Just a few things I’ve pondered lately.

Should Gary Sheffield go on the disabled list?

YES! All-caps because it’s so emphatic. I do not see what good is served by having an injured Gary Sheffield using on a spot on the 25-man roster. Sheffield first said he would miss the homestand against Cleveland and New York. So that’s seven games. Now he says he will not travel with the team to Kansas City and Oakland (6 games) because his shoulder is too sore to even do light exercisers. So, there’s 13 days he is unavailable out of the 15 day stay on the DL. Why, then, is he keeping a minor league bat (or arm) from helping out in the week leading up to the expansion to a 40-man roster? This makes no sense, whatsoever.

Update: They listened! 

Who will pitch Friday?

We know Kenny Rogers will not fill in for Jair Jurrjens (who was uhm, filling in for Kenny Rogers). It could be Chad Durbin, of course. But this bouncing him back and forth beween starter and bullpen, I don’t know, I don’t favor it. I believe Virgil Vasquez will be named the starter. He was on the same pitching schedule as Jurrjens, as he pitched Sunday. He allowed two runs in five innings in a spot start in July. He’s on the 40 man roster. It all pretty much adds up.

What’s up with all these injuries?

The popular theory is Detroit’s postseason appearance, and subsequently playing until nearly November, wore down the pitchers and kept them from having enough offseason recovery time. There could be something to that. I wouldn’t doubt it at all. Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander have both stumbled recently. Nate Robertson went on the disabled list for a tired arm. Kenny Rogers was hurt even unrelated to his blood clot surgery. And the bullpen stinks.

But I don’t know, some of it is probably bad luck. Rogers had surgery for a blood clot. Zumaya hurt his finger. Rodney hurt his neck. And then we a guy like Jair Jurrjens who was down in Erie in 2006. Those injuries aren’t related to playing in the snowflakes.

It’s probably some combination of everything. I expect the team will be healthier next year, but there’s never any guarantees.

What do you think of the bullpen?

I like it. Dave Dombrowski was right to think the Tigers bullpen would be much improved when he got Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney back. I still worry, wonder, etc, if not making a move at the trading deadline cost the Tigers 2 or 3 valuable wins over the first three weeks of August. This AL Central race is probably going to be decided by the narrowest of margins. You just hope, if the Tigers should miss the playoffs, it’s not by one win.

But going forward, yes, I like the bullpen. Players are pitching in roles that better suit them now that the setup men are back. It’s not great, but I’m fine with the situation.

Is this a playoff team?

Bennie and Jeff asked me that twice(!) for their radio show last night. My first reply was, I’d love to know myself. Anyone who follows the Tigers routinely would be hard pressed to say for sure. There are just so many injuries. It’s hard to overcome that. The prolonged slump has been awful.

And yet, the team can still go head to head with the Yankees and get two beautiful bullpen performances for two victories. The batters can still put up nine runs without Gary Sheffield. And the schedule comes down from the stratosphere and gives the Tigers a bit of a break. Yes, the teams they face aren’t going to roll over, but they just don’t have the weapons the Yankees and Indians do.

But they pressed me a second time. Simple yes or no. My answer? “No.” There’s so much to overcome, it’s going to be a tough challenge. It’s not that they can’t do it. But let’s say, i’m 45/55 on the Tigers making the playoffs. They survived the weekend. They can win a series today and take some momentum to Kansas City and Oakland.

In a week, it may be a whole, new ballgame.

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Detroit ended its regular season by tying the New York Yankees, 3-3. That gave the Tigers a 21-10 Grapefruit League record. That apparently gives them a mythical Grapefruit championship. I’m sure they care. It doesn’t matter one way or the other, so don’t get upset that Detroit accidentally finished with the top record in Spring Training. It is neither a curse nor a blessing.

So, on to a short series of links.

Bilfer’s got the rundown on the finalized roster.

The Big Lead had a funny interview with Curtis Granderson.

