Detroit Tigers burning questions: At the All-Star break edition

I would be a little surprised if Laird is released… though if a trade brings in someone better it obviously makes sense.

We need a Samara illustration for the bullpen arms shuttle, stat.

If you’d asked me who the last Tigers pitcher to get to that plateau was, his is not a name I would have come up with.

Now, if you asked me the last Tigers pitcher to lose 20 games, that one I’m all over!

I agree with you. I don’t think we’ll saddle up and dish out for a guy like Dan Haren, but I think we’ll get a bullpen arm (which I don’t think we need). Hopefully it’s a power guy like Brandon League. I wouldn’t mind getting Drew either, as I kind of like what Danny Worth does over there, but he’s probably not the every-day answer.

Next tigers mini-slump will be blamed on Lloyd McClendon

Chicago will begin to play reflective of a team that insists on having Juan Pierre leading off

CB Bucknor will do something incredibly stupid

Phil Coke will grow a silly moustache

In fact, counting on Everett, Inge, Laird/ Avila, Sizemore, Willis, Zumaya and/ or Perry is a fool’s errand anyway. Those guys have either given the same as they have in the past, or have never had a full solid season in the majors. You have to distinguish between hopes and expectations. Same for Guillen hitting the DL. If anything, there was more reason to hope that Avila and Sizemore would be bona fide major league contributors, than there was reason to believe that the veterans in that group would suddenly become bona fide.

Many things went right for the Tigers as well. AJax performed better than anyone had a right to expect, both offensively and defensively. There is still a legit question whether he belongs in a lead off role in the majors. Boesch was a total shocker, coming out of nowhere to be one of the best players in the league. That fact alone wipes out a lot of the negatives on the list. The bullpen had a great run until both Perry and Zumaya came up lame. Now, they have a major hole to fill, but lots of young guns at the ready. Magglio is almost like the Maggs of old. He just hits, and hits, and hits, even if the power isn’t 100% what it was.

Looking forward, the Tigers could muddle through with their current lineup, but why subject yourself to Inge, Laird/ Avila, and the SS platoon if you don’t have to? There’s no reason to wait til winter on the SS. With the thin crop of free agents about to hit the market, a trade is much more likely going to be the method of addressing the issue anyway. No reason not to get on it now.

The bullpen does need late inning help, and I’d look to the Jays for some of that. Downs, Gregg, or Frasor all fit nicely. But there is also a chance that one of Weinhardt, Wise, Simons, or Sborz can fill a role for us. Coke is now a set up man, as he should have been all season after leading the Yankers in appearances and posting a 1.06 WHIP last year. The need in the pen is not nearly as pressing as the need in the rotation.
Yes, the Tigers definitely need rotation help immediately. We have two reliable starters, and then it’s praying time. Oliver is a minor leaguer who needs to figure out a breaking ball. Galarraga and Bonderman are inconsistent, and Porcello is even less so. Think of trading the prospects that the tigers have as more of an enema, or a colonoscopy than a gutting of the farm system. They’re not that good. The purpose of the guys on the farm is to fill needs of the major league club when they arise. Well, there are needs, and nobody to fill them. No SS, no 3B, no SP, nobody that can hit 2nd in the order. They’ll need to be filled by next spring anyway, but the SP is an immediate need without which the season will be wasted. Short of trading Turner or Porcello, I’d deal any prospect to get back an above average player at a position of need.

Watch me be wrong!

Boesch hits a major slump in early August- a streak that sees his average and on-base ability crumple. He’s replaced by a struggling Ryan Raburn in the outfield (to which Kurt, Al, Alli and myself to some extent complain) who then promptly goes on a tear.

Carlos Guillen moves back to DH due to an injury to Johnny Damon (hamstring) and Scott Sizemore comes up to play second. It’s touch and go (Sizemore goes on the DL in early September for hip problems but comes back for the last few games and the stretch run) but he secures himself the starting position in 2011. Guillen shocks everyone and stays (mostly) healthy at the DH position, though he whines about losing his IF glove.

