Baseball Historians

Five Tigers are up for This Year in Baseball Awards.  You can run down all of the Tigers on the ballot thanks to the Free Press and you can vote at the Tigers Official Website.
The Detroit News is getting into the prospect game and Lynn Henning lists out his top 20 prospects.  There sure do [...]

Alright, Tuesday is the arbitration and the Tigers, as highlighted by Lynn Henning, have some decisions to make.  Placido Polanco, Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon are all eligible and if the Tigers offer and they sign with someone else, then the Tigers get some draft picks.  Polanco, as a Type A free agent, is particularly [...]

With the winter meetings a couple of weeks away, there’s not a lot to talk about so I’m not surprised MLB.com is rolling out a bunch of HOF information.  Jason Beck tackles the case for Jack Morris and how Jack has been lobbying for Bert Blyleven.  I’m kind of in the same boat.  I think Morris [...]

MiLB.com is going through their annual organizational reviews and yesterday, Jonathan Mayo worked up the Tigers review.  He’s very optimistic about the Tigers pitching prospects and one thing he points out that I didn’t know was that all of the Tigers affliates finished with an ERA under 4.00.  Not too shabby.  There’s also some good [...]

The White Sox have been busy here in the early stages of the free agent season.  They inked Omar Vizquel to a one year deal earlier in the week and then yesterday, the signed Andruw Jones to a one year incentive laden deal.  While neither are long term options, it does give the White Sox [...]

There was plenty of trade talk over at the Free Press with Miguel Cabrera once again taking center stage.  John Lowe brings us all back to reality though and in his column he spells out why trading Cabrera will be so tough.  The contract is the obvious one.  He also discusses how the rumors may [...]

First we had Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson.  Now the trade talks surround Miguel Cabrera in what would be the biggest salary dump of them all.  Lynn Henning wrote this morning about how things have now turned to Cabrera and it looks like the Boston Red Sox are the team being mentioned.  While I like [...]

I was surprised as anyone that Miguel Cabrera, of all people, got the lone non-Mauer first place vote for the AL MVP.  My guess is it might be the same guy who voted Justin Verlander first for the Cy Young but remember, two Detroit voters picked Magglio Ordonez over Alex Rodrigue back in 2007.  It’s [...]

It looks like Gary Sheffield wants to make one more run.  I think the whole thing about him reaching 3,000 hits and 25 home runs (much less 40) is a stretch but he did have a decent season last year while also playing in the outfield.  An .823 OPS, even in limited time (268 at [...]

Alright, we’ve all heard the rumors that Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson are being shopped and both have quite a bit of value because they’re coming off of good seasons.  The question is, if you’re in a selling mood, is now the time to trade Justin Verlander?  His stock may never be higher then it [...]

Alright, Drew Sharp penned a column this morning about the Tigers paying the price for their 2006 gamble and while he brings up some good points he’s kind of all over the place.  First off, what does 2006 have to do with it.  Outside of trading for Gary Sheffield, the Tigers didn’t do too much [...]

Phil Rogers at the Chicago Tribune struck down a trade for Curtis Granderson that would involve top prospect Starlin Castro.  The shortstop prospect had a solid season (.302 batting average) at High A ball and at Double A (.288 average, 12/10 strikeout to walk ratio) as a 19 year old and he raked in the [...]

Marc Hulet at Fangraphs gave a nice synopsis of the Tigers last few draft classes.  He says some pretty nice things about Jacob Turner, the Tigers first round draft pick this year, and while the Tigers minor league system was gutted with the pre-2008 season trades, the front office has been able to stock things [...]

Lynn Henning wrote today that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Tigers ship a player or two to Seattle.  It still bothers me that there’s all this talk of the Tigers trading for prospects after such a close run last year but what happens in these next couple of months will show what the front [...]

The Tigers added four players to 40 man roster today in anticipation of the midnight deadline.  All four were position players and they included future second baseman Scott Sizemore.  Audy Ciricao (shortstop), Ryan Strieby (first base) and Brennan Boesch (outfield) were all protected as well.
That leaves quite a few pitchers unprotected heading into the Rule [...]

