Bunt Singles 1/5: 2008 edition
posted in 2007-08 offseason, bunt singles |All sorts of blogging topics have topped up in the past few days.
- JPM scribes at the Freep: The Tigers would like to lock up Miguel Cabrera long term this offseason is possible.
I believe, in wanting to trade for Cabrera, Tigers owner Mike Illich saw his franchise player for the next 10 years. And Cabrera, who is on a Hall of Fame trajectory, may even want to don the Tigers’ “D,” unlike the one or two likely Hall of Famers currently playing on the team. (Pudge probably goes with the Rangers, a fair choice. And Gary Sheffield, if he makes it, well, that’s one whale of a question). To get Cabrera, Illich had his team give up a potential franchise player in Cameron Maybin and potentially a very good pitcher in Andrew Miller. Illich is no dummy when it comes to brand building. I expect the Tigers will sign Cabrera for much of the next decade even though it may cost more than $20M per year. (And let’s face it, if Cabrera continues to improve and the Tigers are paying for his peak years, he’s probably worth it on the field, and quite likely off the field as well, so I don’t scoff at the figure).
But do I expect it to come this offseason? Not really. I expect it will come before the 2009 season, unless Cabrera really wants to look on the free agent market.
Morosi posits a six year contract for 105M, which isn’t too bad considering. The bright spot for the player is free agency at age 30 would allow him to pursue another $100M contract. The bright spot for the Tigers is a bit of insurance against an injury causing his production to fall off. But I do wonder if Cabrera will shoot for the $200M, 8 years up front, and where the negotiations go from there.
- Matt at Take 75 North wonders who will be the odd man (men) out of the 25 man roster.
You have your nine starters and the twelve pitchers means only four guys on the bench. One of those bench players has to be a backup catcher, and that leaves just three spots for Inge, Thames, Raburn, Santiago, Freddy Sanchez, Mike Hessman and Timo Perez.
My gut is that Inge is still a Tiger, making Santiago and Hessman more expendable. They seem to like Timo Perez, but I prefer Ryan Raburn becaues he’s more versitle. And I thnk they’ll keep Thames. So that’s Inge, Perez and Thames for my bet, though Inge, Raburn and Thames are my preference. That combination pretty much takes care of every need in the infield and outfield. Shortstop, I”m sure Inge could play in a pinch but I also wonder if Guillen may take the call sometimes when Edgar Renteria has a day off.
Spring training this season will be entertaining. Last year, we didn’t have too many questions about the makeup of the team. We wondered mostly who’d get the LOOGY relief role, and that was about it until Kenny Rogers had surgery near the end. This year, as Matt points out, there are questions all over the place.
Such as …
- Matt Mantei signs a 1-year minor league deal (Freep)
As of now, the Tigers are not counting on Mantei to be part of their big-league bullpen on Opening Day. But he could become a valuable reliever during the year if he regains a feel for his hard, moving fastball and sharp-breaking slider. He had his best big-league seasons in 1999 (32 saves with the Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks) and 2003 (29 saves with the Diamondbacks). (Freep)
We’ll see. The Tigers are going to audition a pretty good number of guys. The bullpen is not going to be a role of famous names, but as long as Detroit gets some role players for a year who don’t cause a lot of damage, this potential 1,000-run offense should keep some pressure off.
- At BYB, Ian asks if the above paragraph (OK, he’s not psychic, it was an ESPN article) is correct in saying the Tigers have strong hitting, so-so pitching.
And I answer: Maybe. Pretty definitive, hey? The Tigers batting should not be a problem. They’ll lose some production from Magglio likely. Probably some from Polanco. Hopefully they’ll get similar production out of Guillen. I find it hard to believe Pudge could get any worse. I hope he’ll bounce back a bit, though it shouldn’t be a real difference maker. Left field, I have no clue with the Jacque Jones/?? combo. And then center field is interesting to think about. Curtis Granderson probably haven’t peaked. But I doubt a 20-20-20-20 repeat will occur. So the question is, what kind of player is Granderson really? Which of those figures will increase, which will decrease (besides triples, if any)? So that’s intriguging. Without doubt, the Tigers will score more runs though, with Renteria and Cabrera added.
The pitching is the wildcard for me. And that’s why I can’t say definitely. Yes, compared to the batting, the pitching is weaker. That’s a no-brainer. But the question should be, is the pitching stronger than 2007? Than 2006? I think it’s stronger than 2007. Dontelle Willis vs. Chad Durbin for example. A crafty Kenny Rogers vs. Mike Maroth. Wildcard Jeremy Bonderman vs. wildcard Jeremy Bonderman. And third-year Justin Verlander vs. second-year Justin Verlander. So to me, starting appears stronger than 2007, but 2006 was really a lucky year all around and really hard to duplicate.
Relief stunk for much of 2007. I think it has to get better. Right? (right??!) Fernando Rodney was a mess and injured. Jason Grilli was mostly abysmal, and I really don’t think he’s that bad of a pitcher. And either way, Joel Zumaya misses most of the season. Aging Todd Jones would be a concern to me more if he was a pitcher who relied on striking guys out. As he’s a guy who reliefs on his defense (and odds) to earn his saves, I’m not too concerned about a big dropoff. I don’t like the situation, but he’s a guy who saves in the mid 80s for percentag.e So my guess is the pitching improved, too. Moderately, but it has. (And again, 2006 was better there.)
So my guess is, this Tigers team has improved on both fronts, but much, much more at the plate than on the mound.
- Also: Ian an interview at MLB Front Office, answering five questions. Check it out.
- Bilfer interviewed Curtis Granderson at DTW.
- Lee has been looking at fielding at Tiger Tales. The latest post on outfield arms has links to the entire series.
- Detroit Tigers Thoughts looks to see if No. 1s face No. 1s and so on down the pitching rotation.
1. If Ilitch was willing to pay Juan Gone, he’ll be more than willing to pay Cabrera. A deal will happen. Not soon, but it will happen.
2. If the Tigers keep Timo over Raburn, I’m going to be quite the unhappy blogger. You know vocal and cranky we bloggers are when we’re ticked!
3. What you said…
I didn’t even really consider Guzman, Perez or Hessman but threw them in there to show I wasn’t forgetting about them. Kind of like when you write a will, you’re supposed to mention people who aren’t getting anything so it’s clear you thought about how they aren’t getting anything.