Alright, free agent season is upon us.  The Tigers were a couple of wins away from a World Series appearance and most of their key players will be back this year.  Still, Dave Dombrowski has some work to do because the Tigers had some serious holes come playoff time.  Let’s take a look…..

Catcher – Alex Avila is the starter for sure as he should be after an awesome season but he just seemed to hit a wall.  While his September wasn’t awful, he did have his second worst slugging month and then he laid an egg in the postseason.  I think a big reason behind this is because he was catching every game down the stretch.  One guy that comes to mind if we can get him for the right price is Ivan Rodriguez but there’s plenty of guys out there who could fill this role and not hit the pocket book to hard.

Second base – This one is going to be tricky.  The Tigers will most likely bring back Ramon Santiago but he’ll be a utility infielder again. I’m not sure if they’re willing to give Wil Rhymes another go but he may not be a bad choice and I don’t think Ryan Raburn is the answer either.  I’ve heard Aaron Hill’s name tossed around and that wouldn’t be bad if we again, get him at the right price.  If they look within, there’s also Danny Worth and coming soon will be Brandon Douglas, who had a decent season at Erie.

Right Field – I haven’t heard much as to whether Brennan Boesch will be ready to play on opening day or not so this is a spot the Tigers have to think about.  My guess is, this is one of the last spots they fill as they see how some of their farm hands do in spring training as well as monitoring Boesch’s progress. If they want to make a big splash, Carlos Beltran is out there and a second tier guy is Michael Cuddyer.  If the Tigers wanted to go with a cheaper Free Agent option, David DeJesus might not be a bad guy to pick up if you assume 2011 was a blip.  Jason Kubel was hurt last year but he may be another guy the Tigers look at although having him in right and Young in left would mean Austin Jackson would have his work cut out for him.

Fifth Starter – This may end up being Jacob Turner but the Tigers may sign another guy like Brad Penny (not him, but an older, veteran guy) to a one year deal.  A guy who might make sense if you figure Turner is there to fill in would be Erik Bedard although he may be looking for a longer term deal.

Middle Relief – Lots of options here.  Frank Francisco would make a nice addition but there’s plenty of guys the Tigers should be looking to fill in those spots where they didn’t have help in the post season.

So it should be a fun free agent season.  Barring a big trade which I don’t see, the Tigers won’t be picking up any of the big guns but there should definitely be some activity.

The Silver Slugger awards were handed out last night the Tigers had just one winning.  Alex Avila walked with his first (hopefully of many) with a surprisingly good year at the plate.  He was ninth in the American League in WAR (5.4) and eighth in the American League in OPS (.895).  The last time an everyday catcher had an OPS that high was back in the late 1930s when Rudy York was doing it consistently.

Miguel Cabrera fell short and it looks like for the second time in as many days, a Tiger fell short because of east coast bias.  Adrian Gonzalez had a good year but it appears to be good enough to top Cabrera because he was the one who walked away with the award.  Of course many people still think RBIs are a relevant stat to value a player and the fact the Gonzalez had the RBI title probably helped him out.

Former Tiger Curtis Granderson walked away with his first award.  Congratulations to him.

Alright, baseball ended last week but I want to try to keep it alive.  If you’re a fan on my Facebook page, you’ve probably seen the trivia questions I’ve been posting.  Well, now it’s time to get serious. Beginning Monday, November 7, I’m going to kick off an off-season long trivia contest that will include mostly Tigers trivia but potentially some “Tiger related” trivia as well.  Even better, I have some stuff to give away to the winner and some consolation prizes to those that take part in the contest and do well.  First, let’s talk rules.  I’m hoping to get through everything here but if I miss something, I’ll be sure to update this page.

1)  On the morning of November 7, I’ll post the first question on the Tigerblog Facebook page.  If someone answers it by the next morning, then I’ll have a new question that day.  If nobody answers it, I’ll post a hint.  The next day, the same thing will happen until the question is answered.  After a few days, I’ll probably be getting pretty specific with the hints just to keep things going.  Be sure to read the question closely.  I don’t have data for every year so a lot of times you’ll find if it relates to a certain game, it only goes back to 1919.  You don’t want to guess wrong just because you didn’t read the question closely.

2)  One answer per question per person.  If you guess early and get it wrong, you get to watch everyone else whittle it down.  There’s some strategy here because if you’re on the fence on an answer, you have to weigh waiting for the next hint versus getting in early to get the point.

