Kuzul

About a month ago, I wrote a prediction for next year’s Detroit Tigers starting lineup. But my how things change. 

The Tigers are still out of the playoff picture, but are currently playing with no distractions and no worries about choking down the stretch. 

Over their last three series with the Chicago White Sox, the Tigers have gone 6-2, dropping the White Sox to nine games back of the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins.

While some players have dropped off in their performance, others have picked it up and virtually guaranteed starting spots in next year’s team.

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With the expansion of the roster on September 1, Detroit Tigers catcher Max St. Pierre finally got the promotion he has been waiting for since he started playing baseball. St. Pierre, a native of Quebec, grew up speaking French and did not begin playing baseball until he was 10 years old. In 1997, St. Pierre was drafted in the 26th round of the MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers. Since then, St. Pierre has traveled around the minor leagues. He has spent every year of his career in the Tigers organization except for 2007, when he played in the Brewers farm system. 

St. Pierre has had many ups and downs in his minor league career, especially with his hitting. St. Pierre had struggled as a hitter for his first 13 years in the minors, but something clicked in the 2010 season. Before his promotion, St. Pierre was hitting .300 with five home runs and 22 RBI in Tripe-A. St. Pierre’s defense was what has kept him around for so long in the minor leagues, but with upgraded hitting, the 30-year-old catcher finally got called up to the MLB.

St. Pierre said that when he heard of his promotion, he got the chills and his goosebumps lasted for about an hour. “It’s never been about the money,” he told MLB.com. “It’s always been about a dream. I want to get there, and I want everybody back home to see.”

St. Pierre is yet to get into a game and is not in the lineup for tonight’s game against the Royals, but Tigers manager Jim Leyland promised that St. Pierre would play before the end of the season. 

Follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter for more sports news, or reach him by email at jessekr@heschel.org.

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Last Week: 3-3
This Week: at NYY (8/16-19); CLE (8/20-22)

So What Happened?

The Tigers began their new role as AL Central spoiler in grand style, taking two of three from the White Sox over the weekend, with both wins being of the come-from-behind variety.

There were also fireworks—and MMM doesn’t mean the kind spewed from the U.S. Cellular Field scoreboard after White Sox home runs.

Tigers starter Armando “Nobody’s Perfect” Galarraga got into a tussle with catchers Alex Avila and Gerald Laird in the dugout Sunday after the first inning.

The incident was captured by Chisox TV while Fox Sports Detroit chose to ignore it, which MMM finds troubling.

“Maybe this is the spark we need,” Laird said afterward about the confrontation, which threatened to turn physical and ugly before peacemakers rushed in.

All parties brushed it off as a “misunderstanding”, or some such rot. Tigers manager Jim Leyland said, “I kind of liked it.”

The Tigers have won three of their last four after starting the week ominously with two losses to Tampa at Comerica Park.

Hero of the Week

MMM has two on its radar.

First, the runner up: Ryan Raburn.

As much as it pains MMM to type this, Raburn is…Raburn is….he’s…ho….ho…HOT.

Whew!

Raburn is on a bit of a tear, slugging home runs and slapping hits and driving in runs.

He’s 8-for-17 with three homers and four RBI in his last four games. His BA is “up to” .238.

But for all that prowess, MMM is going with lefty reliever Phil Coke as its weekly hero.

Coke had to play the part of Jose Valverde in Chicago, recording the final out in both the Tigers’ wins.

Valverde is nursing a sore abdomen.

Coke entered Saturday’s game in the eighth inning, and was the pitcher of record as Avila slammed a stunning two-run homer in the ninth to grab the win.

On Sunday, Coke was set to close the game again, warming up with the Tigers protecting a 9-8 lead in the ninth. As it turned out, the Tigers scored four times, negating a save situation. But Coke pitched the ninth anyway, and after a slow start (a leadoff walk followed by a 3-1 count to the next hitter), he shut the Pale Hose down.

