2013 Detroit Tigers Talk

[the rock]

Cabrera hits three home runs in one game, but Tiger pitching continues to collapse, both starters and relievers. I for one am happy that papa granda is back. Phil Coke should be sent packing. All he does is allow hits, walks, hit batsmen, you name it. Useless.

[401don]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. This thread is quieter than the Tigers lineup.

[ggores]

I hope that Porcello is not given away in some kind of ludicrous deal. Coke really needs to go. Thoughts? Rondon? Hm? More questions than answers regards that bullpen. By the way, it is more than obvious that Valverde goes. Smyly+Benoit hangs in there but they cannot relieve everyday.

[Wingnatic]

Whats keeping Avila here , he's not even hitting 180 , couldn't throw my grandmother out stealing a base . It's like he's in a perpetual slump.

[401don]

Smyly can pitch in Benoit's 8th inning spot and Benoit can close two out of three. He probably can't go 3 days in a row but that's seldom needed. Most of the time Coke is not being hit hard. He's given up several weakly hit singles. The problem is that he is strictly a situational lefty who should only be used to get one or two left-handers out but Leyland insists on using him against righties. The decision to have Valverde on the roster is Dombrowski's so I do think Leyland gets a little too much flack because he doesn't have a choice but to use him. He's starting to go public now with the "Who am I supposed to close with?" comments in the press instead of defending Valverde like he has in the past. Valverde should be released. Rondon has proven he can close in AAA so bring him up to pitch in the 6th and 7th innings until he shows he can get major league hitters out consistently. I have never seen a hitter as lost as Avila at the plate. It's crazy not to send him down and bring up Holaday or acquire another veteran to platoon. The sooner Avila goes down the better the chance he could get straightened out by the stretch drive.

[ct_alum]

Whats keeping Avila here , he's not even hitting 180 , couldn't throw my grandmother out stealing a base . It's like he's in a perpetual slump.

Uh, could it be because his daddy is Assistant General Manager? - Nah!

[401don]

It's time to bring up Castellanos to play left field. Move Peralta to the 5 spot. While he's still slow, at least his outs tend to be fly balls and not double play balls like Martinez. Hit Castellanos 6 and Martinez 7 until he gets going. The alternative would be to hit Infante 2nd and drop Hunter into the 5 spot. This team's offence is painful to watch - no speed and no power from the corner outfielders, DH or catcher positions.

[gnome]

I hear that Bill Freehan is suffering from alzhiemers. that might not be news to some, but it is to me.

[ggores]

It appears that both Valverde and Bonderman are being groomed to do some relief/save work come September and October. Interesting. I keep seeing these articles in the Det News about just how fantastic our farm system is working, but I don't bother to read too many of these articles. So I am just wondering if anyone here can give the cliff notes version of how all these prospects are actually doing? It's great to see, by the way, the presence of so many Tiger's at the All Star fest. I can remember being excited that this team finished their first season over .500 after years and years of being pummeled. I am now beginning to look 3 or 4 years down the road and am interested in how people envision the state of this organization.

[401don]

I started a new drinking game Friday - take a shot whenever a Tiger scores from second base on a single. So far, I'm parched. Whoever called second base "scoring position" never watched this year's Tigers.

[Wingnatic]

It looks like the end for Peralta with the trade of Miggy Jr. for a shortstop . Peralta has been rumored to be on the list for using PED's along with other players . I'm curious if the drugs showed up for any of these players on MLB random urine tests or these players were named [[to save his own ass) by that clinic owner in Florida who was caught selling the goods . This has been an ongoing thing in the media for months . If MLB does start to suspend players on this guys word that he gave them PED's , the commish of baseball should resign for letting this go on for months vs taking action right away

[Danny]

Tigers lost to Yankees! 12th game winning streak is over. No thanks to Alberquerque. Send him back to the minors. And take Bonderman with him
.

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[Knocturnal]

The Peavy/Garcia/Iglesias trade looks as though it will pay dividends for all teams for years to come. Peavy is proving to be a reliable arm for the Red Sox. Garcia seems to be settling in quite nicely and has been on a tear of late. But being able to watch Iglesias with regularity has been nothing short of miraculous. His fielding and hustle out of the batter's box is unbelievably fun to watch. It will be difficult to gauge the winner out of the deal, but all teams appear to have received a key missing piece to their respective "puzzles".

[Lowell]

I can't imagine how lit up this discussion would be in so many past years if Tigers magic number was 2.

I guess it just goes to show just how good the team is and how high our expectations are.

Is this what it is like to be a Yankees fan?

[Lowell]

Games like last night's late innings collapse as a result of our shaky bullpen make me wonder that IF we make the playoff then what? Watching the core of Smiley, Veras and Benoit implode a 3-0 lead against the weak stick Twins is dispiriting.

[jefferson78]

Games like last night's late innings collapse as a result of our shaky bullpen make me wonder that IF we make the playoff then what? Watching the core of Smiley, Veras and Benoit implode a 3-0 lead against the weak stick Twins is dispiriting.

