Recap: The Tigers had a surprising season in 1969 that unfortunately only allowed them to be the 3rd best team in the AL East. Then the bottom dropped out last year. Detroit wasn't expansion-team bad, although they did finish the season with a worse record than the Milwaukee Brewers, but they were plenty bad enough, mediocre in all facets of the game.
History: Detroit is the red-headed stepchild of the American League. Their best ever finish is 3rd and the closest they've ever come to a pennant is 5 games back, way back in 1956.
Outlook: Early signs, particularly the trading of Vince Akright, indicate that Detroit is once again blowing everything up and rebuilding. We hope for the sake of the fans in Detroit that this time the rebuild will take.
Rotation
Code:
Pitching Age BT W L WL % ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
Molina, Edgar 25 RR 13 16 .448 3.69 34 34 0 12 2 0 258.2 226 115 106 31 94 8 238 1.237 7.9 1.1 3.3 8.3
Akright, Vince 27 SR 11 14 .440 3.61 34 34 0 5 0 0 241.2 223 109 97 13 99 11 173 1.332 8.3 0.5 3.7 6.4
Merino, Juan 23 SR 7 9 .438 4.86 20 20 0 3 0 0 139.0 141 80 75 18 61 6 119 1.453 9.1 1.2 3.9 7.7
Gilmer, Jason 28 RR 4 8 .333 4.01 17 17 0 3 2 0 121.1 128 59 54 12 50 3 80 1.467 9.5 0.9 3.7 5.9
Goddard, Jimmy 30 SR 2 2 .500 3.21 11 10 0 1 0 0 73.0 62 31 26 4 30 1 49 1.260 7.6 0.5 3.7 6.0
Bryan, Danny 29 SR 4 2 .667 2.67 13 7 3 1 0 0 54.0 34 16 16 4 36 1 46 1.296 5.7 0.7 6.0 7.7
Pulido, Richard 24 RL 1 1 .500 2.05 3 3 0 1 1 0 22.0 19 5 5 1 4 0 15 1.045 7.8 0.4 1.6 6.1
With the team crashing to earth, the Tigers relied heavily on their two young aces,
Edgar Molina and
Vince Akright. Perhaps too heavily, as it turns out, as both showed major signs of wear. Molina led the league in strikeouts in 1969 and was only 5 Ks off that pace last year, but he faded badly, going 1-7 between August and September with a 4.16 ERA before putting things back together to some degree in a complete game win in the final game of the year. Akright's fade happened earlier, during a 3-7, 4.32 stretch from May to June. He never quite got back on track and by season's end Detroit sportswriters were calling his work ethic into question. This seemed badly off-base, as Akright's a very hard worker, but the rumors - perhaps they were only cover? - led the team to ship him off in a blockbuster deal during the playoffs.
The question of who steps into the number two role now is a good one. The front-runner would appear to be one of the men they got back for Akright,
Kent Coffey (10-9, 2.65). However, Coffey is still recovering from a bad shoulder that caused him to miss the final two months of the season and it's an open question of whether he'll be 100% by April. They'll also have
Bruce Rubio in the mix following an excellent campaign where the 22 year old rookie whent a combined 14-8 for AAA Denver and Washington. Rubio is one of those guys who likes to learn how to throw every pitch that he's shown, and last year he demonstrated he could throw all of them for strikes at the major league level.
Jimmy Goddard will almost certainly be in there as well; the 15 game winner in 1969 missed the last 2/3rds of the year with a partially torn labrum and then a strained oblique. When his change is cooking, he's still got the potential to be a better than average guy out there. And perhaps don't sleep on 23 year old
Juan Merino, who still has a lot to learn but if he can keep the ball down, that curveball of his can miss a lot of bats and perhaps chase Molina for the team strikeout lead.
