Hey! Guess what? The Tigers open the exhibition season Friday (!!) against Florida Southern. But until then, here's some links from Lakeland and beyond, as I try to make a concerted effort to bring more news from the division rivals into the Morning Prowl.
Beck's Blog: Leyland: I'm not old school
Jim Leyland's soliloquy.
Tigers left-hander Charlie Furbush took unusual path to camp | tigers.com: News
Beck with a nice profile on Furbush, who rose from a Division 3 college in Maine to being on the verge of making his major league debut this season.
Tigers.com: Knee soreness part of process for Guillen
Jason Beck with a quick note about Guillen's sore knee.
DetNews: Tigers' Clete Thomas A-OK after tedious rehab with CPM
Tom Gage tells about what Thomas went through in rehabbing after microfracture surgery.
Freep: Tigers prospect Jacob Turner shines for brass
Leyland doesn't want to get carried away but it's hard not to.
BaseballAmerica.com: Prospects: Rankings: Top 100 Prospects: 2011
Speaking of Turner, three Tigers made the cut for Baseball America's top 100 prosects: At 87., Andy Oliver; at 65. Nick Castellanos; and at 21. Jacob Turner. I was a bit surprised to see Oliver on the list but we'll certainly take it. Heck there were years you were happy to see any Tiger ranked, let alone three of them.
Fox Sports Detroit: Clete Thomas ready to avoid injury bug this season
Hidden gem in the notes section: Verlander will take on Porcello any time, any where. On th golf course, where he'll even give him three strokes handicap.
Tigers Scorecard: A Quick Chat with Tigers RHP Prospect Zach Simons
Sox Drawer: Williams says no to Pujols, 'insanity'
Is this even news? The White Sox don't want a player that almost certainly won't be available to them. (h/t South Side Hit Girl)
StarTribune.com: Mauer: 'A bigger deal than it really is' | StarTribune.com
Sounds like Joe Mauer would have preferred if his manager never mentioned the injection in his knee Tuesday.
Nick's Twins Blog: Protecting Mauer
Nick Nelson writes about steps the Twins could take to keep their best asset on the field.
SBNation.com: Twins' Pavano Gets Nod Over Liriano For Opening Day
Carl Pavano will be the opening day starter.
Twinkie Town: The Infield of the Future?
After so many Twins infielders departed over the past offseason and made room for a new set of players, Twinkie Town wonders if the newest version is the infield of the future.
Beyond the Box Score: I Like the Way You WERC It: An Intermediate Step into the DIPS Theory
Two Tigers bloggers, Lee Panas and Mike Rogers, team up in looking for a new stat that falls between FIP and ERA. Rogers writes the story but it's built on the work of Panas. (Both appear in the Tigers Annual!)
Beyond the Box Score: Charting Pitching Components, 2008-2010
Speaking of sabermetrics, here's some work on looking at the run values of certain pitching events.