Right-hander Phil Hughes has one tough assignment tonight: defeat Justin Verlander and the Tigers in an immensely important game at a time that the Yankees' offense is scuffling. Here are some notes on the Tigers, who will look to take a 3-0 lead in the ALCS when they host the Yankees tonight…
- The Tigers can't be sure they'll get another equally good opportunity to win the World Series, so they must take advantage of their current position, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports writes. Though Verlander has said he loves playing in Detroit, the right-hander knows he's just two seasons away from free agency. The Tigers could look to extend Verlander this coming offseason, but they’d have to pay him a salary commensurate with his status as baseball’s best pitcher.
- Tigers executives believe there’s a good chance Anibal Sanchez will want to re-sign in Detroit if they make him a competitive offer when he hits free agency after the season, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reports.
- The Red Sox would be crazy not to make a serious run at Tigers manager Jim Leyland if he becomes available, John Tomase of the Boston Herald writes. Leyland's contract expires at the end of the 2012 season at which point he could discuss a new deal with the Tigers.
Detroit is a good fit in that he has offensive support and a HUGE stadium for a change.. Will agree there. Can they afford to throw money at pitching when they have a couple of other areas probably need to use it instead, like SS and a replacement for Young.. Maybe a couple middle relievers? Yeah..
I do think Anibal fits though, just not likely his 13-14mAAV likely to get via FA, spread over 3-4Y is a fit.
The Tigers will use Martinez at dh next season, and they have plenty of OF’s. I think everyone agrees on the middle relievers, the bullpen is need of fixing.
The SS FA market is really bad, they will probably just pick up the 6mm option for peralta and call it a day, unless they work out a trade for dee gordon with procello or something, that position is set. As for replacing delmon we will have vmart to do that as DH, in the OF we will probably let the young kids take over with jackson/dirks/garcia and eventually castellanos.
IMO the decision will be between Miggy and Verlander, as I think the tigers can only afford 1 of them and afford to keep a competitive pitching staff, scherzer for instance could get a huge raise if he keeps up his k/9.
However for this offseason there arent really any glaring areas of needs that will require money from the tigers’ perspective. I mean Valverde will be gone and I dont see any closers out there the Tigers will dole out a huge conract for.
High dollar closer was not what was thinking.. Low cost/high reward.. Fahrsndorf, bring in a lot and see what shakes out is what was thinking during ST and 6m for Peralta is too much. Detroit needs defense at SS. As it is they have -0- range at 1b, SS and 3b. A lot less than that, via trade for little can get (just saying) Mike Aviles.. Even sign Alex Gonzalez as a FA coming off of a lost season for less than 6m and get defense.
The Tiger SP am sure would appreciate someone to go along with Infante capable of movinging more than 2 steps L and R who can handle the leather,
Right we do need more defense at SS, but chances are that wont impact the payroll too much, even if we went out and got one it would probably be less than 5mm.
My main point was the tigers dont really have anything but Verlander this offseason to go out and spend money on to impact a big money verlander deal.
Peralta is second in mlb in fielding percentage…don’t hate on JP.
FLD% is a terrible stat….he’s steady, he throws accurately, but he has well below average range and is very slow in transfer and throwing…and he’s only 30, he’ll get slower, if that is possible. 23 GIDP, sub 250 BA w 12 HR? pay his 500k buyout and get a band aid on SS till Suarez ( all-MiLB SS Gold Glove award and hit .300 w a hugh walk rate age 21). Dee Gordon is useless….save trading Ricky for a closer or Corner OF 1 yr patch til Garcia is ready full time…
Fielding % has absolutely nothing to do with range. Derek jeter, even Danny Uggla have sure hands (yeah, Uggs is 2b) but nobody is going to call those 2 good range at their IF position.
Just because someone has 2 step range and catches/stops what they can GET to does not mean they are good.. What about all those balls someone with range (average or better) that could have been stopped for outs?
Could a return to Detroit for Granderson be possible next season. We wouldn’t have to pay as much for example, Hamilton and its not as much of a risk.
Personally I would rather have jackson/dirks/garcia than Granderson. Low batting avg, tons of ks now and that power will go away.
Why?
