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It was a quiet weekend for the Tigers.  I was out of town with friends and one of them thought he saw Alex Gonzalez had signed with the Tigers.  It made no sense, but we waited 20 minutes for the ESPN ticker to get all of the way back through each college football score to find that Gonzalez had actually signed with the Reds.

The Tigers did sign seven minor league players on Friday.  Craig Dingman, Mike Hessman, Kevin Hooper, Vic Darensbourg, Jackson Melian, Tim Byrdak and Steve Torrealba.  Jason Beck runs down this list with bios so be sure to check out his column.  Billfer also talks about the signings. 

The Tigers signed Sean Casey to a one year, $4 million deal.  I like this deal when you combine it with the Gary Sheffield trade.  Assuming Shef does what he’s supposed to do, we don’t need another power stick even though that’s the bill for a first baseman.  In addition, and I hate to get all mushy, but even though I was against the Tigers trading for Casey during the season, he’s such a likable guy that he’s grown on me.  And for $4 million, you get a decent stick for a pretty good price.

Jamie Walker hit it big today. He signed with the Orioles for three years and he’ll make $11.5 million.  In my mind, that’s way too much for a lefty specialist and while I wish Walker the best of luck, I don’t really see the Orioles getting their money’s worth out of this.  Then again, we’re paying Todd Jones another $5 million for next year.

No surprise here.  Jim Leyland walked away with the manager of the year after leading the Tigers to a surprising 95 wins in 2006.  He joins Sparky Anderson and Tony LaRussa as managers who have won the award in both league and he’s the first Tiger manager to win it since Sparky Anderson won the award back in 1987.  Leyland receive 19 of the 28 first place votes and the remaining nine went to Twins manager Rod Gardenhire.

Justin Verlander became the first Tiger since Lou Whitaker in 1978 to win the AL Rookie of the Year.  He’s the first pitcher since Mark Fidrych won it 30 years ago.  That’s quite a long time with no top notch rookies.  He did it by getting 26 of the 28 first place votes.  It looks like one person didn’t vote for him at all while the other two first place votes went to Francisco Liriano and Nick Markakis (huh?).  Jonathon Paplebon came in second place, but it was a distant second.

Verlander’s exploits shouldn’t be too surprising if you stop by here periodically.  He won 17 games with a 3.63 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.  For a guy who throws 100 mph, I would have expected more then 124 strikeouts, but he kept his walks down (60) and I think the strikeouts will come with time.  He also had that huge start against the Yankees in the ALDS even though the rest of his post season was subpar.  Congratulations to Justin Verlander.

Alright, I’ve let this trade sink in a little more and no matter how much I second guess myself, I still think we got a good deal.  Pat Caputo did his best to convince me otherwise on the radio (he thought we gave up a little too much) and he made some great points but I still think having a big bat in the lineup like Sheffield’s will go a longer way then hanging on to the three pitchers we gave up.

In other news, Brent Clevlan has been red hot in the Arizona Fall League.  This column summarizes how all of the Tigers are doing in the winter leagues.

I was recently interviewed on Outsider Radio about the Tiger’s prospects in 2007.  You can download the interview here.

This is cool.  Very cool.

The Tigers traded three of their pitching prospects today for Gary Sheffield.  The Gary Sheffield who’s drawn more walks (1,293) in his career then he’s struck out (971).  The Gary Sheffield with a career .398 OBP.  And the Gary Sheffield with 455 career homeruns.  Of course everything comes with a price.

Humberto Sanchez took the minor leagues by storm in the first half of the season last year and was involved in trade rumors for Alfonso Soriano.  Then he hurt his elbow and ended up throwing only 123 innings because of it.  Whelan was a closer in waiting but he was probably at least one full year away from making it to the big league club.  Same goes for Claggett, who’s probably closer to two years away.

I like this deal.  A lot.  Gary Sheffield, whether he’s 38 or not (which he’ll be Nov. 18) , is one of the premiere hitters in baseball.  He does it all.  I likened him to a Barry Bonds light back when Bonds was winning MVPs.  He gets on base, takes a walk, doesn’t strike out and he drives in runs.  He’ll be playing mostly DH and probably spotting Craig Monroe and Magglio Ordonez out in the corners through out the year.  He seems to have a great relationship with Jim Leyland and that will definitely help.  So if Sheffield plays the whole season, you should expect something to the tune of 30 homeruns, 110 RBIs and .290/.390/510.  He’ll make an ideal hitter in that three spot.  Oh yeah, we also locked him up for three years and he’ll make $28 million in 2008 and 2009.

