Jimmy Leyland dropped the bomb yesterday by stating that he could see Joel Zumaya starting in a few years. This debate started last year, and had everyone weighing in. Todd Jones says he sees Zumaya as a closer (though this year he said he also sees Freddy Dolsi as a closer). Zumaya has said he likes either, but felt he had the mentality to be a closer.
Joba Chamberlain is moving from the bullpen to the starting rotation, and generating tons of headlines. Personally, I think Chamberlain is over-hyped because he’s in New York. But what really should be a story is Justin Duchscherer of Oakland. He was an all-star as a reliever (yes all-star pitchers are often chosen at random), but has moved into the rotation this year at age 30 and is having a fantastic year. I’d take those type of numbers.
I have no idea why Leyland talked about it yesterday; he must have been asked by a reporter. But if you look at Detroit’s draft this year, they drafted a bunch of college power armed relievers. Some of these picks (including their first rounder Ryan Perry) has had much success in the bullpen, but have gotten knocked around as starters. Their immediate future is out of the pen; they’ve played college ball, which has a shorter lead time to the majors, and detroit isn’t exactly flush with starting talent.
All of this leads to the inevitable: If Zumaya is one of their best five starting pitchers, and if they have enough talent in the system to re-vamp the bullpen, they Detroit will look at Zumaya to start. Leyland says it would be “down the road”, which gives them plenty of time to change their mind. But the announcement (if you can call it that) shouldn’t be surprising.
Seattle Tidbits:
Todd Jones has had a rough week or two.
Its scary to think that right now, our best shutdown reliever is… Fernando Rodney.
Zumaya isn’t allowing many runs, but he isn’t unhittable.
The kids were huge in game one; Hollimon getting his first home run. Interesting stat: Edgar Renteria’s lefty / righty batting average splits: .344 / .247. I’m sure Leyland wanted to get Renteria some rest, but sitting him against right handers makes a lot of sense. Hollimon, a switch hitter, gives some added flexibility, though he’s not dominant in the field.
Dane Sardinha looks to get one to two starts this weekend. I imagine he’ll get the start today, with the veteran Kenny Rogers on the mound. Give Pudge to Galarraga on Saturday and figure out Sunday — could go with Pudge again with the off-day on Monday. I like how Pudge responds to his days of rest, so i’d like him to be as fresh as possible going into Cleveland. Also, both today’s and Sunday’s game is against left handed pitchers, which Detroit hits well, allowing them to ‘hide’ Sardhina at the end of the lineup.
Though i guess it doesn’t rain indoors. A series that Detroit could have easily been swept in, they eek out a 2-1 series loss. Bonine wasn’t sharp, the team didn’t field particularly well… let’s not worry about this one and move on to Seattle.
Thoughts:
Detroit was playing without ~$44 million in contracts (Cabrera, Inge, Ordonez, Rodriguez). Add Bonine who makes Wal-mart wages, and it wasn’t an ideal lineup today.
To top that, we have what could be described as a fast and very above average outfield (Granderson, Joyce, Thomas, Raburn). But in the metrodome, our below average infield hurts. Badly.
Ramon Santiago is rehabbing in Toledo. The lack of offensive production at shortstop, coupled by the decrease in range, makes me worried about Renteria and Detroit as a whole. .270 and five home runs was not what we traded solid prospects for. I wonder if the Tigers need to make a move, or play Santiago more when he returns. In terms of the team, the only real upgrade they could make right now is at shortstop. I think Renteria is playing his last season in Detroit; I wonder if he’s playing his last month as well.
Honestly… winning a game and losing two (with one loss being close)… when you throw out names like Galarraga, Robertson, and Bonine… can you really be upset?
Seattle is up. They’re not playing well, Detroit has been slightly cooled… go Tigers.
Nothing earth shattering about last night’s win… but its a game we would have lost in April. Or May. Or even part of June. I don’t think its forshadowing “things to come”, but I think it shows Detroit is not done. Thats good news for fans.
Miguel Cabrera’s health is bad news. I guess if he was to get injured, now’s the time to rest up with the all-star break coming. I was slightly surprised at the move with Thames going to first; i’m not sure how much work he’s getting in there these days. I thought Leyland would move Raburn to third and Guillen across the diamond; Thames is hitting so well that I felt they should keep him in his comfort zone in left (Thames responded to the move with four strikeouts). I’m interested how they handle this if Cabrera needs more then a day off.
I like how Zumaya gutted out the save. With Dolsi on his heels, it might be interesting how the closer position is handled next year.
Interesting at-bat for Matt Joyce last night. The Twins must have known he previously had issues with curveballs and off-speed pitches. So what happens? Joyce fouls off two curve balls; Guerrier misses with two curveballs, and has to throw a full count fastball, which Joyce jumps on. Good piece of hitting… and probably a poor piece of pitching. But I’ll take it.
