Counting down from 10…. 9….
After pissing off their fans over the last week, Detroit takes care of business and guarantees a series win against Cleveland. Maybe Detroit is starting to get hot? Or is Cleveland just poop? Doesn’t matter. Clete Thomas and Carlos Guillen provided some discussion points going into a (hopeful) playoff run.
I totally agree with Kurt… Raburn has laid claim to left field. Magglio’s in right. Granderson in center… Clete Thomas defensive enough and hitting enough Wednesday night to lay claim to outfield position #4. Guillen homered from both sides of the plate… did he show enough to DH against left handed pitching? As I mentioned in my last post, the Yankees will probably have a left hander start four of the five games in a division series. Marcus Thames may have a hard time cracking the playoff roster, considering Raburn is probably done in the infield.
Guillen’s healthy shoulder could give Jim Leyland plenty of playoff options. He could suddenly keep a third catcher (similar to the Angels — via Buster Olney). My gut says Leyland keeps the veteran Huff on the roster to pinch-hit (again, mostly left-handed starters in the ALDS). If Dusty Ryan hasn’t played much in September, he’s not sniffing the field in October. I’m still not sure what Detroit’s infield options look like… Don Kelly wasn’t on the 40 man roster on Sept 1… but the roster rules confuse me.
Speaking of Thames… both Lynn Henning and Joe @ Motor City Bengals talk about off-season moves (Henning thinks Thames will get non-tendered this off-season). Lynn Henning goes into the possible issues of Detroit’s impending free agents. I disagree with his assessment of Placido Polanco, however. I don’t know what Detroit’s budget will look like, but its quite possible they’d be quite happy signing Polanco to a one-year deal, no matter the cost. They could offer him arbitration (the offering starting at 80% of his current contract), and get compensation if he signs elsewhere. But be aware: arbitration is scary. Based on his performance, Polanco may look at the economy and decide he’ll take a one-year contract in 2010. Why? Because an arbitrator doesn’t care about the economy; they would evaluate Polanco’s value vs other second basemen and his past performance (and NOT on season ticket renewals). Suddenly, Polanco could be looking at a $5+ million one year deal. Detroit may be fine with such a situation… but its foolish to think the only option is Polanco declining arbitration and Detroit getting draft picks. (Two interesting links I found from the sports economist: About arbitration, and things the arbitration panel will and won’t consider. Again, financial state of the team isn’t a criteria.). Polanco would have a decision to make, as he can’t negotiate with other teams unless he turns down arbitration. Financially, I’m not sure Detroit can take that risk.
I’m very very very confused on someone Henning states the Tigers “can’t afford to lose”: Adam Everett. No complaints from me on Everett’s contribution to this team. But Detroit has two shortstops in its system who have very similar ratings: Big league glove RIGHT NOW, bat might come around. Brent Dlugach (who’s bat did come around in 2009 in Toledo), and Cale Iorg (bat pending, scouts aren’t worried). Everett hit .236 while playing solid yet average defense. I don’t find it a complete match of the phrases “Detroit can’t afford to lose this player” and “Adam Everett”.