3)  Speaking of points, you get one point for each question you get correct.  Whoever has the most points when the Tigers open up their season on April 5th gets the top prize.  Nine others will get something as well.

4)  We’ll be taking the weekends off.  So if nobody answers Friday’s question (or carryover question), there won’t be a new question or hint until Monday.  That doesn’t stop you from guessing the answer to the question on a Saturday or Sunday, just everything else will be on hold.  There will also be some periodic breaks which I’ll announce.  Namely Thanksgiving weekend.

5)  I’m not going to commit to a time in the morning when the question or hint will be put up so be sure to check in from time to time.

6)  I think I covered most of what I needed to but in the event something comes up (someone finds a loophole somehow that I want to close or there’s just a hole I’m missing), I’m going to tweak the rules as neccesary.  Hopefully this doesn’t happen but I thought I’d throw it out there.

Alright, let’s talk about prizes…..

1st Prize – A copy of every Hardball Times Baseball Annual from 2006 through 2012 as well as your choice of either the Detroit Tigers Vintage World Series Films DVD or The Essential Games of the Detroit Tigers DVD.

2nd place through tenth place all sort of get the same prize with a twist.  They get their choice of the above DVD, availability permitting.  I have five of each and the higher place gets first choice and so on so if you’re at the bottom, you get what’s left.  I’ve watched the World Series DVD and it’s very cool (it has footage from 1945) and you just have to check out the details for the other DVD to see how great some of those games are.

So good luck and if you have any questions, post them in the comments.

No Tigers won a gold glove this year despite the fact that one was very deserving and another you could have made a major argument for.  Matt Wieters won at catcher and while I can live with that I do think Alex Avila has a great season behind the plate. WAR doesn’t really spell it out (Avila has a -0.1 Defensive WAR in 2011 versus Wieters 1.0) but it just seemed at times that Avila was rock solid both blocking balls and throwing runners out.  Maybe next year Alex.

Austin Jackson is an entirely different story.  Yes, Jacoby Ellsbury had a great season and he probably got a bump because of his offense and because he plays in Boston but Jackson’s Defensive WAR 0.7 was better then Ellsbury 0.4  I know WAR isn’t the be all end of defensive stats and there’s usually not a year that goes that someone (or two or three) gets a gold glove they don’t deserve but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

The list of Type A and Type B free agents was put out today and while this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, there’s not many Tigers on the list.  The Tigers have no Type A free agents and the lone Type B free agents are Wilson Betemit and Magglio Ordonez.  I highly doubt Magglio Ordonez gets offered arbitration and I’m guessing with Brandon Inge already locked up for another year and guys like Don Kelly who can fill in when Inge is hurt (or bad) that Betemit isn’t offered it either.

Of course the Tigers should be buyers this off season so this list is important for a different reason.  Namely, the Tigers could potentially lose a pick or two depending on what they end up doing and who they pick up.

What’s his Grade – I give Austin Jackson a “C.”  This is probably higher then most people might have thought but buried in Jackson’s low batting average were some optimistic signs.  Yes, he only hit .249 (I wonder who could have predicted that) but he turned some of those doubles into home runs a little earlier then I would have expected from him (keep in mind, Jackson won’t turn 25 until February.  Through August, Jackson looked like he was going to end up with more walks then in 2010 (which he did) and less strikeouts (which he didn’t) but a horrible September in which he struck out 42 times set him back.  While you just can’t eliminate an entire month, you can explain some of this away as fatigue and it’s no surprise that Jackson struggled in the playoffs this year.

Better or Worse? – Jackson was a little worse in 2011 then he was in 2010 but like I talk about above, it’s not as much as you might think.  If you’re a fan of WAR (I’m using Baseball-Reference’s), Jackson had a 2.4 WAR in 2011 versus 2.8 in 2010.  A lot of this was because his shortcomings at the plate were made up for by a better season out in the field.  He walked nine more times in about the same number of plate appearances so in short, he wasn’t as good as he was in 2010 but I like the development.  If Jackson is the lead off hitter of the future, he took a small step in the right direction this year.

MIP (Most Important Statistic) – 10 home runs.  At just 24, Jackson showed some increased pop at the plate.  If this is a trend, a 25 home run/25 stolen base season in the future isn’t out of the question.  Of course if he’s leading off, his primary job should be to get on base but it’s nice knowing we could have one more potential power bat in waiting.  The only other season Jackson hit more home runs in a season was 2007 when he split time with three different affiliates (he hit most of those home runs with Tampa).

