Prince Fielder is already loving things with the Tigers, which bodes well for the club's status as World Series contenders. Here's the latest out of the Motor City…
- The Tigers have talked to some baseball people who are "convinced" Detroit will trade for another starting pitcher by Opening Day, reports Danny Knobler of CBS Sports (Twitter link). We heard last week that the Tigers were keeping an eye out for potential fifth starter candidates, though the club was also comfortable in using one of their current pitchers at the end of the rotation.
- Tigers manager Jim Leyland reiterated his support of his in-house pitching possibilities, reports MLB.com's Jason Beck. "If we go outside [the organization], it's going to have to be [for] somebody better than what we have here," Leyland said. "We truly believe that we've got the guy," Leyland said. "Who it is, I don't know." Jacob Turner, Duane Below, Adam Wilk and Andy Oliver are among Detroit's internal candidates.
- From that same item, the Tigers announced they have renewed the contracts of Alex Avila, Doug Fister and Austin Jackson for the 2012 season. All three players will be eligible for arbitration for the first time next winter, and you'd think at least Avila and Fister will be extension candidates if they repeat their 2011 performances. Detroit now has its entire 40-man roster under contract for 2012.
Don’t trade for a 5th starter just for the sake of trading for one. We have enough candidates and one will step up and take the job. Also, Fielder has yet to make an out. Watch yourself Dimaggio…
Maybe the Yankees could trade them Freddy Garcia?
When players get signed they basically have a temporary no trade clause for a couple of months, I think until sometime in June. The idea is it prevents sign-and-trades. Any trade would require Garcia’s permission. I know he’s iffy for a starting spot, but still, he may not want to leave.
That said, I also doubt the yanks would allow the trade of Garcia for anything short of a price tag that most of us would think is excessive.
García, no way. He was with Cabrera that infamous night
U can have Joe Blanton…
Im thinking Jon Lannan is on the radar
Thw tigers just one-hit the braves today with basically nothing but questionable arms and Oliver struck out 6 in 3 inning yesterday in scrimmage. I know it’s spring and im not buying into to early ST numbers, but I think that their pitching is going to be very sharp this year. They have more than most realize. The 5 guy will come in house, unless DD decides to go REALLY big.
There isn’t anything better on the market than one of the arms will produce.
Yeah? Well Mike Minor struck out the side in the first. Take that! Guy’s positioning himself well for a run at the Cy Young…..
The Tiger fans will not be safe from Leylands incompetence until Inge, Kelly, Laird and Raburn are off of the roster. In addition, a 3rd starter is needed if this team is to be Leyland proof and a threat to win the World Series. Unless the above happens, the Tigers are not winning anything with Smokes as the manager.
Dear God, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Brandon Inge is horrible. I’ll agree. He should be off of team, but not because Leyland is the manager, it’s because he is awful. Kelly is used very well. He’s like having two guys on the bench. Leyland uses him greatl. Laird is a backup catcher. Do you think that we should go with one catcher? Wow. Raburn is used poorly, I’ll give you that. As far as a third starter, it’d be nice, but is nothing more than a compliment. “Smokes” is one of top five managers in the game. Most people just don’t understand him because he looks at the big picture, instead of just that one game. He doesn’t win games, he wins seasons.
I am a tigers fan but if you want to see him costing us a season in one game look at game 163 against the Twins where he was grossly outmanaged and did a terrible terrible terrible terrible job. Also he hates santiago for some reason and seems willing to start raburn(who is a DH) and brandon inge at second.
There was a lot more to that season than Game 163. If Magglio had hit like he should have, we wouldn’t have needed it. If Washburn or Huff would have been half way decent, we wouldn’t have needed it. 2009 was on the players, not the manager.
2009 was on the players, but 163 was on Leyland.
Yes.
Also, Ryan Raburn is in no way a DH. He is a left fielder. He has a career UZR of 6.7 out there. The reason why I said that Raburn is misused by Leyland, is because he has a career UZR of -14.4 at second.
UZR is too volatile for a small sample size. Most people who use it say you need at least 2 years of full time playing the position to use it.
UZR is largely range based, which Raburn has a lot of. He gets good jumps on balls, has a strong arm, but boy does he make some boneheaded errors out in the outfield
Only problem is that the bad angle of those good jumps on balls negates the good jump.
Remember when he got a great jump on that routine fly ball that went off his glove and over for a “homer”?
That’s your argument? One play?
He’s played 235 games in left. That is enough to be able to look at his UZR.
I would love to see DD go big and bring in either Wandy Rodriguez or Matt Garza, as long as we are in the win now mode why not
I’d prefer Garza. The only downside to him is that he hits free agency soon. If we made a trade that involved Turner plus a couple of B- prospects, as well as knowing that Garza would agree to a five year extention worth about $75MM, I would do it in a heart beat. We would then get him for his ages 28-32 seasons. Imagine having a rotation of Verlander, Fister, Garza, Scherezer, and Porcello. That’s deffinitley a top five rotation.
I do wish we had a lefty in that rotation though
I’d rather have the best pitcher.
If DD does manage to get Garza we would have the most balanced team in the league, strong offense, good bullpen, and great rotation that would immediately put us on the top of the AL for years to come. Plus Garza has already pitched in the best division and he dominated which means he would own the AL central
That bp is far from good
Dotel, coke, Benoit, and valverde???? I’ll admit, the front end of the BP has question marks, but the back end is a good as anybody else in the league.
If the starter goes 7, i wont exactly be worried.
Tigers trade Aaron Westlake for Mike Minor of the Braves.
I agree. Tigers get a young big-league starter with pretty good upside and 5 years of service time for a 23-year-old first-baseman with a .250 AVG in rookie ball. Win/win.
Might as well throw Freeman in the deal since he’d be expendable at that point. Would Inge do it?
Tigers will stay with in-house option. Tigers have a history of moving players up to the bigs not delaying them.
I see a July trade far more than a spring trade.
I disagree. Some of Leyland’s comments make it sound like he wants another pitcher.