Tigerblog just entered the 21st century.  I finally figured out to how to set up a Facebook fan page so if you want to follow the site that way, sign up as a fan.  You can also find me on Twitter at @tigerblog.
Free agent signing season begins today.  I expect things will be rather subdued until [...]

Minor League infielder Ron Bourquin got a 50 game suspension for testing positive for amphetimines.  What’s interesting is Bourquin could have been lost in the Rule 5 draft, but he’s now effectively protected because I doubt a team would want to scoop him up knowing he’ll take up a roster spot and miss 50 games. 
Bouquin [...]

Paul White at the USA Today is projecting that the Tigers will sign Astros closer Jose Valverde.  He’s a little too injury prone for my tastes and my bet is his price tag will be too high.  The Tigers have some good young arms to use in the pen.  If they’re going to go for [...]

Just a few quick links.  First off, Chris Jaffe has written an excellent book (I’ve seen parts of it) on baseball managers. Evaluating Baseball Managers: A Comprehensive History and Performance Analysis, 1876-2008 goes way back into the 1800s and brings things up to present, analyzing managers along the way.  He wrote a couple of excerpts [...]

I shouldn’t complain too much because being busy isn’t a bad thing but I’ve been neglecting the site.  No promises, but I’m hoping to reverse that and while I want to touch on a few things that have happened since I posted last, way back when, it’ll probably be incomplete because of ALL the things [...]

Positions filled: 1B(More on him later)…. 3B(Great glove, power, leader)… CF(huge hole vs. lefties but otherwise solid)… Top 3 rotation(young as well)…. RF($18 million for a singles hitter, have fun moving that contract!)… LF-DH(Good bat who cannot be counted on in th field)
Question Marks: How the hell do you spend almost a 100 million on [...]

Positions filled: 2B(All star candidate)…Top 2 starters(Among the 15 in the American League)… C(Starter and back up)… 1B(Elite glove and bat)…. Closer(among the top 5 in the game)…. CF(Tremendous talent who is still developing)… Very good farm system…. Solid set up unit in the pen…RF(Not an ideal guy but someone who is consistent) … Very [...]

Special note of thanks to all who have served currently and in the past. Special day for me( My Birthday) and I am also retired Army. In these times, take a moment to thank all who defend us and give clowns like me the right to say what we feel. Hats off, Troops!

Positions filled: 3B, SS(Health issues), 2B(Potential trade bait), RF, CF, #1 starter(coming off surgery), #4-5 type starters(Need top end types to help Santana), Closer, top lefty set up man(One of the best in the game and vital in this division packed with Lefty threats)
Question Marks:
1- 1B- Can Daniel Murphy be an every day [...]

The Tigers made some roster moves a couple of days ago and the big one was the non-tendering of Marcus Thames.  That makes him a free agent and it ends his somewhat bizarre career as a Tiger.  At times, he looked like he could belt 40 in a year but at other times, he looked [...]

According to the NY Post, The Mets will not pick up set up man JJ Putz option for the 2010 campaign. The Mets now must pay a 1 million dollar buyout instead of the 9.1 million option. Putz, who battled arm injuries most of the season, is another big number contract(1B Carlos Delgado, RP Billy [...]

DH Hideki Matsui’s huge night(3 hits that produced 6 rbi) was more than enough as the New York Yankees won their record 27 World Championship ,defeating The Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 Wednesday night in the Bronx. Matsui’s 2 run homer in the 2nd inning set the tone and was the start of a record setting night. [...]

With a day off for the World Series, I thought it would  be a good time to announce my votes for the 2009 Major League regular season awards.
MVP
American League: C Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
National League:  1B Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
CY Young
AL: Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals
NL: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
Rookie of the Year
AL: [...]

Mets RF Jeff Francoeur had the long awaited surgery on his left thumb Monday. The in season trade acquisition tore the collateral ligament in the thumb while making a catch on August 23rd. He played with the injury thru the final 6 weeks of the season, displaying toughness for a team that had little to [...]

Philadelphia  Phillies star 2B Chase Utley homered twice leading the defending World Champions over the New York Yankees 8-6 Monday night at Citizens Bank Park in Pennsylvania. The win helps keep the Phillies alive and narrows the Bronx Bmbers lead to 3-2.  After Alex Rodriquez doubled home a run for the Yankees in the 1st, [...]