Detroit Tigers 2013 Season

[RandyTiger]

Oh, forgot to mention, even tho' it should be obvious by now:

RHP Brayan Villarreal optioned to Toledo.
RHP Jose Valverde recalled from Lakeland (A).

First post (roster) updated.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

Oh, forgot to mention, even tho' it should be obvious by now:

RHP Brayan Villarreal optioned to Toledo.
RHP Jose Valverde recalled from Lakeland (A).

First post (roster) updated.

If that isn't rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic I don't know what would qualify as such.

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

If that isn't rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic I don't know what would qualify as such.

It's a gamble at best. We'll just have to see what happens, and hope Rondon and Valderde's WAR is horribly negative, or the Tigers are going to have some major rearranging to do.

Throw in the fact that Porcello is struggling, and if he keeps that up, he will probably go into the bullpen while Smyly replaces him.

What seemed to be a strength at the end of ST may quickly become a liability. Thank God it's only April. If it were July... oi.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

It's a gamble at best. We'll just have to see what happens, and hope Rondon and Valderde's WAR is horribly negative, or the Tigers are going to have some major rearranging to do.

Throw in the fact that Porcello is struggling, and if he keeps that up, he will probably go into the bullpen while Smyly replaces him.

What seemed to be a strength at the end of ST may quickly become a liability. Thank God it's only April. If it were July... oi.

What has me the most frightened is the Leyland loyalty factor. I'm scared that if Valverde comes in and picks up his first couple saves, Jimbo will stick with him for the duration no matter what. We seen this with Inge and Raburn already.

One thing I simply won't be able to stomach is if Valverde comes in and makes absolutely no effort to hold guys on base. Watching him allow guys to steal 2B at will last year turned my stomach.

[DamPenguin]

Originally Posted by David Watts

What has me the most frightened is the Leyland loyalty factor. I'm scared that if Valverde comes in and picks up his first couple saves, Jimbo will stick with him for the duration no matter what. We seen this with Inge and Raburn already.

No doubt. One of the great things about Leyland (loyalty) is also his biggest weakness. Very scary indeed.

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by David Watts

What has me the most frightened is the Leyland loyalty factor. I'm scared that if Valverde comes in and picks up his first couple saves, Jimbo will stick with him for the duration no matter what. We seen this with Inge and Raburn already.

One thing I simply won't be able to stomach is if Valverde comes in and makes absolutely no effort to hold guys on base. Watching him allow guys to steal 2B at will last year turned my stomach.

Players appreciate Leyland's loyalty because they know they will get a fair shake and playing time despite what the fanbase is screaming. As you noted, Inge/Raburn immediately come to mind, and Valverde from last year.

It's admirable on one hand, but on the other... as DamP noted, it's a weakness.

We don't really know what goes on behind the scenes - the meetings, the coaching, etc. Wish we did, and then we would all have to simply shut up. These guys get paid to do this. We just kibitz from the bleachers without knowing anything but how the guy is performing on the field and what the reporters see fit to print.

Let's look at the Valverde situation. Once I chilled out, ashamed of my knee-jerk reaction, I began thinking about all the angles. What if he's re-discovered his splitter, or regained faith in his pitches?

That's the primary reason he became ineffective, he lost confidence in himself and his splitter, and went primarily with his fastball. He got pounded, because that thing isn't exactly Verlander-speed or deceptive enough to throw regularly.

If he's regained that confidence during the winter Dominican-league sessions and his workouts down in the minors... it's possible he's regained some of his form, at least enough to hold down the fort until Rondon is seasoned enough to do the job.

One of the newspapers articles I read noted that Valverde has lost some weight in the off-season, which can only help.

Maybe, just maybe... he can get the job done. He's only on the one-year contract (terms weren't disclosed, but I bet it's heavily incentive-laden, as it should be), and if he doesn't work out, it should become apparent early on, and the Tigers won't suffer too much.

What do they really have to lose, anyway? The current set-up ain't working, altho' that's more because of the recent offensive woes than anything else. This way, it takes the pressure off Rondon and they can work him up to speed at a comfortable pace in little-to-no pressure situations.

