Links from the AL Central before the Tigers host the Twins and the White Sox host the Indians…
- Joel Zumaya has started throwing in Florida, the first time he's done that since Spring Training according to MLB.com's Chris Vannini and Jason Beck. Zumaya won't make it back in time to pitch for the Tigers this year, but it's a "sign of hope" that he'll be ready for the start of 2012. The hard-throwing righty is a free agent after the season.
- The Twins fired Triple-A manager Tom Nieto and hitting coach Floyd Rayford, according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. GM Bill Smith told MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger that the firing was due to the Triple-A team's performance over the last two years, not about mistakes made by rookies at the MLB level (Twitter link).
- Ryan Ford of the Detroit Free Press runs through some of the Tigers’ best (Ivan Rodriguez and Jose Valverde) and worst (Dean Palmer) free agent signings in recent memory.
- Justin Verlander has been generating MVP buzz recently and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds Miguel Cabrera’s name into the mix, along with Jose Bautista, Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez.
- Indians manager Manny Acta told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian that Asdrubal Cabrera has been his team's MVP "without a doubt." The shortstop, who played through some minor injuries this season, has a .275/.336/.462 line with 22 homers.
The Tigeeigned Palmer in the 1998 offseason. Is that really considered as recent history in sports?
Stupid keyboard.
Of course Cabrera has been the mvp, our pitching staff has been good as a whole but no one comes close to Asdrubal.
Now if only we fire Bill Smith, Joe Vavra, and Rick Anderson; then hire Bert Blyleven (pitching coach) and Paul Molitor (hitting coach), and anyone has to be better than Bill Smith at GM
Cleveland: Where a league-average OBP and below-average defense gets you a team MVP consideration.
You wanna give someone an MVP on your team? You give it to Justin Masterson.
Everytime I see Asdrubal Cabrera I wanna punch him in the nose…
So you’re a Mariners fan?
As far as the MVP goes… it’s supposed to be the Most Valuable Player, right?
Not “best” but “Most Valuable”…
If your team has more than one candidate, I think that eliminates them… The Most Valuable Player is the one who makes the biggest contribution to the success of his team, whether that team is in first place or last.. it should go to the player who made the biggest difference for their own team.
Take Cano or Granderson out of the Yankee’s lineup and there wouldn’t be much difference in their record…
Take Batista out of the Blue Jays lineup and they’d lose 95-100 games easy.
Take Verlander out of the Detroit rotation, they aren’t even close to making the post-season.
This year’s AL MVP is one of the 2
I don’t consider Cabrara in the mix this year.
So many things wrong with this post, particularly “Take Batista (spelling?) out of the Blue Jays lineup and they’d lose 95-100 games easy.”
I’m not sure how this is possibly the case, particularly given his WAR and how they played .500 ball when he was out of the lineup.
take Cabrera out of detroits lineup they take a very big downturn… there is a lot of things you have to take into consideration when selecting MVP and i really believe it’s ellsbury or granderson.
It’s not the most valuable player to his respective team. It’s just the player with the most value. Granderson is worth 6.8 wins on the Yankees. If he was on the Blue Jays he’d be worth 6.8 wins and if he was on the Astros he’d be worth 6.8 wins.
Doubtful. He wouldn’t have nearly the amount of runs scored, or OBP. On any other team, pitchers would be able to pitch around him and he wouldn’t have guys to drive him in like he has in NY. His ops is great, but that’s due to gaudy slugging nbers. He’s a lifetime .268 hitter and is only batting .270 this year. He isn’t having a bad year by any means, but you take him out if that Yankees lineup and he’s not likely to even be in the discussion for MVP.
Take Michael Young away from the Rangers and that team is nowhere near division leaders. The fact that he’s a super utility player/DH should increase his value considering that he keeps other guys fresh and negates the loss of an injured infielder at all infield possitions. The power numbers aren’t there, but as far as being the “Most Valuable Player,” I’d put him in the conversation.
I’m one of the only Twins fans not calling for a shakeup, with the once exception of Bill Smith. I think Smith made some bad calls, but the team was winning before this year, and I think if we make a smart move or two in the off season we can be on the top again without firing any MLB coaches. I find it unnecessary IMO
No love for Michael Young?
Great, so we fire the AAA coaches over the Wings’ performance the last two years? I guess that means there will be a shake-up with the Twins personnel and coaching if we clock 100 losses this year. Maybe that will happen, but I seriously doubt it because I don’t believe a word Bill Smith says.
I believe it is related to the shortcomings in the development of certain AAA players currently serving on the major league squad.
But, by golly, I do hope we lose this “pitch to contact” mantra and get some doctors who will let the guys play with a hang nail.