Eye of the Hawk

Prediction: Third-place finish, sprained ankle will cost Cabrera MVP he deserves

2010-09-30T07:59:00.001-07:00

The vote will be close. Probably the closest since 2006 when Justin Morneau edged Derek Jeter by 14 points. But I think the Tigers' disappointing third-place finish and the sprained ankle that knocked Miguel Cabrera out of the lineup for the final week of the season will cost Cabrera the Most Valuable Player Award that he so obviously deserves.
    I am not voting for MVP this year -- I'm voting for AL Manager of the Year. But, for the record, if I did have a vote it would definitely go to Cabrera, with the Yankees' Robinson Cano second, and the Rangers' Josh Hamilton third.
    However, the fact that it is a three-player race this year will spread the first-place votes around -- and hurt Cabrera's chances.
    Cabrera wants to win the MVP. He wants it and deserves it. No other American Leaguer has performed at such a high level all season.
    Hamilton has been missing in action since he busted a couple of ribs on Sept. 4. But, although he appeared in only 130 games, he has enough at-bats to claim the AL batting title. And the Rangers are in the playoffs. Those two factors will weigh heavily in the minds of the 28 baseball writers who have a vote.
    Since the schedule was expanded to 162 games in 1961, only two American Leaguers -- Mickey Mantle in '62 and George Brett in '80 -- have been voted MVP despite playing 130 games or fewer.
    But in the past decade, only Alex Rodriguez of the 2003 Texas Rangers has won MVP honors while playing for a team that failed to finish first or second in its division.
    And getting injured cost Cabrera a chance to further pad his already-impressive stats with some convincing final week HRs and RBI.
    I predict Hamilton will be elected MVP with Cabrera finishing a close second and Cano taking a half-dozen first-place votes away from Cabrera and placing third.
    ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Austin Jackson is having a season for the ages. He leads all AL rookies in just about everything -- including strikeouts. Suddenly, Austin's name is being mentioned in the same sentence with the legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson.
    The Rangers' Neftali Feliz is no slouch. He broke the save record for a rookie closer and has been outstanding down the stretch. Again, the fact that the Rangers are in the postseason, while the Tigers are not, will sway some voters.
    But I don't see how anyone could justify giving the award to a one-inning closer over a rookie who played and contributed as much every day as Jackson -- Austin, not Shoeless -- did.
    MANAGER OF THE YEAR: My vote goes to Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire, with Tampa's Joe Maddon second, and the Rangers' Ron Washington third.
    For Gardenhire, the honor will be long overdue. He has finished second in the balloting three times.
    All of the awards, presented by the Baseball Writers Association of America, will be announced in November, after the conclusion of the World Series.

Leyland's future will depend on off-season deals and decisions, and team's' 2011 performance

2010-09-29T08:06:00.001-07:00

Jim Leyland's $4 million-a-year contract expires at the end of the 2011 season. The Tigers' skipper would very much like to return in 2012 and beyond. "When I'm not interested in doing this any more you'll know -- because I won't be here. I'll be home," Leyland said last week.
    But it is the decisions and deals the Tigers make this off-season, and how well the team performs next year when Leyland will again be a lame duck, that will determine his future and his fate.
    "I don't ever want to be the problem," Leyland, the Tigers' longest-tenured manager since Sparky Anderson, declared. "If I'm the problem, they won't have to tell me. They won't have to fire me. I'll know I'm the problem. And I'll be gone. There will be no fanfare, nothing. Just, 'Goodbye. See ya.' "
    Leyland, only the 18th man in baseball history to manage 3,000 games, turns 66 in December. If the Tigers decide to bring him back in 2012, he will be 67.
    "I don't feel 65 years old," Leyland insisted. "I might look it, but I don't feel it. I don't think anyone's saying we have some feeble old man as the manager. I have some spunk."
    But whether Leyland feels his age or not, the clock is ticking.
    ESPN.com recently invited its readers to rank 15 of the top managers of all time. ESPN's list of 15 candidates included Leyland and Sparky, along with Walter Alston, Bobby Cox, Leo Durocher, Tony LaRussa, Tommy Lasorda, Connie Mack, Billy Martin, Joe McCarthy, John McGraw, Lou Piniella, Casey Stengel, Joe Torre and Earl Weaver.
    Cox and Torre are stepping down at the end of this season, although I suspect Torre isn't necessarily done. Pinella has already pulled the plug on his managing career.
    Only Leyland and probably LaRussa will still be managing next year.
    The Dodgers have already named Don Mattingly to replace Torre. But the Braves, Cubs, Blue Jays, Mariners, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Mets, Brewers, Pirates, Reds and even the Cardinals might all also have new managers in 2011.
    Leyland isn't the only one who wants to stick around Detroit. Magglio Ordonez, Brandon Inge, Jeremy Bonderman, Johnny Damon, and Jhonny Peralta feel that way, too.
    Contrast that to the attitude that prevailed here 10 years ago when nobody wanted to come here and most of those who did, didn't want to stay.
    "Maybe they felt they didn't have a chance to win here," Leyland admitted.
    But that has changed.
    "Who would want to leave here," Leyland wondered. "Why wouldn't you want to stay in a place like this? What's not to like?
    "I don't think you're going to have a problem getting players to come here for many years."
    The credit for that goes to owner Mike Ilitch, to GM Dave Dombrowski, to the supportive Tigers fans -- and, yes, to Leyland.
    "I'm sure we've disappointed a lot of people, but overall I think, over the last five years I've been a pretty good manager," Leyland said.
    What do you think?

Galarraga's "strange" season, pending arbitration, could convince the Tigers to let him go

2010-09-26T09:55:00.001-07:00

For Armando Galarraga, this has been the strangest season by any Tigers' pitcher since1952 when Virgil Trucks tossed not one, but two no-hitters -- but won just three other games the rest of the year.
    I asked Jim Leyland if he has an explanation as to why Galarraga has won only two of the 19 games he has started since he pitched what all agree was a perfect game on June 2?
    "I do not," the Tigers' manager replied tersely.
    The Tigers maintain there is nothing wrong physically with the 28-year-old right hander.
    So what's the problem?
    Galarraga is eligible for binding arbitration this winter and, personally, I would not be at all surprised if the Tigers simply let him go.
    Going to arbitration can be a costly proposition. With they win or lose, teams often end up paying a player more than they want to pay him. In Galarraga's case, it could be a lot more.
    Galarraga and his agent are going to try to cash in on his famous "imperfect game."
    You can't blame them. This is Armando's first and maybe his best shot at a big contract.
    But, Galarraga's grace after he was robbed by umpire Jim Joyce aside, his 4-7 record with a 4.44 ERA doesn't leave the Tigers inclined to offer him a huge raise.
    In fairness to Galarraga, he has pitched better at times than his record indicates. In 11 of those starts he allowed three earned runs or fewer.
    But this is a results-based business. And the Tigers have a number of promising young pitchers in the minors waiting to take Galarraga's place as the No. 5 starter.
    Again this season, Galarraga has frustrated Jim Leyland by pitching to avoid contact instead of attacking the hitters. Too often it appears he doesn't trust his stuff which, as he demonstrated against the Indians on the memorable June night, can be outstanding.
    He has been, in a word, inconsistent.
    Keeping him could cost the Tigers more than they think he's worth.

Cabrera says Ordonez "wants to come back next year" -- but at what price?

2010-09-23T06:20:00.001-07:00

Magglio Ordonez is at home in South Florida, recovering from his busted right ankle and subsequent surgery, and collecting the last of his $18 million salary from the Tigers.
    Out of sight, but definitely not out of mind.
    Will we ever see Ordonez wearing the Olde English D again, or won't we?
    I put the odds at 60-40 -- against.
    Miguel Cabrera, Ordonez's teammate, friend and countryman, told me on Wednesday that he has spoken frequently to Magglio by phone and that Ordonez wants to return to the Tigers next season.
    "He wants to come back next year, he wants to stay here," Cabrera said.
    And the Tigers want him back.
    But at what price?
    Until he broke his ankle sliding home on July 24, everyone involved assumed Ordonez's return in 2011 was a done deal. The clause in his contract that would have guaranteed him a $15 million salary next season was a cinch to kick in.
    However, his injury has caused everyone to reassess the situation.
    Because Ordonez was injured before he could collect the needed at-bats, the Tigers are no longer bound to that $15 million figure.
    But how much less might Ordonez and his high-power agent Scott Boras be willing to accept?
    If the Tigers were to offer Ordonez $15 million, I think he'd sign in a minute.
    But would Magglio come back for $12 million? What about $10 million?
    There is more than mere money at stake here.
    Ordonez is a proud man. He wants to feel appreciated. He wants to be rewarded for all that he has done in Detroit, including that pennant-clinching home run in 2006 and his 2007 batting title.
    But, as much as the Tigers have missed Magglio for the past two months it remains to be seen how much owner Mike Ilitch, through GM Dave Dombrowski, will be willing to pay for a proven .300 hitter who hit 12 homers and knocked in 59 runs in 84 games this year -- but one who will turn 37 in January.
    "I want him to come back, he's a great teammate and a great hitter," Cabrera declared.
    As a free agent this winter, Ordonez will certainly attract interest. But, in today's economy, I wonder how high the bidding will go.
    Free agency isn't always a path to riches. Remember what happened to Johnny Damon. He made $13 million in 2009. But he eventually signed with the Tigers for $8 million, because that was the best offer he got.
    "They love Magglio, the city loves him, they love him here," Cabrera said, who has missed Ordonez, with his .303 average, batting in front of him.
    Then Cabrera grinned. "He's got to grow the hair again," the Tigers' slugger said.

What kind of numbers would Raburn put up if he played every day?

2010-09-18T06:29:00.001-07:00

For nearly two years now, I have wondered: What kind of numbers would Ryan Raburn put up if he was given the opportunity to play every day?
    Next season, we may finally find out.
    You can etch the name of Austin Jackson in stone in center field for next year.
    But left field and right field are very much up in the air.
    Will the Tigers bite the $15 million bullet and bring Magglio Ordonez back next season?
    If so, will he play right field or finish his career here as the designated hitter?
    Where does faded rookie sensation Brennan Boesch fit into the picture for next year?
    What about Casper Wells, whose stock has definitely risen in recent days with 21 hits, including five doubles, two HRs and 12 RBI, in his first 57 big league at-bats?
    Such speculation, of course, is assuming the Tigers don't trade for or sign a slugging corner outfielder this winter.
    One outfielder who probably doesn't have to worry about a job next year is Raburn.
    All that remains to be determined is whether Raburn's slugging September has earned him a starting job in left field or whether he will again be a valuable reserve. Raburn is hitting .426 this month with a .634 slugging percentage.
    His surprising finish has pushed his season numbers to a respectable .276 batting average with 13 home runs and 54 RBI in 312 at-bats.
    On Aug. 4 Raburn was hitting an anemic .209 with just two HRs and 23 RBI, putting his future in a Tigers' uniform in doubt.
    Since then, he has batted .357 while delivering 11 HRs and 13 doubles and driving in 31 runs. Since Aug. 5, Raburn leads the American League with 24 extra-base hits and a .683 slugging percentage.
    Raburn also came on strong during August (.327/.592) and September (.355/.677) last season to clinch his place as an extra outfielder on this year's team. Now, if only he could get off to a good start.
    If I had to guess at this point, barring a trade or a significant free agent signing, I think it will be Raburn in left, Jackson in center, and Boesch in right, with the versatile Wells and Don Kelly in reserve next year.

Damon will be on Hall of Fame ballot someday. How many other Tigers can make that claim?

2010-09-16T05:43:00.001-07:00

Johnny Damon probably won't wear a Tigers uniform next season. But he plans to play somewhere. And his name will definitely be on the Hall of Fame ballot someday in the not-too-distant future.
    How many of his current Tiger teammates can make that same claim?
    All too often, I fear, Damon's performance and presence have been under-appreciated this year.
    On Wednesday, in a losing cause, Damon tripled for the 100th time in his career.
    Among active players, only Tampa Bay speedster -- who, by the way, will be a free agent at the end of this season and who would certainly fit nicely into the Tigers' lineup next year -- has more three-baggers (104).
    Among all big leaguers, all-time, Damon ranks 158th. Tigers' great Sam Crawford is baseball's all-time leader with 309.
    Damon is fourth among active players in runs scored with 1,560. Alex Rodriguez is the active leader with 1,745. Damon ranks 51st all-time -- ahead of Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Wade Boggs, and Mike Schmidt.
    Damon is ninth among active players with 482 doubles. Surprisingly, ex-Tiger Pudge Rodriguez is the leader with 564. All-time, Damon is 70th in doubles. Hall of Famer Tris Speaker is the all-time leader with 792.
    Damon is seventh among active players with 2,557 hits. It likely won't happen here, but he has a shot at 3,000 which would virtually guarantee him a plaque on the wall in Cooperstown.
    Damon is also fourth among active players in stolen bases (383) fifth in at-bats (8,893), and eighth in games played (2,261).

Guillen doesn't care where he plays next year, he just wants to stay healthy

2010-09-12T11:28:00.001-07:00

Carlos Guillen said Sunday he doesn't care whether he plays second base or serves as the Tigers' DH next season.
    He just wants to play.
    "I enjoy playing baseball -- it doesn't matter where," declared Guillen. "I'd be OK playing second, DH-ing, any position. I just want to stay healthy."
    Guillen, who has been sidelined since Aug. 17 with what was initially diagnosed as a deep knee bruise, will not accompany the Tigers on this week's road trip to Texas and Chicago. Instead, he will fly to New York where on Friday he will undergo a diagnostic surgical procedure to hopefully determine exactly why the pain in his left knee won't go away.
    "They won't know until they get in there and clean it out," Guillen explained.
    Guillen and the Tigers want to find out what is wrong and get it fixed.
    And there is no point in waiting.
    "Better to do it now and not wait for two more months," Guillen said. "Do it now so I'll be ready for spring training."
    Guillen, who will turn 35 at the end of the month, has one year remaining on his contract and is guaranteed $13 million next year.
    He has been plagued by injuries the past two years. In 2009, he appeared in 81 games. This season he has only played in a career-low 68, batting .273 with six HRs and 34 RBI.

Cabrera enjoying a banner year, but his chances of a Triple Crown are nil

2010-09-09T10:26:00.001-07:00

Miguel Cabrera was absent from the starting lineup again Thursday because of tendinitis in his left shoulder which hinders his swing and reduces his power. Barring a stupendous final three weeks, which now appears all but impossible, his chances of winning baseball's Triple Crown are nil.
    Not that they were ever very good.
    Historically, the odds against a Triple Crown are 17-1.
    But in today's baseball, the odds are much greater than that.
    Since 1900 it has only happened in either league 13 times.
    In the past 110 years, only 11 players -- Nap Lajoie (1901), Ty Cobb ('09), Rogers Hornsby (1922, '25), Jimmie Foxx ('33), Chuck Klein ('33), Lou Gehrig ('34), Joe Medwick ('37), Ted Williams (1942, '47), Mickey Mantle ('56), Frank Robinson ('66), and Carl Yastrzemski ('67) _ have ever led their league in batting average, home runs and RBI.    As you can see, two players, Hornsby and Williams, did it twice.
    It is no coincidence that all 11 are enshrined in baseball's Hall of Fame.
    But, in the so-called Expansion Era, it has only happened twice since 1956.
    No fan under the age of 50 has ever seen it happen, which definitely puts me in the minority.
    Cabrera continues to lead the American League in RBI with 110. But he trails injured Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers by 28 points (.361 to .333) in the batting race and Toronto's Jose Bautista by 10 home runs (43 to 33) in the HR chase.

Does Leyland deserve a plaque in baseball's Hall of Fame someday?

2010-09-08T11:34:00.001-07:00

Jim Leyland has moved past Baltimore's Earl Weaver and into 20th place on the all-time list of baseball's winningest managers. Weaver is a Hall of Famer.
    By the end of this season, Leyland could also surpass Clark Griffith, who has 10 more wins than Leyland's 1,481 going into Wednesday night's game. Griffith is also enshrined at Cooperstown, although he was inducted as a player, not a manager.
    Which raises the question: Does Jim Leyland deserve to be elected to the Hall of Fame someday?
    Leyland's critics will howl, but a compelling argument can be made.
    Only 19 managers in baseball history own more wins than Leyland.
    Thirteen of those guys -- Connie Mack, John McGraw, Sparky Anderson, Bucky Harris, Joe McCarthy, Walter Alston, Leo Durocher, Casey Stengel, Bill McKechnie, Fred Clarke, Tommy Lasorda, Dick Williams, and Griffith -- already have plaques hanging on the wall in the Hall.
    Three other managers with more wins -- Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, and Joe Torre -- are still active and will almost surely be elected someday.
    Of those retired managers with more wins than Leyland, only Gene Mauch, Lou Pinella, and Ralph Houk are not in the Hall.
    Ten others, with fewer wins than Leyland -- Weaver, of course, as well as Miller Huggins, Al Lopez, Wilbert Robinson, Ned Hanlon, Frank Selee, Whitey Herzog, Harry Wright, Hughie Jennings, and Billy Southworth -- are also in the Hall.
    Leyland's world championship with Florida in 1997, his two trips to the World Series, with the Marlins ('97) and Tigers ('06), and his three consecutive division titles with Pittsburgh (1990-92) will guarantee him some Cooperstown consideration once he retires.
    Leyland currently has a sub-.500 record as a manager. But so do HOFers Connie Mack and Bucky Harris.
    If you had a vote, what would you do?

St. Pierre's feel-good story shows power of perseverance and positive thinking

2010-09-06T09:20:00.001-07:00

One of the pre-game chores that many big leaguers dread the most is autographing the seemingly-endless supply of baseballs in the locker room. But when one of the kids who works in the Tigers' clubhouse approached Max St. Pierre with two dozen blank balls to sign Monday morning, the rookie catcher gladly grabbed them and immediately began affixing his autograph.
    "I'm in the big leagues," St. Pierre explained, smiling. "I've been waiting all these years just to get here. It's been unbelievable."
    And he's not about to complain -- about anything.
    St. Pierre's feel-good story is a monument to the power of perseverance, patience and positive thinking.
    For 14 seasons, St. Pierre toiled in the bushes, playing in places like Oneonta, Lakeland, Erie (six times), and Toledo. "I tried to stay positive, but I'm not getting any younger," he admitted.
    Along the way, St. Pierre overcame a drinking problem, was traded and released.
    "It would have been easy to quit, I thought about it," he confessed.
    Because he was born in Quebec and spoke with a French accent, he had a hard time communicating with the pitchers when he first signed with the Tigers in 1997. "They couldn't understand me because of my accent," he recalled. "They thought I was dumb."
    But St. Pierre didn't let that derail him, either.
    For nearly 1,000 minor league games, St. Pierre crouched behind home plate, waiting for his dream to happen, waiting for the chance that even he was beginning to believe might never come.
    Particularly this year after he dislocated his left thumb in mid-May and broke his left hand in late June.
    St. Pierre's hand still hurts every time he catches a ball. "They tell me it'll take two or three months to heal," he said.
    But he doesn't mind.
    "I'm in the big leagues," he said again.
    For the 30-year-old St. Pierre, the call he had been awaiting for nearly half his life, finally arrived last week when the Tigers summoned him to the big leagues because of Gerald Laird's lingering back spasms.
    And his phone hasn't stopped ringing since.
    "In the minors, when my phone would ring, it was only my mother or my wife who would be calling," St. Pierre said.
    "Now it's everybody.
    "Voice mail, texts, lots of face book -- everything. Since I've been here it's been on fire. Radio shows, newspapers, friends -- people I haven't even talked to since high school now what to be my friends. I'd say, total, 200 or 300 messages. And it's not stopping. It's been unbelievable.
    "I'm enjoying it, for sure," he added.

Tigers' plight proves it's not how much money you spend, it's how you spend it

2010-09-02T07:44:00.001-07:00

Much has been made and much will continue to be made about the mountain of money -- nearly $134 million this season, and almost $500 million over the last four -- that Mike Ilitch has spent in the futile pursuit of another pennant.
    However, although dollars dominate so many baseball conversations these days -- and understandably so -- money isn't everything.
    If the season were to end today, 13 of this year's 16 biggest spenders -- the Red Sox, Cubs, Tigers, Mets, Angels, White Sox, Dodgers, Giants, Cardinals, Astros, Mariners, Brewers, and Rockies -- would all miss the playoffs.
    With the exception of the ridiculously rich New York Yankees, it's not how much you spend, but rather how you spend it.
    And that, after all, is the way it should be.
    The Texas Rangers have won 75 games. They're in first place in the American League West and a cinch to reach the postseason. Their payroll is $64.811 million.
    The Tampa Bay Rays have won 82 games. They are one game behind the Yankees in the AL East and likely to be the wild card, at worst. Their payroll is $72.847 million.
    The Minnesota Twins have won 77 games. They're in first place in the AL Central by four games. Their payroll is $97.659 million.
    The surprising San Diego Padres have won 76 games. They're in first place in the National League West. Their payroll is $37.799 million.
    The Cincinnati Reds have won 78 games. They're in first place in the NL Central and headed for the postseason. Their payroll is $76.152 million.
    The Atlanta Braves have won 78 games. They're in first place in the NL East. Their payroll is $83.890 million.
    The disappointing Tigers have won 65 games. They're in third place in the AL Central. Their payroll is $133.995 million.
    Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

The Tigers, too, have something to play for this month -- but it's personal

2010-09-01T06:26:00.001-07:00

The long-shot White Sox plucked Manny Ramirez, a major league problem child with Hall of Fame credentials, off the waiver wire, renting him for the rest of the season for $3.8 million. The front-running Minnesota Twins have bolstered their suspect bullpen, picking up proven relievers Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes.
    Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Tigers summoned career minor league catcher Max St. Pierre and recalled right-handed reliever Robbie Weinhardt.
    Therein lies the difference between the true contenders and the also-rans.
    And it's a big difference.
    Another day, another rookie. Or two.
    In case you haven't noticed, on most nights the Tigers' starting lineup now includes four or five freshmen.
    While the Twins battle to hang on to the lead in the American league Central, and the ChiSox struggle to catch them, the Tigers, veterans as well as rookies, are auditioning for 2011.
    Veterans Johnny Damon, Jeremy Bonderman and Brandon Inge hope to convince the Tigers, meaning Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland, to bring them back next season.
    Rookies, such Will Rhymes and Casper Wells, and trying to prove that they belong in the big leagues.
    The Tigers, too, have something to play for this month -- but it is personal, not the postseason.
    For some, such as Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen, this will be a season to forget.
    But for St. Pierre, who has toiled in the bush leagues since 1997, pursuing a dream that has long seemed impossible, this will be a year to remember.
    St. Pierre's call-up came a couple of days early because of Gerald Laird's lingering back spasms.
    Those who know St. Pierre, those who played with him in the minors, applauded the decision as well-deserved.
    But the fact remains, if the Tigers were still in the pennant chase, they would look at this last month of the season a lot differently.