Bullpen
Code:
Pitching Age BT W L WL % ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
Madrigal, Alex 30 LR 3 13 .188 3.96 66 0 55 0 0 26 86.1 97 41 38 8 39 5 59 1.575 10.1 0.8 4.1 6.2
Hilbert, Larry 27 RR 4 4 .500 4.06 52 0 26 0 0 4 75.1 81 36 34 8 28 4 46 1.447 9.7 1.0 3.3 5.5
Schmidt, Ben 29 RR 8 6 .571 3.95 36 13 7 2 1 1 120.2 116 55 53 20 42 3 109 1.309 8.7 1.5 3.1 8.1
Abeyta, Gus 35 RR 1 1 .500 4.50 20 0 10 0 0 0 28.0 31 15 14 7 18 2 22 1.750 10.0 2.3 5.8 7.1
Sweetapple, Douglas 31 LL 1 5 .167 4.15 17 8 5 1 0 0 60.2 60 36 28 5 33 1 65 1.533 8.9 0.7 4.9 9.6
Lopez, Mike 27 RR 2 3 .400 4.63 16 4 4 0 0 0 44.2 46 28 23 5 42 1 44 1.970 9.3 1.0 8.5 8.9
Vaughn, Robbie 25 LL 1 4 .200 4.67 15 7 4 0 0 0 44.1 45 29 23 1 19 0 38 1.444 9.1 0.2 3.9 7.7
Vacanti, Chris 26 RR 2 3 .400 4.19 13 5 4 0 0 1 43.0 56 28 20 5 9 0 18 1.512 11.7 1.0 1.9 3.8
Godard, Eric 29 RR 3 0 1.000 3.57 12 0 5 0 0 0 17.2 18 7 7 0 12 3 11 1.698 9.2 0.0 6.1 5.6
Lopez, Tony 30 LR 1 1 .500 2.16 14 0 8 0 0 1 16.2 13 4 4 1 3 0 9 0.960 7.0 0.5 1.6 4.9
Krug, Niklas 29 RR 1 0 1.000 0.73 9 0 2 0 0 0 12.1 12 4 1 0 3 0 9 1.216 8.8 0.0 2.2 6.6
Momot, Art 30 RR 1 0 1.000 3.48 5 0 0 0 0 0 10.1 11 4 4 0 10 1 7 2.032 9.6 0.0 8.7 6.1
Alex Madrigal's season was in a way emblematic of the Tigers. He'd saved 13 games with a 1.31 ERA in the Year of the Pitcher before getting hurt in 1969, so the Tigers installed him once more as their closer. He put up statistically... mediocre numbers but he got absolutely blown up in clutch situations. He did tie the Tigers' all-time save record, originally set by Eli Beasley in 1951. He really wasn't even that bad in save situations, with "just" six blown saves. The Tigers had to put him in games where the score was tied late an awful lot, however, and he lost way too many of those. Things got so bad that they briefly turned to
Larry Hilbert but the lanky right-hander was even worse in save opportunities (4/7 for the year) so the Tigers flipped back. The bullpen also includes the enigmatic
Ben Schmidt. Schmidt was 7-18 as a starter for the expansion Expos in 1969 and at times looked amazing for the Tigers - for example, over the last two months of the season he was 2-0 with a 1.21 ERA in 22.1 innings. The issue there was, he was mostly pitching lower leverage innings, and earlier in the year when he was asked to start or pitch higher leverage, he got blown up a fair amount.
Robbie Vaughn is another interesting guy, although if all he can be is the lefty specialist the Tigers used him as for the last part of the season, it'll be considered a huge, huge disappointment for the 2nd overall pick in 1967. He still has the great stuff that caused Detroit to draft him that highly but he doesn't seem to have the stamina to go late into ballgames and last year righties hit .281/.338/.405 against him.
Catcher
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Farinelli, Gianluigi 29 RR 124 486 48 125 27 2 11 50 32 117 0 0 22 .257 .307 .389 2*
Forgey, Trey 28 RR 26 100 7 22 4 1 1 16 8 12 0 0 3 .220 .284 .310 2
Woodcock, Scott 36 RR 16 51 4 11 3 0 1 3 5 12 0 0 4 .216 .286 .333 2
Scott Woodcock was still OK in 1969 but the Tigers decided to get out in front of his decline phase, so they promoted
Gianluigi Farinelli into the starter role out of spring training. In some ways this turned out very, very badly, as Woodcock, a 5 year starter for Detroit and 2-time All-Star, moped and pouted all year long before picking up his release on June 30th. Farinellli for his part looked pretty great in the opening months but then fell off badly at the end of the year: .204/2/7 in August and .239/1/5 in September. Possibly this was just wear and tear at catcher; Farinelli's previous career high in games played was 75. It could also be that he's just not the offensive force he looked like in the first half.
Trey Forgey, a stock AAAA catcher, is the backup for now, although the club likes
Michael Scott, an 11th round pick in 1966 who's risen through the ranks. He's not the greatest defensive catcher in the world but he hi .294 with 5 HRs and 16 RBIs in 109 at-bats in AA Montgomery and could be ready for the big show sooner rather than later.
Infield
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Ayala, Jose 29 RR 144 587 75 161 26 2 19 63 43 103 0 1 24 .274 .323 .422 3*/5
Stokes, Ryan 28 LR 27 39 0 3 0 0 0 4 7 9 0 0 2 .077 .234 .077 /3
Villegas, Danny 33 RR 144 525 84 149 22 4 35 90 75 70 5 0 19 .284 .370 .541 4*
Ortega, Alex 39 RR 49 67 11 17 4 1 0 7 9 12 2 0 0 .254 .346 .343 4
Salinas, David 35 RR 114 373 40 102 10 4 3 23 32 30 12 15 7 .273 .329 .346 5
Daughtry, John 27 RR 71 190 17 39 3 2 5 21 26 45 0 0 3 .205 .300 .321 5/3
Reynolds, Tim 30 RR 12 40 3 8 1 0 1 2 4 14 0 0 0 .200 .273 .300 /53
Mullen, Matt 29 RR 151 563 50 150 23 6 0 43 31 114 3 4 13 .266 .304 .329 6*
Rose, Josh 25 RR 42 88 10 21 2 0 0 7 9 14 2 1 1 .239 .309 .261 64
Who says April is the time when everyone dreams? Clearly it's the winter, when GMs get to have all kinds of crazy lineup ideas that may or may not work. Here, right now, the crazy lineup idea is to slot
Danny Valdez into first base while moving
Jose "Joker" Ayala over to third. Ayala is a good fielder at first base and he does have a solid arm, we guess, but it remains to be seen if he can handle that wrong-way move along the defensive spectrum. Last year he played 35 innings at the hot corner and had an .875 fielding average (okay, that's 1 error in 8 chances, so sample size). There's also the real fact that Valdez cooled off when he was given the opportunity to start late in the season - .221 from September 1 to the end of the year with 4 HR and just 5 RBI. The Tigers are now bad enough to warrant experiments like this so... okay I guess?
