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The Tigers inked Ramon Santiago to a one year, $575k deal this year and it’s expected that Santiago will provide the Tigers with a decent late inning defensive replacement in the infield.  Santiago’s infamy has nothing to do with his weak stick but more to do with who the Tigers got for  him in a trade.  Back in 2004, the Tigers trade Santiago to the Mariners for Carlos Guillen after the Mariners stole Rich Aurilia from the Tigers on the free agent market.  The rest is history and Santiago rejoined the team in 2006 as a free agent.

With Santiago in the fold, it’ll be curious to see what happens to Omar Infante.  Omar is a better hitter but he fell out of favor late in the year in 2007.  They might keep him around because he can also fill in out in the outfield but that spot is getting crowded too.  Jason Beck speculates in his column that Infante might be dealt because of his arbitration eligibility.

Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco both won Silver Slugger awards this year.  I’d have to check and see how rare it is, but Polanco’s season was particularly impressive because he won both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove.  It’s the first time two Tigers have won the award since Mickey Tettleton and Travis Fryman won it in 1992.

I thought Curtis Granderson made a stronger case for a silver slugger then Ichiro did but outfield is one of those tough spots to call because you could probably find a handful more players who would in that class as well.   Granderson was third amongst American League outfielders in OPS but Manny Ramirez was right there as well.

No major surprise here considering Magglio Ordonez will probably finish second to Alex Rodriguez in the American League MVP voting.  We all know what Mags did this year.   First batting title by a Tiger since 1961 and more then 50 doubles for the first time since the 1950s.

Jason Beck reports that while Kenny Rogers has decided to pitch at least one more year, he’s not dead set on coming back to Detroit and his agent (yes, Scott Boras) has said that he’ll test the free agent market.  It’ll be interesting to see whether this is just Boras’ way to squeeze a little bit more out of Detroit or whether Rogers actually does go and talk to other teams.

In other news, the Tigers lost Matt Walbeck yesterday.  He was hired by the Texas Rangers to be their third base coach.  Walbeck led the West Michigan White Caps to a league title in 2006 and he put together a nice season in Erie as their coach last year.  You hate to see these successful guys go but if you remember, Alan Trammell left the Tigers for a while before coming back to be their manager.  It wouldn’t surprise me if, when Jim Leyland steps down, Matt Walbeck is on a list of guys being considered for the job.

Ivan Rodriguez and Placido Polanco walked away with gold gloves today.  While neither was a surprise, it’s the omissions from the Tigers that are somewhat glaring.  Still, Pudge is Pudge and he’s going to win gold gloves until he shows serious signs of deterioriation while Polanco went the entire season without making an error while posting the second best zone rating in the American League.  It’s hard to argue about either one of these guys.

Things get odd when you look at the outfield.  Ichiro won and he was probably the best fielding outfielder in all of baseball so there’s not much of an argument there.  Torii Hunter won again and while he was only decent this year, he had six gold gloves prior to this season and he was good enough to where, like Pudge, he’s going to win an award or two well past his prime out in the field.  The oddity is Grady Sizemore.  Sizemore, who was eighth in the American League in zone rating which is hardly spectacular and the only thing you can really say about him is he led the league (tied) in plays.  And if you don’t like zone rating, Baseball Prospectus actually has Sizemore at 7 fielding runs below average so Sizemore actually cost his team almost a game compared to what an average centerfielder would have given his team.

Curtis Granderson’s season in center this year was nothing short of spectacular and in my opinion, he got robbed.  He led the league with a .921 zone rating and his 85 plays outside of the zone were second to Ichiro and almost double the amount Sizemore had (45).  Baseball Prospectus had Granderson at 26 runs above average so the difference between Sizemore and Granderson was more then three wins in favor of Granderson.

The other guy who probably got the shaft was Brandon Inge.  Adrian Beltre walked away with the award and he probably should have won it last year.  Instead, the managers punched Eric Chavez’s ticket again so Beltre lost out.  In what looks like an attempt to make up for it, they gave the award to Beltre this year.  Inge was second in the American League with .712 zone rating (Beltre was seventh with .668) and Inge made just one play less then Beltre did outside of the zone.  Inge finished the season with 16 fielding runs above average  where as Beltre had just two fielding runs above average.  So while we’re not talking about as significant of a difference between Granderson and Sizemore, we’re still talking about more then one win between the two in the field.

I’m still convinced Inge will win a gold glove in his future.  Granderson might have a tougher time but you have to be impressed with a guy who was pegged as a corner outfielder just a couple of years ago.

Jason Beck filled in what’s turned out to be a void of Tigers news with his regular mailbag column.  Most of it deals with how Renteria fits into the big picture for the Tigers and he addresses why Omar Infante turned into the odd man out at the end of last year.  Good stuff as always from Mr. Beck.