Out of all the Tigers’ pitching prospects, Humberto Sanchez was the one I would most like to see dealt away.  Prior to 2006, he was fairly mediocre.  He had a career 4.73 ERA through Single A and Double A and was actually set to repeat Double A in 2006 until he started tearing hitters up (86 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings with a 1.76 ERA).  He’ll turn 24 one day after Sheffield turns 38 (Nov. 19).  He started equally well at Toledo but struggled in his last three starts before getting shut down in Auguest.  That elbow worried me too.

Wheelan and Claggett are both 22 and Wheelan played High A while Clagget played Low A.

So we gave up three pretty good arms, but as we all know, there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect.  And two of them look like relievers, making the deal even more sweet.  While having a good bullpen is pretty important, it’s also something that’s pretty easy to build through free agent pickups.

The big if is whether Sheffield will be able to stay healthy.  He won’t be playing in the field nearly as much so that should be a huge bonus.  Plus we have the coolness factor of Sheffield possibly hitting his 500th homerun in 2008.  No player has ever hit his 500th homerun in a Tiger uniform (Eddie Mathews already had 503 when the Tigers picked him up late in 1967) so we’ll have the homerun count down to look forward to as well.

Justin Verlander should be the first Tiger to win the rookie of the year since Lou Whitaker did it way back in 1978.  In the meantime, Verlander was honored by his peers as the best American League rookie.

I wrote up a retrospective of Earl Wilson over at the 1967 AL Pennant site.  If that kind of thing interests you, swing by and check it out.  There’s also one up on Carl Yastrzemski.

Don Slaught is stepping down as the Tigers hitting coach for family reasons.  Four kids can be a handful and I give him credit for stepping down to spend time with his family.

Ivan Rodriguez and Kenny Rogers both won gold gloves.  Congrats to both.

In a lot of ways, this was a big year for Dave Dombrowski.  Had the team failed under Jim Leyland, the blame for the Tigers woes would have probably been pointed at Dombrowski.  Instead, he hit the jack pot and everything came together (just like he planned) and now the Tigers are locking him up as the team’s top exec. through 2011.

Not a bad move. Dombrowski has built up teams before.  Now he’ll get the luxury of actually trying to keep a team at the top.  All of his other teams (Expos, Marlins) were sold out from under him and I doubt Mike Ilitch would be doing that.

 

In the past two days, at least a dozen people have asked me how bummed I am about the Tigers World Series loss.  In a lot of ways, I’m disappointed that the Tigers couldn’t seal the deal although it’s hard to be so down when this team did so many things for this year.

For the ten seasons from 1996 through 2005, Tiger fans haven’t had too much to cheer about.  You have ten losing seasons, eight 90 loss seasons and three 100 loss seasons.  Over those ten years, the team lost 966 games, or 97 games a season on average.  Everyone looks to 2003 as rock bottom for this franchise but in a lot of ways, 1996 was just as bad.  The team didn’t lose as many games (109), the team’s ERA (6.38) was the second worst of all time.  It was actually worse then the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, which is recognized as the worst team ever.  The worst team ERA was the 1930 Phillies at 6.71.  It’s also somewhat ironic that this is the first ten year stretch that we had where Sparky Anderson wasn’t at the helm.

Anyway, the Tigers have been bad.  And some seasons, they’ve been very bad.  And in other seasons, they’ve had some of the worst teams ever.  Maybe my expectations have been blunted from these bad seasons, but just making it to World Series and losing it pretty good in my book.

Of course, the second guessing has begun.  The biggest thing has been Jim Leyland starting Justin Verlander over Kenny Rogers in game five.  I actually thought it was the move to make.  You can’t expect to have Jeff Weaver do a Chris Carpenter imitation so saving Kenny Rogers to throw against Carpenter seemed like a sound move since that was a game we’d also have to win.

The other noise I’ve been hearing is how the Tigers need a big bat.  This is a natural reaction to the team’s offensive woes in the World Series but over the course of the season, the team was decent but not great with the bat.  The Tigers had an above average slugging percentage (.449) and ISO (.174).  If they make a move, I think it should be for a patient hitter who will take a walk instead of someone like Alfonso Soriano, who could just as easily flame out. 

