Linnwood Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 1 shy of 500 homers, Tigers release DH Gary Sheffield By JON PAUL MOROSI FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers released designated hitter Gary Sheffield this morning, a startling development and one that will force them to pay him $14 million this season even though he will never play a game for them. It's the second-highest amount owed to a released player in club history, behind Damion Easley's $14.3 million in 2003. The decision is surprising from a historical perspective, because Sheffield’s next home run will be the 500th of his career. The team was hopeful Sheffield would be a powerful presence at the plate in the final season of the $28 million, two-year contract extension it gave him after acquiring him from the Yankees for prospects. But he failed to deliver in large part because he often was injured. The move comes a day after the Tigers acquired outfielder Josh Anderson from Atlanta, forcing the team to make some tough decisions about its roster a week ahead of Opening Day next Monday in Toronto. Sheffield hit .178 in 18 games this spring. Sheffield said the Tigers told him that they wanted more versatility on their 25-man roster as the reason for his release. Sheffield said he still, “feels great” physically and would like to play this season. When asked if this is the end of his career, he replied, “It ain’t close.” Once he clears waivers, Sheffield will be able to sign with another team. He said he’d give preference to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who play close to his home. Free Press wire services contributed to this report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Wow, eating the cash and Gammons was marveling at how he was looking, how he would make a tremendous comeback. Ending at 499 couldn't happen to a more deserving asshole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Interesting. I wonder what the whole story is there, because I don't see the Tigers in a postion to just eat $14,000,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:31 AM) Interesting. I wonder what the whole story is there, because I don't see the Tigers in a postion to just eat $14,000,000. They had to pay it regardless. Maybe they want to keep the jerk from polluting their other players, and considering he isn't hitting this spring, he's always hurt and he's 40, he's probably done anyway. Some team will probably grab him, but stuck on 499 would be justice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Something must have happened behind the scenes or with Sheffield and Leyland. Either way, I think it shows that Detroit is almost basically committed to rebuilding. As for where Sheffield will end up, he'd actually make sense for a team like Seattle, but then they just signed Griffey Jr. I'm worried the Indians could sign him actually. They need power hitters, and their corner OF's aren't exactly top notch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:34 AM) They had to pay it regardless. Maybe they want to keep the jerk from polluting their other players, and considering he isn't hitting this spring, he's always hurt and he's 40, he's probably done anyway. Some team will probably grab him, but stuck on 499 would be justice. They could have sat on him, waiting to see if he hit at all, and still have the chance at turning him into tradebait. They could have saved something out of that salary potentially, even if it was on July 31st. By cutting him now, they lose even a small chance at that completely. For a team that lost a million seats worth of season ticketholders, it makes sense to even try to save a million or two out of that debacle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 QUOTE (DBAHO @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:53 AM) Something must have happened behind the scenes or with Sheffield and Leyland. Either way, I think it shows that Detroit is almost basically committed to rebuilding. As for where Sheffield will end up, he'd actually make sense for a team like Seattle, but then they just signed Griffey Jr. I'm worried the Indians could sign him actually. They need power hitters, and their corner OF's aren't exactly top notch. He's off the clear and the cream, has a bum shoulder and is old. I would love for the Indians to sign him. He is subtraction by addition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderBolt Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 (edited) Can he play Center? I'm kidding. Looks like their will be much Matt Joycing in Detroit this year. Nah, wait he gone. Marcus Thames, ay? Not impressed unless it's going to be Dewayne Wise out their shagging his long fly balls. Edited March 31, 2009 by Thunderbolt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 11:03 AM) He's off the clear and the cream, has a bum shoulder and is old. I would love for the Indians to sign him. He is subtraction by addition. I'd imagine that Shin-Soo Choo would be given a starting gig after putting up a .946 OPS in 317 AB's last season. The other spot should be wide open though. The