CBS Sportsline has its first power rankings of the year out. (Actually, that’s a couple days old). Tigers were third. CBS was the one that didn’t have a lot of respect for the Tigers last season. So that’s nice. Fox Sports already has its second set. Detroit fell from fourth to sixth. Pre-Kenny Rogers Injury.

Finally, not Tigers related, but SI has an interview with Curt Schilling about his blog, 38pitches.com. As it’s always great when an athlete interacts with the fans, I thought it would be nice to highlight that.

Update: Because a commenter asked about it, here’s my story on a local umpire who spent time at Phillies Spring Training. It tells a bit about the other side of camp in Spring Training.

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Another day, another Tiger hits the disabled list.

Vance Wilson was put on the 15-day list with a sore elbow. Mike Rabelo will take his place. We’re only talking about a backup catcher here, though one of the best backups in the league, so it’s not a big deal.

A lot of unlikely Toledo players are getting their time in the spotlight, but at least these are guys who were around for one, maybe two International League AAA championships.

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I could have sworn it was April 1 when I checked my feedreader and saw “Rogers put on DL” with a fatigued arm from about a million sources. No such luck. Still March. Crap. Not really the way you want to start the season. It gives Chad Durbin a chance to prove his worth — hmm, I wonder if the Tigers saw this coming. Bobby Seay thus makes the team as the second lefty reliever.

Rogers can return as soon as April 9, Jason Beck reported, as he went on the DL retroactive to March 25. Beck also reported Rogers was not feeling all that well after catching the flu. I know it’s a bad one this year, and our friends on the Pistons have been suffering as well. So I hope that’s all it is.

Ironically, Rogers’ photo is on the front of the Tigers web site still, as he was scheduled to pitch in his final minor league tuneup today.

Crap crap crap.

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I was playing around on the internet doing research for an upcoming story about a minor league umpire I know. Anyway, I spent some time at MILB.com and noticed some Tigers related stuff I hadn’t seen linked to.

Tigers roaring with Top Notch Talent in 2007

This one is basically an organizational look at the Tigers. There’s a lot of guys mentioned we’re familiar with. Ryan Raburn, Cameron Maybin, the like, so I’ll just point out their under-the-radar. That one seems to be true. I like to think I have a nice idea about Tigers prospects up and down the ladder, and this was a new name to me.

Brett Jensen, RHP
Drafted three times as a mainstay in the bullpen at University of Nebraska, Jensen then filled that role with similar success for the Gulf Coast Tigers after he was taken in the 14th round. He was 1-0 with a 0.67 ERA in 26 2/3 innings, striking out 31 and walking only five.

“He’s a tall, lean kid with a sidearm, down-under delivery,” Ezell said. “He’s a very strong competitor and he loves to be in there at the end of the game. He’s a guy we think will do some nice things.”

Naturally, they have the required Maybin story, this by Jason Beck actually ran on the Tigers.com main page a week ago, or around there.

By the way, Maybin had an EQ Average of .383 and contributed 6.4 EQ runs, per Clay Davenport at Baseball Prospectus.That put him behind Placido Polanco and around the same spot at Raburn. For whatever that is worth. *shrug*

Speaking of Maybin, the Lakeland Flying Tigers have a pretty cool looking site at MILB.

Also at MILB, and I don’t know how long this will last so you may want to look soon, they have streaming video talking about the top prospects of the A.L. Central. There’s an Andrew Miler interview early on in it.

That concludes the minor league portion of our festivities.

A more serious note from Danny Knobler, Vance Wilson had an MRI after experiencing elbow soreness. He says if it’s not serious, he’ll play through pain. As Knobler points out, Wilson is an important part of the team, but he’s still a backup catcher. So I’m not sweating it.

For some other stuff: Lee finishes his preview up with pitchers at Tiger Tales. I won’t ruin the”surprise” about how many wins he sees the Tigers getting, but I will say it’s a pretty good preview of what I’m going to predict myself.