Bottom line: 7.25 million reasons why Peralta wants to be a Tiger again next year

2010-08-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

One Detroit daily naively made a big deal late last week out of Jhonny Peralta's stated desire to play for the Tigers again next year.
    No wonder.
    Peralta was 7.25 million reasons to hope and pray the Tigers bring him back.
    But let's get real here: Peralta's reasons for wanting to return have nothing to do with his new teammates in the Tigers' clubhouse ("I like everybody here"), his high regard for manager Jim Leyland ("He's the kind of guy I feel comfortable around"), or the city and suburbs that surround Comerica Park ("I feel happy here").
    Peralta wants to remain a Tiger because he knows he will make much, much more money here next season -- maybe twice as much -- than he stands to make anywhere else.
    If the Tigers decide to exercise the club option in Peralta's contract and bring him back next year, either as their everyday shortstop or as a replacement for Brandon Inge at third base "(I don't care about the position"), they will be obligated to pay him $7.25 million.
    However, if they elect not to exercise that option, they will only owe him a $250,000 parting gift and Peralta will immediately become a free agent.
    However, in Peralta's case, that opportunity is not nearly as inviting as it sounds.
    As a free agent on the open market, Peralta, a career .265 hitting who is batting .242 this season, probably won't be offered more than $3-4 million for one year or $6-7 for two -- if that.
    Remember, the Cleveland Indians, who know him best, let him go because they didn't want to pay him $7 million next year. And it was the Indians who agreed to put that onerous option clause in Peralta's contract in the first place.
    Peralta is making a career-high $4.85 million this year.
    If they so desire, the Tigers could let Peralta walk, then try to resign him as a free agent for a significantly reduced price.
    If that happens, we will see him much Peralta truly likes it here.

Damon's decision applauded in Detroit, but it is being booed in Boston

2010-08-25T05:22:00.001-07:00

Remember when nobody wanted to come to Detroit to play baseball?
    Now, nobody wants to leave.
    Not Johnny Damon, not Brandon Inge, not Magglio Ordonez, not Jeremy Bonderman, not newcomer Jhonny Peralta.
    What has changed?
    The biggest differences, I believe, have been owner Mike Ilitch's willingness to spend and the presence of Jim Leyland, who had modified the mind-set in the locker room.
    The clubhouse bickering and backstabbing has become a thing of the past.
    In addition, behind the scenes, Dave Dombrowski has overhauled the organization, upgrading the Tigers' scouting, drafting, and player development.
    Having said all of that, how many other big league ballplayers would have done what Damon did, turning down a chance to return to the big stage of a pennant chase to finish out this season as an also-ran?
    So much for the theory, so prevalent last spring, that Damon and his wife enjoyed the bright lights of Broadway and Boston and maybe Chicago too much to ever agree to come to dingy, depressed Detroit.
    "I love Detroit," Damon declared in announcing his decision to veto a possible trade to the Boston Red Sox.
    It may not be obvious in the standings or on the stat sheet, but Damon has meant more to the Tigers this season than Mohawk haircuts and monogrammed bathrobes.
    And is desire to stay here has been loudly applauded.
    But whether Damon intended it that way or not, his decision came as a slap in the face to the Red Sox and their rabid fans..
    Columnist Dan Shaughnessy, writing in the Boston Globe, declared, "His decision to stay with the Tigers is downright idiotic.
    "Why would Damon want to stay with the moribund Tigers when he had a chance to join the Red Sox for 5 1/2 weeks of stretch-run fun?" Shaughnessy asked. "Why try to keep hitting at cavernous Comerica Park when he could return to friendly Fenway? Why play games that don't matter when you can play games that still matter.
    "Think about it: For the next five weeks, you could live in downtown Boston and your wife could shop on Newbury Street. Or you could live in downtown Detroit, amid the boarded-up buildings and the proverbial skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets. Is this really a tough call?"
    I must admit, I, too, was surprised by Damon's veto.
    Both Damon and Dombrowski insist no decision has been reached regarding next season. No promises have been made. "There is no guarantee where I'll be next year," Damon admitted. "I hope I'm back."    What are the chances Damon, Inge, Ordonez, Bonderman and Peralta will get their wish and be invited back next season?
    I rank them this way, from Most Likely to Return, to Least Likely:
    1. Inge
    2. Bonderman
    3. Ordonez
    4. Damon
    5. Peralta

Tigers' willingness to dump Damon confirms this season's dream is dead

2010-08-24T06:25:00.001-07:00

The Tigers signed Johnny Damon, further inflating their already-bloated payroll by $8 million, because they honestly believed they had a chance to win the American League Central and advance to the playoffs this season. Their willingness now to trade him to the Boston Red Sox confirms what all but the most die-hard Tiger enthusiasts acknowledged weeks ago: That dream is dead.
    Damon must now weigh the chance, however remote, to play some meaningful games in September and possibly October, with Boston against the bitterness that still lingers toward Red Sox fans who, after the then-bearded Damon signed with the Yankees, donned T-shirts that read: "Looks like Jesus, acts like Judas, throws like Mary."
    The thought of again being in the thick of a pennant chase tugs at his heart. Because Damon is, above all else, a winner.
    This is not about money. Damon is due about $1.8 million the rest of this year.
    Having said that, the prospect the Tigers would probably get from the Red Sox in return for Damon might help.
    As Damon discovered last winter with the Yankees, baseball is a business. And the 36-year-old Damon very much wants to play at least one more year.
    Damon's first choice would be to remain a Tiger. But I don't think the Tigers will come close to matching his current $8 million salary in 2011 -- if, indeed, they offer to bring him back at all.
    By performing well for the Red Sox in the national spotlight down the stretch, he could enhance his chances of getting a comparable contract offer for next year from someone else.
    It would mean a chance to, once again, prove his worth as a clutch player. Damon knows, if he helps the Red Sox reach the postseason, his image in Boston will change dramatically.
    There is no doubt in mind that the Red Sox claimed Damon, not because they want him back but because they wanted to block their rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays or the Yankees, from claiming him. I'm sure Damon suspects that, too.
    In that respect, the Red Sox have already succeeded
    If Damon, whose eight-team "no-trade" list includes the Red Sox, scuttles this trade -- as is his right -- he remain a Tiger for the rest of this year.
    But then what?

Aubrey Huff is finally doing for the Giants what he didn't do for the '09 Tigers

2010-08-23T10:21:00.001-07:00

Nobody ever said life, or baseball, was fair.
    There were a dozen reasons why the Tigers fell one win short of the postseason last year.
    But, no matter how you broke it down, the dismal, disappointing performance of Aubrey Huff had to rank near the top of the list:
    Forty games, just 20 hits, two homers, 13 RBI, and a .189 average.
    No other Tiger played so much and contributed so little down the stretch last year.
    But look at him now.
    Talk about rubbing salt in an old wound.
    Unceremoniously released by the Tigers who acquired him from the Baltimore Orioles in mid-August, Huff, who made $8 million last year, thought he had reached the end of the line last January.
    Then the phone rang. It was the San Francisco Giants. The Giants were only offering $3 million -- but that was $3 million more than Huff's next, best offer.
    After watching how little Huff did for the Tigers late last season, when one big hit would have been enough to put them into the playoffs, I couldn't believe he got that much.
    Now, incredibly, the 33-year-old Huff, who has played more than 1,440 games without ever once appearing in the postseason, and who had earned a reputation as a player whose commitment didn't always equal his ability, leads the Giants in just about every significant offensive category with 21 HRs, 70 RBIs, 128 hits, 76 runs, 64 walks, and 120 games played. At last check, he was batting .295.
    "I never really realized how the big leagues were supposed to be until I got here," Huff recently told ESPN.com.
    It was nice knowing you, too, Aubrey.
    And if that isn't reason enough to root against the Giants, shortstop Edgar Renteria -- remember him? -- is batting .278 in San Francisco.

Tigers thumb their nose at Selig again; bestow $3.45 million on top draft pick

2010-08-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Just because the wheels may have come off the Tigers' bandwagon this season doesn't mean Mike Ilitch is going to change his free-spending ways where the annual amateur draft is concerned -- whether baseball commissioner Bud Selig likes it or not.
    The Tigers realize they are never going to be able to compete, dollar for dollar, with the filthy-rich New York Yankees on the free agent market. They believe they can get more bang for their big bucks in the draft.
    And they have the players, including Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello, to prove it.
    In addition, the Tigers traded Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin, who were both originally signed to contracts that were "over-scale," to the Florida Marlins for Miguel Cabrera.
    They did it again late Monday night, risking the further wrath of the commissioner by bestowing $3.45 million on their top draft pick, infielder Nick Castellanos. It was the richest contract ever given a kid who had not been selected on the first round.
    And it followed the patterned the team set in signing Verlander (2004), Porcello (2007), Jacob Turner (2009) and others.
    In baseball, as in life, you get what you pay for.
    Castellanos was the 44th player selected in the June draft. In an effort to keep rookie spending in check, Selig's office recommends that such a player should only receive $776,700. In other words, according to Selig, the Tigers "overpaid" by about $2.673 million.
    All of that money, of course, pales in comparison to the $9.9 million bonanza that Bryce Harper, this summer's No. 1 draft pick, reaped from the Washington Nationals. The commissioner's office had recommended that No. 1 pick receive $4 million, and not a penny more.
    But the 18-year-old Castellanos was not the only draft pick who benefitted from the Tigers' contractual largesse.
    The Tigers also signed their second and third picks, pitchers Chance Ruffin and Drew Smyly, for $1.15 million and $1.1 million respectively -- well in excess of the $728,100 and $537,300 suggested by the commissioner for those two slots.
    Although baseball doesn't have an official pay scale for draft picks, it tries to impose an unofficial system. And teams that have flagrantly exceeded the "recommendations" have frequently heard from the commissioner's office.
    But the Tigers, among some others, believe that fury is a small price to pay for acquiring premier players who would otherwise return or go to school and later sign with someone else.
    That opportunity will disappear if, as many believe, baseball adopts a rigid salary structure for draft picks in its next collective bargaining agreement. That would take effect in 2012, locking draft picks to specific bonuses and salaries which are sure to be a whole lot lower than this year's top rookie contracts.
    Meanwhile, the Tigers, to their credit, will continue to play the game in a manner which, they believe, gives them the best chance to be good.

Tigers cancel Boesch's ticket to Toledo, decide to "let him grind it out"

2010-08-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

How close did the Tigers come to shipping erstwhile rookie sensation Brennan Boesch back to to Toledo last week?
    Very close. In fact, as they say in boxing, it was a split decision.
    "It wasn't 100 percent send him down and it wasn't 100 percent keep him here," Jim Leyland admitted, in revealing the results of several clubhouse discussions and meetings involving the Tigers' manager, GM Dave Dombrowski and the coaching staff regarding the slumping freshman slugger.
    "What should we do? Do you want to send him out, relax him a little bit? Or do you let him grind it out? Some people felt it was best to let him grind it out. Some felt it was best to send him down. What's best for the kid? There were several different opinions from people I respect. It goes to show you no one knew the answer."
    What the Tigers finally decided to do was to wait until the conclusion of last weekend's series at Comerica Park against the Los Angeles Angels.
    Then, if Boesch still looked lost at the plate, the Tigers would return him to the minors when they recalled Carlos Guillen.
    But Boesch, whose average had dipped from .345 on July 4 to .282, went 2-for-9 with a home run against the Angels -- his first HR since June 27.
    That was enough to earn him a reprieve, at least temporarily.
    And Boesch rewarded that decision by collecting one hit in each of the Tigers' three games against Tampa Bay.
    So he is safe, for now.
    As the Tigers embarked on their road trip to Chicago and New York, Boesch was 7-for-29 in his last nine games after suffering through a 6-for-67 post-All-Star break slump.
    Maybe the worst is over. The Tigers can only hope.
    "I don't want him to be a deer in the headlights because we're not sending him down -- at least to my knowledge," Leyland declared.
    "You have mixed emotions because you want to do what's best for the kid. To be totally honest, I don't really know what the best solution is. It's a tough decision.
    "The only thing that helps develop a young player is time. In most cases it takes time.
    "For now we've decided to let him grind it out. I think it's best for the organization right now if we stay with him. I'll pick spots for him to let him breathe a little bit, but I want to see him grind it out. I don't want to tear the kid up. I don't want to hurt him in any shape or form. But I think he's relaxing a little bit now. I think he can handle it.
    "He's one for the future."
    But it is the present that the Tigers and their frustrated fans are most worried about right now.

When Perry pitches two days in a row, the second is rarely as good as the first

2010-08-11T07:49:00.001-07:00

Jim Leyland had a heart-to-heart talk with Ryan Perry when the reliever and possible closer-in-waiting arrived at Comerica Park on Wednesday.
    The Tigers' manager was trying to figure out why, almost without fail, when Perry is called upon to pitch two days in a row, he doesn't fair as well the second day as he did the first.
    "I don't know if it's a mental thing, I just don't know," Leyland admitted. "That's kind of a mystery to us.
    "But I do know this: If he's going to be what we think he can be, he's going to have to do that.
    "For whatever reason, when he pitches two days in a row, his numbers are significantly different the second day. It's amazing," Leyland continued.
    "I think that's his major issue -- bouncing back with the same stuff the second day. Some guys come back the second day with a dead arm. But that's not his problem.
    "You've got to remember, you're talking about a second-year guy who didn't have much minor league experience."
    Given all of the uncertainty that continues to engulf Joel Zumaya and his future, Perry could be the leading candidate to replace Jose Valverde as the Tigers' closer when Valverde's contract expires after the 2011 season.
    "He (Perry) is a real keeper," Leyland said.

Cabrera's Triple Crown chances hurt by lack of protection, mounting walk total

2010-08-08T13:57:00.001-07:00

Miguel Cabrera walked three times over the weekend. He has been walked nine times on this homestand.
    Rookie Brennan Boesch's second-half return to reality, coupled with the loss of Magglio Ordonez, have left Cabrera more or less all alone in the middle of the Tigers' lineup.
    As a result, Cabrera, who leads the American League in RBI with 93, is third in hitting at .343, and third in home runs with 26, also leads the league in intentional walks with 15 and is fourth in walks overall with 62.
    Opposing pitchers know Cabrera is now the one guy in the Tigers' lineup who is most likely to beat them. And they feel free to pitch to him very carefully if, indeed, they don't outright walk him.
    And that cuts into his chances for base hits, HRs and RBI -- in other words, the Triple Crown.
    Cabrera's last home run came on July 31. His last RBI came on Aug. 1. His batting average has dropped eight points (from .351) this month.
    "When Boesch was hitting, we had a legitimate guy hitting behind him. Right now, we don't have a guy hitting behind him who can protect him," Jim Leyland admitted.
    "Of course, Cabrera is so good, the only guy who can really protect Miguel Cabrera is Miguel Cabrera."
    And the Tigers only have one of those.
    "For the most part, they really haven't done a whole lot of pitching around him," Leyland insisted. "Sometimes that becomes a head game. 'Are they going to pitch to me? Are they not going to pitch to me?'
    "When a guy is as good as he is, he can expand the strike zone sometimes. But he can't expand it too much. If you start swinging at bad pitches, you're going to make outs."
    Cabrera was walked 68 times all last season. His career high is 86 bases on balls, with Florida in 2006.
    But the Tigers' team record for walks is safe. Surprisingly, that was set by Roy Cullenbine, who was hardly a slugger, in 1947 when he walked 137 times.

Like it or not, Guillen is headed for brief rehab assignment in minors

2010-08-05T10:42:00.001-07:00

Carlos Guillen will be eligible to come off the disabled list on Monday. As far as Guillen is concerned, he is ready to return to the lineup right now.
    Nevertheless, on Thursday the Tigers sent Guillen to Class A West Michigan in Grand Rapids, just as they did with Brandon Inge earlier this week, for what figures to be a brief rehab assignment.
    Guillen didn't have a vote. "It's not my decision," he said.
    But Guillen wasn't shy about making his feelings on the subject known.
    "Rehab!" the Tigers veteran said with a disgusted look on his face.
    "I don't think I need a rehab. I've been hitting almost every day. I feel ready to play," said Guillen, who has been sidelined since July 25 with a strained right calf.
    Guillen still hasn't forgotten his trip to Syracuse earlier this season when he was on a rehab assignment with the Toledo Mud Hens because of an injured hamstring.
    "The worst hotel, the worst clubhouse, the worst place to play," Guillen recalled.
    "Only one place to got to eat _ Denny's. I don't know if they have a downtown. I didn't see any buildings. I saw a couple of cars on the street. That was it."
    The Tigers' top two minor league subsidiaries, Toledo and Erie, are both on the road at the present time. And West Michigan, which plays at home on Friday, goes on the road to Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday.
    Oh well, it beats Syracuse. At least they have Skyline Chili in Dayton.
    "I don't want to go anywhere," said Guillen, obviously unimpressed.

Leyland, Carlos Guillen disagree on Ozzie's rant regarding treatment of Latinos

2010-08-03T09:30:00.001-07:00

Tigers veteran Carlos Guillen agrees with the basic premise of the recent controversial rant by Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen regarding the disparate handling of Latino and Asia players in baseball and the preferential treatment the Asians allegedly receive.
    Tigers manager Jim Leyland does not.
    "I can't speak for other organizations, but we have all kinds of things to help them (Latino players) adjust to the language and the culture," Leyland insisted. "The Tigers organization has a good program in place.
    "I have a son (Patrick) playing in the Gulf Coast League and I know we have an actual teacher down there (in Lakeland, Fla.) teaching the Latin kids the English language," the Tigers' manager explained.
    "In fact, my son is trying to learn Spanish at the same time.
    "As soon as our Latin players come here to this country, we provide educational programs and English lessons for them."
    Carlos Guillen, who like Ozzie is a native of Venezuela, knows all about baseball's English classes. He attended one when he signed his first pro contract with the Houston Astros in 1993.
    "It didn't work," Guillen declared with a grin.
    "My English is still screwed up.
    "I don't think it works," Guillen added "Do you think the kids want to learn English at that age?"    "I still don't feel comfortable speaking English," admitted the veteran Tigers, who has been in the big leagues since 1998.
    "We've got 20 percent of the big league players from Latin America or South America. Do we have a translator? No. Do we have a personal trainer? We don't have one.
    "Good luck. They don't know if you speak English or understand what they are going to say.
    "Why don't they have English classes for the Japanese players?
    "How are you going to explain to a trainer or the doctor or the manager how you feel when you don't speak English?" Carlos continued. "It's hard. You can imagine how it is in the minor leagues.
    "It's hard for you guys (in the media) to understand what we're saying. Sometimes you put something wrong in the paper but it's not your fault. And it's hard for us to understand your questions.
    "Communication is the key to everything. With your family, your home, with your kids. If you don't have good communication with your kids, they're going to learn it out on the street.
    "It's the same thing in here, in the clubhouse. You have to have good communication with your teammates and your team."
    Because of his understanding of the game, Guillen has often been mentioned as a possible candidate to be a big league manager when he retires.
    But he admitted his difficulty with the English language might make him reluctant to pursue a second career when his playing days are over.
    Then again, he added, "You don't have to speak perfect English to be a big league manager."
    Right, Ozzie?

Ten-game homestand could signal start of Tigers' turnaround -- or seal their fate

2010-08-02T04:52:00.001-07:00

The good news is the Chicago White were thwarted in their efforts to trade for a slugger, namely Adam Dunn or Manny Ramirez, to juice up their offense.
    The bad news is, aside from stopgap third baseman Jhonny Peralta, the Tigers weren't able to bolster their injury depleted attack, either.
    And, given their sinking status in the standings, the Tigers' need was definitely greater.
    Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins, who have suffered their share of major injuries, too, somehow keep on winning.
    That pretty much sums up the American League Central as we enter the final two do-or-die months of the season.
    Night after night, this once-promising summer is coming unraveled right before our eyes.
    Know this: There is nothing wrong with the reeling Tigers that a 10-game winning streak wouldn't help remedy.
    And they're 35-17 at Comerica Park, where their next 10 games will be played.
    But right now can anyone envision the shell-shocked Tigers sweeping the ChiSox, Angels and Rays on this homestand?
    I know I can't. Not anymore.
    The Tigers are hurting physically -- and mentally.
    Their just-completed road trip to St. Petersburg and Boston was grueling. And the way they lost those six games out of seven, especially the last two in Boston, was emotionally draining.
    That has to take a toll.
    Chicago's turnaround has been amazing.
    That's why the four-game showdown with the White Sox, beginning with a challenging day-night doubleheader on Tuesday, is critical.
    It could signal the beginning of the Tigers' turnaround -- or seal their fate.

Leyland doesn't argue for show: "I'm not going to make a fool of myself."

2010-07-27T09:37:00.001-07:00

If you thought Jim Leyland was merely trying to fire up his struggling, injury-depleted troops when he charged out of the dugout to dispute umpire Marty Foster's obviously erroneous "safe" call at second base on Monday night, then you don't know the Tigers' manager very well.
    Because Leyland doesn't do that. He doesn't believe in it.
    "I'm not like some managers who go out there after the umpires to fire up their team," Leyland insisted last week, before his latest outburst.
    "I've never been a manager who did that. To me, that's just a sign of frustration.
    "If I've got to do that, we've got a horse-manure team," Leyland added.
    "I'm not going to go out there and make a fool of myself if I think the umpire is right," Leyland continued.
    "I'm not going to lie to my players when I think the umpire made the correct call. I'm not going to just put on a show for the fans."
    Monday night, Leyland was convinced Foster was wrong -- on two counts.
    First, the umpire called the sliding B.J. Upton safe when the replays clearly showed rookie Will Rhymes had tagged him out.
    Then Foster accused Leyland of spitting on him.
    That was what really set the Tigers' manager off.
    "That was a blatant lie," Leyland, still seething, told reporters after the game.
    "That's a serious accusation and I'm not gonna accept it," Leyland said. "I'm not going to take that from anybody. I don't even spit on the ground."
    According to Leyland, he had been munching on a mouthful of sun flower seeds when Foster's "safe" call sent him racing out on the field. When Leyland launched his protest, some of the seeds flew out of his mouth and struck the umpire's shirt. But it was unintentional.
    Nevertheless, it is possible the Tigers' manager could be suspended after the incident is reviewed by the commissioner's office.
    "I don't know what they're going to do and I don't give a damn," Leyland said after Monday's game. "I'm tired of protecting umpires. I'm tired of not being able to say anything. When you start accusing somebody of doing something, you'd better be careful. I'm defending myself. If you want to kick me out, that's fine."
    My favorite Leyland ejection occurred in 2006 when he came out of the dugout in the middle of the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium to dispute plate umpire James Hoye's idea of balls and strikes. But just as the argument was warming up, the traditional singing of "God Bless America" began. Leyland stopped in mid-epithet, respectfully stood at attention alongside the the umpire until the song ended, then, knowing he was gone anyway, resumed his tirade.

