Archive for June, 2006

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Tuesday: 06.6.2006

Andrew Miller, LHP – Detroit Tigers

North Carolina left-hander Andrew Miller was expected to become the newest Kansas City Royal as they held the first pick in the 2006 Amateur Draft. His stock dropped significantly with some boards having him fall as far as 11th to Arizona. Instead, the Detroit Tigers used their #6 pick to select the southpaw. Here is a snippet of the Baseball America.com premium content scouting report on Miller:

1. Andrew Miller, lhp (National rank: 1)
School: North Carolina. Class: Jr.
Hometown: Gainesville, Fla.
B-T: R-L. Ht.: 6-6. Wt.: 210. Birthdate: 5/21/85.
Scouting Report: Miller entered this spring as the top-rated prospect for the 2006 draft and proceeded to live up to that lofty billing. The top unsigned player from the 2003 draft, when he was a third-round pick of the Devil Rays out of high school in Gainesville, Fla., Miller wound up at North Carolina and has improved every season, becoming more consistent and more dominant. He dominated in the wood-bat Cape Cod League each of the last two summers (2.03 ERA in 2004, 1.65 ERA in 2005 for Chatham) and was rated as the league's top prospect by Baseball America in both years…

As much as I would've liked to see the Tigers get Drew Stubbs, this was based on Miller being gone. I'm thrilled with the potential of this number one pick. Here is a list of the other Tigers picks:

50th pick – Ronald Bourquin, 3B, Ohio State
82nd pick – Brennan Boesch, CF, UC Berkley
112th pick – Ryan Strieby, 1B, Kentucky
142nd pick – Scott Sizemore, 2B, Virginia Commonwealth
172nd pick – Jordan Newton, C, Western Kentucky

Bourquin was rated as the 8th best player available from the state of Ohio, a 5-star state.
Boesch was rated as the 21st best player available from the state of California, a 3-star state.
Strieby was rated as the 3rd best player available from the state of Kentucky, a 3-star state.
Sizemore was rated as the 3rd best player available from the state of Virginia, a 2-star state.
Newton was rated as the best player available from the state of Kentucky & 149th overall, a 3-star state.

The rankings and state star ratings are from Baseball America, as well. Here is a legend regarding the star system:

THIS YEAR'S CROP
***** One for the books
**** Banner year
*** Solid, not spectacular
** Not up to par
* Nothing to see here

Last 10 #1 Overall Picks:
2006 — Luke Hochevar, rhp (Kansas City Royals)
2005 — Justin Upton, ss (Arizona Diamondbacks)
2004 — Matt Bush, ss (San Diego Padres)
2003 — Delmon Young, of (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
2002 — Bryan Bullington, rhp (Pittsburgh Pirates)
2001 — Joe Mauer, c (Minnesota Twins)
2000 — Adrian Gonzalez, 1b (Florida Marlins)
1999 — Josh Hamilton, rf-lhp (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
1998 — Pat Burrell, 3b (Philadelphia Phillies)
1997 — Matt Anderson, rhp (Detroit Tigers)

Posted in Draft | 2 Comments »

Monday: 06.5.2006

Homestand Complete; Out of Town for 6.

At 4-6, I simply cannot deem the 10-game homestand a success. Playing two of the best teams in the American League, New York and Boston after three games with Cleveland, I was really hoping the team would make a statement. Or should I say, a positive statement. That said, the team did distance themselves a bit more from the Chicago White Sox, who were busy going 3-7 on their road trip. A three-game set with them starting Tuesday will give the team a chance to separate even further from the Sox. After Chicago, the team heads to Toronto to face the high-octane offense of the Blue Jays. On the heels of the disappointment at home, these next six games are at least as important if not more so than the 10 previous. Both teams are capable of taxing a pitching staff and these two lineups will provide the staff a perfect opportunity to show just how good they really are this season. Ranks are in the American League:

Team Runs Rank AVG Rank OBP Rank SLG Rank OPS Rank HR Rank Runs/G
Chicago 306 4th 0.276 6th 0.349 5th 0.465 2nd 0.816 4th 81 t1st 5.56
Toronto 317 3rd 0.303 1st 0.365 3rd 0.503 1st 0.868 1st 81 t1st 5.87



Detroit nemesis, Jim Thome was able to impose his will on the team in the first series between the teams this year. He was 5-for-11 with three home runs and five runs batted posting a disgusting .455/.571/1.455 line. That’s a 2.026 OPS!!!!! For his career, he has 45 home runs and 100 RBIs in 131 games vs. Detroit.

