Detroit Tigers

By billfer As a baseball blogger, this week is one of the most exciting of the year. It doesn’t matter how good or bad your team is, news is likely to break and rumors will abound as every team tries to improve. Here at Detroit Tigers Weblog we’ll have the meetings thoroughly covered.

By Kurt Mensching It's a debate you find anywhere there are Tigers fans: Is general manager Dave Dombrowski good at his job, or is he "Dumbrowski"? So when I think of Dave Dombrowski, I think of a man placing his bets on a green-felt table. Thursday: Dave Dombrowski -- The Gambler.

By Kurt Mensching So the Yankees won the World Series last night, officially closing the curtains on the 2009 Major League Baseball season. Finally. So I don't know that Detroit will really be looking too far outside the organization for bullpen help.

By Ian Casselberry Speaking of second base, Fire Jim Leyland looks at Polanco's total value to the Tigers this season.  How much did Polanco contribute to the Tigers with his bat?  How much value did he provide with his glove?  And how does Polanco compare with other second basemen in baseball?

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 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...

By Kurt Maybe it's just one or two average months that keep Miguel Cabrera out of the discussion for the American League Most Valuable Player award each year. This column also available at Bleacher Report, where I am a Featured Columnist for the Tigers.

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 Kurt How many American League teams had more than one starting pitcher in the All-Star Game? Boston, sure. And then ... Detroit. That's it. The Red Sox had Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield, and the Tigers had Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson. Throw in rookie-of-the-year candidate Rick Porcello, cro...

By Kurt I don't think he necessarily projects to being an All-Star second baseman, but he might be able to hold down the position well enough in the future that the Tigers can worry about their deficiencies elsewhere. Minor League Splits Minor League Splits Minor League Splits

By Kurt We know the corner outfield spots could use an upgrade. Why? Well, because we watch the games as much as anything. But I wanted to look at how the Tigers rank against the rest of the American League, position by position, anyway. Left FieldJosh Anderson / Ryan Raburn71513th3.95th.

By Kurt Fan voting for the 2009 All-Star game closes within days. You might want to click that lil’ logo to the left there and vote for your favorite Tigers now. Of course, far be it from me to tell you your vote doesn’t matter, but with Miguel Cabrera in fourth place at first base, and both Placido Polan...

By Kurt A week ago, I looked at the Tigers 40 percent of the way through the season and generally liked what  I saw. The team isn’t perfect, but it is good enough to be leading the American League Central by four games almost halfway through the season. It had some flaws, but nothing overwhelming, comp...

By Kurt And we know as long as the Tigers keep pitching this well, they should remain in contention all year. Of course, the Tigers are not without holes, either. Some of them should really be dealt with to give Detroit a better chance at winning the division.

By Kurt So I look at a pathetic game like the Tigers played tonight and I say, “OK. Is this the continuation of a downfall that will ultimately see Detroit out of the race in August, or is this thing just temporary?”  Nothing is for certain. Tigers management might add a difference-making player. Mayb...

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 Willis — I am not going to make too much of today’s game. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement, but we should remember there were a couple of hard hit balls and Texas didn’t make Willis work real hard. However, Willis forced the issue by staying ahead in the count most of the night. He threw...

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 Kurt Hallelujah! It’s not 2008 all over again! We won’t have to wait for the eighth game of the season to feel the relief of winning a game. Any number of storylines could be pointed at today. The two with the most immediate impact were the pitching of Zach Miner and the batting of Miguel Cabrera. Not t...

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 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 Here's what we know: The Detroit Tigers are looking for a catcher.  The Texas Rangers have a surplus of catchers, and would like to trade one.  We also know that the Tigers are interested in Gerald Laird, but might not have the young starting pitcher that the Rangers would prefer in trade. 

By Marc Hulet For the third season in a row, Detroit received an unexpected contribution from a young outfielder. Matt Joyce did his best Brent Clevlen/Ryan Raburn (Who also plays the infield) impressions in 2008… and Detroit can only hope he doesn’t ...

By billfer Detroit Tigers Thoughts: Transactions Update Eddie rounds up all of the minor league transactions so far. Best Second Basemen of 2008 - Beyond the Box Score And Polanco ranked 5th among second basemen, bolstered by some strong defense. Best Center Fielders of 2008 - Beyond the Box Score...

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...

With about one month left in the season, the Tigers will continue to evaluate the current roster with an eye toward 2009.  Quite a few of the minor leaguers in the system have had an opportunity to show they belong in Detroit.   Several of them have shown promise.  Clete Thomas showed some spark...