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Less then two weeks ago, I was writing about how the Tigers were tied atop of the Grapefruit league standings at a 6-3 record. Since then, the Tigers have gone 3-9, and now stand just above the last place Orioles. That’s a steep slide, and I hope the day off yesterday does them some good.

Brandon Inge is slowly making himself more and more valuable. If one guy can cover every spot on the infield like Shane Halter could, it gives your manager a ton of flexibility. Throw in the fact that they’re a gold glove quality catcher, and it’s manager’s dream. Yes, we all know he’s struggled at the plate, but wouldn’t it be cool to see Craig Monroe pinch hit for Mike DeFilice in the seventh. Put Inge in as a defensive replacement, and later in that game have Chris Shelton pinch hit for Inge and finish off the game behind the plate? Inge’s .370 spring is also opening some eyes.

And speaking of Chris Shelton, he’s put together quite a spring. He hasn’t hit any homeruns in going 9 for 19, but he does have two triples, and is making quite a bid to make the team.

Despite only pitching 3 2/3 innings this spring, Fernando Rodney looks like he’s won the closer role pretty much by default. Matt Anderson hasn’t gotten roughed up most times he’s gone out to the mound (13.96 ERA). Franklyn German hasn’t done much better (7.72 ERA).

ESPN has put together some great columns for you baseball history buffs, as they try to rank the best defensive plays at third and first base.

They also talk about the worst play. Bill Bukner’s 1986 play at first base in the World Series won that award. What they have to say about it is simply classic.

In a pretty solid pitching duel, Gary Knotts went head to head with last year’s Cy Young award winner, Roy Halladay, and actually got the better of him. Halladay pitched six strong innings, giving up only two hits, giving up a run, and striking out five. Knotts pitched five shutout innings, giving up only three hits. Unfortunately, the pen could seal the deal, and after tying it up against Erik Eckenstahler, got to German in the eighth, and took the lead for good.

And this makes Tram’s decision on who will be the fifth starter that much more difficult. Nate Robertson has struggled, and now Knotts throws a nice game. Esteban Yan is still in the mix as well.

I had my league’s fantasy baseball draft last night. This is basically the second year in it’s current form, and was scaled down to an AL only format, with an auction draft and a $300 spending limit (money not spent carries over and can be used to pick up free agents). I came in second place last year, which I equate to a failure, so I had to make sure I came away with a good draft this year.

And I ended up with a young, solid team. Great hitting, and but the pitching was questionable, especially on the back end. As always, a lot happens in these leagues, so just staying on your toes can make things interesting.

Here’s my team, for those of you who are interested:

Catcher – Jorge Posada
1st Base – Jason Giambi
2nd Base – Brian Roberts (I got stuck late in the draft without a 2nd baseman, and basically had to settle for Mr. Roberts).
3rd Base – Dmtri Young
Shortstop – Alex Rodriguez
OF – Carlos Beltran
OF – Mark Teixaira
OF – Kevin Millar
DH – Jose Cruz
P – Derek Lowe
P – Johann Santana
P – Rich Harden
P – Kurt Ainsworth
P – Cliff Lee
P – Arthur Rhodes
P – Brandon Donnelly

Reserves

Travis Hafner
Tino Martinez
Ron Belliard
Aaron Guiel
Bobby Kielty
Jason Davis
Mike Maroth
Matt Riley
Carlos Silva

So basically if Santana can pitch as well as he did last year as a starter for the entire year, and Rich Harden shows some brilliance, I should be okay. My hitting is dominant, so I could see myself making a deal down the line for some pitching if I have problems.

Fun stuff though. As with a lot of the these leagues, the draft is the funnest part of the season. The next toughest part is sticking with things for the entire year (no problem for me).

Being an MSU grad, it’s hard to see the writing on the wall at times. The loss last night shouldn’t have come as a complete shock the way they played all year, but a lot of people, including myself, looked at MSU’s run last year, and expected more.

And since the Tigers were sitting on top of the standings a week ago, the Tigers have gone into a free fall of sorts. They’re now 8-7 after losing to Montreal 6-4. I caught the begining of this game on the radio, and it sounded like Cornejo was getting hit hard in the first inning. It looked like he really calmed down though, pitching four shutout innings after giving up one in the first. But four errors (three of them by players expected to be in the starting lineup) once again hurt them. Take away the three unearned runs in this one, and the Tigers win the game.