Fun with Splits – In the first inning, Austin Jackson hit .220/.275/.326.  Jackson’s best inning was the sixth inning. When he hit in that inning, he belted .379/.429/.655.  With two outs in the inning, Jackson hit just .159/.257/.298.  He was best with one out when he hit .308/.358/.404.  Jackson also loved the White Sox.  In 15 games, he hit .391/.443/.625.

Conclusion – A lot was made of Jackson’s .396 BABIP last year.  This year, he hit .340 which is still well above average.  Many people think that it means Jackson has more room to drop in 2012 but I think with Jackson’s speed, he should be able to stay above the average .300 until he begins to slow down.  My guess is that we see a slightly better Austin Jackson in 2013 and I hope some of these nice bumps he had (home runs, defense) are trends and not one time occurrences.

This week I plan on doing a review of each of the Tigers.  I’m going to take a little bit of a different approach so be sure to give me some feedback on what you like and don’t like.  First up will be Austin Jackson.  Look for him tomorrow or Tuesday.

Also, I’m doing some Tiger trivia over at the Tigerblog Facebook page.  At some point, I’m going to put together some prizes so look at this as the exhibition season.  I’m not sure if my latest one is just tough, or if it’s Sunday and people aren’t on Facebook or people just aren’t trying so stop by and give me a guess.

Not to get too personal, but I went through a divorce late 2010/early 2011 (this is a segue so bear with me).  In the divorce, I got to keep the house.  While there were some personal reasons I wanted to keep it (I like it and it’s the only house my son has ever lived in and he went through enough stuff), there was also one selfish reason.  Namely, the thought of packing up and moving seemed like such an utter pain that it influenced my decision.  In a lot of ways, I liken this to the Tigers picking up Jose Valverde.  While I haven’t gone out and checked which closers are going to be on the market, I’m pretty sure the Tigers could have gotten someone better for $9 million.  It’s just they’d have to take their chances that Valverde wouldn’t take arbitration and then go out and spend their energy on picking up a new guy.  Instead, they took the easy (and popular) choice and just overpaid for Valverde.

I like Jose Valverde.  He’s entertaining and he does his job.  He’s also a solid pitcher who had a decent, if fluky season.  The fact that he might get Cy Young votes though is laughable.  Strip away the saves (I’ll get to that in a minute) and Valverde’s numbers are good but definitely not elite.  If you look at the closers behind him in saves, you could argue that Mariano Rivera was way better then Valverde this year and you could also argue that Valverde wasn’t even the best reliever on his team.  Joaquin Benoit and for a while Al Alburquerque were both more effective.

While there’s a lot of stats out there that are deceiving (and I’ve made this rant before), the save has to be the least useful.  I mean, Todd Jones has led the league in saves before.  And while it still irks me that managers work their bullpen around this stupid statistic, the fact that many base the effectiveness of a closer on it is equally annoying.

So in short, I think the Tigers could have saved some money (or gotten a better pitcher for their money) by going to the market but I’m also not going to get all worked up about it because it’s probably not that big of a difference if they had and I can sympathize with why they did what they did.

Man, it’s been a while since I wrote.  Sadly, I really have no excuse other then I’ve gotten out of the habit.  Work has slowed down a bit this past month and it almost seemed like I was more busy enjoying the season then I felt like writing about it.  This year I went to six Tiger games (a record for me, I live 45 minutes away from the park so it’s not easy especially with having my son half the time) and I went to four other ballparks (three Minor League parks and I went to White Sox game) so I got my share of baseball.  I’m happy about that but I also want to keep this site going so bear with me.

2011 was a good year for Tiger fans and I definitely enjoyed it.  The second crash never happened and the team thrived in the final couple of months.  Of course that appeared to take a toll and the Tigers looked spent going into the playoffs.  I felt tired just watching Alex Avila up there swinging.  The playoffs also pointed to some fundamental flaws that the Tigers had.  I also wasn’t happy about some of Jim Leyland’s stategies but that’s nothing new.  We will always agree to disagree there.

