Dombrowski Gets Praise for Deadline Trade Moves Once Again

While not all of Dombrowski's moves have worked out in the past at the deadline, I would probably argue that at the time I agreed with the vast majority of them. He has filled holes we have needed if he could, but that wasn't always an option with the costs of some of the pieces that were needed at the time. Even the Edgar Renteria trade that sent away Jair Jurrjens to Atlanta I completely agreed with. In fact, I still don't get why they let him go after that year when he hit about .270 and brought in a guy I can't even rmeember his name for his defense and his .200 BA to play next to Brandon "I hit .200 too!" Inge for a couple years. Seriously, I have blocked the guys's name from my mind.

This year the biggest move was to send Avisail "Little Miggy" Garcia over to the Red Sox to pick up their current name of the week middle infielder Jose Iglseias. I was familiar with him due to having him on my fantasy team for about 3 weeks earlier in the season when he was still hitting over .400 after about 150 ABs. Obviously, I knew he was going to be dropped off my team sooner rather than later, and had dropped him at least 3 weeks before the Tigers acquired him in the deal. His minors numbers as a hitter are unspectacualar, and his BABIP was at insane levels where there was no fantasy benefit in the guy anymore because he brought no power,m speed, or run production for being at such a high average. You don't get points for defense in fantasy so it wasn't much of a decision to drop him after the average started to slip. Still hitting around .330 when he got to Detroit many were a bit over-excited I thought,b ut it was still a move that needed to be made in light of a possible suspension looming for Jhonny Peralta that could come at any time. Plus he was in his final year so it was a move that gave us a guy under control for a few more years at a very reasonable price much like the guys we got in the Granderson deal.

In a separate deal, the Tigers acquired relief pitcher Jose Veras from the Houston Astros for minor-league outfielder Danny Vasquez and a player to be named later.

While some may claim that the Tiges had a better team last year I highly disagree. At least from a playoff roster anyways. The pitching depth on this team is far better than it was last year and the lack of Big Potato as the closer makes a big difference. One of the best moves of the year, and I wanted this from the start, was to keep Rick Porcello. That allowed us to have 6 rotational starters on the roster with Smyly in the bullpen as a lefty that could go long relief if needed,or to spot start. This will make a huge difference in the playoffs I think as it did for teams like Texas when they have beaten us in the past. This is the year for the World Series ring rather than just ceramic rings.

Here's what ESPN.com's Jayson Stark had to say about the Tigers' moves:

"Every year at the deadline, it never ceases to amaze us how difficult it seems to be for half the GMs in baseball to make a trade -- and how easy Tigers maestro Dave Dombrowski makes it look. 'He did what he always does,' one of his admiring peers said of Dombrowski. 'He did what he needed to do. Dave is your classic old-school GM. He says, "I'm going to fill my holes." And then he did.

"He resisted the temptation to overpay, on every level, for a big bullpen name like Jonathan Papelbon and instead reeled in Jose Veras to set up for Joaquin Benoit. And with his shortstop, Jhonny Peralta, in danger of disappearing down the Biogenesis sinkhole, Dombrowski roared in quietly at the last minute and traded for Iglesias, a massive defensive upgrade for an infield in serious need of a massive defensive upgrade.

" 'I know everybody wanted them to go get some big name to pitch the back end of the game,' one NL executive said. 'But if they lose Peralta and they don't have a guy like this to replace him, that's just as big. I thought they got exactly what they needed. And I know they actually wanted more [bullpen] pieces and tried like hell to get one. But they've already done well. And I'm sure they'll be shopping that waiver wire next month.' "

Victor Martinez Getting Hot

We all figured it would take a while for VMart to get his timing back this year and get back to his regular high bA after spending an entire season recovering from his knee injury. Coming into June he was still struggling with a low .200s batting average and it was starting to get a bit frustrating. He was still contributing, but nowhere near the level he is known for. While he is basically a full-time DH now, and doesn't take to the field with his maui jims, he does get a few spot starts here and there.