And in total, that’s 40 errors and 30 unearned runs in 17 games. If anything close to this happens during the course of the regular season, it’s going to be a long year.

Thanks to everyone emailing me their sleeper picks. I put them into my player evaluations. I’m also moving further into the technological age, because I finally graduated from dial up, and now have a cable modem.

Last week, the Tiger’s couldn’t lose. Since Saturday, the Tiger’s haven’t been able to win, as they dropped their fourth in a row to the Pirates. This gets a little disconcerting, because the further we move along into the spring season, the more the games resemble, well, actual baseball games, as starters go into the fifth, and starting lineups are being set.

The Tigers got off to a good start, getting two in the top half of the first, but Jason Johnson gave up three runs, and the Pirates pen held the Tigers scoreless after the fourth inning. Bobby Higginson had two hits, which is encouraging, but only Jamie Walker could come in and shut out the opponent in relief. Loux gave up a run, and German gave up a solo shot.

Still quite a few spring games to go, so as always, we’ll see what happens.

And if everything goes right today, my niece, Brook Goudreau should be born, one day before her big sister was born 10 years ago. Congratulations to Beth and Steve.

Jeremy Bonderman received his first taste of spring, and he came out looking pretty sharp. He only struck out one, but he threw three shutout innings en route to another Tiger’s win.

Rondell White started things off with a two run shot in the first inning, off of Tom Glavine. The Tigers never gave up the lead, and reeled in a 5-1 win.

Don’t look now, but they Tiger’s haven’t lost a spring game since last Sunday, and stand tied for first in the standings. Today will be their first televised game of the season. Be sure to check it out.

When I started this blog, I never did it to make money. In fact, it never even crossed my mind that I could. But recently I was approached by a gentleman and BuySellTix.com about advertising on my site. I have costs just like everyone else, so I took him up on the offer.

So if you need sporting, concert or event tickets, please be sure to check them out. They have a nice selection available for most games.

The Tigers played the Yankees in their first exhibition evening game. The squeeked out a win, 3-2, but there were a lot of firsts in this game.

It’s the first time the Tigers scored less then 5 runs, and it’s also the the first time they’ve given up less then five, I think. But two pretty good showings by the starters. Maroth pitched three innings of shutout ball, and Javier Vazquez (the guy I predicted to win the AL Cy Young), pitched four innings of shutout ball.

The Tigers then scored all three of their runs in fifth inning, to take a 3-1 lead. The Yanks added one more, but couldn’t overcome the final deficit. So the Tigers beat the AL champs 3-2.

One of the more impressive lines of this game was the attendance. The crowd at Legend’s Field drew well over 10,000 people. The Tigers were drawing a little over 3,000 in most of their games. Also interesing is the Yankees are 3-6 in the preseason.

In 1984, Ronald Reagan was president, George Bush was the VP. The then Soviet Union was in Afghanistan and were boycotting the Summer Olympics held in Los Angelas. Terms of Endearment won best picture. Desmond Mpilo Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work against apartheid in South Africa.

I was 13.

And 1984 is the last time the Tiger’s won the World Series.

The Tigers set the modern day record for the best record over the first 40 games (in fact, it might be the best 40 game run ever. If anyone knows, feel free to post a comment and let me know), and it’s also the last year the Tiger’s had an AL MVP or Cy Young winner on their team. So along with my game updates most every day, I’m going to keep a running diary for the nostalgic on what happened that magical year. These posts will start on April 3, and go on through the end of the season and into the playoffs. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them.

The Tigers managed to pull off not, but two big comebacks yesterday in their two split squad games. I know it’s spring, and I know it doesn’t count, but anytime you have something to build on, it’s a good thing.

In the home game against the Indians, who took us to school last weekend, the Tigers were 4 runs going into the seventh, and scored one in the seventh, one in the eighth, and then three in the ninth to win it. Roney, Baugh, and Levine shut the door to help get the Tigers back in the game, and despite another three errors, they walked away with a 9-8 win.

In the road game against the Dodgers, the Tigers were down by six runs going into the eighth inning, and came back to score two in the eighth, and then five in the ninth to take home the win, and put the Tiger’s preseason record at 4-3. Two more errors.

