Results tagged ‘ Drew Smyly ’
Should the Tigers trade Porcello?
According to reports, the Tigers made not one but two offers to the San Diego Padres in an attempt to trade Rick Porcello. Both of the offers were rejected, but it makes me wonder whether or not the Tigers should try to trade Porcello.
Both reported offers would have landed Detroit a late-inning relief pitcher, which makes it seem that the Tigers don’t necessarily have a lot of confidence in Bruce Rondon being the closer come opening day. If that is the case, I can understand why the Tigers would try to trade for Huston Street, but not Luke Gregerson.
In his first year as the closer for the Padres, Street posted a 1.85 ERA along with 23 saves. Street has spent all eight years of his career as a closer, only once logging under 20 saves. Although he is a valuable closer, I don’t think trading a pitcher like Porcello (durable starter who cannot become a free agent until 2016) for a closer who is owed 21-million dollars over the next three years.
Gregerson is another interesting trade candidate, as I’m not sure he’d be able to slot in as the closer for the Tigers, especially since he’s only finished 42 games in his career (12 saves). The nice thing about Gregerson is the fact he’s only due 3.2-million dollars this year, which is a reasonable salary for a quality relief pitcher. The flip side of that is if Gregerson isn’t closing, he really doesn’t have much of a defined role on the team.
When it comes to closers, there’s basically two different theories. The first theory is that any quality relief pitcher can be an above-average closer. The second is that not all pitchers have the mentality or makeup to be a closer in professional baseball. More often than not, I’m a believer in the latter. Of course there will always be exceptions to the rule, but a closer without confidence is just a disaster waiting to happen.
So should the Tigers trade Porcello before opening day? In my opinion, I think it’s best to wait until at least the trade deadline. My biggest fear is the fact that outside of Drew Smyly, the Tigers have pretty much no rotational depth, and that’s not a position that a World Series contending team wants to deal with. If the Tigers do trade Porcello, I just hope that they get a little more value than just a relief pitcher.
What are the Tigers hunting for this offseason?
A lot of people in Michigan got a chance to go hunting this weekend, but for the Detroit Tigers, the hunt began weeks ago.
After getting swept in the World Series in a horribly disappointing fashion, Tigers President Dave Dombrowski has the task of hunting for talent that will make Detroit a better team in 2013.
Of course you don’t always get everything that’s on your wish list, but Detroit acted quickly and signed Torii Hunter to a two-year deal for 26 million dollars. Overall, it’s a pretty perfect match, since Hunter can play an above-average defense while bringing a strong right-handed bat. Better yet, Hunter will get a chance to mentor young outfielders such as Austin Jackson, Andy Dirks, Avisail Garcia, Quintin Berry and Nick Castellanos.
Remember, Mike Trout of the Angels gave Hunter a lot of credit for his 2012 season, so hopefully he can do the same with our cast of young and talented outfielders. If so, the 26 million dollars will not only pay dividends now, but well after Hunter leaves Detroit.
So what else do the Tigers need to look for in the next few months? In my opinion, they should look at adding a right-handed hitting corner outfielder who can split playing time with Andy Dirks in left field. Someone like Scott Hairston would make a lot of sense, and wouldn’t cost a lot of money. Not only that, but he was someone who the Tigers were reported to have interest in last year.
Some people say the Tigers should make a hard push to sign Anibal Sanchez, but for the reported six years and 90 million dollars he’s asking for, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I’m usually not an advocate for guaranteeing that much money to a starting pitcher, and it’s hard to convince me that Detroit should spend 15 million dollars on a guy who would be the number four pitcher in their rotation. If Detroit wants to sign a starting pitcher, I’d suggest offering someone like Edwin Jackson a three-year deal for 30 million dollars. If he turns it down, I’d simply stick with the current rotation of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Doug Fister, Rick Porcello and Drew Smyly.
I think the best options to fill our closer vacancy are probably internally, such as giving Bruce Rondon a shot, or even Al Alburquerque. If they decide to sign a free agent, I’d suggest going after Ryan Madson, who missed all of 2012 with Tommy John Surgery.
Detroit will also likely consider adding a bullpen arm, and will need to figure out who is going to be their backup catcher. It’s unlikely that Victor Martinez will be able to catch, but with the added payroll, they might elect to give Bryan Holaday a chance.
It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the unseason unfolds, not only for the Tigers, but the rest of Major League Baseball. If the recent deals have been any indication of what to expect, this could be one of the most exciting offseasons in MLB history.
The bullpen blues
If you’re a Tigers fan, you’ve probably found yourself wondering what’s going on with our late-inning relievers. No, I’m not necessarily talking about Jose Valverde, but two other important relievers: Phil Coke and Joaquin Benoit.
There’s no denying that Coke and Benoit have been struggling in recent weeks. It’s been an especially bizarre stretch for Benoit. Since July 1st, Benoit has allowed only eight hits in the last 13 and a third innings he’s pitched. Of those eight hits, six have been home runs. Is it bad luck? Is it a result of poor mechanics, or is he injured?