Alex Avila drops the strikeout rate, as does Austin Jackson. In Avila’s case, it allows him to hit around .260 with power and on-base ability and his “savior” title becomes less ironic. In Jackson’s, the drop is slight and his average drops. But he also sees some of his doubles and triples power return, and as Leyland gets more comfortable, he gets the green light to steal bases more.

Inge hits .260/.340/.440 from here on out and re-signs with the Tigers for 2 years, crediting Lloyd McClendon for fixing his swing. Heads explode on BYB. Bondo pitches around a 4 ERA for the rest of the year and re-signs for 1 year, 6mm with an option year.

Kid Rick comes back for the doubleheader start in Cleveland but both he and Andy Oliver are shipped to Toledo at the deadline as DD brings in a pitcher from the National League in a trade (possibly even Edwin Jackson from the rebuilding D-Backs). The price will be reasonable because DD is a wizard, but I will whine about giving up a good prospect (probably Brayan Villareal). Both young pitchers are sent to the minors and told to work on their breaking pitches.

Robbie Weinhardt proves he belongs in the Show and picks up a couple of saves when Jose Valverde tweaks an arm muscle. Valverde is fine, but Leyland gets conformable using Weinhardt and puts Ryan Perry back in a mop-up role. Another minor league reliever (Casey Fien/Zach Simons/someone else) who nobody sees coming (including me) will have an impact down the stretch.

Ramon Santiago quietly hits .270/.350/.380. People call for Danny Worth to replace Santiago.

Both Nick Castellanos and Chance Ruffin sign. Castellanos goes to winter ball and absolutely rakes with wooden bats. Ruffin makes the big-league team next year at the deadline. End of season prospect analysis points at breakout campaigns by Giovany Soto and Daniel Fields as glimmers of hope, but Casey Crosby has a lost season and Jacob Turner starts next year in A+, and his agent complains about Detroit’s development schedule. Castellanos, Turner and Fields make top 100 lists while Crosby and Ruffin just miss. Soto gets a sleeper tag.

The Tigers win the division on the second-to-last day of the season. The Twins and Sox tie for second, one game behind Detroit. Detroit forces the Yankees to a game 5, but get kicked out in the ALDS.

I see no harm in rolling the dice if it doesn’t cost much. We need another effective starter if we’re going to win this division.

I have heard nothing about his makeup. Does anyone know if he is a douche like his brother?

I appreciated your preseason optimism, and I appreciate your midseason optimism. Go Tigers!

my predictions

- chicago will go into a little slump just like Minn. just did – then the dysfunction will feed on itself again.

- sometime during the second half of the season Carlos Guillien will smile – but it won’t be caught on camera

- we never find our reliable fifth starter (or fourth?)

- johnny damon heats up and carries us for a while

- we somehow sweep a series with KC at home

- leyland continues to use a random number generator to fill in his starting lineup

Remember, this is just one blogger’s opinion, and I tend to be somewhat of an optimist. I’m a Lions blogger, where good things to write about are often few and far between (though not quite so few and far under Mayhew and Schwartz). So I always try to look at the bright side when it comes to the Tigers, hard as it sometimes may be.

This is a good, yet highly flawed, team. A couple of the correct tweaks puts them over the top in the Central.

Cabrera will fall short of the crown?

I don’t know what everyone has expected out of Bonderman this year but he is pretty much in line with his career numbers, especially those fancy numbers everyone on this site likes to toss around when it suits their argument.

Stat Career 2010
WHIP 1.39 1.32
k/9 7.22 6.27 (he is striking out less people)
k/bb 2.39 2.52 (ahh but he is walking less too!)
FIP 4.18 4.27 (little bit higher but expected after almost 2 years off…)

I really don’t know what everyone expected out of the guy. He isn’t going to be the ace that everyone projected him to be when he come up in 2003, after seven years in the majors why did you expect that to change? He is a more then adequate 3 or 4 starter. He will show flashes where you see the potential, and flashes where you wonder how he ever made it to the bigs, but more often then not he is going to give you 6-7 innings and keep the team in the game.

AL – TB win the EAST CHI win the CENTRAL TX win the WEST WD – BOS or NY NL – ATL win the EAST STL win the CENTRAL SD win the WEST WD – CIN [EAST] or COL or LAD or SF [WEST]