Also, Kevin Goldstein included some good news about Scott Sizemore in his Monday Morning Ten Pack.  After a tough 2007 season, Sizemore has lit it up in the Arizona Fall League and he’s doing it at shortstop no less.

I’m living in a hole these days and while I heard about the Joel Zumaya injury, I didn’t really follow up on it until Friday.  Of course I’m now just getting right around to writing about it.  He had a box fall on his shoulder (official story) and he went under the knife.  He’ll miss at least half of next year although in some ways, the timing isn’t a bad thing.  If it had happened in spring training, he’d be done for the season and now it lets us go out and rent an arm to fill the hole we know we have.  It’s a drag because Zumaya’s career seems to be going the way of Matt Anderson, just in a more bizare way.

Billfer tipped me off to this but Chris McCosky must not have been able to come up with anything original to write today so he decided to bash bloggers.  Bill handled the attack nicely so I recommend you read his column but it’s too bad because I actually like Chris McCosky and thinks he does a good job.  To write something like this is a little juvenile.  Yeah, you went to school to do what you do but a lot of bloggers don’t take themselves too seriously (i.e., they don’t come across as pompous asses), so to trash a group of people who are doing something for the love it and not to collect a paycheck is a little low.  I’ll keep reading Chris but I view him in a whole new light.

And here’s a nice column on George Kell’s contribution as a broadcaster.  I grew up listening to Kell and Al Kaline and while I know they take their share of criticism, I always thought they did a fine job.  Kell is on the fan ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award as is one of my personal favorites, Paul Carey.

Preston Larrison, Aquilino Lopez, Gabe Benetiz, Erick Almonte and Nick Trzesniak all signed minor league deals with the Tigers.  Lopez actually got some time with the big league club when the Tigers were looking to fill holes in their bullpen while Preston Larrison, once one of the Tigers top pitching prospects in what was then a thin farm system, had a solid season for the Hens last year.

The Neifi Perez era may be over in Detroit as the veteran infielder filed for free agency yesterday.  It’ll be interesting to see if Neifi will latch on after the drug suspensions or whether his illustrious career is now over.

That’s two pretty good bluechip prospects for Renteria.  I’ll comment more on this deal tonight.  Make that tomorrow.  I’m having some periodic internet outages so I don’t want to have to redo this several times.

***ANALYSIS***

It’s funny because a couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me what big move the Tigers would make this offseason. I told him they’d trade for Edgar Renteria, which was probably one of the worst kept secrets out there. Odds are good this deal was done a while ago, but the two teams were just waiting to make the announcement once the Red Sox finished things up yesterday.

Anyway, on the face of things, I think the Tigers gave up a little too much, but they gave it up at spots where they already have strengths. Jair Jurrjens would have been hard pressed to make a healthy Tigers’ rotation next year and while Gorkys Hernandez appeared to be a keeper, he’s following in the footsteps of phenom Cameron Maybin and is at best two years away.

In my opinion, Edgar Renteria is a bit overrated. In his past five years, he’s had two really good years, two pretty poor years and then a season that’s right in the middle. He’s won two gold gloves, but only one of those was probably warranted and in his past six years, he’s finished with  negative fielding runs above average. And if you’re looking at range factor, he’s middle of the pack. I was going to compare him to Carlos Guillen in the field, but the Hardball Times site started getting glitchy. Anyway, fielding wise, Renteria vs. Guillen is probably a push.

Of course you can’t really compare him to Guillen because Carlos will be playing first base. Unfortunately, that’ll diminish his value a bit because now instead of being one of the better hitting shortstops, he’ll be a mediocre hitting first baseman. I thought they would have been better off finding a decent hitting first baseman and keeping Guillen at shortstop for one more year but all of those errors piling up must have been the driver behind the trade.

Basically what it comes down to is which Edgar Renteria shows up. If it’s the 2007 version and the Tigers win the division, the deal makes sense. If it’s the 2005 version and we don’t, then we got hosed. Regardless, it’s probably better having Renteria/Guillen then Guillen/Casey like we had last year so it is an upgrade but giving Thames another shot at first base would have been an interesting move. So, we’ll see in 2008.

Not sure why I picked today to end my little sabatical, but it is what it is.  Jason Beck answered reader’s mail yesterday in his regular mailbag column and he talks about everything from Cameron Maybin to the differences between the Arizona Fall League and the Hawaiian Winter League.

Also, the Tigers made a front office move and you can check up on how the Tigers’ farmhands are doing in the AFL in this column.

