Kuzul

Via the NY Post:

The Red Sox have claimed Johnny Damon on waivers, but the Tigers outfielder must waive a no-trade clause to return to Boston.

Damon said before Monday night’s game against Kansas City that it’s one of the toughest decisions of his career.

If Damon waives the no-trade clause, the Red Sox and Tigers have 48 hours to complete a deal. The Tigers also have the option of pulling him back or letting him go to the Red Sox on the waiver claim and get nothing back.

Damon, who is hitting .270 with seven homers, is owed about $1.8 million of the $8 million he is being paid this season on a one-year deal he signed with the Tigers after he and the Yankees couldn’t agree on a deal last winter when he was a free agent.

This has been an interesting bit of news. The Red Sox claimed Damon, but I’m not sure if they actually want him, or are trying to block the Rays or Yankees from acquiring him. They do need some outfield help with Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron out, but Damon has largely become a DH of late.

Hopefully this will not go through and Damon will stay in Detroit because this could potentially setup another 2004 scenario which forces the Yankees to use Javier Vazquez in the playoffs against Damon again. I’m not sure the fragile pitcher could handle that, or a lot of Yankee fans for that matter.

We’ll find out tomorrow afternoon if Damon is staying in Detroit or lands in Boston.

Related Stories

• May 28, 2010 — Cashman Made A Mistake Signing Winn
• April 28, 2010 — Damon Gets His World Series Ring
• March 29, 2010 — Damon: Everything is Good Now
• March 10, 2010 — Breaking News: Damon Won’t Play in Meaningless Game, OMG!!

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Six years ago, prior to Game Four of the ’04 ALCS, Kevin Millar strutted around Fenway Park with a message.

“Don’t let the Sox win tonight!” Millar bellowed to anyone that would listen.

Of course, the Red Sox trailed the New York Yankees 3-0 in the series and looked all but titleless for yet another October. The Curse of the Bambino appeared to live for another year.

But Millar didn’t see it that way.

“This is a big game for [the Yankees],” he said at the time. “If we win tonight, we’ve got Pedro coming back and then Schilling will pitch Game Six.

“And then anything can happen in Game Seven.”

On that evening, Millar’s message didn’t resonate with Red Sox fans like it would a month or so later. What reason did they have to believe? Boston lost 19-8 in Game Three and it looked like just another cold winter in New England.

But then came Millar’s rallying call of “Cowboy Up,” his proclamation that the Red Sox are just a bunch of “idiots,” pregame shots of Jack Daniels, Millar’s walk, Dave Roberts’ steal, and history.

Johnny Damon capped the comeback by hitting a grand slam in Game Seven at Yankee Stadium, a gut punch to the heart of New York that stifled The Bronx.

—See the top Red Sox vs. Yankees moments of the decade—

You know what happened in the World Series. Bye, bye, Bambino.

Those were the good old days in Boston.

An Idiot returns?

Boston claimed Johnny Damon on Monday after the Detroit Tigers put the 36-year-old outfielder on waivers.

In order for Detroit and Boston to work out a trade, however, they first need Damon’s approval, which doesn’t seem that likely based on his initial feelings.

“My teammates are making this decision easier by saying they want me to stay,” Damon told reporters after Monday’s game. “My gut and everything else tells me Detroit’s the place for me.”

Damon has a clause in his contract that allows him to veto a trade to all but eight teams, including the Red Sox. Damon said he would talk to Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski before coming to a final decision.

As far as sentiment goes, Damon returning to the place where he was once beloved would be a nice story.

Damon’s an integral part of the franchise’s most important season, the year that the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since Babe Ruth proclaimed they never would again.

But other than that, not much remains the same.

Oh, Boston could use Damon’s work. The Red Sox have been banged up and leftfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is back on the DL. The Red Sox could plug Damon’s .358 on-base percentage into the top of the order and hope that he provides a little life for the lineup.

Could Damon and Boston reconcile?

But Damon soured on Boston after the Red Sox made it apparent that they weren’t all that interested in re-signing him after the 2005 season.

In fairness to the Red Sox, they simply didn’t want to meet Damon’s contract demands and Damon didn’t want to take a pay cut. Business is business.

Damon then signed with the Yankees and Red Sox Nation ruthlessly excoriated him. They called Damon a “traitor” and booed his every appearance in Fenway from then on.

Surely it didn’t help to see Damon, all clean-shaven in pinstripes, celebrate a World Series title with New York last year.

