The Tigers have a strong rotation, with Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, and Rick Porcello behind reigning AL Cy Young and MVP Justin Verlander. The club does have some concerns about the fifth spot though, and assistant GM Al Avila told James Schmehl of MLive.com that they'll remain on the lookout for pitching help during Spring Training.
“We’ll be looking at other pitchers in other camps throughout spring training to see if there’s anything that makes sense for us,” said Avila.
Avila did emphasize that the Tigers are comfortable with their in-house fifth starter candidates, namely Andy Oliver, Jacob Turner, Duane Below, and Adam Wilk. There aren't many clubs with starting pitching to spare, but John Lannan is said to be on the market and would make sense as a left-handed complement to Detroit's four right-handers. That's just my speculation, however.
Let the kids duke it out. One of Turner, Smyly, Oliver, Wilk, or Crosby will step up. If not, Below is capable of giving you what John Lannan can.
I’d like to see Turner and Smyly get a full AAA season under their belt…
Smyly is actually the pitcher I am pulling for to win the job. Unless Turner is outstanding in spring, I would prefer to let him hone is skills further in AAA. Smyly is much more polished having pitched in college ball for 3 seasons.
I second that notion
I’m almost hoping for a trade for Garza. I mean, Garza is what we hope Turner to be.
I would much rather keep Turner. If you trade for Garza, you aren’t going to resign him when his deal is up. As of right now, we have a legit 4 year window, until Miggy’s contract is up. Trading Garza pretty much shrinks that window to 2 seasons. Guys like Turner and Castellanos are how we will stay competitive if/when Verlander gets a new contract in 3 seasons, and we need to combat large amounts of money going to only a few players. We need those guys who can provide big production for minimal costs.
There’s no way that they let JV go and I see an extension in Cabrera’s future.
With the payroll the Tigers have, I’m afraid it’s either going to be Cabrera or Verlander, not both. I can see them letting Cabrera go in favor or Castellanos, but they would be insane to let Verlander walk.
I honestly think that Illitch gives out extensions. It would only be about a $6MM increase in annual payroll. That’s manageable.
Agreed. Verlander for life, and have Cabby sign for an additional 5 years to be the DH. They can do it. Honestly, if Cabrera can’t handle third AT ALL and becomes viewed as a full-time DH, even being the best hitter in the world won’t stop him from getting a high-end DH contract as opposed to a mega first baseman contract.
I was thinking they should trade Cabrera towards a 1A pitcher.
No.
Strasburg and Harper is about the only deal I’d do.
LOL neither team would do it, especially Nationals. Nats fans would riot in DC if SS is traded. I am sure so would Tigers fans in Detriot.
My point is, unless someone is willing to give up stars, I’m not interested.
you guys should definitely keep MCab around. He is definitely the top hitter in the league right now unless he does not want to play in Detroit.
I’m not pondering trading Miguel in the slightest.
I don’t see Verlander going anywhere, but honestly letting Miggy walk after his contract is up isn’t the end of the world. He’l be 33, and we would then be on the hook for paying him into his late 30’s/early 40’s for big money.
Are there any signs Miggy won’t rake in his late 30’s/early 40’s??? The man is a monster.
I’m sure he’l still be a phenomenal hitter, but you are also sticking Fielder at 1st for his entire contract, which is less than ideal.
If it had just been Turner for Garza, I think it would have gotten done. The Cubs gave up a ton to get Garza and would want Turner + at least 1 or 2 other quality players. There I think is the sticking point. Plus, the Cubs don’t “have” to trade Garza, so the price is still high.
I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but Rick Porcello is not part of the “strong” rotation they have, at least in my opinion.
22.
4.06 FIP, 4.02 xFIP, 4.14 SIERA, only 23 years old, and improving each season? Yeah, I’l take that for my 4th starter.
For 4rth starter, yes. For a “strong” starter, no. The context of my statement was whether he was a strong starter overall, not whether he’d be a decent 4rth starter or not.
For 4rth starter, yes. For a “strong” starter, no. The context of my statement was whether he was a strong starter overall, not whether he’d be a decent 4rth starter or not.
Get Lannan, he is better than anyone out of camp that would get 5th spot. one more year of development never will hurt those guys. Lefty veteran pitcher would be great to have in Lannan
How much of an upgrade would Lanna be over someone like Wandy Rodriquez, who is also being peddled?
Houston is said to be willing to eat half of the 30m owed and neither strikes me as anything better than what makes up the bulk of the Twins rotation…
3 way trade Bourjos to Nats, Lannan to Tigers, Castellanos to Angels. Maybe a minor prospect thrown in there some where.
so nats and angels get a lot of potential and tigers get a 5th starter when they already have 6 potentially major league ready arms in the minor leagues? This is a terrible idea.
