Tiger Geist

(Vacation + visiting family = no time to post.  Many research posts upcoming; stay tuned!)

Last night’s devastating injury to Joel Zumaya required Detroit to call-up Casey Fien today.  Detroit now holds a 1/2 game lead in the Central division, yet Joel Zumaya is the THIRD pitcher who was expected to have a prominant role on the 2010 Tigers to be lost for the season due to injury: neither Bobby Seay nor Zach Miner made it out of spring training.  Seay has a severe shoulder injury, while Minor elected to have Tommy John surgery.

Outside of the injury issues, Detroit has dealt with slumps that required minor-league stints (Max Scherzer, Ryan Perry, Rick Porcello), a roster crunch (Nate Robertson), and general ineffectiveness (Dontrelle Willis)

How has Detroit competed?  You can’t discount Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Brennan Boesch.  But the pitching staff and pitching depth in the minors have been a substantial benefit.  Remember the 2008 bullpen, that included such stellar components as “San” Francisco Cruceta?  Dombrowski seems to have guaranteed that 2008 would not happen again.  How?

The Draft

Starting in 2007, Detroit picked up hot-shot talent Rick Porcello, and followed up with left-handed Casey Crosby.  The 2008 draft nabbed fast-rising relievers Cody Satterwhite, Robbie Weinhardt, and of course Ryan Perry.  In the 2009 draft Detroit jumped on high-schooler Jacob Turner in the first round, but came back with Andrew Oliver in the second.  Oliver, recently joining the starting rotation for an un-determined amount of time,  has quickly leap-frogged Crosby as the most polished (and healthy) left handed prospect.  Today’s call-up, Casey Fien, was drafted in 2006.  Last month, Dombrowski nabbed another reliever who is expected to be ready for the majors quickly in Chance Ruffin.

The draft has given Detroit both valuable assets and major-league ready players on the cheap.  While a few of the hot-rising stars have hit recent injury issues, Oliver has given Detroit a hand (at least for one start) to help Porcello tweak his delivery in Toledo.  Due to injuries (and possibly Jay Sborz’s awful professional stint), Fien has replaced Joel Zumaya.

The Trades

The Curtis Granderson / Edwin Jackson trade netted a Jackson replacement (Scherzer), a left-handed specialist (a Bobby Seay replacement, with starting potential in Coke), and another left-hander with ‘closer’ potential (Schlereth).  Scherzer has recently flashed his potential, and Coke has been outstanding in the bullpen.  Schlereth is working out his control problems in Toledo, and may be in Detroit soon if Fu-Te Ni continues to be ineffective.

The Free Agents

When Brad Thomas was signed, most of us laughed at the stockpile of left handers.  Yet Thomas seems to have taken Zach Miner’s spot, giving Detroit spot-starts this season and currently sitting with a 4-0 record.  Enrique Gonzalez was a late pick-up, and has allowed a run in 7 innings of work since his call-up.  Of course, there is Jose Valverde.  A fantastic (yet expensive) pickup, costing Detroit a lot of money and a draft pick.  Valverde proved Dombrowski’s thinking, that Ryan Perry wasn’t ready to close, and Joel Zumaya had too many red flags.  Valverde has allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in 34 innings, with 18 saves.

The System

Detroit felt Eddie Bonine was a more capable reliever then Nate Robertson, and inexplicably thought Dontelle Willis was a better rotation candidate then Robertson.  Armando Galarraga didn’t have a great 2009 and did not start the season with Detroit; he has responded from his Toledo re-call with a perfect game that, with Scherzer tweaking his mechanics sufficiently in Toledo, allowed Detroit to dump Dontrelle.

