Q&A: The Trade Deadline Edition
posted in Q&A |July started with a 7-run loss. It ended with a 4-run loss. And in between, Detroit won 15 games, lost 10, and made believers of even the strongest of holdouts by taking 2-of-3 from the Chicago White Sox, then later traveling into the HHHorrordome to take 2-of-3 from Minnesota with All-Star catcher Pudge Rodriguez resting an injured thumb all three games. The only series the Tigers dropped was the first full series of the month came at Oakland.
Things weren’t perfect. You can fire off your list problems pretty easily. Detroit’s July ERA was 4.53, good for sixth of 14 in the American League and more than a full run above June. The Tigers were outscored by even the Kansas City Royals for the month and finished 10th.
But it’s easy to look at those numbers and get tunnel vision when just two (or three) numbers really count in the end. Detroit led the division by 1 1/2 games on July 1. They led the division by 7 1/2 games on August 1. So for all the hand-wringing, the fear “the wheels are wobbling” and all the other, in the end the problems exposed in Detroit were at least six games better than the chief division rival. The lead over the would-be wildcard shrank from 8 1/2 to 8. If that constitutes a slide, we’ll take it. But there’s a lot of baseball left to be played.
So here’s your LONG Q&A session, touching on Casey, Shelton, key moments in July and what to expect in August.
First question: What did you think of the trade for Sean Casey?
It was a good trade. It was not an impact trade, but that doesn’t make it a waste. Sean Casey is not going to come to the team the way Alfonso Soriano or Bobby Abreu would have, to state the extremely obvious. But he fills what was most definitely a hole in the lineup by collecting a bunch of bad at-bats taken by Chris Shelton and turning them into better ones.
He strikes me as having Placido Polanco qualities, in that he’s a contact guy who can move baserunners. He knows what he’s capable of, and has the set of tools a better needs to be successful. We know how valuable Polanco is in the top of the lineup. I think having a second Polanco in the body of Casey in the lower half of the lineup is going to work out nicely. He’s not going to have a lot of empty at-bats. Pretty much, the anti-Shelton.
The price came cheap, pretty much a low-ceiling minor leaguer whose “prospect” status is debatable, if at all. Combine that with the fact Casey — “The Mayor” — iis popular in the clubhouse, and it looks like a nice, low-key trade that gives Jim Leyland some flexibility. It’s not a home-run trade, but it didn’t need to be for a team with 70 wins. Plus we got to keep Humberto Sanchez and Cameron Maybin.
So it seems like just another typical Dave Dombrowski trade. Small steps that become inseparable parts of the team. Not an impact, but a step forward none-the-less, magnified by the fact most of the chief rivals did little to nothing.
Where will he bat?
Pure congecture, but that’s why it’s fun. I’m guessing seventh or eighth based on what I know about Leyland and where I think makes the most sense. The typical Leyland lineup only has a certain number of spots he could fall.
1 — Curtis Granderson, L (he’s gonna lead off as long as he starts that day)
2 — Placido Polanco, R (you don’t stack your new lefty with an old one, so he can’t be second)
3 — Pudge Rodiguez, R (this probably wouldn’t be a bad place to put him, but I don’t expect Pudge would like it or Leyland would do it)
4 — Magglio Ordonez, R (best guy for the job, we can all agree)
5 — Carlos Guillen, Switch (there’s your lefty bat when needed, and he fits wel there)
6 — Dmitri Young, L (Leyland seems to like him sixth and he can produce evidently. He’ll DH)
7 — Marcus Thames/Craig Monroe, R (they platoon some)
8 — Casey, L (coupled with #7, makes sure the pitcher is still getting different looks at the bottom of the lineup, an can’t take a rest)
9 — Brandon Inge, R
I think depending on the matchup, DY, Thames and Mornoe all share the two lineup positions. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have Casey seventh with the power batting behind him, either. So that wouldn’t surprise me. Like I said, there’s a lot of flexibility built into Casey, and thanks to the power all over the lineup, it doesn’t matter that he doesn’t hit homers — not like Shelton did lately — because he can get on base decently for those who do.