likes of Delucci and Francisco didn't put up OPS's above .800, and they traded Gutierrez to Seattle in the Putz deal IIRC. They could sign Sheffield to platoon with Hafner at DH also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan562004 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 He'll get picked up by someone, he'll be cheap. He can probably go now or wait around and see if there's any injuries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klaus kinski Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I smell Minnesota picking him up- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILMOU Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 QUOTE (DBAHO @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 07:53 AM) I'm worried the Indians could sign him actually. They need power hitters, and their corner OF's aren't exactly top notch. Take another look. SS Choo may well be an MVP candidate this year. Guy can flat out rake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILMOU Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 08:03 AM) He's off the clear and the cream, has a bum shoulder and is old. I would love for the Indians to sign him. He is subtraction by addition. Yes, and a clubhouse cancer to boot. PLEASE sign him Shapiro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan562004 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 what's the Reds conrner OF situation? That's a hitters park Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotop Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 My guess is the Giants is where he'll land. Better suited to be a DH for an AL team to reduce risk of injury, but don't think there are many AL teams he fits with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witesoxfan Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 01:17 PM) Take another look. SS Choo may well be an MVP candidate this year. Guy can flat out rake. He hits the s*** out of the ball, but I'm not about to say that Shin-Soo Choo is an MVP candidate based on a half season, especially not when he's almost entirely a strict platoon player (.800 OPS last year, but somewhere around .700 for his career). I generally don't make assertions based on a half season of play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan562004 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 ESPN has the Phillies interested in Shef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderBolt Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 So, they fail to offer Burell arb, overpay for Ibanez, and are interested in Sheff. Not a good start for the new Phillies GM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santo=dorf Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 So, they fail to offer Burell arb, overpay for Ibanez, and are interested in Sheff. Not a good start for the new Phillies GM. They also flushed quite a few million down the drain today releasing Geoff Jenkins from his 2 year, $13 million deal signed last offseason. I love seeing Dombrowski fail. I'll post a breakdown of some of his big moves and signings later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 The Giants could use an angry old black man to play marginal LF and be a power hitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santo=dorf Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Here's the review I promised: December 11, 2001 Traded Juan Encarnacion and Luis Pineda to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Dmitri Young. Young was the star of the pathetic 2003 team which was the only time he posted an above league average OBP in the MLB. He had an embarrassing incident in 2006 getting in a fight with a woman where he had to spend 30 days in rehab. He was released in September 2006. From 2002-2006, Young made $36 million from the Tigers. July 5, 2002 (Standings) As part of a 3-team trade, traded Jeff Weaver to the New York Yankees and cash to the Oakland Athletics. Received a player to be named later, Carlos Pena, and Franklyn German from the Oakland Athletics. In addition, the New York Yankees sent Ted Lilly, John-Ford Griffin, and Jason Arnold (minors) to the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Athletics sent Jeremy Bonderman (August 22, 2002) to the Detroit Tigers to complete the trade. The Tigers took advantage of the desperate Yankees selling high on Weaver, with the Tigers getting a lot of empty power from Pena releasing him a year before his career year in Tampa Bay. Bonderman has always been overrated only posting a better than league average ERA in a full season ONCE in his career or even having a WHIP better than 1.30. Dumbrowski also managed to buy high on Bonderman giving him a 4 year, $38 million extension after the 2006 season. He was just placed on the DL. January 11, 2003 Traded Mark Redman and Jerrod Fuell (minors) to the Florida Marlins. Received Gary Knotts, Nate Robertson, and Rob Henkel (minors). Redman had a nice year for the World Champion Marlins, better than Robertson’s lone good year in 2006. Dave Dumbrowski bizarrely gave him a 3 year deal worth $21 