Tigers Baseball is Never Easy

Eleven percent into the 2013 campaign, we at Detroit Tigers Storyline we join the rest of you in feeling torn about how the season has begun. To commemorate this tearing, we have provided three points of panic and three points of promise.

Points of Panic

 

The Bullpen - Duh

The Tigers could just as easily be 12-6 as 9-9 if we only played 5 inning games. The roots of this problem... The starters. They are throwing way too many pitches and have largely been unable to get into the 7th inning which has left copious work for an already underwhelming bullpen. Is there potential? Sure. Has that potential been realized? Not so much. Octavio Dotel, Phil Coke and Bryan Villarreal have a combined ERA of 13.06 and a combined WHIP of 2.59. The season will level these numbers out, but in the mean time, look for a change in the near future. 

The Defense - Don't let the numbers fool you

Mario and Rod had been boasting of the Tigers defense as they led the league in the least amount of errors going into Anaheim. On the surface, this was something to celebrate. With a closer look, the defense is quietly killing us. We need to create a stat the measures the ability for defenders to move. If we did have this stat, we would bet that the Tigers would be at the bottom. Even with our "heaviest infield in the history of baseball" looking a bit more trim this spring, we still can't get to balls. Proof? Porcello's start. We sat in the stands in Anaheim and watched the games and mourned at the Tigers inability to get ground balls and fly balls while the Angels made play after play. Unfortunately for Rick, his ERA has sky rocketed as we are unable to define with statistics the unfortunate case of his infield. (If we were him, we would strongly consider a trade to a team with an infield that can move quicker than our offensive line sized place holders!)

The Lack of Depth - Beyond the first five

One through five we are good. No doubt. Victor will come around, find his pattern, and solidify the best first half of a lineup in all of baseball. Six through nine, on the other hand, leaves room to be desired. Our platoon in left isn't working, our second basemen is 2 for his last 43 and our catcher looks more like an aging uncle than a young all-star. The only bright spot has been Jhonny Peralta, who continues to hover around .300. The others share a combined .225 batting average with a mere 2 home runs and 11 RBI between the four of them. The problem with this is that it just gets worse with Don Kelly and Ramon Santiago who have a dreaded .115 batting average with 0 home runs and 0 RBIs between them in 36 ABs. In short, there is no where to go with our bench. (Did I just hear someone whisper Castellanos?)

Points of Promise

 

Torii Hunter - The best free agent pickup of the off-season

Old man is playing out of his mind. There may have been no better moment in the season than when Torii launched that 480 foot home run in Oakland. With a batting average that continues to hover around .400 and an even more impressive .992 OPS, Hunter has surpassed all expectations. More importantly, Torii provides leadership to a team filled with late adolescents. His wisdom and perspective will be a great asset as his numbers tumble down from their current mountain top.   

 

The Starting Pitching - Filthy numbers

With the exception of throwing too many pitches in early innings and one fluke start by Rick Porcello, the Tigers starters have been amongst the elite in all of baseball. Their combined 2.35 ERA (not including Porcello) has surpassed all expectations, as has their combined 8-3 record (again, not including Porcello.) The question moving forward will be whether Porcello keeps his 5th spot or gives it up to Drew Smyly, who has been equally as efficient. With this exception of an early season slip, he has still performed as well as the rest of the Tigers starters. (1.80 ERA with a record of 1-0.) We'll see where Jim and Jeff land on the decision, but it may be nice to add a lefty to the rotation. 

 

The First Five - None better in baseball

Where to start? They are nasty. Nasty good. A combined .308 BA with 9 HR and a stunning 59 RBI in 18 games. Once Victor gets moving the core will get even better and will lead us into another post-season adventure. Nuff said.

Positioning for 2013

The Tigers have had an eventful beginning to their winter. Dave Dombroski continues to press to win Mike Illich a world series before he passes. The money seems to be endless and the desire present, but is continued spending on free agents the way to win one for the pizza making gipper? 

Torii Hunter

He received a two year, twenty six million dollar deal from the Tigers. He batted .313 with an .817 OPS for the Angels last season, contributing 16 homers and 92 RBI. He was particularly effective in the No. 2 spot, batting .343 with an .854 OPS in 381 plate appearances, where he will likely hit for Detroit. It isn't his numbers that the Tigers viewed when signing him to this, potentially his last, professional baseball contract. It is his leadership. The Tigers were missing this key piece on their roster last year. With Martinez down, there was no fitting veteran on the roster to hold a steady posture of leadership to take the team to the highest level. Hunter, along with Martinez will provide this in 2013. 

Anibal Sanchez

Sanchez reminds us of the depth of Illich's pockets. After the Fielder signing, many mourned at the "money suck" of the deal. Would we be able to sign and re-sign players with all that we had committed to Fielder??? The Sanchez deals tells us... yes. Five years and eighty million dollars later, the Tigers have locked up this righty who is 48-51 with a 3.75 career ERA. The numbers are fine, but were strengthened with Sanchez's post-season ERA last year at 1.77 ERA. The concerning note on Sanchez is his injury history. In 2003 Sánchez suffered an elbow injury that required surgery to move his elbow ligament. The whole season was lost. In 2007 he had a tear in his labrum that required surgery and missing several starts. At 28 years old he has the experience of one much older. This is good news. The bad news is the reality that his career will probably be cut short due to his health history. Hopefully his ending doesn't come before 2017.

Acquiring Hunter and Sanchez lifts our roster on paper. No doubt about this. Will they be able to bring cohesiveness to the clubhouse... This is the question. For a game so focused on the one on one match-up between the pitcher and the hitter, baseball is ultimately a game of bonding. Just ask the last three world series winners. Twice the SF Giants and once the St. Louis Cardinals. All three teams looked worse on paper than the losers of the series. Winning is ultimately about good pitching and timely hitting. To execute these two essentials, it seems that the bond and cohesiveness of the team pulls the eventual winner to the champagne, not the names on the roster with multiple zeros behind their contracts.