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The way out for DD
Same deal except replace Kendrick with Wood and Arredondo. I think the Angels might actually go for this.
AFL
My apologies for interrupting, but it was nice to see baseball in Arizona yesterday. I thought the Tiger prospects showed quite well. Based upon the one game I've seen of these guys, I think Drucker's possible peak is Zach Miner-level. His stuff is not special, and he had trouble with location. Oliver threw hard, and was, in my mind, wild in the strike zone. His body was not under control as he threw, and he went off balance fairly often. He overpowered the hitters, but his delivery needs some tuning - he'll be in the minors this spring, but I won't be surprised to see him in a Tiger uniform in 2010. Household demands caused us to switch to football, so I missed Weinhardt, and that's a shame, because reportedly he was the best.
Wells and Iorg both looked good on defense. At the plate, Wells is not Markakis, but he holds the bat similarly - straight up and down, close to the chest. In the bigs, if he makes it this spring, they'll give him the hammer, high and tight, til he adjusts. Iorg surprised me the most. He's got a wide open stance, which he closes on delivery. Both of these hitters will have timing problems, but most definitely Iorg. During my one-game glance, it was my impression that both of these guys are ready defensively, but both will need hitting adjustments - Wells a small one - I'd have him cocking the bat back a bit more in his stance. Iorg needs his approach revamped.
Otherwise, it was a pretty good game - a nice sac bunt, alert baserunning, nice drag bunt, not bad situational hitting, pretty fair pitching. Regardless, it was nice to see something other than Charlie Weis struggling with Notre Dame.
arbitration
Well, that makes three of us. I don't feel as strongly about Washburn, but it would appear that there isn't a whole lot of risk that he'll accept. Offer arbitration to both; if they accept, they'll be relatively cheap or tradeable; if not, there's the draft.
arbitration
The trade of Jackson is a possibility and both Inge and Sizemore are unable to walk for the moment. If for no other reason than these, Washburn and Polanco might be offered arbitration. If they accept, they can still be used or traded. If not, and odds are against their accepting, the Tigers get the draft picks.
I'm perfectly ready for both of these gents to move on, but, as has been discussed here many times, gamesmanship on arbitration can have its rewards.
Why Not Offer Arbitration to Washburn?
Jeff Passan has listed Washburn #16 of 131 free agents (8th among starting pitchers) and expects Washburn to get a 2 year deal somewhere. He makes it seem safe to offer arbitration without the worry of having to pay.
Charlie Weis
Yeah, ok, most guys with that girth generally do not wear pants up to their armpits. The problem is, in addition to his keen fashion sense, he can't coach. They gave Willingham one year to prove he couldn't coach. Correct? Weis has had three, if I remember correctly.
If he coached at UConn, he'd possibly still have a future; not at Notre Dame.
Charlie Weis
Weis seems to be a nice guy, he's lucid in interview (many aren't) but something is really lacking. His chances of coming back are better than Dontrelle's but not by a lot.
AFL
Drucker had pretty good movement, but the location sure needed work. 2 homers.
Jackson
Yes, Jackson went 6-5 with a 5.07 ERA after the break, but...the most he had ever pitched before was 183 innings. When he reached that point in 2009, he was 12-6, with a 3.10 ERA. Even if you break it down to what he did after the all star game, Jackson was 5-2 with a 4.25 between the break and inning 183 - not your #2 guy, but no slouch.
Jackson is still a kid; he just turned 26. Much of what we remember is his last 5 starts, in which he went 1-3 with a 6.68. He also had a precipitous drop in his final few starts in Tampa in 2008.
If he sticks in Detroit, he's likely to get stronger, and extend his season further.
Trade him if you must, but please ensure you get commensurate value.
AFL
Thanks, Yooper. Was that Iorg who just beat that throw to second, allowing the Javelinas run to score?
replies
SDW, Granderson has been diminished in value because of his weakness against lefties, and justifiably so. Look at the numbers, however. Against righties last year, Granderson batted 451 times; Tori Hunter batted exactly that many times against EVERYBODY. Granderson's numbers against right handers EXCEED those, offensively (SLG and OPS) of Hunter against EVERYBODY. If they only counted Granderson's numbers against righties, he was the BEST center fielder, offensively, in the majors, in 2009.
He wasn't the best, however, because he also batted against lefties, but again, we're talking about a guy who did more in 451 at bats against righties than Hunter did against everybody, covered more ground defensively than Hunter did - do you suppose the Cubs would also refuse to include Castro in a package for Hunter?
Of Interest/Gold Glove????
My goodness. Excuse me, Bob Lake, are you sensitive about what time of day you wake up, or post something? I only cited it because, if anybody read what I wrote, they might wonder what I was responding to, because it had been a few hours. I often wake up before 7 AM, and I don't mind a bit mentioning it. If you wish to take offense at something, however, you might wait until somebody is ACTUALLY criticizing you. I wasn't.
As far as your cite of Dewan was concerned, if you read what I wrote, you would note that I wasn't disagreeing with him. I was in total concurrence, at least on his words about Adam Jones. I find other rating methods of defense to be generally preferable to Dewan's, but to each his own. If you like them, well, more power to you.
Beyond that, you don't know who I am, you don't know what I write - for you to pass judgment on me, based on a few posts online - for all you know, I might be Dewan, trying to elicit discussion about my ratings.
Aside from "Acceptable use", there are no rules for behavior here, but you might want to wait until you are actually disagreed with before attacking somebody.
replies
If you were to ask "Who is the best center fielder?" many would say Tori Hunter. Well, for the past 3 years, Granderson has matched up with Tori, statistically, quite well. Many suggest Grady Sizemore. Grady has a huge split in his favor at home; relatively speaking, he's quite average on the road. Granderson is the better player in neutral parks.
Granderson has an undeniable and demonstrative weakness against lefties, yet he arguably still keeps pace with the best in the business.
I suspect all fans tend to overvalue their own players, and Granderson no doubt benefits from that, but, setting everything else aside, objectively, Curtis is one of the very best. How many teams are after him Ten? If he's offered in trade, other teams must be made aware of his value. Not worth Castro? I might suggest the opposite.
Of Interest/Gold Glove????
Hmm. Mr. Lake rises early on Saturday. 6:32.
I don't put that much stock in Dewan's rating system. Anybody who really thinks that a centerfielder's fielding rating can change from #4 to #29 back to #4 is focusing on certain stats and not on the big picture. Regardless, he's right about this one. A gold glove for Adam Jones is just silly. In most places, Jones would not even play center field. If you want to say that he should have been in right field, and if there he probably would have performed better than right fielders, that's a different story, but Jones is not better than Ichiro - it's really not close.
Jones has a stronger arm than Granderson, but so does Clete Thomas. I think the two match up pretty well - Jones and Thomas. Would you give Thomas the gold glove? Neither would I; nor would I give it to Jones.
Silly.
Polanco
As long as Arnold Ziffle is there...
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