Amidst the losing and the turmoil,
Danny Villegas continued to produce big numbers in the middle of the lineup. He finished 2nd in the AL in HRs - his 2nd straight year in the top 3 - was third in slugging percentage, and at times seemed like he was the only offensive output on the team. The only downside to the man who is so cold under pressure that the local media calls him "Icebox" is that he walks a little bit too often for a guy with his level of power (note: that's 1970 Syd speaking, not This Is An Accurate Assessment Of This Guy Syd). He also looks like he might be only a year or two removed from having to move off of second, and he doesn't have the arm to play third. OK, and also his 144 games played last year were a 4 year high.
David Salinas is now at the journeyman stage of his career - after overcoming
John Daughtry to reclaim the starting 3B role, he was shuffled off to Washington as part of the Vince Akright trade. He was a decent and solid fielder and 2-hole hitter during his year plus in Detroit. It's not hard to see why the Tigers wanted to move on, though (and one wonders what Washington is trying to do right now... but more on them later!). If Ayala can field the position, most of the worries about his bat will be quieted. If not, they did acquire 22 year old
Rob Curran, who was Washington's starter last year. Curran is a very fine 3rd baseman and shortstop who failed to make contact way, way too often last season. He's still very, very young and scouts think he can learn to make better contact.
Matt Mullen is the best defensive shortstop in the league who isn't Oniji Handa. Last year he committed just 9 errors in 714 chances (.987 FA) and it's not like he wasn't constantly diving for balls either. He also might be the most popular player on this Tigers club. If he played in the NL he'd have multiple Gold Gloves; instead, in Detroit, he's a fan favorite on a relatively unknown team.
Outfield
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Dittmar, Adam 28 RR 103 342 50 76 7 7 11 34 61 64 18 7 10 .222 .342 .380 7/9
Valdez, Danny 27 LL 86 209 33 61 11 1 16 37 38 41 1 1 7 .292 .403 .584 73/9
Wilson, Bubba 25 LR 73 265 27 71 15 3 3 30 22 45 10 6 5 .268 .321 .381 8
Thompson, Guillermo 27 RR 146 663 73 196 30 13 1 59 20 61 33 15 8 .296 .317 .385 879
Irwin, Bob 27 RR 60 130 19 36 3 1 7 14 6 18 2 0 3 .277 .309 .477 8/3479
Contreras, Chris 26 LL 112 466 54 144 31 2 7 43 22 45 1 0 11 .309 .341 .429 9*
Hall, Sean 29 LL 50 58 3 10 0 1 1 7 8 16 1 0 2 .172 .284 .259 /976
Cortez, Javy 33 RR 29 34 1 4 1 0 0 1 3 15 0 1 0 .118 .189 .147 /97
Adam Dittmar went from hero to zero in 1970. Did I give up on him too soon? He did hit .302/22/80 in 1969 and was an integral part of a powerful Tigers lineup for the 92 win year. On the other hand, he'd never shown signs of being an actual .300 hitter - his previous high in BA was .244 - and the touch of power that made him such a tantalizing choice for the 3 hole seemed to go away last year as well. Somehow for a low average, relatively fast hitter, he doesn't actually strike out a huge amount. He just has a predilection towards hitting popups to short. He's still an interesting piece but he may not have a job anymore; both
Guillermo Thompson and
Chris Contreras are proven .300 hitters now and there are only two corner outfield slots to give away.
Bubba Wilson hit well enough to get sent off to the Senators and the Tigers got back what might be the jewel of that deal,
Alvin Romero. Romero played right field for Washington last year and so is yet another guy the Tigers will try to move backwards across the defensive spectrum this year but here I'm very confident that the speed demon can handle it. Romero led the league - lapped the field, really - in steals with 72 and also hit a combined .321 between California and Washington but teams seem to keep underrating him somehow. Is it the way he always refers to himself in the first person? In spite of what sportswriters might think about his perceived arrogance, he's reportedly a great clubhouse guy.
Guillermo Thompson played 68 games in center last year and wasn't so hot. He's been pretty well displaced as both the CF and the leadoff man by Romero, which could cause the generally unmotivated Thompson to push himself a bit harder.
Chris Contreras has a somewhat similar skillset but has nowhere near the speed that Thompson possesses so he hit lower in the order. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1969 because he hit .340 and he followed that up with a .309 average last year, so perhaps the best place for him is 3rd.