Note the sarcasm in the title

Magglio Ordonez found himself in headlines as news came out that Jose Canseco tried to blackmail him. Canseco’s claim? Maggs did steroids. Or something. I don’t think it was clear what Maggs’ one-time teammate was alleging, because his publisher isn’t saying. But like Michael Rosenberg, I ain’t buying it. And hey, even Canseco’s ghostwriter wanted no part in it, saying the evidence Canseco had was too weak to make a case. And his publisher said no-dice to the book as well . Ultimately, the only thing “clear”is that Canseco is a shady ex-ballplayer with the credibility of Pete Rose and personality to boot.

The gist of the story is that Canseco asked Maggs to fund a movie, and in return he’d leave any fingerpointing out of his book. This turned into an FBI matter but ultimately the Tigers right fielder decided not to press charges.

From my point of view, the sleezy one looks sleezier, and Maggs come out of it mostly OK. I mean, anytime someone drops your name in conjunction with steroids, it’s going to put thoughts in peoples’ heads, even if they believe the player did nothing. So from that aspect, Maggs is a bit hurt and will have some annoying publicity when the book is released. But I think he did the right thing in not giving Canseco any more publicity than he deserves.

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Around the Tigers blogosphere and beyond. Thanks to posts in the comments for the first two.

• Blake at Spot Starters interviewed Gary Gillette

Nice catch for Blake. Gillette edits the Tigers Corner series and ESPN’s Baseball Encyclopedia. Blake talked to him about Tiger Stadium, the blockbuster trade and what went wrong in 2007, among other topics. Gillette thinks the Tigers can be pretty good, but if they have more than two key problems, they could still end the year behind the Cleveland Indians because of depth issues.

It’s not a word-for-word posting of the interview, but it’s a good read. Nicely done.

• MLB Fleece Factor wrote the Tigers could win 95 games and has the potential to be the top team in baseball.

Fleece Factor thinks there’s strong batting all around, and the pitching isn’t bad either. But the problem is with so many innings on so many young arms, injury concerns for the rotation could put a damper on season.

• Bilfer wrote about the Tigers “backups” plan.

I think this one ties together what the first two point out. With the starters set, Bilfer looks at who could break camp on the bench for the Tigers and how that affects the depth at different positions. He made a nice chart of the possibilities. As I concluded on the topic earlier this year, Bilfer thinks the ideal situation is

… Marcus Thames, Brandon Inge, Vance Wilson, and Ryan Raburn given the assumptions above. Raburn would most likely end up thirsting for at-bats as the majority would go to Inge. Still, that bench gives you a pretty solid combination of offensive pop and defensive flexibility.

Also Bilfer is working on redesigning DTW.

• Lee is still going through all his defensive metrics at Detroit Tiger Tales.

• Jon Paul Morosi wrote about making his prospect list for Baseball America.

The introduction was funny — ” Ten Guys Who Weren’t Traded” — but his explanations for the players were nice.

–January 22 –

• One addition:  Baseball Musings’ David Pinto looked at the Tigers offense as part of his series.

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Things I wish I could have blogged about on time and I wish I had the time to blog more about:

• Miguel Cabrera signed for 2008 for $11.3M.

Just paperwork on that one. Not eligible for free agency, he was going to get a deal done before the season and he was going to get one aaround the one he got. It doesn’t mean the Tigers can’t or won’t lock him up for longer this offseason. I’m still guessing he won’t get a longterm deal in Detroit until after 2008, but I hope I’m wrong.

• And Thames signed.

Thames got a 1 year, 1.25 million deal. For a guy who made around 400k last year, and who has never really gotten his due as a powerful hitter and capable fielder, Thames finally gets some financial security. Not much mind you. Brandon Inge is still paying for dinner. But it’s a step forward. I think he’s deserving.

• Bobby Seay signed, too.

Well good. I like Seay. Nothing super special, but you know, he’s ours. Not much to mention there.

• And then we have Carlos Pena striking gold in Tampa.

Pena signed a $24M deal. I remember when people claimed he could make it in business or anything he tried, but he didn’t have what it takes to be a baseball player. But I always rooted for Pena to finally reach his potential. Too bad it didn’t happen in Detroit. But good for him. In a year’s time he went from a AAA first baseman from a bad Tampa franchise to a guaranteed $24M.

… Hmm. Wonder if Thames is watching and wondering.