The past couple games he has raised his average 15 points by going 5-8 with 2 HR and is 10-29 his last 9 games with 3 HR. Already leading the league in batting average the Tigers can only get more dangerous on offense. VMart is in the 5th slot in the lineup, which tends to be a major straw stirrer when it comes to turning the lineup over. If he gets rolling behind Prince and Miggy it could be time for a serious Tigers winning streak.

Prince Fielder Vying for the 3rd Straight Detroit Tiger MVP

It is great to be a Tigers fan right now. We have arguable the best hitter, and starting pitcher in baseball right now with Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander. We have an owner who has no regard for costs and will buy use whatever we want (something we are blessed with that many fans are not. Be proud of it, not ashamed :P). This was all the more apprent when Mr. Illitch went out and signed the big FA Prince Fielder to a huge contract in the previous off season when Victor Martinez was to miss the entire season. Then this off season after making a trade to acquire SP Anibal Sanchez, the Tigers made sure to lock him up for a few more years after he impressed in his time here. Money is not an issue for Illitch as he is living with one foot in the grave and wants a title so bad he can taste it. Being in the World Series twice in the last decade to come away with losses (embarrassing ones as clear favorites both times I might add) has surely made him all the more eager to add to his legacy.

Individual awards are nice too though I suppose. HAving 2 straight MVPs on a team is amazing. HAving 3, with 3 different players in 3 years would be unheard of. Prince Fielder's start has us all talking about him having a monster season already, however and leading the way to MVP right out of the gate.

Through the first 12 games Mr. Fielder is hitting .429/.527/.833. That's a 1.361 OPS if you can't add very well. That includes 4 HR, 5 2B, and a whopping 19 RBIs (He's actually tied with 2 unlikely guys at 19 in Christ Davis and Catcher John Buck in the NL. Buck may not have 19 more RBIs this year. LOL). He looks to be in the best shape of his career this year. MAybe he found a nice list of sugar free jam recipes.

So...he's absolutely on his way. After Mike Trout made the push for it last year, fading down the stretch in a penant race mind you, there are a lot of people lookign to unseat these guys due to their defense. Miggy got better as the season wore on as the Tigers sealed a playoff spot, while Trout faded in the later months and his team missed the cut. Still they havd more victories than the Tigers, but it should matter how you finish imo. Trout may win the Rotissarie style stat geek ways with his WAR and his value in that format, but MVP voting doesn't always go just by the numbers. Thsi year I'm sure we'll have anothe rone of our big guns in the mix for MVP. Will it be Prince this year, though?

Tigers Re-sign Sanchez to 5 years/$80 Million

Wow...that's a heck of a contract for him. Hope he can live up to it.

I wasn't against re-signing him by any stretch, but I didn't think we'd go all-in with him like this. The Cubs offered about $75 million I believe and we got him at $80. This is basically our #4 starter here and he's getting paid like a #2, or a low end #1. This is actually the same deal Verlander got in 2010 so you know this is a huge deal. JV will get an extension soon I am sure. His online design business cards probably read "About to be the highest paid SP in baseball".

This leaves Porcello on the trade block now. We're still looking to replace Peralta at SS. Of course I'm not against holding Porcello as the #5, putting Smyly in the bullpen, and keeping that depth so that we aren't out a starter when we need one. We've had to trade for a rotation spot the last 2 years so it is obvious that we aren't gonna be wasting space if we kept them both around. Smyly can pitch spot starts and long relief. Eventually one of our starters will probably be out for an extended time and we can slot him right in. Texas did exactly this to us in the playoffs 2 years ago having more starters than they needed.

Tigers Back on Roll

After getting back up to .500 a couple weeks ago the Tigers hit the skids big time against Cleveland, the division leaders to slide all the way back to a few games under .500. Then they were able to take a series from the Yankees, and the Blue Jays. Today they took the second game against the Twins to leap back up to one game over .500.

It seems that the Tigers always have a strange time with hovering around .500 the last few years. Almost always when they get there a big time slump comes on.

