2007 Baseball Season

[Kp-Wings 3]

Ummmm....does LEAGUE MVP mean anything to you????? Sure we dont absolutey NEED A-Rod. But with no salary cap in baseball, it doesnt really matter how much it will cost us. As long as Ilitch is willing to spend the money(which he does have) theres no money issues here. And with Brandon Inge's bat literally being non-existant(.240 average). A-Rod would be a PERFECT fit at 3rd base. And our lineup would be unstoppable. Im so sick of people bitching and moaning about A-Rod being over payed. The dude is the BEST HITTER IN THE GAME. So of course he's gonna get fat contracts. Its not A-Rod's fault he gets paid so much. If anything, MLB GM's would be to blame. But the fact is, A-Rod is just as good defensively as Inge is. Yet he is the best hitter in baseball. And obviously some people think we could use him. Considering 3 outta the 4 guys on baseball tonight said he's Detroit-bound. Hopefully they're correct.

Great post.

I can't believe the amount of people who just automatically assume A-Rod is a pompus, overpayed jackass just by his contract numbers. This isn't Barry Bonds we're talking about: it's A-Rod, the same A-Rod that was league MVP and far and away the best hitter in baseball.

I don't know why anyone wouldn't want him. There's no salary cap in baseball, so it's not like we'd have to dump the whole team just to sign (that is, unless Illitch is un-willing to pay for him). But if we can land A-Rod here, I see no reason why we shouldn't.

[Lou_Siffer 1]

we dont need A-Rod... we dont need to take out a 2nd mortgage on comerica just to make one pompous over-paid athlete a Tiger. we have a solid lineup, spend the money on the pen.

I also do not really want A-Rod. I dont want a Yankees type feel to this team, I dont mean that just because him and Sheffield are former Yanks, but in that the team would have that "bought" feel to it if we won. With our team right now, we have a great group of guys. Polanco was a guy who split time before and became a star player with us. Carlos Guillen's greatness nobody seen coming as Seattle gave up on him. Magglio Ordonez nobody had faith him anymore to sign him to a big contract but us...and look what happened. Kenny Rogers was the old guy who threw the camera. Inge, Granderson, Verlander, Zumaya are from our farm. Its a team that you can be really proud of that Dombrowski shrewdly built. When you go and add Alex Rodriguez after getting Sheffield last year,...i dont know, its just not something i want here. If anything, throw money at pitching...our batting is already great now.

[rwfan007 18]

theres no room for A-rod unless he can pitch in the pen. Inge is our 3B and is far and away superior in the field. We have enough bats right now...

1. Granderson .302 23HR 74RBI

2. Polanco .343 9HR 67RBI

3. Sheffield .265 25HR 75 RBI

4. Ordonez .363 28HR 139 RBI

5. Guillen .296 21HR 102 RBI

6. Renteria .332 12HR 57RBI

7. Rodriguez .281 11HR 63RBI

8. Thames/Perez .315 18HR 67 RBI

9. Inge .236 14HR 71 RBI

A-rod is a good batter, sure, but he is purely mediocre in the field. Inge is gold glove caliber and knocked in 14 homers and 71 RBIs from the 9 slot. He is totally capable of hitting 20-30 homers and knocking in 90 RBIs.

A-rod is a pompous ego-maniac who wants all the attention on himself. And oh yeah, we have our own MVP candidate in Magglio

Edited October 30, 2007 by rwfan007

[timothy1997 0]

1. Granderson .302 23HR 74RBI

2. Polanco .343 9HR 67RBI

3. Sheffield .265 25HR 75 RBI

4. Ordonez .363 28HR 139 RBI

5. Guillen .296 21HR 102 RBI

6. Renteria .332 12HR 57RBI

7. Rodriguez .281 11HR 63RBI

8. Thames/Perez .315 18HR 67 RBI

9. Inge .236 14HR 71 RBI

I like that lineup. Tough hitters from top to bottom.

[BlakChamber 8]

If ARod comes here, I almost think that has to mean something would happen with Renteria. ARod is being wasted by the Yanks at third. He needs to be at short.