Maybe in some people’s eyes, what Coke did wasn’t as impressive as Raburn’s hot streak. But with your All-Star closer out unexpectedly, it’s nice to be able to turn to Coke, who’s been outstanding this season in his usual role as utility man in the bullpen.

Goat of the Week

First, Jim Leyland nearly landed here.

His decision to pull Johnny Damon for defensive purposes almost came back to haunt him Sunday. Damon delivered a clutch two-out, two-run triple in the eighth inning, nudging the Tigers ahead 8-7. Then he was lifted for Don Kelly.

In the top of the ninth, with the White Sox within 9-8 and the bases loaded, Damon sat helpless on the bench while the light-hitting Kelly batted in his place.

But Kelly stroked a two-run single, giving the Tigers some breathing room.

MMM could almost hear the Tigers fan base screaming at the TV when Kelly came to the plate. Why you’d take a guy with over 2,500 hits out of the game in a slugfest is beyond MMM.

But the goat is Brennan Boesch, who was 0-for-Chicago and who is simply hurting the team right now. MMM feels for the kid, but if Boesch was named Raburn or Kelly or Inge he’d be getting blown up by the fan base for his God awfulness.

Boesch is 13-for-107 after the All-Star break, which just might be one of the worst stretches of 100+ at-bats ever seen from a Tigers player since Ray Oyler circa 1968.

Yet he plays everyday because Leyland has no one else.

Upcoming: Yankees and Indians

MMM thinks the four days the Tigers will spend in the Big Apple this week will either be pleasantly surprising or a freaking nightmare—no in between.

The Yankees look strong in their bid to repeat as World Champs. They are holding off a good Tampa Rays team. They are as talented and as deep as ever. And they play very well at home.

This has four-game sweep written all over it; MMM gets that.

But baseball is a funny game, and it will be interesting to see if Sunday’s dugout skirmish has any effect on the Tigers’ countenance, and whether that translates to success on the diamond.

As for the Indians, what can you say?

The Tribe are who started the Tigers’ freefall, sweeping four games from the Bengals in Cleveland coming out of the break. But they’re still a bad team, made up of AAAA players. Kind of like the Tigers!

The Tigers usually beat the Indians at Detroit; it’s one of the few scenarios where the Tigers are successful within their own division.

BTW, the Tigers optioned 1B-OF-DH Jeff Frazier to Toledo and recalled lefty reliever Daniel Schlereth.

That’s all for MMM this week. See you next Monday!

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Last Week: 3-4

This Week: at TB (July 26-29); at Bos (July 30-Aug. 1)

So What Happened?

Someone call Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John. See if “Hot Lips” Houlihan and Frank Burns can disengage themselves and lend a hand.

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Rick Porcello has made two starts since being demoted to Triple-A with mixed results (he had a 6.14 ERA and 1.69 WHIP over 70.1 innings prior to the demotion):

Start No. 1 (June 24): 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K, W
Start No. 2 (June 29): 6.0 IP, 5 ER, 10 H, 3 BB, 3 K

One of the main problems with Porcello is his inability to strike batters out, something that has been carried with him at Triple-A. That’s not something that is very encouraging.

Even if you were to have a beneficial BABIP, the more balls that are put in play, the more hits that are going to be allowed. Just look at this example:

100 IP
90 K (8.1 K/9)
10 HR (0.9 HR/9)
92 Hits

That would result in a BABIP of .299.

Now, let’s look at the same numbers, but reduce the K/9 to the 4.2 that Porcello had posted prior to being demoted:

100 IP
47 K (4.2 K/9)
10 HR (0.9 HR/9)

If he were to duplicate the .299 BABIP, he would allow 110 hits.

For him to duplicate the 92 hits, his BABIP would be an extremely lucky .259.

That tells you how big of an impact strikeouts can have on a pitcher’s performance and why it is something significant to watch with Porcello. If he can begin striking out more batters, even if it were just to the 6.0 K/9 range, it would make a humongous difference. The fact that at Triple-A he has not shown any improvement is very discouraging.

