Detroit Baseball Hurts My Stomach

Here are ten reasons why it is really hard to watch the Tigers play baseball right now.

1. Miscues by umpires against the Rangers. (The curse of Jim Joyce.)

2. Miscues by umpires against the Red Sox. (The curse of Jim Joyce.)

3. Miscues by umpires against other teams. (The curse of Jim Joyce.)

4. Why do umpires hate the Tigers?

5. Our inability to turn a double play. 

6. Max Scherzer's ability to strike people out but inability to win.

7. Our inability to get a big 2 out hit.

8. 560,341,285,019 runners LOB.

9. The play of our second basemen.

10. The scary comparison with the 2007 disaster.

Defensive Soft Spots Revealed in Detroit

We knew that the defense was going to be down. Picking up Prince Fielder didn't exactly happen for his glove. Moving Miguel Cabrera to third base wasn't for his quick feet. Snagging Delmon Young wasn't for his range. Giving Boesch more and more AB's isn't so he can use his deep intuition in right.

Let's be honest... The Tigers snuck by for the first 36 games as mediocre defenders. Committing 21 errors through Tuesday would have kept them in the top ten best in baseball. However, we learned against Minnesota that they are not mediocre defenders. In fact, we learned that they are poor defenders and that errors are costly. The four errors on Wednesday led to four unearned runs and probably cost us the game as we lost by four. The two errors on Thursday led to one unearned run and probably cost us the game as we lost by one. (Not to mention that Prince Fielder's error has embarrassing for everybody. No wonder why he never gets hurt.)

Overall... Again... We didn't put this lineup together to be great at defense. We put this lineup together to score a boat load of runs. And this is the problem. 

So what that the Tigers are 21st in fielding percentage at .981? This is expected. What is unexpected is that the Tigers are 11th or 12th in just about every major hitting category.

11th

AVE (.256)

H (329)

R (167)

12th

OPS (.719)

HR (37)

By the way, Cleveland is thus far better than the Tigers in just about every major offensive category. Here is what their lineup has looked like the last three days.

The realty that this lineup is producing better that Detroit's is more embarrassing than Prince Fielder's defense. The irony is that without Jackson or Dirks, these numbers would be even more frightening. Hopefully they can keep it up while the rest of the team begins to pick it up as many have been putting in extra time at BP.

I was earlier arguing that when Victor Martinez returns, the Tigers lineup could be the best in history. I am now beginning to question if this is true.

2012 AL Central Analysis and Predictions (Part 1)

With spring in full swing, it is time to take a look at the AL Central and make predictions for 2012 within the context of a three part series to be published in the next week. The first part will be posted today, obviously and will take a look at the Tigers and the Twins. The second part will be published Wednesday,  February 29 and will deal with the Royals, Indians and White Sox. The final part of the series will be published on March 4, and will make final predictions on the results of the AL Central for 2012. Will the Indians be able to repeat their first half from 2011? Will the M and M boys return to their full potential for the Twins? How will Ozzie Guillen's move effect the White Sox? Will the Royals finally break through in 2012? What is the over/under on how many games the Tigers will actually win? Read forward for more...

Detroit Tigers

Why They Will Be Better

1.) Beef - Prince Fielder's bat.

2.) Slow Cooking - The continued refinement of young talent. Austin Jackson, Brennan Boesch and Rick Porcello all have a couple of years under their belt and they are still young. They will continued to get better as the core that will bring the Tigers into the next generation.

3) Cutting the Fat - Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen are gone. While they were key for the resurgence of the Tiger's team in the mid and late 2000's, last year proved they their bloated salaries and lack of production brought the team down. They are now off the team, which allowed the Tigers to bring in Prince Fielder.

Why They Will Be Worse 

Maybe back in September?

1.) Defense- With the exception of Austin Jackson and Alex Avila, all other positions will have middle tier or bottom tier abilities.

2.) Back End of the Bullpen - With an average age of over 35 years of age, Jose Valverde, Juaquin Benoit and Octavio Dotel will not be able to pitch as many innings as they have in the past.

3.) VMart - More than anything we will miss his uncanny ability to drive in runs. Cabrera will still be protected by Prince Fielder, but the chances that Fielder can match Martinez's near .400 BA with runners in scoring position will runners is unlikely.