Grandy’s greatest ability right now is Yankee Stadium’s short porch. He strikes out 180+ times a year, is only getting older, bats below .250, while Detroit has an arguably better defensive CF right now whose offense has taken off. Castellanos will likely be the LF of the future, with Dirks/Garcia (or, reluctantly, Boesch) in RF. It’s a crowded outfield right now, and it would be subtraction by addition that would cost a lot more money.
It’s not an arguement; Jackson’s defensive value in center far surpasses granderson’s. Ajax is arguably the BEST cf in the game, with a couple other elites tossed in there.
I’d take Crisp for Glove work (lousy arm however) and BJ Upton when his head is in the game. Upton is the total defensive package, just has lapses in his game.
I agree with castellanos but crisp and upton two cancers. Crisp was upset and stubborn when they signed Cespedes. I live in the Tampa area and the fans are quite pleased with the departure of Upton
I live near Tampa also.. Not telling me anything new.. Know all about his escapades :-)
Crisp has always been a decent team mate, like since with Cleveland and knows *1* way to play.. All out.. Any team he is on is far better.
Peter Bourjos would actually be an elite defensive CF if the Angels gave him the chance.
Agreed. One who is **not** and even got a GG? Ellsbury.. Amazing how GG has become a popularity contest. Crisp has yet to receive one, yet to me gets the best reads on balls hit to CF as anyone have seen in years.. It’s like watching Freddie Lynn glide to balls he reads them so well.
Crisp showed in the ALDS that he gets bad jumps on balls way too often. Jackson regularly gets excellent jumps, right off the bat.
And Upton isn’t even in Jackson’s league.
Ask Fielder if he gets bad reads on balls why don’t you :-)
Anyway… Anyone can get a bad read now and then, it happens. 1-2 now and then does not tarnish a career at CF that glitters otherwise spanning nearly 10 seasons.
Austin Jackson is ‘arguably’ a better defender than Curtis Granderson. LOL
Please resign Verlander. Do it. Do it now.
Detroit should wait on extending Verlander. He’s going to command the highest contract of all pitchers now, so why rush it? Pitchers can blow out their arm at any time. It would be a shame if Verlander blows out his arm next year or in 2014 and they could have been out of the contract but instead paid him too soon. Also, if Detroit’s team for some reason stops contending the next two seasons (significant injury to MCab or Prince perhaps) Verlander could instantly fill up the farm system. This is coming from a Tiger fan and I would hate to see it come to that, but it’s a matter of risk vs. reward.
But what if he continues to rake in Cy Young caliber (or Cy Young winning) years? Clemens was getting paid the pro-rated amount of $25 million at the end of his career, and that was 5 years ago now – with the way salaries are rising, Verlander will be due at least that if he continues at this pace.
And I feel like the injury risk is less with certain pitchers (read – pitchers with proper mechanics). Nolan Ryan pitched effectively into his mid to late-40’s, mainly because he stayed in shape, and had proper throwing mechanics. Verlander appears to have those same mechanics, which is why he gets stronger as the game goes on, as opposed to tiring.
If I were the Tigers, I’d be doing whatever I could to ensure that he retires as a Tiger (outside of giving him an absurdly lengthy contract)…
Exactly what I was thinking. Add 30-40 more wins, 3-400+ strike outs. Possibly a World Series appearance or even a win, and possibly another cy. He is going to be crazy expensive. Yes he could blow his arm out that’s the risk ever team takes with every pitcher.
I love Verlander and I’d love to see him retire as a Tiger but at a reasonable price. He seems happy as a Tiger, and with free agency two years away, he might take a Sabathia type extension in order to give him the security he needs. After all, 2 years is a long ways away. Tigers get a bit of a discount by offering that, but offering anything more, and I’d argue it’s safer to wait and see to make sure he’s still healthy by the end of 2013 or 2014. There’s little upside for the Tigers handing out an extension that is max-value though this early is all I am saying.
… why? Re-signing Anibal Sanchez takes priority.
Why would Leyland go to a bad team?
Unless it is north of Hamels I dont see Verlander accepting anything from the Tigers this offseason, and I dont see the Tigers making him that offer now.
As for Leyland going to Boston, that will not happen. He will probably be done after this year.