And it looks like Jason Johnson is scheduled to be the opening day pitcher. I was hoping they’d go with a Tiger who had pitched for them prior to this season (Maroth), but Johnson is the guy we’re hoping is our losing streak stopper and ace, so he deserves it just as much as anyone else.

Actually, in this case, that’s not quite correct. This was a tough one to let go, and shows that what some people expect to be the top half of the pen still has some work to do.

The Tiger’s tied the Blue Jays yesterday. I was happy to get to catch some of this game on the radio (AM doesn’t come in at work, I was driving). The Tigers went down 3-0 early, then came back to tie it at 3 a piece. The Tigers the appeared to be in the drivers seat by scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh, a lead they took into the ninth.

And then, the bomb dropped. Matt Anderson, after proclaiming the closer job to be his, got rocked for 2 hits, 2 walks, and 4 earned runs, getting only two outs. With that, the Tiger’s lead evaporated. They got the leadoff man on in the bottom of the ninth, bunted him over to second, but were unable to score him.

Hence, the game ended in a tie.

Brandon Inge appears to be coming into his own as a utility man. He made a nice play at third yesterday, and is even now being looked on to backup Alex Sanchez in the outfield. Of course we always knew he could field.

A lot of people comment to me that Spring Training “doesn’t matter.” In a way, they’re correct, because there’s not always a correlation between who finishes well during the spring season, and who goes on to do well during the regular season. But for a team that won 43 games last year, spring training is a great time to simply learn “How to Win.” And since their opener last Thursday, they haven’t been able to do even that. Until yesterday.

Nate Cornejo looked sharp in three perfect innings. Somehow, despite not having a strikeout pitch, he manages to get guys out (and he’s working on a splitter). He also struck out two.

The Tigers also got to Wade Miller early, tagging him for 5 runs in the second inning.

The bad had to be the six errors. The Tigers are making way too many errors (17 in 5 games). A good team can’t get away that, so the Tigers are in rough shape if they keep on making mistakes. Hopefully Tram will knock some sense into the guys.

Of course that doesn’t stop there from being snow on the ground this morning. The Tigers were busy this weekend, so let’s look at the highlights and lowlights.

Friday – Pirates 6, Tigers 5

You can’t them all. Probably the most embarassing moment of this game was when Chris Truby of all people took Al Levine yard. That’s never a good thing, regardless of whether it’s a spring game, or for that matter, a sandlot pick up game. Oliver Perez looked sharp for Pittsburgh, and I-Rod drove in a run.

Alex Sanchez was hit by a pitch, but it doesn’t look too serious.

Saturday – Indians 10, Tigers 8

Not much of a pitching dual. I got to listen to this game on the radio. Maroth did look well. Despite a strong breeze blowing out, Maroth gave up four runs in the second inning. Carlos Pena stayed hot by hitting another homerun. Looks like a rough pitching outing, unless you compare it too…….

Sunday – Indians 18, Tigers 10

And with this, the Tigers are mired in a 3 game losing streak, with each loss being more of a beating the previous game. They did score 10 runs, but the pitching has to improve. 5 errors and 8 unearned runs will never win you ball game.

One of the most encouraging lines in this game was Franklyn German’s. In 1 1/3 innings, he struck out 3 of the four outs he made, but he gave up a solo shot and another hit. No walks though.

And the Tigers go up against Houston this afternoon. Maybe Tram and the boys will be able to put together a win.

In two games that won’t count in the pre-season standings, the Tigers beat Florida Southern in what has become their annual innaugural game. Earlier in the day, they lost in a “B” game to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I couldn’t find boxscores, but the Free Press had a write up on them. I also found a better write up on the Florida Southern Game at Yahoo.

Also in the news, Chris Spurling is going to be out for the year. Spurling would have been little more then a decent middle reliever, so this doesn’t hurt us that much, but with a team that needs all of the help it can get, you don’t like to see things like this happening.

ESPN did a writeup on the Tiger’s Spring Training camp.

And if you haven’t checked it out yet, Bilfer completed his four part Tiger team analysis. A really great piece of work, I’d recommend you go check it out.