Tigers' rash of injuries have other teams hoping to make a desperation steal

2010-07-26T10:35:00.001-07:00

Dave Dombrowski's phone is going to ringing nonstop this week. Other teams, having heard about the injuries to Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen, smell blood. They are like sharks in the water, hoping the Tigers might be desperate enough now to do something dumb.
    There is no sympathy in baseball.
    With the trade deadline looming at 4 p.m. on Saturday, everybody is looking for a good deal -- or a steal.
    There is real feeding frenzy during this final week to make trades without waivers.
    "Things change daily at this time of the year," Dombrowski said. "These days are like weeks the rest of the year."
    And other teams know the Tigers have plenty of fresh meat in their farm system.
    But most of the best of the Tigers' young prospects are already needed in the big leagues. And they are not about to part with promising young pitchers Jacob Turner or Andy Oliver unless they are offered another "Miguel Cabrera deal" -- in other words, a trade simply too good to turn down.
    Ryan Strieby, Wilkin Ramirez, or Charles Furbush might be available but they aren't likely to bring much in return.
    A report out of Washington alleges the Tigers have "great interest in Nationals' slugger Adam Dunn. That might make sense, depending upon the Nationals' price.
    The 30-year-old Dunn, who is due about $4 million the rest of this season before he becomes a free agent at the end of the year, is a bona fide slugger. He is currently hitting .281 with 23 homers and 63 RBIs. And he has belted at least 38 home runs each year since 2004.
    Dunn, who is definitely not another Aubrey Huff, would help Cabrera carry the slugging load and ease some of the pressure on Brennan Boesch and the kids Jim Leyland now finds himself forced to play every day.
    On Saturday, Leyland flatly denied that the Tigers have any interest in veteran third baseman Mike Lowell or left handed pitcher Ted Lilly. Of course, that was before Ordonez and Guillen joined Brandon Inge on the disabled list.
    Meanwhile, Dan Haren -- who supposedly was near the top of the Tigers' "wish" list, even though the Tigers were on Haren's "no trade" list -- was traded to Angels on Sunday.
    I have never understood why teams like the Diamondbacks willingly shower a player like Haren with millions of dollars, ($44.75 million for four years) then dump that same guy less than halfway through his contract because he is making too much money.
    Sometimes baseball doesn't make much sense.

Injuries to Ordonez, Guillen open door for newest Tigers Larish, Rhymes

2010-07-25T11:16:00.001-07:00

Will Rhymes was having a late dinner in a Toledo restaurant Saturday night with his mother, his girl friend and his twin brother when his cell phone rang. It was Mud Hens' manager Larry Parrish.
    Rhymes stepped outside to take the call. When he returned to the table, he couldn't hide his huge smile.
    After six years in the bushes, he was finally going to the big leagues for the first time.
    "I was a little shocked," Rhymes admitted Sunday morning. "Everything is going fast right now."
    Shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, Jeff Larish had just returned to the apartment he shares, ironically, with Rhymes, when he got his call.
    Having been summoned to the big leagues twice before, in 2008 and '09, he knew what to do. Larish rushed back to Fifth Third Field and hurriedly began packing his equipment.
    Then Rhymes walked through the clubhouse door. "When I saw him, I knew we were both going up," Larish said.
    Neither player slept a great deal Saturday night. First thing Sunday morning, they drove to Detroit together in Larish's car.
    "I talked to him all the way up," said Larish, the seasoned veteran of the two, as he moved into the locker recently vacated by Ramon Santiago while Rhymes sat at a table with Tigers' vice-president and legal counsel John Westhoff, signing his first big league contract.
    "There's a lot of things you have to go through when you first get to the big leagues," Larish said. "But most of them, you have to experience for yourself."
    Larish checked the lineup card posted outside the locker room and saw he was starting in the opening game of Sunday's doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays.
    "It's the same game," said the young left-handed slugger who can play first base or third. "I'm just going to try to relax as best I can and be myself."
    Just then, Jim Leyland, still clad in his underwear, marched into the clubhouse to greet his two new players.
    First, he shook hands with Larish. Then he spotted the 5-foot-9, 155-pound Rhymes, who caught Leyland's eye in spring training with his hustle and his hard-nosed approach to the game..
    "Whattaya say, Rhymesy?" the manager exclaimed.
    "You're playing the second game today," Leyland told him after the two embraced.
    "My mother and brother and girl friend are all coming to the game," Rhymes replied proudly.
    "Well, tell them to get here early," Leyland said, "just in case I pinch hit for you in the second inning."
    Then the manager laughed and walked away.
    Welcome to the big leagues, kid.

Houk takes rumors of 1973 tampering by the Tigers with him to his grave

2010-07-22T07:57:00.001-07:00

Did the Tigers tamper with Ralph Houk in September of 1973 by inviting him to become their manager while he was still managing the New York Yankees? I long ago suspected that was true. So, briefly, did the American League. But no evidence ever surfaced to prove it.
    Now we will never know. With the passing on Wednesday of Houk, at age 90, both he and former Tigers' general manager Jim Campbell, who died in 1995, have taken that secret to their graves.
    Back in the fall of '73, there were accusations and speculation that Campbell and the Tigers had broken the rules.
    It was no secret that Houk and Campbell, both career baseball men from the old school, were friends. It was only natural that they would talk. And those conversations would eventually have focused in their respective situations.
    Campbell, fed up with Billy Martin's antics and insubordination, had fired the fiery Tigers' manager in early September of 1973. Meanwhile, in New York, Houk, the no-nonsense battle-hardened "Major" who had earned the Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart during World War II and who had led a battalion of Rangers during the Battle of the Bulge, had become fed up with new Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner's constant meddling.
    When Houk quit as the Yankees' skipper, much to Steinbrenner's surprise, minutes after the final game of the '73 season -- which, ironically, was against the Tigers -- Campbell hired him almost immediately.
    Both men insisted everything was done on the up-and-up. The suggestion of impropriety, they said, was simply sour grapes on the part of the Yankees over unceremoniously losing their manager.
    The story had a short shelf life, especially after the AL conducted a cursory investigation and dismissed the charges.
    But I still believe that deal was secretly hatched sometime in mid-September, after Campbell canned Martin but before Ralph resigned.
    Houk managed the Tigers for five mostly miserable years from 1974 through 1978, winning 363, losing 463, never finishing higher than fourth in the AL East.
    The patient yet firm Houk was the perfect antidote in the wake of the tempestuous Martin as the Tigers embarked on an overdue rebuilding program after trying in vain to coax one more championship out of their aging 1968 team.
    Personally, I found Houk a treat to cover -- even after he threw his spikes at me during spring training, sailing his shoes inches above my head as I sat in a chair in front of his desk in his Marchant Stadium office after I had sharply criticized the Tigers' lackadaisical performance in my column the previous day.
    I ducked. The spikes missed. Hopefully, Houk was a better shot with a rifle during World War II than he was with his shoes.
    But I knew Houk, who never criticized his team publicly, was using me for target practice to send a message to his players, who were seated just outside his open office door.
    "Boy, is the manager ever mad," the players must have thought. "We had better play harder or he'll throw his spikes at us."
    The next day, when I walked into the Tigers' dugout, Houk just cackled. "Everything okay, captain?" he asked.
    I understand what he meant. "Everything's fine," I replied.
    And neither of us ever mentioned those flying spikes again.

Inge's busted hand hurts Tigers' postseason hopes and possibly his future

2010-07-20T05:36:00.001-07:00

It's amazing how quickly things can change. In a moment. In one pitch.
    Two weeks ago, Brandon Inge was standing in front of his locker, a smile on his face, talking about how much fun baseball had become again.
    After suffering through an increasingly painful second half last season, then undergoing off-season surgery on both knees followed by a lengthy, often frustrating rehab, Inge was admittedly amazed at how much better he felt.
    He was running much faster. He was again fielding like the Inge of old. And he was finally hitting with regularity once more.
    Early in the season, even Inge had his doubts.
    "I didn't want to panic anyone, but I was afraid they (his knees) weren't coming around," he admitted. "Earlier in the year, when the adrenaline hit me and I pushed it, I'd get instant feedback from my knees. But now when I push off, the only thought is the goal of getting where I want to go."
    Aside from the fact it took him longer to loosen up his knees before the start of each game -- a small price to pay -- Inge, at age 33, felt as good as new.
    He was looking forward to a solid second half.
    Then, in an instant, everything changed.
    Inge was struck on the hand by a pitch from the Rangers' Scott Feldman on Monday night.
    Now Inge, a guy who hates to sit still, is staring at four to six weeks on the shelf with a busted bone in his left hand.
    It was a costly blow, both for the Tigers' suddenly flickering postseason hopes, and possibly for Inge's future.
    Two weeks ago, there was little doubt the Tigers would offer Inge a new contract when his current deal expires at the end of the season. Inge has made it clear he hopes to stay here and, even at $6.6 million, he remains a bargain in today's baseball.
    Now, depending upon how effective Inge is when he returns, the Tigers might want to rethink that decision.

Jekyll-and-Hyde Tigers' inability to win on road is inexplicable, but nothing new

2010-07-19T05:39:00.001-07:00

Blame it on Bill Brown. That's as good an explanation as any for the Tigers' continued inability to win on the road.
Brown is the Tigers' long-time, and long-suffering, traveling secretary. He sets up the team's charter flights, he reserves the hotel rooms, he books the buses, he handles the players' ticket requests, and he dispenses the daily $106 meal money allowance that each player receives at the start of each trip.
It is often a thankless job. Any time any of the above goes awry, the players invariably blame the bearded Brownie.
In the wake of their weekend wipeout that wasn't supposed to happen, the Tigers now own a wretched 16-29 record on the road. Only the Orioles and Mariners in the American League, and the Nationals, Pirates and Diamondbacks in the NL have won fewer games away from home this year. Not surprisingly, all five of those teams reside in last place, a combined 99 games removed from first place
However, thanks to their AL-best 32-13 record at Comerica Park going into Monday night's homestand opener against the Rangers, the Tigers remain very much in contention in the AL Central, tied with the Twins for second place, just 1 1/2 games behind the resurgent White Sox.
The contrast between the Tigers' performance at home and on the road is striking -- and inexplicable.
Of course, the Tigers' road woes are nothing new. They won 35 and lost 47 away from Comerica last season -- and still missed the post season by just one game. Imagine if they had won just one more game on the road during the regular season. Then that sudden-death eliminator in Minnesota would never have happened.
Since 1993, the Tigers have won more often than they lost on the road just twice -- in 2007, and in the pennant-winning summer of '06.
If the Tigers hope to extend their season significantly into October, they are going to have to continue their home magic and at the same time find a way to win more often on the road.
Their next 31 games will all be against teams that are currently playing winning baseball. No more "soft-touch" Cleveland Indians, not for quite a while.
Twenty-four of those next 31 games between now and Aug. 20 will be against the Rangers, Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, and White Sox -- presently the five best teams in the AL.
The next five weeks will define this season.

All-Star Game, once the greatest show on earth, has become a three-ring circus

2010-07-11T09:22:00.001-07:00

Excuse me for being old, but when I think of the All-Star Game, I think of outfields composed of Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, and Al Kaline, or Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Frank Robinson.
    Sorry, but Josh Hamilton, Carl Crawford and Ichiro Suzuki, or Andre Ethier, Ryan Braun and Jason Heyward just don't do it for me.
    Even the presence of Miguel Cabrera in the American League's starting lineup -- but by default, not because he actually deserves it and garnered the necessary votes -- doesn't pique my interest.
    The All-Star Game, which began as a sideshow to Chicago's 1933 World's Fair is now a full-blown three-ring circus, complete with a Home Run Derby (a novel idea that has been blown way out of proportion), a red carpet (6,000 yards of it according to one report), and a softball game pitting former big leaguers against celebrity musicians and actors. Hollywood hogwash.
    As a kid, I used to think the All-Star Game was the greatest show on earth -- next to the the World Series which was also contested during the afternoon and actually meant something, of course.
    I much confess that, as a kid, I always rooted for the National League. Back in the day, they were the guys who won all the time.
    My favorite teams, when I was growing up, were the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Milwaukee Braves, and then the San Francisco Giants, mainly because of Mays.
    You know a guy is old when two of the teams he used to root for are extinct.
    Meanwhile, all of baseball, starting with Bud Selig, should be embarrassed that Brennan Boesch is not on this year's All-Star team.
    Nick Swisher? Give me a break. As far as I'm concerned, his ballot-stuffing selection is just one more reason to hate New York.
    Back in the 1950s I wouldn't think of missing the All-Star Game. Now I won't waste my time watching it.
    How about you?

Rumors of possible trade involving Porcello send livid Leyland on the warpath

2010-07-10T12:31:00.001-07:00

An internet report that the Tigers might be showcasing Rick Porcello at Toledo for the purpose of trading him, had Jim Leyland on the war path over the weekend.
    "That's totally irresponsible (bleeping) journalism," the seething Tigers' manager declared.
    "That (a trade involving Porcello) is not close to even being discussed."
    Leyland called the rumor, which first surfaced on on FOXsports.com and then took on a life of its own, "a blatant lie.
    "People don't realize, rumors like that hurt people," Leyland continued. "Now Porcello is sitting there wondering what's going on."
    In fact, Leyland revealed, Porcello will be recalled immediately after the All-Star break and will start against the Indians in their day-night doubleheader in Cleveland on July 17.
    The Tigers are not looking to trade the struggling Porcello, whom they still see as a prominent member of the starting rotation for many years to come.
    Which, Leyland readily admitted, is not to say the 21-year-old right hander wouldn't be available if another team knocked on the Tigers' door with the right offer.
    "Does that mean Porcello is untouchable? He's not," Leyland said. "If the Cardinals called offering Albert Pujols for him, we'd listen."
    That also doesn't mean the Tigers wouldn't like to make a deal or two before the July 31 trade deadline.
    The Tigers would like to add another relief pitcher, preferably a veteran with some big league experience, to bolster their bullpen.
    "But at this point, to my knowledge, we have absolutely nothing going," Leyland said.

Galarraga has to wonder: What's a guy have to do to earn a little respect?

2010-07-07T13:55:00.001-07:00

Fame is fleeting. Armando Galarraga found that out, first-hand, this week, much to his dismay.
    Five weeks ago, Galarraga was a pitcher on the bubble. The Tigers had to make room on their roster and in their starting rotation for Max Scherzer, who was returning from a tuneup at Toledo, and I had a hunch Galarraga would be the one to go.
    But the Tigers opted to unload Dontrelle Willis instead. And three days later, Galarraga become the toast of the country when he tossed a game that was marred only by the glaring blunder of umpire Jim Joyce.
    At the time, Jim Leyland was seriously considering skipping Galarraga the next time through the rotation in order to keep the other starters, Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, Jeremy Bonderman and Scherzer, on schedule.
    Of course, after Galarraga's purloined perfecto, Leyland didn't dare do that.
    However, since his infamously asterisked perfect game, Galarraga is 1-1 with four no-decisions.
    Not bad -- but not what people had come to expect after that magic night.
    On Tuesday, Galarraga -- still the low man on the Tigers' starting totem pole -- was shipped back to Toledo, albeit temporarily.
    It was a demotion that, a month ago, would have been utterly unthinkable.
    The way the brass explained it, the move allowed the Tigers to bolster their recently-battered bullpen by calling up rookie sinker-baller Robbie Weinhardt, and will also give Galarraga -- who wasn't scheduled to pitch again until after the All-Star break -- a chance to stay sharp with a start in Triple A.
    That makes perfect sense. But trying telling that to the Tigers' right-hander who obviously was blind-sided by the decision.
    Bottom line, because the Minnesota Twins' lineup is loaded with left handed hitters, Leyland preferred to pitch rookie lefty Andy Oliver rather than Galarraga against them this weekend. And he rearranged his rotation accordingly.
    Galarraga, who will remain with the Tigers the rest of this week, will start for the Mud Hens next Thursday. He will rejoin the Tigers in time to pitch against the Texas Rangers on July 20.
    The Tigers will play a day-night doubleheader in Cleveland on July 17. But rather than start Galarraga in one of those games, they will either call somebody else up from Toledo or elevate somebody, possibly Brad Thomas or Enrique Gonzalez, out of the bullpen
    Then, when he returns, Galarraga will have to prove himself all over again.

Inexcusable All-Star snub first thing that has gone wrong for rookie Boesch all year

2010-07-05T08:29:00.001-07:00

I was not surprised that Brennan Boesch was not named to the All-Star team. That was an unfortunate oversight. But I was shocked he didn't at least make the five-man ballot for wild card consolation prize. That was just wrong.
    I mean, if Boesch had enough plate appearances to qualify for the official list of league leaders, going into Monday's matinee against the Orioles, he would been leading in the American League in hitting with a .345 average, ahead of All-Stars Justin Morneau, Robinson Cano and the others, and he would have ranked fourth in slugging percentage at .605, trailing only Miguel Cabrera (.630), Josh Hamilton (.617) and Morneau (.615).
    Boesch is having the kind of year everyone expected Atlanta rookie Jason Heyward to have.
    Except that Hayward is batting a mere .251 with a .455 slugging percentage.
    Nevertheless, while Boesch was inexcusably ignored, Heyward was elected to the NL starting lineup strictly because of his preseason hype, even though he has an injured thumband probably will not play.
    I ask you: Where is the sanity or justice in that?
    How could he not at least be included in the five-player internet runoff? Remember how much fun that election was last year when Brandon Inge won? And, even though he slipped into the game through the back door, so to speak, no player ever enjoyed being an All-Star more than Inge did. "That was probably the most gratifying experience I've had in my life," Inge admitted.
    The All-Star snub was the first thing that's gone wrong for the kid this year. And the disappointment clearly showed on his face. "It's been a dream of mine since I was a little kid," he confessed, now all grown up at 25.
    Next week's All-Star Game in Anaheim would have been a homecoming for Boesch, who is Southern California born and bred.
    Boesch would have been able to buy as many tickets as he could afford for his family and friends. "We've never had a player who made the All-Star team and couldn't get all the tickets he wanted," said Bill Brown, the Tigers' long-time traveling secretary who is in charge of such things.
    It would have been a three-day party, whether Boesch actually got into the game or not.
    Boesch is a victim of the socialistic, and I think silly, rule that says every team must have an All-Star -- whether that team has a deserving player or not.
    And, for me as well as for a lot of baseball fans, the July 13 All-Star Game will be further diminished by Boesch's absence.

Back in the day, Gibson attacked his manager; now he is one

2010-07-02T12:33:00.001-07:00

The first thing that crossed my mind when I heard Waterford's Kirk Gibson had been named the interim manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks was the day in 1983 when Gibby chased Sparky Anderson -- who was twice his age and half his size -- around the manager's office after Sparky informed the high-strung outfielder he would no longer be starting every game.
    "You've been acting like an idiot!" Sparky told him.
    "I swear, I was going to bust him," Gibby later admitted.
    Luckily, Anderson was able to elude Gibson's grasp and escape out the door.
    That was the way Gibson played. That was Gibby then.
    However, he and Sparky have long since buried the hatchet.
    "Half of Gibby's game plan was to intimidate the opposition," Anderson explained.
    "Sparky," Gibson later declared, "taught me how to play."
    "Another Mickey Mantle," then-manager Les Moss called him, when he got his first look at the former Michigan State football star in spring training 1979.
    "One day soon he will be the most dominating player in the game," Anderson predicted after he replaced Moss later that season.
    That never happened. But Gibson did belt two of the most dramatic home runs in World Series history -- his classic arms-in-the-air Game Five blast that locked up the Tigers' October triumph in 1984, and his limping, fist-pumping Game One pinch hit HR on behalf of the Dodgers in '88.
    But can Gibson, a madman when he played, always opinionated, often abrasive, turn around the last-place Diamondbacks, a team that has a ton of problems, including what may just be the worst bullpen in baseball history?
    For several years, Gibson has made it clear he wanted to manage in the worst way. He may have just gotten his wish.
    As a bench coach with the Tigers under his buddy, Alan Trammell, Gibson had his favorites on the team. And the other players knew it.
    Some resented him. Some ridiculed him -- behind his back, of course. Several did not respect him.
    To this day, there are those who will tell you Gibson was a big part of the reason Trammell got fired.
    Gibson, a perfectionist with no managerial experience on any level, has never been known for his patience -- on or off the field.
    Now he's going to need a lot of it.
    At 53, Gibson is a changed man. He has calmed down. He has matured.
    He is anxious for the challenge. He believes he is equal to the task.
    For his sake, I hope so. Because, while others may disagree, I have always considered him a good guy.
    Of course, he merely screamed obscenities at me. He never chased me around a room.

Bullpen has been key to Tigers' success. But how long will magic last?