We’ll continue to track his progress, but if he can’t get strikeouts at Triple-A, chances are he’s not going to have much value for the rest of 2010.

What are your thoughts on Porcello? Is there any chance he becomes usable again in 2010, or is he better left for 2011?

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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Every time we think the Tigers have depth in the rotation, they seem to have to dig deep into their system to find someone to plug into the mix.

The latest find has been left-handed pitcher Andrew Oliver, who made his second career start earlier this week after being drafted in the second round of the 2009 draft.

While he is 0-2 on the season, he has a 3.00 ERA (though he has allowed three unearned runs), 1.33 WHIP, and 10 K over 12 innings of work. It’s an extremely small sample size, however, so let’s look at his stats at Double-A prior to his recall for a little bit more background:

Six Wins
77.1 Innings
3.61 ERA
1.28 WHIP
70 Strikeouts (8.2 K/9)
25 Walks (2.9 BB/9)
.312 BABIP

Those are promising numbers, but they did not come against the most impressive opponents either. The 8.2 K/9 is nice, and since this is his first professional experience, it’s impossible to say that it is not maintainable.

He does throw hard, averaging 94.4 mph in his first two starts. Prior to the season, Baseball America had him ranked as the Tigers’ fourth best prospect, saying:

“Oliver throws harder than most lefthanders, pitching at 92-94 mph and occasionally reaching the upper 90s. He throws strikes and gets average movement with his four-seam fastball, and Detroit is having him add a two-seamer and emphasizing pounding the bottom of the strike zone.”

That certainly seems like the makeup of a pitcher who can maintain striking players out.

As far as pounding the bottom of the strike zone, if he’s doing it, it hasn’t led to groundballs. In his first two starts he had a groundball rate of 41.2 percent, similar to his Double-A experience, where he had a 39.3 percent groundball rate.

Considering that his 14 starts earlier in the season were his only professional experience prior to his recall, it’s certainly something to continue monitoring. If he can start generating more groundballs to go along with his strikeout potential, he’d have the potential to be a must use option.

While his control has been solid, the long ball has been a major issue. He allowed seven home runs in the minor leagues and has already allowed one in each of his two starts for the Tigers. It’s only a matter of time before the numbers inflate significantly if he continues to allow home runs.

At this point, Oliver is something of a wild card. While his second start wasn’t all that impressive (having allowed the three unearned runs), overall you have to like what you’ve seen out of him. There’s no questioning the stuff; the long-term question is if he is better suited to come out of the rotation or transition to the bullpen.

Given his lack of experience, it’s hard to think that the Tigers depend on him for very long. At the first sign of struggles, it’s easy to imagine them sending him back to the minor leagues. He’s worth keeping an eye on, but I wouldn’t consider owning him outside of keeper leagues and AL-only leagues for now.

I also would pick and choose the matchups before putting him into your lineup. With the Orioles next on the schedule, this is one of those times that I could see actually having him in your lineup if you are in need.

What are your thoughts on Oliver? Is he a pitcher that could be usable in 2010? How about beyond?

Make sure to check out our recent Scouting Reports:

• Brett Cecil
• Wade Davis
• Jason Donald
• John Ely
• Brett Gardner
• John Jaso
• Brad Lincoln
• Jonathan Lucroy
• Kris Medlen
• Jonathon Niese
• Jake Peavy
• Sean Rodriguez
• Mike Stanton
• Andres Torres

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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The San Diego Zoo—that would be a good place to leave Ryan Raburn. He would probably fit in better there than on a major league baseball field. 

Notice where the ball is in this picture. It is not in his glove. Notice Raburn is off balance. He probably fell down right after this photo was snapped. 

Tiger fans have gotten used to this sight. It goes something like this: Raburn gets a bad jump on a ball, partially recovers, falls short, and then falls down trying to make a play on the ball.

It is rather pathetic that we have all gotten used to this sight. This is supposedly a major league ballplayer we are talking about.