The round-up

What was expected to be an above-average staff before injuries has been excellent, dealing with slumps and ineffectiveness.  Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman have made every start.  Phil Coke replaced Bobby Seay.  Eddie Bonine replaced Nate Robertson’s corpse contract.  Brad Thomas replaced Zach Miner.  Armando Galarraga replaced Max Scherzer, who replaced Dontrelle Willis.  Enrique Gonzalez replaced Ryan Perry; Casey Fien replaced Joel Zumaya.  Andy Oliver is holding a spot for Rick Porcello; Perry should return in July.  And most importantly, Jose Valverde has replaced Fernando Rodney.

Dave Dombrowski’s draft strategy of major-league ready pitching talent and the 2009/2010 off-season acquisitions of veteran arms must be applauded.  Having an owner willing to pay for Dombrowski’s poor decisions in extensions for Robertson and Willis doesn’t hurt either.  Even with three season-ending injuries and the trading of two veteran starters (who may be shitty, but good enough to stick on an NL rotation), Detroit has a viable pitching staff that will compete in 2010 and beyond, and should be rather cost-effective going forward.

A lot will be said about what happened tonight.  Its hard to comprehend.
But let’s say this:  There have been 20 perfect games in the history of baseball.  Don Larson’s is still the King.

However, Armando Galarraga’s game may never be topped.  Its almost a better story… the perfect game that wasn’t.  But really was.  28 outs of perfection.

Of course, the curse of TigerGeist hits again… I’m flying to Detroit tonight with tickets to the day game vs Cleveland Thursday.  Should have known Armando was going to toss a gem.  Friends of TigerGeist Sac and Jason were there, and I felt sick for them… neither knew how close the last call really was (no replay at the stadium of course) until later notified.

I’d have Armando throw out tomorrow’s first pitch, but I do feel bad for Jim Joyce, who (at present) is scheduled to be behind the plate tomorrow.  Maybe they should wait until the next home stand.

I’ve had this series circled since spring training;  I’ve never been to Dodger Stadium, one of the most historic fields in baseball.  Detroit rarely plays at Dodger Stadium, so I made the trek down to Los Angeles for a short weekend.  It appears that I picked the best game of the series to witness.  I’ll split this post up to the Stadium experience, the LA experience, and the Game experience.

The Stadium

I’ve never been to a lot of baseball games at different stadiums, but I’m starting to try to knock some off of my list.  Dodger Stadium is the third oldest in baseball, and was a perfect candidate to check out in 2010.

Dodger Stadium is located near downtown Los Angeles, in Chavez Ravine.  As with many stadiums (and most of the LA area), driving is the best option to get there.  This made us seem like real Dodger fans, as we missed the first pitch.

We had been warned about the Dodger faithful by some Astros fans at our hotel bar; and we’re well aware of the bad blood between Giants and Dodger fans.  Sure enough, a group of Dodger fans said it might be hostile, but “at least we weren’t Giants fans”. Duly noted.  The above picture was taken right after walking into the Stadium from right field; Detroit’s bullpen can be seen here.

Dodger Stadium is quite a site.  The architecture looks like every 50′s and 60′s movie that takes place in Los Angeles, and even hints towards the old TWA Flight Center at JFK.  They’ve done a pretty good job of keeping the retro feel while updating the stadium, but you still have this giant jumbotron which cuts into the beautiful view.

More on that Jumbotron later.  Reading up on the Stadium, you can see the Dodgers kept the outfield seats ‘open’; they’re currently sporting 56k seats, but could roll up to 85k if they enclosed the stadium.  As ballparks are getting smaller, I’m sure they’ll keep the view.

Our seats turned out to be fantastic, fifteen rows behind the dugout.

Remember Casey Blake, the Tiger killer?  He’s also a Dodger fan killer.  He had a shot right over our heads that nailed a 12 year old girl in the elbow five rows behind us.  Paramedics rushed over but she seemed to tough out the rest of the game.

Once we were in our seats, I didn’t get a chance to move around too much.  The concourse appeared to move pretty well.  Sight lines for most seats seemed fantastic; I will also say the seats (at least in the MVP box area) were very wide and comfortable.