The only way I see Verlander taking less than Sabathia money is if he takes a discount to keep the Tigers together and attempt to put together a string of championships…
JV is 29 years old and after two more seasons, his new contract starts at 32 years. I think a new deal is more necessary for JV than Detroit because you can’t predict injuries in baseball. Also he will be on the wrong side of 30s at the end of the current deal. On the other hand, Detroit will be paying $64 million to 3 players next season. The amount will only increase from there on. I think it will likely come down to JV or MCab.
He is easily one of the top 2-3 pitchers in baseball, as long as he doesn’t get a significant injury he will be paid.
after looking at number of innings and number of pitches he has thrown last two seasons, this off-season is his best chance to secure a long term deal.
Three nonissues.
Leyland is returning.
Verlander will be paid.
Sanchez will resign if the Tigers want him bad enough.
Lets play some baseball — forget that nonsense.
I seriously doubt the Tigers let Verlander walk, so no worries Tigers fans. At this point unless something truly radical happens I doubt Verlander’s price tag will change over the next couple of seasons. So it seems to me working out an extension is the best idea for both parties.
Sabathia’s contract and extension provide a certain base point for comparison. So my guess is Tigers should offer a 5 year extension with an annual salary around $25M with an additional option year and high buyout.
He very easily gets more than that on the open market. Usually teams lock up there ace pitchers so they don’t hit free agency. That is why Sabathia was able to make so much. I am happy with what sabathia has done in NY, but hands down Verlander is so much better. I can guarantee that if he became available that every big market team, and alot of midmarket teams will be in on him and Felix. I hope that neither sign, that will be a very good free agency season between those 2 and I think Kershaw is one too that year. I can guarantee that as long as he isn’t injured that Yankees, RSox, Dodgers, etc will all be in on them.
I’d debate the argument that Verlander is the best pitcher. Yeah, he’s an elite pitcher, probably one of the top three, but I’m not sold he’s better than King Felix. Verlander had two outlier seasons that both give him the credentials as “the best pitcher in baseball.”
Actually I’d argue Verlander only has one outlier season, 2008. Everything else suggest steady improvement and the possibility that he’s at the top of his game. But regardless of how you view him if he were to his FA now he would likely break contract records for pitchers.
I’d say it’s between one of the two…. It’ll be fun to watch the two of them continue to grow as pitchers over the next decade or so, especially since Felix is so young…
One could argue Felix’s 09-2010 were the outliers aqnd he’s really a 3.4 ERA guy in a super ERA friendly park…..
Despite the outlier, Felix Hernandez has a lower career ERA by .24 percentage points, and Verlander also pitches at a pitcher friendly park in Comerica Park (from what I researched). Verlander does have a lower WHIP though.
It’s close. I just wouldn’t make the bold statement that Verlander is “the best pitcher in baseball” because that is in question.
I don’t want Leyland. I want a guy who’s going to be around for a while.
Is that because you think he’ll be a lame duck manager, or because you think his cigarette habit will catch up with him eventually?
I don’t think he wants to manage much longer. I think he’s a solid manager I just don’t think his fire to manage is there like it once was. Especially if they win it all this year.
If they take it all this year, I could definitely see him calling it a career…
And he should. Would cap a nice managerial career.
Unless he can bring it full circle, and take Pittsburgh to the promised land somehow….
LOL. Everytime I see him on the field, I reminisce about the good old times at Lakeland when he managed the Lakeland Tigers.. They would have a tough situation on the field and cigarette smoke would start billowing up from their dugout…
The good old days…
Also.. I’d like to see his cross the field dugout competition manager for years (Winter Haven Red Sox) manager Rac Slider back in the game.. Rac never got a chance after Sox manager Joe Morgan got fired and his entire coaching staff got dumped, along with 20+ year Sox manager/coach Rac..
Verlander is great of course, but is it really beyond depute that he is “baseball’s best pitcher?”
The Tigers should pick up Peralta’s option. They tried the whole ‘defense first’ thing in 09 with Inge/Everett/Polanco/Laird.
Little bit of difference tho.. Everett and Inge were complete offensive black holes. Detroit can find just about anyone who can play decent defense w/range and out produce Everett. I reference Mike Aviles earlier, Stephen Drew will be available..Detroit can let peralta walk even and sign him back for around half the 6m option if they can’t find anyone.
Verlander and Cabrera both seem like guys that would take slightly less money to keep a team together.