• Rick Porcello is the top Tigers prospect

That’s from the duh department. I’d like to comment more on the whole list but I’m afraid I’m out of time for blogging now and probably Saturday. Hopefully Sunday I can add to the discussion.

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I’m going to be posting some videos from Protrade from time to time — I’m not getting paid for this. But they are being made available for me to post, and it’s Baseball Prospectus’ Will Carroll starring in the show, so I think it makes a nice addition. If you like them, I’ll keep posting. If there’s not of any use to you, let me know.

(and due to some technical issues, this first one is actually on youtube!)

Without further adieu:

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Metro Detroit’s resident Tiger, Nate Robertson, should remain that way for a couple more years. Freep reports he signed a 3 year extension through 2010 that guarantees $21.25M during the span, escalating from 4.25 in 2008 to 10M in 2010. (And if Robertson pitches more than 400 innings the first two seasons combined, he’ll earn 11M in 2010.)

That sounds like a lot of money in a few years for a player that is average — or a scosh above average. But that’s the market these days. Replacing Nate with league-average pitching in 2010 really could cost $10M+, so when you think of it like that, the contract isn’t really out of line.

I’ve liked having Nate around anyway. You know what you’re going to get, and he’s a fierce competitor. So I approve of the deal.

Next up: Miguel Cabrera?

UPDATE:

Sabernomics blog already looked at the contract and weighs in with this opinion:

It doesn’t seem like the Tigers are getting much of a discount for insuring Robertson against a decline in his play. I think it would have been better to let the future play out, and if he continues to pitch as he has, then you suck it up and pay the extra million. But maybe this is a sign that salaries are in for an even bigger jump than I am anticipating.

Site note: If you read the full version of this post (or arrived by clicking your RSS feed) you’ll notice a “related posts” at the bottom of the post. My thanks to Christy at Behind the Jersey for showing me where to find that feature. I’ve gone back to make tags for some important happenings, but I don’t expect the tool to become real useful until a little while down the road this year.

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• Tigerfest wasn’t that cold.

As you have read everywhere, the TigerFest was Saturday at Comerica Park. One unfortunate problem with being an outstate (or out-of-state) blogger is missing out on going to events like that in person. Fortunately, Bilfer blogged about it, and there were some stories in his comments.

Nate Robertson says it wasn’t that cold. He didn’t even wear a coat. And he’s from Kansas originally, so I’m going to trust his internal thermometer. The Freep covered the heck out of the event, so there’s too much good reading to link to it all.

• Tigers’ GM to Inge’s best friend: Tell him to catch!

Brandon Inge was one of the two themes at TigerFest probably of most important to Tigers fans. (I’ll et to the to the other later). The former starting third baseman wasn’t present, because it could be a bit awkward for a guy who’d sorta like to be traded to be paraded in front of fans. But Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski did have some unexpected advice for Inge.

“If I were Brandon Inge’s best friend, I’d tell him, ‘You should catch,’ ” Dombrowski said. “This guy could be an All-Star catcher. He’s not only good defensively, but his offense takes on a different meaning. … If he puts (last year’s) numbers up catching, he might be an All-Star. But you also realize that guys have to do what they want to do.”

The question there is, could Inge put up decent numbers while catching, or does catching take too much out of him and his numbers would drop off further and look like his abysmal 2003 season. I mean, just guessing, but that’s probably why Inge doesn’t want to return to catching. Still, Dombrowski would like Inge to report with pitchers and catchers.

That’s because it looks more and more that Inge won’t be traded. Right now, there’s no market for him. And like I’ve said, that’s fine by me. As long as he comes to Spring Training with a good attitude, he is going to be more valuable than any other backup could be, even if he doesn’t catch. The best plan for both sides may be to wait for a starting third baseman with a contending club to be injured, and take advantage of that club to get a better deal than Dombrowski has heard from anyone right now.

• Miguel Cabrera lost weight.

The articles said as much, but that photo makes him look a pretty good baseball-playing size to me. He said he lost 15 pounds even before the trade. He guesses maybe he’s lost 20 from the end of the year. (He was said to have hit 265 during the season). It’s good to see him realize his has a fantastic career ahead and he shouldn’t eat his way into a first base role so early into it. (Plenty of time to eat later!) The slimmed down Cabrera should play a bit better defense, we’d hope.

Cabrera is happy to be a Tiger. But why wouldn’t he be? 8,500 people came out to TigerFest in January. The Marlins played in front of a ballpark nearly empty routinely. He’ll have 40,000 fans at every home game now.