2010-07-01T12:24:00.001-07:00

Four months ago, despite the exit of Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon, the Tigers' bullpen appeared all but set. The biggest questionmark was whether new closer Jose Valverde could thrive in the American League.
    Then, one by one, the relievers began to fall.
    Bobby Seay, the most dependable left hander in the bullpen, was the first to go -- shut down indefinitely and possibly permanently, with shoulder woes.
    Then Zach Miner, whose value as a reliever and emergency spot starter has long been under-appreciated, was slowed by pain in his elbow which eventually led to Tommy John surgery. His future, also, is in doubt.
    When the season began, Jim Leyland was talking about Ryan Perry as a possible future closer. Then Perry developed tendinitis and was dispatched to Toledo to try to rediscover his rookie form.
    Then this week, star-crossed Joel Zumaya, another future closer candidate for whom baseball had finally become fun again, suddenly fractured his elbow, ending his happiness and his season on the spot.
    Finally, Fu-Te Ni, such a pleasant surprise a year ago, was demoted to Triple-A after allowing 13 runs in his last six outings.
    Nevertheless, in spite of the free agent exodus of their two top relievers of a year ago as well as all of the injuries, the Tigers' bullpen owns the fourth-best ERA (3.36) in the league and trails only the Texas Rangers in relief wins, 19-16.
    It has been the key to the Tigers' success during the first three months of the season.
    Phil Coke, Brad Thomas and Eddie Bonine are a combined 12-0. That's more wins than 11 of the entire bullpens of 11 of the 14 teams in the AL can claim. And if Seay and Miner had been healthy, Thomas and Bonine probably wouldn't have made the team. Enrique Gonzalez, who wasn't even in picture this spring, has a 1.74 ERA after six outings since he was summoned from Toledo.
    And, of course, Valverde has 18 saves (in 19 opportunities) and an amazing 0.53 ERA.
    But how much longer can that magic last?

Cozy July schedule gives Tigers chance to make their presence felt in AL Central

2010-06-30T13:16:00.001-07:00

Contenders or pretenders? The coming month will tell.
    If the Tigers are going to make any noise in the American League Central this season, now is the time.
    The Tigers are 25-11 at Comerica Park (compared to 16-25 on the road). Sixteen of their next 20 games will be at home. Do the math.
    When the Tigers left town and I left the country on a brief vacation nine days ago, they were in second place, a game and a half behind the Twins.
    They flew home from Minnesota Wednesday night, still a game and a half back -- despite dropping six out of nine in New York, Atlanta and the Twin Cities.
    What could have been a disastrous road trip ended up not being all that bad.
    When the month began, Minnesota enjoyed a 4 1/2-game lead on the Tigers, their biggest advantage of the season. But the Twins went 12-15 in June while the Tigers were 15-12, thanks in no small part to an 11-7 record in inter-league play.
    Rookie Andy Oliver, filling in for Rick Porcello who is at Toledo trying to regain his first-year form, was roughed up by the Twins on Wednesday in his second big league appearance. Although Oliver's record is 0-2, the 22-year-old left hander remains, perhaps, the Tigers' most promising young pitching prospect.
    Had Oliver, the Tigers' second pick in last summer's draft, signed immediately instead of holding out before eventually signing for a $1.495 million bonus hours before the Aug. 18 deadline, he might have been in the big leagues before this.
    The Tigers think that much of him.
    However, like Jacob Turner, the Tigers' No. 1 draft pick in 2009, Oliver is represented by high-pressure, high-profile agent Scott Boras who believes taking contract negotiations down to the wire in an effort to garner every penny possible from his clients' potential employers.

Boesch, Jackson lead Tigers' rookie parade as wave of young talent sweeps baseball

2010-06-21T12:26:00.001-07:00

Magglio Ordonez and Johnny Damon are 36. Carlos Guillen is 34. Brandon Inge turned 33 last month. This is supposed to be a veteran Tigers team.
    But it is the kids who are threatening to steal the show. There is a wave of new, young talent sweeping baseball these days, and the Tigers, thanks to some good good scouting and solid player development, have not been left behind.
    Brennan Boesch's name wasn't on anyone's mind in Florida this spring. The Tigers were committed to Austin Jackson, but there was some doubt as to whether he could hit big league pitching well enough to bat leadoff. The back-up catcher's job was up for grabs between Alex Avila and Robinzon Diaz. Don Kelly was on the bubble in the battle for the last spot on the bench, And, from day one, Danny Worth was ticketed for Toledo.
    Now they are all integral parts of the team.
    "We've probably got too many kids, to be honest with you," Jim Leyland admits. "But that's OK. I've got no problem with that.
    "I'd rather have some young guys up here playing than some journeymen making $3, $4, $5 million. I'm all for giving young guys a chance to play. They've got to play sometime."
    Of course, it helps that this batch of young Tigers have the ability to play up here.
    Boesch has been getting most of the attention, but he's not the only rookie who is elevating his status in the eyes of the Tigers organization this season.
    As expected, Jackson has come back down to earth after batting .364 in April. But he is far superior to Curtis Granderson defensively in center field. It's not even close.
    "He makes plays that are very difficult look very easy," said Tigers' assistant GM Al Avila, who's own son, Alex, is, at the moment, the team's catcher of the future _ assuming he continues to hit.
    Worth has replaced Adam Everett at shortstop and demonstrated earlier this season that he can play second base, too. "I don't know if anybody has noticed, but he has a helluva arm," says Leyland, one who has noticed. Worth's glove and arm will keep him in the big leagues. The only question is: Can he hit enough to play everyday?
    Second baseman Scott Sizemore, who is batting .328 at Toledo since he was sent down to regain his confidence, will be back.
    And, although he his not a rookie, young Kelly is earning a place for himself as an ultilty man, playing left field, center and right as well as third base and first.
    "He's made some outstanding defensive players and he's not gotten any credit at all," says Leyland. "For what he's supposed to be doing, he's doing it exactly perfect."
    The kids certainly can't complain that they're not getting a chance to prove themselves.
    And they have been warmly received by their veteran teammates.
    "It's important to make these guys feel like they belong," says Brandon Inge, who was himself unexpectedly shoved onto the big league stage in 2001. "They (the veterans) would tell you how hard the game is. While it is, in all reality, it's still baseball.
    "These guys have been good all their lives. Let's try and give 'em some confidence and let 'em roll."
    So far, they are.

The costs were staggering -- $14 million per win -- but Willis welcomed back anyway

2010-06-20T08:01:00.001-07:00

The $29 million contract that the Tigers so benevolently bestowed on Dontrelle Willis may stand forever as the biggest waste of money of franchise history.
    Given the mountain of money he was making, Dontrelle's days as a Tigers were, in a word, disastrous. Never before has a Tiger done so little for so much.
    The numbers are staggering, and, frankly a bit nauseating.
    Each of Dontrelle Willis' two wins in a Tigers uniform cost the team more than $14 million -- $14,366,167, to be precise.
    Each of of his 22 starts here over the past three seasons, cost the Tigers $1,306,015.
    Each of Willis' 101 innings cost the Tigers $284,479. Each of his 68 strikeouts cost them $422,534. Each of his 92 infuriating walks, $312,308.
    Nevertheless, when Willis returned to the Comerica Park mound on Friday night as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, nobody booed. Frankly, I was surprised.
    And when Dontrelle, animated as always, stopped by the Tigers' clubhouse before batting practice the next day to say hello to his former teammates, he was greeted warmly.
    If there is any lingering resentment about Willis' -- and a couple of players privately expressed such sentiments to me when Dontrelle was dumped -- they concealed it well.
    The effervescent Willis is a hard guy to hate.
    "It just didn't work," said Jim Leyland, who spoke at length with Willis on the field over the weekend and harbors no hard feelings.
    "As I said when we let him go, I felt bad for him. He did everything under the sun to try to get right. And I hope he will. He went through a lot of stuff here -- and we went through a lot of stuff.
    "He felt bad that didn't do more for us. And we felt bad that, maybe, we didn't do more for him."
    Now Willis is Arizona's worry.

Happy Father's Day: Leyland's son follows in his dad's footsteps -- 46 years later

2010-06-17T10:17:00.001-07:00

It's unlikely -- after all, Jim Leyland turns 66 in December -- but the Tigers' skipper could someday find himself managing his own son. That has happened before in baseball -- but not every often.
    Eighteen-year-old Patrick Leyland, the Tigers' eighth-round draft pick, has decided to pass up a scholarship at the University of Maryland and turn pro. The younger Leyland, who, like his father, is a catcher, kissed his girl friend, sister and mother good-bye and flew to Lakeland on Thursday for his physical. Once he passes that, he will fax his contract back to Detroit for his dad's approval, then join the Tigers' entry-level team in the Gulf Coast League, which is based in Lakeland.
    Jim Leyland played for six years in the Tigers' farm system, never rising higher than Double-A. He hopes his son won't meet a similar fate.
    But that will be up to Patrick.
    "This is his bag, this is all about Patrick, this isn't about me," Leyland said. "I can't help him. He's on his own.
    "We gave him his options," the elder Leyland continued. "This is what the kid wants to do. I'm certainly not going to take his dream away from him."
    But for Patrick, who just graduated from high school and had grown accustomed to the luxuries of big league life, hanging around the ballpark with his dad, the low minors will mean a big adjustment.
    They play their games in the afternoon in the Gulf Coast League. For young Leyland, that will mean catching each day in 100-degree heat. He will share a room at the Tigers' minor league complex with Bo McClendon, the son of Tigers' hitting coach Lloyd McClendon, who was also drafted this month.
    "He's going to see stuff he's never seen before," the elder Leyland predicted. "He's going to see guys throwing 95 mph. He's got some talent but he's never seen stuff like that.
    "This is just a break-in, to get his feet wet," Leyland continued. "I'm not going to get too excited if he does well. And I'm not going to get too excited if he doesn't.
    "Hopefully, he'll play for a few years, and then we'll see."
    Nevertheless, it is an exciting time for Jim Leyland, who embarked on a similar adventure of his own, traveling to Florida with his catcher's mitt and his dreams, 46 years ago.

For Tigers fans, Washington wunderkind Strasburg's autograph will have to suffice

2010-06-15T04:05:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, we will never know how big a night it might have been. Think Mark "The Bird" Fidrych in the frenzied summer of '76, Fernando-mania in '81, or Dwight Gooden in '84. That big.
    Sadly, we'll not see Nationals' wunderkind Stephen Strasburg and his 100 mph fastball on the Comerica Park mound this week. Strasburg, who pitched Sunday for Washington, is scheduled to start again on Friday at home against Chicago.
    But I wouldn't even venture a guess on the number of people who show up at the corner of Witherell and Montcalm on a mission to get the rookie phenom's autograph -- which is already selling on eBay for $300 and up.
    Strasburg has made two big league starts. He was won twice. He has struck out 22. And he has captured the attention of the entire country, including David Letterman.
    Red Nationals' T-shirts bearing Strasburg's name and number sell out as fast as they can be piled on store shelves. Restaurants are naming burgers in his honor -- Strasburgers. His Washington teammates call him "Jezzus."
    And he's only 21.
    With apologies to Denny McLain, Strasburg is most famous pitcher to toil in our nation's capital since Walter Johnson. The Nationals' regional TV network reported an audience of 165,000 households for Strasburg's debut -- 10 times the network's nightly average.
    Cooperstown-bound Pudge Rodriguez, who has caught Nolan Ryan, Josh Beckett and Justin Verlander in his 19-year career, says, "This kid is unbelievable."
    Nevertheless, Washington has wisely arranged his schedule so that Strasburg will face the Pirates, Indians, and White Sox-- hardly offensive juggernauts -- in his first three starts. His first two games were televised nationally, and Strasburg's third start will be, too.
    But while the Washington Nationals are at Comerica Park this week, Strasburg will merely watch from the bench.
    Strasburg struck out 15 Pirates in his ballyhooed big league debut, which attracted a standing-room-only throng of 40,315 -- more then double the Nationals' normal Tuesday night crowd. It was the biggest celebration Washington D.C. has seen since President Obama's inauguration.
    The Nationals' plan is to limit Strasburgh to about 100 innings this season. If, as expected, Strasburg makes eight starts at home, he will generate an additional $5.8 million in ticket revenue for the needy Nats.
    On Sunday, in Cleveland, 32,876 showed up to watch Strasburg hold the Indians to one run on two hits over 5 1/3 innings. It was the second-largest gathering of the season at Progressive Field, more than double the Indians' average. And it occurred no thanks to the Tribe.
    One of those in attendance, although, of course, he didn't pay, was 91-year-old Indians Hall of Famer Bob Feller, who himself fanned 15 batters in his first major league start as a 17-year-old phenom in 1936.
    Strasburg's 22 Ks in his first two start are the second-most in major league history. Only star-crossed Karl Spooner of the old Brooklyn Dodgers ever did better, striking out 27 in his first two big league starts, both complete game victories, by the way, in 1954.
    Tragically, the following spring, Spooner -- who, like Strasburg, was blessed with a blazing fastball -- was ushered into an exhibition game before he had sufficiently warmed up, injured his precious left arm, and won only eight games in 1955, which signaled the end of his promising big league career.

Leyland doubles as both proud parent and agent as son ponders pro career

2010-06-13T08:33:00.001-07:00

Beginning in 2006, when Jim Leyland was hired to manage the Tigers, his son Patrick, then 14, began hanging around the clubhouse, sometimes kibitzing and playing catch with the players, sometimes taking batting practice with his dad on the mound.
    It was a dream come true for the kid.
    Last year, father and son were both excited when the University of Maryland offered Patrick, then a high school senior, a scholarship to go to school and play baseball for the Terps.
    Last week, the Tigers made 18-year-old Pat Leyland their eighth-round draft pick.
    Now the kid is facing the biggest decision of his young life: College or the minor leagues.
    That was an option Jim Leyland didn't have when he turned pro and signed for a pittance with the Tigers in 1963. Pat, who has grown to 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, is bigger than his dad (6-0, 180), and faces a more promising future. The Tigers believe the younger Leyland, who like his father is a catcher, is bona fide big league prospect.
    "Patrick has just got to make a decision," the elder Leyland said. "I know he wants to try it (professional baseball) some time."
    As an eighth-round pick, young Leyland won't have a lot of bargaining power when he sits down to talk contract with the Tigers. They will make him an offer, based upon what eighth-round picks usually get, and Leyland can take it or leave it.
    I asked Jim if his son has hired an agent yet.
    "Me," the elder Leyland replied, raising up from under the quilt as he relaxed on his Comerica Park office couch.
    Patrick Leyland, now 18, worked out at Comerica Park under the watchful eye of his dad Saturday afternoon -- as he as done so many times in seasons past.
    But this time it was different. There's a lot more on the line now.
    On Sunday morning, the young Leyland was up at the crack of dawn and on his way back home to Pittsburgh to play in an All-Star Game.
    Like any good parent, Jim got up early, too, to make sure his son found his way over to I-75 from Leyland's Royal Oak condo. Then the Tigers manager headed for the ballpark -- hence the morning nap on his couch.
    "The only advice I gave Patrick was, 'If you're sure you want to play, go play,' " the Tigers' manager explained. " 'And if you want to go to school, go to school.'
    "I told him, 'The money is going to be what it is. Don't worry about the money.'
    "He's going to play somewhere, either in college or in the minor leagues."
    I think Patrick will sign with the Tigers.
    "He's in for a rude awakening," Jim predicted, with a grin. "When he starts eating that tuna fish sandwich and orange (in the minors) instead of the fancy big league spread he's used to at the ballpark here, he's going to be shocked."

Porcello, suddenly the weak link in the Tigers' rotation, will skip his next start

2010-06-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

Last season, Rick Porcello lost only nine times all year. So far this season he has already lost six. Last year, his ERA was a commendable 3.96. So far this year, it is an unacceptable 6.09, and steadily getting worse.
    Right now, Porcello is the weak link in the Tigers' starting rotation.
    They cannot afford to let that trend continue. They need Porcello pitching the way he did last season, and they need to stop this skid before it gets any worse. That's why Jim Leyland announced Friday that Porcello will skip his next start.
    Porcello, who was ripped for eight earned runs in 3 1/3 innings on Wednesday -- his shortest outing and worst shellacking of the year -- won't pitch again until next Saturday night against Arizona.
    Instead, the young right hander, who began the year as the Tigers' No. 2 starter, threw in the bullpen on Friday and will do so again on Sunday and on Tuesday.
    "When you need somebody to iron a situation out, you can't just let him sit," Leyland said.
    "The No. 1 thing we want to accomplish is trying to get his sinker back," Leyland explained. "He is throwing way too many balls from the belt up as opposed to last year when he threw the ball down."
    The Tigers also want Porcello to slow down on the mound. "He's kind of rushing at the hitters," Leyland said. "Particularly when he has men on base. He wants to see the results before he throws the pitch."
    That is the same thing Leyland said about Justin Verlander two years ago.
    "But you have to go one step at a time," Leyland said. "And I think getting his sinker back is the first step.
    "We want to fix one thing at a time. We don't want to clutter up his mind with a lot of thoughts. It is the opinion of some people that if he gets his sinker back, everything else will fall into place,
    "That should be very fixable," Leyland added. "But so far we haven't had much success. I guess it sounds easier to fix than it is."
    I guess we'll have to wait until next Saturday to find out.

This time Galarraga gets what he deserved; Blown call a testament to baseball's integrity

2010-06-09T05:29:00.001-07:00

All eyes were on Armando Galarraga again Tuesday night as he set out to try to prove that last week's asterisked perfect performance was no fluke.
    The Tigers, however, were looking for something more basic. They wanted to see signs that Galarraga can continue to be a viable member of their starting rotation -- and not just a one-night wonder.
    What they saw on Tuesday -- two runs on seven hits over five innings -- was a pitcher who wasn't as effective or impressive as, say, Justin Verlander usually is. But they also saw a starter who wasn't as worrisome as, say, Dontrelle Willis had usually been.
    Galarraga didn't get the win. In fact, the five innings represented his second-shortest stint since he was summoned from Toledo. And it fell well short of the seven innings Jim Leyland likes to get from his starting pitchers. Some might say Armando reverted to form.
    But at least Galarraga kept the score close. At least he kept his team in the game and gave the Tigers the chance to eventually win it.
    Considering how far Galarraga's stock had fallen until last Wednesday's purloined perfecto, that is all the Tigers can ask.
    Leyland's original plan was to have Galarraga skip Tuesday's start in order to keep the rest of the rotation on a five-day schedule. That shows you where Galarraga stood in the Tigers' pitching pecking order.
    But after Armando etched his name in the history books last week, the Tigers' manager didn't dare scratch America's new poster boy for sportsmanship.
    One final thought on the Galarraga Affair:
    As wrong as first base umpire Jim Joyce's infamous "safe" call last Wednesday night was, it was a testament to the integrity of the game.
    The easiest thing in the world for Joyce would have been to call Cleveland's Jason Donald out.
    The Comerica Park crowd would have gone crazy, the Tigers were have been ecstatic, and -- as close as that play was, and as dominant as Galarraga had been all night -- the Cleveland Indians would have said nary a word.
    And the next morning, the national media would have been singing the Tigers pitcher's praises -- for all the right reasons.
    However, in that instant, in Joyce's eyes, the runner was safe and the umpire ruled accordingly -- without concern for the consequences.
    The fact that Joyce's call was so utterly and obviously incorrect was unfortunate. Some might even call it tragic.
    But it was an honest mistake. For that reason, the sometimes-suspect integrity of baseball has never been more undisputable.

First Willis, now Everett get the ax as Tigers' shake-up continues

2010-06-07T05:55:00.001-07:00

First Dontrelle Willis, now Adam Everett. Who's next?
Sensing their season slipping away, the Tigers gave Everett, their slick-fielding, faint-hitting shortstop the pink slip Sunday night and summoned rookie Danny Worth from the the minor leagues.
The move came one day after Jim Leyland decreed that, in an effort to jump-start the bottom third of the Tigers' batting order, we will see more of Alex Avila, and hence less of Gerald Laird, behind the plate in coming games.
The Tigers have dropped 10 of their last 15 games. In seven of those 10 losses, despite the sizable contributions of Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez, they have scored three runs or fewer.
Losing two out of three to the Kansas City Royals is unacceptable for a team that fancies itself as a title contender. Over the weekend, the Tigers were outscored by the Royals, 16-9, and outhit, 34-24.
As a result, the shortstop job is now Worth's for the taking -- provided he can hit enough. If he doesn't, the rookie, who batted .333 during his earlier eight-game call-up, will share the position with extra infielder Ramon Santiago. Last month, Worth also demonstrated his ability to play second base. He could fill in there for Carlos Guillen -- at least until another rookie, Scott Sizemore who is hitting .380 at Toledo, is deemed ready to return.
Everett, who hit .238 with 44 RBI last season, was batting an anemic .158 with no home runs and four RBI when the Tigers designated him for assignment -- which means they now have 10 days to trade him or release him.
This isn't the first time in his career that Everett has gotten off to a slow start. And, in the past, he has always bounced back. Everett and I talked about that at length in the clubhouse during the Tigers' recent homestead. At times, it sounded as if Everett was trying to convince himself that it was going to happen again.
Unlike Willis, giving Everett the boot won't cost the Tigers a ton of money. The Tigers are only on the hook to the 33-year-old shortstop for the balance of his $1.55 million salary -- about a million bucks -- unless, of course, Everett catches on with another big league club. That team would then be responsible for a pro-rated portion of the $400,000 major league minimum.

Tigers' handling of Avila and Willis demonstrates their sense of urgency

2010-06-06T13:41:00.001-07:00

In yet another sign of the sense of urgency that the Tigers are feeling this season, Alex Aliva was behind home plate again on Sunday, 14 hours after catching Saturday night's game in the Kansas City hear..
    And Jim Leyland indicated he is going to catch the rookie Avila, who is supposed to be the Tigers' back-up, more and more in coming games
    Why? Because Avila is current hitting .202. He has collected six hits in his last 12 at-bats.
    Meanwhile, Gerald Laird, who is supposed to be the Tigers' No. 1 catcher, is batting .154. He is five-for-his-last-43 trips to the plate.
    Leyland feels he can't wait any longer for Laird to wake up at the plate.
    Laird's sudden inability to hit is one of this season's biggest mysteries.
    Laird batted .296 in 2006 and .276 in 2008, playing partime for the Texas Rangers.
    The Tigers see Avila, who is only two years out of college, as their catcher of the future. They had better hope they are right. Because they don't have any promising catching candidates in their farm system.
    Leyland keeps hoping Laird will snap out of his season-long slump. If he doesn't, and if Avila isn't the answer, the Tigers have a problem.
    Speaking of urgency, the Tigers understandably grew so weary of Dontrelle Willis' nagging inconsistency that they literally gave him to the Arizona Diamondbacks, agreeing to pay most of his remaining salary and accepting an unpromising minor league pitcher in return.
    Willis won his first start with the Diamondbacks over the weekend.
    To recap -- and probably not for the last time -- the Tigers paid Willis slightly more than $28.7 million for which he won two games over the past three years.
    The Diamondbacks will pay Willis approximately $266,667 to pitch for them for the rest of this year. And he has already given them one win.