The other question is, if we focus on picking up a big bat, what position do we shoot for.  First base is the obvious choice but this years crop of the free agents is pretty thin.  After Nomar Garciaparra, the next best free agent first baseman very well could be Sean Casey.  Replacing Brandon Inge at third base would also be an option but the third base crop is very thin.  Aramis Ramirez can become a free agent at his option but that seems unlikely because he’s set to make $11 million if he sticks with the Cubs.  After that, I can’t find anyone better then Inge.  I’m fine with Craig Monroe in leftfield and Marcus Thames at DH/fourth OF and all of the other spots have established players

So if anything happens, it will happen through a trade.  The Tigers have a surplus of pitching.  The rotation I’d like to see next year would be Rogers, Verlander, Bonderman, Robertson and Zumaya with Humberto Sanchez filling as the seventh or eighth inning guy in place of Zumaya.  Jamie Walker is a free agent and while I’d like to see the Tigers get him back, it’s not imperative because I could see Andrew Miller or Wil Ledezma filling that role for the Tigers.

The odd man out looks to be Mike Maroth.  I like Maroth and he’s a solid innings eater but if Sanchez is the real deal and Miller is as good as people expect him to be, Maroth could potentially be the ninth best starter on the team.  I could see putting him in the rotation at the beginning of the year to try to boost his trade value but that’s really about it.  Zach Miner could also be a guy we use to as trade bait

The other question that will be hanging out there is whether to sign Sean Casey or not.  My initial thought is we shouldn’t and try to make it work with Chris Shelton and use the money elsewhere.  Maybe to lock up Jeremy Bonderman.

The other bright spot on this team is Cameron Maybin, who lit the Midwest on first this season.  Maybin finished .304/.387/.457 with the Midwest League champion West Michigan Whitecaps.  He’ll see some time in Double A this year and if succeeds at that level at his age (he’ll turn 20 on April 4, 2007), you might see Curtis Granderon beginning to get some time at one of the corner outfield spots late in 2008 to make room for this kid.  And that’s if Brent Clevlan doesn’t do it sooner.

So even if this team stands pat, I can see this team contending in the next couple of years.  My biggest fear is that the Tigers could just as easily finish in fourth place next year in a tough AL Central as they could finish in first place.  And if they do, we can’t get too discouraged because I’d be willing to bet this team is back in the playoffs in the next few years. 

For those of you who are fans of Marcus Thames, John Sickels recently wrote a prospect retro on him.  As always, it’s a great read from prospect guru John Sickels.  At one point in 2001, he had upped his rating to a B+, which is very good.  He also did one on Craig Monroe earlier in the week.

If I ever said anything bad about Sean Casey, i take it all back.  Every Single Word.  Two run shot for Casey and it’s Tiger 2, Cardinals 1

***UPDATE***

Well, that lead didn’t last too long and Brandon Inge just struck out to end the game.  Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on there series win.  The game recap will be up tomorrow at the Hardball Times and I’ll do a little retrospective most likely on Sunday.

I’ll have a full report over at the Hardball Times tomorrow.  This was a tough game.  Needless to say, you hear the words “must win” in a lot of situations where it really doesn’t apply.  This time it does.  The next TIgers loss will be their last of the 2006 season because their season will be done.

Man do I need some sleep.

It’s ten o’clock and MLB is meeting with the teams.  I can’t see this game happening tonight.

Alright, they haven’t lost yet, but I want to get to bed so I’m writing this up as the Tigers bat in the ninth.  This is a pretty short story though.  It began and ended with Chris Carpenter.  The Tigers managed only two hits off of him and he needed only 82 pitches to get through eight innings.

A lot of people dislike Tim McCarver as an announcer.  Prior to tonight, I didn’t mind him too much.  I wouldn’t say I’d put him in my top ten, but I thought he did a good enough job.  That was until he decided to make the point, about a dozen times, that Joel Zumaya shouldn’t have thrown to third base when he fielded a comebacker with runners on first and second in the seventh inning.  The two runs that scored opened the game up but didn’t turn out as neccesary.  Regardless, we understood that he should have went to second base the first time.  And if we didn’t, we certainly got it the tenth time.

Tomorrow it’ll be Jeremy Bonderman against Jeff Suppan.  This is obviously a big game for the Tigers so hopefully Jeremy throws a solid game for us.  If not, we could be in trouble.

One-Two-Three in the ninth.  Tigers lose.  Sigh.  Good night.

