2008 pre-season!!

Now that I have my work and living situations stabilized, I actually have time to revive my blog!

Well where do we begin? It was certainly a productive off-season. I'll start by taking a quick look back at the trades and signings that Dombrowski and Co. pulled off:

10/29/07 Acquired SS Edgar Renteria from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for RHP Jair Jurrjens and OF Gorkys Hernandez.

Many of us over at motownsports (MTS) were thinking that Renteria would be a good option for the Tigers...more because the Braves would be likely to move him with the emergence of Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar as solid young middle infield options. It was also an unknown as to whether or not the Braves would try to sell off some expensive players to free up some cap space to re-sign Andruw Jones.

Edgar is by no means a long term shortstop option for the Tigers unless there are several injuries/trades made. He'll be 32 this year, but boasts a respectable career batting average (.291) and OBP (.349). He's a pretty solid offensive player across the board--he'll rack up some doubles, hits the occasional homerun, can draw walks regularly, will score you some runs, and has a good history of staying healthy (hasnt had less than 493 ABs in any of his 11 full seasons at the MLB level). He's a bit like Placido Polanco if Polanco struck out more and had a bit more power.

The real issue with Renteria is his fielding. He's not necessarily a bad shortstop, but he's a guy who doesnt have a ton of range. In fact, his range factors are typically lower than what Carlos Guillen has had the last several years. Guillens arm and health became quite a bit of a concern last year, and with the organization not able to find a suitable candidate to take over the first base slot vacated by free agent Sean Casey, it wasnt a difficult decision to move Guillen to first. It surprised me that it was actually easier to find a top caliber shortstop than it was to find a first baseman, but thats the situation that occurred. I wouldnt have minded seeing Dombrowski wait a little while and haggle a bit more over the cost of Renteria and to see if other first baseman would become available. Nick Swisher going to the White Sox a few weeks ago could have been a good option for us at first base, and didnt cost the Sox as much as Renteria cost us.

Now, the hard part of trade analysis.....looking at the players we lost in the deal.

I think most Tiger fans were impressed and enthusiastic about the arrival and performance of Jair Jurrjens once he was called up to Detroit. He proved to be at least reasonably effective in most of his appearances, although he got beat up a little bit in his last few appearances before the trade--which skewed his Tiger statistics to look less effective than they actually were. The general assumption among scouts and fans seemed to be that Jurrjens would probably cap out as a #3 or #4 starter for a major league club, so we certainly did give away a guy who could have been a long term member of our rotation. With Rick Porcello drafted and signed, young Verlander and Bonderman, and (at the time) Andrew Miller already in the system, Jurrjens as a middle of the rotation guy became expendable. Kind of unfortunate because he was very likable, and he quickly won over Tiger fans by appearing confident on the mound....something Tiger fans had longed for all summer after watching Jeremy Bonderman have meltdown after meltdown. Jurrjens will be missed, but soon forgotten, especially after the real blockbuster deal went down a while later.

As for Gorkys Hernandez...another guy that a lot of Tiger fans were interested in following. Basically at this point he's just a singles hitter with tremendous speed and base stealing ability. With Curtis Granderson quickly developing into more of a power hitter, Gorkys was being looked at as a future lead-off man. But at 20 years old as of right now, he's still a long ways away and has a lot of work to do before he even gets to the big leagues, let alone cements himself as a leadoff man and starter. The Renteria for Jurrjens/Hernandez trade was slightly unpopular because of the two men we gave up and the interest surrounding them, but it was a move that puts the Tigers in a better position to be successful in the short term, so I'd say that this is a pretty fair deal across the board. Both teams traded from their surplus and acquired players at positions they needed.

11/12/07 Acquired OF Jacque Jones from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for INF Omar Infante.

Honestly, this is the one move that has been made that really has me scratching my head. Infante failed to become an every day player for the Tigers (not all his fault considering that his competition was Placido Polanco and Carlos Guillen--two all-stars.) The main problem with Infante is that he is not good enough defensively to be a real option off of the bench. With Ramon Santiago being a bit more versatile, and with the Tigers farm system becoming more and more loaded with middle infielders (Hollimon, Sizemore, Giarratano, Dlugach, Iorg, among others), moving Infante was going to be a necessary move sooner or later.