Despite purloined perfecto, Galarraga bears no ill will toward umpire Joyce

2010-06-03T08:46:00.001-07:00

On the day after The Blown Call That Rocked The Baseball World, the unlikely man of the hour, Armando Galarraga, awoke after only two hours of sleep with a smile on his unshaven face -- and an absence of malice in his heart toward Michigan's new Public Enemy Number One, umpire Jim Joyce.
    "Inside my heart, I don't have any problem," Galarraga said. "He told me, 'I'm sorry,' like 20 times. I don't blame the guy."
    After Wednesday night's purloined perfecto, Galarraga watched replays of The Play, both at Comerica Park and again after he got home more times than he could count.
    "At first, I don't know, I think maybe he was safe," the Tigers' pitcher admitted. "Then when I went in the clubhouse and see the replay on TV, I say, 'Oh my God! He was out! It's not even close. He was totally out.
    "Then, every time I see it, 'Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!' "
    When Galarraga finally got home, well after midnight Wednesday night, his phone wouldn't stop ringing. "A lot of reporters call from Venezuela to talk to me," he said.
    Galarraga also called his parents.
    "They put the game on TV in Venezuela from the seventh to the ninth innings," he explained. "It was on the news, 'Galarraga is pitching a perfect game.'
    "My dad, Jose, said to me, 'Son, I'm proud of you. I know you threw a perfect game.' That made me feel good."
    Despite Wednesday night's emotional ordeal, Galarraga was one of the first Tigers to arrive at the ballpark Thursday morning. By then, the Tigers public relations department had been inundated with requests for interviews from all over the state and the country.
    Twenty-four hours earlier, Galarraga had been the least-celebrated member of the Tigers' starting rotation. Suddenly, everyone wanted to talk to him.
    "Now, every time they mention, 'perfect game,' they're going to mention my game," he said.
    "In my mind, in my heart, everybody see I throw a perfect game."
    "That game is going to be talked about forever," predicted manager Jim Leyland. "It's something people will remember for the rest of the history of baseball. And what's wrong with that?"
    Wednesday evening, as Galarraga methodically set the Cleveland Indians down in order, inning after inning, he would return to the Tigers' dugout and sit in the same spot, near the far end, while his teammates batted.
    "I put my glove and my hat in the same place beside me, I drank from the same cup of water, I'd kick the dirt off my spikes -- everything the same," he said.
    In keeping with baseball tradition, none of his teammates mentioned the fact that he had a n-hitter going.
    "Nobody said a word," said Jim Leyland. "But everyone knew what was going on.
    "My heart was really pumping. Between innings, I kept going into the bathroom behind the dugout and throwing water on my face."
    If smoking was still allowed at Comerica Park, the skipper would have been lighting up Marlboros two at a time.
    Like Galarraga, Leyland harbors no grudges against Joyce.
    "I got text messages from people, saying, "It's a disgrace,' " Leyland said Thursday. "That made me sick. I don't feel that way. This is one of the most forgiving countries in the world.
    "Jim Joyce is one of the class acts. And he has been for a long time. I just don't believe in beating people up like that, especially when they come right out and admit their mistake.
    "If he had been defiant or arrogant about it, that would have been different. But the guy was mess after the game, a freakin' mess. And it was sincere."
    Long after the game, after Joyce had apologized to Galarraga and the Tigers, Leyland went to the umpires' dressing room to try to console Joyce.
    "I said, 'Come on, let's sit down and have a beer,' " Leyland said.
    "After two sips, I said, 'Bleep, what am I doing? I don't even drink beer."
    Joyce is from Toledo and when the veteran umpire finally composed himself, he drove to his mother's house to spend the night.
    "I was going to call him this morning to see if his mom let him in the house," Leyland joked.
    Another day. Another game. Time to move on. That's baseball.

Circle the dates June 18-19-20; Dontrelle could come back to haunt the Tigers

2010-06-02T13:46:00.001-07:00

I can see it now: It is June 18th, or the 19th, or the 20th. The Tigers are hosting Arizona at Comerica Park and the Diamondbacks' starting pitcher is none other than Dontrelle Willis.
    Imagine the reaction, among the fans -- the same fans who right now are so giddy to see Willis go -- if Dontrelle shuts his old playmates out, or at least shuts them down.
    Don't laugh. It could happen. How embarrassing would that be?
    If you thought the Tigers' decision to give Willis a three-year, $29 million deal before he threw a single pitch on their behalf was nuts, consider this: They are now paying the Diamondbacks about $8.1 million to take Dontelle off their hands -- even though he could come back to haunt them later this month.
    But look at this week's trade from Arizona's point of view:
    The Diamondbacks, who have by far the worst pitching staff in baseball, get rid of a pitcher, Billy Buckner, who served up 17 runs in 13 innings in three starts for Arizona earlier this season, and pick up a former two-time All-Star and 22-game winner -- and all it costs them is about $267,000.
    Meanwhile, Willis, who recently bought a house in Arizona, is looking forward to starting anew. He is scheduled to make his first start for the Diamondbacks on Saturday.
    Things can't possibly get any worse for the 28-year-old lefty.
    No knock on the Tigers, but I, for one, wouldn't be shocked to see him a few games and revive his career in Arizona, just as Nate Robertson has done with the Florida Marlins.
    The 26-year-old Buckner, by the way, is not related to famous -- or should I say, infamous -- former first baseman Bill Buckner.
    But I bet you never thought you'd see the names of Bill Buckner and Dontrelle Willis mentioned in the same blog.

Jettisoning Willis proves results matter more than money to Tigers

2010-05-31T07:51:00.001-07:00

It took six weeks of film study and self-examination, but Max Scherzer finally figured out what he was doing wrong.
    In two years and two months of tinkering, Dontrelle Willis never did.
    That's why Scherzer is back in the Tigers' starting rotation in spectacular strikeout fashion, and Willis is suddenly unemployed at age 28 -- albeit with an $8.5 million severance package.
    In the Tigers' clubhouse, players will shrug and tell you baseball is a business. That's true. But it is a results-oriented business even more than it is a money business. If that wasn't true, Willis would still be wearing the Olde English D.
    Willis was on the final year of that silly, spendthrift three-year, $29 million contract the Tigers bestowed on him before he ever threw a pitch here. The Tigers still owed him $8.5 million for the remainder of this season, whether he earned it or not.
    Meanwhile, Scherzer was making a mere $1.5 million. And Armando Galarraga, who makes just $440,000, has an option left and could have easily and justifiably been sent to Toledo to make room for Scherzer.
    But instead of taking the easy way out, the Tigers opted to bite the bullet, admit their mistake, and jettison Willis.
    Why? Because Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski believe that move gives them the best chance of reaching the postseason this year.
    You can lambaste Dombrowski for giving Willis that ludicrous contract in the first place. Dontrelle, after all, was coming off the worst year of his career in Florida. That should have raised a red flag right there.
    But you also have to credit the Tigers president/GM for having the guts now to do what was best for the ballclub, regardless of the cost -- even though he knows Willis could resurrect his career elsewhere.
    Leyland said Sunday he doesn't believe Willis' career is over. Dontrelle's best shot at a comeback would probably be in the National League. And, according to Foxsports.com, Dontrelle has told friends he "would love to play on the West Coast."
    The Arizona Diamondbacks might be his best bet.
    Interested teams can either wait for the Tigers to release Willis, then hope to entice him with a modest offer, or try to work out a trade with the Tigers now, offering a minor league prospect in return. If the Tigers are able to trade Dontrelle, they would be responsible for almost all of the $8.5 million remaining on his contract for the rest of this season.

With all eyes on their rookies, it's time for Tigers to make their move

2010-05-27T06:11:00.001-07:00

It is time for the Tigers to make their move.
    From now until the All-Star break, the Tigers will face only one team, the American league Central rival Minnesota Twins, that was more than two games over .500 as of Thursday. The rest -- the A's, Indians. Royals, ChiSox, Pirates, Nationals (I still want to call them the Senators), Diamondbacks, Mets, Braves, Mariners, and Orioles -- stood a combined 64 games under .500!
    Baseball doesn't get much easier than that.
    Jim Leyland has maintained all along that the Tigers will go as far this season as their veteran sluggers -- Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, Johnny Damon, and Carlos Guillen -- can carry them.
    But it is the kids who have crashed the lineup, most notably May sensation Brennan Boesch and April's darling, Austin Jackson, who have everyone talking.
    Boesch is batting .343. Seventeen of his 35 big league base hits have gone for extra bases. After only 27 games, he is tied for third on the team with 22 RBI.
    One writer at SI.com recently named Boesch the best rookie in the AL and ranked Jackson second. Another placed Boesch third, behind pitchers Neftali Feliz of the Rangers and Wade Davis of the Rays -- and just ahead of Jackson.
    Jackson, who batted .364 in April and who suffered that frightening beaning against the Dodgers, is hitting .335. Kudos to Tigers' scout Jeff Wetherby who stuck his neck way out in strongly recommending Jackson last fall when trade talks with the Yankees began.
    Danny Worth, who was once supposed to be the Tigers' shortstop of the future, has demonstrated he can play second base, too. Whatsmore, after eight games, the kid is hitting .333. If Scott Sizemore fails to get himself turned around at Toledo, Worth could have Sizemore's job next year. Or Adam Everett's.
    Outfielder Casper Wells has been sent back to Toledo -- but not before he gave management something to think about. In his brief big league cameo, Wells collected two hits, including a double, and knocked in two runs in nine at-bats. Mark my words: We haven't heard the last of Casper Wells.

I shudder to think where Tigers would be without AL's best bullpen

2010-05-25T06:45:00.001-07:00

On any pitching staff, the starters are the stars. They get all the glory. With the exception of a rare closer like the Yankees' Mariano Rivera, the guys in the bullpen are usually role players at best -- and scapegoats at worst. Remember Fernando Rodney?
    Well, it is time we give the Tigers' current crew of relievers their just due.
    When Bobby Seay and Zach Miner, two key veteran cogs in the Tigers' bullpen, were sidelined indefinitely, maybe forever, with arm injuries late in spring training, the relief corps suddenly became one of Jim Leyland's biggest concerns.
    Not to worry.
    So far, along with top half of the batting order and the performance of the rookies, that bullpen has been one of the Tigers' biggest surprises -- and one of their biggest strengths.
    Where would the Tigers be right now without Jose Valverde, Joel Zumaya, Phil Coke, Ryan Perry, Fu-Te Ni, Eddie Bonine, and Brad Thomas?
    Not a close second in the American League Central, that's for sure.
    Instead of battling the Twins for the division lead, they would be sparring with the Royals and Indians to stay out of the cellar.
    Together, the bullpen has gotten credit for 11 of the Tigers' first 25 wins. Given the loss of Seay and Miner, and the supposed strength of the starting rotation, that is a remarkable stat.
    Bonine, Coke, Zumaya and Thomas are a combined 9-0. I can assure you, nobody -- NOBODY -- expected that.
    With the exception of Coke, none of those guys figured prominently in Leyland's plans when spring training began. Zumaya was a continuing question-mark and there was no guarantee Bonine or Thomas would even make the team.
    Valverde, the new closer who was something of a question-mark himself coming over from the National League, has 11 saves and a nearly spotless 0.46 ERA. He served up a home run in his first outing, back on April 7, setting off alarms all across Tiger Nation. But nobody has scored on him in 19 trips to the mound since then. In fact, in those 19 appearances, the animated right hander has allowed just five hits -- all of them singles.
    Bottom line: Going into Tuesday night's game in Seattle the Tigers were a flawless 16-0 when leading a game after six innings.
    The website Scout.com recently rated the best and worst bullpens in baseball.
    Not surprisingly, the Tigers ranked first in the AL, ahead of the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees.
    Who ranked the worst?   The California Angels, Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians, who come back to Comerica Park next week.

Wherever he went, when Jose was around it was always "Lima Time"

2010-05-24T06:33:00.001-07:00

I happened to be in the Tigers' clubhouse last Tuesday when Ramon Santiago walked in, appropriately dressed for the team's upcoming trip to the West Coast, wearing a snazzy dark suit.
"Jose Lima bought this suit for me," Santiago explained proudly, after I had extended my compliments on his outfit.
"He told me I had to dress like a big leaguer.
"When we went on a road trip (in 2002), he bought me five suits. He was like a father to me," Santiago added.
Lima, I should point out, was a fading veteran making $7.25 million in '02. He was the second-highest paid Tiger behind Dean Palmer ($8 million). Santiago, meanwhile, was a rookie making the major league minimum $200,000
I didn't think much more about it at the time-- except for the fact that suit now has to be eight years old. And it still looks brand new. Obviously, Santiago doesn't get dressed up a lot.
Then on Sunday I heard the news: Jose Lima was dead at age 37.
Along with Santiago and everyone else whose paths crossed Lima's overt the years, I was stunned.
Lima was always so full of life.
It was always "Lima Time" when Jose was around.
I remember the night Lima strutted into the Tigers' Comerica Park clubhouse for the start of his second tour of duty in Detroit. It was June 24, 2001.
" 'Lima Time' is back on track," he announced, as if trumpeting the triumphant return of a conquering hero.
In truth, the Houston Astros, the Tigers' trading partner in the deal for pitcher Dave Mlicki, had been so happy to rid themselves of Lima (1-2, 7.30 ERA), they agreed to throw in a million bucks to make up the difference in the two pitchers' salaries so that the trade wouldn't cost then budget-minded owner Mike Ilitch a dime.
In my column in The Oakland Press the next morning, I noted the fact that, while most of the other Tigers showed up for work dressed in T-shirts and blue jeans, Lima arrived wearing a wheat-colored three-piece designer suit.
"Hey, it's Versace!" the effervescent pitcher declared.
"I can't spell it, but it looks good."
Ironically, days earlier, manager Phil Garner had tried to bribe the struggling Tigers to play better by revising the team's dress code on the road to blue jeans, T-shirts, shorts and sneakers.
Lima didn't care. He always did dance to the sounds of a different drummer.

Expecting Guillen to play second base may be asking too much

2010-05-20T12:54:00.001-07:00

Carlos Guillen has gone down to Toledo to get back into game shape -- and get reacquainted with second base.
    I believe the former will be easier for him to do than the latter.
    As usual, Guillen, ever the trouper, will give it his all. But this time the Tigers may be asking too much of their versatile veteran.
    The Tigers want Guillen's bat back in the lineup as soon as possible. But Brennan Boesch, who was summoned to take Guillen's place for a couple of weeks, isn't going anywhere -- not the way he's hitting. So, to make room on the roster -- and in the lineup -- they have sent rookie Scott Sizemore back to the minors for more seasoning.
    Guillen's return, probably May 28 when the Tigers return home from West Coast, will further bolster their already formidable batting order.
    But I have my doubts about how long -- or how well -- Guillen will be able to handle second base, especially on an everyday basis.
    It is true Guillen broke into the big leagues as a second baseman with Seattle in 1998. But he has only played 12 games there -- and none since 1999.
    Mark my words, second base is no place for an injury-plagued 34-year-old with two bad knees and a tender hamstring.
    Fielding ground balls won't be a problem. But I think turning double plays may be.
    "This game is all about results," said Guillen.
    But expecting a player to move from shortstop to first base to third base to left field to designated hitter to second base without missing a beat may be asking too much.
    In other words, don't be surprised to see Sizemore back in the big leagues before long. The Tigers haven't given up on him by any means.

Some Tigers take pride in "Mohawk epidemic" sweeping Motown

2010-05-18T10:41:00.001-07:00

Wives may cringe and mothers may shudder, but the Mohawk craze that swept through the Tigers' clubhouse a week ago is catching on elsewhere.

"We've kind of created a Mohawk epidemic," declared Phil Coke with undisguised pride.

"Nothing wrong with that," insisted Coke, whose spiked hairdo is easily the most outrageous and provocative on the team.

"It's just hair."

Now, copy-cats are popping up all over town, especially among the young generation.

Magglio Ordonez's 14-year-old son, Magglio Jr., showed up in the locker room over the weekend, wearing what Coke described as "a shaggy Mohawk" _ and a big grin.

"The other day, when we were in the bullpen, one fan, a random person, leaned over out of the stands and asked if I would give him a Mohawk," recalled Coke, who spends a couple of minutes each morning sharpening the strip of hair along the top of his head with gel until he looks like a prehistoric creature.

"I told him, 'Go get one.'

"And he says to me, 'Do you think they'll let me back in the ballpark if I go out and get one?' "

What would have happened, Coke was asked, if he had shown up at the last year, when he was playing for the clean-cut Yankees, wearing a Mohawk?

"They would have threatened me with termination," said Coke.

"Can you picture the headlines? 'Released Because of Mohawk.' "

Rookie sensation Boesch reminds Don Zimmer of Yogi Berra

2010-05-16T14:23:00.001-07:00

Jim Leyland spent Saturday night sleeping on the couch in his Comerica Park office. When the Tigers' manager woke up Sunday morning, he phoned his good friend, long-time major league player, manager and coach Don Zimmer in Florida.

Zimmer complained that he was tired because he had stayed up until midnight Saturday watching the Tigers' 7-6 12-inning win over the Boston Red Sox on TV.

He got quite an eyeful.

"That (Brennan) Boesch kid is kind of like Yogi (Berra)," raved Zimmer, obviously impressed.

"They throw and he swings. I like that."

"So do I," Leyland responded.

"He'll be all right as long as he doesn't start thinking," Leyland joked later.

"If I catch him looking at (video) tape, I'm going to send him down."

Boesch, who has collected a hit in 13 of his last 14 games, is leading all American League rookies with a .380 batting average and 19 RBI. He is second with 27 hits and three home runs.

He is the first Tiger since at least 1920 to collect at least one RBI in 12 of his first 19 big league games. He is also the first Tiger since at least 1920 to deliver at least one extra-base hit in 10 of his first 19 games.

Mohawk haircuts bring entire Tigers team closer together

2010-05-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

Brandon Inge, the usual instigator, proclaimed his innocence. Having said that, he was one of the first to jump on the bandwagon. "If it looks like fun, I'll do it," he admitted. Johnny Damon, the role model, disavowed any involvement in the caper. "Their loved ones cannot be upset with me," he declared.

Actually, the harebrained scheme for half of the Tigers' team to get Mohawk haircuts was hatched in the bullpen and executed between halves of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Yankees. Now the stunt still has the whole clubhouse laughing. "That's what happens when you have too much time on your hands," said first base coach Tom Brookens.

The impromptu shearing was supposed to increase solidarity among the boys in the league-leading bullpen. It appears to have brought the entire team closer together.

"We sit out there in the bullpen and during the first two or three innings it's a little loose," explained Joel Zumaya, one of the provocateurs. "Me, (Eddie) Bonine, (Phil) Coke, (Ryan) Perry _ we were all for it. It was all our idea. It's pretty sweet.

"I think it's cool. It's the whole bullpen. We're going to see how long we can keep it up. It would be pretty cool if we could get the whole team to do it."

"I had a little to do with it, but it was really a whole bullpen stunt," said Coke, who wins the award for Most Outlandish Haircut, hands down.

"Fu-Te Ni called his mom and dad in Taiwan, probably woke them up out of a dead sleep, to ask if it was OK," revealed Coke.

"Not true," Ni insisted, through his translator.

But how would your parents react if they knew, Ni was asked?

"Probably go crazy," he replied with a smile.

In his native Taiwan, Ni explained, nobody wears hairstyles like that. "Unless they're models or rock stars," he added.

Australian Brad Thomas admitted he now gets "lots of funny looks."

"People are giving me a wide berth when they see me."

"It's not the brightest idea we've ever had," Perry confessed.

"We have every position on the roster represented," Inge explained. "We got the whole bullpen, I represent the infielders, Johnny (Damon) is the outfield, Alex (Avila) is the catchers and (Jeremy) Bonderman is the starting pitchers.

"That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it," Inge added.

"Maybe it'll change my luck," muttered Bonderman, who has pitched better than his 1-2 record indicates.

I asked Inge what his wife, Shani, thinks of his new hairstyle.

"I don't know, she hasn't spoken to me yet," he said.

Perry invited Leyland to join the club. But the 65-year-old manager declined.

"I ain't got enough hair," Leyland growled.

"Besides, I've got my son's graduation to go to."

The lone holdout in the bullpen is closer Jose Valverde, who, according to informed sources, kept encouraging his teammates to get their hair cut, then chickened out when his own turn came.

"I'll do it if you do it," Valverde chided me.

"You first," I said.

He laughed and walked away.

Burden on Tigers' bullpen costs Raburn his spot in big leagues

2010-05-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Baseball can be a cruel business.

Ryan Raburn found that out again, first hand, when he arrived at the ballpark on Wednesday morning for the Tigers' day-night doubleheader against the Yankees.

If you'll remember, for the first time in his career Ryan reported to training camp this spring knowing that he had a job in the big leagues, that he was on the team.

That good feeling lasted five weeks.

On Wednesday, upon arriving at Comerica Park, Raburn was summoned to Jim Leyland's office and ordered to report to Toledo.

Raburn's only crime? Having an option left -- which meant the Tigers could demote him to the minor leagues for 10 days without fear of losing him forever.

So Raburn became the fall guy, a victim of circumstances, temporarily lopped off the roster to make room for relief pitcher Alfredo Figaro.

He looked devastated as he changed out of his uniform back into street clothes and departed, before most of his teammates arrived at the ballpark.

"I'm not happy about it either," Leyland admitted. "I feel terrible. It's nobody's fault. This is one of those circumstances where a guy who doesn't deserve to go down has to go down

"Somebody gets screwed. It's a shame. It's a crying shame. But that's the way it works. We did what we had to do."

The blame belongs with the Tigers' starting pitchers. Their repeated failure to last the desired six or seven innings has put a tremendous burden on the bullpen.

"We had to have pitchers," Leyland said.

"If we don't, our bullpen will be at the Detroit Medical Center by June 15, if things don't change."

The downside of Wednesday's decision, in addition to Raburn's disappointment, is the fact that the Tigers now have just three reserves, Ramon Santiago, Don Kelly, and back-up catcher Alex Avila, on the bench.

Leyland said, in all likelihood, Raburn will be recalled in 10 days. "That's not etched in stone, but it looks like he definitely deserves to be the guy coming back," the manager said.

To make it easier on Raburn, he was told he doesn't have to report to Toledo until Friday or Saturday. "Hopefully, he will have a very short stint down there," Leyland said.

Not that that made Raburn feel any better Wednesday.

Jackson, Coke make Tigers early winner in three-team swap

2010-05-10T05:52:00.001-07:00

So, who won last December's three-team, seven-player swap that turned Austin Jackson, Max Scherzer and Phil Coke into Tigers?

