Quick Spring Training thoughts
Returned late last night from Florida; didn’t have much time to write but I’ll catch up in the next day or two. Quick thoughts from watching three games live over the weekend:
- Detroit seems very deep at every position, sans starting pitching and third base.
- Jeremy Bonderman looked visibly shaken on the mound against Atlanta on Friday night. His frustration level was high; he isn’t quite where he wants to be and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on the mound with two men on against Atlanta. I still state he’ll be better off starting in the bullpen until he gains some confidence and arm strength.
- Dontrelle Willis looked fine… again. So, pretend we don’t have the Dontrelle Willis of 2008 or 2009. Does Detroit feel they have the Willis of 2005, or the Dontrelle that many scouts saw as on the decline in 2007 (in the national league, no less).
- I’m pretty sure that Don Kelly is the 25th man out of camp, with Clete Thomas using a minor league option. However, after watching both Ryan Raburn and Kelly misplay balls in center field (Austin Jackson was as good as advertised), I’m nervous about flanking two average outfielders (some combination of Ordonez, Guillen, and Damon) without a true center fielder. To be fair, I said “man, i wouldn’t want to play out there with the angle of the sun” a batter before Raburn misplayed a long fly ball.
- If Brent Dlugach put on 15 – 20 pounds before this spring, he must have weighed 120 pounds last season. He’s still thin as a rail.
- If I’m going to be in the Detroit area this summer, I’m checking the schedule for Toledo. That would be fun night out. A combination of Strieby / Boesch / Wells / Larish / Dlugach, and possibly Clete Thomas / Alex Avila will score some runs.
- Is Wilkin Ramirez the odd-man out in the Toledo outfielder shuffle? He suddenly seems like the forgotten man in 2010.
- My fourth trip in a row to spring training, and the Tigers look as good as I’ve seen them. This, of course, means nothing, but I went in with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised with the team. At a minimum, they should be fun to root for.