Detroit Tigers

The Tigers today ended any suspense concerning the Andy Van Slyke coaching vacancy when they promoted Tom Brookens from Double A Erie manager to become the team's new first base, outfield and baserunning coach in 2010.

By Kurt Mensching Since 2006, he's been working his way up through the Tigers' minor league system as a manager: Short-A New York Penn League in 2005-06, Low-A Midwest League 2007, Double-A Eastern League 2008-09, and now the major league first base, outfield and running coach in 2010.

By Kurt Mensching Rodney Rodney had his best year as a Tiger in 2009. He may have made fans nervous, but he also successfully saved all but one game he entered. Lyon Like Rodney, Lyon likely had a career year in 2009. Like Rodney, Lyon would probably like to use that to get a multi-year deal. And like Rodney, he is a Ty...

By billfer Base running stats: Gerald Laird was one of the better base runners on the team at +11 bases. Ordonez was –17 and dragged down by his GIDP rate and the fact he went first to third in only 2 of his 27 chances.The Fielding Bible Awards: Placido Polanco and Brandon Inge ranked 6th at their respectiv...

By billfer Sorry for the late notice, but the Arizona Fall Leauge Rising Stars All Star game is tonight and is being televised. You can catch it on the MLB Network. If you don’t have the MLB Network the game is being streamed online. The Tigers are being represented by Casper Wells and Andrew Oliver and man...

The Tigers on Friday released Marcus Thames, who hit his share of big home runs in Detroit after he arrived in 2005.

By Kurt Mensching So the Yankees won the World Series last night, officially closing the curtains on the 2009 Major League Baseball season. Minnesota and Chicago should still be a challenge. Chicago should be considered the favorites. Cleveland is young, but not there yet, and I never expect anything out of...

By Ian Casselberry Tigers Tracks responds to Steve Kornacki's report that the Tigers have three candidates to take over Andy Van Slyke's vacancy on the coaching staff.  The three finalists are minor league coordinators Gene Roof and Mike Rojas, and Double-A Erie manager Tom Brookens.

The Phillies' star second baseman was drafted 15th overall in 2000, seven spots after a fella named Matt Wheatland, who made 16 appearances in the Tigers' minor leagues.

A year ago the Tigers had pitching problems and fired their pitching coach, Chuck Hernandez. Now, shouldn't the Tigers consider replacing their batting coach, Lloyd McClendon?

By billfer The Tigers need to reduce their roster to 40 players before the free agent filing period, which is the first 15 days after the end of the World Series). Matt Treanor, Mike Hollimon, Joel Zumaya, and Jeff Larish currently find themselves on the disabled list meaning that 4 of the current 44 pl...

By Dberg Wells is tearing it up in the AFL for the second straight year.  Don’t be surprised if the Tigers give him a chance this year, especially if Guillen remains perpetually injured or Clete stops hitting again.  And for an added bonus, he could spell Granderson in center field.

Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson has been named Marvin Miller Man of the Year by the MLB Players Association.

By Ian Casselberry Will Adam Everett be the Detroit Tigers' shortstop again next season? Or might the market take him out of their price range? At the end of his latest blog entry for the Detroit News, Tom Gage wonders if the Tigers' payroll for 2010 will allow them to re-sign shortstop Adam Everett:

By Ian Casselberry The Detroit Tigers Weblog talked to Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus, the industry's resident injury expert, about Scott Sizemore's ankle injury.  Carroll said Sizemore should be ready for Spring Training.  However, he's never seen a second baseman with the sort of tendon injury th...

If it's World Series time, it's generally time for Tigers owner Mike Ilitch and general manager Dave Dombrowski to talk money. One can surmise there isn't a lot of wiggle room heading into 2010.

By Ian Casselberry For those wondering why the Tigers didn't fire Lloyd McClendon as hitting coach after the season, perhaps the team reached many of the same conclusions as Bill Ferris did at The Detroit Tigers Weblog.  Did Tigers batters perform below expectations, compared to preseason projections? ...