I'm not sure if this time will be the same. The hitting is really coming on, and the pitching in the rotation has really picked up, BUT the bullpen has been mediocre. The big signing of Benoit has turned sour recently. He has given up as many ERs already this season as he did the entire season last year that got him his big payday.

Al Alburquerque started off with a bang. Striking out nearly 2 batters per inning. HE has done this with basically one pitch. His odd slider that he has good control with. The problem is that he has a mid 90s fastball, but has absolutely no confidence in it. Shaking off the catcher anytime it is called and reverting back to that slider. Today he got wild, and ended up being charged with 3 ERs although they were let a crossed by Schlereth. AA's problem has always been control, and it was on display today with 3 BBs in 0.2 of an inning. Unless this guy can start throwing that fastball, he may end up being a very mediocre RP.

Victor Martinez has been on fire. Expected though since he is a great hitter and a career .300, ok .299 hitter so I expected him to make an impact here. He has with an 11 game hitting streak. The biggest, and frankly shocking surprise this year has been Alex Avila. This guy looked like a career .230 hitter before this season. Timid at the plate and scared of the ball for some reason. Now he looks like an All-star. I'm not sure if he can keep this up, but man it is nice to see a guy of only 24 look like he may have a future at C for us.

I think we have a team good enough to win this division at least. The Rotation I thought had a chance to be very good, and it appears that it is starting to look that way. The bullpen was a worry, and still is. Perry, Benoit, Schlereth, and even AA are all guys I am not convinced are going to be great impacts for us.

Tigers Are in Serious Trouble

All the things the Tigers do wrong are the things that are costing them games. Not to mention the Giants basically getting every break from the baseball gods you can imagine and the umpires messing about with a horrid strike zone in game 2. (see charts below).

The Giants being an NL team with little power have an array of slap hitters and guys they can use to play small ball. Detroit on the other hand is a team that lives on extra base hits and can't do any of the little things right. They are terrible bunters, they can't steal bases, they play mediocre defense, they don't take enough pitches, strike out too much, and just plain make too many mistakes. Mistakes, that teams like the Giants live off of. The Giants play a more fundamental game and make use of what they have. They move runners over, make pitchers throw and throw and throw with an excess of foul offs. Guys like Verlander and MAx aren't exactly the greatest match ups for teams like this. They can't overpower most of these guys and K 15 like they could with teams that have more free swingers.

Coming home they go to Sanchez, who actually has faced the Giants twice already this season when he was pitching for the Marlins still. 7 IP with 1 ER @SF and 5.1 IP with 5 ER at home back in May. Tonight he's already down 2-0 in the second.

The Tigers bats are bad to put it mildly. Prince just GIDP to end a 1 out rally with men on 1st and 2nd. They got shut out in Game 2. They scored 3 meaningless runs in the 8-3 Game 1 loss. Their bats are cold. Have been for a month.

IF they Tigers win this series it will be a Motor City Miracle. Actually, it would be in San Fran. The crowd sounded dead even to open this game. You weren't going to break any bone anchored hearing aid siting in the stands to start this series at home that's for sure.

Yankees Once Again

No Cinderella season for the Orioles I guess. The Yankees finished them off today, and once again we are playing them in the playoffs. The 3rd time in the last seven years actually. While I don't particularly feel that we can't beat the Yankees I wanted to see some new fans for once. Every time we make the playoffs we end up going through NY. I wanted to see a new environment and see some fans that weren't "always there" for once. Especially someone from the AL East making it out of there again other than Boston and NY. Oh well...we match up fine with them as we do anyone. Baltimore was probably a weaker team, but NY isn't exactly a young team anymore. They have Cano though, who is my #2 most feared hitter in baseball against us behind only Josh Hamilton. He loves to make us look bad, and he's a true stud. The Yankees as a team are wily vets too. Something that always causes us trouble due to them being one of those teams that works the count. While we can hit with them, we should definitely have the pitching advantage. They just are very seasoned and know how to work pitching well enough to make guys that normally go 6-7+ IP down to 5 IP and get into our very scary bullpen. GO TIGERS! Detroit in 5. SEnd the Yanks back to their swing sets raleigh nc for the off season. :P

Hard Fought Series With A's; Verlander Dominates

We all know we are clueless as to what to expect from our Tigers this year. I personally feel like I don't see a drive in this team most nights. Just not sure what the attitude is although I hear all the time that they are all very close and have a good time playing together. Just seems like they aren't producing so often and that they get a bit preoccupied when they seem to put together some tough wins.