The thing that has me confused is how Jacque Jones was going to fit into the equation. The obvious reason he was brought in is because he's a left handed hitter...something the Tigers lost when they decided to let Sean Casey go into free agency. With the power hitting Marcus Thames, the surprisingly effective and consistent Ryan Raburn, and with Cameron Maybin not too far out of the picture, the addition of Jones seemed to do more to create a log jam rather than address a real need. If we could have gotten a league-average relief pitcher for Infante, I would have much rather seen us take that route.

We already have one outfielder who cant hit lefties (Granderson) so the addition of another one in Jacque Jones doesnt make sense to me. Jones is a slightly below average outfielder--good speed and some occasional power, but doesnt have a consistent tendency to get on base at a high rate and his defense is suspect at times. If we had reason to believe that we were getting the 2002 or 2003 version of Jacque Jones, it might be a little more exciting. The last 4 years he has done more to emulate Craig Monroe than former teammate Torii Hunter. We'll see how this plays out, but I suspect it'll be another year of us Tiger fans whining that an inferior player is taking at bats away from Thames and Raburn.


11/30/07 Re-signed LHP Kenny Rogers to a one-year contract; Signed RHP Francisco Cruceta to a one-year contract; Designated INF Chris Shelton and OF Timo Perez for assignment.

Quite a bit going on here in one day. The re-signing of Kenny Rogers is probably a good thing, even if he ends up having another injury plagued year. Kenny has been a fan favorite and a nice veteran presence for the Tigers since day 1...and he made it known that he wants to be a Tiger. We gave him a fair one-year contract with a likely understanding that he could be around for 2009 if stays healthy and can still be effective. Jurrjens was a likely candidate for the 5th spot in the rotation in 2008, but since he was included in the Renteria deal, the rotation suddenly began to look shaky. Rogers provides a low-cost, high-reward scenario with this deal. Should he not be healthy this year, then it shouldnt be a problem to put him on the shelf and look into the farm system or trade block to get a short term replacement. With Zach Miner and Yorman Bazardo stepping up nicely, they could also be spot start/#5 guys for us without risking too much of the teams potential success.

I'm still learning about Cruceta, but he follows suit in a long line of Dombrowski signings that are low-risk/high-reward. Several people at MTS seem fairly excited, much in the same way that they were about the acquisitions of Yorman Bazardo and Edward Campusano last year. I'll hold judgment until we get to spring training, but if this guy can be a reliable reliever, it might be one of the best moves of the off-season.

Timo was designated for assignment, but eventually re-signed a minor league deal with the Tigers. He'll likely play the same role he did last year...as a 5th/6th OF who stays in the minors until he's needed due to an injury. Gotta say, he impressed the heck out of me last year...I have no problems with him being brought back for another season, even though I think he's overall a AAAA player at best.

Lastly, Chris Shelton finally meets his demise. A week after this, he was traded to the Rangers for Freddy Guzman. I was rooting for ya, Big Red. We still have no idea what happened to his swing. Not being able to put up better numbers than Timo Perez at AAA Toledo = not a long term solution for a major league team at first base or DH. An unfortunate conclusion to what looked like a potential all-star caliber career.


12/4/07 Acquired RHP Denny Bautista from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for RHP Jose Capellan.

When I first read this online, I was kind of confused. Seems basically like a nothing-for-nothing deal. Bautista's big league numbers arent exactly appealing, and I was fairly satisfied with the job that Capellan did for us last year. Apparently Bautista has a big arm and Dombrowski and Co are pretty excited to have been able to grab him. Since they know more about these two guys than I do, I'll sit back and withhold further opinion. I am glad, however, that we're assembling several potential bullpen pitchers well before spring training so that we can evaluate what we have early on rather than relying on what we have and resorting to patchwork trades and signings when those players become ineffective or get injured.