• A Tigers prospect list

TopProspectAlert.com published a Top10 Tigers prospect list. I almost forgot Virgil Vasquez and Jordan Tata were still in the system, given just about every other pitching prospect whose name I know has been traded by now.

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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.

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The Hall of Fame voting results were announced, with former Tiger greats Alan Trammell and Jack Morris again denied entry. Not that I’m advocating either.

Trammell, to me, is a borderline case. It would be great if he did make it, because he hit well, he fielded well, and he signed a baseball card for your blogger in the late 80s. That last point is especially valid, I feel. But with so much argument both ways, among the statistically minded as well as statistically clueless, I can see how it’s an uphill battle. On the otherhand, I used the words “uphill” and kind of think he should gain some more momentum than he did, but instead, the Baseball Writers of America gave him just 18.2% approval. Certainly, Tram was more deserving of votes than more “famous” but less statistically accomplished Jack Morris, who got 42.9 percent.

I’ve posited in the past I think it really is a Hall of Fame not a hall of statistically excellent players. That’s the only figuring I can come up with for how the voting goes. And Morris did do a lot of winning and was the ace of some good teams. So I think history is kinder to him than Trammell, who failed to really hit any of the benchmarks voters tend to use (3000 hits, 300 wins, etc.)

I don’t know. I don’t have much faith in the voting or the hall myself. But I tend to be a guy who doesn’t see the need for official recognitions or awards either. Whether they be movie, music, TV or sports, awards just never seem to jive with what people see as reality. It’s a bunch of hooey when you get right down to it.

Other opinions:

The Wayne Fontes Experience

More:

I forgot to mention Goose Gossage got in; nobody else did.

Should have done more blog research before posting. Baseball Musings points to Baseball Crank, which has a trend analysis. So we can see Trammell’s 18.2 percent is in fact the high water mark, a year after he received 13.4 percent (and yet, two years after 17.7). Translation: These voters are a confused bunch but it doesn’t seem like Trammell will ever bust through with that group.

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With the turn of the year and nothing really new to say, the Tigers coverage has turned to Brandon Inge for inspiration.

At the News, Lynn Henning has a pair of articles, exploring the trade value for the light-hitting former starting third baseman, who may have asked for a trade in December after the Tigers made a deal to get Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins. Both articles say the same thing: The $19 million or so hanging over Inge’s head, coupled with the poor 2007 season at the plate, makes it pretty hard for Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski to find a team to take him. This isn’t a new subject so I won’t rehash too much. But my opinion is, I’d rather see Inge remain a Tiger if an acceptable deal isn’t hammered out. If they can get quality prospects, I’m fine with picking up some of that salary. If not, I’d rather he take on a super sub role that will keep him in the lineup most days, as he can fill in pretty much wherever he’s needed on the field. (And injuries are always a fear, so a player of his ability is a nice $6M insurance policy on a $130M payroll.) But there’s more to the story.

At the Freep, Jon Paul Morosi explores the more personal conundrum for Inge and his fans: He is the Tigers’ Mr. Detroit. As a member of the metro community during the baseball season, Inge is friendly, popular and a good philanthropist. On the field, he plays beautiful, aggressive defense and that hustle wins him fans. So a lot of people who want to see him go, but his popularity has won him a lot of fans who want what’s best for Inge, even if it means seeing him go.

For fans though, trading Inge would result in another player struck from the rolls who endured what for organization and fans alike has become a battle scar: 2003. Most players now wearing the D now only know the Tigers as a team with fans who overflow Comerica Park and follow the team on the road chanting “Let’s go Tigers!” Some came around in the transition year of 2004, but most have come later.

But a guy like Inge (and before him, a guy like Mike Maroth) kind of embodies what we as fans went through. It was obviously much more personal for him being on the field during that 119 loss year, a member of the nation’s laughingstock team. But for the few fans in the stands, watching on TV or listening on the radio, it was not very easy to stomach what happened to our favorite team, either. During 2006, when the national media noticed what was going on in Detroit, he became Tigers spokesman to the world, telling them of all of our past sufferings.

Couple that with the fact Inge looks like an “everyman” until his catlike reaction snares a line drive on the third base line and he zips a strike to the first baseman. Morosi’s article tells the story of Inge passing for Joe Schmo on an Ann Arbor area softball team until his athletic ability amazed everyone.

