2012 AL Central Catch-All thread

[caulfield12]

DELETE

 

Stupid internet here in China while I'm using proxy/VPN to get on FB always double-clicks.

 

There's been so many issues with it since the BO XILAI/murder mystery/corruption case broke into the public eye, and the blind human rights attorney that Christian Bale unsuccessfully tried to visit while here in China also escaped from his guards sometime yesterday to Beijing as well.

 

FWIW, the Jason Shank at FB is from Nebraska, lives in Schaumburg, is a big Nebraska Cornhuskers fan and went to Robert Morris.

Edited April 27, 2012 by caulfield12

[chw42]

DELETE

 

Stupid internet here in China while I'm using proxy/VPN to get on FB always double-clicks.

 

There's been so many issues with it since the BO XILAI/murder mystery/corruption case broke into the public eye, and the blind human rights attorney that Christian Bale unsuccessfully tried to visit while here in China also escaped from his guards sometime yesterday to Beijing as well.

 

FWIW, the Jason Shank at FB is from Nebraska, lives in Schaumburg, is a big Nebraska Cornhuskers fan and went to Robert Morris.

 

You can delete posts yourself actually, there's an option when you click the edit button on your post.

[caulfield12]

Tigers are bringing up 31 year old Brad Eldred to be an occasional DH. 13 HR's in 20 games. 9 doubles and a triple. Adam Dunn comp, lol. .204 major league hitter. (Did he play for the Knights or Barons?)

 

He of the Dave Kingman power, high K rate and Bull Durham comparisons (Crash Davis/Phil Nevin/Chris Shelton, etc.)

 

 

Below will continue to start...Fister making progress but still a ways from getting a rehab start.

[caulfield12]

http://www.freep.com/article/20120428/SPOR...ree-agent-value

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20120428/COL0...y=mod|nextstory

 

 

Eldred's bat breaks in half...Ibanez dives for it, misses and it goes all the way to the wall for a triple.

 

36 RBI's in 20 games this year.

 

Unfortunately for the Tigers, they couldn't drive in the runner from 3rd with no outs.

 

 

Looks like Kelly, Eldred, Peralta and Ryan Raburn will be the Tiggers' version of our bad offense at the bottom of the order.

 

 

Verlander walking 17 guys in 24 IP, surprising. By the way, Eldred has 240 career minor league home runs.

Edited April 28, 2012 by caulfield12

[clyons]

At that time, they couldn't charge John Rocker with a hate crime because it wasn't yet covered by the Federal statutes, right?

 

For his anti-gay, homophobic comments? He was basically just ostracized and derided out of the game...that and injuries took his pitching ability away.

 

IIRC, Rocker's comments were made indirectly to a reporter; he didn't actually harass the people he was deriding, so there wasn't anyone directly vicitimized by a "crime."

[High Mileage]

KC now with 3 wins in a row after losing 12 straight. Alex Gordon and Billy Butler are hitting well, still no pitching though.

[caulfield12]

Young made the comments to a panhandler that he thought was Jewish...the confrontation was with other men who overheard the situation as they were passing by...or possibly felt he was calling them a derogatory term for being Jewish, but that's not 100% clear.

 

 

[Balta1701]

Here's a look at where the Tigers are sitting right now...it feels about as positive as where the White Sox feel right now.

That 4-0 start seems like a long time ago to Tigers fans. After starting 9-3, the Tigers have gone 2-8, they've been outscored by 10 runs on the season and their flaws have been exposed like a leaky pipe -- drip, drip, drip, a slow understanding that something isn't right. Detroit doesn't appear to be the super team it looked the first week of the season, but rather a team with little depth in the bullpen, a starting rotation that is relying too heavily on Justin Verlander, poor defense, and a lineup that needs Alex Avila and Peralta to start hitting.

 

Leyland showed some frustration after Sunday's loss, telling MLB.com that a crucial 2-2 pitch to Derek Jeter that he checked his swing on and was called a ball wasn't a bad call, even though catcher Laird said Scherzer hit his target. "That's all excuse stuff," Leyland said. "That Jeter pitch was a close pitch, but when you're that wild, you're not going to get close pitches."

[caulfield12]

They've "only" won 3 of the 5 games that Verlander has started, too.

 

I think one of them was blown by Papa Grande, and they got the win in the bottom of the 9th or 10th. Another game, Justin fell apart after dominating going into the last inning. Then there was the 7-6 lose to the Yankees

 

Last year, Verlander had 34 starts, the Tigers won 25 of them and lost 9 (Justin only 5 losses personally).

 

So a .735 vs. .600 winning percentage for the first month, or a one game shift. So even with his 2011 version, they'd likely be only tied for first with CLE.

 

 

The big differences to me:

 

Peralta was a huge force last year, this year not so much.

Loss of Victor Martinez's RBI bat.

Avila hasn't been nearly as good (offensively) as he was last year.

Bullpen...obviously nobody's going to go 49/49 two seasons in a row in save conversions, but their middle relief has been average at best.