I may have spoke too soon in Sunday’s column. Monday morning I read that Jeremy Bonderman had been hit in the foot by a baseball, but fortunately, X-rays were negative.

And in the age of Amazon.com, people don’t wait at their mail box for packages, they wait to get the delivery confirmation via email. On Saturday I received mine telling me my Baseball Prospectus 2004 book was “In the Mail.” Thankfully, I got it yesterday, and I’ve been flipping through it ever since.

For those of you have never picked up a copy of Baseball Prospectus, you’d be doing yourself a favor by doing so. It’s reasonably priced, and the writing is exceptional. I picked up my first one last year, and while watching the Tigers on the tube, I was constantly referring back to it, checking on players I hadn’t quite heard of. And although it’s not geared towards building a fantasy team, it gives you a much better background on what the prospects are for a player then some of the more mainstream fantasy publications.

When I opened it up, I read the well written Foreward, and refreshed myself on the explanation of the advanced statistics. Then I went over to the Tigers section to see what they had to say. They did an interesting analysis on how long it takes really bad teams to get back into contention.

And the results weren’t encouraging.

But don’t take my word for it. Go to their website and pick up a copy. You won’t regret it.

And Baseball Primer kicks off their team previews with a look at Detroit.

Spring training and started, and basically, that’s how I feel so far. Nobody has run into a wall, or slipped while hopping over a fence (sorry Mark Fidrych). The Tigers start their games Wed. against Florida Southern, then face their first major league team on Thursday when they square off against the Expos.

With that in mind, I’m going to make some predictions for the current year. Write them down, so you can make fun of me next in the fall.

Prediction 1 – Bobby Higginson is going to have a career year. Not because he’s at the end of his rather generous contract, but because he has some hitters more in line with his abilities hitting around him. Although I don’t think he’ll hit 30 homeruns like he did in 2000 (the last time he had good hitters in the lineup with him), a .300/25/100 season is not out of the question. Throw in some good defense, and Bobby is going to once again be a linchpin of the Tigers. He’s a good player, and these numbers aren’t out of the realm of possibilty when (yes, another prediction) he stays healthy the entire year.

Prediction 2 – Although I don’t think Jeremy Bonderman is going to break out, I think he’ll reach the 200 inning mark, and strikeout at least a 150 batters. A combination of being in the league for one entire season, and playing in a relatively weak division (although hitting wise, I wouldn’t call it too weak) will give him some respectable numbers. You’ll also see his 6-19 record even out to 11-14.

Prediction 3 – The Tigers are going to win 74 games, finishing 74-88. They’ll also flirt with the .500 mark, similar to what happened in 2000, late in the season (say early August).

Prediciton 4 – Not only will Pudge Rodriguez make the All-Star game, he’ll be a starter. I can’t remember the last time the Tiger’s had someone voted in and I’m too lazy to look it up.

AL Division Winners
AL East – New York Yankees (in a division where both they and the Red Sox win 100 games)
AL Central – Kansas City Royals (They were the only team in the league, other then Detroit, that really didn’t take a step back).
AL West – Anaheim Angels (Their great acqusitions were overshadowed by what the Yankees and Red Sox did during the offseason.
Wild Card – Boston Red Sox

Dark Horse – Although the odds are really stacked against them, I really like the Blue Jays this year. Of course the fourth place team in that division, the Orioles, would probably be the leading contender if they played in the AL Central.

NL Division Winners
NL East – Phildelphia Phillies (Edges out the Braves in the final game. The Braves, in an ironic twist, will lose to the Cubs on the final game of the season to none other then Greg Maddux, ending the Braves division title streak at 8 consecutive seasons).
NL Central – Chicago Cubs (Not only will Maddux beat his old team to prevent them from making the playoffs, but he’ll teach Kerry Wood 1/10 of his control, turning him into a Cy Young winner)
NL West – San Francisco Giants (This was probably the toughest one, so I went the easiest answer. Barry Bonds will do what he’s done the last few years and get his 700th homerun. This may be the weakest division outside of the AL Central).
Wild Card – Houston Astros (Clemens and company will be edged out by the Cubs, but still make the playoffs).

World Series – Chicago Cubs 4, Boston Red Sox 3 (The curse of the Bambino will go on, but they’ll be celebrating in ChiTown.