The A's gave them all they could handle. It really was an amazing success story for these Oakland A's too. Starting 3 rookie pitchers, an MLB playoff first, they all put up fantastic outings and held their own the whole series. Giving up very few ERs while trying to figure out the fantastic pitching of the Tigers.

The A's played hard and had what I thought a winning formula against us. With us not hitting like we have struggled with for a month at least it was tough to see us taking this series. They have far superior defense, while we have very bad defense. The writing on the wall was there for defense to play an important role in these close games. Instead of it costing the Tigers the series it probably cost the A's who had some very costly mistakes on defense. Coco Crisp especially made some huge errors, but the errors they made seemed to get taken advantage of more than ours.

Then we have them as a team of guys that can hit the ball out of the park all through the order. They never really threatened in that regard except to take out Valverde, or Benoit with some ugly innings. Valverdew blew a 3-1 lead in Game 4 to lose the clinching game. Valverde is a FA at the end of the year and I'd rather see him doing drywall anchors than re-sign with Detroit.

It all came down to starting pitching though and the Tigers rolled through the series with quality starts in 4/5 games and might have gotten 5 if the questionable call of Leyland removing Scherzer early in Game 5. Verlander after giving up a lead off HR to Coco Crisp to start the series went didn't give up a run the next 7 IP in Game 1 and pitched a CG SHO in Game 5. Racking up 22 strikeouts in 16 IP. They never had a chance in Game 5.

Now we wait for Game 5 of NY vs. BAL. Baltimore wins and we get home field. NYY win we go on the road. All 4 Division Series went 5 games this year. Another MLB 1st. So we aren't the only one that won't have our #1 in Game 1. The Tigers rotation, however is probably much deeper than anyone else we will play this year, and this is our true strength.

Tigers Back in 1st, again...

Shockingly, the Tigers tied Chicago once again for the division lead last night, and even more shocking, they won the game tonight. Something they tend to always do after getting into the top spot is to lose the next day and go on a mini-slumps. Tonight they actually won, and as of the 6th inning Chicago was still tied so they could take over 1st place for good tonight. Might just make the playoffs and keep Raburn from his new job installing best patio flooring for a couple more weeks.

So...Do the Tigers even deserve to make the playoffs?

If playing Chicago was the only test absolutely. If winning games you should win was the test they absolutely don't deserve to be there.

Only reason they are in the running still is because we have the worst division leader in baseball. Chicago hasn't taken advantage of us losing to every scrub team we face. Losing to Chicago yesterday was basically a snapshot of our season though.

Our defense was never going to be called good this year, but it has ended up costing us far more games than I expected. When the bats that are supposed to make up for it don't produce like they haven't been it is greatly magnified.

Al Alburquerque was called upon to shut the White Sox down with men on 2nd and 3rd with a one run lead and no outs after only pitching 3 IP this year. He went on to wlak his first batter to load them up. Then got a fly out that was deep enough for most guys to tag up, but Dunn didn't test it. Then he gets the double play ball and we might just get out of this inning...no. Alex Rios made a great slide to make Infante have a tougher throw, but he had a chance, and Fielder whiffed on it completely as the ball ended up bouncing between his legs even. The ball went into the dugout and the Sox scored the two runs needed to take the lead. That put the Tigers 3 games back instead of one with just 15 games to go.

OF course they face the league leading pitching staff next in Oakland so you expect the no hitting team to continue right? Not at all! The Tigers do the opposite of what you'd expect once again on the back of 2 Miggy "MVP" Cabrera HRs (one a grand slam) and 6 RBIs to put up 12 runs on the best pitching staff in baseball. Chicago beat KC 3-2 so we gained nothing.