Speaking of Rondon, he appears to have done well at Toledo: 7 appearances, 7.2 IP, 5 hits (all singles), 2 walks, no runs, and 9K's.

Maybe we should just wait and see if this gamble pays off before crucifying the management.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

Players appreciate Leyland's loyalty because they know they will get a fair shake and playing time despite what the fanbase is screaming. As you noted, Inge/Raburn immediately come to mind, and Valverde from last year.

It's admirable on one hand, but on the other... as DamP noted, it's a weakness.

We don't really know what goes on behind the scenes - the meetings, the coaching, etc. Wish we did, then I'd get the feeling we would all have to simply shut up. These guys get paid to do this. We just kibitz from the bleachers without knowing anything but how the guy is performing on the field and what the reporters see fit to print.

Let's look at the Valverde situation. Once I chilled out, ashamed of my knee-jerk reaction, I began thinking about it. What if he's re-discovered his splitter, or regained faith in his pitches?

That's the primary reason he became ineffective, he lost confidence in himself and his splitter, and went primarily with his fastball. He got pounded, because that thing isn't exactly Verlander-speed or deceptive.

If he's regained that confidence during the winter Dominican-league sessions and during his workouts down in the minors... it's possible he's regained some of his form, at least enough to hold down the fort until Rondon is seasoned enough to do the job.

One of the newspapers articles I read noted that Valverde has lost some weight in the off-season, which can only help.

Maybe, just maybe... he can get the job done. He's only on the one-year contract (terms weren't disclosed, but I bet it's heavily incentive-laden, as it should be), and if he doesn't work out, it should become apparently early on, and the Tigers won't suffer too much.

What do they really have to lose, anyway? The current set-up ain't working, altho' that's more because of the recent offensive woes than anything else. This way, it takes the pressure off Rondon and they can work him up to speed at a comfortable pace in little-to-no pressure situations.

Speaking of Rondon, he appears to have done well at Toledo: 7 appearances, 7.2 IP, 5 hits (all singles), 2 walks, no runs, and 9K's.

Maybe we should just wait and see if this gamble pays off before crucifying the management.

Believe me, I want nothing more than for this to work out. Not in any way am I rooting for Valverde to fail, so I can say "I told you so."

[RandyTiger]

Roster move: To free up room on the 40-man roster for RHP Jose Valverde, the Tigers have DFA'd Duane Below.

Hrm. This is unexpected. I always thought Below was someone the Tigers wanted to hang on to, but with the ascendance of Smyly, I guess he's the odd man out. I half expected Villarreal to be the one DFA'd.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by David Watts

What has me the most frightened is the Leyland loyalty factor. I'm scared that if Valverde comes in and picks up his first couple saves, Jimbo will stick with him for the duration no matter what. We seen this with Inge and Raburn already.

One thing I simply won't be able to stomach is if Valverde comes in and makes absolutely no effort to hold guys on base. Watching him allow guys to steal 2B at will last year turned my stomach.

And donkelly. And Ramon Santiago.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers 7, Royals 5. [Boxscore]

Summary: Tigers slip past Royals thanks to a solid bullpen effort.

Pitching: Scherzer, who nabbed the win (2-0), went a shaky 5 innings, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks while collecting 6 K's. It wasn't impressive by any standard, but he somehow got the job done.

The bullpen, on the other hand, was sharp, although Alburquerque struggled a bit in his 1.2 innings, allowing a hit and 2 walks, and delivering two stinging strikeouts. Benoit (1.1 IP, 1K) and Valverde (Save (1)) pitched perfectly, nailing the door shut. Solid effort all around.

Offense: The bats finally woke up as they collected 7 hits and 8 (!) walks. Infante had 3 hits, Cabrera, Martinez, and Peralta collected 2 apiece, and Fielder drew 3 walks.

Infante collected his first triple of the season, while Cabrera (4) and Martinez (2) had doubles.

Next game: Thursday, Royals @ Tigers, 1:08 Eastern. TV: FS-D. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket. It'll be an interesting matchup: James Shields vs. Justin Verlander.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

And donkelly. And Ramon Santiago.

