It is the time of year where everyone becomes fortune tellers and makes up crazy preseason rankings. I think it is way too early for rankings, and that polls should be released for the first time after the 4th week of the season. But, since everyone else is doing it.. peer pressure.
So how should preseason rankings be determined? Is it how I think these teams will end the season, or based on last years results, or just overall quality... no matter how many losses I think the team will end up with. I think it is too early to predict the end of the season results, so I am going to go with overall quality.
USC, Bama, OU, Oregon, LSU, GA, UM, MSU, SCar, Ark, WV, FSU, Wisc, Clem, Stan, OKSt, Neb,
25. Purdue. I know, I am a little biased to B1G, but I think Purdue has a realistic shot at coming out of the Leaders Division for the B1G championship game.
24. NC St. They are one of the most experienced teams in the ACC, so even though they might be lacking in superior talent... they have a good chance at pushing for an ACC crown.
23. TCU. In the Big 12 now could get knocked down a peg from facing actual teams all season long, but I think they have decent quality and some depth to actually compete with the big boys.
22. Georgia Tech. Running that crazy offense, they return their top 3 rushers. They could be primed to put up a lot of points.
21. Virgina Tech. Well lets face it, they are always ranked at the end of the season.
20. Kansas St. After the surprising top 10 finish last season, they will look to follow it up with another strong year with their QB returning. He actually could be a Heisman dark horse.
19. Ohio. Gross, but talented. It will be fun watching them beat up on the B1G knowing the whole time they cant go to the championship game or a bowl. I think Braxton Miller will thrive in the new offense.
18. Texas. With all of those 4 & 5 star recruits, they have to put it together soon enough, right?
17. Nebraska. With side slinging Martinez back to impress all with that form and Burkhead continuing to carry the load, Neb could sneak by the Legend's favorites into the championship game.
16. Oklahoma St. Even with losing a lot of talent last year, the system under Mike Gundy is just scary.
15. Stanford. Same explanation as above. Their recruiting has gone nationwide. They will likely take a step back this seaosn, but the Cardinal is a program here to stay.
14. Clemson. One of the most talented teams in the nation will likely under perform like every Clemson team in the last 40 years.
13. Wisconsin. Do they still have a road grating offensive line? yes. Enough said.
12. Florida St. Will this be the year that all of those top recruiting classes actually shows up on the field? I doubt it. Will Jimbo be on the hotseat, I think so.
11. WVU. They will fit right into the Big12. All offense and no defense. Should be fun to watch some of their matchups with Geno Smith back.
10. Arkansas. Returning Tyler Wilson and injured RB Davis. If the Hogs can overcome the stupidity of their old coach (and new), they will finish in the top 10 again.
9. South Carolina. Talented enough to take away the SEC West's dominance, but will likely have 1-2 bone head losses.
8. MSU. Ugh, I hate this, but they are going to be good again. If Maxwell can figure out the offense and live up to his hype, MSU could get to their first BCS game. They will again have a top 5 defense.
7. U-M. Remember this is going on talent. I think Michigan will finish around 12-13, but be a far better team than last year. One of the toughest schedules in the nation will make this season tough to get to double digit wins. Will this be the year that Denard is actually invited to NY for the Heisman presentation? I think so.
6. Georgia. Aaron Murray is a monster and will be one of the best QB's in the nation. If he can cut down on turnovers, you might be looking at the Heisman winner.
5. LSU. How will the lose of the Honey Badger hurt the Tigers? I think enough to keep them below Bama.
4. Oregon. I am already dreaming about the ABC 8pm game between USC and Oregon this fall. So fast and the system is close to unstoppable.
3. Oklahoma. The dirt stache that is Landry Jones will likely cruise through the Big 12 this season.
2. Alabama. Bama loses a lot of starters on the defense, but will replace them with future All-Americans. The offensive line might be the best college football has ever seen.