Been saying this forever, but it actually happened last night. Put Quentin Berry in the lineup to give this team another jolt. He has played very little since Dirks got back. Boesch is out there blowing games for us every night while we are playing with no heart. Berry was in last night and I'm telling you that he gives this team energy regardless of him not being the best hitter around. I'd certainly rather see him in there than Boesch who ended 4 innings against Chicago Monday and had 3 KOs. Twice I believe the bases were loaded. That experiment should be over.

Speaking of other experiments we should end and send these guys to more deserving jobs like carpet cleaning raleigh nc, I do not want to see any of these guys ever again:

1. Raburn. Is this just the Tigers trolling us?
2. Don Kelly. Who cares if he can play mediocre defense at more than one spot.
3. Santiago. I know some people like this guy, but he has served his time here. Time to get new blood for this "role" he plays of mediocre defense and terrible hitting.
4. Delmon. This one I am 50/50 on. He's clearly an idiot. He hasn't had that great a year, but going into the season I was very high on him hitting 5th. He hasn't done well, BUT like last year has been pretty clutch when we needed RBIs. HE can't play LF and when VMart gets back he can't play DH so no reason to keep him here.
5. Peralta. What a disaster season for him. Very low end SS. Supposed to make it up with hitting, but he's having one of his years where he looked like a has been before we picked him up. This was actually what I expected when we traded for him so I'm not really surprised, but he has been awful.

I'm not going to get into the pitching. I have a feeling we'll try to get Sanchez back, but I'm undecided there. Our rotation has been good to great a lot of the time and they have pulled their weight the last couple months. The offense has blown this division. An offense that should be top 5 in the league.

If the Tigers Could Only Play the White Sox...

After the second straight time of sweeping the White Sox and taking 1st place, the Tigers go right back to their old tricks. Stop hitting, and losing to basement dwelling teams. A sweep of the White Sox was sandwiched by getting swept by Kansas City and losing 2.3 vs. the Indians. Yet, coming into today's game the Tigers are miraculously only 2 games behind Chicago for 1st place again. Tonight they lead in the 6th 3-1 so they could conceivable be 1 game back after today, which is astonishing considering that they are scoring about 2 runs a game the last 2 weeks unless they are playing Chicago. This is one of the more frustrating Tigers teams that's for sure. The starting pitching and the bullpen have been fantastic lately. All except the guy you expect to be. Justin Verlander. Scherzer, Porcello, and Sanchez have all pitched quality starts the last 4-5 times out. Sanchez gave up 3, 1, 1, and 1 ER in his last 4 starts and has ONE WIN! Porcello lost a game to a guy wit and ERA close to 6 when he gave up 1 ER 1-0 after hthis scrub went 8 scoreless. We ahve no chance at the Wildcard this year so it's division, or bust to be buying famous cigars online this year. They have a cakewalk schedule most of the way too playing KC, Cleveland, and Minnesota. All sub .500 teams. Couldn't ask for a better situation. Of course they SHOULD be up about 5 games right now playing these poor teams and Chicago losing too.

Anibal Sanchez Gets First Win For Tigers

After a rather mediocre first start, Sanchez rebounded nicely behind big bats tonight for the Tigers in a 10-2 thrashing of the Indians. Sanchez went 6+ IP without allowing a run. HE was charged an ER after leaving a man on and being removed from the game in the 7th to end up with a line of 1 ER on 8 Hits with 5 KOs. Crowd gave him a standing ovation as he left the game in his first start at Comerica park as a Tiger. Hopefully he can be good enough where he will pull off his gucci glasses in the back of a convertible while celebrating during a World Series victory parade later on.