At this admittedly early juncture, I would have to say Detroit did, hands down.

Jackson's performance alone these first five weeks, tilts the trade decidedly in the Tigers' favor.

Going into Monday night's series opener against the Yankees, Jackson, the Tigers' early-season sensation, is leading the American League in both batting average (.371) and base hits (49).

I guarantee you, neither the Tigers or the Yankees expected that.

Coke, who was briefly considered for the Tigers' starting rotation during spring training, has replaced Bobby Seay as the leading lefty in the bullpen. Coke is a surprising 3-0 with a 1.76 ERA and has yet to yield a home run this year. He is one of main reasons why the bullpen has been able to repeatedly bail out the starters.

Max Scherzer, billed as the No. 3 man in the rotation, is having a tough time adjusting to AL hitters. He is 0-3 in his last three starts, allowing 21 earned runs in his last 13 innings, to elevate his ERA to an unsightly 6.81. Scherzer is 1-3 overall.

And don't forget Daniel Schlereth, the fourth player the Tigers picked up in the trade. He has a 1.13 ERA pitching in relief at Triple A Toledo. Do not be surprised if you see him in the Tigers' bullpen before this season is over.

Meanwhile, Granderson, the Yankees' only acquisition in the deal, is on the disabled list with a strained groin. Granderson was batting a disappointing .225 with two HRs for New York before he got hurt.

Edwin Jackson has picked up right where he left off at the end of last season for the Tigers -- which does not bode well for the Diamondbacks. Jackson, who pitched like an All-Star during the first half of last season before fading during the second half, is 1-4 with a 7.32 ERA in Arizona.

The seventh player to change teams in the trade was pitcher Ian Kennedy, who went from the Yankees to the Tigers and immediately to the Diamondbacks in the three-cornered deal. In seven starts for Arizona, Kennedy is 2-2 with a 3.48 ERA.

Bottom line: Dave Dombrowski and his front office staff, including scout Jeff Wetherby, who recommended Jackson, can take another bow.

The sad story of Ernie and Bo

2010-05-06T07:25:00.001-07:00

Ernie Harwell and Bo Schembechler are both gone now so I feel free to tell this story.

Suffice to say, the two men, both icons in the state of Michigan, did not part company the best of friends.

In 1994, after Schembechler had been fired by the Tigers, I spent a day with Bo at his office in Ann Arbor and I asked him how he felt about the way he had been lambasted by the public and the press after he fired Ernie in 1991.

Bo clenched his teeth. His voice rose.

As unthinkable as this may sound today, Schembechler snarled:

"If I had been 10 years older, or he had been 10 years younger, I would have kicked his ass."

Harwell, I should point out, was nearing 73 in December of 1990 when the shocking decision to dump him as the Tigers' play-by-play broadcaster was announced. Schembechler was 61 at the time.

Bo had been made the scapegoat for Harwell's firing following the 1991 season. And Schembechler blamed Ernie, in part, for that.

But first, a little background:

When Harwell signed a five-year contract with the Tigers prior to the 1986 season, he indicated that would be his final contract.

However, by 1990, Ernie, who was still in good health and loving his job, had changed his mind.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Harwell, the Tigers and radio station WJR, the ballclub's flagship, had been secretly talking about going in another direction in the broadcast booth. Ratings had slipped and the station was reportedly anxious to try to attract a younger audience with a younger broadcast team.

Furthermore, WJR, as well as some in the Tigers' front office, were irked because Harwell insisted on doing play-by-play and nothing more. Ernie balked at suggestions he should do more in his spare time to promote the ballclub and the radio station -- without any additional compensation, of course.

Schembechler later told me that the radio station wanted to let Harwell go immediately after the 1990 season. But according to Bo, he insisted, "We will let Ernie work one more season, give him a farewell tour around the league, with the biggest raise in pay he has ever gotten in his life."

Schembechler thought he was being generous. In Bo's mind, he had Ernie's back.

After the 1990 season ended, Harwell, unaware that his future as the Tigers' broadcaster had already been discussed and decided behind closed doors, went to the ballpark with his agent/attorney Gary Spicer to negotiate a new contract.

Reportedly, Spicer asked the Tigers for another five-year deal and a raise in pay for his client.

But Schembechler refused to budge.

So, reluctantly, on December 18, 1990, Harwell signed the one-year contract for 1991 that Schembechler offered.

Ernie also asked the Tigers to schedule a press conference at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull the next day.

The Tigers assumed Harwell wanted to announce his own retirement, following the '91 season, and the ballclub was happy to oblige. WJR, unaware of how Harwell felt, even agreed to broadcast the press conference.

But Ernie was far from happy. He felt was being discriminated against because of his age.

Harwell didn't graciously say good-bye. Instead, he told his adoring public that he was, in fact, being fired.

"The radio station, WJR, and the Detroit Baseball Club have decided that 1991 will be the last year that I will broadcast play-by-play for the Detroit Tigers," Harwell declared in the bowels of Tiger Stadium, before a standing-room-only throng of writers, radio microphones and TV cameras.

A firestorm of protest erupted across the state and Harwell was eventually rehired by new Tigers' owner Mike Ilitch, after he purchased the team in August of 1992.

But the blame that was unfairly heaped on Schembechler for firing Ernie, the beloved voice of the Tigers, haunted Bo until the day he died.

Jackson, Willis, Coke, Zumaya: Tigers' season full of surprises

2010-05-03T06:32:00.001-07:00

Neither of their catchers is hitting his weight. Gerald Laird is officially listed at 225 pounds, although that is probably giving him the benefit of the doubt. He is batting .155. Rookie Alex Avila weighs 210. He is hitting .147.

Their defense has, at times, been brutal, committing 24 errors -- by far the worst in the American League

Their five starting pitchers, supposedly one of the strengths of the team when the season began, won a total of seven games during the first four weeks. Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, Max Scherzer, Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman boast a combined ERA of 5.18.

Incredibly, Willis, who has battled back from anxiety issues and an alarming loss of control, is easily the best of the bunch at 3.75. What kind of odds could you have gotten against that if you had gone to Las Vegas and placed a bet on Opening Day?

Yet the Tigers are off to one of the best starts in years.

Yes, it has been a strange season so far -- in a very pleasing sort of way.

Even Jim Leyland has been surprised at some of the things he has seen.

The offense -- the Tigers are leading the league in hitting -- and the revamped bullpen have been carrying the load.

Going into Monday night's game against the Twins in Minnesota, early-season sensation Austin Jackson was leading the AL in base hits with 40 and was second in the league in batting at .367.

Curtis who?

Miguel Cabrera, third in hits, was seventh in the league in hitting at .340. And Johnny Damon was batting .326. Nobody is doubting the wisdom of that signing these days.

Jackson ranked third in the league in runs scored with 21 and Damon was right behind him with 20. Magglio Ordonez, who is determined to demonstrate he deserved to return this year, was tied for 6th with 19.

Cabrera, who came into this season with something to prove, too, was leading the league in RBI with 27 and, surprisingly, ranked second in doubles with 11. That shows you what the young man can do when he puts his mind to it.

Then there is the bullpen.

Joel Zumaya (2-0, 1.23 ERA, 16 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings) is again throwing the ball like he did in 2006. His return to form has given the whole team a lift. And workhorse Phil Coke was tied for third in the league with three wins -- as many as Scherzer, Willis and Bonderman, combined.

New closer Jose Valverde was tied for the league lead with 14 appearances, seven of which have resulted in saves.

It is still way, way too early to start thinking about October.

But, so far, this season is not shaping up to be the throw-away many envisioned during the offseason when the Tigers, to save money, jettisoned Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco, Edwin Jackson, and Fernando Rodney.

Leyland leaves his fingerprints on new All-Star Game rules

2010-04-29T08:37:00.001-07:00

When you watch this year's All-Star Game, July 13 in Anaheim, think of Jim Leyland.

The Tigers' manager is a member of the special advisory committee that recommended the changes to the All-Star Game that were announced this week, including allowing both sides to employ a designated hitter regardless of where the game is played.

Leyland, who has been part of the mid-summer All-Star extravaganza five times -- twice as a manager (1998, 2007) and three times as a coach (1991, '94, '08) -- has long been a proponent of letting both teams use a DH.

But he balked Thursday when a writer referred to the new rule as "The Leyland Rule."

"Lots of us proposed that, it wasn't me only," he insisted.

"But I love it, it's just common sense," Leyland added.

"I'm honored to be on the committee, I was flattered to be asked," he continued. "It's the first time I've been involved with the commissioner on this level.

"It's very interesting to talk about things that you think are good. I really enjoy it because you get to speak your piece.

"The commissioner said there would be no sacred cows and he's been great about that," said Leyland. "He lets us talk about anything we want.

"Nobody is trying to be a rocket scientist. We're just trying to share some thoughts and ideas that we think will make the game better for the fans."

Leyland said he has another proposed rule change, not related to the All-Star Game, pending. But he refused to reveal what it might be.

The committee's next meeting will be a conference call on Monday.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has said he intends to retire in 2012. Leyland's current contract with the Tigers expires after the 2011 season.

So I asked Leyland if he might become the next commissioner.

"I doubt that I'm going to Park Avenue," he quipped, referring to the location of baseball's headquarters in New York City. "I don't think that's going to happen."

For Dmitri Young, coming back to Detroit "was a must"

2010-04-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

The "new" guy in the Tigers' clubhouse Tuesday needed no introduction as, one by one, the players who were around in 2006 -- and several who weren't -- hurried over to hug Dmitri Young. "Hey, Mickey Mouse, how you doin'?" Young exclaimed as Carlos Guillen approached, wearing a big grin between his ears.

For Young, who left Detroit under a dark cloud when he was suddenly and unexpectedly handed his unconditional release minutes after the conclusion of a game on Sept. 6, 2006, it is a new beginning.

"You've got to have peace with yourself -- and I do," declared Young, who accepted a job this spring as the vice-president of the Oakland County Cruisers in the independent Frontier League.

It was a way to get his foot back into baseball's door. But for Dmitri Young, it was much more.

"For me, coming back here was a must," said Young, as he leaned back into a locker reserved for Hall of Famer Al Kaline, his hands clasped behind his head.

"I didn't leave here the way anyone wants to leave," admitted Young, who joined the Tigers in 2002 and had the second-longest continuous tenure on the team when he was abruptly let go amidst of flurry of stories and speculation about his off-the-field conduct.

"People make mistakes," he continued. "The thing is how you bounce back from it. I figured this was the perfect place for me to come back and start over. This is the place that gave me a chance to become a star.

"I don't know what my exact title is. I would call if 'jack-of-all-trades.' You could say consultant. Or mentor."

Young said he has "a three-year plan." His ultimate goal is to get back to the big leagues

"I want to learn as much as possible about all aspects of the game -- and make myself a commodity," explained the slugger who retired after 13 seasons in the majors with a .292 lifetime average, including 171 home runs and 683 RBI.

What then? Young was asked.

"Maybe a front office executive," he replied with a smile. "Maybe a broadcaster behind the mike. Maybe a renown hitting coach."

Young, now 36, did not play last season because of injuries. He also lost his mother, who died of pancreatic cancer.

"That was my crutch, that forced me to grow up," he said. "Something like that forces you to look at things a little different that you did in the past."

So far, Tiger starters have been letting the bullpen down

2010-04-26T05:32:00.001-07:00

A bullpen, any bullpen, is only as good as that team's starting pitchers. It is the relievers' job to bail out the starters -- but first the starters have to protect the relievers.

As Jim Leyland has said over and over again, when you are using your bullpen because you have to -- rather than because you want to -- you are in trouble.

That is exactly what the Tiger starters have forced their manager to do this month.

It is taking its toll on the over-worked bullpen, which on the whole has pitched surprisingly well in the spite of the loss of Bobby Seay and Zach Miner.

And it is reflected in the standings.

Justin Verlander, the man who absolutely has to lead the way if the Tigers are going anywhere this year, is 1-1 with an unsightly 6.95 ERA after four starts.

Verlander, who has struggled with his location, has thrown 93 or more pitches in each of his starts, reaching a season-high 125 last time out. Nevertheless, he has only lasted longer than five innings once.

Rick Porcello is also 1-1 with a similarly unacceptable ERA of 6.46. He, too, has only gone beyond the fifth inning once in his three starts. After last season, the Tigers except more.

Newcomer Max Scherzer has been the best of the Tigers' starters so far, lasting seven innings once and six innings twice in his four starts. Like Verlander and Porcello, Scherzer is 1-1, but his ERA is an impressive 2.63.

Going into the season, the Tigers were worried about the back end of their rotation -- and with good reason. However, things have not been nearly as bad as many feared.

Dontrelle Willis, whose last-minute inclusion in the starting rotation came as a surprise to some, is 0-1 with a 5.00 ERA. But he has twice pitched six innings and is showing signs of a possible return to form.

Jeremy Bonderman, who makes his fourth start Monday night in Texas, is 1-1 with a 7.20 ERA. He has definitely struggled at times, but he seems to be making progress in adjusting to his new style of pitching.

In the Tigers' first 19 games, they have led only five times, entering the seventh inning. Going into Monday night's game against the Rangers, the Tiger starters had yielded 10 runs in their last seven innings of work -- a recipe for disaster.

Frankly, under those circumstances, it is surprising the Tigers have fared as well as they have during these first three weeks.

It's not the time of games that pains us, it's the pace of play

2010-04-22T05:33:00.001-07:00

Are you one of those people who believes it takes way too long to play a baseball game these days? Me, too. And we have plenty of company. Some umpires, many fans, even the commissioner would like to see things speeded up. The problem is magnified by the fact that games are slowing down at the same time people's attention spans are shrinking.

However, Jim Leyland, a baseball lifer and a member of Bud Selig's on-field advisory committee, will tell you it is not the time that a game takes that matters, it is how that game is played. Not all three-hour games are necessarily boring and ugly.

I agree.

"When you go to a movie, if it's a good movie, you don't mind if it lasts three hours," Leyland pointed out. "But if it's a bad show, you're walking out in the middle, grumbling.

"You can't put a time on a baseball game," the Tigers' manager insisted. "I've never figured out why people make such a big deal out of that. It's not really the time of games as much as the pace, keeping it going.

"I don't think we ever want to get in a situation where we're saying, 'We gotta be out of here in 2 1/2 hours,' " Leyland continued.

"It's a delicate issue. We're here to try to win a ballgame. We're not here to see how quickly we can get out of here. It's a common sense thing. They want managers and pitching coaches to jog when we go to the mound. That's fine and dandy. But sometimes, when you do that, you're messing with the game. Sometimes you want to take your time when you go out to the mound because you want to give the pitcher in the bullpen time to get ready."

Everybody in the ballpark knows what is going on.

Nevertheless, some umpires are now immediately following managers to the mound when a pitching change seems likely, instead of allowing managers to "stall" for a minute or two while they talk to their pitcher. Managers call that "eavesdropping" and they don't like it.

However, the biggest culprit, in Selig's eyes, are those hitters who step out of the batter's box after every pitch. "My gripe is that a guy gets in the batter's box, looks at one pitch, and then has to get out and adjust his equipment -- and he hasn't even swung at anything," Selig groaned.

In an effort to halt that, Selig has given umpires permission to crack down on the constantly preening slow-pokes. During the first few weeks of this season, umpires have sometimes refused to grant hitters timeout once they step into the box. In years past, such requests were almost always automatically granted.

Once such incident occurred this week when umpire Angel Hernandez refused Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford's request for a timeout against fast-working White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle and called the next pitch a strike. When Rays' manager Joe Maddon came out of the dugout to object, Hernandez ignored him, creating a potentially dangerous and comical situation until third base umpire Joe West called time.

The two biggest culprits, of course, are the Yankees and Red Sox. It is no coincidence that the average game in the American League East inexcusably lasted 20 minutes longer last season (3:06) and the average game in the AL West (2:46).

The Tigers are guilty, too. The average game between the Tigers and Twins, the two best teams in the American League Central last season, took an often-agonizing three hours and 10 minutes to complete.

There is no need, or excuse, for that.

Granderson? Robertson? Polanco? Hindsight is 20/20, but it's still fun to look

2010-04-20T08:56:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you, but one of the first things I do almost every day is check the box scores of other big league teams, looking at certain players, in particular. Did Curtis Granderson get another hit last night? How is Nate Robertson doing? What's Placido Polanco hitting now?

I can't help myself.

It's not because I'm hoping the Tigers' offseason deals come back to haunt them.

But I can't help wondering how the Tigers would be faring these days if they had made some different decisions over the winter and spring.

Austin Jackson (.333 average, 0 home runs, five RBI) continues to do a good job of keeping the heat off the front office for trading Granderson.

Nevertheless, wouldn't Granderson's power numbers (two HR, seven RBI, .311 average, .578 slugging percentage through Monday) look good in the Tigers' lineup right now?

Based, I presume, on what they saw in spring training, the Tigers opted to get rid of Nate Robertson and keep Jeremy Bonderman and Dontrelle Willis. The jury is still out on that decision, which caught a lot of people by surprise. Meanwhile, the numbers don't lie: Robertson is 2-0 with a 2.20 ERA after three starts for the Florida Marlins, while Bonderman and Willis are a combined 1-2 with a 5.88 ERA after five starts for the Tigers.

If that trend continues, you can bet those numbers will be brought up again and again.

Nobody expected Scott Sizemore to step right in and replace Polanco. And the Tigers' rookie second baseman has certainly been holding his own (.278 average, 0 HR, 4 RBI).

But Polanco's performance in Philadelphia so far (two home runs, 12 RBI, .396 average, .585 slugging) has not gone unnoticed in Detroit.

Hindsight is always 20/20. But, for better or for worse, that is a game Tigers fans are going to be playing all year.

Leyland scoffs at notion Verlander threw too many pitches

2010-04-14T12:29:00.001-07:00

Jim Leyland prides himself on the way he protects -- some might say "babies" -- his pitchers.

That was why the Tigers manager was irked by a story in USA Today that suggested, in passing, that Justin Verlander's slow start this season might stem from the fact that the right hander threw a major league high 3,937 pitches last year --more than 400 more than he threw in 2008.

"He threw more pitches last year because he pitched better so he was in games longer," Leyland pointed out.

To prove his point Leyland produced a computer printout that detailed the number of pitches Verlander threw in each of his 35 starts, encompassing 240 innings, last year.

"Justin averaged 112 pitches a game," Leyland said. "That's a sneeze.

"Seven innings at 15 pitches is 105. If 112 pitches is a lot, then I should go home,

"Justin Verlander is a horse," Leyland continued. "He was mad at me a lot of times because I took him out last year.

"The fact is, there has been no velocity change at all this year over last year.

"Today we have better training, better physical conditioning, and more exercise work than ever," Leyland said. "One hundred and 12 pitches per game isn't that much."

Having said that, the Tigers' undisputed ace is still winless after two starts. His ERA is an ugly 9.00. Instead of eating innings and dominating enemy hitters, Verlander has yet to record a sixth-inning out.

Not to worry. Been there. Done this before

In case you have forgotten, after Verlander's first four starts a year ago, he was 0-2 with an identical 9.00 ERA.

Verlander lost just seven more games the rest of the season, while winning 19 and finished with a 3.45 ERA.

"I'm not worried about Justin Verlander at all," Leyland insisted.

"Not concerned at all," Verlander concurred. "It's just a matter of fine-tuning."

When one writer asked Leyland if Verlander should add a split-finger fastball to his arsenal, as Jack Morris did many years ago, the manager didn't hesitate.

"Verlander doesn't need a split," he said. "I wouldn't advise that."

Nevertheless, a win or two for Verlander before the Tigers return home on April 27 would put a lot of people's minds at ease.

Laird's first hit made Leyland "break out in a rash"

2010-04-12T08:14:00.001-07:00

Gerald Laird was waiting at the mound when Jim Leyland came out to change pitchers in the ninth inning on Sunday.

"I think I'm getting poison ivy," the Tigers' manager said, scratching his wrist. "I'm breaking out in a rash."

"What do you mean?" the puzzled Laird asked.

"You just got a hit," Leyland replied.

When you start a season 0-for-17, you've got to be able to laugh at yourself.

And Laird did.

"I heard the boos in my last couple of at-bats," admitted Laird, who had singled in the bottom half of the eighth to finally end his hitless streak.

"But that's the way it is. Fans are fans. I wasn't getting the job done."

"I really felt for him," Leyland said Monday. "But that's baseball. Lloyd McClendon (the Tigers' hitting coach) said one year he started 0-for-23."

And McClendon hit .625 in 11 postseason games for the Cubs and Pirates. As a kid, he belted five home runs on five swings in the 1971 Little League World Series, earning the nickname "Legendary Lloyd."

To my knowledge, nobody has yet called Gerald "Legendary Laird."

The fact that the Tigers won five of their first six games, helped ease Laird's personal pain a little.

When Laird's long-awaited first hit finally came, the Comerica Park crowd gave him a sarcastic standing ovation. "I think at least some of them were happy for me," he said, putting a positive spin on the situation.

"I had fouled a ball off my foot so it hurt to run and all the way to first base I'm thinking, 'Oh no, what if I get thrown out?' " Laird said.

It was Perry's first save, but it won't be his last

2010-04-11T13:17:00.001-07:00

He is currently the set-up man in the Tigers' bullpen. One of them anyway. He will probably be their closer in the not-too-distant future. And Ryan Perry is only 23 years old, with just one year in the big leagues and less than two in professional baseball under his belt.

Keep an eye on this kid. He's a keeper.

While the media and his teammates and manager rave about the poise and maturity of starter Rick Porcello -- and rightfully so -- Perry, with a similarly unflappable demeanor and without a great deal of fanfare, is quietly going about the business of becoming one of the Tigers' most dependable relief pitchers.

"He is a good-looking young pitcher," Jim Leyland cautioned. "But that's what he is: young."

It is important we don't lose sight of that fact and expect too much, too soon.

Give the kid time. Let him grow. It'll come.

"He's the perfect example of a guy learning to get acclimated to the long haul of the major league season," Leyland continued.

"He's a little more aware of what it takes to be successful up here, where you're expected to pitch two days in a row. In college he knew he was probably only going to pitch once a weekend."

Big and strong at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, Perry, who was the Tigers' first round draft pick out of the University of Arizona in 2008, is throwing his fastball with more velocity this year and his improved his slider, a key ingredient for his continued success. "He's not home free with it yet," Leyland said. "But it's better."

On Saturday, Perry picked up his first big league save. It was a role he relishes inheriting someday -- and an experience he won't soon forget.