Simply put, I don’t have the answer. It’s no secret that Benoit has been nursing an aching shoulder, so I can’t help but wonder if that has something to do with it. A trip to the disabled list would certainly seem likely, but that’s merely just speculation.
Benoit struggled in the early parts of the 2011 season, so there’s still hope that he’ll be able to find a way to turn his season around. On the year, he’s pitched fairly well, posting a 3.40 ERA, while striking out just over a batter per inning.
Coke hasn’t had much consistency during the 2012 season, and hasn’t shown any clear indication that he’s closer to figuring it out. There’s no denying that Coke is a crucial piece of the Tigers bullpen, as he’s always been reliable to get left-handed batters out in the later innings of the game.
Although he’s done an okay job of keeping lefties in check (he’s holding them to a .263 batting average this year), right-handed hitters have been hitting him hard all year long. Righties are batting .393 against Coke in 89 at bats this year. It’s not exactly a small sample size, especially for someone who is expected to pitch only an inning at a time.
One would think that would lead to Coke having a terrible year, but that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, his ERA on the year (3.97) is lower than his career ERA (4.05). Perhaps we’re just starting to see that Coke simply is not as effective of a pitcher as Detroit fans had hope.
For what it’s worth, his 2011 WAR (wins above replacement) was -.1, meaning that he was determined to be worse than the average player at the same position.
With Duane Below and Darin Downs pitching well (both left-handed relief pitchers), and Drew Smyly likely to return from the disabled list, it wouldn’t shock me to see either Coke getting traded, optioned to Toledo or released. Is it likely? Probably not, but it’s something I’m sure the Tigers will be considering.
A Grimm start for Texas helps Detroit win
The Detroit Tigers struck early and often against Justin Grimm, who started for the Texas Rangers. It was only the second major league appearance of his career, and one he’d probably like to forget.
Grimm was unable to make it through the second inning before Tigers tagged him for eight hits and six runs. That was more than enough run support for the Tigers, who got plenty of run support for Rick Porcello.
Porcello looked good for his second straight outing, pitching six innings and allowing just one run. The win for Porcello is only the 5th of the year, who is looking to find more consistency from his outings. He did an excellent job of keeping the Rangers off balance and preventing them from putting runs on the board.
It’s got to be a good feeling for Porcello. The last time he faced the Rangers, he allowed nine runs in just one inning.
The Tigers will look to continue their winning ways, as Drew Smyly (2-2 3.96 ERA) will face Yu Darvish (9-4 3.45 ERA). Who will win game two of the 2011 ALCS rematch? Tune in to Fox Sports Detroit tomorrow at 8:05 to find out.
Turning to Turner
Jacob Turner will be making his 2012 season debut for the Detroit Tigers this afternoon, when they play the St. Louis Cardinals in the series finale.
Turner has been considered one of the top prospects in baseball ever since the Tigers drafted him in the 2009 amateur draft. Entering the 2012 season, Baseball America ranked Turner the 22nd best prospect. This won’t be Turner’s major league debut, as he had three appearances in 2011.
His numbers weren’t exactly pretty, and to be fair, a lot of that had to do with the fact that he wasn’t pitching on regular rest. In fact, he had a stretch of 21 days where he didn’t pitch. Turner has pitched effectively in the minor leagues this year. If you combine his numbers between Toledo and Lakeland, he has a record of 3-3, with an ERA of 2.83.
The Tigers have said they only intend this to be a spot start for Turner, who would likely return to Toledo once Drew Smyly returns from his current stint on the disabled list.
With the trade deadline coming near, I can’t help but wonder if the Tigers are looking to showcase Turner, just in case they can use him as a trade piece. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see the Tigers trade him for a Single-A prospect, but it wouldn’t shock me if a lot of teams want Detroit to include Turner and Nick Castellanos in a lot of their trade proposals.
You can’t resist the Fist
Making his first start since May 28th, Doug Fister got the win for the Tigers, as they defeated the Rockies by a final score of 4-1.
But this blog isn’t a summary of the game, in fact I wasn’t able to even watch it. No, this blog is about the importance of getting Fister back in the rotation and keeping him there.
The injury that Fister suffered (strain muscle on his left side) is one of those injuries that seem to linger. If you try rushing back sooner than you should, your ultimately going to keep aggravating it. For this reason, I was glad to see that the Tigers waited well beyond his eligible return date, because they understood the significance of having a healthy Fister pitching every fifth day.
To be quite frank, the Tigers rotation has been horribly stressful to watch. Although we’ve seen flashes of brilliance from everyone involved, aside from Verlander, we’ve also seen countless amounts of struggles.
Sure, Drew Smyly has filled in well before he was sent to the disabled list with blister problems, but you simply can’t expect to have guys like Casey Crosby to carry you. It’s always nice when they do, but it’s not fair or reasonable to expect it. That’s by no means a knock against Crosby, but I don’t think you’ll find too many scouts or analysts will tell you that he was ready for the major leagues.