Anybody care to speculate what the Tigers would send in return for Lannan?
They can have Balester back. LOL
Yeah definitely a weird deal, especially considering Balester is out of options.
I’m sure the Cards would be willing to give up Westbrook for some balls, a cooler and a broken bat. That might be too high of a price for Westbrook.
How many teams only use 5 starters in a year anyway?
You are going to need 31 starts or so from the #5 slot in the rotation.
Plus some spot starts here and there
So that’s going be 35-37 starts split between your #5, #6, and #7 starters on your depth chart.
Go get Lannan (or similar LH) as long as the price tag fits to start the year as you #5 starter
Turner, and Oliver are both going to get 8-12 starts this year even if we sign another pitcher
Frank Wren – You have a call holding on line one.
I could definitely see jurrjens making a return to detroit if he proves healthy in spring
Wonder if tigers could put together a nice package to the giants for Matt Cain ?
Has any team ever “ruled out” trading for a pitcher?
We are talking about an organization that thinks they are getting more value with Cabrera at third. It’s almost not even worth talking about. Whatever they do, chances are it won’t make sense.
What you don’t realize, is having Cabrera at 3rd means moving Raburn off 2nd (where he is horrible) to leftfield (where he is pretty good), Delmon from leftfield (where he awful) to DH (where he doesn’t have to wear a glove), it allows Santiago or Inge to play 2nd base (where they will be good defensive players). So it is a wash defensively at 1st, you upgrade at 2nd, you upgrade in LF, and you downgrade at 3rd base. It makes more sense than you think. If Cabrera can play a passable 3rd base, then Detroit is maximizing it’s offense’s and team’s potential. Also if it doesn’t work out then the DH spot is open for Cabrera. The people in the front office are a lot smarter than you are. Worry about your Astros.
I’ve had this argument with this guy before, it’s not worth it. He will just scream “he’s too fat!” until you’re ready to pull your hair out.
That’s not what happened. You must have a problem with reading comprehension.
No. That’s exactly what happened. On top of that, you are a fan of the worst team in baseball. You have no room to talk about us and our logic. You have a worse major and minor league system.
Like I said last time you brought up this weak an irrelevant point: the fact that I like the Astros has absolutely nothing to do with this. I’m accused of being the one who is inflexible, yet you use the same irrelevant argument over and over again. You can call me repetitive, but at least my observations are relevant.
I have never said that before. And Cabrera at third is not as crazy as you make it sound. He was an above average third basemen. He will be a well below average third basemen when it comes to range. That’s true. But he has a great arm and great hands. What we need is to move Peralta to second and get Brendan Ryan. I find this all funny though, on account of your own team trying to play a 6’2″ and 250 lbs player at third for the first time. That’s five pounds lighter than Cabrera, but two inches shorter. And you say that my point is irrelevant. Come on. Are you arguing for arguments sake or just naive?
Here we go again. How is my liking the Astros relevant? It has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation. It’s funny that you accuse me of arguing for the sake of an argument, yet your comment is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.
Because it won’t let me replay to the other guy:
I was talking about his defense. Of course Cabrera is better than having Inge in the lineup. (Although Inge did contribute positive value to your team for the vast majority of his tenure.) What makes it stupid is the money spent per WAR. You just don’t invest that much money in Fielder if your plan to get him in the lineup involves sacrificing that many runs on defense. The signing was bad in itself. You should at least cut your losses by doing what a reasonably intelligent baseball mind would do, and use one of your first basemen as the DH.
The bottom line is Cabrera could out hit your entire team- which is why is offensive output will make up for his decent defensive ability.
Here we go again. How is my liking the Astros relevant? It has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation. It’s funny that you accuse me of arguing for the sake of an argument, yet your comment is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.
I’m comparing players. Sandavol is also in that boat. Gotta love how you disregard any facts. I’m done. You obviously have no point and are not worth my time. Enjoy your naive trolling.
You are missing the point! The Fielder signing would be fine if he weren’t obese. A normal person would have a longer Peak. You’re putting your money into a significant risk. Sandoval is not relevant because his contract does not guarantee him money when he is past his peak.
There have been obese players who aged fine. Fielder has not shown anything to believe it will be a problem. Time will tell. It won’t be a problem though because he won’t be that old when the contracts over. We get his prime years and it cuts off before his late 30s. Aging is not a problem.
Okay. Name a few players that are as out of shape as Fielder who have played well into their late thirties.
Fielder is in fine shape. And we don’t have him in his late 30s. It’s a 9 year contract, not a 13 year contract.