Loss of Fister, although Smyly has pitched well.

 

 

 

[southsider2k5]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,5901181.story

 

The Cleveland Indians announced on Monday that outfielder Johnny Damon will join the team in Chicago on Tuesday, when the Indians arrive to begin a three-game series with the White Sox.

 

Damon, 38, has been in extended spring training at the team's complex in Arizona since signing a minor-league contract on April 17. Cleveland will need to make a corresponding move to clear space for the two-time All-Star on the active roster.

 

The Indians will be Damon's seventh MLB team, all of them in the American League. He hit .261 with 16 home runs and 73 RBI in 150 games last year for the Rays. For his career, Damon has a .286 lifetime batting average with 231 home runs and 1120 RBI in 2426 games with the Royals, A's, Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers and Rays.

 

The Indians (11-9, first in AL Central) face the White Sox (11-11, second in AL Central) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

[southsider2k5]

Tigers released Brandon Inge.

 

The A's picked him up.

 

David Feldman ‏ @dfeldy

Eric Chavez played his last game at 3B for the #Athletics on 4/24/09 - Brandon Inge will be the 18th to play 3rd for the A's since.

[flavum]

Tigers/Royals rained out. Verlander will still pitch Wednesday, so the Sox will miss him.

[caulfield12]

Damon will join the Indians Tuesday.

 

Hideki Matsui signed a minor league deal with the Rays.

 

The D-Backs/Towers are going to the Dominican this week to scout Vladimir Guerrero. Not sure where he would play in the NL, maybe just as an experienced PHer? Can they teach him 1B? That would be a stretch. Plus, they've already got Goldschmidt there.

[Kyyle23]

Damon will join the Indians Tuesday.

 

Hideki Matsui signed a minor league deal with the Rays.

 

The D-Backs/Towers are going to the Dominican this week to scout Vladimir Guerrero. Not sure where he would play in the NL, maybe just as an experienced PHer? Can they teach him 1B? That would be a stretch. Plus, they've already got Goldschmidt there.

 

What is the AL Central connection with those last two?

[Balta1701]

MLB has issued Delmon Young a 7 day suspension.

[southsider2k5]

MLB has issued Delmon Young a 7 day suspension.

 

steve rosenbloom ‏ @steverosenbloom

Delmon Young got 7 games for anti-semitic comments, and I’m thinking, he's dumb enough to appeal his punishment to the Jewish commissioner.

[southsider2k5]

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/149577615.html

 

Article by: JOE CHRISTENSEN , Star Tribune

Updated: May 1, 2012 - 7:14 AM

 

The Twins sent Justin Morneau back to the Twin Cities to have his surgically repaired left wrist seen by a doctor.

 

ANAHEIM, CALIF. - Justin Morneau's apparent run of good health to start the 2012 season ended abruptly Monday night when he left the Twins' 4-3 loss to the Angels because of soreness in his surgically repaired left wrist.

 

Morneau will fly back to the Twin Cities on Tuesday to see Dr. Thomas Varecka, who performed surgery to stabilize a tendon in the same wrist in October. Morneau, who expects to have a magnetic resonance imaging exam, said the wrist began bothering him during the Twins' series at Tampa Bay April 20-22 and was particularly painful when he struck out against Los Angeles lefthander C.J. Wilson in his second at-bat Monday.

 

"Hopefully it's just inflammation from [scar tissue] breaking up, and it just got a little irritated from a swing or whatever it is," Morneau said. "But the [tendon] doesn't feel lose, which is a good sign. So I'll stay positive and hope it's part of the process."

 

In 2011, Morneau had four surgeries on various body parts and suffered a season-ending concussion in August. Injuries limited the 2006 American League MVP to 69 games. This year, he has played in 20 of the Twins' 22 games, batting .230 with four homers and 13 RBI.

 

"Obviously he's a huge factor in our lineup," said Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn, who gave up three runs over six innings to fall to 0-3. "He's been squaring so many balls up so far this season, his numbers don't really show what he's been doing at the plate. He's been crushing the ball."

 

So has Torii Hunter. The Angels outfielder haunted his old team again with an RBI single in the first inning and a two-run homer in the fourth. Chris Iannetta's seventh-inning homer off Alex Burnett made it 4-0.

 

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire used Sean Burroughs to pinch hit for Morneau in the seventh inning. Joe Mauer, sitting out after taking a foul off his knee Sunday, was available to pinch hit, but had he reached base, the Twins would have had to pinch run for him, Gardenhire said.

 

Burroughs went 0-for-2, grounding out for a big second out in the eighth inning, when the Twins scored all their runs.

 

The Twins got RBI hits in the eighth from Alexi Casilla, Span and Danny Valencia, but Angels reliever Scott Downs got Ryan Doumit to ground out, halting the rally. Downs also pitched the ninth, overcoming a two-out single by Casilla for his second save.

 

"Tough night," Gardenhire said. "We were into the ballgame all the way to the end. C.J. shut us down for the first seven. We made havoc there at the end, but unfortunately we couldn't come up with one more to tie the ballgame up or take the lead."