I couldn't care less if it gives the team a Yankees type of feel. When a player of ARod's caliber is available, you have to at least make a play for him.

[Guest DetroitIan]

theres no room for A-rod unless he can pitch in the pen. Inge is our 3B and is far and away superior in the field. We have enough bats right now...

1. Granderson .302 23HR 74RBI

2. Polanco .343 9HR 67RBI

3. Sheffield .265 25HR 75 RBI

4. Ordonez .363 28HR 139 RBI

5. Guillen .296 21HR 102 RBI

6. Renteria .332 12HR 57RBI

7. Rodriguez .281 11HR 63RBI

8. Thames/Perez .315 18HR 67 RBI

9. Inge .236 14HR 71 RBI

A-rod is a bood batter, sure, but he is purely mediocre in the field. Inge is gold glove caliber and knocked in 14 homers and 71 RBIs from the 9 slot. He is totally capable of hitting 20-30 homers and knocking in 90 RBIs.

A-rod is a pompous ego-maniac who wants all the attention on himself. And oh yeah, we have our own MVP candidate in Magglio

First off, even trying to hype Inge's hitting ability is an absolute joke. The guy couldnt hit the ******* ball at all this year. .236??? Thats downright pathetic. Inge's offensive game is very much on the decline. He his 28 homers in 05. And how many did he hit this year??? Exactly HALF the amount. That's horrible by comparison. And to say A-Rod isnt a good defensive 3rd baseman is laughable. A-Rod might not have won a gold glove at 3rd, but he is definitely better than mediocre at 3rd. And A-Rod isnt just a good batter, he's an AMAZING batter. Not good. Amazing. And what exactly makes A-Rod so pompous??? Because he plays for NY and he makes more than any other player??? And ya know what? If I was by far the best hitter in all of baseball, I would be pretty ego-centric as well. And oh yeah, there is a big difference between MVP candidate, and MVP WINNER. A-Rod won the MVP over Maggs by leaps and bounds. A-Rod got almost every single vote. No contest. And Im not dissing Maggs at all. Im just saying, to have the winner and the runner-up for league mvp on the same team would just be sick. Cause anything A-Rod lacks defensively(which isnt much) he makes up for and THEN SOME with his amazing abilities at the plate. I guess me and every other baseball anylist on television are just crazy.

[betterREDthandead 58]

we dont need A-Rod... we dont need to take out a 2nd mortgage on comerica just to make one pompous over-paid athlete a Tiger. we have a solid lineup, spend the money on the pen.

Frankly, A-Rod is not pompous. Overpaid? Prolly. But actually he's one of the more down to earth athletes in the game. To say that he wants all the attention couldn't be further from the truth - A-Rod's definitely happier NOT to have all the spotlight. And while I said it's wishful thinking that the Tigers land A-Rod, that doesn't mean I wouldn't love for it to happen. Hell, it's Ilitch's money, not mine. I'd probably slobber and drool all over myself if A-Rod put on the Olde English D, though it would mean the quality of our defense goes down at third base.

What the Tigers really need is a LF though. I like Thames but as an everyday leftfielder, probably not.

And as for the pen....like I said earlier....sign Maroth! Wouldn't take much money. He put up crummy numbers with the Cards but his elbow was hurting. Get that healthy and we know he's dependable. Perfect lefty long relief option.

[Guest DetroitIan]

Frankly, A-Rod is not pompous. Overpaid? Prolly. But actually he's one of the more down to earth athletes in the game. To say that he wants all the attention couldn't be further from the truth - A-Rod's definitely happier NOT to have all the spotlight. And while I said it's wishful thinking that the Tigers land A-Rod, that doesn't mean I wouldn't love for it to happen. Hell, it's Ilitch's money, not mine. I'd probably slobber and drool all over myself if A-Rod put on the Olde English D, though it would mean the quality of our defense goes down at third base.

[rwfan007 18]

ok, explain his opt-out timing.... taking the attention away from the world series clincher and putting the media spotlight on his leaving the yankees.

i am not trying to start a war here. A-rod is going to demand an insane amount of money and I do not want the Tigers to turn into the yankees who buy a championship. We have a team already, we just need to beef up our bullpen. We don't need Rodriguez, we need help in the pen.