Toronto’s best hitter, Vernon Wells, has not been nearly as strong against the Tigers with a .270/.290/.405 line in 33 games. He has four home runs and 18 runs batted in. That said, he is in the midst of a career-year and on pace for 44 home runs. With him comes American League batting leader Alex Rios (.360). Rios is having a breakout season in this, his third season. Sample size caveats apply heavily, but Rios has had his way with the Tigers in seven games going .429/.448/.679 with two home runs and six RBIs. The Toronto hit parade doesn’t stop there. Troy Glaus has returned to the American League on fire. His 17 home runs so far have him on pace for 50 this season. Against the Tigers, he has 12 in 52 games while with the Anaheim Angels. After the series with Detroit, only his former AL West opponents will have a thicker book on Glaus than the Tigers. At-bats against:

Team AB
OAK 329
TEX 300
SEA 292
TOR 209
DET 203



Of the two, the White Sox have a significantly better pitching staff with the Blue Jays’ team ERA among the league’s worst at 4.85 (9th in AL). What they lack in run prevention, the Blue Jays make up in ability to exploit Detroit’s weakness, strikeouts. Detroit’s 400 strikeouts are most in the American League. The Jays strike out 6.3 per nine while the Sox are at 5.5.

Toronto has the best single pitcher of the two teams in Roy Halladay, but the Tigers will miss him as he is scheduled to go June 8th in Baltimore. The second-best, Chicago’s Mark Buehrle will also be missed having pitched Sunday against Texas. Toronto also features one of the league’s best closers. Only the outgoing Jonathan Papelbon from the Red Sox has been better than the Jays’ B.J. Ryan.

For this road trip to be success, a winning record is in order. Two series victories would be excellent for team as they would have momentum coming home to face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for four before a giant interleague stretch against the National League Central.

Random Notes:
–Jim Leyland was not very happy with Todd Jones‘ decision to call catcher Vance Wilson out to the mound during Friday’s meltdown. See John Lowe’s article at the Free Press website.

-As a Texas graduate, I’d be thrilled if the Tigers took Drew Stubbs with their first pick during Tuesday’s draft. At least one mock draft (that of BA’s Jim Callis) I saw had him slotted to the Tigers at #6. In a subscriber-only piece at Baseball America, Stubbs receives mixed reviews. He draws comparisons to Rocco Baldelli, Torii Hunter, Mike Cameron & Preston Wilson. He is regarded as the “toolsiest player” in the draft thus the comparisons to Baldelli. His tools+strikeouts combination conjure thoughts of the other three. A clip from the piece: “One scouting director said the decision offers two possibilities, both of which frightened him: He’d be scared to draft Stubbs too high because of what Stubbs can’t do, but he’d also be scared to pass on him because of what he can do and might do down the road.” Here are his numbers in three years with the Longhorns:

Year GP AVG OBP SLG HR K BB SB
2006 62 0.342 0.439 0.580 12 60 41 26
2005 72 0.311 0.384 0.527 11 71 32 32
2004 71 0.301 0.372 0.474 8 75 28 28


-Speaking of the draft, top pick possibility Andrew Miller wears his hat like a dork:

–Chris Spurling was optioned back to Toledo after Sunday’s game as Jason Beck reports.

-The Arizona Diamondbacks, powered by my choice for NL Cy Young Brandon Webb, are playing .600 ball right now! Eight regular hitters are hitting .291 or better and only catcher Johnny Estrada (.335 OBP) is getting on less than 34% of the time.

–Albert Pujols is out indefinitely and headed to the disabled list with a muscle strain perhaps derailing what was shaping up to be one of the best offensive performances in baseball history. He was on pace to hit 72 home runs with 188 runs batted in and a .307/.441/.748 line.

Posted in Analysis, Detroit Tigers, Draft | 1 Comment »

Sunday: 06.4.2006

Bombs Away.

It was 2-for-1 for HR hitters on Sunday afternoon. Seven hitters hit two home runs. I doubt it’s a record, but it caught my eye:

Alfonso Soriano – Washington Nationals (20, 21)
Austin Kearns – Cincinnati Reds (11, 12)
David Wright – New York Mets (9, 10)
Tony Clark – Arizona Diamondbacks (4, 5)
Javy Lopez – Baltimore Orioles (4, 5)
Gerald Laird – Texas Rangers (3, 4)
Ryan Freel – Cincinnati Reds (2, 3)

New York Mets super-prospect, Lastings Milledge hit his first career home run in a 7-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants. The Tigers dropped 2-of-3 to the Red Sox as they enter an off day before travelling to Chicago. I’ll write in-depth about that mess later. I have a splitting headache at the moment and I want to watch one of my favorite pitchers in the league, John Lackey, go against the Cleveland Indians. Too bad I’ll have to suffer JM2 on ESPN.

Posted in Data & News | 1 Comment »

Friday: 06.2.2006

Detroit Disaster.

