Detroit Tigers Ongoing 2016 Thread

[MiamiVice]

Baseball Prospectus, while being down on Detroit's long term future, feels the addition of Upton and Maybin may give the team one more year at a WS shot before the door begins to close. Like most, they wonder how long Illitch will keep spending money if, yet again, his pocketbook fails to get him that WS title. They predict Cabrera (if healthy) should put up numbers similar to last year. They also see Verlander having a solid season. (No mention of Zimmerman). The Cabrera and Verlander up-tick is matched on Fangraph projections. However, Fangraph also sees a regression from both Iglesias and Kinsler.

honestly... who cares about these projections... they are rarely correct. The computer models are notorious for taking time to actually adjust to a players break out. They had Kluber sucking ass last year.. and JD as well. They basically will have guys that have a long history of success having a good season and a player with a lesser history having bad... they don't really predict shit.

 

[Iffster]

F. Rodriguez
M. Lowe
A. Wilson
J.. Wilson (L)
B. Hardy (L)
B. Rondon ?????

IMO, Detroit needs to be looking hard to get another relief pitcher. The list above are the 6 (counting nutso) who have their foot in the door to be in the bullpen on opening day. Figuring at least 7 relief pitchers, that leaves 1 (or 2) openings. Of course Detroit has some in house options - VerHagen, Valdez, Nesbitt - and someone like Greene or Ryan could move in as long relief/spot starters. Myself...I'd like to see a trade, using OF spare parts and Holaday to get a veteran arm. If Illitch still wants to write checks...Tyler Clippard or Tommy Hunter are still available. No hurry...might be a spring training trade.

 

[Howie115]

Top Tiger worries....

1. Aging, delicate bodies (Cabrera, VMart, Verlander, Sanchez, Iglesias)
2. Questionable rotation (depth, experience of Norris/Fulmer, health)
3. Bullpen (will it cease to be a laughing stock of baseball?)

Another year of trying to slug their way into contention. Detroit will rebound from last season (if healthy) but how far is a question. In a parity league (AL)....85 wins might get them in the post season.

Injury potential is my biggest concern, too, and I know we are not alone there. Not worried about Iglesias being "delicate". His injury last year had nothing to do with his 2014 issues (shins). He got hit on the hand with a pitch and it broke his hand -- a freak thing. If the Tigers were in a pennant race, he would have returned in mid-September, but as they were about 12 games under .500 by then, it made no sense to activate him.

Rotation: Some concerns, but I feel it's better than last year, especially if Sanchez is healthy.

Bullpen: Still might be bottom-half of the league, albeit with a better closer. They don't need to be great, just not the sad-sack pile of puke they were last year. And a few more innings from the starters can only help. Besides being bad, the Tiger 'pen was way overused last year.

 

[Howie115]

F. Rodriguez
M. Lowe
A. Wilson
J.. Wilson (L)
B. Hardy (L)
B. Rondon ?????

Add Verhagen. They will likely go with 12 pitchers to start (7 relievers). Rondon is for sure a ????? for now. Clippard or Hunter or another veteran arm .... seems like a good idea until I consider what we got out of Gorzelanny last season.

 

[MiamiVice]

Injury potential is my biggest concern, too, and I know we are not alone there. Not worried about Iglesias being "delicate". His injury last year had nothing to do with his 2014 issues (shins). He got hit on the hand with a pitch and it broke his hand -- a freak thing. If the Tigers were in a pennant race, he would have returned in mid-September, but as they were about 12 games under .500 by then, it made no sense to activate him.

Rotation: Some concerns, but I feel it's better than last year, especially if Sanchez is healthy.

Bullpen: Still might be bottom-half of the league, albeit with a better closer. They don't need to be great, just not the sad-sack pile of puke they were last year. And a few more innings from the starters can only help. Besides being bad, the Tiger 'pen was way overused last year.

The Tigers pen was actually doing well into May.. when the injuries started taking tolls in the rotation... they started getting overworked and they never recovered. Laugh as much as you want... but Joe Nathan getting hurt really was a big reason the pen was shit. If he was healthy and pitching like he did in 2014 from July - season end.. the bullpen would have been much deeper.

 

[MiamiVice]

Add Verhagen. They will likely go with 12 pitchers to start (7 relievers). Rondon is for sure a ????? for now. Clippard or Hunter or another veteran arm .... seems like a good idea until I consider what we got out of Gorzelanny last season.