[Lou_Siffer 1]

And as for the pen....like I said earlier....sign Maroth! Wouldn't take much money. He put up crummy numbers with the Cards but his elbow was hurting. Get that healthy and we know he's dependable. Perfect lefty long relief option.

Maroth doesnt really help matters though. I guess it'd be nice to bring him back just cause he's a good guy...but thats about it. We've already got guys capable of going long relief, Zach Miner, Durbin if he's still here...or even Bazardo if he doesnt make the rotation. Long relief is the easiest spot to fill as you can just grab any of your possible AAA starters and toss him in there. We desperately need another mid to late inning guy...two preferably. Possibly even a closer depending on what happens with Jones. I wouldnt be against bringing Jones back, as right now we cant even afford to put Zumaya in that role as we'd have not one late inning stopper.

[Guest DetroitIan]

It's called, he wanted to opt out of his contract, lol. How does that possibly make him pompous??? He had to make a decision whether to stay in pinstripes, or to decline. And he chose to opt out. What exactly was he suppose to do? Not opt out because the World Series was going on?? That makes zero sense. A-Rod wanted out of NY(partly because he DOESNT like all the attention) so he did what he had to do to get out of the situation. Not his fault that the World Series was going on.

[rwfan007 18]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3085166

"There was no reason to make an announcement last night other than to try to put his selfish interests and that of one individual player above the overall good of the game," DuPuy said. "Last night and today belong to the Boston Red Sox, who should be celebrated for their achievement, and to the Colorado Rockies, who made such an unbelievable run to the World Series."

Edited October 30, 2007 by rwfan007

[Lou_Siffer 1]

The timing was definitely spotlight oriented imo. I mean, there was a 10 day post World Series window to come out with the announcement, and it was done during the game. However, i believe that was purely Scott Boras behind that...who just happened to be in the stands of course. I dont feel it was any reflection at all on A-Rod. We all know how Boras works, he's similar to Drew Rosenhaus in the NFL.

[betterREDthandead 58]

First off, even trying to hype Inge's hitting ability is an absolute joke. The guy couldnt hit the ******* ball at all this year. .236??? Thats downright pathetic. Inge's offensive game is very much on the decline. He his 28 homers in 05. And how many did he hit this year??? Exactly HALF the amount. That's horrible by comparison. And to say A-Rod isnt a good defensive 3rd baseman is laughable. A-Rod might not have won a gold glove at 3rd, but he is definitely better than mediocre at 3rd. And A-Rod isnt just a good batter, he's an AMAZING batter. Not good. Amazing. And what exactly makes A-Rod so pompous??? Because he plays for NY and he makes more than any other player??? And ya know what? If I was by far the best hitter in all of baseball, I would be pretty ego-centric as well. And oh yeah, there is a big difference between MVP candidate, and MVP WINNER. A-Rod won the MVP over Maggs by leaps and bounds. A-Rod got almost every single vote. No contest. And Im not dissing Maggs at all. Im just saying, to have the winner and the runner-up for league mvp on the same team would just be sick. Cause anything A-Rod lacks defensively(which isnt much) he makes up for and THEN SOME with his amazing abilities at the plate. I guess me and every other baseball anylist on television are just crazy.

I agree with most of what you're saying. A-Rod: AMAZING hitter. If he were to hit .320/30/100, it would be a terrible season for him. Also definitely not a pompous ass. We've had the discussion on Inge's hitting already, so I won't go there.

But A-Rod is actually in the bottom tier of fielders at 3B in the AL, while Inge - I would venture - is far and away the best. Consider some numbers:

Assists - Inge blew the field away. He had 325, almost 40 more than the next guy. A-Rod had 251. And A-Rod, by the way, played more innings at the position than did Inge. Inge also led the league in total chances with 434 - A-Rod had 370. That doesn't mean teams hit the ball to third base more often against the Tigers, it means Inge's range blows A-Rod's out of the water.