Minnesota Twins

Why They Will Be Better

1.) One of the M Boys - Joe Mauer will get more AB's as he spends less time behind the plate and more time at DH and at 1B.

2.) The Other of the M Boys - Morneau says that he is feeling better. Chances that he has a better season than last year are good. (.227BA 4HR 30RBI .285OBP) These horrific stats can't get much worse and are reason enough to say that The Twins will be better.

3.) Ron Gardenhire - The Twins skipper has won the American League Manager of the year award in 2010 and has finished as runner-up five times while leading the Twins (in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2009). He finished third in the voting in 2002, his first season as manager. He is one of the best around and has consistently made mediocre teams good over the past 10 years.

Why They Will Be Worse 

I am still Young.

1.) Young - While Delmon Young didn't produce well for the Twins last year, he did for the Tigers as they got him on the cheap. Young is still young (pun intended),

2.) Zumaya - Picking up Joel Zumaya was not a good idea. BTW... He already hurt his elbow in a simple throwing session. (Click here to read details.) Don't plan on him make a significant contribution in 2012, or ever again.  

3.) No Refining - After a brilliant 2009 season, Denard Span should have gotten better the last 2 years and he didn't. His disappointing seasons showed that he topped out as a big league ball player in 2009.

Sliding Scale

5 Tigers Eligible for Salary Arbitration

In case you were wondering what the Tigers were going to do with their extra 30 million dollars this year, your answer may have been answered... Or at least half answered.

According to James Schmel at Mlive, five Detriot Tigers have now qualified for salary arbitration. This means that they all will receive pay bumps. It is likely that approximately 15 million of that extra 30 million (from Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen and BAD Penny) will be spent on the contracts of Rick Porcello, Max Scherzer, Delmon Young, Don Kelly and Phil Coke.

The good news is that this still leaves us with 15 million for another player or two... Or three. We'll see if Dave D. can get some action on this 15 million for the spring.

"Get....... Sinker...... Down........"

Three Needs for 2012

2011 was a memorable year for the Tigers. We will look back for a lifetime remembering Justin Verlander's Cy Young and MVP, Miguel Cabrera's batting title, and defeating the Yankees in the ALDS. However, we will also remembering getting trounced by the Rangers, our diminished bullpen, and lack of offensive productivity from our tired line-up in the ALCS. We fell short and need to make changes for 2012. Here are three changes that could make 2012 even more memorable than 2011.

1.) Forget about Joel Zumaya.

89 mph won't cut it for Joel.

We need to begin to look elsewhere for a solid 7th inning man. Joel Zumaya is not this man. He may have been key to our 2006 run to the world series, but that was now 6 seasons ago and he has not been able to contribute in the past 6 years. Whether we sign a LOOGY like a Darren Oliver, or place more emphasis upon Al Alburquerque, we can no longer place any hope in Joel Zumaya as his 126.1 innings over the past 5 years has kept our bullpen from getting a proper flow. 

2.) Forget about Garza and go with Oliver.

Bring on the 89 mph funk.

Matt Garza is all the talk right now. While his 3.31 ERA in 2011 was even better than his 3.91 ERA with Tampa in 2010, let's remember that we have a rotation filled with righties and Jacob Turner well on his way. We don't need another right handed starter. We need a lefty to step in and fill some innings. A solid lefty will give a different look to hitters over the course of a 3 or 4 game series and will finally give an opportunity to Andy Oliver to finally step into the roll that we need him to fill. There may be growing pains, but looking over the next 10 years, we need to give him some experience and now is our opportunity to do this. 

3.) Remember Yoenis Cespedes and trade Delmon Young for Martin Prado. 

Cespedes is a beast. Check out his swing, work ethic and strength in this Youtube that was made about him. His natural skills with his horse-like tenacity could provide stability in left field for us, a place that has been lacking with the likes of Carlos Guillen and Ryan Raburn for years. We have 30 million of Magglio, Carlos and Brad money to spend and this is the place to spend it. We need to outbid the Yankees and lock this guy up for at least the next three years. Prado will fill one of our other weak spots... 2B. He may have plateaued, but his consistency will solidify what Carlos Guillen, Ryan Raburn, Will Nursery Rhymes, and Ramon Santiago could not accomplish last year. What to do with 3B and that one guy that Tiger's fans continue to love? That will require another post.