Alright, first the trade.  I’m sure Neifi Perez is a nice guy, but he’s also one of the worst major league hitters ever.  Ever. You’re talking about a guy with a career OPS of .677.  Heading into the season, his career OPS+ was 65.  So basically adjusted for the ballpark, Neifi Perez is 65% of the hitter of an “average” major leaguer is.  He’s been a whipping boy for Baseball Prospectus for a long time, with good reason.  The only thing I’d use him as is a late inning defensive replacement (he can play all over the infield) when there’s little chance that he’ll get any swings at the plate.  If he’s taking time away from even Omar Infante, this was a bad move.

The Tigers traded Chris Robinson, who was catching down in Lakeland.  He was a third round draft pick last year and John Sickels gave him a C+ rating in his book.  He was hitting for average this year (.286) but not for much power (one homerun).  He is only 22 though.  Honestly, the fact that we gave up anything for Perez makes this a pretty bad deal.  Thing subtraction by addition.

The Tigers finally got the bats going today, but this time their pitching left them.  Jeremy Bonderman was roughed up and didn’t even nab an official start even when he was spotted six runs by the Tigers’ bats in the sixth inning.  The Tigers wouldn’t score the rest of the game though and Jason Grilli gave up a single run in the fifth inning that ended up being the difference.

Brent Clevlen continues to hit the ball really well.  He makes for a nice right handed replacement to a slumping Curtis Granderson and he’s hitting .364 in 22 at bats.  Six of his eight hits have been for extra bases and he’s scored nine runs in thirteen games.  Craig Monroe also continued to get it done with two more RBIs today.  Probably the biggest WTF of the game was Ivan Rodriguez hitting lead off and playing first base.  Then again, he’s been very good this year against lefties (.869 OPS heading into the game) and I know this isn’t the first time Leyland has used him there against a lefty starter.

The White Sox lost, so the Tigers head into their huge four game series against Chicago with a five and a half game lead.  Tomorrow will be Justin Verlander against Jose Contreras.  I’ll be going to the game Tuesday and that game will be Kenny Rogers against Mark Buehrle.  Winning even two of four would be big because it would keep the White Sox at bay.  Anything more would be huge.

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