Some sabermetric stats: Range Factor and Zone Rating. Zone rating is the percentage of balls that go through a typical 3B fielding zone that the player actually fields (whether or not he does it successfully). Inge is the league's only regular 3B with a ZR over .800 (.803, actually.) Next best among regular 3B is .778 and A-Rod is at .765. Then there's Range Factor, which is (PO +A) / G. Inge's was 2.86, A-Rod's 2.42, which is below the average of roughly 2.65.

A-Rod is at best, an average fielder, and below-average in certain categories. There are worse in the league - Casey Blake, Chone Figgins, etc. But Inge either leads the league (and when he does, he blows them away like A-Rod does with the bat) or is well above average.

So there'd be a pretty big dropoff.

I'd still slobber on myself if the Tigers signed A-Rod though. Might be able to sacrifice a little defense in the outfield and put A-Rod at DH, Sheff in right and Maggs in left.

[rwfan007 18]

First off, even trying to hype Inge's hitting ability is an absolute joke. The guy couldnt hit the ******* ball at all this year. .236??? Thats downright pathetic. Inge's offensive game is very much on the decline. He his 28 homers in 05. And how many did he hit this year??? Exactly HALF the amount. That's horrible by comparison. And to say A-Rod isnt a good defensive 3rd baseman is laughable. A-Rod might not have won a gold glove at 3rd, but he is definitely better than mediocre at 3rd. And A-Rod isnt just a good batter, he's an AMAZING batter. Not good. Amazing. And what exactly makes A-Rod so pompous??? Because he plays for NY and he makes more than any other player??? And ya know what? If I was by far the best hitter in all of baseball, I would be pretty ego-centric as well. And oh yeah, there is a big difference between MVP candidate, and MVP WINNER. A-Rod won the MVP over Maggs by leaps and bounds. A-Rod got almost every single vote. No contest. And Im not dissing Maggs at all. Im just saying, to have the winner and the runner-up for league mvp on the same team would just be sick. Cause anything A-Rod lacks defensively(which isnt much) he makes up for and THEN SOME with his amazing abilities at the plate. I guess me and every other baseball anylist on television are just crazy.

what about A-rod last year? he only hit 35 homers following a 48 homer season? one season doesn't mean anything.

[betterREDthandead 58]

ok, explain his opt-out timing.... taking the attention away from the world series clincher and putting the media spotlight on his leaving the yankees.

Frankly, that's 100% Scott Boras. That's his modus operandi. The guy's a prick. Notice it was him apologizing in the article, not A-Rod.

Maroth doesnt really help matters though. I guess it'd be nice to bring him back just cause he's a good guy...but thats about it. We've already got guys capable of going long relief, Zach Miner, Durbin if he's still here...or even Bazardo if he doesnt make the rotation. Long relief is the easiest spot to fill as you can just grab any of your possible AAA starters and toss him in there. We desperately need another mid to late inning guy...two preferably. Possibly even a closer depending on what happens with Jones. I wouldnt be against bringing Jones back, as right now we cant even afford to put Zumaya in that role as we'd have not one late inning stopper.

Admittedly my desire to bring back Maroth is at least 2/3 sentimental. For that reason too I'd like to see Jones retire a Tiger. And yeah, Zumaya right now is needed as that 8th inning guy, though I have no doubt he'll be a phenomenal closer when it's his turn.

[Lou_Siffer 1]

I'd still slobber on myself if the Tigers signed A-Rod though. Might be able to sacrifice a little defense in the outfield and put A-Rod at DH, Sheff in right and Maggs in left.

If this were to actually happen, might as well just move Inge to LF. With his athletic skills im positive he'd be great out there...not to mention his cannon arm. Sheff in the OF isnt a sight i wanna see.

[Guest DetroitIan]

The timing was definitely spotlight oriented imo. I mean, there was a 10 day post World Series window to come out with the announcement, and it was done during the game. However, i believe that was purely Scott Boras behind that...who just happened to be in the stands of course. I dont feel it was any reflection at all on A-Rod. We all know how Boras works, he's similar to Drew Rosenhaus in the NFL.