Big Al at The Wayne Fontes Experince has parts 1 and 2 up. And the Mickey Tettleton Memorial Overpass does as well. Ian at Bless You Boys promises his preview soon. It kinda sneaks up on you, doesn’t it Ian? Ian also points out how tough the April schedule is for Detroit.

The stodgy Sporting News picks Detroit as the top team in baseball. Strange. Todd Jones says not so fast. Frankly the whole thing makes me a bit nervous. But being picked to win is actually no different than not being picked to win. None of it matters in the end. Hat-tip to a poster at Motown Sports who posted the cover to this week’s mag.

The Tigers reaction to being picked to win, at the least, the Central Division by so many people? “Thanks” basically. They’re keeping even keeled over it, Knobler reports. Leyland wouldn’t have it any other way.

Beck points to a poll which showed Tigers fans were among the most satisfied in sports. They ranked 12th overall, second in the MLB behind the Braves. They especially liked the ownership and loved Jim Leyland, but some thought the Tigers could have had more effort on the field. I’m not sure why that one came in a bit lower. Last year, the Tigers came in at 26th in baseball. Amazing what winning can do, huh?

And finally, the AP preview stories have crossed the wire and will probably sneak online at some media entity’s site ahead of the embargo. So keep your eyes open for that at Google.

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Thought while watching my second Tigers game in two days:

This is a very good baseball team.

That has been the impression I’ve gotten from watching the many Spring Training games on television this season. I know you can sometimes read too much into ST, but, man, they sure look good so far. And I’m not talking about their record. I don’t even know what it was, although I think Knobler said it was the most records since 1982. And I’m not talking about major leaguers beating up on minor leaguers, or minor leaguers scoring runs. And I’ll even acknowledge the opposing pitchers might be working on things.

Still: These Tigers look good.

I’m talking about Curtis Granderson’s improved discipline at the plate and how consistently he seems to take an offering from the opposing starting pitcher into left field with a line drive, not a fly ball. I’m talking about Polanco seeming to get a hit every time he steps to the plate. I’m talking about Gary Sheffield just destroying the baseball. I’m talking about Carlos Guillen continuing to look like one of the top shortstops in the game. The top of the lineup is going to score some runs. And then you still have Magglio, Pudgey and home run threats Brandon Inge and Craig Monroe behind them.

I’m talking about Jeremy Bonderman pitching out of trouble, Kenny Rogers being mad at himself while allowing no runs, Nate Robertson looking like, well, Nate Robertson, and Joel Zumaya continuing to throw the ball past almost everybody.
Yah, we look at Todd Jones setting up the roller coaster and cringe. We look at Neifi Perez and wonder WTF?! We look at Justin Verlander and close our eyes and hope for the best. But for the most part, the more I’ve seen of this team play, the more I’ve liked what I’ve seen.

This season is going to be fun to watch.

Expect my season preview with actual baseball content — not this cliche stuff –  Thursday or Friday.

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First off, here’s a copy of Curtis Granderson’s interview with Sporting News Radio interview. It was sent to me by Grandy’s agent, but I uploaded a copy on my own server for anyone else who missed the actual interview. It’ll stay up unless anyone official would like me to take it down. (Just, please link don’t link directly to the file, if you link to it. Thanks.)

Also, Grandy had an interview with Baseball Prospectus posted today. (Sub). Of interest, since much talk of Granderson is about his play at the plate, Granderson would like to hang his cap on his defense.

David Laurila: If you could win any title, or award, this season, what would it be?

CG: Maybe the batting title? No, I’d rather win a Gold Glove. That would be more meaningful to me.

DL: How would you rate where you are as a defensive player right now?

