Bunt Singles: Bullpen, Vote for Polly!
posted in 2007 season, bunt singles |Bullpen thoughts
Guys I like: Todd Jones, Tim Byrdak.
Guys I sorta like: Yorman Bazardo, Bobby Seay
Guys I sorta dislike: Fernando Rodney, Wil Ledezma
Guy who leaves me shrugging my shoulders: Jason Grilli. A few good games, an AWFUL game, some good games, some AWFUL games. More good games than bad, but his bad is worse than bad. So just what do you do with him? My thought, generally, is that he can stay for now, but don’t put him in any high pressure situations. If a few good guys come along, say, via trade, and it’s time to re-evaluate the bullpen, certainly, look at Mr. Grilli.
I hope we get plenty of looks at Bazardo, because I have a clue this guy might be part of the solution, but he did give up a hit in a high leverage situation Saturday, so I’m not ready to anoint him.
There’s no reason to think this bullpen will remain this bad. For one, Kenny Rogers is most likely coming back June 20. That bumps someone from the rotation, most likely Mike Maroth. Despite all the good things Tigers fans, including myself, have for Mike Maroth, I would prefer he not start. The problem is, he may have to be gone from the team totally because I have no hope he has the right tools to relieve.
Baseball Prospectus Every Given Sunday article said the Tigers are interested in either the setup man or closer in Texas. How is it a team with two good relievers can have such bad pitching overall? I’d rather take Akinori Otsuka off their hands, due to Eric Gagne’s injury issues. But Gagne in Hockeytown? That sounds like a pretty good fit. Would they be interested in Maroth? Who knows.
And then we have the Andrew Miller question. Should he replace an effective Chad Durbin, thus sending Durbin to help the bullpen? Should he remain with the Tigers and move into the bullpen to help keep his innings from getting too high?
And if the Tigers trade for a closer, would he replace Todd Jones? I can see Jones finding equal success as a setup man as he finds as a closer. He doesn’t seem like the guy who’d have a mental dropoff if he wasn’t pitching in the ninth. He’d still be as frightening to fans, though.
It’s clear there are going to be better arms in the bullpen soon. Still, there’s far more questions than answers. For now, I really can’t begin to predict what move the Tigers will make. But I’m certain there will be moves and this team will be better.
Vote for Polly!
Something about Placido Polanco’s nickname — Polly — always makes me think of the East Coast. Anyway, Scott Warheit, The Cutoff Man, has started a campaign to get Polanco voted onto the All-Star team. It almost seems automatic that Jim Leyland would pick Polly for the team even if fans didn’t vote him to it, but Scott just couldn’t stomach seeing Robinson Cano of the Yankees make the team just because he played for the Yankees. Cano is not a having a real good season — I know this because he’s on my fantasy team!
Go check out Scott’s post on the matter for more info, and Vote for Polly! Also, vote for Magglio, the most deserving Tiger. And write in Curtis Granderson, while you’re at it.
Contest update
Brian at Tigerblog held a contest recently to find out which blogger had the most knowledgable reader. The results were nearly lost in the mix, but the answer turned out to be (Jason) Beck’s Blog, by MLB.com beat writer Beck. He donated the proceeds to charity, though it wasn’t specified which.
New York Headlines
Just a few of interest. I thought the NY press would do better. I guess they really don’t care about the Mets. A shame. They’d be fun to root for, I should think.
- Motor City Mauling (NY Daily News)
- HoJo Hails Harwell (MLB.com)
- The Rout Stuff (NY Post) — “It’s unlikely even divine intervention would have helped. Paul Lo Duca said that while Smith was on the mound in the eighth the rookie reliever wasn’t happy. But the Mets catcher tried to reassure him in a “it’s not you, it’s them” manner. “I told him Jesus Christ could have been pitching today,” Lo Duca said, “and they were going to get some hits.”
- Met’s Chat: The Ripped in Motown Edition (LoHud)
- Ugly Loss (Mets Fever)
Bunt Singles:
- Tigers saber guru Lee has been looking into pitching. He looks at Fielding Independent Pitching and at run-preventing events by pitchers. RPEs — strikeouts, infield flies and ground balls — is probably my favorite stat right now. It’s where the extreme groundball pitchers quickly catch up with the strikeout pitchers. Jeremy Bonderman ranks well in both. (Detroit Tiger Tales)
- Maggs watch: On pace for 80 doubles.
- By the way, Baseball Prospectus health guru Will Carroll said there’s nothing to be concerned about Maggs’ knee.
- Bullpen watch: 5.08 ERA, which is not nearly the wost in the league. The White Sox were 5.85 if I recall. But that did rank the Tigers as 12th.
- Also at BP, the Tigers postseason percentage ranges from 51 to 61. According to the simulations, they win 91 games or so. It all depends on the Yankees and Athletics, basically. The simulation predicts third place in the Central may not even win 80 games.