2012 AL Central Catch-All thread

[southsider2k5]

Tom Gage ‏@Tom_Gage

 

waiting for 5:30 p.m. update from #Tigers trainer Kevin Rand about Fister - "MRI showed something," said Leyland.

[justBLAZE]

Tigers Avila just came out of the game getting a foul ball hit him straight in the mask. He might have broken his nose, as there was visible bleeding.

 

 

[chw42]

Tigers Avila just came out of the game getting a foul ball hit him straight in the mask. He might have broken his nose, as there was visible bleeding.

 

Ouch. Tigers look to be falling on some real bad luck.

[caulfield12]

Tigers do hold on to win the game and avoid the embarassing 4 game sweep.

 

Now 5 games behind the Sox and still 3 games under .500.

[southsider2k5]

paul hoynes ‏@hoynsie

 

Latest word of Roberto Hernandez, aka Fausto Carmona, is the he could be back in U.S. by All-Star break. #Indians.

[LittleHurt05]

paul hoynes ‏@hoynsie

 

Latest word of Roberto Hernandez, aka Fausto Carmona, is the he could be back in U.S. by All-Star break. #Indians.

 

Hurry up Fausto (or Roberto), the sooner he arrives, the better for the White Sox.

[Kyyle23]

Carmona will probably have a similar suspension that Oviedo(Leo Nunez) got, right? So he may be back by the All Star Break, but he will still have to sit for 2 months

[caulfield12]

Amazing finish to the Tigers/Yankees game.

 

Two Cabrera homers to take leads.

 

 

Papa Grande gives up a HBP, walk to Jeter, three total stolen bases in one inning, somehow retires Granderson, hits A-Rod to load the bases, Cano also amazing pops up with 1 out and bases loaded, walks TEX to tie the score 3-3....Ibanez was retired but the catcher dropped a foul pop-up and he eventually was retired on a groundout.

 

Feels like one of those season-changing games no matter which way it ends up.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2012 by caulfield12

[chw42]

Detroit threatening to win it. Who the hell is David Phelps? He sucks.

[fathom]

Tigers win

[southsider2k5]

Detroit Tigers ‏@tigers

 

Andy Dirks has been placed on 15-day DL with right Achilles tendinitis retro to 5/31. Matt Young's contract has been purchased from Toledo.

[witesoxfan]

My fantasy team takes yet another hit. First Weaver, now Fister. Ugh.

 

But I hardly know her!

[Cali]

As if it was possible for Valverde to become a bigger piece of s*** in my eyes, he goes and bleaches his hair and goatee.

[chw42]

As if it was possible for Valverde to become a bigger piece of s*** in my eyes, he goes and bleaches his hair and goatee.

 

He's becoming Jose Lima.

 

PAPA GRANDE TIME!

 

Que horrible salsa music!

[High Mileage]

Royals uber-prospect Wil Myers is dominating Triple-A with the Omaha Storm Chasers.

 

In 18 games, just 67 at-bats, Wil is hitting .343/.389/.716 with 6 homers and 18 RBI.

 

He's playing a fine centerfield as well.

[chw42]

Royals uber-prospect Wil Myers is dominating Triple-A with the Omaha Storm Chasers.

 

In 18 games, just 67 at-bats, Wil is hitting .343/.389/.716 with 6 homers and 18 RBI.

 

He's playing a fine centerfield as well.

 

Royals now a game back of Detroit.

 

If I told you that to start the year, you'd have thought the Royals would be in second place.

[caulfield12]

Royals uber-prospect Wil Myers is dominating Triple-A with the Omaha Storm Chasers.

 

In 18 games, just 67 at-bats, Wil is hitting .343/.389/.716 with 6 homers and 18 RBI.

 

He's playing a fine centerfield as well.

 

 

And someone at I-70 or whatever the Royals fan/blogsite is wants to trade him before he loses his value.

 

Because they have Butler, Hosmer, Moustakas, Gordon signed long term, Cain for CF (when healthy) and then Francouer in RF, and Dayton loves Frenchie!

Edited June 4, 2012 by caulfield12

[Balta1701]

And someone at I-70 or whatever the Royals fan/blogsite is wants to trade him before he loses his value.

 

Because they have Butler, Hosmer, Moustakas, Gordon signed long term, Cain for CF (when healthy) and then Francouer in RF, and Dayton loves Frenchie!

Is Omaha a really good hitters park or in a really good hitters league? These Royals guys seem like they tear up AAA and then none of them come up and rake at that level.

