Morning Prowl: Nate's Wait, Sheff Watch, Season Tickets, and AL Central Previews

by Ian Casselberry on Apr 3, 2009 8:00 AM EDT in Detroit Tigers News

At Roar of the Tigers, Samara preaches The Church of What's Happening Now to Nate Robertson. Does he really think Detroit can swing a deal, with his recent performance and future salary?

Rob Neyer, however, believes Robertson is still a capable starting pitcher (which he also said on The Detroit Tigers Podcast last week), and thinks the Tigers are wasting him in the bullpen.

The Cincinnati Enquirer's John Fay reports that Gary Sheffield spoke with Dusty Baker over the phone, and was told he'd probably be a platoon left fielder with the Reds.

More Neyer: Rob wonders why the Phillies (or any NL team, for that matter) would be interested in Sheffield. Me, I think Philadelphia is where Sheff finally ends up.

One more NL team taking a look at Sheff? The St. Louis Cardinals, according to MLive.com's Steve Kornacki. (Scroll down to the bottom.)

If you're a Tigers season ticket holder, you already know this, but the motif for this year's tickets is based on the 1984 set of Topps baseball cards. Pretty slick job by Ron Wade (who's on Twitter) and his marketing staff.

Both Baseball Digest Daily and Baseball Musings have posted their AL Central previews. How do the Tigers stack up? Well...

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Robertson

I hope does well coming out of the bullpen, but not holding my breath. It seems as if when Nate pitches good, the Tigers can’t hit. He has the worst luck and this has been since the ‘06 season when he’d throw a great game and then not get run support. He sure is ticked off. Honestly, I hope he can regain his stuff and we can trade him. Course we’ll have to pick up most of his salary if we do.

by densogirl on Apr 3, 2009 9:28 AM EDT reply actions

Nate and Willis....

…..Are both Done……I hope Willis can come back though since hes younger and much ,more exciting and good for the game.

by BennieBladesFan on Apr 3, 2009 9:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Willis

Never thought I’d hear you say that, BennieBladesFan. Shock of shocks. I wonder what they’re doing to him in Detroit. If he truly does have an anxiety disorder, and I believe he does have a disorder, maybe medication will help and they will give him another chance. To spend that much money and get nothing for it makes me sick.

by densogirl on Apr 3, 2009 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions

Whats That Suposed To Mean?

Never thought Id hear you say that?

by BennieBladesFan on Apr 3, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions

DesigNate

I hope we keep him. I think he’s going to be fine, with a shored up defence behind him. The articles about him trying to get “craftier” a la Kenny Rogers were interesting, especially after his obsession last year with trying to blow guys away with an 88-mph fastball.

Especially interesting to me will be whether he’s got his slider back. The official line was that he didn’t have control over it, but I started to wonder if the entire staff started throwing less breaking stuff because they were afraid Pudge wouldn’t be able to block it. Or worse, whether Pudge started calling for less breaking stuff because he didn’t know if he could block it.

I don't want to hear any weak sh*t from Jason Grilli.

by cherub_daemon on Apr 3, 2009 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Funny about run support.

I’ve had that same conversation with the gf, and although I had pretty much the same opinion as you, she pointed out that for the team he’s on, with his ERA, his W-L record has not been unreasonable. Which is true, but anecdotally, it always seems like he gets hosed for run support. It could just be that we remember when he pitches well and gets no hitting love selectively over the converse.

I don't want to hear any weak sh*t from Jason Grilli.

by cherub_daemon on Apr 3, 2009 11:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Sheff

While this is anticlimactic for Tiger fans, I share Neyer’s wonder at why NL teams, in particular, would have any interest in Gary Sheffield, particularly a team that has any aspirations of being competitive, because there’s a decent chance he blows up if he’s unhappy. We all know the beats are happy to come to Gary for quotes.
For him to say he can “still play the field” and to actually play the field are two different things.

The world's greatest wiffle ball tournament! TheFatty.com

by rings on Apr 3, 2009 11:24 AM EDT reply actions