Getting out turned into a nightmare; there are many freeways in the area, but getting to them isn’t easy.  I got just a tad bit nervous about my 6:45pm LAX flight after the 1pm game.

Paid attendance was 46,053.  As you can see from the pictures, it never felt like the stadium was 82% full.  I imagine the Laker game later that night (though it was in Phoenix) may have had an effect.

The LA Experience

Dodger Stadium is still in LA.  I’ll admit to being just a little bit biased due to the standard Norcal / Socal feuds.  But many times it doesn’t feel like you’re at a sporting event.  Remember that jumbotron?  It spent about 10% of the time showing replays, and 90% advertising stupid things.  Between the first inning, it spent 5 minutes talking about being friendly to your neighbor and respecting other team’s fans (notice a trend here?).  Next inning it gave out phone numbers to call if someone was hurting your enjoyment of the game.  Third inning?  It started the “this is my town / Dodgertown” ads.  In these ads, they paste celebrities and… somewhat famous people with the words “this is my town” on it.  LeAnn Rimes.  Kim Kardashian (example here, though this is just a billboard).  I will say the Kardashian spot started some interesting conversation between us and Dodger fans… namely, there are people in this world who don’t think Kim is the best looking Kardashian.  I couldn’t comprehend the conversation, but we were in the sun all day.

We sat down in between the top of the first and bottom of the first (we watched Cabrera’s blast from the concourse).  We noticed the flags were at half staff and didn’t know why; I picked up some twitter feeds to learn about Jose Lima’s death.  And the Dodgers were nice enough to show a video montage after the sixth inning for Lima.  But here’s the kicker:  it FOLLOWED a Sex and the City II movie ad.  Yes, the sixth inning ended.  The jumbotron went into Sex and the City mode… and THEN Jose Lima tribute.  That is Dodgertown.

There are a lot of little video boards all around the outfield and foul territory; they’ll show the pitch count, flash the batter’s previous at-bats, etc.  One of the coolest ‘experience’ aspects was when Manny Ramirez came up to pinch hit against Porcello with the bases loaded.  Since the Dodger’s pitcher was scheduled to be up and the bases were loaded, the crowd started to do a “Manny!” chant… and suddenly Manny emerges from the dugout.  The crowd EXPLODES and all of these little video boards around the stadium start flashing “MANNYTIME!”.  I’ll have to admit, that was pretty cool.

The Experience apparently isn’t cheap, and Dodger Stadium had $11 beers, worst prices I’ve ever seen.  As a Tiger fans and Giants fans, we just weren’t going to donate that kind of money to the Dodger system.  So Bret snuck in some Crown Royal.

That’s myself, Bret and Dan after the victory… with Bret sporting the empty CR.

The Game

You’ve probably read about the game already, but here’s my take from the (pretty good) seats.  Danny Worth played an outstanding defensive game.  Johnny Damon played a pretty solid center field, and the Dodgers seemed downright nervous to test Magglio’s arm from right… or maybe LA is a poor base-running team.

I’ve never seen anything like Porcello getting hit (or nearly hit — he caught one) three times on the mound.  It still feels like one of his best starts of the year, given the adversity of the crowd, the physical trauma, and the great pitch to Manny with the bases loaded.  He surrendered 9 hits, but all singles.

But this game was a gem by Leyland.  He seemed in complete control the entire time.  Late in the game, he walked out to the home plate umpire for a quick chat, and when we walked back to the dugout, Rick Knapp walked out to Porcello.  I assume Leyland was verifying that Knapp could go out without having to take Porcello out (there was a lot of trainer visits to the mound due to the hits off of Porcello’s body).  These are little things, but it makes you feel like Leyland is always in command of what’s going on.  I didn’t get the same vibe from Joe Torre.

