With Magglio Ordonez's retirement (*tear*) announcement Sunday, Chris Jaffe gives us some career highlights; Justin Verlander shows that he can hit home runs in batting practice; and there are apparently 28 other players who are better franchise players than Miguel Cabrera. These stories and a Lance Parrish reference in today's Morning Prowl.
Tigers links:
Magglio Ordonez career highlights -- The Hardball Times, Chris Jaffe
Oct. 14, 2006 is the one that sticks out in my mind. But I don't think I'm alone.
5 Teams That Could Use Jamie Moyer -- Baseball Nation, Al Yellon
"Is Jamie Moyer's career over? It shouldn't be. Plenty of teams could use him." Including the Detroit Tigers? I don't see it.
Justin Verlander homers over Green Monster during batting practice -- Big League Stew, David Brown
Last year, an MVP and a Cy Young. This year, first major league baseball hit. Oh right, it was during batting practice. Nice try, Justin.
ESPN's Franchise Player Draft -- ESPN
Hahahahaha. Miguel Cabrera is 29th. Hahahahaha
All-time draft rosters: AL Central -- SweetSpot Blog, David Schoenfield
"Let's move on to the AL Central as we look back at the all-time draft rosters." Lance Parrish in the house! Woo!
Scouting Casey Crosby -- Motor City Bengals, John Verburg
Doug Fister is out, Casey Crosby is in. Here's a refresher on what we might see tonight with him on the mound.
Helping out the Sox, and the Drew Smyly who wasn’t. -- Roar of the Tigers, Samara Pearlstein
Bobby Valentine makes an appearance. Jim Leyland is not amused.
Around the AL Central:
Middle Relief: What to Do With the Twins? -- The Triangle Blog, Jonah Keri
"You're the worst team in the American League. You've gone from six division titles in nine years to a possible second straight season in the cellar. You're Terry Ryan, general manager of the Minnesota Twins. What do you do? What do you do?"
Royals Had a Winning Record in May, Did It Mean Anything? -- Royals Review,
"Looking for perspective on a good month." Good luck with that. Tigers fans were looking for perspective after a sweep of the Twins. We know now how silly that sounds.
Elsewhere in baseball:
New-look market at MLB trade deadline loaded with pitching -- CBSSports.com, Jon Heyman
Two months before the trade deadline, Jon Heyman looks at the market and the potential impact of more wild cards.
New York Yankees' Russell Martin says he had unusual run-in with umpire -- ESPN New York
I want to hear what Hawk Harrelson has to say about this.
Manufactured Runs: Who Gives a Shift? -- Baseball Prospectus, Colin Wyers
"Let’s play a game called 'Which one of these is not like the others?' Culled from Fangraphs, Baseball-Reference, and yours truly, defensive ratings for Brett Lawrie:"