The Tigers are holding their collective breath after righty Max Scherzer exited Tuesday night's start prematurely because of shoulder pain. Scherzer, who leads the American League in strikeouts, is scheduled to undergo an MRI. More on the Tigers in this batch of links …
- The Indians are expected to decline their $13MM club option on DH Travis Hafner for 2013, writes Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Hafner, sidelined since early August due to a back injury, is trying to get back on the field for what could be his final appearances as a member of the Tribe. With a career line of .278/.382/.508, the 35-year-old has posted solid offensive numbers when healthy, but staying on the field has been an issue, as he's missed chunks of time in each of the past five seasons.
- Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he is focused on his team's playoff chase rather than his own contract status, writes Anthony Odoardi of MLB.com. Leyland's deal expires after this season, but he maintains he has held no discussions with Detroit about this future: "I haven't discussed my situation with anyone nor has my situation been discussed with me. And I don't want to discuss my situation with anyone nor do they want to discuss it with me right now. We're trying to win a division."
- The Astros hope to pick their next manager by the end of next week, but they may have to wait till after then to announce the decision, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. If the selected candidate is on a team that's still in the playoffs, Houston will wait till that team's season is over, McTaggart explains.
- Astros owner Jim Crane reiterated that he's not expecting Roger Clemens to pitch this season, tweets Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle.
- While some consider the second-place Tigers a disappointment after a splashy offseason that saw them land top free agent Prince Fielder, Detroit has played pretty close to where some advanced metrics suggest they should be, explains Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs.
Tigers would be making a mistake in letting Leyland go and the game itself would lose one of it’s very best personalities.
Yeah but I hope they do because I would love for the Sox to scoop him up.
I think Leyland calls it quits when he is done with the Tigers.. he was with them in the early 70’s and managed HOF Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammel when they 1st broke into pro ball with the Lakeland tigers.. Think he always wanted to manage in detroit, even with his success in Pittsburgh.
Just think he’ll call it quits rather than even think of another new locale and go out with the organization he came up with as a MiLB manager and his memories.
I appreciate his bluntness and quirks, and baseball would miss him obviously, but I’m skeptical that the Tigers will achieve greatness under Leyland’s leadership. He’s better than many alternatives, but if the Tigers could get a better strategist or someone a bit more daring, the team could soar. Still, this year isn’t really his fault, of course — it’s a clumsily constructed squad. Maybe give him one more shot with VMart and hope Dombrowski does a better job this offseason taking the guns (i.e., Raburn, Kelly, Boesch) out of Leyland’s hands. A full season with Martinez and Infante, and hopefully an upgrade at one corner OF spot, and maybe a lefty starter, and the team will be pretty much unstoppable, regardless of manager. Might as well give Leyland one more shot to walk off a hero, I guess.
I guess after a career with 4 1st place, 6 2nd place, 2 WS appearances and 1 WC he kinda’ knows what is going on.
“….played pretty close to where some advanced metrics suggest…..”
Whatever…..advanced metrics is nothing more than “an educated guess” by some computer nerd when trying to apply to baseball.
Huh, I guess I missed it when Math devolved into an educated guess.
I dont understand so it must be wrong!
Would be awesome to have Leyland come to Houston. Isn’t going to happen, but I’d be totally behind him as manager.