So that makes him one of us. It’s just, he’s the us we see in our head when we step on the baseball diamond, not the us who actually plays the game and takes a grounder off our big toe. But it’s easy to root for yourself, and it’s easy to root for Inge.

So, I hope he gets what he wants, whatever that may be.

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As I was watching hockey played outdoors and browsing the SportsJournalists.com forum, I ran into an interesting post: Joe Sheehan vs. BBWAA.

It refers to Sheehan’s recent article at Baseball Prospectus stating the Baseball Writers Association, which presents the MVP awards, among others, and votes on the Hall of Fame, excludes most Internet writers such as Sheehan or ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer. (Not all are excluded, several online writers are now members.) Meanwhile, the names on the BBWAA badge list are sometimes confounding and serve to make Sheehan’s point: You don’t even have to cover baseball to be a member, as long as you work for a newspaper that gets near the sport live at least once-in-awhile.

If you want to get frustrated, read some responses on that forum. (Sheehan is a “blogger” to one!) But I don’t want to paint a bad picture, there’s some thoughtful responses from BBWAA members as well as “regular” journalists.

I bring this up because I followed a link to The Biz of Baseball to see what Michigan members might exist (search by Detroit). And remember, if you are a 10-year member of the organization, you have a Hall of Fame vote, but not necessarily a vote for the other awards.

You’ll find oldtymers that make sense like Tom Gage, Lynn Henning, John Lowe and Danny Knobler. You’ll find newcomer Jon Paul Morosi. You’ll find some you wonder about, like Traverse City’s Jeff Peek (does he cover a lot of Tigers baseball? I know the R-E does do a few articles but I’m not a regular reader). You’ll find Detroit News sports editor Ruben Luna and Freep sports editor Gene Meyers and wonder what the point in their membership is. Yet Jason Beck, who covers probably 140 regular season games, Spring Training and the postseason, is ineligible to become a member, period, because he works for MLB.com.

You’ll find a couple of columnists (year is when they received their badge), two or three of whom make you go WHUH? The first four have HoF voting rights.

• Jerry Green, 1960
• Mitch Albom, 1986
• Pat Caputo, 1987
• Rob Parker, 1990
• Drew Sharp, 1999
• Michael Rosenberg, 2001

So there you have it. To the BBWAA, The Little Fella is more qualified than Joe Sheehan in deciding who should make the baseball Hall of Fame. Rob Parker is more qualified than Rob Neyer.

My two cents:

Anyone involved in journalism knows that it is changing, more rapidly each year. Your morning newspaper is updating nearly constantly online, making the paper edition less valuable to the modern reader, but allowing the news gathering organization to remain afloat in the 24-hour news cycle. (Your afternoon newspaper, except in small communities, is dead or dying, as evidenced by the Cincy Post exiting the newspaper world Monday). And suddenly, for some reason, your news paper is becoming involved both in audio (podcasts) and with video(!!). That’s not just the metro papers either, but even smaller newspapers. My own circulation 15,000 paper, will soon add video. Basically, your newspaper and mine learned to evolve to stay alive in today’s 24/7 world by shifting more and more weight to the online world. (Not that everyone likes that. There are fewer journalists and many older ones are struggling with the change. This also tends to mean more work, faster, at the same low pay.)

That introduction was a longwinded way of saying the BBWAA had better figure out that modern newspapers and online-only publications are fast becoming the same beast. It does not matter if one has had a nameplate around for 100 years and the other hasn’t — they are the same beast now. (And the elder folks out there had better learn the differences between online publications and blogs so they don’t come off sounding out-of-touch or ignorant.)

When an important game ends, the online users are looking for news and opinion sources they trust. They want video highlights from the TV folks or the league themselves. They want quotes from people in the locker room — actual substantial quotes. Rote cliche makes an article with quotes no more special than one without them, frankly. They want analysis of what went right or wrong, why A or B happened or didn’t, and how their favorite player’s performance ranked. Oh, and they want it NOW. The deadline pressure applies to everyone. If it’s a big game, you’ll probably find guys from the online publications there. (And you know what? These guys are not “just watching games on TV,” it is their profession.)

This is so important I’ll do a quick recap:

• Sound.
• Video.
• Facts.
• Informed opinions.

All four things. From every source the reader personally trusts when making his or her own opinion. They’re looking for quality.

Immediately.

That is the online world. That is the world as it exists today.

Newspapers have realized this. Journalists (and their guilds) must as well.

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