I like Ramon and in his case I don't think any better options are available. Heck, we still have a guy starting at SS that has the range of a 77 year old grandma with hip problems.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

Tigers 7, Royals 5. [Boxscore]

Summary: Tigers slip past Royals thanks to a solid bullpen effort.

Pitching: Scherzer, who nabbed the win (2-0), went a shaky 5 innings, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks while collecting 6 K's. It wasn't impressive by any standard, but he somehow got the job done.

The bullpen, on the other hand, was sharp, although Alburquerque struggled a bit in his 1.2 innings, allowing a hit and 2 walks, and delivering two stinging strikeouts. Benoit (1.1 IP, 1K) and Valverde (Save (1)) pitched perfectly, nailing the door shut. Solid effort all around.

Offense: The bats finally woke up as they collected 7 hits and 8 (!) walks. Infante had 3 hits, Cabrera, Martinez, and Peralta collected 2 apiece, and Fielder drew 3 walks.

Infante collected his first triple of the season, while Cabrera (4) and Martinez (2) had doubles.

Next game: Thursday, Royals @ Tigers, 1:08 Eastern. TV: FS-D. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket. It'll be an interesting matchup: James Shields vs. Justin Verlander.

Any word on if Al is okay? He went from total control to 7 or 8 straight balls in a row and his velocity dropped big time. Trainer came out right before he was removed from game. Fingers crossed hoping it's not something major.

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by David Watts

I like Ramon and in his case I don't think any better options are available. Heck, we still have a guy starting at SS that has the range of a 77 year old grandma with hip problems.

Danny Worth is an option. He'll be on the team next year, this is his last option year, and the last year of Ramon's contract.

As long as Jhonny doesn't do too bad fielding-wise and hits well, they'll live with it. Right now, he's hitting .311, 1 HR, 9 RBI, OPS of .760. Not too shoddy.

Defensively, 2 errors for a fielding percentage of .976, and a range factor of 4.44, which is above his career average of 4.37. So he's not Ozzie Smith. No one asked him to be. As long as he does decent, they're not gonna gripe until they find a better fielding candidate with comparable bat. God knows there aren't many of those around.

Peralta's stats/bio page at MLB.com

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Any word on if Al is okay? He went from total control to 7 or 8 straight balls in a row and his velocity dropped big time. Trainer came out right before he was removed from game. Fingers crossed hoping it's not something major.

Tweaked his hip, according to Rod Beard of the DetNews. I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything regarding him during the game telecast or on the Twitter feeds.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

Danny Worth is an option. He'll be on the team next year, this is his last option year, and the last year of Ramon's contract.

As long as Jhonny doesn't do too bad fielding-wise and hits well, they'll live with it. Right now, he's hitting .311, 1 HR, 9 RBI, OPS of .760. Not too shoddy.

Defensively, 2 errors for a fielding percentage of .976, and a range factor of 4.44, which is above his career average of 4.37. So he's not Ozzie Smith. No one asked him to be. As long as he does decent, they're not gonna gripe until they find a better fielding candidate with comparable bat. God knows there aren't many of those around.

Peralta's stats/bio page at MLB.com

Still say this team needs to quit worrying about a bat at this position and seek out a vacuum.

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Still say this team needs to quit worrying about a bat at this position and seek out a vacuum.

No arguments there from me. If you remember the off-season, there just weren't any good FA's on the market that would fit the Tigers needs. the teams that had a SS available wanted too high of a price (Garcia, Castanellos), so... the Tigers picked up Peralta's $6 million option. Not much of a choice, really.

At least Infante has been solid at his position, which helps a great deal.

[David Watts]

Why did Don Kelly get to bat in the 10th? That stinks of throwing up ones hands and saying we quit.

[RandyTiger]

Royals 8, Tigers 3. (10) [Boxscore]

Summary: Tigers lose in extra-innings despite Verlander's strong outing.

Pitching. Verlander, who left after 7 innings with a thumb injury on his throwing hand (cracked skin/blister, day-to-day), turned in a strong outing. He surrendered 1 run on 8 hits and a walk, while striking out only 4.