What about Shelton, who was probably as surprised as the fans were when he was sent to Toledo?
I hope Shelton gets his swing fixed soon though, he is the future first baseman of the Detroit Tigers and has a pretty high ceiling if he gets it all together. He has the potential to be an impact first baseman during his career, I think. He seems to have a good eye but the inability to follow with the needed action. He needs some restraint and better mechanics. He’ll be back in September when the roster expands, if not before then. I think he has the right attitude that this will be beneficial.
Your key moments in July?
I have three. The first was Kenny Rogers starting for the American League, pitching to Pudge Rodriguez. That may not be key to the team’s winning, but I think, as Tigers fans, it was an amazing sight to us and an image of the rebirth of Detroit baseball to have both ends of the starting All-Star battery.
The second was Craig Monroe’s grand slam in the second game against Chicago. Detroit was dragging its butt again. The wind seemed to have left the sails after a 7-1 loss the night before. The whole season did not rest on the outcome of one series, but you couldn’t tell by the actions of the players. He launches that home run into the left field seats of Comerica Park, and it became real. We knew before it was a great season, but at that point, there was no doubt that this is a summer Detroit baseball fans will never forget. And the team responded in kind. Part 2B was the next day with Joel Zumaya’s striking ouf of the Sox, Marcus Thames taking out Chicago’s second baseman, and Chris Shelton launching the eventual game-winning RBI. Detroit took 2-of-3, the first series win against Chicago in who-knows-how-long. Taken together, those games marked the changing of the guard.
The third was Zach Miner stepping up after two bad starts and going inning-for-inning with the amazing Francisco Liriano, and Detroit eventually taking the game in 10 innings. While this didn’t have the same “feel” of the Chicago series, it cemented the gains by proving to the Tigers — if they needed it — and ourselves that Detroit can walk into the playoff atmosphere of the HHHorrordome, face down possibly the league’s best pitcher with Detroit’s #5 starter (in ability) and out duel the red-hot Twins in an important game.
Taken individually, those are all pretty big. Taken together, those are the confidence boosters that only make the Tigers stronger every day, a good team transforming before your eyes into a great team that will not be shellshocked in important games down the stretch or in October.
Yes, moving forward, the August schedule looks brutal.
Well, it’s not pretty. And if the Tigers come out of a certain stretch with a decent lead for the Central and the wildcard, you can probably start thinking about your playoff tickets. But not until then.
To (mis)quote Tom Hanks: Guarantees? Guarantees? There’s no guarantees in baseball!!
The stretch I refer to is really a make-or-break stretch though. Host the Twins three games. Visit the White Sox for three. Visit Boston for three. Host Texas (a bit of a respite) for four. And host the White Sox for four. After a break against an Indians team that sold off several of its working parts, there’s a three-game trip to New York City and a cross-country flight to Anaheim for three more. After that, if Detroit has a comfortable lead, you can crown your Central champions because they’ll have handled their own destiny. I just hope to play about .500 ball during that point. It’s really all Detroit has to do for the rest of the season. If they come out of the stretch better than .500, even the waggiest of tongues will be talking about the Tigers as being World Series favorites, it’s that kind of brutal schedule.
Skipping ahead, are they a playoff team?
I think some people are seeing a bit too rosy a picture considering the upcoming schedule. But if the Tigers play the way they have all season, I count the likely wins and losses for the rest of the season and come up with a conservative estimate of 100 wins. A max in the 105-106 range. So yes, I see this as being a playoff team unless they send us a different notice. That should win the division.
The wildcard winner — sorry Boston — will come from the Central, in all likelyhood Chicago. The Twins are a great team, but only pulled even with Chicago during its slump. That is stll a good team, it’ll catch on again. I don’t count Minnesota out, but with Brad Radke appearing to be an injury question mark, I’m not sure if having the best two pitchers in the American League is going to be good enough. And yes, that means I’m taking the Yankees to win the East. I still pick Oakland to win the West.
Summed upÂ
July could have ended better than eight errors in two games, but the month was a transformational month for the Tigers and just another part of a story we’ll be enjoy remembering.
Sphere It
