Archive for ‘Off-Season’

Friday: 11.3.2006

Battery Powered

The formidable pitcher-catcher tandem of Kenny Rogers and Ivan Rodriguez were awarded Gold Gloves on Thursday. For Rogers, it was his fifth Gold Glove and fourth in a row. Meanwhile, Pudge brings home his 12th piece of defensive hardware. The full list of American League winners:

P – Kenny Rogers, Detroit Tigers
C – Pudge Rodriguez, Detroit Tigers
1B – Mark Teixeira, Texas Rangers
2B – Mark Grudzielanek, Kansas City Royals
3B – Eric Chavez, Oakland A’s
SS – Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
OF – Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
OF – Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays
OF – Torii Hunter, Minnesota Twins

In other news, GM Dave Dombrowski signed a much deserved four-year extension to retain his role through 2011. Obviously, with all the success the team enjoyed this year, it is no surprise that Dombrowski was given the extension. Even if the team had won 85 games, though, he’d still be plenty deserving.

Tuesday: 10.31.2006

A Great Season.

A tremendous season ended with bitter disappointment as the Tigers more or less threw the World Series away. I’m not taking anything away from the St. Louis Cardinals, a playoff-tested team that answered the bell and punished the Tigers for each and every one of their many mistakes. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t heartbroken by the World Series loss, but the season was a huge victory overall. The off-season will bring plenty of action here at BbP, so I thank all that have been visiting and encourage you to continue visiting through the winter for plenty of in-depth analysis of the season from a Detroit standpoint as well as the season at large. My Bill James Handbook ships tomorrow and I’m sure after I dive into that, it’ll provide plenty of material for me to write about here.

The Tigers should also be players in the hotstove including rumored interest in Daisuke Matsuzaka. Sean Casey‘s World Series performance should have cemented his role as a Tiger next year, but more left-handed power is a need as well. I’m terrified at this news because of how well he fits the aforementioned need. Improving the team is one thing, but I draw the line at this clown. If you add a problem attitude to improve the team taking a chance that a coach or manager can rein him in (Terrell Owens for example), but adding someone like this leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The Tigers have said nothing about pursuing him, so it’s pure speculation that they would even consider it, but I would rather not even bother with it all.

At any rate, BbP has no off-season. The site gained a fair bit of traction with the World Series and I plan to build off of that.