When Damon returned to Yankee Stadium last week for the first time since leaving the club, the crowd gave him a standing ovation prior to his first at-bat.

Damon stepped out, took his helmet off, and acknowledged the support.

Although he left the Yankees on different terms than he did with the Red Sox—the departure was more mutual—it was quite a contrast to his reception in Boston.

Damon believes all of the ill-will that stemmed from his departure with the Red Sox could be buried for good if he returned and helped Boston make a push for a playoff spot in the season’s final month.

And it should.

Damon gave Boston his best efforts for four seasons, and then exercised his right to maximize his earning power. Boston exercised its right to make a business decision. Call it even.

But if Boston fans believe they can recapture the aura of the self-proclaimed Idiots of ’04, they are mistaken. The identity of the club is completely different today than it was then.

Damon is not the guy he used to be. Jason Varitek is still around, but just barely. Dustin Pedroia wasn’t in the big leagues in ‘04. Josh Beckett was in Florida. Kevin Youkilis was on the roster but wasn’t a starter.

Manny Ramirez is long gone, but David Ortiz still remains to create a few late-night chills every once in a while.

Turnover happens for every organization, and Boston is no different. The Red Sox have gone a little more mainstream in recent years, spending more money in free agency and trading prospects for established stars.

Credit Red Sox GM Theo Epstein for continuing to build a stable of quality homegrown prospects despite Boston’s influx of revenue.

With their own prospects, the Red Sox have a chance to rekindle that us-against-the-world attitude of the ’04 team, but that time won’t be now.

Boston sits 5.5 games behind the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the A.L. East.

Can Damon help them bridge the gap in the last six weeks of the season by bringing some old-school attitude to a new-school club?

It’s possible, but the idiots and their magic have come and gone.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.

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In a move only a true psychic could have seen coming, the Boston Red Sox have claimed veteran outfielder Johnny Damon off waivers from the Detroit Tigers.

Red Sox fans will not have forgotten the name Johnny Damon. The outfielder was a member of the Red Sox from 2002 to 2005, during the time of “The Idiots,” of whom he was a ringleader along with former BoSock Kevin Millar.

The self-proclaimed “Idiots” were a bunch of scruffy, poorly groomed ballplayers who created an unbreakable bond in the Red Sox clubhouse. This bond, most noticeable in 2004, helped the Red Sox pull off a miracle, winning eight playoff games in a row to win their first World Series in 86 years.

Damon will be most remembered by Sox fans for his Game Seven grand slam in the 2004 American League Championship Series, when the Red Sox came back from a three games to none deficit to beat the rival New York Yankees and reach the World Series, where they swept the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals.

In his four seasons, very few Red Sox were loved by the fans the way Johnny Damon was. The men loved his gritty, old-fashioned style on the field. Women loved the “Jesus” hairstyle and “good looks.”

All real Sox fans have seen Fever Pitch, where the woman makes sure Damon hears her say, “You have the sweetest ass in the league!”

Everything was “hunky dory” when Damon was a Red Sock.

Then came 2006.

Sox fans remember that winter. After the 2005 season, Damon left the Red Sox and joined the New York Yankees.

He has not been welcomed warmly at Fenway since.

However, Red Sox fans may be willing to welcome Damon back this time. Some may ask why. In order for this deal to go through, Damon must approve the trade from the Tigers. The Red Sox are not one of the eight teams that he can be traded to without consent.

The Tigers will likely be looking for a top prospect. If the Sox can make a trade without losing Casey Kelly and Damon approves the deal, it would be a big day for Boston.

Many former teammates still with the Sox are excited about the possibility of reuniting with “Boston’s favorite Idiot.”

“Oh definitely,” said DH David Ortiz to the Red Sox’s official website. “That’s my boy, you know that. It would be great. Johnny is a fun person to be around and I’m pretty sure he’d be excited to be back, and for all those people that did him wrong, [they] can put that back together and make him forget about the Yankees thing.”

“Johnny’s a special player,” said catcher Jason Varitek. “He’s pushing on Hall of Fame-type numbers. You add that with [the fact that] Johnny’s great in the clubhouse, he’s great on the field and he’s one hell of a teammate.”

If Damon was to make a return to the Sox, it could be as big a return as backup catcher Doug Mirabelli’s return in 2006, when he was sent back to the Red Sox from the San Diego Padres in the morning and driven with a police escort to the park in the afternoon, where he ran inside, put on his uniform, entered the dugout, and received a massive ovation from Red Sox Nation.

With outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron done for the season, it is a golden opportunity for the Sox to fill a major gap. However, Damon is in no rush to make what will be a big decision for the 36-year-old.

“It’s probably as tough of a decision for me to take right now as it was for me to leave Boston for New York,” Damon told reporters in Detroit. “It’s something that fortunately we have some time to think about it. At this moment, I’m not sure I want to leave Detroit for that. I enjoy playing here. I enjoy the kids I’m playing for, the coaching staff. But obviously [Red Sox manager Terry] Francona is amazing. But it’s something that I have to think long and hard over.

“I had a great time playing there,” Damon said. “But I think once it was apparent that I wasn’t a necessity to re-sign there, it started to get ugly. And that’s why I’ve got to think long and hard. I have to think if they do have a strong chance to make the playoffs with the guys beat up there.”

The two teams have until Wednesday to make a deal before the Tigers can pull him off waivers.

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Johnny Damon was placed on waivers on Thursday, according to MLBTradeRumors.

Today would be the last day that a team could claim him, which presents an interesting situation.

Would the Yankees think of bringing back their former World Series hero?

Even with the fiasco between the Yankees and Damon this past offseason, this move would make tremendous sense for the Yankees.

Damon has been quoted as saying that he would like to remain with the Tigers, but given the opportunity to go to a winning team and back to a city where he was a fan favorite may appeal to both Damon and the Yankees.

— See the top 10 bidding wars between the Yankees and the Red Sox

Also, a return to the Bronx would mean a return to Yankee Stadium, a place where Damon has hit 17 home runs and driven in 42 runs combined this season and last season.

A return would make sense. With the recent injury to Lance Berkman, Damon would slide right back into the designated hitter role, which would pay dividends for him physically. When Berkman returns, it would provide the Yankees with unsurpassed depth off the bench down the stretch into September, giving Joe Girardi more options.

Even though money with the Yankees is never an issue, the team would only have to pick up $1.88 million of the $8 million that Damon is owed this season, also according to the same article.

Stay tuned, as time will tell today whether Johnny Damon does indeed leave Detroit. Any team making a playoff push would undoubtedly be interested in a player like Damon, who brings strong veteran experience and leadership that would prove valuable down the stretch.

Steve Henn is the author of the Yankees Blog, Section 401.

Follow Steve Henn on Twitter @steve_henn

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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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The Detroit Tigers’ 8-6 extra-inning loss Monday to the A.L. West-leading Texas Rangers brought good and bad news.

Nelson Cruz hit a two-run-shot in the top of the 14th inning to give the Rangers a five-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels, and ended the Rangers’ 11-game losing streak at Comerica Park.  That’s the good news—for the Rangers.

Detroit is now two back of the red-hot Chicago White Sox in the A.L. Central. That’s great news—for the Sox.

The bad news for Detroit is third baseman Brandon Inge will be out 4-6 weeks with a non-disclosed fracture in his left hand from what looked to be a breaking ball from Rangers pitcher Scott Feldman.

But the bad news doesn’t end there.

Brennan Boesch’s single with one out in the bottom of the 10th loaded the bases, and set the table for Carlos Guillen to drive in the game-winning run. Unfortunately for Guillen, he hit into a 6-4-3 double play, squandering a golden opportunity.

Or, maybe it was Johnny Damon who failed to seize the day by not heading home on Boesch’s single. Damon had two on in the bottom of the 12th and grounded out to short—another blown chance to put the pesky Rangers to rest.

However, Damon extended his hitting-streak to 10 games, which is the fourth-longest active streak, with an RBI-single in the eighth inning that scored Ramon Santiago and tied the game 6-6.

The good news is that the Tigers showed they could go head-to-head with an elite team after the All-Star Break—a break that left the Tigers broken. Even if it did take over four hours to do so.

Miguel Cabrera continued his Triple-Crown-esque season by launching two solo home runs off Feldman—one in the third, and one in the fifth—that were both pulled to left field. He also added three RBI. Had Cabrera avoided hitting two rockets into center, he would have had four round-trippers.

Cabrera is second among big-leaguers with 24 home runs, and first with 81 RBI.

Magglio Ordonez followed suit, and duplicated Cabrera’s swing in the fifth to tie the game 5-5. Ordonez is hitting a shade over .300, has 12 home runs on the year, and has driven-in 58 runs.