million after posting a below league average ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 2007 December 15, 2003 Drafted Chris Shelton from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2003 rule 5 draft. Got one fluky month our of Shelton in 2005. Whoopee. Typical Pirates. December 19, 2003 Signed Fernando Vina as a free agent. Signed Rondell White as a free agent. There’s a good day. $6 million to Rondell who of course was hurt in both of his two seasons with the Tigers. He put up some good numbers for them in 2005, but it was only in 73 games. Pena got $6 million over two years to put up a 56 OPS+ in 29 games for the 2004 Tigers. January 8, 2004 Traded Ramon Santiago and Juan Gonzalez (minors) to the Seattle Mariners. Received Carlos Guillen Great trade. Typical Bavasi. Remember the rumor of a Jose Valentin-Guillen swap? That would have ruled. Guillen put up great offensive numbers at the shortstop for 4 years before getting moved to the corners of the infield last year. This year he is in LF where his defense has been questioned and his offensive numbers are slipping and he will not be a standout player if the trend continues. He has 3 years, $36 million left on his current extension. February 6, 2004 Signed Ivan Rodriguez as a free agent. 1 good offensive year (2004) and the Tigers bought high after I-Roid led the Marlins to a World Series Championship. I-Roid clashed with young pitchers and managed to draw 46 walks in over 1500 PA’s in the final three years of his contract. Doing the math, that’s about $696,000 per walk. In his prime Frank Thomas would have made $75.6 million a season if he was paid at that same rate. The Tigers once again got hold of the desperate Yankees at the 2008 deadline…more on that later. March 29, 2004 Signed Ugueth Urbina as a free agent. I-Roid was able to get the Tigers to sign his kissing buddy from the playoffs which earned Uggie $3.5 million in 2004 where he only save 21 games and posted a 99 ERA+ and a 1.30 WHIP. After the Tigers picked up his option for $4 million, he would post much better numbers but was traded for the weird-shaped headed, annoying slapper, Placido Polanco. After impressing Detroit for two months, big head would sign a four-year, $18.4 million contract extension. OPS+ wise, he had a weak year in 2006, was very good in 2007, and average in 2008. Polanco has turned out well for the Tigers and Urbina would later be thrown in a Venezuelan prison for attempted murder. In yet another sign of poor scouting and evaluation, Ozzie Guillen felt his buddy Uggie was innocent of all charges. November 18, 2004 Signed Troy Percival as a free agent. Troy had bad news written all over him with a decline in velocity, K’s, innings pitched, and a rise in WHIP from his glory days with the Angels. That didn’t stop the Tigers from giving him a 2 year deal worth $12 million. Percival pitched 29 innings in 2005 with a 5.76 ERA. He did not pitch in 2006. February 7, 2005 Signed Magglio Ordonez as a free agent. Maggs didn’t have much of a market going into the 2005 offseason due to his season ending knee injury in 2004 and by switching his agent to the greedy Scott Boras. It remains to be seen if Ordonez will be worth the contract as he will earn $75 million over five years but part of it is deferred after the first two seasons, and it could be worth as much as $105 million with options kicking in. He’s only had 1 year that resembles anything like his career with the Sox so far. February 9, 2005 Traded Roberto Novoa, Scott Moore, and Bo Flowers (minors) to the Chicago Cubs. Received Kyle Farnsworth. Great trade. Dumbrowski was able to take advantage of Jim Hendry who routinely sells low on major league players and at the time Farnsworth historically did well in odd numbered year. Farnsworth was traded to the Braves (where he posted even better numbers) for Zack Miner once the Tiggers fell out of the race. Farnsworth would be acquired by the Tigers again in another deadline deal from the New York Yankees. He put up garbage numbers for the rest of the 2008 season before the Royals signed him to an idiotic deal this past offseason. December 14, 2005 Signed Ryan Ludwick as a free agent. Betcha didn’t know that one. Ryan didn’t play in the majors but the next year he signed with the Cardinals and started hitting like a champ. December 15, 2005 Signed Kenny Rogers as a free agent. A hot-head, clubhouse cancer, Rogers had a great year for the Tigers in 2006 especially in the postseason where FOX exposed him using tar on his pitches. He was hurt in 2007 with average numbers and wasn’t good in 2008 before retiring. He made $24 million over 3 years with the Tigers for 1 good, cheating year. December 22, 2005 Signed Todd Jones as a free agent. A senior citizen who wasn’t too bad for the Tigers (5th in Cy Young with a 1.48 WHIP?) had a career year in Florida which just had all the element for Dumbrowski to cream his pants. He couldn’t strike out anyone to save his life, but as the contract rolled around he went from being “misleadingly effective” to “it’s time to retire now.” He made over $17 million from the Tigers after