The World Series starts back up tonight and the Tigers face Chris Carpenter, the Cardinal’s ace and last year’s Cy Young winner.  Have you noticed that Nate Robertson has faced the opposing team’s best pitcher in each of the three series so far?  Whether intentional or not, this isn’t a bad strategy.  While Robertson had a good season, I consider him our fourth best starter.  If he goes against the ace, it would normally give us a distinct advantage in each of the other three games.

I’d feel a lot better about this lineup if Sean Casey could play the field so Marcus Thames could then DH.  That’s a pretty big upgrade over Ramon Santiago in the lineup and it would probably give Ivan Rodriguez some protection as well.  Then again, I’m not certain what Casey’s condition is.

The Cardinals were a pretty good team in their new ball park this year.  They won 49 games, which was one less then the New York Mets to lead the National League.  Then again, the Tigers are the best road team with 49 road wins.

I did a very brief writeup on Alan Trammell’s new job over at the 1984 Tigers site.

Alright, the Tigers took game two and things are all even.  Kenny Rogers threw eight shutout innings, Carlos Guillen hit the ball very well, and Todd Jones almost gave us all a heart attack. 

 I wrote up a decent review over at the Hardball Times so check it out tomorrow morning.

Alright, a three run third inning capped off by an Albert Pujols homerun has put the Tigers down 4-1.  The Tigers didn’t answer in the bottom of the third and Scott Rolen, who took Verlander yard earlier in the game is leading off the fourth inning.

***UPDATE***

Anthony Reyes just put the Tigers down in the fifth inning.  Still 4-1.  Verlander has looked pretty good since that third inning and now has struck out eight through four innings.  It looks like they’re going to get this one in before the rain starts.  They might not be so lucky tomorrow.

***UPDATE***

Three more runs in the sixth inning for the Cardinals and this one is now ugly.  The Tigers are hacking away and popped up twice in the bottom of the sixth.  Nine more outs and I don’t like the Tiger’s chances.

***FINALE***

Ugly, ugly, ugly.  Anthony Reyes at one point put down seventeen straight Tigers and two big innings by the Cardinals were the difference.  Craig Monroe did give the Tigers a run on a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth but it didn’t matter much.  It’s just hard to believe that this is the first time the Tigers have lost in two and a half weeks. 

Tomorrow it’ll be the return of Jeff Weaver to Comerica Park as he’ll go against Kenny Rogers.  This will obviously be a pretty big game for the Tigers. 

It seems like the Tigers have just about everything going in their favor heading into the 2006 World Series.  They’ve gotten a week of rest while the Cardinals have been fighting for their lives in a tough NLCS.  The Tigers handled the Cardinals pretty easily when they came to Detroit, the rotation is set just like Jim Leyland wants it and Albert Pujols is nursing a hamstring injury.  The Tigers are red hot after winning seven straight while the Cardinals have been pretty much winning one game at a time.  The Tigers are heavy favorites and it seems like nobody is giving the Cardinals much of a chance in this series.  Most feel the Tigers should sweep while I’ve heard several people “hope” it goes to six just so the Tigers can win at home.  It’s like everything is in the Tigers’ favor.

Which is why I’m worried.  Nobody gave the Tigers much of a chance against the Yankees just a couple of weeks ago and nobody gave the Tigers much of a chance against the Cardinals back in 1968.  While it’s great to be optimistic, I think we shouldn’t be getting ahead of ourselves.  Anything can, and probably will, happen.

Justin Verlander will get the start in game one. I was a little surprised by this, and expected Kenny Rogers in that first game.  Maybe Leyland wanted Rogers in a game six if it goes that far instead of Verlander.  Another rookie will be on the mound for the Cardinals in Anthony Reyes, who has some very good stuff.  He didn’t have quite have the success that Verlander had this year but remember this guys’ name because he’s going to be a good one.

So, here’s how I think this is going to play out.  Tigers win game one.  Then Rogers finally hits a wall and loses game two.  The Cards get a strong and emotional outing by Jeff Weaver and he gets plenty of help from Albert Pujols, who has a monster game against Rogers.  The Cardinals will then throw everyone for a loop and take the series lead with a win in game three when Chris Carpenter outduels Nate Robertson, but the Tigers then win three straight to win the series in six.  The final game will see Carpenter throw on short rest and get shelled for his efforts.  World Series MVP will go to Justin Verlander, who will win games one and a critical game five.

Works for me.

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