With Fister back in action, the Tigers will once again have one of the best one and two starting pitchers of any rotation in the American League. If the Tigers can continue to put up some runs, they will have a very realistic chance of leading the division before the All-Star Game.
Patience is a virtue
It is said that patience is a virtue, but when it comes to the Tigers, a lot of fans don’t have much left.
To put it simply, the Tigers have been underperforming their expectations for the year. Yes, it’s early in the year, but it hasn’t been pretty the last few weeks. The Tigers have more talent on their team than most teams in baseball, but yet we find them third in the AL Central. Who’s to blame?
I don’t think the fault can fall on any one person, but I’m sure you’ll hear a lot of names being mentioned. No, the Tigers aren’t losing because of Jim Leyland or Prince Fielder, but it’s really an issue of finding some sort of consistency.
When you look at a traditional playoff team, you often see a team with a great balance of pitching, hitting and defense. Right now, I’m not sure the Tigers are consistently performing in any of those categories.
The rotation has been hit or miss, with the exceptions of Doug Fister and Justin Verlander. Drew Smyly has also been solid as the fifth man in the rotation, too. The bullpen hasn’t been lights out, and there’s really no one in the bullpen that I have a ton of faith in at the moment.
Let us also not forget to mention the grab bag of second baseman we’ve had to use. Collectively, they’re barely hitting above their weight. Ryan Raburn (.144), Ramon Santiago (.188) and Danny Worth (.176) are not long-term solutions at second base, and unfortunately they’re the best we have right now.
Come the trade deadline (if not sooner), I would expect the Tigers to be seeking an arm or two out of the bullpen, plus a replacement for second base. If the Tigers continue to struggle through the end of July, it also wouldn’t shock me if the Tigers end up firing one of their coaches.
Until then, I’m going to do my best to be patient. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Tigers are too good of a team to be only a .500 team. I refuse to panic, but my patience is certainly running thin.
AL Rookie of the Year (so far)
Every year there seems to be a preseason frontrunner to win the AL Rookie of the Year for , and this year is no exception. A lot of people predicted that the award would go to Jesus Montero, Yu Darvish, Yoenis Cespedes or even Mike Trout. However, there’s someone else that you should be watching closely.
Drew Smyly came out relative obscurity (unless you’re a baseball nerd like myself) to having himself a phenomenal year. I don’t want to over hype anything he’s done so far, but the numbers just don’t lie.
In four starts with the Tigers, Smyly is 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA. What’s more impressive, is the fact that two of his starts have come against arguably the best two teams in the American League.
His last start was in Yankee Stadium where he pitched six innings while allowing only two hits and one run en route to earning his first Major League win. In the start before that, he held the Rangers to just one run in six innings, only to get a no decision.
As a Detroit fan, I’ve been thoroughly impressed with what I’ve seen so far, and it’s a shame that he hasn’t gotten the recognition that he deserves. I’m not worried, because if he keeps like pitching like this, he’ll have an excellent chance of winning the AL Rookie of the Year.
Time for Drew to make his debut
Drew Smyly will be the starting pitcher for the Tigers this afternoon against the Rays, and in doing so will be making his Major League debut.
Smyly, who had never pitched at any level above double-A until he made a spot start for the Toledo Mud Hens a little less than a week ago. There’s high expectations for Smyly, who had a solid 2011 season where he went 11-6 with a 2.07 ERA, splitting time with both the Lakeland Flying Tigers and Erie Seawolves.
Going into spring training, there was a lot of speculation as to who would open the year for the Tigers as their fifth starter. A lot of people had thought (myself included) the spot would go to Jacob Turner, but an injury eventually put him out of contention.
Whether or not Smyly will be able to hold down the entire season remains to be seen-but for now-I’m definitely excited to see how he’ll do.
And then there were two
It was announced today that the Tigers have optioned starting pitcher Andy Oliver to Toledo, meaning that only Drew Smyly and Duane Below remain as candidates for the 5th spot in the Tigers starting rotation.
For what it’s worth (which I’ll admit isn’t much), I sincerely think that the nod has to go to Smyly. My biggest concern with Below is his lack of having any plus-level pitches, and that’s why I think he’s better suited to either be a long reliever for the Tigers, or he needs to work on further developing his pitches in Toledo.
The biggest advantage that I think Below has at this point, is the mere fact that he’s already pitched in the Major Leagues. Below started two games for the Tigers in 2011, pitching in 12 other games out of the bullpen. In 29 innings of work, his numbers weren’t lights out, but they weren’t terrible either. Even though I think Smyly has better stuff, it wouldn’t shock me if Below gets the rotation spot. Keep in mind that both pitchers make still break camp, with Smyly in the rotation, and Below in the bullpen.
One of the most interesting parts of this whole competition for the 5th starter, is the fact that no one predicted that Smyly or Below would be the front runners before Spring Training began. For those who say that performances in Spring Training are overrated or don’t matter, please take note.
Brad Jeffers
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