Did Jeremy Bonderman's shoulder surgery force him to fully embrace throwing his change-up? While he works to regain his velocity, Jason Beck reports, Bondo has had to become more of a finesse pitcher. Beck also addresses the possibility that Bonderman could go to the bullpen when he's activated.
In addition, Beck confirms something Billfer and I have been trying to figure out for the past few weeks: Galarraga has one minor league option left. According to Bill, Galarraga didn't use up his option last season because he was in Triple-A for less than 20 days.
The Spot Starters poses nine questions that surround the Tigers going into the last four months of the season. Three of them concern the looming outfield surplus, with another two addressing the starting rotation shuffle.
According to Baseball Musings, the Tigers' pitching staff produced the top two ERAs in May, with Rick Porcello's 1.50 and Justin Verlander's 1.52. Yet Detroit also had the worst ERA for the month, courtesy of Armando Galarraga's 8.49. Take a look at the chart for yourself.
(via Section148)
Tom Gage looks at Curtis Granderson's current numbers, and wonders if he's becoming more of a slugger and less of a speedy, line drive hitter.
Check this out: Royals Review posted the UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) defensive rankings for the AL Central teams. And the Tigers actually improved over the past month, moving from fifth in the American League up to second.
If Detroit is indeed thinking of upgrading over Dane Sardinha at back-up catcher, Mack Avenue Tigers believes they should keep their search in-house. (Kurt also points out on Twitter that Marcus Thames went 4-for-5 last night for the Mud Hens.)
DesigNate Robertson lists the former Tigers currently playing in the majors and tells us how they're doing. Rogo also posts the numbers of various players Detroit was rumored to be pursuing in the offseason (Kerry Wood, Jack Wilson, etc.).
The Detroit Tigers Weblog does something similar, in looking at four players who were released or traded by the organization this past offseason, two of whom - Matt Joyce and Guillermo Moscoso - were just called up to the majors.
If you were ranking the top five pitchers in Major League Baseball right now, would you include Justin Verlander? Or how about Zack Greinke? Circling the Bases had neither name on their list.