cashing in on his $1.1 million salary in Florida. July 31, 2006 (Standings) Traded Brian Rogers to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Sean Casey. The Tigers acquired the slow, zero powered, first baseman without giving up much, but Casey was so bad in 2006 he grounded out to the left fielder, Pablo Ozuna! Because he was such a nice guy, Casey took a pay cut from his bloated 2006 salary to $4 million, but still couldn’t find a way to slug over .400. August 20, 2006 (Standings) Traded Chris Robinson (minors) to the Chicago Cubs. Received Neifi Perez. What an idiotic trade made in the desperation of fat head’s injury. Perez put up a line of .200/.235/.215 in 21 games and in 2007, when he was already under contract for $2.5 million(!), he “hit” .172/.221/.266 in 33 games. November 10, 2006 Traded Humberto Sanchez, Anthony Claggett (minors), and Kevin Whelan (minors) to the New York Yankees. Received Gary Sheffield Three young pitchers for a clubhouse cancer and steroid user who was demanding for the Yankees not to pick up his option. They did, which shrunk their market, but Dumbrowski just had to piss away some more money by being forced to give Sheffield an extension. The result was 3 years, $39 million, for 1 decent year (due to a high walk rate) and an ass kicking by Carmona of the Indians. The Tigers flushed the final $14 million down the s***ter on March 31st , 2009 releasing Sheffield outright. December 8, 2006 Signed Brandon Inge to a 4 year, $24 million extension. Inge was universal enough to be a terrible hitter and commit many throwing errors at multiple positions, yet Dave just had to jump all over Brandon’s 27 HR season by throwing a ton of cash at him. Nevermind that his OPS+ for that particular year was 98 (below average) which was a decline from 2004 and 2005 (109 and 100, respectively.) Inge continues to free fall offensively seeing his OPS+ go to 80 and now 76 while demanding more playing time. December 11, 2006 Signed Jose Mesa as a free agent. Stevie Wonder could’ve seen this as a bad signing coming as Joe Table would put up an ERA over 12 in less than 12 innings before being released in early June. Final cost: $2.5 million October 29, 2007 Traded Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez (minors) to the Atlanta Braves. Received Edgar Renteria and cash . Bad deal. Dave must’ve been asleep when one his Florida buddies completely bombed in the AL two years before that. Jair showed some flair going 13-10 with a 3.68 ERA finishing 3rd in the rookie of the year balloting. Renteria had a decent average but no walking ability or power. It “only” costs the Tigers 2 young players and $10 million. November 12, 2007 Traded Omar Infante to the Chicago Cubs. Received Jacque Jones. It took the Tigers 6 weeks and $3 million to realize Jones wasn’t worth a s*** anymore. December 5, 2007 Traded Mike Rabelo, Andrew Miller, Eulogio De La Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Burke Badenhop, and Dallas Trahern (minors) to the Florida Marlins. Received Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Too early to tell what will pan out for the Marlins, but the Tigers emptied the farm for the prized jewel of the offseason in Miguel Cabrera. The Tigers wisely locked up Cabrera, but it didn’t come cheap. It came to the tune of 8 year, $153.3 million. That’s actually less than what the Tigers were offering Juan Gonzalez back in 2000 which they were very lucky for him to turn it down. Cabrera was terrible defensively at third and the Tigers were forced to swap Carlos Guillen with him at the opposite corner. Dontrelle Willis was showing clear signs of decline his previous two seasons in FLA, and would end up posting a heinous 35/18 BB/K ration in 24 innings along with giving up 18 hits. Of course that was AFTER the Tigers foolishly signed him to a 3 year, $29 million. What are your thoughts on Dave Dombrowski after these moves? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santo=dorf Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 That's a lot of s***ty Little Casear's Pizza. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benchwarmerjim Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 11:25 AM) I smell Minnesota picking him up- I think the Twins are pretty committed to Jason Kubel as their DH, since they gave him a nice contract in the offseason, and their are 4 other outfielders (Delmon Young, Carlos Gomez, Michael Cuddyer, and Denard Span) who are all going to compete for playing time. There would be no room for Sheff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthsideDon48 Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 QUOTE (santo=dorf @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 08:32 PM) Here's the review I promised: that was a very entertaining read :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderBolt Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:35 PM) The Giants could use an angry old black man to play marginal LF and be a power hitter. Barry Bonds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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