Results tagged ‘ Jacob Turner ’
Falling from first
The Tigers lost again today, bringing them two and a half games back of first place in the American League Central. Despite losing the last three games, there’s no need for fans to panic just yet.
A week before the All-Star Game, I felt confident in saying that that the Tigers would win the AL Central, and I do still believe that will be the case. Not only has the team been playing a lot more consistent in the last two weeks, but they’ve also managed to upgrade their team.
When the Tigers traded Jacob Turner, Rob Brantly and Brian Flynn for Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante, it was another fine example of finding a way to improve this team in the short term. Long term, the Tigers may have been better off by holding onto Turner, but as of right now, he is not a better than Sanchez.
Not only that, but the Tigers have had no offensive contributions from their second baseman this year, making that a major focus for Detroit. Infante will not only provide stability at second, but he’s also under contract for the 2013 season. If Detroit didn’t trade for a second baseman, they would find themselves with very few (or great) options via free agency.
There’s plenty of time left for the Tigers, not to mention the fact they still have seven games against the White Sox this year. The formula for making it to the playoffs is simple, and that’s to find a way to keep beating teams in your division. If Detroit can’t do that, they don’t deserve to be playing in October.
Could the Rockies deliver CarGo to Detroit?
As the Tigers look forward to the trade deadline, I often find myself thinking about potential trades they could make. I’ll admit, some of them are more far fetched than others, but some seem to be pretty realistic. So I present to you a trade the Tigers should consider making, even though there’s a very minimal chance that it will actually happen.
There’s no denying that the Tigers are lacking offensive production from their corner outfielders, so it would make sense to trade for one, especially if he happens to be on one of the worst teams in baseball, right?
Entering today, the Colorado Rockies are sitting at 28-44, in a tight race with the San Diego Padres for the worst record in the NL West. If that doesn’t make them sellers at the trade deadline, I’m not sure what it would take.
They have a star player in Carlos Gonzalez, who would certainly attract plenty of teams come the middle or end of July. Any deal for Gonzalez would likely include a slew of prospects, as well as a couple major-league ready players. The Tigers have just enough depth to do just that.
I propose offering our best pitching prospect, Jacob Turner, along with outfield Brennan Boesch and relief pitcher Luis Marte. If that’s still not enough, I’d even be willing to add Quintin Berry to sweeten the deal.
I’m not necessarily sure that the Rockies will even consider trading Gonzalez, who is due only 71 million dollars over the next five seasons. I say only 71 million dollars, because if he continues at his current pace, he’ll likely have a true market value that is high above that.
Sure, there’s some reason for concern. When you look at the numbers, Gonzalez has always done significantly better at home than on the road. Is this just a coincidence? Coors Field has always been considered a hitter-friendly ballpark, so I don’t think it’s completely worth dismissing.
From 2009-2011, Gonzalez has a line of .347/.404/.653 at home, compared to .271/.325/.452 during road games. That certainly should cause some alarms to go off, but I don’t think that should prevent you from wanting him on your team.
Again, I don’t think there’s any sort of realistic chance that the Tigers would make this move, and there hasn’t been any reports that the Rockies are willing to even trade Gonzalez. But if they are, the Tigers should definitely consider giving them a call.
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.
The champs are here!
Starting tomorrow, the Tigers will host a the reigning World Series champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, for a three game series at Comerica Park.
Expectations were high for both teams entering the season, but both find themselves in third place of their respective divisions. The Tigers and Cardinals have quite a historic past, meeting in the World Series on three different occasions, the most recent being in 2006. For what it’s worth, the Cardinals have won two of those three World Series meetings.
The best match up of the series is likely to take place tomorrow, where Justin Verlander will face off against Lance Lynn. For as good as Verlander has been (6-4 2.66 ERA), Lynn has been better (10-2 2.42 ERA).
Another exciting thing to watch for this series, is when Jacob Turner makes his 2012 season debut for the Tigers on Thursday. Turner is considered to be one of the top prospects in all of baseball, and was likely the favorite to be the Tigers fifth starter to begin the season, but tendinitis on the shoulder prevented that from happening.
Perhaps the Tigers are trying to showcase Turner, in hopes that they can include him as part of an upcoming trade. There are plenty of teams who will be seeking pitching when the trade deadline rolls around, so there would be no shortage of suitors for him. I don’t know if that’s what the Tigers are thinking, but you can’t help but wonder if it’s in the back of their minds.
As far as interleague play goes, this will be the toughest challenge that the Tigers will have had for the year. Detroit has looked well as of late, winning three straight series. In their last ten games, the Cardinals have gone 5-5.
Let’s make a deal!
The Tigers have won four of their last six games, but there’s still the question of how can they find ways to improve. Perhaps the Tigers will be looking to make a trade in the upcoming weeks.
There’s been some reported speculation that the Tigers are interested in trading for Carlos Quentin from the San Diego Padres, but I don’t think Detroit fans should be excited about this. It’s hard to speculate about a trade without knowing what the other team wants, but I’d imagine it’d be one of our young outfielders such as Andy Dirks or Brennan Boesch, plus a top-tier pitching prospect.
Simply put, I think the Padres are going to want a lot more for Quentin than he’s worth for the Tigers. We’ve dealt with one poor defensive left fielder already this year, so I don’t need to go through that again. If you tell me the Padres are willing to accept Delmon Young as part of the package, then I’d welcome it with open arms.
Freeing up Young would allow the Tigers to play a combination of Dirks (once he returns from the disabled list), Austin Jackson, Boesch and Quintin Berry in the outfield, allowing Quentin to be our primary DH. Granted I think it’s quite possible that one of the outfielders I just mentioned would likely be involved any deal, though.
Another intriguing possibility would be signing Vladimir Guerrero to be our DH. Not only would it prevent us from having to further deplete our farm system, but it would also cost us a lot less money. Quentin is making just over seven million dollars this year, whereas Guerrero would likely cost significantly less. I’m not saying either is likely, but I think it’s a worthwhile comparison.
I do think it’s very likely that the Tigers will consider themselves to be buyers at the trade deadline, but I’m not willing to trade our entire farm system just for the sake of adding a bullpen arm and an extra bat. I’m not saying that prospects like Jacob Turner and Nick Castellanos are untouchable, but I wouldn’t let them go cheaply, either.
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.
Brad Jeffers
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