Rookie sensation Austin Jackson continues to amaze onlookers, not only with his glove, but with his bat. Jackson recorded his 100th hit, which is among league leaders, and tops for A.L. rookies.

However, Jackson did have two miscues in the field. He appeared to corral a shoe-lace high fly-ball in the sixth inning, but it got away.  Then, he barely missed the Rangers’ heavy-hitter Vlad Guerrero’s pop-fly in the bottom of the ninth.

The Tigers were swept last weekend in a four-game series by the A.L. Central bottom-dwelling Cleveland Indians, in a set that saw just eight Detroit runs. For some, the losses brought up late-season choke talk.

Hopefully, for the Tigers’ sake, the Indians will do them a favor by handling the Minnesota Twins this week.

But with the milestones achieved, or those being approached, Tigers manager Jim Leyland is forced to make some tough decisions with limited options at his disposal.

Either Don Kelly or Ryan Raburn will have to man the hot corner in Inge’s absence.

Both have had issues with their gloves. Raburn’s now-notorious performance last year in Game 163 against the Twins has Tigers fans less than confident in regards to Raburn’s ability to be counted on.

Kelly is still young, and has shown flashes of both sides of the coin when it comes to fielding.

Texas’ Tommy Hunter (6-0) will face Detroit’s Armando Galarraga (3-2), who is fresh off a rehab assignment with the Toledo Mud Hens, at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at Comerica Park.

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It felt like a heat wave in New York City on that October 8 night back in 2007.

Fans were funneling into Yankee Stadium extra early for Game 4 of the ALDS .

The prior evening, I had watched my Yankees pull out a win to avoid getting swept.

Which, was all thanks to a home run hit by Johnny Damon in the seventh inning. I remember how I jumped on my stadium seat as my Yankees dreams of the post-season were not over yet.

Now, the Cleveland Indians were up 2-1 over the New York Yankees . Losing meant the season would end, but there was a lot more on the line that year for the Yankees.

Fans were just as aware as the players, but no one wanted to believe it. It broke my heart to think of being in the Bronx without Joe Torre , as he had become such a figure and was a father to an entire city.

In my life, I have never been to a baseball game with such tense and ardent fans, which made it difficult to imagine how the players were handling it.

By the end of the seventh inning, the Yankees chances were bleak. The Yankees were playing as hard as they could, but the Indians were the better team and the fans knew it.

As the eighth inning began, low chants of “JOE TORRE, JOE TORRE, JOE TORRE, JOE….” were becoming louder every moment, as fans started to rise and join in a slow, chaotic wave that took over Yankee Stadium.

It continued well after the last pitch because the team’s loss was incomparable to losing our skipper. For 12 years, Joe Torre lead the Yankees to four World Series titles, six AL Pennants, and a record of 1173-767 in games. More than all the baseball accomplishments, Torre was admired by Yankees fans for his everyday demeanor and were so proud to call him our leader.

As I dried my tears and exited the Stadium , it was hard to let go of never seeing Mr. Torre in pinstripes again. That is why I bought a photo from a stadium vendor of Torre with Mariano Rivera . Early the next morning I had my ticket and the image professionally framed, so I would never have to forget it.

No one knew this would be the last post-season ever played in the Old Yankees Stadium that night, as well. Crazy.The days right after October 8 were filled with Yankees fans fighting for Torre. To describe it as an uproar would be an understatement, as protests, newspaper ads and innumerable letters were sent to the Boss all pleading to keep Torre here forever.

Now it is 2010, and numerous adverse events have come between my feelings about Joe Torre. Sadly, it eventually led me to taking down my Joe Torre collage from my wall. Today was the first time in nearly two years I took it out of my closet to look at it again. I was not angry anymore, but still cannot forgive Torre for taking cheap shots at players who still play with the Yankees. Overall, it is the former impression that came to the forefront of my mind.

As I literally wipe the tears from my face, I can finally remember Mr. Torre this way again. No hard feelings but still not worthy enough to hang on my wall ever again.

Now I can say it was a much needed separation, and the Yankees have a new Joe. Girardi embodies all I loved about Torre, and then some.

In the end this worked out for the best, but back in 2007 it tore me apart.

The Yankees will be at Dodger Stadium tomorrow for a three-game series against Joe Torre and his Los Angeles Dodgers . It is still business as usual, with the desire to win.