CG: On a scale of one-to-10, as a major league outfielder, I’d say I’m a six. The reason being; arm-wise I need to get more consistent. I have decent arm-strength and accuracy, but not consistency in putting the two together. I’ll make several good throws in a row, but then won’t be in sync with the next one. It’s a mechanical thing. You go through streaks as a fielder, just like you do as a hitter, and I want to improve my consistency because I take pride in my defense. I’ve had the knock of not being a true center fielder, and that motivates me to get better.

Based on how strongly he’s played the position, compared to, oh, most Tigers center fielders in the past 15 years, I’d say there’s no way you can knock his defense. I think having Granderson starting in CF was an important factor in the Tigers improved play defensively last year.

And the final CG note, Granderson answered a few more questions on his blog at MLBlogs. One note of interest is Sheffield is already having a similar influence on the batters — or Granderson, anyway — as Kenny Rogers had last year with the young pitchers.

R. Evarts (Rossford, OH): Which player on the team serves as the biggest role model to you and why?

I would have to say Gary Sheffield, because of the length of his career and what he has accomplished. Sheffield has a lot of hits, homeruns, and a World Series title. If at the end of my career I can have a piece of what he has done, that will be a successful career for myself.

From the Copa had a AL Central Division preview.

And finally, you could see Mack Avenue Tigers and a of your other favorite Tigers blogs in this week’s Sports Illustrated magazine print edition. (Lee and I aren’t actually on the SI Tigers web site). That was a complete surprise to me, but pretty cool. Congrats to everyone. Of course, several fine Tigers blogs were left off, too, but I fully expect someone to bounce me from the list by next year!

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Came across this tidbit on spring training stats in the “Every Given Sunday” column at Baseball Prospectus (sub) today.

The utility of spring training statistics has long been debated.

Most baseball people believe they mean little in predicting regular-season performance. John Dewan, founder of STATS, Inc. has found that a spike in slugging percentage during exhibition play can be an indicator for a potential breakout seasons by hitters.

(This Beyond the Box Score analysis begs to differ).

Anyway, that led me to look for the original. I found this statement by Dewan at RotoAuthority:

“A hitter with a positive difference between his spring training slugging percentage and his lifetime slugging percentage of .200 or more correlates to a better than normal season.”

If this is in fact true, which Tigers does it apply to? A glance at the Tigers stats:

(Side note: Holy Cameron Maybin! .905 and an OPS of 1.425? Of course, Jim Leyland used him wisely. But dang!)

(Side note 2: I can’t make borders appear even when I code them. Sometimes Wordpress drives me nuts).

Two guys were closer to that .200 level, but fell short:

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Over in Washington, Travis Lee — competing for a first base job against Dmitri Young — told the Nationals he wanted to be released so he could retire.

Nice to see it all coming together for the big guy.

UPDATE: Looks like DY won the job... and former Tiger Robert Fick is his backup!

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Detroit beat Cleveland, 5-4, which was the least interesting occurrence Thursday.

Detroit’s lineup, which featured Granderson leading off, followed by Polonco, Sheffield, Guillen (fourth!) and Magglio as the top five of the order was pretty shocking — and good to see. Presumably this was one of the six possible lineups Knobler says Leyland is still toying with for use during the regular season. I really like seeing Guillen cleanup, especially tucked between Sheffield and Ordonez. So long as Sheff is his old self, I think this gives the Tigers one of the top meat-of-the-orders in the American League, which pretty much means all over baseball. Throw the three in any order and it’s pretty good. But putting Guillen — Detroit’s best batter — fourth rather than fifth gets him some extra at-bats. The only other possible suggestion would be to slide them up so they’re second-through-fourth and each get a couple more at-bats that way. But as it is, it’s pretty good.

Pudge, Casey, Monroe and Inge round out the bottom four. Opposing pitchers will get a slight respite there, but Monroe and Inge could crank one at any time.

Leyland also said Pudge will lead off against some lefties, as he has done often throughout Spring Training. I’d say that sounds like a good idea and helps protect Granderson some.

Box

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