 

At a major league-worst 6-16, the Twins have lost seven of their past eight games and now they are without Morneau again. The earliest he will be back is Friday in Seattle. He doesn't even want to think about the prospect of another surgery.

 

"I'm not going to play worst-case scenario yet," he said. "I'm going to try to stay positive, and hopefully it's just a normal part of the process and will just be a couple days and maybe [it] needs a cortisone shot or maybe some rest. So I'll stay optimistic now until I hear different."

[southsider2k5]

Scott Miller ‏ @ScottMCBS

#Twins recall C Drew Butera, expected put Justin Morneau on DL later today.

[caulfield12]

Tigers start out with five hits and an ill-advised Hosmer throw to home plate resulting in an error CONSECUTIVELY. Looks like batting practice against Hochevar. He's definitely not 100% after that ball went off his ankle in the Royals' home opened when he gave up 7 in the first inning to the Indians. All of his pitches look fat and lazy, not a good recipe for success against DET.

 

 

5-0 lead now and 7 batters in a row have reached. Only 17 pitches thrown so far. Still no outs. Runners on 1st and 2nd.

 

Yost has absolutely got to be fired and soon, this is a complete mess. Finally Santiago hits into a double play.

 

Hosmer mired in the 180's, although supposedly he's been taking good swings, just hitting in bad luck.

 

And Yuniesky Betancourt should never be allowed to play a middle infield position with his complete lack of range. There was a play Beckham easily would have made, which would have resulted in a tailor-made DP and the Royals would still be in the game.

Edited May 1, 2012 by caulfield12

[LittleHurt05]

Tigers start out with five hits and an ill-advised Hosmer throw to home plate resulting in an error CONSECUTIVELY. Looks like batting practice against Hochevar. He's definitely not 100% after that ball went off his ankle in the Royals' home opened when he gave up 7 in the first inning to the Indians. All of his pitches look fat and lazy, not a good recipe for success against DET.

 

It sounds like he is 100% to me. He is just really bad at pitching a baseball.

[Cali]

It's so odd that playing the Royals is gonna be huge test for the Sox this season cause the Royals are terrible. There is no reason they should give the team the same fits it had the last few seasons. None.

 

Ironically, the second Minnesota became irrelevant in the division they Sox showed they could beat them, lets hope that continues. They should beat up both KC and Minny this season easily. So far so good vs. the Central. Gotta keep it up.

[caulfield12]

Hochevar usually throws 94-96.

 

He was down in the low 90's for most of that game. I think he's wearing some type of brace or support on his ankle and you can tell he's not yet 100% comfortable out on that mound.

 

Even at 100%, he's frighteningly inconsistent.

 

 

 

Royals up 2-0 over Verlander in the late innings. Jonathan Sanchez with a very solid start.

Now KC has their own 100 MPH thrower out of the pen, Kelvin Herrera.

 

Verlander just blew away Hosmer with a 100 MPH fastball on his 123rd pitch. Last time in KC, he went 131 for the CG. Bottom of the 8th, still 2-0 KC with Crow on, Broxton theoretically next.

Edited May 2, 2012 by caulfield12

[greg775]

It's so odd that playing the Royals is gonna be huge test for the Sox this season cause the Royals are terrible. There is no reason they should give the team the same fits it had the last few seasons. None.

 

Ironically, the second Minnesota became irrelevant in the division they Sox showed they could beat them, lets hope that continues. They should beat up both KC and Minny this season easily. So far so good vs. the Central. Gotta keep it up.

 

The Royals are not terrible. They had a bad month. They do have terrible pitching. I guarantee you they will at least split with the Sox. They'll probably win the season series against the Sox. If Broxton stays healthy, they'll win some games. Their everyday players are better than the Sox's or at least equivalent. Those that pump sunshine about the Sox are great people, it's commendable, but how many years of substandard baseball do you need to see to realize the Sox are very flawed themselves.

It would help if the Sox could rock Chen this year. He's still Chen, not real good.

Edited May 4, 2012 by greg775

[caulfield12]

The Indians continuing to impress, going for their 4th straight home victory after being atrocious at home to start the season.

 

Beat the Rangers (now in a three-game losing slide) and mounted a nice comeback against Adams to put the game tonight into extras.

Tied 2-2 in the 10th in CLE.

Edited May 6, 2012 by caulfield12

[jeffro2525]

The Indians continuing to impress, going for their 4th straight home victory after being atrocious at home to start the season.

 

Beat the Rangers (now in a three-game losing slide) and mounted a nice comeback against Adams to put the game tonight into extras.

Tied 2-2 in the 10th in CLE.

 

I've never seen a team get away with so much crap. How many times did they walk a lead-off man in the Sox series and get away with it?

 

They just walk Andrus to lead off the 10th (Something that should kill you vs. Texas)...and bad baserunning bails them out of the innings (much like in the Sox series this week). They are just going through a real fortunate patch right now. I hope the Sox get one of those this season.