Jim Leyland explains infield changes to 1st baseman Miguel Cabrera

But the Tigers need offense.

So Scott Sizemore – hitting .400 or so in Toledo comes back up and Will goes back down. Sizemore starts hot but fizzles to the two hundred range. A month later and Sizemore is traded to Oakland for a nice reliever. Oakland sent Sizemore back down to Triple A.

And we all miss Placido Polanco. He’s on second.

In Philadelphia.

So what’s on second?

Well, Jim Leyland came out and told us it was going to be Ryan Raburn. Raburn is to be our everyday second baseman.

Raburn? Left fielder 4A player Ryan Raburn? The star of many outfield highlight reel bloopers like the fly ball that bounces off him and over the fence for a home run Ryan Raburn?

What?

Okay, so What’s on second. But not all the time – because also playing second is Ramon “I’ve been trying to be an everyday player with this team for five years now” Santiago. And that just ain’t happening because Santiago apparently isn’t good enough to play every day.

I never really understood the concept of a Major League ball player who can field and hit being considered not to be good enough to play every day? Did he sleep with the wrong guy’s wife?

Well, if he plays everyday his numbers go down.

Okay – play him every other day. Then Raburn won’t be your everyday second baseman. Right?

Well, there’s also Danny Worth – who’s also listed on the official roster as an infielder like Santiago. Play him too? Raburn is after all listed on that same roster as an outfielder.

Maybe he plays a deep second base. Chatting with Boesch and Jackson in right and center between pitches?

I dunno.

Third base.

Well that’s Brandon Inge, has been for a decade now – great defense – no bat. He’s floating around the .200 mark right now.

What? Inge has mononucleosis? Really? He must have caught it when diving into the stands for a foul ball.

Well then who play’s third?

I don’t know.

No questions about the Tigers’ shortstop though – Jhonny Peralta is hitting great – although some may critique his range. I love the guy myself.

Our starting pitching is pretty solid right now. Sure the fourth and fifth spot guys might show up and might not – but so far pretty good. And we finally seem to have our bull pen tightened up, And Alex Avila has proved me so wrong about being our everyday catcher I feel I need to send him flowers for what I wrote here about him at the start of the season. Now he’s on the All Star ballot – and he deserves to be there.

And I really like that Andy Dirks kid – I think he is going to grow into our everyday left fielder – every day with Casper Wells and Don Kelly – oh yeah – and Ryan Raburn.

No Raburn’s on second.

Right.

No that’s Brennan Boesch.

Okay, okay I get it.

There has to be a deal brewing. There has to be something happening out in the trade waters that GM Dave Dombrowski is scheming up – perhaps building a deal to acquire Jose Reyes from the Mets?

Wouldn’t that be sweet? The Mets are struggling to keep the team afloat and Reyes is hitting .285 ish. And he plays a great second base.

Could be?

I don’t know.

What I do know is that until all this nonsense get’s straightened out – the Tigers will likely be no better than a .500 team. And that Cinderella mistake by the lake Cleveland no longer looks like a fluke – this first half of the season looks like the Tigers in 2006 and 2009 – blowing the AL Central away before the All Star break – a month away now.

Can Cleveland keep this pace up?

Are the dastardly bastardly Chicago White Sox starting to put it together to make a run after the Tigers? Will the Tigers – currently in second – four and a half behind the Indians and three games up on Chicago as June starts – will they even be in the race come mid July?

What a strange season.

It’s like a bad Vaudeville skit, for sure.

Sparky Anderson passed away in November of last year. The boys of the Old English D are sporting crests on their sleeves to commemorate his passing.

One of the Sparky traditions that continues on is his concept that after 40 games you should have a good idea of what type of team you have.

Now’s a great time to do so – if you’re the Director of Marketing for the Tigers.

The boys are hot. The hottest team in baseball – enjoying a 7 game winning streak. They have won 10 of their last 11.

Justin Verlander pitched a no hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays – then followed it up by pitching his next game against the Kansas City Royals with no hits into the sixth inning.

The whole starting rotation has actually been great through all forty games to date – Max Scherzer leading the way with only having no losses to his credit. And now Phil Coke is also starting to get into the rythm of the new role of starting pitcher.
Victor Martinez is hot – and taking advantage of opposing pitchers fear to pitch to Miguel Cabrera.

Austin Jackson has rebounded and is backing his strong defense up with great hitting in these last 15 games.

Alex Avilla – a player I berated heartlessly at the beginning of this season as one of the worst decisions made to allow him catch every day despite poor hitting in the preseason and opening games of 2011 has proven me to be … well … dead smack wrong and clueless.

I say that proudly by the way.

But the first 25 games of this season – save one series with Chicago – stunk.

There was the kerfuffle deciding who would play second base – Tiger veteran Carlos Guillen injured (and still recovering) and Scott Sizmore not yet ready to come back up – second base was plattooned by Will Rhymes and Ramone Santiago.

