Morning Prowl: Left Field or Else, Sidearmers Rule, and 100-Pitch Limits

  Carlos Guillen says he won't play in the World Baseball Classic if he's not playing in left field.  That's reassuring, as I was a bit worried he'd be playing shortstop or third and miss out on valuable repetition this spring.

(Blake applauds Guillen putting the Tigers ahead of Venezuela.)

  Jim Leyland was "very impressed" with Rudy Darrow yesterday, and gave him some one-on-one face time after he threw.

Last year, Darrow struck out 57 batters in 62 innings, pitching for West Michigan and Erie.  And if you want to see his funky sidearm motion, Kurt posted a link to some video from the Arizona Fall League.

  Motor City Bengals takes a look at Will Rhymes in his ranking of Detroit's Top 30 minor league prospects.  With Placido Polanco in the last year of his contract, will he be in the second base mix for 2010?

  The Tigers' subdued offseason puts them in the "non-winner" category, according to SI.com's Jon Heyman.  I don't know about you, but I'm just fine with him thinking that.  (In fairness, he also says they could be a contender.)

(via The Cutoff Man)

  Baseball Digest Daily takes a look at Justin Verlander's 2008 season and tries to determine if his struggles after the 100-pitch mark were due to fatigue or statistical anomaly.