At this point, I’m just riding out the season taking in as much baseball as I can that’s left.  I’m glad this series will go at least six games.  I’m also looking forward to an off-season that should see the Tigers make some plays in the free agent market once again.  Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez’s contracts come off the books and that should free up enough money for the Tigers to make some moves.  They also had five home playoffs games so hopefully some of that money will be put back into the team.  i don’t think the Tigers will make a big splash with another big name but they definitely need to fill in some of the gaps that exist in some of the more unglamorous parts of the roster.  I know a backup catcher and middle relief doesn’t get a lot of attention but if we had some both this year we might be playing in the World Series right now.

I’ve talked about him before, and while I know he had a good post-season, but I hope the Tigers don’t sign Delmon Young to a long term deal.  He has one more year of arbitration eligibility and while I wouldn’t mind seeing him roaming left field next year, I don’t see him as a long term solution.  In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s the one guy that actually ends up at the arbitration table during Dave Dombrowski’s tenure but we’ll have to wait and see there.

It feels like yesterday that the Tigers were opening their season.  Yes, I’m getting old and that changes your perspective on time but it just seemed like this season flew by.  Lets hope that the offseason goes by just as fast.  It’s already weird not having the Tigers around and it’ll feel equally weird not having baseball in general to listen to.  I do have some things planned for the offseason so I do hope you stop by or at least subscribe to my feed.  Or you can find on Facebook (and yes, I plan on doing more with that as well).

Well, the playoffs are finally set..  The Rangers won six straight to match the Tigers four straight wins down the stretch and they get home field so the Tigers get the Yankees in the first round beginning Friday.  The Rays completed their incredible comeback and they’ll face the Rangers in the first round Friday afternoon.  If you’re a half glass full kind of guy, I’d say facing the Yankees isn’t a horrible thing because I think the Tigers match up better against the Yankees in the shorter series then they might in a seven game series.

The Yankees finished with the best record in the American League in the best division in baseball and that’s no small task.  While they’re starting pitching once you get past CC Sabathia is a little spotty (I’m still not sold on Ivan Nova), they have some very solid middle relief and of course the top of the line offense.  Game one is going to be pretty important with Verlander on the mound.  For those of you who want to continue with the Doug Fister/Doyle Alexander comparisons, Alexander was horrible come playoff time in 1987 but Fister pitched pretty well in Yankee Stadium in one his start against them this year.

In looking at the pitching matchups, I think the Tigers have a slight edge in each of them but the Yankees make up for it at the plate. While it’s easy to look at the fact that the Yankees had the second best offense (runs scored) and the Tigers the fourth, there were 80 runs between the two of them.  Only the Red Sox scored more runs then the Yankees did.

Game one, while big in a lot of five game series, is going to be extra important in this series.  Whichever ace can win will get their team sitting pretty.  And we’ll see if Jim Leyland sticks with his “no Verlander on three days rest” if the Tigers backs are against the wall.  I still think one of his big mistakes in 2006 was not pitching Kenny Rogers over Nate Robertson in game five of the World Series that year (and that wasn’t even a rest issue because they had the rain out).

I’m going to go with he happy prediction.  Tigers take game one and two at Yankee Stadium, Yankees survive by taking game three and then the Tigers wrap it up in four a la 2006.  I’d be interested to see who outside of Detroit makes a similar prediction though.  Now I just have to work on getting my Tiger playoff tickets.

The Tigers beat the Athletics last night and for the first time in 24 years, Detroit has a division championship.  Back in 1987, I was starting my junior year in high school and those last couple of weeks of that season were about as exciting as you can get.  This time around, the Tigers still have eleven games left to play.  It’ll be interesting to see how the final week and a half of the season is handled because while there is still something to play for, the eye has to be on the prize and there’s still a long way to go for that.  Getting Verlander set up so he’s rested and ready for game one of the ALDS should be the first priority.  Not that he can’t handle the pressure, but he’s going to be the key to making an extended run in this thing.

The Tigers are two games ahead of the Rangers and three back of the Yankees (four in the loss column).  If the playoffs started today, the Tigers would face the Red Sox in round one.  A month ago I would have been scared of that series but these two teams have taken divergent paths the past few weeks.   The Red Sox look like they have the Wild Card in hand and they can effectively wrap it up with a win this weekend.  Of course if the Rays win the next two, things will go back to interesting.  Josh Beckett returned yesterday and looked sharp and unless this one goes to the wire, Beckett/Verlander is going to make for an interesting game one matchup.