Two Tiger draft picks are turning heads in this year Florida Instructional League.  Rick Porcello is an obvious one because of the hype surrounding him in the 2007 draft and fifth round pick Casey Crosby is also making an impact down in Florida and it was very nice to read about how Porcello has a four pitch arsenal that he’s using.  It’ll be interesting to see how high these two guys make it next year.  It wouldn’t surprise me to see Porcello at Erie by the end of the year.

The Tigers are going with Ivan Rodriguez as their catcher for another year.  Look for my commentary tonight.

***UPDATE***

The Tigers picked up their option on Pudge today at a net cost of $10 million.  He’ll make $13 million but the buyout was $3 million so the Tigers would have been on the hook regardless.

At the plate, Pudge had one of his worst seasons in his career.  His EQA was a pedestrian .237 and while his lifetime EQA is just .270 because of his disdain for walks, the .237 was the lowest of his career since his rookie season was back in 1991.  His defense was there though with ten fielding runs above average or, if you’re into Win Shares, he earned 7.2 of them on defense and that was good for fourth place in the American League.

What it basically came down to was, a mediocre Pudge is still better then a lot of other options.  There’s no great free agent catchers out there and you a team like the Mets would have been all over him.  Yeah, we’ll probably be overpaying him but it’ll probably be worth more then having a less expensive, yet ineffective platoon between Mike Rabello and Vance Wilson.

It looks like Jose Mesa is back to his old tricks.  He was hammered for three runs in the Phillies’ loss to the Rockies yesterday.  It’s almost kind of sad that he’s on a playoff roster.

I helped two pairs of friends start a couple of local interest blogs.  Be sure to stop by Pistonsblog and the MSU Basketball Blog if those things interest you.

Jim Leyland got his contract extended for an extra year and he’s locked in as the Tigers manager through 2009.  Leyland’s has a very respectable 183-141 record since joining the Tigers.

Two former Tigers won both the NL and AL comeback player of the year.  Carlos Pena won the AL comeback player of the year after belting 46 homers while Dmitri Young his a career high .320.  Congrats to both on turning their careers around.

Alright, the Rockies became the final team to enter the playoffs this year with an exciting win over the Padres so the cast of eight is now set.  There’s no baseball today, but tomorrow things kick off with three games.  I’m kind of bummed because I’m working a contract job right now and while the money is nice, I was really hoping to enjoy being home to watch the playoffs.  Then again, there’s usually just the one day game so I won’t be missing too much.  Anyway, in yet another chance to make a fool of myself, here’s how I think the playoffs are going to play out.

American League Division Series

LA Angels versus Boston – This is a tough one to pick because you very well may have the two best team’s baseball going up against each other in the best round.  Tough to call, but I’ll say the Angels win it in five games.  They have the arms as do the Red Sox, I just think the Angels arms are a touch better down the line.

Yankees versus Indians – The two teams that the Tigers were chasing in September, I think the Yankees win this one.  Their offense will just be too good for even the front end starters of the Indians and I see them winning in four games.

National League Division Series

Rockies versus Phillies – I’m taking the Phillies here for a couple of different reasons. One, I always look back at 1987 and see the Tigers having that dramatic push to get into the playoffs only to get spanked in the postseason.  I think the Rockies will suffer some of that but to an extent, the Phillies face the same thing.  I also think the extra game is going to hurt the Rockies so I’ll say Phillies in four.

Diamondbacks versus Cubs – It’s interesting because you have two franchises in the National League end of the playoffs that are known for their futility and they very well could play each other for a chance for that elusive World Series win.  The Cubs haven’t won in 99 years, but I can see them getting past the Diamondbacks in five games.

American League Championship Series

Yankees versus Angels – At the beginning of the year, I picked the Yankees to win it all.  I’m not going to change that and I think the Yankees will avenge their 2002 playoff loss to the Angels and beat them in six games.

National League Championship Series

Cubs versus Phillies – You have the 99 year drought of the Cubs and the 27 year drought and 10,000 losses of the Phillies.  I think the Cubs have the arms though and that’ll be the difference in this one.  Cubs win it handily in five games.

World Series

Cubs versus Yankees – You have a team who, in the past 84 years, has won 26 World Series and then there’s the team that hasn’t won one in 99 years.  Still, I think the Yankees put it together and are just too much in an exciting seven game series.

So that’s it.  One thing I always love about the playoffs is the usual high quality of the games.  Take last night’s for example with a thirteen inning thriller.  Still wish the Tigers were there, but I’ll be enjoying these final weeks of baseball none the less.

The Tigers closed the book on their 2007 season with a blowout win over the White Sox yesterday.  I was in Toronto over the weekend so I wasn’t able towatch much of the action but Magglio Ordonez went three for four and he belted his 54th homer of the season.  He finished the season with a .363 batting average and he’s the first Tiger to win the batting title since Norm Cash did it way back in 1961.  His .363 mark is the highest for a batting title qualifier since Charlie Gehringer his .371 way back in 1937.  The 54 doubles put him fifth on the Tigers single season doubles list.

