In Joakim Soria, the Tigers have found the top-quality closer they’ve lacked in the past several seasons, James Schmehl of MLive.com writes. Soria has been successful in all ten of his save chances this season while allowing just two runs in 11 2/3 innings. Over the past several years, the Tigers have leaned on the often unreliable Jose Valverde and Joe Nathan, with a strong partial-season performance from Joaquin Benoit in 2013 providing a few months of respite. The Tigers bullpen was a problem last year, and Schmehl notes that much of it is still shaky. But for now, their closer problem seems to be solved. Here’s more from the American League.
- Jose Pirela’s terrific hitting on a rehab assignment for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this weekend has the Yankees considering promoting him to the big leagues, Chad Jennings of the Journal News writes. Pirela, who’s returning from a concussion suffered in Spring Training, has had three or more hits in three straight games. Jennings notes that Gregorio Petit currently serves as the Yankees’ righty bench infielder, but that Pirela could provide more offense.
- Infielder Luis Jimenez, who the Red Sox claimed from the Brewers this weekend, allows Boston to use their other bench players more flexibly, manager John Farrell says (via Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald). “Righthanded utility guy, we like the defense, particularly at third, if that comes into play,” says Farrell. “It gives us some more flexibility with Brock (Holt) and Daniel Nava, and hopefully a chance to get back to 13 position players.” Jimenez rates as a plus defensive third baseman and could prove to be a valuable backup for Pablo Sandoval. Jimenez can also play elsewhere in the infield.
I’d be pretty excited to have Pirela come up, his ST was stellar, and the fact that he’s picked up where he left off before the concussion is too good to turn down, especially considering he can play both the infield and outfield.
I don’t know man. Drew is lighting it up, batting .167 before going 0/5 tonight. Hard decision to either bring Pirela up or let Drew play.
PS: sarcasm.
Tbh, Drew has been better than I thought he would be, at least he’s had some spurts of power and his defense has been solid. That being said, having a younger option who can actually hit for average, AND give versatility in your lineups, sign me up
The thing is, it’s not a choice of Pirela or Drew; it’s a choice of Pirela or Petit and Petit has done the job the few times he’s been called upon to do it.
Yeah Petit has been hitting better then Drew. We need to realize that Drew is no more then a placeholder until Refsnyder can more seasoned for defense in the minors.
Yeah I agree, I really like what Petit has done for us when called upon (though he’s not much of a career hitter,he’s a glove first guy), and I do wish we had a way to carry both Petit and Pirela w/o taking away from the pen. When you’ve got a kid like Pirela swinging the bat like he has, however, you can’t shy away from that
According to UZR, he’s a positive influence on defense when he plays SS, and a negative one when playing 2B. And he’s played 4x more 2B than SS this year. So his value on defense isn’t really helping.
To me, he looks average out there, not a defensive wizard that merits we ignore to his terrible offensive production.
Drew needs to be benched in favor of Pirela.
Hate to break it to ya but Drew is not an average 2B, he’s been great defensively and has like a .140 BABIP. Dont let your Drew hate cloud you judgement.
Hmm, Is my Drew hate clouding the judgement of UZR also? Because he’s at a -2.0 as a 2B for 2015 thus far. (That’s -28.6 UZR/150)
Last year, he ended with a -3.9 UZR as a 2B. So… hate it to break it to you, but you’re wrong.
As a SS though, he has positive numbers in every defensive metric for this year and last. I don’t hate Drew. I hate Drew playing 2B for the New York Yankees. It was an unnecessary signing that puts a player out of his natural position. He’s being set up to fail, and the Yankees are okay with it. THAT is what I hate.
Are the Yankees winning?
Despite his “production,” yes.
To get the right Luis Jimenez Google ‘luis jimenez red sox baseball reference’ and pick the 2nd one on the list.
Amazing to feel confident in the 9th inning. It has been a while for Tigers fans. Just hope that Soria can stay healthy all year. Tigers bad luck as Closer has been a primary reason for 4 AL Centrals with 0 WS Championships.
If Rondon can finally get to 100% and just one other middle reliever can step it up, the Tigers will be fine.