The Yankees really worry me, as they should.  The starting pitching, once you get past CC Sabathia, is pretty spotty, but with this offense and their middle relief, the Yankees don’t need a starter to do much more then pitch six innings and not let the game get out of hand.  I think a lot is going to come down to who can shorten their first round series the most.  If a team like the Tigers can sweep while the Rangers and Yankees goes to five games, it’ll give the Tigers some flexibility in how they arrange their pitchers in the ALCS.

I’m going to try to make it down for one more game.  It’ll be interesting to see what the crowds are like now that the playoff spot is in hand.   The Tigers continue on in Oakland this afternoon.  It’ll be Rick Porcello against a solid Gio Gonzalez.

It’s been a nice six days for Tigers’ fans.  After back to back sweeps over the White Sox and Indians, the Tigers now sit nine games ahead of the second place White Sox and they’re eight ahead in the loss column.  With their magic number at 12, the Tigers would need a complete collapse coupled with a hot streak by either Chicago or Cleveland to blow this one.  Now they’re looking at a half game deficit with the Texas Rangers for home field in the first round of the playoffs.

So, it’s time to start thinking, if not preparing for the playoffs.  With the expanded rosters, you should see a few more days off for some of the regular players and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Tigers stretch out the rotation a little bit.  They also need to align things so Justin Verlander gets that game one start.  The bad thing is, the Yankees and Red Sox (the likely opponents for the Tigers) are going to be able to do the same thing.

It’ll be interesting to see what Jim Leyland does with the rotation once the playoffs start.  I know in 2006 he stuck with a four man rotation for better or worse but I think this year, it’s imperative that Verlander be on the mound as much as possible.  While going to three days rest might not be best early on, you have to at least think about if the Tigers get their backs against the walls.  Of course best case is, they shorten their series as much as possible so they’re not tempted to try something more radical.

I figure it’ll be Verlander, Max Scherzer and Doug Fister as the front three with Rick Porcello being the fourth guy if needed.  Another big thing will be getting Victor Martinez back behind the plate.  Alex Avila will probably catch most of the games but you want Martinez ready in the event something happens to Avila.

The Tigers host the Twins this weekend then they hit the road for a week and half.  I was hoping to get down for one more game this year but it might be tough because this weekend isn’t an option.  It might be the Friday or Saturday game against the Orioles which you would hope by then the Tigers would have wrapped up the division.

August is typically one of my busier months with the CPA practice.  Combine that with being a full time dad half the time, my writing time has diminished.  It basically goes in spurts.  Anyway, I took a break and decided to go to Fangraphs to look at the Tigers Win Probability Added figures.  For those of you who don’t what WPA is, it’s basically the amount you have added to your team’s chances of winning.  Looking at yesterday’s game as an example, the big hit was Austin Jackson’s two run home run.  That took the Tigers from a 57.8% chance of winning the game to an 83.3% chance of winning hence that one hit game Austin Jackson a .255 pop.  While it doesn’t totally give a player a clutch score, it does provide how valuable that players hits are.

Some basic weaknesses behind WPA is it gives a lot of credit to high leverage hits.  So a grand slam in the first inning isn’t as valuable as a grand slam in the ninth when you’re down by three runs.  Four runs is four runs.  Also, if your teams wins, your overall WPA for the game is going to be .500.  If you lose, it’s -.500.  So the players are winning teams are going to have a higher WPA then their counterparts on losing teams.

Austin Jackson’s overall game WPA was .204.  That two run home run was big, but it was his only hit.  Max Scherzer’s start was worth more and he had a .331.  Joaquin Benoit’s shutout inning was worth more then Jose Valverde mostly because Benoit was pitching with a one run lead while Valverde was pitching with a three run lead.

If you look at the Tigers leaderboard, you find some interesting things.  Miguel Cabrera tops the list and that’s not a surprise. In fact his 4.38 WPA is the fourth best in all of baseball amongst hitters.  Alex Avila is second and Victor Martinez is third.

Justin Verlander sports a 4.10 WPA.  That’s second in all of baseball just behind Jered Weaver. Unfortunately no other starter has a positive WPA.  Jose Valverde is second with 2.60 and Al Alburquerque is third with 1.21.  The bottom three are Rick Porcello, Phil Coke and Brad Penny (who’s dead last).   The bottom three on the hitting side are Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez and Ryan Raburn (who’s at the bottom of the list).

So just something to check out when you’re board.  They have a cool iPhone application and you can also check out their site and they update the games in real time.