Not a long term solution.

I remember when Will Rhymes was sent back down to Toledo to bring Scott Sizemore up. Pat Caputo – Sports writer and columnist for the Detroit area’s Oakland Press, and host of the blog Open Book, wrote a post titled “Change at second base could just be the start for slumping Tigers”.

The Book on Sports was right – that was indeed the when the turning of the tide began. After that the Tigers took on and won series against the Yankees, Twins, Blue Jays, and AL Central second place Royals.

But we still have 122 games left to play – almost two thirds of the season.

And we do have to expect this hot streak will slow after a bit – although I hope it’s not too soon.

But at this point of the season, with the bats hitting and the pitching strong, I think indeed the Tigers are the best team in the Central division.

I think Cleveland has already started to slow – and perhaps as early as next weekend our beloved Detroit baseballers will indeed be in first place.

And will remain there until the All Star break.

Sound familiar? We’ve danced to this song several times before in recent seasons.

It’s not the first 80 games you have to worry about. It’s the second eighty.

And if Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski want to keep their jobs – there can be no second half rapid decline of lethargic play and continual losing streaks busted up by the odd win here and there.

So I can’t tell you with any confidence today just what this means to the Tigers final standings in the opening days of October.

We all have our hopes and we all have our opinions.

What do you think?

Will the Tigers lead the pack until the All Star Break – then sputter in the second half?

Will there be a trade of significance? Will we get a left or right fielder? Will Brandon Inge be replaced – his average is below his career level – which is not a lofty bar to shoot for.

What do you think?

Leave a comment below and let’s talk this season out.

Yesterday I threw a beer bottle at the radio.

Sorry Dan, I wasn’t aiming at you.

Luckily tonight I was out of beer.

This is the theme of the 2011 Detroit Tigers – who after 29 games now sit with 12 wins and 17 losses. 8 games back of Cleveland.

Yeah, Cleveland. What the hell’s going on in Cleveland?

And Kansas City? They sit 4½ games up on the Detroit baseballers.

The Tigers can get men on base. But at the end of most innings, those same base runners trot into the dugout from the base they were standing on to get their gloves.

As a fan, this is maddening.

But even more maddening are the errors that are plaguing this defensive squad.

Short hop grounders through Inge’s legs, and bad throws to first. Pitchers tossing the ball into the outfield or foul territory trying to pick off runners. Balls that bounce off the outfielders or over their heads – one bouncing off Ryan into the stands for a dinger. Passed pitches on Avila – pitches he should be catching – bouncing back to the wall as opposing base runners trot home from third.

On the topic of Avila, his bat has been incredibly hot hitting in the .340s. But I do not see the same quality defense that the announcers and sports talk radio seem to say. He looks to me to be hard to pitch to.

Our starting rotation, for the most part, has had quality starts, but the bullpen – supposedly hoped to be the strength of this club in the spring, has seen both Benoit and Valverde fail in Grande style.

This line up has some power – sporadic and dispersed throughout – with not enough hitters batting over .240 to string together a big inning.

You can count the number of big inning this season on one hand. And you can’t use your thumb.

In fact, the way this squad plays defense, you wonder if these boys have thumbs to put in these gloves.

But this news just in. Will Rhymes, the Cinderella second baseman who hasn’t hit over .200 has just been sent down to Toledo, and Scott Sizemore is coming back up to challenge once again for the two-bagger spot.

Will that help? I don’t really consider Scott Sizemore to be a sparkplug.

But Miguel Cabrera plays on. Solid defense and powerful consistent offense.

Cabrera has picked this team up and is carrying them all on his shoulders. But for the most part, the rest of this squad is just dead weight. Aside from Peralta and Avila, and Ramón Santiago (when they let him play) – this squad is just dragging every positive thing done by the starting rotation and Miggy down like an anchor in deep still seas.

So close. So far away.

These current wearers of the old English D aren’t bums. But it’s hard to defend the brand of baseball that they have played in these first 29 games.

But some – if not more than some – of this blame lies on the shoulders of Manager Jim Leyland – who insists all his ball players are professionals. Perhaps. But professionals earn their pay checks. This squad – save a few – are really just enjoying playing in the big league parks with big buildings in the back drop.

Some of Leyland’s decisions are hard to defend – leaving struggling pitchers in – pulling strong releiver’s too early – sending runners at the wrong times – and trying to play small ball to move runners into scoring position with the players not executing.

Good grief.

I love my Tigers. And I haven’t missed following a game somehow yet this season. And this is just frustrating. Exhausting. Humbling. And humiliating.

Because night after night it’s just the same old story.

The Tiger’s just threaten, but they just don’t score.

You know that story.


