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AL Central Notes: Twins, Guardians, Blitzer, Ilitch, Tigers

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2022 at 6:49pm CDT

The bullpen will be a focus for the Twins heading into the trade deadline, even though “the reliever (trade) market is always the toughest one to navigate and always the toughest one to pin down,” chief baseball officer Derek Falvey told The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman and other reporters.  “It all depends on what’s available, but this year we’ll be more open-minded to adding whatever what we think will be something that will help us more toward the middle or the back end, ideally.”

However, it doesn’t seem like a trade may come together quickly, as with a month still left before the trade deadline, Falvey noted that many teams still haven’t decided if they’ll be buying or selling.  “You can’t really accelerate that part of the conversation,” Falvey said.  “Sometimes it’s ’all right, we’ll wait and see, we’ll put you down as interested in Player X and we’ll circle back if we’re moving in that direction.’ ”  While the Twins could push the market with an aggressive offer, that only increases the risk of overpaying for a player now when they could get the same pitcher for less in a few weeks’ time.  Getting at least one of Emilio Pagan or Tyler Duffey pitching well would greatly help Minnesota’s bullpen and trade leverage, but until that happens, the club may need to continue to explore outside options.

More from around the AL Central…

  • The Guardians figure to make some middle-infield prospects available at the trade deadline, as The Athletic’s Zack Meisel writes that the club has such a surplus that some names will eventually need to be moved by this offseason at the latest.  In terms of deadline targets, Meisel figures Cleveland will look to add in the bullpen and perhaps at catcher, though the rotation (for the first time in a while) could also be an area of need.  Adding one more quality starter would help reinforce a rotation that has been only okay this season, rather than its normal above-average quality.
  • David Blitzer is now officially a minority owner of the Guardians, though GM Mike Chernoff told Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal and other reporters that “I wouldn’t expect our operating philosophy to change.  The industry economic model is what it is and so we know what our challenges are being a small market.  We don’t shy away from those at all.”  While the financial status quo will remain in place for now, it remains to be seen what could happen if Blitzer eventually becomes the Guards’ majority owner — in six years’ time, Blitzer has an option to buy a majority share of the franchise.
  • The Tigers have a disappointing 29-46 record, but owner Christopher Ilitch is still “very pleased with the progress” of his team.  “Despite a very slow start this season with our team, there’s actually some good progress happening with some of the young guys that have come up and developed and so on and so forth,” Ilitch told reporters, including Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press.  After years of rebuilding and a big offseason spending spree, the Tigers were expected to take a big step forward this season, but Ilitch sees these struggles as another natural part of “a process that takes time.”
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View Comments (33)

Comments

  1. ntorsky

    9 months ago

    “A process that takes time”…yeah, Chris? Or is it a process that makes money, without any regard for the on-field product or the fans that have stood by and watched the embarrassment you’ve put in Comerica Park ever since your hero father unfortunately passed? Add the Tigers to the list of teams (Reds, Pirates, Rays) that should be forced to sell. These owners are making a mockery of professional baseball.

    Reply
    • al080991

      9 months ago

      Dude his dad left him a garage can full of money and lit it on fire before he died. They had like 4 DH’s on the team. They had miggy play third base. The tigers spent money this off-season unlike most of baseball. They are trying to make a push injuries got in the way of that big time this year. Also the rays constantly make the playoffs. Do they spend a lot of money? No but they win more games than most of the teams that do.

      Reply
      • The Saber-toothed Superfife

        9 months ago

        This has been a passive rebuild……Al is not.proactive. Chris is not proactive…… SNOW JOB! Fleece.thenfans….
        Didn’t even hire the Superfife..
        They will continue to have super bad luck until they do……

        And so on and so forth……

        Reply
    • Airo13

      9 months ago

      Rays are doing it right. Tigers are certainly trying to rebuild after the bare cupboard the franchise was left with when Mike Illitch died. I referred to the last retool as Illitch’s last stand. Was obvious a painful rebuild would follow.

      Reply
    • Red Wings

      9 months ago

      4/5 of the starting rotation is out including one of the most sought after FA pitchers that Ilitch ponied up for. Baez has not been as good as expected, they paid Schoop after solid seasons but he looks lost. Candelerio has been awful, Badoo to AAA and outfield injuries galore. Any team would be bad with these circumstances. Greene is off to a great start, Tork will figure it out eventually and hopefully Skubal gets back on track tomorrow.