This three game series with the Indians is off to a lot better start then last week’s at Cleveland.  Max Scherzer got the better of an impressive pitching duel between he and Josh Tomlin as the Tigers took game one at Comerica Park.  After 129 pitches, Scherzer left the game with a 2-1 lead in an impressive and important start.  He gave up just one run (and even that was suspect because he should have gotten out of the inning on a blown ball call) on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts.  The Tigers helped him out by getting a couple more runs and the relief duo of Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde finished up the game with a shutout inning a piece.  For Valverde, he picked up his 36th save in 36 chances.

All of the runs came via the long ball.  Austin Jackson showed the Tigers the way with a two run shot in the seventh.  Then in the eighth, Alex Avila and Johnny Peralta hit back to back solo home runs.  Peralta was the lone Tiger with two hits and while nobody drew a walk, the Tigers struck out just twice.

Then the controversy started.  After the game it was announced that the Tigers would send down Andy Dirks in place of Brandon Inge.  I like this move for a few different reasons.  One, Inge is a lot better then Betemit against lefties.  Two, Inge is better defensively and they now have have way too many outfielders. Finally, it’s a chance for Inge to earn a spot on the playoff roster.  It’ll be interesting to see if he rises to the challenge.

The White Sox lost their third straight so that helped as well.  The Tigers now have a 2 1/2 game lead over the Indians (one in the loss column) and a five game lead over the White Sox.  Game two against Cleveland is tonight.  It’ll be Doug Fister going up against David Huff.  I know it’s a small sample size, but Inge is three for five in his career against Huff, who’s a lefty.  Just something to watch.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get to this tonight so I’ll write more tomorrow, but the Tigers traded for Delmon Young.  They gave up Cole Nelson and player to be named later.  Interesting move.

After the Tigers were down 5-0 last night, even I tuned them out for a bit.  Of course with the help of my EPSN Sportscenter iPhone app, I was able to more easily keep tabs on the Tigers as they came back from that deficit.  Scherzer gave up five runs in the second but the Tigers scored five runs in the sixth. Miguel Cabrera accounted for three of those runs with a sac. fly and a two run home run and the game winning RBI came on Ryan Raburn’s two run single.

What I really like was how the Scherzer was able to buckle down and give the Tigers seven innings. He ended up with ten strikeouts, which is a season high.  Phil Coke and Jose Valverde threw shutout innings to close out the game and Valverde picked up his 35th save.

On Thursday, Justin Verlander won his 100th career game.  He’s also four strikeouts away from his third straight 200 strikeout season. That puts him in select company with only Mickey Lolich (six straight) and Joe Coleman (three straight) on the Tigers leaderboard.   His 100 wins puts him tied for 16th on the Tigers chart with Ed Killian and he’s five back from the 15th spot (Schoolboy Rowe).  He needs to get to 123 (Frank Lary) to get into the top ten.

The Tigers can’t quite seem to shake the Indians and the White Sox though. Both won yesterday so the Tigers are still three up on the Indians and five up on the White Sox.  This afternoon we’ll see Doug Fister take the mound and he’ll face Jo-Jo Reyes.  Then it’s back home for the Twins.  I was hoping to make Monday’s game but it’s not going to happen.

The Tigers have a big couple of weeks as they started a road series against the Indians last night (with a loss) and then they have them at home next weekend.  They’re off to a bad start in this series, but if they can win both of those series, they can push the Indians down to six games which would give them a nice lead heading into the final month and a half.

Last night’s loss was a tough one.  First you had the two hour rain delay, then you had the fourteen innings.  Now both teams have their pens in shambles so the Tigers need some innings out of Rick Porcello tonight.  Fortunately the Tigers had their day off so it’s not as bad as it could be.  The Indians throw Ubaldo Jimenez, who was roughed up in his first start as an Indian and has had three poor starts in a row.

The big news this week were the contract extensions.  Jim Leyland gets one more year and Dave Dombrowski gets through 2015.  Mixed feelings because while both have done a good job and put the Tigers back in the map, they haven’t been able to recapture that magic since 2006 (hard to believe that was five years ago).  This year could be the year but they still have some work to do.  Then again, the other questions is who’s out there.

The Tigers also signed their top pick, James McCann.  They didn’t have a first round pick and they locked him up well before the August 16 deadline.

Big game again tonight.  Let’s hope Porcello brings his A game.