Absolutely Lou. Anytime that ANY player makes a decision like this, it's the AGENT that decideds when and where to announce the news. A-Rod had nothing to do with the timing. All A-Rod did, was make a decision on his future. He did not come out himself and shout to the skies that he's leaving NY. That was 100% his agent. Especially considering it's Boras were talking about here. But even if it was one of the Tigers, the player makes the decision on what to do. The agent does the rest.

[Lou_Siffer 1]

Frankly, that's 100% Scott Boras. That's his modus operandi. The guy's a prick. Notice it was him apologizing in the article, not A-Rod.

Admittedly my desire to bring back Maroth is at least 2/3 sentimental. For that reason too I'd like to see Jones retire a Tiger. And yeah, Zumaya right now is needed as that 8th inning guy, though I have no doubt he'll be a phenomenal closer when it's his turn.

Im kinda for bringing Jonesy back too...its also part sentimental as id like nothing more than to see him get the final out of a World Series. I couldnt imagine a better ending after all his ups and downs here. But aside from that, theres not really many other options. I mean Bob Wickman is crap,...Francisco Cordero is the best one out there but if Zumaya is the future closing option then we wouldnt sign him since he'd want a long term deal. Eric Gagne will still probably want alot of money and a multi year deal ven though he stunk in Boston. Jones looks like the best bet...hey at least he throws strikes. More often than not, it may be shaky but he gets it done.

[Guest DetroitIan]

what about A-rod last year? he only hit 35 homers following a 48 homer season? one season doesn't mean anything.

35 homers compared to 48 homers, Is a hell of alot different than dropping off 50% from the year before! That sort of decline is MAJOR. Thats like A-Rod coming out next season and only hitting 24 homeruns. That's a major offensive decline.

Edited October 30, 2007 by DetroitIan

[rwfan007 18]

its called sarcasm.... like I said, I don't want to start a war here because it will be moot when he doesn't come to detroit

[Guest DetroitIan]

Im kinda for bringing Jonesy back too...its also part sentimental as id like nothing more than to see him get the final out of a World Series. I couldnt imagine a better ending after all his ups and downs here. But aside from that, theres not really many other options. I mean Bob Wickman is crap,...Francisco Cordero is the best one out there but if Zumaya is the future closing option then we wouldnt sign him since he'd want a long term deal. Eric Gagne will still probably want alot of money and a multi year deal ven though he stunk in Boston. Jones looks like the best bet...hey at least he throws strikes. More often than not, it may be shaky but he gets it done.

See I disagree here. I am all for getting rid of Jones. IMO he's a ******* joke of a closer. Yeah he throws strikes, but he rarely ever strikes hitters out. He's a contact pitcher. Which basically means he throws the ball down the middle and prays to God that the hitter messes it up. Basically when you're facing Todd Jones, you're facing yourself and your own hitting abilities. IMO a closer should be a guy that can throw lights out. A guy that can throw some heat. A guy that has great movement on a pitch. Not a bum that comes out and throws the same s*** over and over. When Todd Jones wins games, its from lucky pop-ups, or good defensive play. That should NOT be the atributes of a closer. I remember quite a few gams where we were up several runs GOING INTO THE 9TH. And what happens?? We lose in regulation! Not even extra innings. We're talking, Jones lets the teams come back, and not just tie the Tigers, but overtake the lead on the Tigers. I have alteast 5 seperate memories of that happening. IMO Jones either needs to be put somewhere else in the bullpen, or he needs to get the hell outta town.

its called sarcasm.... like I said, I don't want to start a war here because it will be moot when he doesn't come to detroit

Funny, doesnt seam so "moot" at this point. Considering several baseball experts have already said the Tigers are a front-runner to sign him.

[rwfan007 18]

yeah and 7 of 8 "experts" predicted the bears to beat the lions yesterday.

[betterREDthandead 58]

yeah and 7 of 8 "experts" predicted the bears to beat the lions yesterday.

Totally different. Figuring out where a free agent will go is based in large part on inside information which these reporters often have access to. They've got their finger on the hot stove pulse a lot more than we do.

[rwfan007 18]

per tigers conference call: Dave Dombrowski's answer to the A-Rod speculation, "That is not accurate. We have our infield, and we are very happy with our infield."