This is when all of those "losses that should have been wins" come back to haunt you. When you are fighting to get that magic number down to 0, and the team that is chasing you will not lose.
Dombrowski not shoring up our bullpen when it was possible, may be the ulitmate undoing of our team.
I'm sorry, Veras and Rondon do not count.
Veras has been shaky at best, and Rondon cannot stay healthy or show any kind of consistency.
This is what we have now. A team that was favored at the start of the season, limping to the finish line.
Does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling for the postseason.
First, we have to get there. Sheesh!

[401don]

I still think having Cabrera, Fielder and Martinez batting consecutively is this team's biggest problem. It was bad enough when Cabrera was healthy. As a result, they can't score from 2nd, they're sitting on 2nd when they should be scoring from 3rd on a sacrifice, they ground into tons of double plays, etc. I have never seen a team get 12 hits and only score 2-3 runs as much as this team and despite all the talk about what a powerful lineup they have, they really are not a homerun hitting team, which would help compensate for the lack of team speed. The inability to DH Cabrera is another problem.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

This is when all of those "losses that should have been wins" come back to haunt you. When you are fighting to get that magic number down to 0, and the team that is chasing you will not lose.
Dombrowski not shoring up our bullpen when it was possible, may be the ulitmate undoing of our team.
I'm sorry, Veras and Rondon do not count.
Veras has been shaky at best, and Rondon cannot stay healthy or show any kind of consistency.
This is what we have now. A team that was favored at the start of the season, limping to the finish line.
Does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling for the postseason.
First, we have to get there. Sheesh!

Especially if we play Oakland. They already have revenge on their minds after last year, and when they came here in late July or early August and took 3 of 4 from us, they've been rolling ever since and have won 21 of their last 26 games. They would get home field advantage against us as they have the 2nd best record in the AL behind Boston. I think things would be different this time, Tigers bullpen is shaky, Miggy is playing hurt and JV isn't his dominant self this year.

[jefferson78]

Especially if we play Oakland. They already have revenge on their minds after last year, and when they came here in late July or early August and took 3 of 4 from us, they've been rolling ever since and have won 21 of their last 26 games. They would get home field advantage against us as they have the 2nd best record in the AL behind Boston. I think things would be different this time, Tigers bullpen is shaky, Miggy is playing hurt and JV isn't his dominant self this year.

Absolutely! The A's and the Bosox are going in to the postseason with momentum and confidence. The Tigers are limping in with questions.
If we want to get to the World Series this year, we'll have to get by one or both of those teams. As it stands now, that would not be an easy task.
The only way I see us moving on is if our starters are "lights out" and all parts of our lineup start to contribute. If not, it will be up to Jimmy Smokes to pull something out of his hat. And judging by his managerial moves these past few post seasons, I'm not real confident.

[jackie5275]

Games like last night's late innings collapse as a result of our shaky bullpen make me wonder that IF we make the playoff then what? Watching the core of Smiley, Veras and Benoit implode a 3-0 lead against the weak stick Twins is dispiriting.

Veras needs to go. He's never been any good. Smyly has been pretty good most of the year, so I don't know what's happening to him lately. They should've left Verlander in, forget out the pitch count already for crying out loud. I pin this one directly on Veras.

I agree with you Lowell. They should be putting away all the teams in the AL Central, especially the big time losers like Minnesota & Chicago. They better sweep Miami this weekend.

[Thruster315]

I see the team sloughing off already. They know they're in the playoffs already and might be sand bagging a little bit. While it might do us fans some good to kick ass all the way to the bitter end of the regular season- Leyland and the boys know that this is small potatoes compared to the bigger dance in a few more weeks. Mentally I've never known how these guys can get up for some games. Yes to game#1 of the season you're stoked but how the hell does one get up for game #92 or some other mid-season game? Now that they see the next step ahead of them, I can see how they can lose the initial focus a little bit. Whereas if it was game #1 of the playoffs one might hustle and stretch a double to a triple, right now they're going to playing it tight and stick with the single.

Again, as a fan I'd love to see them go undefeated but realistically I get it that they can't play desperately every night.

No worries as long as they ramp it up for the long playoff run.

[401don]

Bruce Rondon looked fantastic striking out the side Tuesday. Then of course we read the next morning his arm is hurting again. There seems to be nobody, no matter how big, that can consistently throw 100 mph. Looks like Anderson and Zumaya all over again.

[jefferson78]

Bruce Rondon looked fantastic striking out the side Tuesday. Then of course we read the next morning his arm is hurting again. There seems to be nobody, no matter how big, that can consistently throw 100 mph. Looks like Anderson and Zumaya all over again.

Congratulations to our team for winning their third Central Division crown three years in a row!
Something that hasn't been done in, well, over a century.
I know this team has concerns going into the postseason, but I'm just going to enjoy this achievement for now.
Hopefully Miggy can rest a little and get back some more mobility so he can still be a force for us.
I know that every team that made it has some glaring weakness, and getting by Oakland or Boston will be a challenge.
We do have incentive on our side, losing last year. Plus, they know that Mr. Ilitch is not in the best of health and they would like nothing better than to give him the World Series title he so richly deserves while he is still here.
Please make it happen Boys!

[firstandten]

I'm really worried about Oakland, Boston not so much. I just remember the last series with them, they took all of our starters to the woodshed which doesn't happen. We were fortunate to win that last game. They won the season series against us and they have home field advantage. If we get pass Oakland I will feel pretty good, but that team can make us have a short playoff run.