12/5/07 Acquired LHP Dontrelle Willis and 3B Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins in exchange for RHP Burke Badenhop, RHP Eulogio De La Cruz, RHP Dallas Trahern, LHP Andrew Miller, C Mike Rabelo and OF Cameron Maybin.

This is a spit-your-coffee-on-your-computer-screen deal. Granted, we gave up two of the best prospects in all of baseball, but it wasnt like we got guys who werent already perennial all-star players who are even near the middle or end of their prime. The way I see it, we gave up Maybin and Miller--two guys we hoped would be like Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis-- FOR Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. I wish I could say I care about any of the other players in the deal. Badenhop probably wont amount to much, Cruz reminded me a lot of Franklyn German for some reason, Trahern could have been a nice back of the rotation guy for us, and Rabelo wasnt ever going to be much more than a backup catcher anyway.

If the Renteria deal didnt solidify the fact that the Tigers are playing for a title in the next couple seasons, then this move did. It'll be interesting to see how Cabrera and Willis adjust to the American League. I suspect Cabrera wont be quite as good offensively (although he'll still be an amazing offensive player and he'll have plenty of support around him in the lineup) and I suspect Willis will have a strong year simply because American League hitters are not used to seeing him. Plus he has moved from one spacious park into another. If the weather is cold for the first few weeks in Detroit, Willis could get off to a nice start simply because of these factors, and that could give him the confidence needed to completely bounce back from a disappointing 2007 campaign.

Maybin still has a long way to go before he'll be an effective big league player. Its looking like the Marlins may give him the starting CF job this year, which could either be good for his development, or very bad. He hasnt quite mastered the strike zone of the AA-MLB levels yet, so he'll strike out quite a bit. He also hasnt finished growing yet, so it'll likely be a few years before his power develops. Being stuck in a cheap organization with low fan support, and having to play at a level higher than what he probably should be at against strong divisional opponents could have a very negative effect on his development. Dont get me wrong, I still think he'll become a stud player...but maybe not such a great player that it makes Tiger fans rue this trade.

Miller was interesting for us this past year. He took quite a bit of criticism for not having developed great breaking pitches yet and not having great control. Everyone knows he's still young and still developing into a professional pitcher, but with the way he dominated the low levels of the minor leagues, and the flashes he showed at the MLB level, it was fairly discouraging to see him have so many up and down starts once he broke into the Tigers rotation. He just really didnt seem to be able to take a good outing and then build on it in the next one. High pitch counts and high walk totals were frustrating to watch, especially when he was being looked at as a guy who could come in and breathe a bit of life and energy into a lackadaisical 2007 Detroit Tiger rotation. The Randy Johnson comparison is still there, but between what I mentioned with Maybin and what we saw out of Andrew Miller last year, I'm really feeling pretty good that this trade will work to the Tigers advantage in the long term.

After this move, the farm system is officially gutted, but there's still quite a bit of promise at the lower levels. With the roster the Tigers have now assembled for 2008 and beyond, the lack of near-ready prospects shouldnt be a huge concern.


1/31/08 Released SS Tony Giarratano.

For those of you who missed the news blurb, Tony G. suffered a "significant setback" and the Tigers decided to part ways with him. One of many very talented athletes who just couldn't avoid the injury bug. We all had high hopes for Tony, and he certainly seemed like a good guy, but this latest injury pretty much sealed the deal that he would no longer be looked at as a real option in the future. Best of luck, Tony. Hopefully another team will give him a shot.


2/4/08 Signed OF Curtis Granderson to a five-year contract with a club option for 2013.

Personally, I thought they were a bit premature on this one, but certainly an understandable move. Even if Granderson declines a little bit from last year or cannot continue to make great improvements, it still nets us a young star in the making for a long term and very reasonable contract. Granderson is by far and away one of the most popular and well liked Tigers, so this is a move that shows loyalty and trust in Grandy, and shows the fans that their favorites will be around for a while. Unlike some others, I dont think the quickness of this contract extension had to do with the Cameron Maybin trade.



I've typed quite a bit here, so rather then continue on with this post, I'll address possible lineups/rotations/bullpens and concerns for this season in a new post. Hope this post made up for several months of not writing anything.