Andy Dirks Back in the Lineup at 6th

After a seemingly extended trip to the DL for Dirks, he is finally back in the lineup batting 6th tonight and in right field. Delmon gets the day off from the corner OF to rest by his corner fireplace. Dirks was having a spectacular start to the season this year and looking like a very nice fit in the 2 hole before getting injured. He was hitting around .330 when he went down and looking like he was having a breakout year. Then he he got hurt and we had to wait on anything to start working for a good month. Fortunately, we got a big spark from Quentin Berry who brought enough speed to make up for mediocre defense to get to balls he didn't read correctly. He also was a catalyst for big rallies for many of the games and just brought a fire to the team and speed which we sorely lacked. He's still in the 2 hole tonight. After takign over 1st place last week against the White Sox, the Tigers have been utterly pathetic. Losing 2 straight series and looking like they have mailed it in after getting nto 1st place. Hopefully Dirks can bring another spark back and get this team on track because I'm guessing they have to win at least 33-35 more games.

Tigers Streaking into All-star Break

The way the Tigers play going into the AS break always seems to set the tone for the rest of the year. At least this is something I tend to remember about their seasons. Those years where they lose a series, or two, especially to the Royals going in, it seems like the second half is a complete collapse. They certainly have had good teams that were considered contenders for the division in the past like that 2007 1000 runs to be scored team that fell on its face. They tend to be in much better shape when they make a good push right before the break though and are starting to click in their contention years in my memory. This year we have a 5 game winning streak going in and finally are back above .500. 2 games in fact. Even Delmon Young is starting to heat up with 4 HR in the past 4 games. We have what every team needs for a special season so far. We have a guy having a career year that was unexpected in Austin Jackson. Jackson has been phenomenal this year hitting over .330 and has a mind-blowing OBP over .400 as well as an OPS in the high .900s. 9 HRs already going into the break, and as many walks as Miguel Cabrera with 100 fewer ABs for Jackson. That's the most surprising I think. The walks compared to Miggy. Then we have a surprise from a new guy. Not technically a rookie, but Quentin Berry has been a serious shot in the arm for the team and is holding steady in the 2 hole since Andy Dirks went onto the DL. Dirks was having an outstanding year to that point as well hitting in the 2 hole at around .330. Berry has had a ton of multi-hit games, but he brings a much needed ability to the lineup. Speed. He is actually stealing bases at will, and not just that. We finally have 2 speedsters in the OF together to cover the vast gaps of Comerica park . Him and AJax cover way more ground than we've seen in a long time together. Compared to having Raburn, or the god awful Delmon Young out there this is a serious defensive upgrade. Raburn may be selling standsandmounts soon since he is clearly about to get waived. We also have a rookie SP in Drew Smyly that has been great in most of his time so far. He still makes the rookie mistakes, but he has been very productive as a rookie and a great help for that final rotation spot. Pitching is up and down though. Fister hasn't been very effective since his return from injury. Max and Porcello are like night and day start to start. The bullpen on the other hand has been solid with Coke pitching well and Villareal coming in and being dominant. Still we have a lot of fat and an infield defense that would make anyone cringe. Lack of production at 2nd base may need to be remedied via trade. I am still all for going after a major SP arm as well in Greinke. I'm willing to deal off Max, or Porcello in that deal to give us antoehr Ace. Can't possibly do more in one trade than to get a SP. The answer when asked what our needs are is the answer I give every single time: pitching. It's always pitching. You can never have too much, or too good. At least we are out on a high note at the AS break. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come and we are primed and ready when VMart waltzes back into the lineup in September.

VMart Possibly Back In August

News today suggested that Victor Martinez is recovering much more quickly than was originally estimated. When he was first diagnosed with the knee injury and said to have surgery it was expected he would miss the entire season. Then a couple months back word was he may be back by September, or October. Now today it may be even sooner.

Tigers owner Mike Ilitch told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday that the Tigers have received positive reports on Martinez's knee and suggested that Martinez might be able to return in August.

"When he comes back, that will help the leadership more," Ilitch told Drew Sharp of the Free Press. "He was really our leader (last year) and he’s starting to come around again.

"We’re getting our players back. We got a good report on (Martinez’s knee injury). He’s coming along a little faster. Instead of September, maybe we’ll have him in August. And then we’ll have a lineup that’ll be really good."