      Reply
      • kcmark

        9 months ago

        Could be worse. Look at the Royals. MLBTR doesn’t even include them AL Central talk.

        Reply
      • The Saber-toothed Superfife

        9 months ago

        They will continue to encounter issues….
        Until they hire the Superfife….

        And so on and so forth……

        Karma.,baby….

        Reply
      • Greenberg

        9 months ago

        Wrong. The pitching has been usually good. Try looking at the offense, Grossman, candelario, and Baez, have been on the 10 day IL, still have had plenty of at bats, and still have been terrible. Meadows has missed more time, but has been awful in a decent sample size. Injuries have little to do with it. Poor roster construction and poor coaching are the main culprit.

        Poor communication in the outfield, poor base running, sloppy defense, an inconsistent approach at the plate. Can anyone say Hinch is getting the best out of his players? Can anyone say the players would run though a brick wall for him? Hell no!
        Hinch was bad at Arizona, good at Houston who had an extremely talented team that cheated. People buy the “I’m the smartest guy in the room” image. He’s not – he relies on analytics and has little feel for the game. He never shows fire or real leadership. People give him way too much credit. He showed what kind of leader he is when he allowed the team to cheat. End of story.

        Reply
  2. Pitt1623

    9 months ago

    Remember that time Tiger fans were celebrating how they fleeced the Rays by getting Meadows for Parades

    Reply
    • Jacob Sizemore

      9 months ago

      I’m a Tiger fan and while excited for Meadows, I was instantly upset to see it be Paredes… I’d rather part with Willie Castro. The Rays know every team in the leagues players better than they do themselves.

      Reply
      • Red Wings

        9 months ago

        Willi Castro is one of the few hitters over .200

        Reply
        • GarryHarris

          9 months ago

          This shows that Chris Illich either hasn’t watched the Tigers this season or that he and not Al Avila is the team’s architect.

          Willi Castro is a DH.

        • Jacob Sizemore

          9 months ago

          They keep putting him in the OF, (I know they’ve had lots of injuries) but he looks lost out there. I do like him, but Paredes just looked like a hitter, and he’s been on a tear with TB. Lower BA but his OPS was over like 2.000 over the last 10-14 days.

      • Greenberg

        9 months ago

        Who you rather have traded is of no consequence. You clearly aren’t a very good evaluator if you think Castro was worth Meadows or the Rays would be dumb enough to make that trade. The Rays value defense and high obp. Castro can’t play the infield and has never been a consistent hitter in the bigs.

        Reply
        • Jacob Sizemore

          9 months ago

          I meant Castro for an OF; not Meadows specifically. But I’m always happy to learn from a professional talent evaluator like yourself.

    • basedonamadeupstory

      9 months ago

      Guilty as charged.

      Reply
  3. tradepartner

    9 months ago

    How has that deal worked out so far?

    Reply
  4. Oneofthesedays

    9 months ago

    Cleveland still tossing out the small market spiel huh….someone look up what they get from revenue sharing and TV deals. What a crock

    Reply
    • Samuel

      9 months ago

      If one researchers what Cleveland gets from revenue sharing, TV deals, and attendance income compared to other franchises, a reasonable person would understand why they are a small market team.

      Reply
      • Oneofthesedays

        9 months ago

        Understand they are a small market but comparing that income to other teams is like my kids comparing their grades to their friends grades i could care less. They were in the top 5 of attendance in the AL for 9 years straight granted with the new park but they were a fun team to watch. This team is boring save for the 9th inning heroics which are fun but sitting thru the 3 hours of mundane to get there… pitching might look good on paper but the bats are whats fun for fans. The payroll nosedived and the attendance just happened to follow suit

        Reply
        • Samuel

          9 months ago

          You don’t like the way they play ball……fine. That’s doesn’t make them a mid or large market team. Revenue does. And the fact is that their revenue is low compared to other markets, no matter how they draw in attendance.

          Dick Jacobs put the franchise up for sale when he had total sellouts, with Manny Rameriez and Jim Thome coming up for free agency. He knew full well that even if he mortgaged everything to pay those two what they could get from large market team, he couldn’t afford to put anything resembling a major league roster around them. The Dolan’s were not only underfinanced, they bought in at the highs…..and anyone else that bought that franchise at the time was going to have the same problem (I saw the announcement that the franchise was up for sale working in Oakland. Emailed friends in Cleveland – LOL’ing that Jocobs got out at the right time, that the new owner and the fans were going to get screwed).