This is where I’m not sure if its actively tracked.. but when is the last time a manager made a pitching change when another pitcher was pinch-hitting?  Seriously, Joe Torre was that worried about Dontrelle Willis?  I thought at the time (and Jason Beck confirmed it with Leyland) that Dontrelle would have swung away.  But Torre played right into Leyland’s hands.  Torre gave Leyland a lefty / righty matchup, and Leyland has his best bunter up to bat.  We assumed a sacrifice was on to move over the runner with Johnny Damon coming up, but Everett swung away on the first pitch.  No one saw the squeeze coming on the FOURTH pitch, but it worked and it was perfect.  Advantage:  Leyland.  I’m not buying the “Dontrelle Willis is still a feared hitter” argument; Torre over-thought this move and gave Leyland a better matchup.  Seriously, if you’re Joe Torre, would you rather have a bad matchup with Willis or Everett?  Or maybe Adam Everett really has very little respect around the league…

I’m a little surprised Don Kelly went into the game in left, instead of sliding Damon over and having Kelly take over center field.

Back to Danny Worth.  Carlos Guillen is moving to second base, and Ramon Santiago is getting quite a bit of playing time at short.  Could Worth give Leyland a better bat and more versatility then keeping Adam Everett?  Or does Everett’s experience at small-ball skills that were showcased today given the Tigers another situational weapon?  Did I really just suggest that Adam Everett can be considered a weapon?

If you’ve read this space before, you may be aware of my fateful evening of not-attending Justin Verlander’s no-hitter in 2007.  I absolutely blame my wonderful wife for that; I had ever intention of going to that game and was held back.

Last year, I mentioned how I gave my friend the option to attend one of two Giants games (a friday or saturday night); Jonathan Sanchez night or Matt Cain night.  My friend picked Matt Cain.  Sanchez threw a no-hitter on the friday night game; Cain was hit by a line drive and out of the Saturday game before the third inning.

Earlier this spring, I promised myself I’d go to a game at Dodger Stadium; when i realized Detroit was playing there in May, I made plans.  Going to LA!  Woohoo!  Found some friends who were interested, and we planned it out… and guess what?  Verlander would be pitching on a Sunday.  Let’s go Tigers!

For over a month, the schedule has held up;  Verlander was still scheduled to pitch on the Sunday game.  Then, disaster struck… Monday’s White Sox game was rained out.  Verlander gets bumped to Oakland’s game tonight… and the Detroit pitching in Dodger stadium comes down to Dontrelle Willis, Armando Galarraga, and Rick Porcello.

Yes, I’m still going to Dodger stadium, going to catch Porcello.  But with my schedule, I can’t make the game in Oakland tonight.  Once I found Verlander was pitching, I knew one thing:  He’s going to toss a gem.  No doubt about it; the baseball gods have been against me for three years now, and there is no reason to think tonight will be any different.  Because the only reason I won’t attend tonight’s game will be MY choice/conflicts (not my wife’s or my friends), Verlander may throw a 12 inning perfect game.

That’s just the way it goes sometimes.  Throw in Dallas Braden pitching for Oakland, and who knows what might happen.

NOTE:  I had no connection to Braden’s perfect game in Oakland two weeks ago… if I had, i probably would have given up baseball altogether.

I’m not really sure where the story line is here.  Detroit takes three of four from New York, splits the first two games with Boston (the victory in walk-off fashion in extra innings), but its feels like the big news is the roster moves announced after the game.  Let’s discuss:

• Casper Wells was called up for Alfredo Figaro Friday.  He hasn’t been demoted yet (as was expected with Armando Galarraga getting the start Sunday).  Wells is struggling at the plate, but is an upgrade over Ryan Raburn in the field.
• Max Scherzer just isn’t helping the team with his starts, but getting through five innings Friday night after getting bombed in the first was helpful by not killing the bullpen.  He was demoted to Toledo tonight, not surprisingly.
• Dontrelle Willis continues to baffle when he doesn’t have scheduled work.  Hard to read too much into tonight’s start, except he just sucked.  Thursday’s scheduled start in Oakland (his hometown) will be more telling… if he isn’t sick again.
• Danny Worth is getting promoted with Galarraga; Scott Sizemore goes to Toledo.  The surprise move is Worth; he’s done little to suggest he might excel in the majors at this stage in his career.

So some thoughts on what’s happening on the team with these moves.

Carlos Guillen is your new starting second baseman.  Its surprising, but maybe it shouldn’t be.  I actually suggested it last August (though it was more of a “i wouldn’t be surprised”, and definitely not a “it should happen”).  I have more thoughts on this, but we could easily chalk this up as “should have offered Placido Polanco arbitration”.  For Guillen, its hard to say how much of this is due to Detroit needing his bat in the lineup, or the front office not wanting to eat Guillen’s salary.  Probably quite a bit of both.  I have no idea how this will turn out.

Brandon Inge has been awful at the plate.  I don’t know if Detroit plans on using Worth or Don Kelly more at third, but I may be eating my words on the thought that Detroit would extend a contract to Inge before the all-star break.  More likely, Detroit may make a free agent splash at that position this winter.

No real thoughts on Scott Sizemore.  We may never know how much his ankle is holding him back; Leyland’s been reluctant enough to start Sizemore on cold weather days that the ankle could be affecting his offense.

Brennan Boesch continues to shine, and he’s actually improving.  This is all going to end eventually, and there was an interesting discussion at blessyouboys about it today.  I know scouts say there is a hole in Boesch’s swing… its just so interesting that two of the best franchises in the league (Yankees and Boston) can’t seem to exploit it.  Yes Boesch will come back down to earth, and probably even struggle.  But here’s the point:  Boesch has hit exceptionally well when other parts of the Tigers lineup (Inge, Magglio Ordonez, every catcher) have struggled.  Boesch being hot in late April and May have covered for other parts of the team cooling down.  Let’s just hope that as he cools off, Mags, Inge, and any sort of catcher can start hitting.  This much we can be certain of:  Heading into and out of spring training, Brennan Boesch was not Detroit’s top prospect; he wasn’t even Detroit’s top left handed hitting outfield prospect (more likely Clete Thomas, who didn’t make the team only due to having a option left).  But he’s made the most out of his opportunities.  Much like Matt Joyce in 2008?  Maybe… but Joyce was NEVER this hot in the majors.  Not by a long shot.

In SF Giants land, I attended Friday night’s victory over lowly Houston.  Ex-Tiger Andres Torres shined, and was a monster on the base paths.  It reminds you why Austin Jackson can be a team’s worst nightmare with such speed.  It is also easy to imagine how Bengie Molina (on a one year contract) could help Detroit this year.  Molina is holding down the fort for Buster Posey in SF… I’d suggest Detroit exploring a swap with Gerald Laird and some surplus outfielder for Molina.  This assumes Laird isn’t in the 2011 Tiger plans, which I assume he isn’t.

As a sports fan, we’re in an interesting era for baseball:  Who do we trust, who cheated?  Is anyone currently cheating?  Ok, let’s pretend everyone now is clean and clear.  How do we deal with players from 1990 until 2008?  Asterisks for any home run champions?

Well the baseball media has let us know.  No hall of fame for cheaters!  Who cheated?  They don’t know!  Because they didn’t ask enough questions during the steroid era.  I mean, man oh man, Mark McGwire sure confused everyone with those Andro bottles, didn’t he?  No, the media insists, if they knew better, they would have reported it differently.  But the players just did everything they could to hide the truth.  And Bud Selig?  Yeah, he’s the devil!  He handed out steroids to every player so the owners would make more money!  And the writers, they just didn’t know any better!

Yes it was all bullshit.  But the writers have been standing behind this facade for a few years now.  Finally, as fans, we get to see their true colors:  Brian Cushing is caught cheating, and the AP writers get a chance to revote on his rookie of the year award.  Cushing, who is no stranger to steroid rumors, is caught… in September of 2009.  Still plays the rest of the year.  Wins rookie of the year.  No problem, AP decides they can revote on the award.  The result?  Cushing wins again.