See: http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2012/06/report_mike_ilitch_says_detroi.html
Also: http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx

This may spell the end for some of our OFers too. VMart will be the DH everyday so Delmon has almost no place on the team. With Berry looking good he should still have a spot. Andy Dirks coming back and i he can play anywhere near where he was has got to have a spot. Boesch i, while not having much of a year is still probably more valuable than Delmon. At this point you have to assume that a trade will be in the works with some of these guys in the next month depending on how soon VMart comes back. Makes you wonder why there are rumors of the Tigers looking at Carlos Quentin the OF from San Diego and former ChiSox player. Getting him would no doubt mean that Boesch, Dirks, or even Delmon are part of any deal there.

I'm still holding out hope we use out pieces to acquire a guy like Zach Greinke. Our lineup is fine. Especially with Delmon. Using any possible trade pieces for a FA OFer that costs $7 Mil for the year is probably not worth it, although Quentin does bring more than any of those guys do.

Tiger slooking at Ryan Dempster?

Odds of making another low end pitching trade like Doug Fister last year are very low. Much more likely we get something close to the Washburn trade a couple years back. No injury of course, but talent wise this is a much riskier move I would say. We'd be pulling an NL pitcher over with little high end experience in the AL. Dempster has been around no doubt, but he's not exactly on my wish list. Still want to go after Greinke and sign him long-term so give us 2 Cy Young candidates. Nothing makes us more viable than another elite SP. If you could donate your car to charity to make this happen would ou do it?

Granderson still a thorn in our side

Scherzer not being consistent is really what has made this trade less than favorable ever since DD took the call on his vonage phone. If he wasn't such a con flip every time he went out on the mound to give up 8 ER, or strike out 10 it may still be considered a decent trade. AJax has had an up and down time of it too. No question he is a great CFer, and maybe on par, or better than Granderson in the long run there, but he certainly shares Granderson's other favorite past-time of striking out too. Unfortunately, Grandy hits about 35 more HRs every year than AJax. Then we have Phil Coke. A middle relief pitcher. This is our best and most consistent piece in that trade. A middle relief pitcher. Granderson on the other hand hit a grand slam against us last night and has probably robbed us of about 5 runs sine he got traded with amazing plays in the field when we lay NY.

Casey Crosby Stinks

I think it is about time to end some of the experiments we have going with the rotation and just go for broke. Porcello and Scherzer are about as frustrating as you can get with their coin flip production of either a quality start, or just a plain old blowup. Get Greinke out of Milwaukee, or Garza out of Chicago. Trade Turner, or Porcello, or both at the same time and get a guy we know already has dominated in the AL at one point. We're not gonna get lucky and have someone like Fister fall into our laps again. More likely we'd end up with some junk like Washburn, or Dontrelle Willis trying to save a few bucks. Get that 2nd ace and we're in the game for sure. Let guys like Crosby sell porcelain switch plate covers back in the minors.

If you suck, Play the Tigers

The Tigers just can't beat the basement dwellers. Team that cannot hit, cannot win, can sweep the Tigers. After losing half their games to the Inge's, and losing most of their games to lowly Seattle, the Tiggers have now been swept by last place Minnesota. We have two guys in the lineup on a daily basis hitting under .200. Everyone is slumping. Everyone. We have 2 pitchers that you can flip a coin 3 times and twice that coin will come up with BLOWN THE HELL OUT starts. This team is just awful so far. EVen with this awful team being awful they are still only about 3 games out of 1st. As long as they don't play the worst teams in the league they have a shot. Time to go looking in some real estate louisville for some new bats. Better yet give them all the pink ones for breast cancer awareness day until they decide they want to play.

Tigers Doing their best to be SEATTLE!

Tigers are 0-4 against the hapless Mariners this year. I stay up late tonight and turn on the game it is 5-0. 5 minutes later it is 5-3 in the 3rd inning. Yesterday the Tigers lead the game until t he 9th when they were up 2-0. Dotel gave up 3 ER and they lost again. tonight Verlander looks like he can't even stop this bleeding against one of the worst teams in baseball. They can't score. Except when they play Detroit. Also, Fister came back yesterday and was pulled after 73 pitches! What he hell is wrong with this team? Good thing I have some new home brewing equipment because I'm gonna need it.