Does anyone else out there cringe when Raburn is playing the outfield and a ball is hit at him? Go on, raise your hand and admit it. 

Last year against the Indians, I watched him run face first into the outfield wall and drop the ball after getting a bad jump and slipping to start the play.

Granted, Raburn had a breakout season last year. He hit 16 HRs and drove in 45. Let us look past that to evaluate it for what it really is.

He had a breakout campaign at age 28. He hit 16 HRs, but he only had 261 at-bats. Had he played a full season, undoubtedly he would have hit a cold spell and regressed. Last season was the only year in his career he had value over a replacement level player.

Additionally, his fielding was awful. 

Raburn is 29 now. He’s hitting .204 this season after a three-hit game raised his average from .184. His fielding is still awful. 

I wouldn’t hire him to be a ball boy, much less pay him $438,000 to occupy space on the 25-man roster.

Last year was it for him, his one shining moment. He was a one-year wonder.

The wonder is gone. 

We don’t wonder anymore. We know the errors are coming, as are the strikeouts, especially with runners in scoring position.

How is it this guy still has a job? Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Jim Leyland absolutely loves this guy for some reason. I think Jim needs to have another smoke and take a look at the stats. 

Raburn somehow still has a job, even though his hitting is on level with what Adam Everett produced this year. Everett was released. He hit poorly but only had one error in 31 games at short. 

What does Raburn have going for him? The love of his manager.

I’m sorry, but that doesn’t win division titles.

However, I hear the zoo is looking for someone new. 

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A serious Triple Crown candidate is emerging in Detroit.

Miguel Cabrera’s 18 homers and 53 runs batted in pace the American League and he ranks fourth in batting average (.339).

I know precisely what you’re thinking. It’s the second week of June.

How dare you utter “Triple Crown”!

Well, let’s look at it this way—with each mention of the feat, writers offer a refresher course in history.

Who was the last player to earn the Triple Crown?

Carl Yastrzemski.

When was this feat last achieved?

1967.

Through print, we honor those who achieved this suddenly unachievable conquest with each mention. So if you believe it’s premature to link Cabrera to this group of conquistadors, simply focus on the respect element.

Yaz’s family certainly likes seeing their kinsman cited 27 years after his retirement.

One of baseball’s smallest clubs, only 15 players are members in the Triple Crown Society. Not even Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez, today’s top MLB players, have procured this distinction.

It has become virtually unattainable.

Back to Cabrera. Logic does not indicate it’s too early to begin the discussion. Sure it’s only June, but the first baseman’s track record suggests he has a better chance than most.

Cabrera annually finishes near the top in dingers and RBI’s, and has placed as high as runner-up in batting. In the past five years, the average for AL batting champs has been .346—Miggy lurks seven points away.

Eight months removed from swearing off alcohol, his approach is no longer influenced by hangovers or mental lapses resulting from late night partying. Cabrera is on pace to shatter previous career highs.

He’s projected to wrap 208 hits, slug 51 homers, and plate 149 runners.

Health issues might also trip up less extraordinary players on the long-distance run to the Triple Crown.

But the 27-year-old has taken a few chapters out of the Iron Horse’s book. Cabrera’s never been placed on the disabled list in his eight-year career. In each of the past seven seasons, he has played at least 157 games.

Cabrera defines reliability.

And this isn’t the first year he has flirted with the Triple Crown. He often places top-five—even top-three—in the required categories, and he’s regularly mentioned in the same sentence as Prince Albert and A-Rod.

Now, if you believe this achievement may be surmountable, we must address the obstacles he will face en route.

Since no one has grabbed the distinction in 43 years, press covering the anomaly could grow overbearing. Interview-seekers would flood Cabrera’s voicemail and inbox—and his name would be plastered on headlines across the US.

A pair of Twins—Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau—along with Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano and Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, won’t willingly let Cabrera coast to a batting title.

Morneau is terrorizing the league, emerging as another Triple Crown contender. And Cano is blistering the ball at a .376 clip. Combined, usual suspects Mauer and Ichiro have won five batting titles since 2001.