Placido Polanco got one hit but that’s all he needed to reach 200 for the season.  1937 is the last time two or more Tigers picked up 200 hits and that year, four Tigers reached the milestone.  Carlos Guillen also had a big game and he drove in four runs to cross the 100 RBI mark for the first time in his career.

Curtis Granderson finished the season with 84 extra base hits and that’s good for eighth on the Tigers single season leader list.  Five of the seasons ahead of him are Hank Greenberg and the only other Tiger to have more extra base hits then Granderson had this year are Rudy York and Charlie Gehringer.

Anyway, at the plate, several Tigers did things that hadn’t been done in a while and despite missing the playoff, the Tigers did provide some excitement this year.  It’s hard to believe that just two years ago, the Tigers and playoffs in the same sentence were a joke and while you have to be a little bummed they didn’t make it this year, this is a team with a solid core that should be good for years to come.  I’ll definitely be looking forward to 2008.

We get a bonus game tonight as the Padres and Rockies have a play in game for the Wild Card.  Once things are set, I’ll do my annual playoff predictions most likely tomorrow.

Well, the Tigers chance to win 90 is now gone after losing to the White Sox last night.  Kenny Rogers had a rough start but the highlight of the day was another solid game by Magglio Ordonez.  One of his two hits was his 53rd double and he drove in his 137th run of the season.  Just as important, he boosted his batting average to .360 and he has a ten point lead over Ichiro, all but locking up the batting title.

It should be a very interesting weekend in the National League.  The Cubs finally locked up their division and the Diamondbacks clinched a playoff spot but four teams are still vying for those final two playoff spots.  The Padres and the Phillies have the upper hand though.

The Tigers won last night in an odd, rain shortened game but they were also eliminated from playoff contention as the Yankees blew out the Devil Rays to clinch up the Wild Card.  As a Tiger fan though, it’s hard to be too disappointed and in a way, I think they go their seasons crossed over and 2007 really should have happened in 2006 and vice versa.  I know I got spoiled by what happened in 2006 too but if the Tigers win out, they’ll finish with 90 wins.  The last time they had back to back 90 win seasons was 1983-1984.  They played meaningful baseball in mid-September when just two years ago, that’s all we were asking for.

In addition, making the playoffs is tough.  I know that sounds simple but look at the Tigers near 20 year drought before 2006.  Teams can be good (i.e. the Tigers through most of the 1980s), but just miss the playoffs for several years so hopefully, this is just a bump in the road and they can get back in the mix next year.

On the game, it rained pretty much the entire time.  The Twins jumped all over Jair Jurrjens for four runs in the first and the Tigers scored three in the second before the rain delay.  I was out in left field so it’s hard to tell how a pitcher is throwing, but Johan Santana walked home a run and I don’t think he brought his best stuff in a game that, for him, didn’t matter.  The Tigers got to face a new pitcher after a long rain delay and they jumped all over rookie Nick Blackburn for six runs.  The Twins shot themselves in the foot with some errors too (and some hits that should have been errors).  After five innings and change, the tarp came back on and once the Yankees finished their game over the Rays, it was called an official game.

Magglio Ordonez is hitting .359 and Ichiro seems to be stuck at .350.  This is one of the few remaining stories for the Tigers while Placido Polanco picked up one hit leaving him with 196.  Mike Hessman was the hitting star and he went two for three with his fourth homerun and four RBIs.

It’s a day off today, then three in Chicago.  This is the last Tigers baseball we’ll be getting so I’ll be sure to tune in.

The Tigers kept their slim playoff hopes alive in a beatdown over the Twins.  Yorman Bazardo was the star on the pitching side and he threw seven shutout innings to improve to 2-1.  Joel Zumaya and Chad Durbin both threw a shutout frame to close out the game.

Curtis Granderson picked up his 23rd triple of the season.  The last time a player had 23 triples was 1949 when the Indians Dale Mitchell hit the mark.  It also puts Curtis Granderson tied for fifth with Sam Crawford and Ty Cobb for the single season triple mark.

Magglio Ordonez belted his 52nd triple and that puts him fifth on the Tigers single season doubles list.  Ordonez also homered and with the two hits, he brought hit batting average up to .359.  That gives him a somewhat comfortable nine point lead for the batting title.  He also drove in three runs to bring his season total up to 136. 

With the Yankees ten inning loss, the Tigers still have a very slim chance to tie for the Wild Card.  Tonight, it’ll be Johan Santana going up against Jair Jurrjens.

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