AL MVP – Alex Rodriguez
NL MVP – Sammy Sosa (edging out Bonds)
AL Cy Young – Javier Vazquez
NL Cy Young – Kerry Wood
AL ROY – Justin Mourneau (Does he still qualify, he’s listed as a prospect most everywhere)
NL ROY – Edwin Jackson

Another interesting weekend. Made some progress on the kid’s room, and got some taxes done. I’m looking forward to April 15th coming and going.

At this point, the rumors have died down about the Tigers trying to deal for a pitcher. And Brandon Inge is probably the first guy who comes to mind when you think of the word expendable. The problem with getting rid of Inge is, if I-Rod goes down, now we’re stuck with Mike Defilice, possibly Chris Shelton, and then you’d have to tap Maxim St. Pierre, who’s hardly had a stellar minor league career.

So if we want any depth at catcher, we should keep Inge around. If someone offers us something more then we feel Brandon is worth, then it’s a no brainer. But Inge has some value to us with regard to insuring we have a backstop with an almost full season behind him.

So if we exclude Brandon Inge, who’s the most expendable. First is Carlos Pena. He really struggled last year, but, with his youth and past prospect tag, Pena might still have some value. Pena’s playing time also could take a small dent if I-Rod gets time at firstbase to give his knees a spell. He’s not as good of a hitter as Dmitri Young, so he won’t have the option that a lot of AL first basemen have, and that’s if getting time at DH if they want to try someone else in the field. In the meantime, Dmitri Young, or even Chris Shelton could replace Pena in a trade.

And with mentioning Dmitri Young in the last sentence, he’s the next on the list. There’s no doubt Dmitri had an exceptional year at the plate last year. But he really is a man without a position. He “can” play outfield, third, and firstbase, but he’s not stellar at any of them. In none of the last three seasons has Young finished with a cumulative FRAA above zero. But, Dmitri does give Tram some flexibility. Young’s best spot is DH, but he can spot at several positions.

Craig Monroe was the odd man out when Rondell White came to Detroit. He might see some at bats against lefties, spelling Bobby Higginson here and there. But his chance of getting consistent time this year is going to be slight, barring injury. Craig isn’t a world beater, but he did hit 23 homeruns.

And finally, we have Bobby Higginson. Viewed as an anchor as far as our salary situation, Bobby has underachieved since signing his megadeal, and is consistently rumored to be on the block every year at the trade deadline. Bobby is tougher to deal because he has veto power because of a no trade clause, if he gets off to a nice start this year, you could hear those same trade rumors again.

So in my opinion, Pena and Monroe are the most expendable. Monroe disappearing would probably cause Tram the least worries, but Pena is replaceable, and probably has more trade value.

The Tigers have reported to camp, and games begin as early as next week. We all know, once again, that the Tigers won’t be world beaters, but what is there to look for throughout the year to show that the Tigers are making progress and should be competitive in the next couple of years.

1) Jeremy Bonderman’s development is probably the first key. He’s got ace material, but so did Jeff Weaver. But, to keep drawing the comparison, if Bonderman has a season similar to Weaver’s second, I’d be happy. He threw 200 innings, had a 1.285 WHIP, and 4.32 ERA, all while going 11-15. If Bonderman can top those numbers at 21, I’d be happy.

2) I honestly think Bobby Higginson is going to bounce back this year. In the final year of his mega-deal, Bobby has been scorned through the Detroit area because he’s had a couple of poor seasons. I feel, with some hitters around him, he’ll bounce back and do well this year. This will give us some flexibility at the trading deadline, and even if we can’t deal him, we might be able to get him substantially cheaper then for what we’ve been paying him.

3) Our two corner infielders, Eric Munson and Carlos Pena, have to have good seasons. If they can both show they can get into the 25-30 homerun range like they’ve been touted, it will be a big boost to the lineup. I think for both guys this year, 20 homeruns should be minimum, not a goal.

4) A .500 April would be huge for this team. Not only would it give the team a nice boost in their confidence, but it would get the fans interested, which equates to ticket sales and a more fun environment at the ballpark.

But, baseball is back. Fan’s around the country have just had their moods improved as baseball is slowly getting back into the swing of things.