[caulfield12]

Option 1: Free Wil Myers!

 

Bringing Myers’ hot bat up to KC is probably the favorite option amongst Royals fans, but the question is, where? Jeff Francoeur and Alex Gordon are both under contract for at least the next two years and the club still has no idea what it has in Lorenzo Cain. Mike Moustakas is firmly entrenched at third. The only real option this season would be to send Eric Hosmer down for seasoning and bring Myers up to DH and spell outfielders while Billy Butler plays first. I don’t like the idea of Hosmer in Omaha or Billy Butler playing first base.

 

Of course you could avoid that whole mess by trading one of these big leaguers for starting pitching help…but who? I doubt anyone wants Gordon’s new contract until he proves last year wasn’t a fluke, and then Dayton Moore wouldn’t trade him anyway. Francoeur is coveted by no one as much as he is by Dayton Moore. Lorenzo Cain is injured. So that leaves Mike Moustakas…but really, if you’re going to trade Moustakas why wouldn’t you just…

 

Option 2: Trade Wil Myers

 

There is something to be said for trading players at their peak values, but this is not something the Royals have excelled at. Myers would probably bring a nice haul of prospect arms, but the Royals have shown that prospect arms rarely turn into starting rotation arms. Trading Myers for a starting pitcher would prove even more difficult. Most of the pitchers available on the market are free agents at the end of this season. Why in the world would you trade a prospect that you control for the next 6 years for a rent-a-starter when you are 10 games under .500?

 

So that leaves the only option as packaging Myers with other prospects for a pitcher you can control for 2+ years. Honestly, the list of good young pitchers locked up for 2+ years and available is ridiculously short. Of course, that lack of supply makes demand ridiculously high, which to me means trading Wil Myers is probably a bad solution.

 

Option 3: Platoon Wil Myers

 

I kid, I kid. I assume the Royals will not give Myers the Johnny Giavotella treatment. However, as much as this organization loves utility infielders, can we completely rule out the utility slugger? Myers can conceivably play all three outfield positions, third base and first base. Obviously he could fill in at DH as well. I wouldn’t put it past this organization to bring Myers up and play him 5 days a week at a different position each day.

 

Honestly, I am not sure I have the solution. Even though I hate option three, it would at least help the lineup. Best case scenario? Frenchy keeps up his current streak and we trade him and Broxton for a couple of AA All Stars in July, freeing up Wil Myers to play RF and Kelvin Herrera to get a chance to close. Of course, the idea of Dayton Moore trading Frenchy is like asking my 10 year old to give up his Xbox…you can’t fight love.

 

 

http://www.i70baseball.com/2012/05/29/is-i...rade-wil-myers/

 

Loved the post at the bottom about how the Braves "almost" pried Adam Jones away from the Orioles for Jurrjens and Prado. I suppose Royals fans want the same deal for the unproven Myers.

 

 

[southsider2k5]

paul hoynes ‏@hoynsie

 

Carlos Santana DHing and hitting fourth for #Indians tonight vs. Tigers. Santana (concussion) just off the DL.

[flavum]

Every team has at least 27 in the book now. First 27 (1/6 of the season):

 

Cle 16-11

Det 14-13

Sox 13-14

KC 9-18

Min 7-20

 

KC and Min---later. It's been real.

 

Det played like crap and still ended up over .500.

Cle overachieved. Sox underachieved.

 

We'll check back at Game 54.

 

Games 28-54

 

Sox 18-9

KC 15-12

Min 14-13

Cle 13-14

Det 11-16

 

Games 1-54:

 

Sox 31-23 -

Cle 29-25 2

Det 25-29 6

KC 24-30 7

Min 21-33 10

[caulfield12]

But the scariest, and most telling numbers of all, are in the fielding. These numbers don’t lie. Before the season started, some argued that the Tigers couldn’t expect to win anything as long as they couldn’t catch and throw. The counter to that was that the starting rotatition and the starting lineup were so strong that they could overcome that deficiency. Right now, the Tigers are not good enough to overcome that fielding.

 

There’s no stat that I’m aware of that tells you how many extra outs a defensive team gives its opponent. But watching the Tigers closely, it’s easy to assume that they’re giving the other teams three or four extra outs a game. And these just aren’t errors like the two committed by Omir Santos the other night in the lone win over the Yankees. The Tigers have committed the 11th most errors in baseball (37). But beyond those, the Tigers aren’t making the good plays. Beyond that, at times the Tigers lack the range to make even the most basic plays.