By Ian Casselberry After last season, an issue that was quickly identified on the Detroit Tigers' pitching staff was the failure to throw strikes.  The Tigers moved quickly to remedy that problem by hiring Rick Knapp as pitching coach, hoping he would take the philosophy that he instilled in the Minnesota T...

By john.kmiecik 2009 Notes Inge played in his 1000th career game on April 13th in a 10-6 loss against the Chicago White Sox. Following his strong first half with 21 home runs, he was nominated to the All-Star Game in the Final Vote for the AL. Unfortunately he must have emptied the power tank on his way to the Hom...

By Kurt Mensching Miguel Cabrera gave his team a chance to win Tuesday, when he hit a home run in the tiebreaker game against Minnesota, just hours after saying he apologized this teammates for the poor decisions he made over the course of the biggest weekend of the season for the Tigers.

By billfer Jim Leyland claimed ignorance on what happened to Cabrera’s face. Trainer Kevin Rand issued a statement through the team denying any knowledge. That Dombrowski and Leyland both knew about the situation and chose to let him take the field in a pennant race absolutely sends the wrong messag...

Wednesday night's Tigers victory over the Twins set a ratings record for the team on Fox Sports Detroit. Detroit's 7-2 win earned a 15.6 rating

Detroit -- They were two conversations, one before a Friday night game against the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome two weeks ago, and one well afterward.

The second game of Tuesday's doubleheader at Comerica Park earned a 13.6 rating -- the highest Tigers rating on Fox Sports Detroit in 12 seasons.

Making his second start since coming back from an ankle injury that sidelined him much of the season, Peavy blanked the Tigers for seven innings on Friday night.

One chance per customer. Not two, seldom three. One. If you're going to beat Verlander, you better make the most of what's often one good opportunity per game.

On a night when Ernie Harwell's broadcast art and humanity were saluted at Comerica Park, it was no surprise the Tigers showed some of the same spirit.

It could have been any night at Tiger Stadium in the 1960s or '70s. A hot summer night, perhaps, or a chilly September one sharp with playoff hopes.

While he continues to search for his power stroke -- Ordonez had 268 home runs in his first 12 major league seasons -- he has raised his average considerably batting .376 (47-for-125) in his last 39 games, good enough for $18 million next season.

By Ian Casselberry One of the most intriguing (and vexing) aspects of this 2009 Detroit Tigers team is how quickly its fortunes seem to turn.  On Sunday, after losing two of three in Oakland, the prospects for success - whether for the rest of this road trip, or further down the lie - didn't look that promising. ...

Ichiro Suzuki homered to back Ian Snell's best start with Seattle in the Mariners' 3-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night. Ichiro Suzuki homered to back Ian Snell's best start with Seattle in the Mariners' 3-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.

Related articles from DetNews.com, FOXSports.com News for Tigers, Yahoo! Sports and more.

By Kurt In McClendon's first season as batting instructor, Magglio Ordonez had a career year. Curtis Granderson, in just his full major league season, hit 20 doubles, 20 triples and 20 home runs. That may turn out to be Granderson's best season in his career. The same year, Placido Polanco had a care...

By Ian Casselberry That's not quite what Dave Dombrowski told Jason Beck, however.  And FOXSports.com says the Tigers' GM has "remained aggressive" in pursuing a hitter. Baseball Digest Daily takes a look at the best defenders in each league this season, using Fangraphs' UZR/150 metric.  Check out who's the...

By Mike McClary Welcome to The Detroit Tigers Podcast. This is Episode #97, a four-minute podcast about the Detroit Tigers recorded live from Scottsdale, Ariz. This marks the final episode of the Detroit Tigers Podcast. I’m shifting my focus back to The Daily Fungo where you may find occasional podcasts,...

By Ian Casselberry Would the corner of Michigan and Trumbull be a good spot for a new hockey arena for the Red Wings?  Terry Foster addresses the question in the Detroit News.  I wonder if Corktown residents would really want another sports venue there.

By Kurt This is an interesting thought experiment that I saw posted on MLB Trade Rumors last night and thought I’d borrow. (It originated from Joel Sherman of the New York Post). Let’s pretend Major League Baseball wants to give a break to each of its 30 teams because the economy is so bad. The NBA did so...