This year’s July baseball trip is going to be to the Skydome. Of course this time, there will be an additional person who will be going to his/her first baseball game. I just have to make sure I drive home to the kid that being a Jays fan is unacceptable.

And with games starting, I’m hoping to get back into a more regular writing schedule. If you haven’t checked it out, Bilfer over at the Detroit Tigers Weblog has been taking a look at the team. Be sure to check it out.

I run a roto baseball league, and it’s on it’s last breath. If anyone in the Detroit area is interested, let me know because I need three people with the draft coming up pretty quickly.

It’s a 10 team, three player keeper league. The auction draft is March 20th at my house in Waterford.

If you’re interested, drop me a line, and I’ll fill you in on the details.

It’s funny how when you’re busy over a weekend, stories have a habit of sneaking up on you. This is exactly what happened to me regarding the A-Rod for Soriano trade that happened this weekend. I remember reading about some “rumors” on Friday, and didn’t think anything more about it. Then as I was winding down last night from a day of painting, I hopped on the net, and the deal was all anyone was talking about. So it looks like the Yankees send Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later for Alex Rodriguez.

On the face of things, this is a great deal for the Yankees. They’re one of the few teams who don’t feel bad about falling over the luxury tax cap, so adding even more payroll doesn’t seem to phase them. The problem with the deal is, the Yankees already have their team captain, Derek Jeter, playing shortstop. So to accomodate everyone, it looks like the Yankees will take a two time gold glove winning shortstop, and will move him to third base.

How will this affect the team? Let’s take a look at a few numbers (I haven’t really surfed the web to see if anyone else has done a similar analysis, so hopefully I’m not replicating someone’s work):

As I move over to Baseball Prospectus (Baseball Prospectus is supposed to ship today. I’m looking forward to my copy), I find the following fielding runs above replacement (FRAR):

Derek Jeter -3
Alex Rodriguez 31

So you’re talking about a total of 34 runs between the two. That’s a sizable amount, and using a conservative 10 runs = 1 win, you’re talking about somewhere in the range of 3 to 4 wins. In a very competitive AL East, this could be the difference between winning the division, winning just the Wild Card, or even not making the Playoffs at all.

And I know Soriano plays a different position, but his FRAR is 27 (FRAA 0), so in addition to the A-Rod/Jeter situation, you also have to find a an average fielding second basemen to take his place.

Of course, assuming he picks up the position, which I don’t doubt, A-Rod will be at third base. Although he won’t touch the ball nearly as many times, Eric Chavez, the 2003 gold glove winning third basemen, had a FRAR of 35, right where A-Rod came out at. But this number was only 15 runs higher then his FRAA. A-Rod’s FRAR was 26 runs higher. So it’s much easier to find a replacement, or even average fielding third basemen (Derek Jeter?) then it is to find one at shortstop.

Good trade for the Yankees? I think it is. But the better question is, why would one of the players in the game want to switch postions? Of course we’ll see how this all plays out once the season starts.

For those of you looking for a great read, just click on one of the links to the right. All of these guys are great, and well worth checking out.

Specifically, here’s some great columns that have come out lately.

1) The Detroit Tigers Weblog prepared an excellent analysis on the state of the Tiger’s starting pitching, along with other nice columns. He’s also asking for people’s help, so make sure to check it out. It’s for a great cause.

2) John Perricone is getting nostalgic over at Only Baseball Matters. John’s back on the blogging scene, and he truly is one of the best out there. I’d liken him to the internet’s expert on Barry Bonds, but that doesn’t do him justice, because his knowledge goes well beyond that.

3) JD Arney over at Redsfaithful does a great job at taking a look at the state of the Reds. Good stuff. The Red’s are my favorite NL team (sorry guys). My uncle lives in Louisville where the Red’s have their AAA club, so I’m always getting updates on any upstart Red’s players. I remember just a few years ago how he talked highly of Austin Kearns.

4) And if you’re looking for team specific blogs, make sure to check out Baseball Blogs.org and its sister site, Sportsblogs.org. These two sites are well organized, and if you’re ever looking for something to read, this is a great place to start.

This weekend should be interesting, because we start on the nursery. The family is split on what they think we’re going to have. Personally, I would like a left handed pitcher, uh, I mean, boy.

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