Rondon took over, and he did not look impressive whatsoever. In just one inning, 3 hits, 1 run. At least most of his pitches went for strikes (12 in 19 thrown). He earned his first blown save. Welcome to the Show, Bruce. :\

Coke... I'm trying to be nice, but it's clear the guy has a bad case of Jekyll/Hyde syndrome. Some days, he's magic, some days, he's the unwelcome skunk under your house. He took over in the 9th from Rondon with a runner on first, and got out of the inning without any issues and an intentional walk. So far, so good.

Then in the 10th... *sigh* Double, walk, intentional walk to load the bases. Not sure what skipper was thinking with that intentional, because Coke's control isn't the best. Sure enough, he walked in a run, and promptly got yanked. 4-3 Royals.

Downs came in. He's been aces all season. He should be able to get out of this one, or so I thought. He induced a ground ball to Infante, who threw the runner out at home. Excellent.

Next batter, Gordon, a guy who had struck out 3 times in the game... blasted a grand-slam 443 feet to center. 8-3 Royals. Ick.

Offense: Shields really put the screws on them as they collected a grand total of 5 hits and 3 walks, with 3-7 RISP. The only extra-base hit they got was Jackson's (4) in the 1st inning.

Next game: Braves @ Tigers, 7:08 Eastern. TV: FS-D, MLBN. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket.

[RandyTiger]

With 20 games played, 12 percent of the season, I decided to do a little stats analysis of the team so we can see what's going on. Rankings are AL, unless otherwise noted. Stats do not include Thursday's game, as the stat sites haven't been updated yet.

Offense: [source]

Runs: 87th, 8th.
Hits: 194, 2nd.
Doubles: 29, 11th.
Triples: 5, 4th.
Homers: 12, 13th.

Strikeouts: 136, 12th. (4th fewest, in other words)
Walks: 72, 4th highest.
SB: 9, 10th. (Only 1 CS, least in AL)

Average: .274, 2nd.
OPS: .722, 9th.

Okay, they're hitting (and walking) well, but they're not scoring or grabbing extra-base hits. Surprising, considering this is team that's supposed to be able to score often.

MLB.com stats indicate that the team is hitting .244 (8th) with .679 OPS (11th) with RISP. They're hitting. They're just not hitting when it counts!

The two main culprits seem to be Martinez and Avila.

Martinez is really struggling at the plate (.187 avg, .492 OPS; .132 average and .419 OPS with RISP). This is not the Martinez of old. Hope he starts hitting again soon, because, right now, he's a liability in that 5th slot.

Avila... was last year an aberration or the new norm for him? Let's look at his stats: .177, .501 OPS, 2 HR, 2 RBI; .171 and .387 OPS with RISP. I'll wait until the ASB to decide if he's the new Inge or not.

Pitching: [source]

ERA: 3.77, 6th.
BAA (BatAvgAgainst): .246, 8th lowest.
OPS: .672, 4th lowest.
K's: 188, 2nd.
BB: 65, 7th most.

Pretty much upper tier pitching, as expected. Let's look at starter/bullpen splits:

Starters:
ERA: 3.50, 5th.
BAA: .261, 8th lowest.
OPS: .682, 4th lowest.
K's: 109, 5th.
BB: 32, 4th lowest.

Hrm. Not what I'd expected. Of course, the bad outings by Porcello didn't help.

Bullpen:
ERA: 4.24, 10th.
BAA: .218, 6th.
OPS: .654, 6th lowest.
K's: 79, 1st.
BB: 33, 3rd most.

All those walks are killing them from the looks of it, which jibes with what I've seen on the tube.

Fielding: [source]

FPercentage: .993, best in AL, 2nd in ML (Arizona is first).
Errors: 5, best in AL, tied with Arizona for 1st in ML.

Their supposed biggest weakness is actually looking good. Of course, all of that doesn't include all the funky sabermetric stats that I'm not familiar with.

Overall: RISP failures and Bullpen control issues are what's hurting this team.

[RandyTiger]

News: If you'll remember from a few days ago, the Tigers DFA'd Duane Below to make room on the 40-man roster for Jose Valverde. The Miami Marlins have claimed Below off waivers.