Are you kidding me?

Yes, these are football writers.  But how does anyone trust baseball writers?  These are the guys who get high and mighty about hall of fame votes (some writers refuse to vote for anyone on the first ballot, making a mockery of the entire process).  Essentially, I’ve lost faith in all sports media.  Baseball writers ignored steroids for over a decade.  Football writers voted twice for a cheating player, once with full knowledge of the testing (and test failures).  Baseball writers jumped on some random blogger last summer for suggesting a player was juicing. What was their issue?

No one outside of the media can accuse someone of steroids!

Why?

Because only the sports media is qualified to ignore the evidence.

Lots of baseball to process for one day.  It started off with Detroit calling up Alfredo Figaro and optioning Ryan Raburn to Toledo.  I like the demotion of Raburn; he deserves some at-bats to get his swing back.  I am interested to see where he will play in the field for Toledo.  The promotion of Figaro makes little sense if he’s to be used in a bullpen role.  So, if you need some innings out of the ‘pen, you call up a starter?  No pressure there kid.  I’m willing to give Figaro a pass in the nightcap, unable to clean up Phil Coke’s mess before the game got out of hand in the ninth inning, but I question if the expectations were a little high for him to succeed in that position.  If the callup was for a spot start this weekend, it would have made more sense.  Now I’m very confused.

Both Rick Porcello and Jeremy Bonderman were very good today (to be fair, I saw all of the first game and the first half of the second).  Best start of the year for both?  Quite possibly, especially considering the competition.  Let’s just hope they’re both back on track.

Neither game saw a great Tiger offense, but I’m still impressed with Brennan Boesch thus far.  And even though he’s had a poor offensive series, Derek Jeter is awesome.  I saw Jeter play in a high school all-star game at old Tiger Stadium his senior year in high school, and its amazing how far he’s come since then.

Thursdays game has a dream pitching matchup:  Sabathia vs Verlander.  And it has a nightmare weather forecast.

On the night Detroit was honoring Ernie Harwell, Dontrelle Willis was too sick to start.  I’m not exactly sure why Brad Thomas gets these starts, but for the second time this year, Thomas found himself starting on short notice, this time against the Yankees.  The MudHens were in Durham; you have to wonder if they were in Toledo, if Detroit would have made a roster move for a starter.  I’m also not sure why Eddie Bonine doesn’t get these starts, though both he & Thomas saw action.

My main disagreement is… why was Joel Zumaya brought out to pitch the eighth?  If Zumaya runs out there in the sixth and seventh, Perry and Coke should have been used immediately in the eighth.  Worst case, once A-Rod singled to leave off the eighth, bring in someone else.  I’m sure Leyland wanted to save his bullpen, but that nearly cost Detroit the victory.  If your rotation is Zumaya / Perry / Valverde in the 7th/8th/9th, stick to it.  If you need arms, make a roster move after the game.

There’s always the question about who gets demoted when Carlos Guillen returns from injury.  Brennan Boesch is sure making his case to not only stay on the 25 man roster, but play ahead of Guillen.  Congrats Brennan, you were intentionally walked this evening so New York could pitch to Detroit’s $6million third baseman.  Fans used to make jokes like “Boesch is hitting so well that Guillen is starting to feel better already”, but in this case, I’m sure Detroit would love for Guillen to limp around until Boesh cools off.  Carlos is getting paid this year and next whether or not he has a stellar 2010.  Its also amazing that Detroit has to figure out who gets sent down (most likely Boesch, though Guillen can bat right handed and this could put Raburn on the hot seat), while Adam Everett, Gerald Laird and Alex Avila are all struggling mightily.  Chances Carlos Guillen sees some time at second base?  Zero.  Chances Detroit makes an infield move around Everett or Sizemore?  Probably increasing.