This foursome will present Cabrera’s biggest challenge.

Division rival Chicago will also attempt to stand in the way of history. Detroit plays the White Sox 14 more times in 2010, a team that gives Miggy fits. In 177 career at-bats against Ozzie Guillen’s crew, he has hit .243.

This year, he’s a measly 1-for-14. Normally allergic to extended slumps, the White Sox have neutralized his bat.

While the odds Cabrera will complete the feat are low, spectators outside of Detroit need to recognize history may be in the making.

Keep your eyes glued to Miguel Cabrera this summer.

One of the best pure hitters of this generation is having a career year.

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The Tigers head into this 2010 season with championship aspirations and a talented roster, but they have also relied heavily on the support of a few Tigers.

The club has recently floundered offensively, allowing more runs than they have scored. Most recently, the Tigers were shut out by the subpar Chicago White Sox.

In terms of pitching, the only bright spot has been the Tiger bullpen. The starting pitching has been the definition of mediocre.

Here are four Tigers that need to continue to carry the team on their backs if they hope to be successful this season.

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Commissioner Bud Selig is going to have a very interesting press conference.

Commissioner Selig needs to address two issues.

First, Commissioner Selig needs to commend Armando Galarraga for how he conducted himself last night. Galarraga should have been heralded this morning for the perfect game he threw against the Cleveland Indians last night.

Instead, first base umpire Jim Joyce blew what should have been the last play of the game. Instead of calling Jason Donald out at first base, Joyce ruled that Donald beat Galarraga to first base on a toss made by Miguel Cabrera to the bag.

In Joyce’s own words, he “kicked the s*%t out of the call!”  

Galarraga didn’t curse Joyce out. Galarraga didn’t charge Joyce and get in his face. No, Galarraga smiled and shook his head.

After the game, Galarraga told the media that he thought that Joyce probably felt worse about missing the call than Galarraga felt about being denied a perfect game. Galarraga then reminded everybody that Joyce was human and that everyone makes mistakes from time to time.

Who is this guy? Doesn’t Galarraga know that we are talking about Major League Baseball?

Galarraga is acting as if he is playing a kid’s game for fun. Galarraga is acting if he understands that there is more to life than baseball.

What are we fans supposed to think about Galarraga in a sports era dominated by performance-enhancing drug-taking prima donnas?

How many of us in the same situation could have hoped to act with as much grace as Galarraga in the face of pitching a perfect game?

Galarraga exhibited a degree of class, humanity, and genuine charity toward umpire Jim Joyce last night that needs to be highlighted and praised by Commissioner Selig.

Commissioner Selig needs to take time to recognize Galarraga for how he played last night as a pitcher, but more importantly, Commissioner Selig needs to say something about Galarraga handled himself as a man.

Second, Commissioner Selig is going to need to say something about the need for instant replay in baseball. 

Commissioner Selig doesn’t need to say how the league is going to implement instant replay but he does need to say that the league needs to adopt instant replay. 

Jim Joyce was emphatic after the game that he looked at the instant replay and was convinced that he missed the call.

Joyce was upset for Galarraga because he took a great effort away from Galarraga. Joyce was upset because he took Galarraga’s place in baseball history away from Galarraga.

More importantly, Joyce, with tears in his eyes and emotion in his voice, said he absolutely felt sick about missing the call.

The Commissioner needs to remind baseball fans that the guy who was most upset about missing the call was Joyce. Baseball umpires do a fantastic job getting in the right position and getting calls right because they truly care about getting the call right.

Yes, there are calls that are missed, but fans need to appreciate that the reason why certain missed calls stick out in our memory is because missed calls happen so infrequently during the course of a season.

The Commissioner has an opportunity to build some goodwill among the players, umpires, and fans by extolling Galarraga and by reminding us that everyone involved in the game is emotionally invested in making sure that all the calls in the game are right.

Hopefully, Commissioner Selig won’t squander the opportunity.

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