There have been obese players who aged fine. Fielder has not shown anything to believe it will be a problem. Time will tell. It won’t be a problem though because he won’t be that old when the contracts over. We get his prime years and it cuts off before his late 30s. Aging is not a problem.
Like I said last time you brought up this weak an irrelevant point: the fact that I like the Astros has absolutely nothing to do with this. I’m accused of being the one who is inflexible, yet you use the same irrelevant argument over and over again. You can call me repetitive, but at least my observations are relevant.
Don’t you two ever get tired of yourselves?
Because seriously, no one else cares about this discussion. And apparently it will never end because you each need to have the last word.
And you care?
We’ll pick this up again later, I’m sure. I can’t even see the whole conversation at this point. Have a super day.
I think it’s become inevitable at this point.
Plenty of people care about Fielder’s contract. Thanks for being my moral advisor, though.
That’s not what happened. You must have a problem with reading comprehension.
Miniscule upgrade in left.
Upgrade at second.
Massive decrease at third.
Fielder signed as a long-term DH, with obvious reason for concern regarding a short peak.
Yeah, you’re front office is brilliant.
Perhaps the best there is while you have the worst, and it’s not even close. Stop while your not too far behind.
Your front office is the best? LOL! That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever seen in writing.
Perhaps you should re-read your own comments. They are off the charts.
LOL. K. Good talk.
You are so blind sided to your own comments.
“Your front office is the best? LOL! That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever seen in writing.”
“Miniscule upgrade in left.
Upgrade at second.
Massive decrease at third.
Fielder signed as a long-term DH, with obvious reason for concern regarding a short peak.
Yeah, you’re front office is brilliant.”
Where’s the facts in here? You are so cocky and full of yourself, that you can’t see how naive you really are. You just say what you want with no evidence to back your argument except opinion. Opinion is a terrible argument.
You’re obnoxious.
And yes, Dombrowski is one of the best GM’s in the game. You have shown me nothing to show otherwise.
You fail to recognize overwhelming evidence that contradicts that idea. The Prince Fielder signing is just one piece of evidence against him.
One piece? I think that it was a great signing, but besides that, what else was awful?
His recent moves haven’t been as great. I might have been too hard on him. I will give you that.
What recent moves? Signing Dotel? Victor? Trading for Fister? There is nothing against him.
I agree. DD is one of the best. His biggest mistakes were the Willis extension, the Guillen extension, and the Renteria, Huff, and Washburn trades, all of which were praised at the time.
The only mistake that has actually hurt the Tigers long-term is the Renteria trade, as Jurrgens would be a great #2-3 pitcher for them.
His biggest successes far outweigh those mistakes. trading for MCab and signing him long-term outweighs all of those mistakes by itself.
Which moves?? You have no idea what you’re talking about.
And yes, Dombrowski is one of the best GM’s in the game. You have shown me nothing to show otherwise.
Massive decrease at 3rd? We have been starting a AA player at 3rd for most of the last 7 years, and he hit .235. His defense has done nothing but decline over the last few years, and he has terrible tattoos on his arms. I guess the Tigers are overshadowing the Astros by getting all the headlines about shifting last years opening day 1st baseman to third? I bet Cabrera has a better year at third than Brett Wallace does.
I was talking about his defense. Of course Cabrera is better than having Inge in the lineup. (Although Inge did contribute positive value to your team for the vast majority of his tenure.) What makes it stupid is the money spent per WAR. You just don’t invest that much money in Fielder if your plan to get him in the lineup involves sacrificing that many runs on defense. The signing was bad in itself. You should at least cut your losses by doing what a reasonably intelligent baseball mind would do, and use one of your first basemen as the DH.
It has shown that DHing takes away from offensive numbers.
What has shown that trend?
There have been several guys such as Adam Dunn, Gary Sheffield, among others. It’s been well documented.
How can you be sure that those players weren’t just getting older?
Look at it this way.
Fielder is probably about a 5.5 WAR player. Cabrera is probably around a 7.0 WAR guy.
If you play Cabrera at third, I’m guessing that he is about a 5 WAR player. 5 + Fielders 5.5 = 10.5 WAR.
Fine, but you’re only adding around 3.5 WAR for Fielder’s contract. That’s not a great bargain. Besides, there is the issue of an abbreviated peak that you don’t seem to want to talk about. This is a really awful idea.
Where are you getting these projected WAR? Speculation? Just like when you told me that Cabrera would have a UZR of -58.9?
Are you saying that they aren’t reasonable? I was clearly being sarcastic when I said that.
That’s funny, I saw Al Avila & I thought it was Alex, I was gonna say they’re letting him call the shots on the pitching staff this year after 1 good year?
easy enough to solve. westbrook from cards for prospects freeing up room to for cards to sign oswalt.