1. USC. Even with the scholarship reductions, USC is extremely talented. Matt Barkley is on a mission for a national title and likely a Heisman. Will they have a normal USC mid-season slip up, or will they be headed to face the SEC champ undefeated?
Friday, August 17, 2012
State of the Tigers
Hello everyone, I am back. I know you had many sleepless nights and worried work days since I havent posted in over a month, but now you can relax. I have to be honest, I didnt know how much work blogging about every Tiger series, posting power rankings, and trade rumors was going to be, but by mid-July I was burned out. So I took a break, and now I have the blogging itch again.
Since my last post, the trade deadline has come and past and the Tigers were again amongst the major buyers. Detroit offered up their once untouchable pitching prospect, Jacob Turner, with 2 other possible major leaguers for a rental pitcher, Anibal Sanchez, and former Detroit Tiger Omar Infante. At first I thought that the Tigers over spent for these two players, but in reality, every team in the league knows that Mike Illitch wants to win a world series title before he leaves ownership. On paper, this trade should sure up the Tigers rotation, and actually make a decent competition for the 4th (and final) starting spot for the playoff rotation. This is of course if the Tigers can get to the postseason again. But after a month of this trade, Sanchez is taking longer than expected to get accustomed to the AL. However, Infante continues to show Tigers fans just how big of a black hole second base has been for the past 2 seasons.
Anibal has had one quality start out of 4 with his new team and just seems uncomfortable pitching in the new league. He is struggling to get people out with the low strike out rate and appears to be over-pitching because of a lack of confidence in his stuff. I don't know if he will turn things around to even push Rick Porcello for the final spot on the postseason rotation. I hope so. Luckily, Omar Infante is proving that this trade was positive. He started slowly, but now is quickly becoming one of the Tigers most consistent hitters. All the while, he plays an above average 2nd base. I am glad he is locked up through next year.
The good: the offense seems to be more consistent than earlier in the season. If they can continue, hopefully they can carry the Tigers into the postseason. The best of the lineup has been Miguel Cabrera. He has become the first Tiger to ever hit 30 bombs with 100+ RBIs in 5 straight seasons. Folks, he is the best hitter in baseball right now, and we are witnessing history with each at bat. At this point in the season, Miguel should make the Tigers the first team in 13 years to have back to back MVP's. Yes, wonderboy Mike Trout can push Miguel for the crown, but I am crossing my fingers that the voters finally reward Miguel for being incredible. The starting pitcing, overall, has been very good. Justin Verlander is having similar secondary stats to his historic season last year, but has been the victim of the least amount of run support in the AL. This has led to only a 12-7 record, with many NDs. Verlander likely will not win back to back Cy Young awards, but he is still the clear best pitcher in the game. Doug Fister is practicing his inner Ryan Raburn by having his second strong last half of the season in a row. He has gotten his record back to 7-7, and had looked dominant on the mount lately. Finally, Max has continued his unbelievable strike out rate throughout the season and seems to be a lot more consistent this year. His less than dominant starts are still going for 6 innings and 3-4 runs, I think we can all live with that. If he continues on this pace, we can easily say we have a Big Three starting pitchers and a Big Three bashers.
There have been a few disappointing things lately, mostly it involves the gas cans in the bullpen... but this is my first post back so I dont want to focus on the bad right now. If Benoit keeps giving up bp homeruns, then I might complain soon, but for now Go Tigers.
Currently the team sits at 2.5 games behind the Dirty Sox and 1 game behind the surprising O's for the final wild card spot. With a weekend series against Baltimore, Detroit can be back in the playoff picture soon. With 16 games at Comerica in the next 19, look for Detroit to get on a bit of a hot streak.
Since my last post, the trade deadline has come and past and the Tigers were again amongst the major buyers. Detroit offered up their once untouchable pitching prospect, Jacob Turner, with 2 other possible major leaguers for a rental pitcher, Anibal Sanchez, and former Detroit Tiger Omar Infante. At first I thought that the Tigers over spent for these two players, but in reality, every team in the league knows that Mike Illitch wants to win a world series title before he leaves ownership. On paper, this trade should sure up the Tigers rotation, and actually make a decent competition for the 4th (and final) starting spot for the playoff rotation. This is of course if the Tigers can get to the postseason again. But after a month of this trade, Sanchez is taking longer than expected to get accustomed to the AL. However, Infante continues to show Tigers fans just how big of a black hole second base has been for the past 2 seasons.
Anibal has had one quality start out of 4 with his new team and just seems uncomfortable pitching in the new league. He is struggling to get people out with the low strike out rate and appears to be over-pitching because of a lack of confidence in his stuff. I don't know if he will turn things around to even push Rick Porcello for the final spot on the postseason rotation. I hope so. Luckily, Omar Infante is proving that this trade was positive. He started slowly, but now is quickly becoming one of the Tigers most consistent hitters. All the while, he plays an above average 2nd base. I am glad he is locked up through next year.
The good: the offense seems to be more consistent than earlier in the season. If they can continue, hopefully they can carry the Tigers into the postseason. The best of the lineup has been Miguel Cabrera. He has become the first Tiger to ever hit 30 bombs with 100+ RBIs in 5 straight seasons. Folks, he is the best hitter in baseball right now, and we are witnessing history with each at bat. At this point in the season, Miguel should make the Tigers the first team in 13 years to have back to back MVP's. Yes, wonderboy Mike Trout can push Miguel for the crown, but I am crossing my fingers that the voters finally reward Miguel for being incredible. The starting pitcing, overall, has been very good. Justin Verlander is having similar secondary stats to his historic season last year, but has been the victim of the least amount of run support in the AL. This has led to only a 12-7 record, with many NDs. Verlander likely will not win back to back Cy Young awards, but he is still the clear best pitcher in the game. Doug Fister is practicing his inner Ryan Raburn by having his second strong last half of the season in a row. He has gotten his record back to 7-7, and had looked dominant on the mount lately. Finally, Max has continued his unbelievable strike out rate throughout the season and seems to be a lot more consistent this year. His less than dominant starts are still going for 6 innings and 3-4 runs, I think we can all live with that. If he continues on this pace, we can easily say we have a Big Three starting pitchers and a Big Three bashers.
There have been a few disappointing things lately, mostly it involves the gas cans in the bullpen... but this is my first post back so I dont want to focus on the bad right now. If Benoit keeps giving up bp homeruns, then I might complain soon, but for now Go Tigers.
Currently the team sits at 2.5 games behind the Dirty Sox and 1 game behind the surprising O's for the final wild card spot. With a weekend series against Baltimore, Detroit can be back in the playoff picture soon. With 16 games at Comerica in the next 19, look for Detroit to get on a bit of a hot streak.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Trade Market
As the trade deadline approaches, it is almost guaranteed that Dombrowski will make a move to, in theory, improve the 2012 Detroit Tigers. The problem this could bring is that it would likely come at the expense of our already depleted farm system. People disagree about how to build a baseball franchise. One theory is to go through a rough patch with the major league team, and in the mean time accumulate draft picks and prospects. This is the method used by the more frugal spending teams (Kansas City). The problem that many teams have with this method is they are not able to keep their young talent when they demand an 8 figure paycheck, and the teams that can afford to spend that kind of money do not want to waste 2-5 rough years with their MLB team. This brings me to the 2nd theory, buy anyone you want in free agency and get carpel tunnel from writing all of those zeros. This is usually the fans dream scenario, until the team stops winning and then shit hits the fan (welcome to the Tigers 2008 and 2012 seasons). There are issues with both methods, so the ideal situation lies somewhere in between. The Rangers, Giants, Cardinals, and the Braves have done this very well over the past 5-10 years. More teams are trying to replicate this method than the Yankees buffet style, all you can spend, roster. The Tigers fall just beside the Yankees with their spending habits. It keeps the fans happy in the off-season but creates a lot of frustration during the 162 schedule.
So this season as Detroit tries to improve the 25 man roster with some mid-season moves, the farm system will likely be full of 27 year old journeymen. Let’s start by looking at the possible trade assets Dombrowski currently has to throw at other GMs. The golden egg is Nick Castellanos. He is shooting up through the minors right now and quite the hitter. Every GM in the league will ask if he is available, and the question will be what is his price. Next the Tigers have a stable of pitchers they can add to a marquee deal: Jacob Turner, Andrew Oliver, Casey Crosby, Drew Smyly, and even Rick Porcello. Then they have a list of mediocre borderline major league type guys: Ryan Raburn, Delmon Young, Brennan Boesch, Jhonny Peralta, Don Kelly, Andy Dirks, and Danny Worth.
Now the next step is for the team officials to decide what is the weakest link of the baseball team. Overall, the 2nd base position has been a black hole. That is likely the top priority. An average corner outfielder with a decent OBP would be welcomed to slide into the 5 hole (and this would be my first choice). Then the Tigers could also solidify the starting pitching staff with, ideally, a left-handed pitcher.
Here is the fun part, what is available? For 2nd basemen there are levels of talent, super-star, franchise-type players at this position are all locked up for the next 5 years and are not on the market. That takes us to a young unknown Jose Altuve from the Astros, Jed Lowrie also from the Astros, Darwin Barney from the Cubbies, or Marco Scutaro from the Rockies. Altuve likely has the highest trade value, but has the highest ceiling. He has speed and would be a great 2 hitter behind AJ. He could even be the lead-off guy, but Leyland likes AJ there (and why move someone who is so hot). Lowrie would add an average bat to the lineup, but the intriguing thing with him is he would dramatically improve the defense at short stop, and we could move Peralta to 2nd base. Lowrie could potentially hit in the 2 hole, but likely would be a bottom half guy. Barney’s trade value is also high right now. He would be an improvement defensively, and he is a low power .270-.280 average guy. He would be a good fit in the 2 hole, or down in the order as well. Depending on what the Cubs and Astros ask for, one of these guys could help improve the infield defense for our many ground ball pitchers. It would be great to move Peralta away from the shortstop position, but then he might get that pouty attitude he had in his last season with the Indians if he doesn’t like playing there and he becomes utterly useless. It would be great to improve the infield defense, but I would not be willing to give up a lot of players for any of these 2nd basemen, especially when Raburn will likely hit at least .250 in the 2nd half with some power.
I personally think the Tigers are in desperate need of a 5 hitter that can get on base around a .330-.350 clip. It would reduce a lot of pressure on Miguel and Prince and add it to the opposing pitchers and managers. I think this can be addressed with a corner outfielder, and when VMart comes back from injury they can slide down to the 6th hitter easily enough. The marquee name in this area is Justin Upton. His career OBP is .357 and he hits for power. The problem here is that Castellanos will likely have to be involved in this trade for it to even be considered along with 2-3 more players. Losing our prized prospect will plummet Detroit’s farm system to the bottom of the big leagues and give them little to no trade assets moving forward. On the other hand, Castellanos is still an unknown. Most people believe he is going to be in the MLB sooner rather than later, but his stock has never been higher than it is now after he won the MVP of the futures game. The other outfield options are: Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Quentin, Shane Victorino, and Jeff Franceur. Upton is by far the best player in this bunch, on top of that, Upton is not 25 yet. If he wants to play in Detroit, is it worth selling the farm for? I would be willing to give up Castellanos, Young, Worth/Raburn, and Crosby/Oliver for Upton, but is that offer even going to make the Arizona GM think twice? Soriano is past his prime, can barely field his position and brings a huge contract with him. Shane Victorino isn’t really what Detroit is looking for in terms of an offensive threat, and Franceur isn’t much of an upgrade at the plate from Boesch. That leaves Quentin. I would be interested in making this move if the price was right. I would only give up 2 players at the most (one of the young pitchers and a Raburn/Worth type).
Starting pitching has a few names on the trading block, but the asking price seems too high for the returned value. The Phillies are shopping Cole Hamels. Dempster and Garza from the Cubs are available, and Greinke from the Brewers are the well known names. The A’s are usually looking to dump a pitcher or two, and the Astros have Wandy Rodriguez. Most of these pitchers would improve Detroits starting 5, but the problem is that none of these guys will come at anything resembling a value. The Phillies are looking for 3-5 prospects for Hamels, a 2 month rent-a-player. The Cubs want to dump Soriano’s contract into a trade for one of their pitchers, and the Brewers want 1-2 prospects and an semi-impact player right now for Greinke. Detroit should not trade Castellanos for any of these pitchers. It seems likely that Detroit will roll with the 5 starters they currently have, and if they can make it into the playoffs they will move to a 4 man rotation with Smyly out of the pen.
One thing that is for sure is that this month is going to be exciting to see which players are traded and who Detroit adds to the roster. Dombrowski will do something, but depending on how untouchable Castellanos is will determine the overall added value. I do not think the Tigers will find another Doug Fister or Delmon Young this year.
First Half Recap (44-42)
Hello again folks I am back again. Sorry for the long absence, not that anyone really noticed, but I have been on vacation and needed a break from blogging about my frustrations with the Tigers. Everyone says that the baseball season is a marathon, and I am beginning to realize how correct that statement is while trying to blog about every game and/or series. It is easy to project a single game’s failures over the course of a season and get frustrated with this high payroll team “under achieving.” Seriously, why can’t they just win every game (or at least every series). Well people, it is tough to win baseball games in the MLB, even with a high payroll. Let’s take a look back at the first half and see if we can find any encouragement for the second half.
A few short months ago the Tigers were a favorite to make (and likely win) the World Series, so what has changed? Well every role player seems to be having an average or slightly below average season. Verlander, Cabrera and Prince are doing what they can to put the entire load on their shoulders, but they need help. Delmon Young has been forced into the 5 hole and he just isn’t a 5th hitter, he doesn’t get on base enough. Delmon is putting little to no pressure on the pitcher if Prince gets on base. Young has become everyone’s least favorite Tiger, and while some of that has to do with his stupidity off the field, the rest is a little unfair to him. A big lipped square peg cannot fit into the round 5 hole. Did you know that Delmon is having an average season for him? His split is .271/ .298/ .418. The average is just below his career average and the slugging is right at average. Yes, his OBP is 20 points lower than average, and that has been the main issue. But his is on pace to have close to 20 home runs, he averages less than 14. knew Delmon cannot field a position, so with VMart being sidelined it has given him a spot in the lineup. The encouraging thing here is that we don’t have to see Young in the outfield. There is no way that Delmon Young is not squarely on the trading block this month as part of a package deal to get another bat in the lineup. The Tigers have made their DH decision for the next 3 years with VMart, so might as well try to get something for the soon-to-be free agent.
The Tigers are getting no production out of the 2nd basemen by committee. Yes, Raburn is hitting over .300 since coming back from Toledo, but his batting average is still under .200 for the season. This position is the weakest on paper, but every team has holes. We knew the 2nd base position was our weak link going into the season. Most people want the Tigers to trade for a franchise 2nd bagger, but that just isn’t a realistic possibility at this point (more on the trade possibilities in the next post).
Avila, Peralta, and Boesch are struggling offensively. The home runs are down for all 3, and the averages for Avila and Boesch are much lower than anyone expected. On top of this, 2 of the 3 (Peralta and Boesch) have been terrible in the field. I will give Alex a little pass here, he has been injured for most of the first half and continues to get abused behind the plate, but in the last few series before the All-Star break he seemed to be driving the ball again.
Defensively this team is beyond awful. Some of the games looks worse than the LLWS. Coming into the season we expected the defense to be a weakness, but the offense would score enough to cover up the lack of consistency in the field. On top of that, everyone was most worried about Miggy moving back across the diamond to play 3rd. Do you realize he has been the best starting infielder for the first half. My hat is off to Cabrera for how hard he worked in the off season. Austin, Avila, and Miguel have been good defensively (with Austin being the best CF in baseball in my mind). The rest of the 5 starting position players are below average fielders with Fielder and Boesch having career worst years. On top of that, the middle infielders really struggle with turning double plays consistently. As fans, we cannot expect the defense to get any better over the 2nd half of the season, so we could very well be looking at close to 100 unearned runs in 162 games… I am starting to feel sick.
There have been some very encouraging things about the first 86 games though. Austin, Cabrera and Prince are knocking the cover off the ball. Miguel was just the 7th player in Detroit Tigers history to have more than 15 home runs, 60 rbis and 100 hits before the ASG and he is easily clear of that mark: 18/71/108. He is having one of the best offensive seasons of any Tiger ever, and should be in the middle of the MVP discussion at this point in the season. I mean, how many players that finish with 35 HRs, 138 RBIs and 210 hits with a .320 average do not win the MVP? I would guess not many. Currently Austin is second in the AL in OBP and BA, and if he continues to get on base Miguel will continue to drive him home. Most people were frustrated with Prince’s lack of power in the first half, but he has started to pick things up over the last week. I would be surprised if he does not finish with 30+ hrs and 110+ RBIs. I am not sure if you can ask more from just 3 guys.
The starting pitching and bullpen have been very good overall. Yes, Doug Fister is not 12-2 with a 1.75 ERA like most people expected and JV doesn’t have 20 wins yet, but quietly Max and Rick have put together a solid month of June. Verlander is still in the top 3 of most pitching categories, and if he can get some consistent run support he will have a big second half. Drew Smyly has been better than anyone expected (and if you expected more you are a moron). Fister still looks a little bothered by his oblique injury, but hopefully the All-Star break was a good rest period. There is no reason to believe he will be as bad as he has been in the first half. The Tigers are on pace to crush the AL strikeout record for an entire team. Verlander, Max, and Smyly have been striking out a lot of batters, but the bullpen has been off the charts so far. Besides Below, the rest of the bullpen comes in and strikes people out. The dynamic thing about them though is they get people to swing and miss in different ways. Villareal uses pin point location with a 98 mph heater to set up a nasty drop off the table slider. Benoit uses his best changeup in baseball. Coke uses effective wildness and knee-locking breaking balls. Valverde… well lets move on.
There is still a lot of things to be excited about this year’s Detroit Tigers team (that statement is as much for me as anyone). They have made it through some injuries and a stretch of playing some of the worst baseball anyone will ever see from an MLB team, and somehow they are 44-42 (one game behind last year’s dream season). Go Tigers.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (Rangers)
Just as quickly as the Tigers fans were encouraged that Detroit was turning things around by winning 4 straight series they come back to mediocrity by losing two in a row. Sorry for the lack of review about the Pirates series, I was camping on the west side for the weekend and got a much needed break from the disappointing Old English D. But from what I can tell I didn’t miss too much and the series awards would be pretty easy to pass out.
Moving on to the Rangers series, the pitching matchups looked to favor Detroit in the final game (Fister vs Oswalt). The Rangers got lucky and missed JV, so most fans already gave this series to Texas. Well again it is a good thing the games are actually played on the field because Rick came out and had one of his best outings of the season, and the offense actually scored early to take some pressure off the 23 year old. Drey Smyly continues to show he is an average MLB pitcher (at-best), and Fister just looks terrible on the mound right now. Let’s move onto the awards, ahll we.
Verlander of the Series: well the offense scored as many runs in the first inning of game 1 as they did all of the Pittsburgh series, but they still frustrated me in this series. Oswalt is not the same pitcher he was 5 years ago, and the Tigers hitters let him off easy for much of the game. Folks, we should have scored 9 runs just off of Roy last night. For most of the game we outhit the Rangers, except they did it with home runs and we did it with singles. Do you realize that the Seattle Mariners have more homeruns that our lineup. The Yankees almost double. This team is built on smashing the ball around the park, there is no speed to hit an run or go first to third. We need to hit extra base knocks to score runs, it is that simple. But right now we have almost 20 less home runs as we did at this point last season. People, we didn’t have Prince Fielder last season. What is wrong with this lineup right now? Ok, sorry for the rant, but I had to get that out. I am still frustrated with the offense from making marginal major league pitchers look like Verlander, so they will need to have a 30 run series for me to give them this award. I will give the Verlander of the Series to Rick Porcello. He overcame his demons of old and got out of the first inning against the Rangers. It probably helped that the offense gave him 5 early runs to calm him down, but Rick really had the sinker ball moving around the strike zone and he located well all night. He finished with 7 strike outs in just 6 innings for his first K/IP over 1 for the season. I doubt Rick will do this every start, but he now has 3 good starts in a row and has seemed to settle into the warm weather. We will need him to step up more if Fister is going to continue to do his thing on the mound. This takes me to the next award…
Schlereth of the Series: Doug effing Fister. Do you remember last year when we picked him up from the lowly Mariners? He outpitched Verlander during the 2nd half of the season, the same guy that won the Cy Young and MVP. Us Tigers fans expected this to be one of the best 1-2 punches in all of baseball this year. No he was not going to continue his 1.75 ERA or his 8K’s to 1 BB ratio, but I think we all expected him to have an ERA in the low 3’s and to push to win 15 games. Then injury struck and Fister missed the first month of the season, he came back average and got hurt again. Now he came back from his 2nd DL stint and looks extremely average. I actually hope his side is still bothering him, it would at least give him an excuse of why he has been so bad lately. Dougie Fresh was up there throwing batting practice last night in a home run friendly park to the best offense in the league, that is not a good combination for Detroit. Fister served up 5 hits in a 0-2 or 1-2 count (3 of those were home runs). He did not locate his sinker ball well at all and looked very predictable on the mound. On a night where all he had to be was average and the Tigers would have won the game and the series, he allowed Oswalt to have a CC Sabathia win. If the Tigers have any chance of making the playoffs, they need 3 of their starters to be consistent. We all know what JV will give us on a nightly basis, but then the remaining 4 guys are a mystery right now. We knew Rick and Max would be inconsistent, and nobody knew what to expect from Smyly, but so far Fister has been extremely disappointing.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (Cardinals)
Detroit continued to roll through interleague play with their 4th straight series win. Don't look now, but they are only 2.5 games back of first place in the Comedy Central again. On a side note, I should stop mocking the AL Central so much because the NL Central has 2 of the worst teams in all of baseball.
Verlander of the Series has to go to the starting pitching in general. Verlander, Porcello, and Turner all pitched well enough to get a win. St. Louis had the 2nd best offense in all of the NL coming into the series and Tiger pitching shut them down for 3 games. The Cards managed a total of 7 runs, and only 4 of them were earned. I don't think this pitching staff could do much better in a 3 game series. In a close 2nd would have to be the bullpen. In their last 32 games they have been the best bullpen in all of baseball. To keep the game tied yesterday the bullpen went out and pitched 5 shut out innings where they struck out 7, walked one and gave up 2 hits. I am impressed.
Schlereth of the Series will go to Miguel Cabrera for the 2nd time this season. The first time he heard me and became the Verlander the next series, I hope he can do that again. Miguel struggled against the Cards with back to back 0-4 games. People, you do not see this often, but it shows you how hard it is to hit a baseball at the major league level. Two average pitchers (Westbrook and Loshe) had Miggy confused at the plate. I guess you have to give credit to them as well because Miguel might be fooled in one at bat per game, but 8 in a row? There is no doubt that he will start hitting again and raise the average closer to .320, but this was a rough series for the big fella.
Verlander of the Series has to go to the starting pitching in general. Verlander, Porcello, and Turner all pitched well enough to get a win. St. Louis had the 2nd best offense in all of the NL coming into the series and Tiger pitching shut them down for 3 games. The Cards managed a total of 7 runs, and only 4 of them were earned. I don't think this pitching staff could do much better in a 3 game series. In a close 2nd would have to be the bullpen. In their last 32 games they have been the best bullpen in all of baseball. To keep the game tied yesterday the bullpen went out and pitched 5 shut out innings where they struck out 7, walked one and gave up 2 hits. I am impressed.
Schlereth of the Series will go to Miguel Cabrera for the 2nd time this season. The first time he heard me and became the Verlander the next series, I hope he can do that again. Miguel struggled against the Cards with back to back 0-4 games. People, you do not see this often, but it shows you how hard it is to hit a baseball at the major league level. Two average pitchers (Westbrook and Loshe) had Miggy confused at the plate. I guess you have to give credit to them as well because Miguel might be fooled in one at bat per game, but 8 in a row? There is no doubt that he will start hitting again and raise the average closer to .320, but this was a rough series for the big fella.
Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (Rockies)
The Tigers continued their dominance over the NL last weekend with their 3rd straight series win and 4th overall against the inferior senior circuit. This version of awards is pretty easy to decide.
Verlander of the Series has to go to Max Scherzer. While he did have a 15K outing earlier this season, but Sunday's pitching performance was masterful. It might have been Max's best start of his career. In the 4th inning the game was delayed for 45 minutes, and Max came back out of the dugout to finish the inning and go 4 more! He struck out 12 Rockies and didnt allow a run. Personally, I think the most important stat was Scherzer didn't walk anyone. I do not expect Max to come out and pitch like this every night, but maybe this is a turning point of his season. I think he is talented enough to be a 2nd starter on some teams, but the problem is he pitches like an ace once in every 5-6 starts, then like a marginal AAA pitcher once in that span and the remaining 3-4 starts are average at best. If Scherzer can lower his ERA to around 4.00 and have his WHIP down in the 1.2 range, the Tigers will be tough to keep out of the division lead for long.
Schlereth of the Series will go to Jose Valverde. He has a tendency of racking up quite a few of these awards. The spud sputtered out on Friday night blowing a game tied at 4. By the time he left the mound the Tigers were down 8-4 with 2 more men on base that he was responsible for. I believed Jose was turning the corner a bit in his outings. He was using the splitter with more regularity, his velocity was creeping back up into the mid 90's, and his control seemed to be improving. Well, Papa took a big step back with this loss. Maybe this season is just one of those 1 step forwards and 2 steps back for the baked potato.
Verlander of the Series has to go to Max Scherzer. While he did have a 15K outing earlier this season, but Sunday's pitching performance was masterful. It might have been Max's best start of his career. In the 4th inning the game was delayed for 45 minutes, and Max came back out of the dugout to finish the inning and go 4 more! He struck out 12 Rockies and didnt allow a run. Personally, I think the most important stat was Scherzer didn't walk anyone. I do not expect Max to come out and pitch like this every night, but maybe this is a turning point of his season. I think he is talented enough to be a 2nd starter on some teams, but the problem is he pitches like an ace once in every 5-6 starts, then like a marginal AAA pitcher once in that span and the remaining 3-4 starts are average at best. If Scherzer can lower his ERA to around 4.00 and have his WHIP down in the 1.2 range, the Tigers will be tough to keep out of the division lead for long.
Schlereth of the Series will go to Jose Valverde. He has a tendency of racking up quite a few of these awards. The spud sputtered out on Friday night blowing a game tied at 4. By the time he left the mound the Tigers were down 8-4 with 2 more men on base that he was responsible for. I believed Jose was turning the corner a bit in his outings. He was using the splitter with more regularity, his velocity was creeping back up into the mid 90's, and his control seemed to be improving. Well, Papa took a big step back with this loss. Maybe this season is just one of those 1 step forwards and 2 steps back for the baked potato.
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