backup first baseman.  Done deal.  And based on how things work out, I’m not sure how often you take at-bats away from Larish just for Gary Sheffield.  And Sheffield will not be taking DH time away from Cabrera.
• Similarly, Ordonez and Guillen will need rest early in the year.  Not sure if they’ll just rotate the fourth outfielder around, or if that is more of a sign that Raburn and Thames stick around.  I’m slightly nervous about Guillen’s comments about playing on turf.
• I am LOVING Jason Beck’s twitter accounts during the baseball game — mlb.com is failing me for spring training.
• Does A-rod’s leg injury (missed time reported anywhere from 10 weeks to 4 months) create more value for Detroit’s third basemen?  Mike Hessman is an obvious candidate, but if Detroit could unload Brandon Inge’s contract, would they make that move?  New York will be desperate to do well this year, after committing to hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts already in the off-season.  I don’t see the Yankees trying to convince their fans that Cody Ransome is the answer.  Oh yeah, that giant new stadium they built… they need SOMETHING to sell to their fans.

More WBC stats:

• Curtis Granderson:  1-2 in a backup roll vs Philly.  Also a stolen base!!! Wonder how he felt playing the defending champs, who plunked him on the hand last spring to begin the downword spiral of doom known as the 2008 Detroit Tiger season.
• Carlos Guillen:  0-2 with 2 walks (getting another start in left against Atlanta)
• Magglio:  1-3 with a walk and an RBI (DH’ing against Atlanta)

Finally, I always get a laugh during La Bamba, when Joey Pants’ character tells Lou Diamond Phillips about his new stage name:  Ritchie Valens.  Valens’ obviously was born “Valenzuela”.  In the movie (no idea if its true in real life), Lou Diamond Phillips mentions how he doesn’t quite like not being “valenzuela”.  Joey Pants says “hey, it could be worse.. you could be Ritchie Zuela”.  I understand that Venezuela and Valenzuela aren’t exactly the same thing, but I’m going with Team ‘Zuela for the WBC from here on out.