          Until there’s total revenue sharing in MLB – which there will never be – franchises such as Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Oakland, Tampa Bay, Milwaukee, Miami, and others are going to have to deal with the fact that they are going to lose quality players that are not easy to replace.

          Sorry if reality doesn’t agree with you.

    • Col_chestbridge

      9 months ago

      They make roughly $40m a year with their cable deal. The Dodgers make over $200m, while 5 other teams make over $100m. That was according to Fangraphs’ last article about it.

      They do have a pretty high average ticket price. 6th highest in 2020 by Statista, TickPick had them as the 5th most expensive right now. However they do combine that with being in the bottom 10 in attendance even when they’re winning.

      So nothing particularly suggests they aren’t disadvantaged, revenue-wise

      Reply
  5. hunter8306

    9 months ago

    Tigers won’t be relevant again until a few years after they finally get rid of Avila. Guy has done nothing but make bad trade after bad trade and that’s not even considering some awful signings he’s made.

    Reply
    • Samuel

      9 months ago

      1. Most rebuilds fail. It takes a few years to realize it.

      2. The perception / expectation was that the Tigers rebuild was going to result in a group of youngsters that would be together through their 6 years of control, and would start competing this year. That isn’t what happened. If management felt that was working out there was no reason to bring in so many veterans this past offseason. They played a lot of youngsters they developed in 2021, and apparently felt that most of those guys wouldn’t amount to much. Based on 2022 results thus far, that could well be their thinking. With that as context, Christopher Ilitch’s comments make sense.

      3. The pattern the Tigers seem to be weaving is that they won’t be legitimate contenders in the next few years. However, it is POSSIBLE that within that time they will develop 6-8 quality players (maybe even a few stars) that can be the core of a contender. At that point the issue will be a combination of their continuing to develop young players, as well as make some astute trades, waiver claims / DFA signings, and a few FA signings. If that doesn’t come to pass then we can pronounce the rebuild as being a failure.

      In short – stick around and see what happens.

      Reply
      • Greenberg

        9 months ago

        Thanks for the novel.

        Reply
  6. fljay73

    9 months ago

    Take the Rays.
    Injuries have also hit them hard.
    Up until the doubleheader sweep on Saturday their offense was sputtering.
    The 2nd half the Tigers can play better & like the Rays as they get healthier can climb in the standings still.

    Reply
  7. TigerFan1968

    9 months ago

    Tigers are in the right division at least… Only the White Sox are big spenders and they do not scare anyone. Let’s just say Joey Gallo is a perfect fit for the Sox roster. I won’t get started on LaRussa today… As far as the Tigers…the hyped youngsters have to all come up, stay healthy, and show they are not hype… The Jays are a young team where all these things have jelled at the same time… Biggest problem for the Tigers is the youngsters have not stayed healthy especially the SP. Avila does need to go for sure…too many mistakes..

    Reply
    • The Saber-toothed Superfife

      9 months ago

      And so on and so forth…..

      Reply
  8. ohyeadam

    9 months ago

    If only the Padres had fallen off maybe the Twins could get Rogers back

    Reply
  9. baji kimran

    9 months ago

    The AL Central is a joke. Going into Sunday’s game with New York, the Yankees are 5-0 versus the Cleveland’s and have outscored them 38-12. The Cleveland’s are a combined 1-10 against New York, Boston and Houston this year. Even if they beat out Minnesota or Chicago for a playoff spot, it won’t matter as their journey in the post season will be a short one.

    Reply
    • IndianRye

      9 months ago

      Cry yourself a river.

      Reply
  10. misunderestimated

    9 months ago

    Chris Ilitch’s faith in Al Avila reminds me of old man Ford and Matt Millen with the Lions. Loyalty in spite of all the mounting evidence to the contrary.

    Reply
  11. Greenberg

    9 months ago

    The proper message should have been at the very least: “I’m not pleased with our results, but I feel we need to stay the course”.
    A real owner would have said: “I’m not pleased at all with the results. This is a performance based business and people who don’t perform will be replaced”.

    Reply

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