"There's an adrenaline surge you get in that last inning, especially when you see those fans standing, cheering for the game to end," he said.

Saturday's game ended when Cleveland's Luis Valbuena popped out to Brandon Inge in foul territory near the Tigers' dugout. Inge started to flip the ball to a kid in the stands. "No, no, I already got one," the kid protested. Inge was shocked. "That was the most honest kid I've ever seen in my life," Inge later said. "That's an honest kid right there."

So Inge handed the ball to a young girl standing nearby and ran back on the the field to join his teammates, including Perry, in their victory celebration.

"As I high-fived him, he said, 'Hey, got that ball?' " Inge said.

It had never occurred to Inge that it was Perry's first save.

Inge raced back to the edge of the field, found the girl, and traded her one his bats, which he autographed, for the baseball.

For Perry, no doubt, it was but the first of many.

Opening Day in Detroit is a party like no other

2010-04-09T08:15:00.001-07:00

The downtown saloons opened early Friday morning. Baseball isn't the only Opening Day tradition in Detroit.

"It's almost like deer season in Pennsylvania," Jim Leyland declared.

"I just wish the weather could be a little better for the fans. But when they get a little anti-freeze in them, they won't know if it's 30 degrees or 80.

"And I'll tell you what," Leyland added. "If I wasn't the manager, I'd be right there with them."

A blanket and pillows were stacked in the corner of Leyland's office. He had spent the night at the ballpark, on the couch, after the team arrived home from Kansas City Thursday night.

Leyland's dirty laundry from the recent eight-day road trip was piled high on a chair in the rear of his office.

"Do you have a washer and dryer at your house?" Leyland asked the lone female reporter in the room before the game.

"I do," she replied, wary of what might be coming next.

"Do you think you could take my underwear and T-shirts home and wash them for me," the manager asked with an playful grin.

"As long as it doesn't involve any ironing," the reporter replied, grinning back.

By 8 a.m., the tailgate parties had commenced. The parking lots had hiked their prices according. Six blocks from the ballpark, the going rate was 20 bucks.

By decree of the Michigan State Senate, it was Ernie Harwell Day in Detroit. Ernie, who continues to battle terminal cancer, was home, no doubt listening to the game on radio or watching TV.

Inside the Tigers' clubhouse, the new players were locating their lockers. "They kept me and Scott together," noted centerfielder Austin Jackson who will dress next to fellow rookie Scott Sizemore.

Dontrelle Willis demanded to know why Magglio Ordonez's 14-year-old son was in the clubhouse instead of in school. The kid just grinned.

Magglio Jr. wasn't the only one who skipped school or work to be at the ballpark Friday afternoon.

40th anniversary proves time flies when you're having fun

2010-04-07T12:32:00.001-07:00

It occurred to me as I was flying home from Florida: Friday will mark the 40th anniversary of the first Opening Day I covered in Detroit.

Mickey Lolich was on the mound that April 14 afternoon in 1970 as the Tigers trounced the Cleveland Indians, 12-4. Lolich, as usual, went all the way, despite giving up a dozen hits. What are the chances of that happening on Friday?

A throng of 46,891 showed up at Tiger Stadium that afternoon. First baseman Norm Cash, who got three hits and scored three runs, is dead. So is the Tigers' 1970 manager, Mayo Smith, who sometimes called me "Dan (Bleeping) Diamond." But that's a story for another day. Shortstop Cesar Gutierrez went 0-for-4. If I remember correctly, Gutierrez still owes me $270 from a subsequent series of gin games. If you run into him, try to collect my money for me, will you?

Al Kaline, of course, played right field. Jim Northrup was in center. And Willie Horton played left. Bill Freehan was the catcher, Dick McAuliffe led off and played second, and Don Wert played third.

Jim Leyland was in the twilight of a mediocre career as a minor league catcher, doubling as a coach at Double-A Montgomery in an effort to get his foot in the managerial door.

None of the current Tigers had been born, of course. Dave Dombrowski was 13 years old. The newspaper beat writers and columnists have all changed -- more than in name only, I might add. Guys like Joe Falls and Pete Waldmeir were press box giants when I broke in.The radio and TV broadcasters have changed, too. Ray Lane was teamed with Ernie Harwell in 1970 and Larry Osterman complemented George Kell.

On the airplane coming home from Florida this week, I was leafing through a new tribute book to Kaline, entitled "6," which has been published by the Tigers and is packed with photos, many from Al's personal collection, when I came across a picture of the Tigers, lined up along the top step of the dugout on "Al Kaline Day" on Aug. 2, 1970.

I did a double-take when I recognized the young guy in street clothes standing alongside the players at the far end of the dugout.

It's on page 165 if you'd care to took it up. I can't believe I was ever that young.

Time flies when you're having fun.

Individually and as a team, Tigers need fast start

2010-04-05T07:17:00.001-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, a lot of people are picking the Minnesota Twins to prevail in the American League Central again this year. Others prefer the Chicago White Sox. Those, like yours truly, who see the Tigers finishing first are in a distinct minority.

Frankly, you could put the Twins, Tigers and White Sox in a hat, and whichever name you pulled out could be the winner. It's that close. You can make a strong case for or against any of the three. The team that stays healthy, the team that has the most players who step up and have big years, will win.

Having said that, the Tigers simply must get off to a good start, individually and collectively.

Their first nine games, and 18 of their first 32, are against foes from the AL Central. In the middle of that, they have a rugged 10-game road trip to Seattle, Los Angeles and Texas -- all bone fide contenders in the AL West.

All eyes will be on Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman when they make their comeback debuts as the fourth and fifth starters in the Tigers' otherwise solid rotation. In is imperative that both get off to good starts -- for the sake of their personal peace of minds as well as for the good of the team.

The Tigers' decision to keep them and dump Nate Robertson, who was also one of this spring's big questionmarks, is on the line.

If Willis or Bonderman, or both, struggle, as they have in the past, people -- including some of their own Tiger teammates -- will say, "Here we go again."

And imagine the outcry if Robertson pitches well for Florida.

People will be also watching closely to see how Austin Jackson and Scott Sizemore perform. Replacing two guys like Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco is a lot of ask of anyone, but especially a couple of rookies.

I was impressed by Jackson and Sizemore this spring. Both looked better than I expected. Especially Jackson. Given time, I am certain both will be fine. But you can be sure, whenever Granderson does something in New York, or Polanco in Philly, it will be noted in Detroit.

The Tigers don't have time on their side.

That is where Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen come in. All three have a lot to atone for.

And, along with Johnny Damon, they are going to have to carry this team in the early going -- and make certain the expected pitching efforts of Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer aren't wasted.

Will Tigers' spring success equal regular season victories?

2010-04-02T07:11:00.001-07:00

Who says spring training doesn't matter? Try telling that to Dontrelle Willis, Jeremy Bonderman, Joel Zumaya, Eddie Bonine, Brad Thomas, Alex Avila and Don Kelly, all of whom left Florida with big smiles on their faces.

For better or for worse -- and that certainly remains to be seen -- all seven are wearing Tiger uniforms today because of what they did in Lakeland during the past six weeks.

All seven were on the bubble right down to the wire.

Willis (2-0, 13 strikeouts,12 walks in 19 innings) and Bonderman (1-1, 6.92 ERA), were both battling for their big league lives. And both pitched well enough during their exhibition outings to convince the Tigers to restore them to the starting rotation and eat $9.6 million of the $10 million remaining on Nate Robertson's contract.

Zumaya's triple-digit fastball was enough to convince the Tigers brass they would rather have Joel (2-0 with 9 K in 9 innings) in the bullpen than with any minor leaguer they might promote in his place.

Bonine, whose confidence in his knuckleball is increasing, earned a place on the team this spring. Bonine (1-0, 3.77 ERA) can pitch in long relief or start in an emergency. He and Thomas (2.25 ERA) were in the right place at the right time when Bobby Seay and Zach Miner had to go on the disabled list.

The Tigers are grooming Avila to hopefully be their catcher of the future. Although Avila would benefit from playing every day at Toledo, Jim Leyland likes his left-handed bat on the bench so Alex, who batted .350 this spring, will continue his learning process at the big league level.

Kelly, who hit .355 in 23 games, gives Leyland the back-up center fielder he coveted. I think Clete Thomas has a bigger upside. But when Thomas was hit on the arm by a pitch, which hampered his throwing, that opened the door for Kelly -- although Leyland insisted Thomas' minor injury had nothing to do with the decision.

Having said all of that, don't attach too much significance to the Tigers' impressive 18-10-2 Grapefruit League record -- third best in the American League behind Tampa Bay and Cleveland -- this spring.

It was the Tigers' second-best record in Florida since then moved into Marchant Stadium in 1966. The only spring the Tigers won more was in 2007 when they went 21-10-2. Then they finished a disappointing second during the regular season, eight games off the pace.

Spring training games are intended to get players ready for the regular season. Winning and losing is secondary. Most exhibition games are won or lost in the late innings by players who won't even be on the team.

Nevertheless, all managers, including Leyland want to win more often than they lose during the spring.

All things considered, this spring training was definitely a success.

But what happens next is what really matters.

Robertson pitching for Marlins is no April Fool's Day joke

2010-04-01T15:54:00.001-07:00

The Tigers were playing the Orioles in Sarasota on Tuesday when Nate Robertson cleaned out his cubicle in the Marchant Stadium clubhouse in Lakeland and headed for Jupiter, Fla., spring training home of his new employers, the Florida Marlins. So the veteran left-hander, a Tiger since 2003, didn't get the chance to say good-bye.

But he left a hard-written note taped to his locker. Printed in large block letters, it read: "Thank you to everyone for being great teammates."

It was a class act by a class guy who -- regardless of what you may think of his pitching (51-68, 4.87 ERA), or the three-year, $21.25 million contract he signed in 2008 -- genuinely enjoyed being a Tiger and was convinced he had pitched well enough this spring to get back into the starting rotation.

Obviously, Tigers' management, meaning Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski, thought otherwise. Robertson had been scheduled to face the Atlanta Braves on Thursday in the Tigers' Florida finale. Instead he found himself wearing a Marlins' uniform and pitching against the St. Louis Cardinals -- an April Fools Day turn of events that Robertson would have found unthinkable just a few days earlier.

Although Leyland and Robertson didn't always see eye-to-eye on the quality of some of Nate's pitching performances, Robertson was stunned and saddened by Tuesday's trade. "I wanted the Tigers to want me," Robertson told Tom Gage of the Detroit News, the only reporter on hand as he cleaned out of locker. Robertson made his home in Michigan year-around -- the only Tiger to currently do so.

And I think Leyland, who spoke at length with Robertson on the phone after the trade was made, was sincere when he said he is happy that Nate will now get what he wanted: the chance to be a starting pitcher, albeit with the Marlins rather than the Tigers.

Robertson will, in fact, be the Marlins' highest-paid player this year _ his $10 million salary easily surpassing Dan Uggla's $7.8 million, although $9.6 million of Nate's money will come courtesy of the Tigers. How Robertson's substantial salary will set with Marlins' fans will depend on how he pitches.

Once again we are reminded that, bottom line, baseball is a business.

Robertson was at the home he had rented this spring when Dombrowski phoned to inform him he was no longer a Tiger.

As Robertson, with mixed emotions, pulled into the empty Marchant Stadium parking lot to pick up his gear, he passed the huge van packed with all of the players' personal effects, including stuff belonging to Nate and his family, headed for Detroit.

Robertson was headed in one direction and his family's clothes and his young son's toys were headed in another. It was a side of baseball that is seldom seen or appreciated by fans.

Now Nate, who owns a home in Canton, Mich., must find a new place for his family to live in the Miami area.

And instead of starting the third game of the season for the Tigers in Kansas City, as he was hoping to do, Robertson will make his first start of the 2010 season next weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers in South Florida.

That's baseball.

I wonder what Leyland thinks the Tigers smell like now

2009-10-07T08:05:00.001-07:00

        Three years ago, Jim Leyland took a whiff of the 2006 Tigers and declared “We smell like Old Spice.”
        The people who make Old Spice read the papers and immediately phoned Leyland to complain. They didn’t want to be compared to a baseball team that hadn’t enjoyed a winning season in 13 years.
        But Leyland wasn’t slamming the product. As he explained to the irate after-shave exec, he himself had used Old Spice for years.
        He liked the smell. It was nice. That was the problem.
        It smelled familiar. It smelled comfortable. It smelled complacent.
        And that can be the kiss of death for a baseball team.
        Leyland prefers players who smell like sweaty socks. Players with dirt on the pants. Players who will run through a wall, or an outfield fence, to win.
        Seldom has baseball meant more to fans in Detroit, in Oakland County, and throughout the state, than it did this year.
        Leyland knew that.
        He could sense it. He could feel it. He could understand it.
        Leyland makes $4 million a year. And he has the comfort of a guaranteed contract that will carry him through 2011.
        But the Tigers’ manager knows from first-hand experience, earlier in his life and his baseball career, what it means to punch a clock, to live from paycheck to paycheck, to have to worry each week about balancing the checkbook.
        Behind that grumpy exterior and that cloud of cigarette smoke, beats the heart of a real softy.
        Leyland can feel people’s pain, particularly in these tough times.
        That was one reason he so wanted to deliver a postseason appearance to Tiger fans.
        “My dad was a factory worker,” Leyland said. “He worked at a glass factory that made windshields for General Motors products. I worked at that factory myself. There’s not much more we can do but give a good effort, bust our tails for them and show our appreciation. It’s tough.
        “My heart aches for these people up here. They’re trying to feed their families, and we’re getting a check every two weeks. We’re certainly glad that we are, but we’re certainly aware of the people that aren’t right now. You do whatever you can to help. I mean, I’ve got family members out of work over the recession, so I know what it’s like. You just hope that they understand that you have a great appreciation for what they’re going through.”
        It’s a two-way street. Leyland and his players said they felt an obligation to play hard because of the people who showed up at Comerica Park in remarkable numbers this summer. And those people turned out, in spite of the economy, because of the way the Tigers were playing
        Off the record -- way off the record as Leyland likes to say -- I wonder what he smells now.

Cabrera admits "big mistake," apologizes to teammates

2009-10-06T13:20:00.001-07:00

        Miguel Cabrera was in the starting lineup Tuesday, batting clean-up as usual, for the Tigers’ biggest game since the 2006 World Series. Did you really expect otherwise?
        Admitting he made “a big mistake,” Miguel Cabrera said Tuesday that he apologized to his teammates for his drunken Friday night fight with his wife during the Tigers’ charter flight from Detroit to Minneapolis Monday evening.
        One player told me he fell asleep on the plane and didn’t know if Cabrera had apologized or not. And doesn’t care.
        The Tigers’ slugger, who has been the center of so much controversy for the past 48 hours, said he told the team, “I’m sorry for what I did.”
        At least Cabrera has finally spoken up.
        Asked Tuesday if such a thing would ever happen again, Cabrera shook his head. “No, no,” he said softly.
        Tuesday afternoon, before the Tigers’ biggest batting practice of the year, Cabrera, his scratches all but gone, was sitting on the arm of an overstuffed clubhouse chair already occupied by Placido Polanco, with his own arm playfully draped around Polanco’s neck. Both players were laughing.
        “It’s a personal matter. Nobody cares about a personal matter,” Carlos Guillen declared.
        Maybe in the clubhouse. But it may take a long time for the memory of this incident to totally fade away in the minds of Tiger fans.
        Jim Leyland testily declined to make any comment on the matter. He dismissed it as “gossip” and only wanted to talk about Tuesday’s do-or-die game. Tigers’ public relations man Rick Thompson was on damage control, trying to run interference for Cabrera with the media.
        Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
        Cabrera said Tuesday he has nothing on his mind now except baseball. “I don’t want to give more stress to the team, more stress to the organization,” he said.
        Asked if he learned anything from Friday’s all-night drinking spree and subsequent ruckus, Cabrera said, “Everybody learns when they make a mistake. I made a big mistake. I’m sorry for that.”
        Cabrera insisted he was “focused” Saturday night when he went 0-4 in a possible title-clinching game against the Chicago White Sox, even though he recorded a .26 blood-alcohol content in breath test early that morning and had to be picked up by Tigers’ president Dave Dombrowski at the police stations less than 12 hours before the start of the game.
        “No, no, no, I was good,” Cabrera said.
        But anyone who has ever had too much to drink remembers how they felt the next day.

How disappointed must Leyland and Tigers be with Cabrera?

2009-10-05T14:33:00.001-07:00

        Jim Leyland won’t say anything. He can’t. Miguel Cabrera is too important to the Tigers’ offense and to the future of the franchise to risk alienating him right now.
        But how disappointed must the Tigers’ manager be that his star slugger would get so drunk the night before the team’s biggest game of the season that the police had to be called?
        How disappointed must Cabrera’s teammates, who are fighting for their postseason lives, be?
        Don’t even try to tell me there was no correlation between the .26 Cabrera blew on his breath test early Saturday morning and his 0-for-7 performance in the next two games -- two games in which the Tigers needed Miguel’s big bat more than ever.
        No wonder he couldn’t hit. Can you imagine what Cabrera’s head must have felt like after he reportedly stayed out all night drinking, got into an altercation with his wife, and ended up at the police station waiting for his employer to come pick him up?
        This little scandal could haunt Cabrera for a long time.
        Cabrera has belted 33 homers and knocked in 101 runs this season while batting .323. Those are Hank Greenberg-type numbers.
        The Tigers need him in the lineup. But more than that they need him alert and focused and hitting.
        The Tigers invested a fortune in Cabrera -- $152.3 million to be exact -- to lock him into a Detroit uniform through 2015.
        They cannot afford another shameful incident like this.
        Cabrera is certainly not the first big league ballplayer to drink too much. And he won’t be the last.
        Remember Norm Cash? Remember Bobby Layne? How about Mickey Mantle?
        Boys will be boys.
        But when a player’s over-indulgence and bad behavior away from the ballpark impact his performance on the field, when it hurts his team, it is no longer a laughing matter.

No controversy in my vote for MVP this year -- Guess who?

2009-10-01T13:39:00.001-07:00

        Two years ago, I ignited a firestorm of controversy when I put American League batting champion Magglio Ordonez at the top of my ballot for Most Valuable Player.
        Tom Gage of the Detroit News and I were the only baseball writers in the country to vote for Ordonez ahead of the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez. We both placed A-Rod second.
        I received a ton of criticism and phone calls, much it from New York. But there was no doubt in my mind -- then, or now -- that mine as the correct vote. It wasn’t my fault that was the other members of the electorate didn’t see Ordonez play often enough to appreciate how much Magglio meant to the Tigers in 2007.
        This year, I have again been chosen to help pick the AL MVP. (Last year, I voted        for the Cy Young Award.)
        I am under strict orders from the Baseball Writers Association of America not to reveal my vote. But I’ll give you a hint: My top choice played at Comerica Park this week. And, no, I didn’t vote for Ordonez again.

Everett doesn't take postseason for granted anymore

2009-09-30T14:04:00.001-07:00

        In 2004, Adam Everett went to the playoffs with the Houston Astros after his first full season in the big leagues. The following year, Everett and the Astros went all the way to the World Series.
        “When you get to the postseason two years in a row, you start thinking you’re going to be there the rest of your career,” the Tigers shortstop recalled.
        But Everett hasn’t been back to the playoffs since.
        “Now I know, when you get the chance, you’ve got to really embrace it,” he admitted. “Because, who knows, you may never get back there again.”
        That is the message that Everett has been trying to impart to his Tiger teammates this week as they battle the Minnesota Twins for the right to represent the American League Central in the postseason.
        “The biggest thing for me now is just going out there and enjoying the moment,” Everett said. “I’m just trying to have fun,
        “I don’t think I did that in 2004-05. I don’t feel I really embraced it. I think I was too tense. I put too much pressure on myself, trying to do too much.”
        Now all Everett wants is another chance to grab the brass ring.

How does a team pass the time between halves of a twinbill?

2009-09-29T13:07:00.001-07:00

        The first half of Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader was history. The Tigers had suffered yet another tough loss, 3-2, to the Minnesota Twins -- a game they knew they could have, indeed probably should have, won. Their lead in the American League Central, that stood at a cozy seven games on Sept. 6, was now down to one.
        The start of Tuesday’s nightcap against the Twins was still four hours away.
        What do players do in a situation like that to pass the time?
        “What do you want us to do?” Jim Leyland snapped when a reporter asked that very question, which he considered silly.
        “Say a prayer? Have a meeting? What are they supposed to do, go to Wendy’s?
        “There’s five days left in the season. They’re going to do what they always do.
        “I know what I’m going to do,” Leyland added. “I’m going to smoke a cigarette and watch TV.”
        Down the hall, in the clubhouse, Gerald Laird, who would be called upon to catch both ends of the crucial doubleheader because of his defensive prowess behind the plate, was talking on his cellphone. Brandon Inge, hobbled by two bum knees, one worse than the other, was changing into his street clothes to go say hello to a few friends who had come to the game. Ryan Perry, headset on, was hunched over his computer.
        Baseball is a game. It’s also a business. While the ballpark and the surrounding parking lots emptied, work crews hastily swept and bagged the debris the fans had left behind in the stands.
        Soon, the day’s second crowd would begin arriving. And the players would have to put Tuesday’s opener out of their minds, regroup, and try again.
        The show must go on.

Tigers really need a split against Twins this week

2009-09-27T14:06:00.001-07:00

        It’s time to get nervous.
        The Tigers and their fans have invested too much effort and emotion into this strange season to see it all slip away now.
        The Tigers’ magic number is down to six, thanks to Kansas City’s 4-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, and the lead they have enjoyed in the American League Central since May 10 remains at two games.
        Here are the possibilities -- and their consequences:
        If the Tigers take three out of four from the Twins this week, the suspense will be over. The Tigers clinch.
        If the Tigers and Twins split their four games, the Tigers’ magic number will be reduced to two and they will continue to lead by two games with three to play next weekend against the Chicago White Sox while the Twins host Kansas City.
        If the Twins take three out of four from the Tigers, the two teams will be tied and it will all be on the line next weekend -- and a possible tie to be settled by sudden-death playoff in Minnesota next Monday will suddenly become a worrisome possibility.
        If the Twins sweep the Tigers, their roles will be reversed and the Tigers will trail the rampaging Twins by two games with three to play.