Tigers top prospect Jacob Turner made his major league debut while the Tigers shuffled their roster after their trade with the Mariners.  He took the loss but you can’t be too disappointed with how he pitched.  He started off with four shutout innings before he gave up a run in the fifth then got charged a run in the sixth before getting pulled out as he came up to around 100 pitches.  In all, he gave up two runs on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.  Phil Coke was hit hard and he gave up three runs in 2 1/3 and then Dan Schlereth pitched 1 1/3 shutout innings to close out the game.

The Tigers made their trade yesterday.  They traded Casper Wells, Charles Furbush and Francisco Martinez to the Mariners for starter Doug Fister and reliever David Pauley.  This isn’t a bad deal because none of the guys the Tigers gave up were true blue chip prospects.  Casper Wells looks decent but he doesn’t have a spot and while Furbush has looked solid, the team didn’t seem to want to commit to him as a rotation guy. Fister is having a solid season but the low strikeout numbers worry me.  He has been fairly consistent (in a good way) the past couple of months despite not getting a win but everytime I think of this deal, I also think of the trade we made with the Mariners a couple of years ago for Jarrod Washburn.  David Pauley looks like a solid addition to the pen but again, I’m not quite sure how he’s doing it because he also has lower strikeout figures.

Of course the Indians drew Ubaldo Jiminez so that makes the race a little more interesting. It’s interesting seeing teams like the Indians and Pirates on the buying side.  The Indians did win yesterday so that lead is now down to 1 1/2 games.  Today is a treat because it’s a battle of Cy Young contendors.  Justin Verlander goes for the Tigers and the Angels throw Jered Weaver.  Should be a fun one to watch.

After getting hammered by the Mets on June 28, Rick Porcello has had five straight solid starts in the month of July and he appears to be turning the corner in his development.  He won all five of his starts, pitched at least six innings in all but one of those starts and he gave up three or fewer runs.  He was just about lights out last night when he pitched eight innings and struck out six with walking anyone.  He’s pretty much a lock to set a career mark in strikeouts this year.  His rate per nine is up almost a full strikeout and while his walks are up, they’re only up a hair.   If Porcello finishes strong, fifteen wins is pretty much a lock and if he keeps up what he started in July, you could see 17 wins.  Not too bad for a guy that is effectively a senior in college.

I was listening to the game on the way home and Dan Dickerson and Jim Price made a big deal about how good of a hitter Victor Martinez is with two strikes.  They definitely did their homework because Martinez is batting .317 with two strikes on him in 2011.  Even more impressive, he’s hitting .308 after he goes 0-2.  He’s actually hitting better when the pitcher is ahead (.347) then when he’s ahead (.296) in the count.  Just looking at his splits some more, after he goes 3-0, he’s only hitting .222 but he has a .650 OBP.  After 3-1, he’s hitting .360.

The Tigers now have their biggest lead of the season with a 2 1/2 game lead over the Indians.  They’re three ahead of the White Sox.  There’s still a lot of games within the division so these last couple of months should be interesting.

Brandon Inge is off to a nice start for the Mud Hens.  In eleven games, he’s hitting .286 with three home runs.  My guess is we’ll see him in September.  The Tigers affiliates aren’t doing well this year.  The only team with a solid chance at making the playoffs is Connecticut and even they have a losing record.

This afternoon it’s Duane Below going up against Dan Haren.  I was hoping to get down to the game tomorrow to see the awesome pitching matchup between Justin Verlander and Jared Weaver but I don’t think I’m going to be able to pull it off.   The Tigers are on Fox at 4 pm.

The Tigers played their 100th game of the season in a loss to the Minnesota Twins.  That loss snapped an eleven game winning streak over the Twinkies after really solid starts by Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer extended the streak.  Brad Penny wasn’t horrible, but the Tigers ran into a fresh Scott Baker and while he was on a pitch count, he shut the Tigers down in the five innings he pitched.  In all, Penny lasted seven innings and he gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks with four strikeouts.  The loss drops him to 7-7 on the season.

The big news this week was the Tigers designating Brandon Inge and trading for Wilson Betemit.  What was nice was seeing Inge take his minor league assignment.  To call this season a struggle would be an understatement and something needed to happen.  Betemit is a solid fill in for now, but since joining the Tigers he’s gone just two for twelve so we’ll see how this one pans out.

The Tigers are 4-4 since the break and they still sit in first place, a game ahead of the Indians (although they’re tied in the loss column).  This afternoon it’s Rick Porcello against Francisco Liriano with the White Sox on deck this Monday.

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