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General Motors Plants have been taken away over the years and Detroit has suffered. Detroit has suffered their share of pains by far, and another one occurred tonight. Armando Galarraga, the 28-year-old from Venezula, was one out away from a perfect game against the Indians.

Facing Jason Donald, he was able to get Donald to hit a grounder between the middle of first and second base. Galarraga covered first and received the ball for a Perfect Game. The problem is, the Umpire James Joyce didn’t see it that way. Donald was pronounced safe in a replay which clearly showed he was out. Miguel Cabrera, Jim Leyland and Carlos Guillen argued to no avail. Galarraga could do nothing but smile to the call. He would get the next batter in Trevor Crowe for the 3-0 Win.

Galarraga went the full 9 innings with 1 hit and 3 strikeouts. Fausto Carmona went 8 innings for the Indians and gave up 2 earned runs. It will be interesting to see how MLB goes about reviewing the end of this game.

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A lot of hot air has been expelled recently with regards to MLB players’ behavior. 

Hanley Ramirez was benched for an impressive combination of clumsiness and laziness in fielding a hit. 

Milton Bradley, in addition to his very successful board game franchise, continues to have very public, shall we say, issues. 

Ken Griffey, Jr. allegedly fell asleep in the clubhouse. 

Lastings Milledge was tagged out while jogging on his home run trot. For a double.

If these sorts of lapses were just one-offs, they would exist as YouTube clips and nothing more. Sadly, they are both frequent and nothing new.

In addition to the many (founded) gripes about the length of games and abuse of performance enhancing drugs, one more thing has been on the decline in professional baseball: fundamentals.

The decline of basic baseball skills (and the accompanying focus and competitive spirit that accompany them) in baseball has been an ongoing process. Watching baseball growing up, I noticed a number of things the pros did differently than what I was coached to do.

Batters were moving the bat while waiting for a pitch to be delivered. They were letting go of the bat with one hand on their follow-through. After making contact, batters were watching the ball instead of running out their hit.

Defense was not nearly as bad, but still unimpressive at times.

I saw players making underhand basket catches instead of positioning themselves under the ball for the catch. They jogged after fly balls that dropped before they could catch them, rather than running them down to avoid giving up bases and runs.

This grew noticeably worse during the steroids era. I’d see gigantic sluggers like Mo Vaughn and Cecil Fielder and be confused as to what constituted an athlete. It was unfathomable to me that any team would want a batter who was subtracting at least one base per hit just because he couldn’t be bothered to eat healthy and work out anywhere outside of the weight room. The same batter was inevitably a defensive liability due to his lack of mobility.

Baseball in the 1990s and 2000s was more like watching a home run derby than actually baseball.

And I guess now we know why.

Unfortunately, the side effect of this style of play is the quality of play (and players) we see now.

The pitching, defense and situational hitting we are seeing currently is a phenomenon born of a reduction in power hitting and seeing this style of play succeed on the world stage, as well as in smaller markets within the MLB (think Tampa Bay). 

But even with this push for fundamentally sound baseball and scrappy run-scoring, we still see remnants of baseball’s old guard. 

True athletes are still quite rare. 

I find this to be one of the strangest things about baseball. In any other sport, a combination of speed, agility and strength are basically required in top athletes. In baseball, this is only the case in the aforementioned small markets. 

Baseball players have no apparent focus on anything other than weight training in most cases. As a result, you have players like Johnny Damon who are considered fielding liabilities. You also see more injuries due to pulled muscles, which is not coincidental.

So instead of high-quality baseball that includes strategy and electric play, what we see in most games is basically a series of stall tactics and examples of what we want our kids to avoid doing in Little League. 

Imagine a team of 8-year-old boys that played like the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry plays out.  At 15 minutes per at bat, the entire outfield would be snoozing.  Not to mention, watching a bunch of children make a ritual out of stepping into the batter’s box or throwing a single pitch would be a tad on the creepy side.

Unfortunately, if this were the case in Little League, it would be the product of what kids are seeing in their MLB role models. 

Personally, I haven’t seen a baseball player as a hero since noticing that none of them played with the fundamentals in mind. Individual achievements have impressed me, and continue to. 

There are definitely a few good apples out there who are rarely injured and don’t make bone-headed mistakes due to mental lapses.

But in terms of overall play, the league is more like Hanley Ramirez than Ichiro Suzuki.