Verhagen is more of a sure bet than Rondon at this point. He will have to be out pitched by someone to lose his spot.

 

[MiamiVice]

I really wouldn't be surprised to see Buck Farmer pitch well out of the pen and get the 7th spot.

 

[Howie115]

I really wouldn't be surprised to see Buck Farmer pitch well out of the pen and get the 7th spot.

I keep thinking Ryan because he's a lefty. I look at Hardy's relative success ... I know Hardy is deceptive and "crafty", but Ryan throws harder and seems to have twice the "stuff" that Hardy has.

 

[MiamiVice]

I keep thinking Ryan because he's a lefty. I look at Hardy's relative success ... I know Hardy is deceptive and "crafty", but Ryan throws harder and seems to have twice the "stuff" that Hardy has.

Kyle Ryan is actually very similiar to Hardy.... Neither have big fastballs. Ryan topped out at about 89 mph last year. Hardy topped out at 88 mph last year.

Hardy doesn't walk a ton of batters and Ryan doesn't either (in the minors anyways as a starter at the MLB he walks way to many, but as a reliever he was solid)

I don't know if they will take both Hardy and Ryan because they are so similar. The last few bullpen spots are really going to come down to who looks the best in the spring. If Ryan has a big spring.. he will probably end up in the pen.

 

[MiamiVice]

Odd but true... Kyle Ryan actually was more effective vs righties last year than lefties. He got hit for .333 vs lefties and .282 by righties. He did give up more HR to righties by far.

 

[Howie115]

Kyle Ryan is actually very similiar to Hardy.... Neither have big fastballs. Ryan topped out at about 89 mph last year. Hardy topped out at 88 mph last year.

Just the eyeball test on my part. It just LOOKS like Ryan throws harder, I guess.

 

[MiamiVice]

My guess is

• Krod
• lowe
• Jwilson
• Awilson
• hardy
• verhagen
• rondon or montreal robertson

 

[MiamiVice]

Just the eyeball test on my part. It just LOOKS like Ryan throws harder, I guess.

he does seem to have better movement. he kind of came out of no where. he was like a 12th round pick and wasn't ever a highly rated prospect.. and he made the jump to MLB level quick.

 

[Howie115]

The Tigers pen was actually doing well into May.. when the injuries started taking tolls in the rotation... they started getting overworked and they never recovered. Laugh as much as you want... but Joe Nathan getting hurt really was a big reason the pen was shit. If he was healthy and pitching like he did in 2014 from July - season end.. the bullpen would have been much deeper.

Even the guys still in the rotation then were no help. I think Sanchez went through a stretch where he recorded 2 QS in about 12 or 13 starts. And Simon went through a similar stretch in the second half of the season.

 

[MiamiVice]

I like both Hardy and Ryan. Those are the kind of players you find and get value out of. Not every player needs to be a big name prospect or high priced talent to be useful.

 

[Howie115]

I like both Hardy and Ryan. Those are the kind of players you find and get value out of. Not every player needs to be a big name prospect or high priced talent to be useful.

Nice thing about Hardy is you don't have to automatically yank him when a RH batter comes up. Yes, he's better against lefties (.227) than righties (.272), but he's given up only 1 home run to a RHB in 230 PA. I'll take that for middle reliever.

 

[MiamiVice]

Even the guys still in the rotation then were no help. I think Sanchez went through a stretch where he recorded 2 QS in about 12 or 13 starts. And Simon went through a similar stretch in the second half of the season.

late may/ early june was a disaster for the rotation.. they went from 26-17 and 9 games over 500 to 28-28 in about 2 weeks. .. the only guy that was eating up innings was price. the bullpen was getting its ass kicked from may to june until verlander came back and slowly started putting up decent inning totals.

 

[MiamiVice]

Even though all the shit pitching last year... the Tigers were really still in it until they lost those 3 straight vs the twins before the trade deadline.

 

[Howie115]

Even though all the shit pitching last year... the Tigers were really still in it until they lost those 3 straight vs the twins before the trade deadline.

Really the perfect storm of injuries, ineffective starters, and guys who were supposed to help the bullpen (Nathan, Gorzelanny) being absent or terrible.

 

[MiamiVice]

Gorzelanny was a complete waste of roster space.. the fact they kept trotting him out there was retarded. The Tigers had better options in the minors.