Random Notes:

• Update from my earlier post on attendance:  The combination between the Yankees and the Ernie Harwell Tribute saw Detroit’s third largest home attendance, at 34,365.  Pretty good for a Monday night.
• There has been a lot of talk about speeding up the game, and about how ‘slow’ the Yankees play.  This was Detroit’s third longest home game of the season, at 3 hours and 16 minutes.  I’m not sure if the tribute played into this.
• Who would be considered Detroit’s starting short stop?  Adam Everett leads Ramon Santiago in starts at short, 17 starts to 15.  Santiago leads Everett in innings at short, 147 to 132.
• I’m suddenly very interested in Dontrelle’s next start.  Lynn Henning is reporting it will be as planned, with Willis starting next Saturday.  If this changes, it could seriously impact my trip to Dodger Stadium this month.  As it stands, Justin Verlander is starting the final game of the Los Angeles series, which should be a great game to attend in a historic venue.  If Willis bumps everyone back one day, Verlander misses the series.

I fantasized about a Roy Oswalt deal over the weekend, and I’m also well aware of Oakland’s attendance problem… as Detroit’s starting pitching still appears shaky, I’ve started thinking about Ben Sheets as well.  But how are the Tigers doing in terms of revenue / attendance, and could they afford such a move?

Its still early in the year (Detroit has played 31 games, but only 12 at home).  Through those 12 games, Detroit has averaged 26,419 fans.  What about 2009, through the first 12?  Just over 26,878.  The fans have been relatively consistent, year over year.

The good news is the teams that have visited Comerica park before tonight have been… lacking.. in excitement.  Last year saw the Yankees come to town during the third home series; 2010 has the first major draw (New York) coming in home game #13.  To be fair, that first 2009 series with New York averaged only 27,550 in attendance; not exactly a major jump.

So what does that mean?  Well, including dead weight, Detroit has roughly the same payroll through May of 2010 as they did in 2009 ($134mil in 2010, $130mil in 2009).  2009 saw Detroit take on a few extra millions in Washburn and Huff, but that happened later in the year.  The likelihood that Detroit can take on major salary in the form of a trade is unlikely at this time.  They could offer up more talent and make the trade partner eat salary, but I find that doubtful at the moment.  As Detroit was 4th in the league in attendance in 2009, it would be unlikely that they can expect a large jump in attendance this year, due to their already supportive fan base.

While I’d love for Detroit to make a move on a talented player, taking on more salary this year seems unlikely. The dip in 2011 payroll could allow for a splash, either in the free agent market or taking on salary via trade.

Side Note:  Excited for Dallas Braden?  He is scheduled to pitch against Detroit in Oakland, May 20th.  Might have to skip work that day…

Not much to say about a game that really didn’t happen, as Detroit was rained out at Cleveland.  13 runs scored in under five innings Nothing to see here.  Good news for Jeremy Bonderman, who pitched but didn’t pitch in the game that didn’t happen.

Bad news for Detroit.  Their starting pitching continues to struggle, sans (gasp) Justin Verlander and Dontrelle Willis.  Can’t really be sure what is in store for the rest of the year.  Also you can’t be sure that Detroit has major-league ready pitchers in the farm system (Armando Galarraga, is he ready again?).  With that, plus Buster Olney hinting that Roy Oswalt is available (though wtih a monster contract), could Detroit be looking to make a deal?

My guess?  No, Detroit can’t afford it.  But it would make sense.  Oswalt is making $15million this year and $16 next, though apparently has had some back issues (Dear Jarrod Washburn:  I still dislike you and your bum knee).  This year’s contract would be the issue though; Detroit has money to spend in 2011 and not a lot of pitching reinforcements with Willis and Bonderman on the last year of their contracts.  Detroit does have enough young outfield talent to offer an offensively-challenged Astros team, which could allow Houston to absorb some of Oswalt’s massive contract.

My fear is Detroit might wait too long to find pitching help (or, conversely, wait too long to find out if their rotation gels).  The AL East is again looking to own the wild-card; if the pitching doesn’t come around, can Detroit wait until the trade deadline?