By Ian Casselberry It certainly looked like Willis was going to unravel (he was obviously upset by the altercation with Pierzynski), as he served up a game-tying two-run homer to noted slugger Brian Anderson (one homer coming into the game) and walked the bases loaded in the fifth inning.  But despite the in...

By Ian Casselberry Take 75 North takes a quick look through the Tigers minor league system, highlighting one player at each level that stands out for good reasons, and another whose numbers are cause for concern.  This was written before yesterday's game, but it still applies: Hazaa wishes Jim Leyland wou...

By Ian Casselberry lt;p><img src="http://www.blessyouboys.com/images/admin/stripes_box.jpg" />&nbsp; Did <b><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/312/Jeremy_Bonderman" class="sbn-auto-link">Jeremy Bonderman</a></b>'s shoulder sur...

By Kurt I don’t typically do a series preview for Tigers’ opponents, but I’m making an exception this weekend, because the Oakland A’s are in town. First a little background. I’m a fan of the A’s — and not afraid to admit it!  Because I have a good friend in Oakland, I used to think of them as a secondary t...

By Mike McClary Welcome to The Detroit Tigers Podcast, the podcast for Tigers fans, by Tigers fans. This is Episode #68, a 5-minute podcast about the Detroit Tigers recorded live from Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.A. In this episode we debut our daily format for the podcast. Each day during the 2009 season we’ll c...

By Kurt No longer do the Tigers start a putrid-hitting Gary Sheffield and bat him third because he’s Gary Sheffield and he used to be good. They ate his salary for one reason: he’s not good now. No longer does Leyland look down at his bench for a pinch runner and realize his fastest player not in the game...

By Mike McClary Welcome to The Detroit Tigers Podcast, the podcast for Tigers fans, by Tigers fans. This is Episode #66, a 44-minute podcast about the Detroit Tigers recorded live from Scottsdale, Ariz., and Portland, Ore. In this episode we’re joined by Rob Neyer of ESPN.com, and the author of six books, in...

By Mike McClary Welcome to The Detroit Tigers Podcast, the podcast for Tigers fans, by Tigers fans. This is Episode #65, a 26-minute podcast Detroit Tigers recorded in March 2007 from Swifton, Arkansas, and Scottsdale, Arizona U.S.A. This episode was originally broadcast on March 14, 2009. In it we talk wit...

By Kurt Porcello is obviously the interesting one, and has the better chance of the two for going north to Detroit rather than to Double-A Erie. He cruised through his test in Lakeland — his first year in pro ball — with a 2.66 ERA. He only pitched 125 innings, but Verlander only threw 129 in his only year...

By Ian Casselberry Leaving Skelton unprotected is a decision the Tigers could end up sorely regretting if he's drafted by another major league team and ends up as their starting catcher down the line.  For an organization in need of young catching talent, it's a curious, almost baffling maneuver.

By Ian Casselberry With the Arizona Fall League entering the final couple weeks of its season, Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press has traveled to the southwest to get a look at the seven Tigers prospects playing out there.  (You can read his latest Freep.com blog post here.)  That puts him in Mr. McClary's n...

By Ian Casselberry First, we close the book on the miserable 2008 season (Mike has some thoughts on the lack of a contract extension for Jim Leyland), before shelving it in favor of 2009.  Among the topics of discussion are the hiring of new pitching coach Rick Knapp, what sorts of moves the Tigers could make th...

By Ian Casselberry In the past, Dombrowski has said he wants Leyland to be the Tigers' manager for "an extended period."  At this time last year, however, Leyland preferred to go on a year-by-year basis.  Is he trying to have it both ways?  Perhaps.  But maybe Leyland also didn't realize until late in this seaso...

By Samara Pearlstein Sheff now needs only one more homer to hit the arbitrary but still vaunted 500 mark. WILL HE MANAGE IT THIS SEASON??!?!? WILL HE DO IT IN A TIGERS UNIFORM?!!??? DO WE ACTUALLY CARE???!@? Jonesy: “I enjoyed the fight in Cleveland… I didn’t realize the second baseman, Cabrera, I get messed up w...