I head to Seattle for a weekend, and Detroit rewards my short vacation with another series win; this time a sweep over the Colorado Rockies.
Thought’s I had over the weekend:
I know its Todd Jones’ first blown save of the year, but didn’t it seem like that was an important game? A win brought Detroit right back to .500; a loss just reminds the team of their losing ways. Would have enjoyed a 1-2-3 inning a little better, but he was solid in today’s win.
I’ve always liked Ryan Raburn, though I thought he’d hit for a higher average this year. Nice to see him put together some solid games at the plate.
Thames continues to impress me; Sheffield has fallen back to earth. Both need to continue to up their game to get get over the loss of Ordonez.
Rough goings for Magglio, but he’s not getting any younger. It also gives Leyland some interesting options with three outstanding defensive and left-handed outfielders (Joyce, Thomas, Granderson).
Don’t expect we’ll see Guillen playing left field much anymore.
Questions I have:
Who is Detroit’s best center fielder? Brent Clevlen, Clete Thomas, Curtis Granderson, Raburn and apparently Brandon Inge can all play. Raburn and Inge I imagine are in the lower tier; Clevlen probably has the best arm. At one point, does Detroit move Granderson? I’m not suggesting they do, but who’s the best, and if they are ready to play every day, do they move Curtis around more next (or an upcoming) year?
Does Detroit really have two starting pitchers who have losing records in the minors? Why am I concerned that now, after they get over .500, we might get the rug pulled out from under us? Its a great story, but seriously… Galarraga and Bonine? Can this be reality? (please say yes.. please say yes…)
What trades are going to be made, if any? Leyland hinted again today about Raburn’s versatility and a possible attraction for the NL. I can’t imagine he has much value, however.
With the pitching turn-around, has Brandon Inge solidified himself as the starting catcher in 2009? Even with the obvious lack of catching depth in the farm system, would Detroit look to move him if they had the right offer? The team’s play has really turned around, but Inge is still batting .215 and striking out nearly once for every three at-bats.
I’m tired… delayed flights, 90 degree weather in Seattle… and Tiger victories. Great weekend.
Yeah, a little over board there. Big win for Detroit, who got a gutsy performance from Nate Robertson, great pitching by Rodney and Seay, Todd Jones almost suffers the loss. Sheffield homers to tie the game, after popping up with the bases loaded earlier.
Big numbers: 4 / 5 / 4… number of men left on by Ordonez / Cabrera / Sheffield. Detroit left 18 runners on, while STL left a whopping 23.
Interesting move to leave Clete Thomas in the game in both bases loaded situations, with Thames on the bench (assuming he was available to hit). I imagine Jim Leyland liked the defense he could get over Thames by leaving Thomas in the game, especially with Polanco getting ejected earlier in the inning (and having to bring in either Renteria or Raburn). Leyland got it right this time. Big big Kudos to the rookie, with two RBI’s, both on walks.
Question: Doesn’t detroit seem to be thrown out at the plate a lot this year? I’ve counted at least three times in the last 7 days (two in this series) that we’ve had guys thrown out at the plate.
Hollimon gets his first big league hit; Sardinha doesn’t give much at the plate, but seems to have caught a great game.
Go Tigers: Two games under .500; 4.5 games out of the division race.
Sounds like a decent number of people went to the game last night, and some even stayed until the end. Everyone was talking about Todd Jones’ Magglio impersonation, so i found it this morning on youtube:
After being told that Rodney, Zumaya, Sheffield, and Clete Thomas would all return a week apart, who would have guessed that Thomas and Sheffield would help lead Detroit to victory last night, and Zumaya and Rodney would struggle?
Not too worried. I think its a great sign that they were able to gut out the win. Zumaya should come around. I wonder if Leyland is a little concerned that neither Rodney, Zumaya, nor Dolsi have looked good this week. Early game today; big series victory on the line. Continue the crawl back to respectability. Please.
Update:
I’d love a series win, and then the Cardinals just activated Pujols. As I’m watching mlb live gameday (with their snazzy new 3d display), here are the Tiger’s batting averages for the batting order: .269, .316, .305, .304, .277, .296, .234, .000, .000. I know Sheffield’s swinging a hot bat, but the bottom of the order is slightly scary.
i thought it was a joke… onion article type thing that a friend sent me. Nope. Godspeed Mr Inge on your recovery. The bizarre rash of injuries this year is purely comical.. hemorrhoids… pillows… maybe this is a sign that Detroit was not meant to contend this year.