Things didn’t go right for either Detroit team tonight. First the Tigers blew a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth on a Kevin Youkilis 2-run homer. Meanwhile, the Pistons are being eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Miami Heat in Miami. I’m not in a good mood tonight! More on both later…

Posted in Detroit Tigers, General Sports | Leave a Comment »

Friday: 06.2.2006

Phew!

Courtesy: Sportsline.com

The Tigers managed to take one game of the four game set with the New York Yankees and they did it in style. Storming back from a 5-0 deficit, they completed the comeback this time around with a 7-6 victory. Today, the team was much better at converting opportunities with runners on than they had been in the previous three games. At times, namely when Craig Monroe was up to bat, they left something to be desired in terms of driving in runs, but even his six men left on base paled in comparison to Yankees fill-in rightfielder Terrence Long‘s nine left on.

Chien-Ming Wang breezed through three innings facing just nine hitters thanks to a nixed stolen base attempt and a double play. He came unraveled in fourth inning allowing three straight hits to the top of the lineup to load the bases. A walk to Magglio Ordonez gave the Tigers their first run of game. A pair of RBI-singles by Carlos Guillen and Omar Infante drew the Tigers to within two runs. Finally the team converted an optimum scoring chance for some runs. It was something that plagued the team all series long:

May 30th, 1st inning vs. Aaron Small:
-Ball, Ball, Strike looking, Ball, Strike looking, Granderson singled to right.
-Pickoff attempt, Ball, Strike looking, Polanco singled to right, Granderson to second.
-Rodriguez reached on bunt single to pitcher, Granderson to third, Polanco to second.
-Ball, Foul, Foul, Ordonez fouled out to first.
-Ball, Foul, Ball, Foul, Foul, Ball, Foul, Foul, Guillen lined out to shortstop.
-Strike looking, Ball, Foul, Shelton struck out swinging.
–End of Inning (0 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors)

May 30th, 8th inning vs. Kyle Farnsworth & Scott Proctor:
-Ball, Ball, Ball, Shelton walked.
-Monroe singled to left center, Shelton to second
-Santiago running for Shelton
-Foul, Ball, Ball, Ball, Foul, Foul, Thames walked, Santiago to third, Monroe to second.
-Strike looking, Ball, Ball, Inge reached on fielder’s choice to shortstop, Santiago scored, Monroe to third, Thames out at second.
-Ball, Foul, Ball, Foul, Foul, Granderson struck out looking.
-Strike looking, Foul, Polanco struck out swinging.
–End of Inning (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)

May 31st, 6th inning vs. Mike Mussina:
-Inge reached on bunt single to first.
-Strike looking, Foul, Foul, Ball, Granderson singled to left center, Inge to second.
-Polanco grounded into fielder’s choice to first, Inge out at third, Granderson to second.
-Strike looking, Rodriguez grounded into double play shortstop to first, Polanco out at second.
–End of Inning (0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors)

Three key innings that could’ve turned the series in favor of the Tigers. Tonight, after getting within two at 5-3, rookie Justin Verlander labored through the fifth inning, including a leadoff home run to Jason Giambi (14), in what would be his last of the evening. The bloodspots on his right pant leg seemed to suggest he was battling a blister. Hopefully it doesn’t become a recurring problem for him.

The teams remained scoreless until the ninth when the Tigers took advantage of Mariano Rivera‘s unavailability and brutalized former teammate Kyle Farnsworth. Marcus Thames, poster boy for BbP, followed a Granderson lineout with a walk. It was his third time on base as he raised his batting line to .307/.413/.648. Then Rodriguez, Ordonez, & Guillen knocked three straight singles that scored Thames then Pudge giving the Tigers the series saver.

Lost in the shuffle of going 1-3 against the Yankees is the fact that the Chicago White Sox posted the exact same record in four games against the Cleveland Indians and the Tigers still hold the league’s best record entering their tilt with the Boston Red Sox. As we enter the third month of the season, the success of the Tigers is no longer new and fresh. We have entered the period where the pessimists are waiting for the other shoe to drop or trying uncover the flaws of the team.

They aren’t perfect and despite what their record says, I do not honestly believe they are the best team in baseball. That said, I do not believe they are a fluke and feel confident in saying they are one of the best teams in baseball. The team’s detractors can’t just take a particular series and continually point at it saying “see, see, they aren’t that good after all!!!” Rough patches with three or four game skids happen during the course of the season, it’s inevitable as evidenced by the reiging champions over the course of the same period. Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated realizes that the Tigers are still very much contenders.

The Tigers have their work cut out for them if they want back-to-back wins as Curt Schilling (8-2, 3.92 ERA, 7.2 K:BB) takes the hill for Boston against Kenny Rogers (7-3, 3.76 ERA, 1.8 K:BB) at 6:05 PM Central. An hour later, the Detroit Pistons once again look to extend their season in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. Head over to one of my newest sites to check daily, Detroit Bad Boys, for extended coverage.

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