 

In a loss to the Red Sox last week, the major story coming out of the game was the blown call on what should have been strike three to Mike Aviles in the second inning. Lost in the shuffle was the fact that the Tigers committed zero errors on the afternoon. Good game, right? But Prince Fielder missed two balls and Miguel Cabrera bobbled another that didn’t go down as errors but were clear miscues by both players. Those two are the biggest offenders, but players like Delmon Young, Brennan Boesch and even Jhonny Peralta lack the range that turn hits into outs. Good teams can overcome some of those plays. Struggling teams just struggle more.

 

And perhaps the truest number of all is this: The Tigers have turned only 34 double plays this season, worst in the American League and better than only the Padres in all of baseball. When a team successfully records one out in a double play, the error doesn’t get recorded as such even if a player makes a miscue. But more than that, a double play is often the result of quickness and accuracy. And this infield defense is neither quick nor accurate. So instead of cutting down the number of outs that a struggling pitching staff needs to record, the Tigers are extending that number — to the detriment of the entire team.

 

I was one of those who dismissed the fielding woes as a minor hiccup during spring training. And when Cabrera started the year playing a relatively strong third base, optimism soared. But this is a flawed way to play baseball. And when only three or four hitters are hitting and only one or two pitchers are throwing well, it becomes impossible to overcome.

 

A lot of people are figuring that the Tigers will come around because the hitting will come around. The scary thing is that the hitting is actually performing pretty well, at least statistically. Will the pitching come around? Perhaps.

 

Will the fielding come around? Nope. This is this way it is. And it’s proving to be the fatal flaw in this baseball team.

 

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20120605/SPOR...ers-worst-enemy

[balfanman]

But the scariest, and most telling numbers of all, are in the fielding. These numbers don’t lie. Before the season started, some argued that the Tigers couldn’t expect to win anything as long as they couldn’t catch and throw. The counter to that was that the starting rotatition and the starting lineup were so strong that they could overcome that deficiency. Right now, the Tigers are not good enough to overcome that fielding.

 

There’s no stat that I’m aware of that tells you how many extra outs a defensive team gives its opponent. But watching the Tigers closely, it’s easy to assume that they’re giving the other teams three or four extra outs a game. And these just aren’t errors like the two committed by Omir Santos the other night in the lone win over the Yankees. The Tigers have committed the 11th most errors in baseball (37). But beyond those, the Tigers aren’t making the good plays. Beyond that, at times the Tigers lack the range to make even the most basic plays.

 

In a loss to the Red Sox last week, the major story coming out of the game was the blown call on what should have been strike three to Mike Aviles in the second inning. Lost in the shuffle was the fact that the Tigers committed zero errors on the afternoon. Good game, right? But Prince Fielder missed two balls and Miguel Cabrera bobbled another that didn’t go down as errors but were clear miscues by both players. Those two are the biggest offenders, but players like Delmon Young, Brennan Boesch and even Jhonny Peralta lack the range that turn hits into outs. Good teams can overcome some of those plays. Struggling teams just struggle more.

 

And perhaps the truest number of all is this: The Tigers have turned only 34 double plays this season, worst in the American League and better than only the Padres in all of baseball. When a team successfully records one out in a double play, the error doesn’t get recorded as such even if a player makes a miscue. But more than that, a double play is often the result of quickness and accuracy. And this infield defense is neither quick nor accurate. So instead of cutting down the number of outs that a struggling pitching staff needs to record, the Tigers are extending that number — to the detriment of the entire team.

 

I was one of those who dismissed the fielding woes as a minor hiccup during spring training. And when Cabrera started the year playing a relatively strong third base, optimism soared. But this is a flawed way to play baseball. And when only three or four hitters are hitting and only one or two pitchers are throwing well, it becomes impossible to overcome.

 

A lot of people are figuring that the Tigers will come around because the hitting will come around. The scary thing is that the hitting is actually performing pretty well, at least statistically. Will the pitching come around? Perhaps.

 

Will the fielding come around? Nope. This is this way it is. And it’s proving to be the fatal flaw in this baseball team.

 

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20120605/SPOR...ers-worst-enemy

 

This is why I can not see Tigers as anything more than a slightly above average team when they're hitting well, which they seem to be.

 

The division is ours for the taking! Let' just do it.

[southsider2k5]

paul hoynes ‏@hoynsie

 

Saw Victor Martinez after game. Says there's a chance he could play in Sept. Had 2 operations on left knee. #gooddude #Indians.

[flavum]

Alex Avila to the DL, hamstring.