Best Free Press article since they chronicled how Atlanta homosexuals were in love with Joey Harrington (no link since the freep seems to have taken all links down to the story).
Hell of a week. Today’s game was very important, with some very timely hitting, decent relief pitching, and overcoming some rust in the bullpen.
Thoughts on the west coast road trip:
Eddie Bonine was solid, and gives the team more time to consider what to do with the fifth spot in the rotation. No one knows how he’ll do, but I bet it’ll pretty much be what we’ve seen: Some games he’ll pitch alright but get shelled (vs LA Dodgers), some games he’ll pitch pretty well and keep the team in the game (vs SD Padres). As long as you can keep it between there, you have your #5 pitcher. It would be a boost to the team if he can get them to the trade deadline to either develop someone from the minors or make a trade.
Miguel Cabrera is inching his batting average up, slowly but surely. He was noticeably favoring his leg in Monday night’s game; i wonder if that is still affecting his play.
The catching platoon has shown promise; when Brandon Inge got hurt, Pudge seemed to drop off a little bit. After another day of rest, he was 2-2 with two walks today.
Zach Miner is unspectacular, but had two holds this week. If they’re able to get Zumaya and Rodney going again, he’ll have to help out.
I’m not too concerned about Fernando Rodney. Historically, when he’s been healthy, he’s been very good. He struggles when he’s hurt and doesn’t tell anyone.
Joel Zumaya had an average series, but I think it points to much greater things. His fastball has had some life on it (hitting triple digits today); hopefully his off-speed pitches are nearing their old form.
Looking forward to the schedule, they’re in great shape to stay around .500 at the all-star break. They also have some big games against Minnesota coming up, another team on a hot streak.
Marcus Thames could be a very good player if he could hit .275. A couple more two hit games could help him out.
Overall, team focus has been considerably better lately. Solid pinch-hitting (including two home runs) and great pitching (minus Rodney) for the last six games. Hopefully they can continue this streak as the White Sox are faltering.
This kind of surprises me, but I guess it really doesn’t matter. Having Casey Fossum or Denny Bautista on the team wasn’t going to make or break Detroit’s playoff chances. I imagine if Bonine is absolutely horrid tonight then Fossum will get a couple of starts, at least until Lopez ’stretches out’ a little more in Toledo.
In other words… compared to what I felt was poor player management that might have cost Detroit some games earlier this year (with the handling of Sheffield’s injury, his left field stint, etc), this move provokes little emotion. It probably does point to Detroit hanging onto Todd Jones for the rest of the year.
Sooooooo…. another day at the park yesterday. It was 70 degrees out, but felt like 100 in the sun. The only person it seemed to affect was Barry Zito, who just wasn’t very good. It actually caused Giants fans to scream out “We Want Willis!” (they can have him). Detroit gutted out seven runs, but should have scored 15. Galarraga kept them in the game; Dolsi was effective but not dominating; Miner pitched well.
Detroit got a series victory against a team that isn’t playing very well. They improved the health of the squad, with Zumaya officially joining them on the roster tomorrow. My guess is Dolsi will head down for some more seasoning (his last few outings were a little shaky; he’ll be good but needs some work).
Thoughts:
Brent Clevlen gets the boot, with Clete Thomas re-joining the team from the DL. Don’t like the move, but it probably doesn’t matter. Thames has earned the starting job for a while.
Pudge proved why the platoon at catcher is a good thing: two strikeouts, both on very very bad pitches, one with the bases loaded.
Freddy Dolsi got an at-bat; Leyland’s reason was because he wanted to save the bench players. If that is the case, why don’t they give an at-bat to a starting pitcher in the upcoming San Diego series?
The defense is improving; this article talks about Thames’ better play. However, Guillen made some AMAZING plays at third (we were right above him in the third deck with great angles). It didn’t hurt that Capt Slow (Molina) was hitting, but his double play was probably the longest double play of all time (from ball leaving the bat to the final out). I wish they kept track of those stats.
Aaron Rowland comes up to bat with the bases loaded, 2 outs. He strikes out, only to have a giant advertisement come on the big screen / Public address with a “vote Aaron Rowland, all star game!!”. It was very very humerous… to me.
Tons of tiger fans at the games this week. To the point where the Giant’s fans seemed surprised.
Best quote of the day: My dad & I were walking around the ballpark before the game. Two scalpers were asking people if they wanted tickets. Upon seeing us, one guy says to the other (in a hushed tone so we didn’t hear), “don’t offer it to them. They’re from detroit… there’s no money in detroit”. Thought it was rather comical since they weren’t trying to be mean, just… nationally aware i guess.
I’ll update more later.. I saw a lot of baseball this week, which meant a lot of $8.25 and $8.75 beers. I’m a little slow today.