Until players (and coaching staffs) make it a focus to ensure that their players are athletically finely-tuned machines and play fundamentally sound baseball to avoid costing their teams runs and outs, the quality of the game will continue to suffer. 

Silly, preventable injuries will persist in altering our fantasy rosters. We will continue to see the lack of focus that results from a corresponding lack of routine. 

This is not likely to change until a greater focus is made from Little League and up to require these things of baseball players. 

In professional baseball, as fans, we should expect and require the highest level of play night-in and night-out.  And in a culture of individuals that assumed it was better to juice than to work hard for success, regardless of health risks, I suppose it makes sense that we don’t. 

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The Hammer Toss has returned from an extended absence borne of computer-less-ness. No time to waste, let’s churn up the Detroit baseball scene.

It has been leaked via Twitter that outfielder Casper Wells is slated to be promoted to Detroit from the Toledo Mud Hens of the International League. 

No official announcement was made Thursday, but expect it to be made prior to Friday’s series opener against Boston.

Wells is regarded as one of the top prospects in the Tigers’ organization. He stuck in major league camp during spring training, in the running for a spot on the opening day roster. 

Wells did not fail to impress in spring camp, either, hitting .385. Had Johnny Damon not been signed, he may have been the opening day left fielder. 

Alas, Wells was assigned to Toledo to begin the season. He has struggled at Toledo, hitting only .203. He has 5 HR and 12 runs driven in, but 37 Ks to only 24 hits. However, he appears to be set to join the Tigers for a weekend series against the Red Sox. 

So why Wells? If he has not been performing at Toledo, why bring him up?

A few reasons exist, actually. 

Foremost, the need for an additional position player since the need for an extra pitcher has (somewhat) expired. 

With Dontrelle Willis missing Monday’s start, Brad Thomas was forced into a spot start of three excruciatingly inefficient innings. Eddie Bonine was left to pick up the pieces. Coupled together with a doubleheader on Wednesday, the bullpen was taxed.

Alfredo Figaro was summoned from Toledo as reinforcement, at the cost of Ryan Raburn. The need for a 13th pitcher has passed, but MLB rules cite that Raburn cannot be recalled from Toledo until 10 days after he has been sent down. Ergo, it has to be someone else.

Undoubtedly, Detroit manager Jim Leyland wants to get a look at Wells in a few regular season games.

Wells is also getting the nod because he bats right-handed. The other bench options in Detroit are two lefties and a switch hitter (Don Kelly, Alex Avila, Ramon Santiago).

Finally, his call-up will probably be short lived anyway. Because of the doubleheader, Willis is getting moved up to starting Saturday. This leaves a hole in the rotation for Sunday’s finale against the Red Sox. 

Presumably Wells will be sent back down in place of Sunday’s spot starter. My best guess is Armando Galarraga. 

However, we have now entered the section of the story where The Hammer Toss takes a right turn for a wild speculation.

What if Wells’s promotion is permanent? 

Could the Tigers be preparing to sever ties to oft-injured “slugger” Carlos Guillen? It is possible. After all, a year ago the Tigers ate almost $14 million to send Gary Sheffield packing. Perhaps the front office has tired of his inability to stay on the field and contribute. All he contributes now are medical bills while collecting a high salary. Sound familiar, Dean Palmer?

Part of the future of the Tiger outfield has already become the present, in the body of Austin Jackson. Are the Tigers ready to take the next step?

This whole crazy notion was borne from the calendar date. 

By waiting more than 20 days into the season to promote Wells, the Tigers could then keep him on the major league roster the rest of the season without him accruing a year of major league service time. 

Therefore, he would still have to play another three seasons before becoming eligible for salary arbitration. This simple delay can save a club millions of dollars in first time salary arbitration. However, there is one caveat that goes with it; the Super 2 rule. 

The top 17 percent of second year players are awarded a third year of service time and become eligible for salary arbitration. 

While not exact, it has been determined over the years that keeping a player in the minors until around May 15-20 will prevent him from achieving top 17 percent status, thus circumventing the Super 2 rule and saving the club millions of dollars in arbitration.

This is why Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals is not on the major league roster right now, and probably will not get called up until around June 1.

Could the Tigers be doing the same thing with Wells? It is a possibility that has to be taken into account. The Tigers already know they are going to pay good money to Jackson after the 2011 season. He’ll achieve Super 2 status. 

Why not wait for Wells, and do some house cleaning at the same time?

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