Morning Prowl: Guillen Plays Third, Not Fab Freddy, Tales from Lakeland, and Love for Relievers

by Ian Casselberry on Mar 19, 2009 9:00 AM EDT in News Comment 3 comments

Who was that at third base for Team Venezuela last night? Carlos Guillen? Didn't he say he'd only play left field in the WBC? Giving his country what it needed, Guillen agreed to fill in for the injured Melvin Mora. (Mora!!!)

How do you think Jim Leyland is liking this World Baseball Classic right about now?

If you're still thinking that the Tigers should've brought back Freddy Garcia for this season, consider that the New York Mets are reportedly about to release him. He's apparently lost out in their fifth starter competition.

(via MLB Trade Rumors)

Lee just returned from Lakeland and has some Tiger Tales to share. I was soaked in envy reading his post. I have to break my Spring Training seal in the next year or two. Also heading down to catch some Grapefruit League play is Tiger Geist.

For those who have been to Spring Training, is it better to go earlier or later in the schedule, or does it really not matter?

Leyland continues to be impressed by Casey Fien, the strike-throwing machine. (A bit much to fit on a t-shirt, but I'm putting my mind to it.)

Over at Viva El Birdos, the red baron was impressed by Ryan Perry and feeling pretty good that he was right about him in his draft preview last year.

From the "nice problem to have" department, the Tigers could be facing some tough decisions in the weeks to come about which relievers to keep, with three spots to fill and quite a few guys throwing well.

DesigNate Robertson has a shot-in-the-dark candidate for the Tigers' fifth starting pitcher. I agree that it won't happen, but I like where Rogo's head is at. We like moxie here.

The Freep's John Lowe volleyed some questions and answers with second baseman Will Rhymes. Is he the best position player story for the Tigers this spring?

With the NCAA basketball tournament opening today, Jesse Spector talked to some baseball players about their picks, including two Detroit Tigers.

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Bad Stuff from Jayson Stark's Spring Training Blog

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Re: Nate Robertson: Nate Robertson, Tigers (1-1, 5.14 ERA, 7 IP, 6 H, 5 BB, 3 K’s): The Tigers need either Robertson or Dontrelle Willis to step up and win their fifth starter’s job, just so 20-year-old Rick Porcello doesn’t have to start the year in the big leagues. But Robertson has scouts shaking their heads over his “minus” stuff. “I really think it’s over,” said an AL scout. “He pitches like he’s 40 years old. No life whatsoever. His stuff has gone backward across the board.”

Re: Dontrelle Willis: A scout who has seen a lot of the Tigers this spring says Dontrelle Willis has thrown so badly that “I don’t think he’s in their [rotation] mix at all.” When Willis sacrifices stuff for command, he can still throw strikes. “But when he gets in favorable counts and has the leeway to add a little more stuff,” the scout said, “it goes all over the place.” This guy has $22 million coming the next two years ($10 million this year, $12 million next). So while the Tigers need his permission to send him to the minors, he’d have to say yes — or forfeit that money.

by ThaWalrus9 on Mar 19, 2009 4:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Willis' $

Willis gets his money either way. From everything I’ve read, Dontrelle gets that money unless he decides to donate it to the red cross. Mr. Stark I believe is incorrect — Tigers need his permission to send him to the minors; he can refuse (due to his major league experience) and sign with another team. But he still gets paid — detroit would be on the hook for any differences in a new contract vs the old one.

by jb_sf on Mar 20, 2009 9:11 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Spring training travel

Ian,
the timing depends mostly on the Tiger travel schedule for me. Traffic in florida is… rough. Not all of the facilities are near each other, so you can spend a lot of time in the car and / or a lot of time hopping hotels trying to stay sane. I personally prefer to watch the youngsters (seeing Maybin launch a shot to center a few years ago was great), but you have little control over when guys are sent down. The WBC (and Detroit’s involvement) will help this year for sure — I missed Porcello last year by a few days, but should see him in Tampa this saturday. But really its hit or miss due to travel times and possible off days, so I’ve always planned it around the Tiger travel schedule. And then there are other considerations — seeing the Red Sox in Ft Myers (on Monday) was something we haven’t done yet, so we took an extra travel day just to pull that off.

Otherwise, you can also try to pick up some of the other team’s games, but that gets less interesting in the sixth inning.

If I had my choice, I’d come early, watch some of the practices and the early games. But with injuries (Zumaya, Bonderman, this year) you’re never really sure what you’re going to see anyway.

by jb_sf on Mar 20, 2009 9:22 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs