Please don't bunt: 2012 Tigers

Chapter 28 in The Saga of Brandon Inge, 34-Year-Old Baseball Player with Two Surgically Repaired Knees and a .548 '11 OPS:

On Jan. 19, as the Tigers kicked off their winter caravan at Comerica Park, Brandon Inge talked happily about his intentions to earn a full-time job at third base this season.

"I've played baseball my whole life. I've started my whole life," he told the Free Press. "I'm a baseball player. I don't want to platoon."

That was before the Tigers said Thursday that Miguel Cabrera would switch from first base to third base after the signing of free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder.

"He's not the happiest camper," manager Jim Leyland said of Inge, a lifetime Tiger.

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSJhqugGprU

Just four months removed from winning a World Series title and retiring from managing the St. Louis Cardinals, Tony La Russa will be returning to baseball.

According to MLB.com, La Russa will assume a non-official role as an assistant with the Detroit Tigers during spring training.

“Tony’s going to be down for a couple weeks,” Leyland announced Thursday, according to the report. “He’s going to work with Dave (Dombrowski) in the front office, and he’s going over to Jupiter for a few days and then go out to Arizona for a few days. He will not be in uniform.”

La Russa said shortly after retiring from the Cardinals that he would be interested in other positions around the league.

Interesting.

http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Site=C4&Date=20120222&Category=SPORTS02&ArtNo=202220805&Ref=PH&Item=1&Maxw=640&Maxh=410&q=60

dude sucks at retiring.

best baseball friends

lmao tony smiles!

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2012/0228/mlb_g_leyland_gb1_400.jpg

Projection for Verlander? Everyone went on about how lucky he was last year in terms of BABIP and no blown saves.

The sky is the limit when you eat

http://cbsdetroit.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/verlander-fastball-flakes.jpg?w=300

18-9 W-L, 3.30 ERA, 240 IP, 230 K.

would eat

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l9qQnbFwc0Q/TF9G79y-qzI/AAAAAAAAAL4/Ai2hGggiP-s/s320/Mr.Burns.baseball.jpg

I have Verlander in an auction league. I think he hits $27 out of our $260 budget, so I'll probably keep him, but the Tigers infield D does not make me feel good.

beck.mlblogs.com/2012/03/01/fielding-bible-forecasts-tigers-22nd-in-defense-this-year/

The Tigers’ number is negative, but at minus-11, it isn’t nearly as bad as what might have been expected.

http://beck.mlblogs.com/2012/03/01/fielding-bible-forecasts-tigers-22nd-in-defense-this-year/

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0pmxbWHfP1qk9es5o1_500.jpg

Bob Wojnowski ‏ @bobwojnowski
Tigers prized pitcher Jacob Turner dealing with a "dead arm period"? This, folks, is why you should always trade prospects for proven talent

Jacob Turner is 20 years old.

"This, folks, is why you should always trade prospects for proven talent"

is this guy joking or brain damaged?

it's true, proven talent never has arm troubles

Bob Wojnowski ‏ @bobwojnowski
Verlander was never considered trade bait like Turner was. The kid's only 20, so he can still develop. But it's a crapshoot (baseball term).

Yeah, I remember back when Verlander was a mere potential starter, not really discussed much. He came out of nowhere, almost two whole years after being drafted number two overall.

When will MLB front offices wise up and make decisions based on guaranteed results?

On Verlander's luck:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/tom_verducci/03/16/justin.verlander/index.html?eref=sircrc

apparently Vegas gives the Tigers about a 90% shot of winning their division, dunno if I've ever seen it that high before

'crapshoot' is a baseball term? O_o

so Miggy has a "somewhat" broken face after taking a bad hop to the face.
playing 3rd base.

it was a bad hop, but he seemed to be playing it weirdly -- he was kind of facing toward second.

it'll be worth it, though, because of all the extra offense the tigers will get from the dh spot

Their offense will probably be about as productive as it was in 2011. Martinez had a very good season with ridiculous men-on and RISP numbers. I don't think Avila or Peralta will hit as well, though Jackson shouldn't be as bad, and a whole season of Boesch instead of Ordonez should help.

@KeithOlbermann
I plan extensive coverage of Rihanna's engagement AND Drew Smyly being named 5th starter for Detroit for my boss @UncleRush at @GlobalGrind

verlander still assassinating people; my god

hey guys guess what alex avila did today?

(answer: he bunted)

Pleased with this display against Beckett (five HRs and counting), but somewhat concerned about Fister leaving with his hand on his side. #fistered

Best thing that's happened for the Red Sox thus far today? The player they IHBP'd was forced out at home (but two runs scored after that).

http://a.yfrog.com/img877/6861/idee.png

@Tom_Gage
New hope from #Tigers for Victor Martinez to return late this season - didn't need ACL reconstruction - won't know until July, though

Verlander 1 H in 8 IP vs Rays, the guy is savage

Still can't get into the Perfect Game Club though.

Uh oh.

Schlereth? Really?

Just heard my boss, down the hall, with a similar exclamation.

http://l.yimg.com/iu/api/res/1.2/Kf3WxWHLlkuj_XbSj.AIRQ--/YXBwaWQ9eXZpZGVvO2NoPTIxNTtjcj0xO2N3PTE2NDtkeD0xO2R5PTE7Zmk9dWxjcm9wO2g9ODU7cT0xMDA7dz02NQ--/http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/v/mlb/players_l/20110503x/8501.jpg

More exclamations.

DURING THE OFF-SEASON JUSTIN VERLANDER FORGOT HOW TO WIN

(Not an exclamation from my boss, btw.)

Oh, here's Valverde now.

looking for a wild pitch here

Today's designated hitter is Brandon Inge.

Inge was hitless in three at-bats Thursday to finish 1-for-9 (.111) in his three-day trial with the Hens, but drew a pair of walks to give him a .417 on-base percentage (5-for-12) during the stint.

"The timing will come back," said Inge, who plans to rejoin the Tigers in Chicago on Friday. "I'm not worried about the results right now. When you're going through a rehab, getting timing, seeing the pitches, and drawing walks is important.

"I really didn't get many good pitches to hit. They weren't throwing me much -- which was kind of funny."

Uh, LOL?

Verlander CG on 131 pitches. Left bases loaded. Last seven fastballs clocked at 100. Won by one run.

Hilariously awful Inge at-bat yesterday. Runner on second, none out. Squares around but takes fastball right down the middle.

...second pitch well outside zone. Swings, pops out to second base.

The Tigers currently have the best fielding percentage in the AL.

One example of the Tigers' superior defense: Young managed to hold the hitter to a triple here.

http://gif.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/DELMON-YOUNG.gif

http://gif.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/DELMON-YOUNG.gif

at least you didn't trade for alfonso?

That is true.

Insane ... down by three with two outs in the 10th, they scored five runs to win.

C Perez relieved J Tomlin.
J Peralta popped out to first.
B Boesch grounded out to shortstop.
A Avila walked.
A Dirks hit for D Worth.
A Dirks walked, A Avila to second.
A Jackson doubled to left, A Avila scored, A Dirks to third.
O Infante singled to center, A Dirks and A Jackson scored.
M Cabrera homered to left, O Infante scored.

"You look in their dugout, and you see Verlander and Cabrera and Fielder. But stars don't win games. Teams win games." -- May 24th quote from Chris Perez, whose team just got swept out of town (without having to face Verlander)

Previous inning went triple, two IBBs, K, DP, btw.

Jackson ranks third in the AL in batting average and on-base percentage and eighth in OPS. In fact, he has a better OBP and slugging percentage than Fielder.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/27671/austin-jackson-now-one-of-als-elite-players

Something I'm not totally getting right now is the idea that Verlander is still the front-runner for the Cy Young. Cliff Corcoran say this, WAR says this, and I've seen it elsewhere. To me, Weaver has passed him.

The most basic stuff favours Weaver: 14-1 vs. 11-7, 2.29 ERA vs. 2.63. Weaver has a slight edge in WHIP (0.951/0.977), Verlander a slight edge in K/BB ratio (3.80/3.41). When I look at their game logs, the first thing that jumps out is Weaver's one awful start against Texas in May--3.1 innings, 8 earned runs. If you knock that out of his record, his ERA drops to 1.44. In terms of quality starts, Weaver (ignoring the game where he got pulled because of an injury in the first inning) is 14/18, Verlander 16/22. Average game score: Weaver--64.4 (again ignoring the injury game), Verlander--63.6. Here's a big thing, I think: Weaver has had 11 starts this year where he pitched at least six innings and gave up 0 or 1 run; Verlander's had seven such starts.

And Weaver's done all of this missing almost a full month--which in fact seems to be a big part of the argument for Verlander, that he's pitched almost 40 more innings than Weaver. That's important, and so was his 6-inning streak that was just artificially ended. But I think I'd vote for Weaver right now.

strength of opposition? park factors?

38 fewer innings is a lot, especially when the other guy has a higher strikeout rate.

Weaver is 8th or 9th in the league in both versions of WAR. If he's lights-out the rest of the way he could make it up.

One thing I find interesting is how innings pitched seems to be a key component for starters when it comes to both WAR and how they're viewed by sabermetrically-inclined analysts. I certainly understand it up to a point--a starter who consistently eats up innings and carries your team late into the game takes a lot of pressure off overworked bullpens. At the same time, this does seem to run counter to the turn away from bulk counting-stats in other areas of the game. I haven't really detected a parallel elevation of everyday players who stay in the lineup and pile up ABs year after year (e.g., a Palmeiero or, a much dicier example, Joe Carter--and believe me, I'm fully aware of Carter's numerous gaping weaknesses).

Price would get more votes that Weaver, right? Weaver is 29th in AL strikeouts.

Speaking of which:

AL Strikeouts
1. Max Scherzer 160 (127.2 IP)
2. Felix Hernandez 159 (164.0 IP)

Price probably would--maybe Felix too. And I find that puzzling; Weaver is ahead of Price in ERA, WHIP, and K/BB ratio, and, if you pay any mind to such things, has the better W-L record. I know about BABIP, but are strikeouts considered that crucial to a Cy Young resume now? Is Nolan Ryan now a better pitcher than Greg Maddux?

(Since we're talking about pitchers, I guess I meant FIP rather than BABIP.)

one inning pitched is more crucial to a team than one (or three?) plate appearance.

Unadjusted ERA is considered a pretty misleading stat at this point.

Weaver's slightly ahead of Verlander and Price in ERA+ (and slightly behind Sale, who's first).

Verlander just K'd 14 -- including Granderson, Teixeira, AND Ichiro three times each.

*Teixeira Struggleface*

When I saw Verlander's line tonight, I thought "He must not have liked the turn this thread took." And then Weaver goes out and tops him (against inferior competition, granted): complete game shutout, 9K, 4 hits, no walks. Verlander's game score = 75, Weaver's = 88. Might be headed for a great five-way Cy race.

Which Schoenfield addresses this morning:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/27732/verlander-weaver-good-at-baseball

Detroit Free Press being hilariously terrible again:

http://www.freep.com/article/20120816/SPORTS02/120816060/ESPN-s-Keith-Law-disses-Tigers-Miguel-Cabrera-leaves-him-off-MVP-ballot

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Avisail+Garcia+Detroit+Tigers+Photo+Day+g0wNLFhizL2l.jpg

Miguel Cabrera, Jr.

Dan Dickerson ‏@Dan_Dickerson
Scherzer now 10-2, 2.53ERA last 14 starts, has lowered ERA from 5.76 to 3.93...

MLB K leader, too (but Verlander will start tomorrow).

(Kinda wanna eye-poke entitled Tiger fans atm.)

inge having season-ending surgery, will miss oakland's series in detroit :-[

He would have raked.

Weirdest pair of series: swept by the Royals (shut down by Chen and Guthrie; Verlander hit hardest in years), then swept the White Sox (had their way with Peavy and Sale; Verlander excellent).

Matt Dery ‏@deryNBA
Leyland: "I've never been in a place where they talk about the lineup so much. Never. Ever in my life".

When he was running sub-Delmon (!) out there every day/night, his defense was that Delmon would eventually get hot. Delmon finally got hot -- so hot that his OPS is now near his 2011 OPS.

Last 7 days: .429/.478/.905
Last 14 days: .362/.388/.766

Delmon is sitting tonight (in favor of Don Kelly, based on small-sample size stats against Masterson).

swept by the Royals (shut down by Chen and Guthrie; Verlander hit hardest in years)

white sox were also swept by the royals in august

Playing for one run in the third inning while losing 3-0...

...and scoring no runs.

...and losing 3-2 (again).

I don't think he can catch up in home runs, but I'll just mention that Cabrera's within striking distance of a Triple Crown. Trout's had such a stranglehold on BA most of the way that I didn't even notice till a couple of days ago.

This is the Leyland shit that pisses me off.

Tigers down 3-2 in the eighth:

Avila, facing a new pitcher, takes four consecutive balls. He is replaced by Quintin Berry, the team's best base stealer (19 for 19).

Rather than see if the pitcher will continue to miss the zone and/or make more mistakes, Leyland opts to play for one fucking run.

Infante sacrifices Berry to second base.

Austin Jackson flies out.

Andy Dirks strikes out.

No runs scored.

And that's their fourth 3-2 loss in the last six games.

‏@LookoutLanding
Tigers have AL's fourth-highest wRC+, second-lowest FIP. Gosh I wonder what the problem is

can you please explain what that means to the stats-ingnorant of us (me)?

Good offense, good pitching, really bad defense.

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/offense/wrc/

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/pitching/fip/

So by second-lowest FIP, you mean second best, right? I was thrown by that at first. Now it makes sense.

thanks. i did try googling but still didn't really get it.

Holy cow--Cabrera 3-4, two HR, 6 RBI. So he leads in BA, has widened his RBI lead, and is within two homers of Hamilton.

He also has one more NSB this season than Austin Jackson.

a's strategy is, rightly, 1). take pitches 2). if u must swing, hit toward peralta

Just checking boxscores--how did Verlander throw 122 pitches in 6 innings with 5 hits, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts? That seems really high.

Through a combination of three-ball counts and two-strike fouls. The strike zone was pretty weird all night.

According to PitchFX, Verlander appeared to throw nine pitches in the zone that were not called strikes. Six of them weren't even near any of the edges of the zone.

I count 31 foul balls off him. Not sure how many were two-strike fouls, but it seemed like a lot.

The most frustrating thing about this time might be that they have three of the highest OBPs in the AL -- from the 1, 3, and 4 slots -- and are ninth in runs scored.

Thanks, "proven run producer" and number five hitter Delmon Young.

Missing you, Victor.

Three of the top six OBPs, that is.

Mauer
Fielder
Cabrera
Trout
Murphy(o_O)
Jackson

Random flashback:

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/name/law_keith/id/6821256/keith-law-analyzing-doug-fister-deal

Seattle really made out like a bandit here, converting two pitchers whose value came in large part due to their home park and Seattle's great defense into three known prospects and reportedly a fourth who might be the best or second-best guy in the deal. Detroit gets a little depth in its rotation but gives up more value than it gets back.

Doug Fister doesn't throw hard, topping out at about 92 on his four-seamer and 89-90 on his two-seamer, but throws both pitches for strikes. He generates a lot of foul balls when he throws the two-seamer in the zone but rarely gets swings and misses on either fastball when he throws them for strikes. Instead, he rarely walks hitters and "trusts his defense," code for a pitcher who can't miss many bats because he doesn't have an above-average pitch.

Bases-loaded WP, Villareal covers plate, thinks it's a force play.

...

2ND PLAYER IN FRANCHISE HISTORY TO HIT 40 HOME RUNS AND 40 DOUBLES IN ONE SEASON (HANK GREENBERG, 1937 AND 1940)

Hi there, Mr. Deltoid.

http://beck.mlblogs.com/2012/09/27/scherzer-scratched-smyly-on-friday/

The shoulder fatigue that knocked Max Scherzer out of a start last week and held down his fastball in his last start on Sunday has now put the rest of his season in question. Scherzer has been scratched from his scheduled start Friday in Minnesota with what is now described as a deltoid strain, and he won’t pick up a ball to throw again until his arm is better.

mlb network used the dreaded 'great pitchability' to describe fister