2010 season of redemption

 And you know about how contrite Cabrera was in the aftermath – and how brilliant he played last year – a career best season leaving him a close runner up for American League MVP. And you probably remember his famous quote from the middle of last season:


And you, like me, completely forgot about the 2009 debacle – and were so very proud of Miggy for getting his life back in order and demonstrating to the world just how truly great a ball player he was.


2011 Mug shot

 And then today you most certainly have heard the news … from a small town in Florida .. St. Lucy … about his arrest for DUI and non-violently  resistance of arrest. About how he took a swig from a bottle of scotch while asking the officer “Don’t you know who I am?”.

Position players have not even thrown a ball yet.

And thoughts of tossing what hoped to be a contending season for the AL Central title seemed to evaporate like Windex on a summer hot windshield.

Well, that was the first thought I had, but I think I overreacted.

The latest news from minutes ago was that Miggy indeed was going to be at the Lakeland diamond Saturday after all – practice duds on – batting glove and first baseman mitt in hand – ready to start 2011.

But who knows.

Some are already calling for his trade – or his release. I’m not.

But he did – in my personal opinion – erase all of his hard work from last summer – all the great numbers he posted – and more importantly all of the faith and trust of Tiger fans he worked so hard to regain.

And now he is reduced to another if in the Tigers 2011 pre-season speculation.

Who will start at second base?

Who will win the fourth and fifth starting rotation spots?

Who will earn the everyday catching position?

How will the Tigers shore up their defense down the middle?

Who will bat second in the line up?

Will Scherzer and Porcello start 2011 as hot as they ended 2010?

Which Brenan Boesch will show up – the amazing homer king of the first half of the season or the house by the side of the road Boesch of the last half of 2010?

How long can Carlos Guillen play before being put on the Disable List?

Will Maglio Ordonez be the Same Maggs of greatness of years gone by?

Will Ryan Raburn prove to be a solid left fielder?

Is Scott Sizemore’s ankle healed and will he show us how good at second base he really is?

Can Leyland avoid the post-All Star break slump trend of his past four years?

And now – the one name that was not on that list of questions – Miguel Cabrera – may prove to be the biggest question mark of them all.

Now, let’s put this in perspective.

They did not cancel spring – the season will come and the weather will get warm.

The Tigers are not calling off the season – and still should be considered a contender for the AL Central.

And Cabrera is not going to be sold, traded, dismissed, fired, or let go. But he likely will face some suspension – and perhaps some jail time. But he will wear the old English D.

But how long will it take us to forget this digression. This set back. This backslide.

It’s not up to us. In fact we are not even a part of the equation. It’s up to Miguel. He showed us last year. Can he pull through again this year?

Carlos Guillen – a fellow Venezuelan who likely has some insight to the social circles Miggy moves in – did make an interesting comment this morning:

Here we sit at the holiday season, halfway through the 2010 – 2011 offseason, and the Tigers have made some roster changes.

Myself, there is absolutely nothing I would rather talk about at Christmas time than Tigers baseball.

And this, I think, is the perfect time to take a look at what the Tigers have done in the off season so far, and what else does this organization need to do.

Here is a quick recap so far of what’s happened so far.

Jhonny Peralta has been re-signed to two years for $11.25M to play shortstop.

Brandon Inge has also been re-signed for $11M for two years to play third.

A big name in the offseason market, Victor Martinez of Boston was signed to four years for $50M mainly for his bat, with the possibility we are told to catch maybe once a week. The starting catching position so far falls to Alex Avila.

Joaquin Benoit has been signed from Tampa Bay for 3 years at $16.5M To strengthen our bullpen.

And Magglio Ordonez has been resigned for a year at $10M to play right field.

So far, that’s it.

Is more to come, I hope so.

If not, is this enough to lift the caliber of the Tigers roster to get past the dreaded Minnesota Twins and those despicable Chicago White Sox?

Well, before we go comparing the Tigers to their American League Central rivals, let’s see if this new version of the Tigers will be better than last year’s version.

I would project our starting players for 2011 to be:

• Alex Avila catches
• Victor Martinez will DH
• Miguel Cabrera at first
• Carlos Guillen at second
• Jhonny Peralta at short
• Brandon Inge at third
• Maglio Ordonez in right
• Austin Jackson in center
• Ryan Raburn in left field

Avila is a weakness. And I am disappointed that the thought is to start Victor Martinez behind the plate one in five games – albeit the years reek havoc on a veteran catchers body, most notably his knees. But then Martinez is ranked as an average defensive catcher at best.

So catcher is still a defensive weakness with no improvement at the plate.

The DH however is now strengthened – if indeed Martinez is okay with not being on the field and only hitting. The designated hitters role is a hard one for some players to adapt to as they are sitting down most of the game.

Miguel Cabrera at first – if he continues his drive towards the kind of power numbers and his bid for American League most valuable player – the first base remains the same both offensively and defensively – which translates to very very stong.

Carlos Guillen is a very good second baseman. Some will argue this point, but Guillen (.273) is one of our old core rocks of Gibraltar – second only to former second baseman Placido Polanco – whom we will continue to miss wearing the old English D.

But Guillen is prone to injury. It seems you can only get a month or so out of Carlos. So to be realistic about second base, you currently have to look at either Scott Sizemore (.224) or Will Rhymes (.304).

I could fill ten pages talking about the options for the Tigers second base spot, but I will simply say that for the 54 games I saw of Rhymes last year, I really liked him. He is a smart player who gets on base and he has this knack of making things happen. But some will argue that Rhymes – a veteran minor leaguer would be exposed over a full season, and that Sizemore will have a better year with a fully healed ankle – but if Carlos goes down this year, I would prefer to see Rhymes have the chance at second over Sizemore. Spring training will have to bear this out. I don’t see any better available second basemen on the free agency this year to warrant getting somebody else.

So I see perhaps a slight improvement at second between Guillen and Rhymes over Sizemore – but that might be unfair. Health is the factor in 2011 to determine who is there. Likely the majority of the year will go to Scott Sizemore. No improvement there.

Jhonny Perraulta at shortstop means another year of adequate defense and .253 hitter in the bottom third of the lineup. No improvement.

Brandon Inge at third. Inge is a Detroit enigma. You love him or hate him. I love his defense. And while his average is sub-par at .247 – he did finish 2010 higher than his .237 career numbers. Sometimes Inge steps up to the task – but watching Inge watch strike three go by with a man on third is maddening. The Tigers make no great improvement here.

Magglio Ordonez in right field broke his ankle just before the All Star break in 2010. To that point the Tigers were in first place, and Mags was hitting .303. When Mags went to the DL, the Tigers offense went in the proverbial toilet. The team crashed to a horrendous losing streak following the All Star break. So in my opinion, Magglio means more to the Tigers than just his strong offense and adequate outfield play. Magglio – I believe – is the leader of this team in his own quiet unassuming way. Signing Mags for only one year seems like a start financial move by the front office – albeit an expensive one – but I think Magglio gives this team a confidence that they lack when he is not.

Maggs coming back – and staying healthy improves this Tigers offense significantly – and hopefully with Ordonez and Martinez before and after Cabrera – this front five in the lineup will prove to be a powerful offensive weapon able to create more big innings and increase run production significantly.

Austin Jackson will return in center field.

Detroit loved Curtis Granderson , but last year – rookie Austin Jackson moved in and stole Tiger fans hearts making the same dazzling plays we were used to seeing from Granderson – and hit an impressive .293 – fifty points higher than Grandy in the damned Yankee pinstripes hit.

Centerfield remains strong offensively and defensively for 2010.

And then there is left field. This position has more options than any other on the team. The Tigers seem to have a roster packed full of left fielders. Ryan Raburn and Brennan Boesch are the two primary contenders for left field.

Everyone remembers how Brennan Boesch tore the cover off the ball for the first half of 2010 – hitting and incredible .347 with an on base percentage of .397. Boesch was the talk of the league.

But Boesch fizzled in the second half – along with the rest of the Tigers – but in much more dramatic fashion – hitting only .163. It was as if during the all star break that Brennan starting believing what everyone was saying about him – and nose dived.

But Ryan Raburn played steady in 2010 – and while the rest of the team was in full slump mode – Raburn kept improving finishing the year with an abover average .280. His past demonstrations of weak outfield defense were replaced by some really nice catches and throwing improvements.

So if Raburn is the Tigers 2011 left fielder – there is improvement as Raburn continues to improve.

But left field is a fickle position for Tigers management – it seems to be the place to try out the new kid up from Toledo with a hot bat. As well, if a big name outfielder in free agency with a strong bat should come to Detroit – only left field is considered to be open.

So the Tigers have only gotten weaker in Centerfield, and have gotten stronger in the bullpen, at the DH role, and perhaps second base.

But clearly one more big deal is needed.

And clearly catcher is the biggest weakness for the 2011 Tigers roster.

There is nobody out there to go get. And you already paid a steep price for Martinez.

While I am certain the Tigers have one more trade to make – it won’t be a catcher.

With Adam Dunn going to the White Sox – a player every Tiger fan was begging the Tigers to go after and sign, and the Minnesota Twins being a team that would be strong contenders if they signed women softball players – the battle for the 2011 American League Central again seems to be tipped towards the White Sox and Twins – but again it will be close.

That’s why the play all 162 games every season.

But is there enough happening yet for Tiger fans to get excited about? Not yet.

But that being said, remember 2009, when the Tigers were picked in November of 2008 to win the World Series after signing Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.

This speculation means nothing. And 2011 looks like it can shape up to be another exciting Tigers baseball season.