Dates set for postseason parties at Comerica Park

2009-09-25T05:31:00.001-07:00

        When Gerald Laird’s parents told him they wanted to make airline reservations so they can join their son for the postseason, the Tigers’ catcher warned them to wait. He didn’t want to jinx his team.
        But with the Tigers’ magic number now safely in single digits, it’s time to look ahead to the postseason schedule.
        The Tigers will open the American League Division Series in New York on either Oct. 7 or 8 -- that will be the Yankees’ choice by virtue of building up the best record in the league during the regular season.
        Either way, the Tigers will host Games 3 and 4, if necessary, at Comerica Park, on Oct. 11-12.
        That means, on Sunday, Oct. 11, the Tigers will host the Yankees at Comerica Park and the Lions will entertain the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers across the street at Ford Field.
        If the Tigers advance to the Division Series, Games 3, 4 and 5 will be played in Detroit on Oct. 19, 20, and 22 -- unless the wild card Red Sox eliminate the Angels in the first round.
        In that case, Games 1 and 2, Oct. 16-17, and Games 6 and 7, Oct. 24-25, if necessary, would be played at Comerica.
        The World Series? That would begin at the corner of Woodward and Montcalm on Oct. 28. Games 1 and 2, Oct. 28-29, and Games 6 and 7, Nov. 4-5, will be played in the AL team’s park.

Next week?s homestand will be Tigers? biggest in many years

2009-09-24T05:25:00.001-07:00

        Beginning Monday, with this season and the postseason -- in other words, everything -- on the line, the Tigers will open what will be, without a doubt, their biggest homestand of the year.
        Indeed, considering the fact the Tigers already had a place in the playoffs clinched when they came home for the final week of the 2006 season, it will be their biggest homestand in many, many years.
        Throw in the fact that the Tigers will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their 1984 world championship with a reunion of that team on Monday night, and you have the makings of quite a week.
        Depending upon what happens this weekend in Chicago, and in Minnesota’s series against Kansas City, the Tigers could be in a position to clinch the American League Central title during their four-game showdown Sept. 28-Oct. 1 against the refuse-to-die Twins.
        If not, it will all come down to the Tigers’ three-game series against the fast-fading Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park on the final weekend of the regular season, Oct. 2-4.
        Looking ahead, here are the tentative pitching match-ups for that critical rematch against the Twins, who, you surely recall, took two out of three from the Tigers in Minnesota last weekend:
        Monday -- Rookie Rick Porcello against Nick Blackburn
        Tuesday -- Ace Justin Verlander against rookie Brian Duensing
        Wednesday -- Eddie Bonine, filling in for injured Jarrod Washburn who may be gone for good, against Tiger killer Carl Pavano
        Thursday -- Nate Robertson, hero of last Sunday’s desperation win, against Scott Baker.
        It is imperative that the Tigers get out of those four huge games.
        The way the Twins are playing, that won’t be easy.

National media finally notices Tigers' unexpected success

2009-09-23T05:49:00.001-07:00

        The Yankees have already received their invitation to the playoffs. The Angels’ magic number is down to five. But it is the Tigers, still fighting for their postseason lives, who are featured on the cover of this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated, which hits the newsstands today. And rightfully so.
        “What has unfolded this summer, one year removed from a last-place finish, has lifted a city,” writes SI.
        You can say that again.
        It’s about time the national media started paying attention to the Tigers who, outside of Detroit and Michigan, have been an under-appreciated, often-ignored story all season.
        The headline on the magazine shouts, “The Righteous Franchise: Detroit.” The subhead reads, “The Tigers’ bold stand with their fans.”
        In a press release detailing the magazine’s overdue six-page look at the Tigers, SI says, “This week SI kicks off Assignment Detroit -- in which journalists, photographers, videographers and bloggers from all the Time Inc. news publications flood the area to report on the struggles plaguing the cradle of America’s middle class -- with a cover story by senior writer Lee Jenkins, who reports how Tigers owner Mike Ilitch responded to the economic crisis not by cutting costs but by reinvesting dramatically in his franchise and what that has meant to the people of Detroit.”
        Personally, I am tired of all the pity-poor-Detroit stories, every time one of our sports teams does well amidst the ravages of the current recession.
        But right now, the Tigers will take any positive publicity -- and, more importantly, any victories -- they can get.

Regular season tie with Twins would be nightmare for Tigers

2009-09-22T07:14:00.001-07:00

        Now that they have come this far, the Tigers’ worst nightmare -- next to losing the American League Central all together -- would be to have to return to the miserable Minneapolis Metrodome that they thought they had left forever to face the perpetually pesky Minnesota Twins in a one game winner-take-all sudden death showdown on Oct. 6.
        With the AL playoffs possibly opening the next day in New York, such a scenario would, at best, turn the Tigers’ postseason pitching plans upside-down.
        And, against the Yankees the Tigers are going to need every edge they can get.
        Trust me, the last thing the Tigers want to do is finish in a regular season tie with the Twins.
        Because the Twins will most likely win the overall season series between the two teams -- they currently lead, 9-5, with four games left to play at Comerica Park next week -- a tiebreaker would be played in Minnesota, where the Tigers are 2-7 this year.
        Normally, Major League Baseball likes to get such playoff games out of the way as soon as possible, which would mean playing on Monday, Oct. 5. But the Metrodome is already booked that evening for a glamor “Monday Night Football” match-up pitting the Minnesota Vikings and their new quarterback, Brett Favre, against the Favre’s long-time team, the Green Bay Packers.
        And the NFL has no intention of changing the schedule and moving that game to Green Bay, simply to accommodate the Tigers and Twins. It doesn’t work that way in the real world. And the Vikings’ lease with the Metrodome gives them precedence over the Twins in every situation except a World Series game.
        Baseball is not about to stage a playoff game of such importance at, say, 11 a.m. on Monday.
        Which means, if necessary, the Tigers and Twins will square off on Tuesday, Oct. 6, with the winner immediately moving on to face the Yankees.
        The American League Division Series will open in New York on Wednesday Oct. 7, or Thursday Oct. 8. Because the Yankees own the best record in the AL, that will be their choice.
        And I don’t see the Bronx Bombers doing the Tigers any favors, do you?
        Bottom line: Instead of two or three days off before the start of the playoffs, the Tigers might get none.
        Of course, there is a clear-cut solution to this problem: Don’t finish in a tie with the Twins.

Tigers could clinch AL Central at home against Twins next week

2009-09-20T14:28:00.001-07:00

        Mission accomplished.
        Despite being blanked by Minnesota rookie Brian Duensing on Friday night, despite the crushing disappointment on Saturday when rookie Don Kelly, inserted in left field for his defense, lost sight of Orlando Cabrera’s routine fly against the backdrop of the dingy white Metrodome roof, the Tigers escaped what looked like it was going to be a disastrous weekend as Nate Robertson, restored to the starting rotation because Jim Leyland didn’t have anyone else, rose to the occasion with his biggest game of the year.
        The Tigers desperately needed to win at least one game against the Twins over the weekend.
        That was what they did. That was all they did.
        But it was enough.
        Believe me, the difference between leading by one game and being three games in front, is huge.
        Now the Tigers go to Cleveland and then on to Chicago with their magic number for clinching the American League Central down to 11.
        If the Tigers continue to get good pitching, and if their hitters wake up, they should be a position to lock up a place in the postseason when the Twins come to Comerica Park for four games Sept. 28-Oct. 1.
        Sunday’s must-win 6-2 triumph over the Twins meant that much.
        Had the Tigers been swept, the lead they have enjoyed since May 10, would have been down to one game.
        The Twins, who are already beginning to believe, would have been further invigorated.
        And the Tigers would have begun to seriously sweat, which is never a good thing in the heat of a pennant race.
        The Tigers are not home free yet, by any means.
        If they don’t play any better than they have for the past two weeks, they can forget about the postseason.
        Sunday marked the Tigers’ final appearance in Minnesota’s dismal excuse for a ballpark known as the Metrodome.
        And they certainly don’t hate to see it go.
        In a book Andy Van Slyke and I wrote about the 2008 season, the Tigers’ first base coach summed up the team’s feelings about the place.
        “The Metrodome is the most unique place in the American League to play -- and, in a lot of ways, it is also the most annoying place to play,” Van Slyke declared.
        “Aesthetically, it certainly is the ugliest. This ballpark just has a murkiness to it. There is no cleanliness, no crispness to the Metrodome.
        “The noise is deafening, they’ve got artificial turf, and you’re playing inside.
        “It smells, believe me, it smells terrible in the visitors’ dugout. That may be from all of the teams that have gotten their brains beaten in here over the years, all of the carnage that has been left in the visitors’ dugout.
        “Whatever the reason, this really is a strange place.”

$18 Million Man Ordonez: "I'll celebrate when we clinch"

2009-09-16T13:56:00.001-07:00

        Magglio Ordonez went hitless in three trips to the plate Tuesday night. But that was enough to guarantee he will be back with the Tigers, making $18 million again next year.
        However, Ordonez resisted the temptation to celebrate.
        “We lost the game,” he said Wednesday. “I’ll celebrate when we clinch the division.”
        When, and if, the Tigers do win the American League Central, Ordonez will be able to take pride in the fact that, after a miserable start, he has played a significant role in helping to keep the Tigers in first place.
        His home run and RBI production (seven HRs, 40 RBI) has dropped off dramatically, but since August 1 Ordonez has batted .391 in 35 games, lifting his once anemic average to .294. Since the All-Star break, his slugging percentage has been .510, compared to .494 for all of last year.
        “Am I happy with my season? No,” Ordonez admitted. “But I’m happy we’re in first place.”
        Ordonez is also happy to have all of the uncertainly over his future behind him.
        “It’s always nice when you know where you’re going to play next year,” he said. “I’m happy to be back here next year.”
        There’s also a good chance Ordonez will hit above .300 this season for the third year in a row and the fourth time in his five seasons as a Tiger.
        That may come as a surprise to some people, but not to Magglio.
        “I’ve been hitting all my life,” he said. “I had .312 average coming into this season after nearly 6,000 at-bats.”

Robertson surprised, upset about demotion to bullpen

2009-09-14T14:21:00.001-07:00

        Nate Robertson has always believed he belongs in the Tigers’ starting rotation. He was battling to resume that role this spring when a sprained left thumb late in training camp relegated him to the bullpen. In late August, after recovering from elbow surgery, he became a starter once more.
        Now a pelvic inflammation has knocked Robertson out of the rotation again, at least for the rest of the regular season. Robertson will be replaced by Eddie Bonine, who began the season in the Tigers’ bullpen but spent most of the year at Triple-A Toledo.
        No one, least of all Robertson, knows what the future now holds for the 32-year-old left hander who is signed through 2010 and scheduled to make $10 million next year.
        Jim Leyland admitted Monday that Nate was not pleased when the Tigers’ manager gave him the bad news.
        “Nate’s kind of upset,” Leyland said. “And I don’t blame him. I feel bad for him. I know he’s worked hard. But I’m kind of in no-man’s land here. I don’t know when that thing is going to flare up again. If I start him and he only goes two innings, that leaves us in a bind.
        “If this was April or May, you could fool around a little bit. But not now. I can’t send him out there, worrying if he’s going to hurt that thing again. I get paid to make the tough decisions around here and I’m doing the best I can.”
        Robertson declined to comment on Monday’s demotion. “I don’t have any control over anything,” he said.
        “I’ve been doing a pretty good job of starting for about six weeks,” Robertson added. “I didn’t think this was going to knock me out of the rotation the rest of the year.
        “But there doesn’t need to be a big issue made of this. I need to come here and do whatever I can to help. There’s nothing more to say. We’re trying to get in the playoffs.”
        Leyland said he believes Robertson can be a asset as the Tigers’ third left hander in the bullpen.
        But that is hardly what Robertson wants -- or what the Tigers are paying him $7 million this season to do

Why don't Tigers admit $29 million error and let Willis go?

2009-09-13T07:57:00.001-07:00

        What the Tigers need right now is another dependable starting pitcher. But, in case you haven’t noticed, one name that is never mentioned as Jim Leyland ponders the possibilities with Nate Robertson, Jarrod Washburn, and Armando Galarraga all struggling -- and hurting -- is Dontrelle Willis.
        I don’t think Willis will ever throw another pitch in a Detroit Tigers uniform
        It is time Dave Dombrowski acknowledged his $29 million blunder, swallowed the $12 million remaining on the 27-year-old left hander’s contract for next year, and cut Willis loose.
        The Tigers ate the $14 million left on Gary Sheffield’s contract this spring, and Sheffield was still capable of contributing a whole more than Willis has -- or will.
        What is the point in prolonging this ordeal, bringing Willis to spring training again next year, and pretending he might suddenly find himself?
        Been there, done that.
        In two injury-interrupted seasons with the Tigers, Willis has started just 14 games. He has won one and lost six. His ERA 8.34. He has walked 63 batters in 57 innings. For that, the Tigers have already paid him $17 million.
        How bad does a guy have to pitch before you admit your mistake and move on?
        In a belated rehab stint at Triple-A Toledo this summer Willis was 1-2 with a 4.81 ERA in five starts. I am told he can’t understand why he wasn’t called up to the big leagues on Sept, 1,
        Can you imagine the reaction in the Tigers clubhouse -- and among Tiger fans -- if Leyland sent Willis out to the mound in the thick of this pennant race?
        That would be like conceding a game before it even begins.

Writer's complaint may have magnified Rodney's suspension

2009-09-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

        Marc Topkin is a sportswriter who covers the Tampa Bay Rays for the St. Petersburg Times. Topkin is a fine writer and friend of mind. He is also the chairman of the Tampa chapter of the Baseball Writers Association.
        It was in the latter capacity that Topkin complained in writing to the baseball commissioner’s office after Fernando Rodney, in frustration, flung a ball into the press box after securing the final out of the Tigers’ victory over the Rays last Friday night.
        And Tigers’ president and general manager Dave Dombrowski believes Topkin’s letter influenced the decision by Bob Watson, major league baseball’s disciplinarian, to suspend Rodney for three games, in addition to imposing a fine.
        “Without the letter being written, the suspension would not have been as strong, and I don’t know there would have been a suspension,” Dombrowski told reporters traveling with the team.
        That suspension could yet prove costly to the Tigers in their quest for the American League Central title.
        Rodney is appealing the suspension. Until that appeal is heard, Rodney is free to pitch. His hearing could happen next week.
        If the sentence is upheld, Rodney will then have to begin serving his suspension immediately -- at the worst possible time.
        Beginning Friday, Sept. 18, the Tigers will play 13 or their final 16 games against the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox, their two challengers in the Central Division.
        That is one throw that Rodney definitely wishes he could take back.

Back end of Tigers' rotation remains cause for concern

2009-09-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

        With four weeks to go until the start of the playoffs, the back end of the Tigers’ starting rotation, which has been the strength of this team for much of the season, remains something of a work in progress.
        Armando Galarraga is out. Again. And Nate Robertson is back in. At least for the time being.
        Meanwhile, there is continued concern over the damaged cartilage in rented left hander Jarrod Washburn’s aching left knee.
        In a best case scenario, the Tigers won’t need to use either Robertson or Galarraga in the postseason, where, because of the off days, teams usually go with four starters.
        For the Tigers, that would mean a rotation of Justin Verlander, Washburn, Edwin Jackson and Rick Porcello,
        However, if Washburn, who, after missing a turn, is scheduled to make his next start on Thursday against Kansas City, continues to struggle, Robertson or Galarraga -- and at this time I would guess Robertson or possibly Eddie Bonine -- will take his place.
        Either way, that is hardly a comforting thought heading into the playoffs against the hard-hitting Yankees or the Angels.
        Galarraga, who lasted less than three innings but gave up six runs on Saturday night, has been demoted to the bullpen. He has a 6-10 record with a 5.36 ERA -- the highest of any pitcher in the American League who has thrown at least 135 innings.
        The Tigers are at a loss to explain why Galarraga, who was so effective last year and during the first month of this season, seems to have suddenly lost it. At this point, I can’t see the Tigers including him on their postseason roster.
        Robertson, who lost his bid to rejoin the starting rotation in spring training, will make his third start of the season on Friday.
        Meanwhile, Jeremy Bonderman continues his comeback in the bullpen. Bonderman threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief his last time out. Bonderman’s arm is not strong enough yet to warrant using him as a starter. But he could find himself in the bullpen for the postseason.

Players deal with pennant race in different ways

2009-09-02T13:46:00.001-07:00

        The start of Wednesday night’s game against the Cleveland Indians was still nearly four hours away, but outside the front entrance to the Tigers’ Comerica Park clubhouse the players’ lunch room was already crowded.
        However, no one was eating.
        At tables scattered around the room, Brandon Inge, Clete Thomas, Adam Everett, Ryan Raburn, Aubrey Huff, Alex Avila and others all had their eyes focused on the TV screens where the Chicago White Sox were coming from two runs down in the ninth inning to beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2.
        Across the hall, in the manager’s office, Jim Leyland and several of his coaches, including Gene Lamont, Lloyd McClendon, and Jeff Jones, were doing the same.
        “It’s that time of the year,” Leyland said. “Of course, I would have watched that game if it was May.”
        But don’t get the idea the Tiger players are uptight, feeling the pressure of the pennant race.
        While the third-place were doing the Tigers a favor by rallying to beat the second-place Twins, inside the clubhouse proper several players were passing the time before their game by flying toy helicopters and airplanes, which has become almost a daily routine for some.
        Leyland didn’t mind that, either.
        “I’ve told them, ‘Do what you do,’ ” the manager said. “I don’t want them just sitting there, staring at the TV. I want them to enjoy this.”
         So far, it appears that they are.

It's scoreboard watching time

2009-09-01T14:00:00.001-07:00

        I do it. You do it. The Tiger players do it. Even Jim Leyland admits to doing it once in a while.
        It is called scoreboard watching and it is a popular September pastime when a team is in a pennant race. It happens every night now, every inning or so.
        It’s happening in New York and Anaheim and Boston and Minnesota and Chicago and Tampa and Texas.
        And, of course, it’s happening here.
        It’s half the fun.
        How are the Twins doing? What’s happening with the White Sox?
        “You take a peek out there,” Leyland admitted. “You have your moments when you are managing a game when you have time to do that. Anybody would be lying if they said they don’t look.
        “If I said that I didn’t see the scoreboard I’d be lying. I’m not staring at it, hoping the White Sox or the Twins are behind. It’s not like that. It has nothing to do with that. But are you aware of stuff? Sure, you’re aware of stuff.
        “I mean, the scoreboards are so huge anymore that everybody knows what is going on in every game,” Leyland continued. “I watch the Cardinal game for my friend Tony (La Russa).”
        Feel free. Take a look.

Verlander, Cy Young could soon be mentioned in same sentence

2009-08-31T08:28:00.001-07:00

        Justin Verlander has history on his side in his quest for the Cy Young Award.
        Verlander continues to lead the American League in strikeouts with 215. He is tied with New York’s CC Sabathia for the lead in wins 15.
        Not since Mickey Lolich was beaten out by Oakland’s Vida Blue 1971 has any pitcher topped the league in those two critical categories and failed to win the Cy Young Award as the premier pitcher in the AL.
        Since then, only three pitchers -- Roger Clemens in 1997 and ‘98, Pedro Martinez in ‘99, and Johan Santana in ‘06 -- have led the league in wins and strikeouts. Each, in turn, received the Cy Young Award.
        Of course, each also posted the lowest ERA in the league that year. Verlander currently ranks seventh in that regard at 3.38.
        However, Verlander insists Cy Young is the farthest thing from his mind right now.
        “After the season ends, maybe it’ll cross my mind,” he said.
        “But when it does come time to start thinking about it, hopefully, I’ll still be pitching.”
        Balloting for the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player Awards by the Baseball Writers Association of American is conducted immediately after the end of the regular season -- before the playoffs begin.
        “He’s gone leaps and bounds in improving and trying to improve,” Jim Leyland said Monday, remember Verlander’s struggles last summer. “The progress he has made has been tremendous.”
        Leyland has even been impressed by Verlander’s occasional displays of temper, such as the one that occurred during his dugout confrontation with catcher Gerald Laird last week in Anaheim.
        “I like people who have some spunk, who have some fire,” the Tigers’ manager said.
        “It shows you’ve got a pulse. I don’t want some dead pan.”
        The last Tigers pitcher to win the Cy Young Award was Willie Hernandez in 1984.

Numbers don't tell true story of Inge, Everett's defense

2009-08-30T08:03:00.001-07:00

        Statistics can be deceiving. Sometimes they outright lie.
        Ask anybody and they’ll tell you it has been the Tigers’ pitching and their improved defense that has carried the team for much of this uplifting year.
        Yet the Tigers currently rank 11th in the American League in fielding. Only the Mariners, Royals, and White Sox had made more errors than the Tigers’ 81, going into Sunday’s game. Only the Royals had more passed balls.
        Ask anybody and they will rave about all of the acrobatic defensive plays All-Star Brandon Inge has made at third base this year.
        Yet Inge has made 16 errors, more than any other third baseman in the AL.
        The Tigers signed free agent Adam Everett last winter to play shortstop. Period. The Tigers made it clear whatever Everett did with the bat would be a bonus.
        Yet only four shortstops in the AL have made more errors than Everett’s 14.
        Are you going to believe what the numbers say — or are you going to believe what Jim Leyland tells you?
        “There is nobody who plays defense harder than Everett and Inge,” the Tigers manager said Sunday. “They’ve both done a very good job for us, in my opinion.
        “Both of those guys are well above-average defensively. That’s one of the reasons we’re where we’re at.
        “Errors are going to happen,” Leyland added. “I don’t have a problem with that. If you can’t overcome an error once in a while, you’ve got problems.”

Tigers need trip to postseason to justify lavish salaries, contracts

2009-08-26T07:01:00.001-07:00

        Team president and general manager Dave Dombrowski makes no secret of the fact: The Tigers want to win now.
        That is why they shelled out an additional $5 million on top of the nearly $130 million they were already dispensing in salaries for this season in order to “rent” Jarrod Washburn and Aubrey Huff for the stretch drive and, hopefully, the postseason beyond.
        The clock is ticking on this high-priced team, as it is currently assembled. Aging owner Mike Ilitch has spent more than $270 million over the past two seasons in pursuit of a winner. He expects results.
        However, the Tigers have also invested heavily in their future.
        Miguel Cabrera will be around until 2015, when, by the way, he will be making $22 million. I wonder how Miguel’s 8-year, $152.3 blockbuster contract will be viewed then.
        Brandon Inge is signed for next season. After what he has done this year, he will be a bargain at $6.6 million.
        Curtis Granderson (5 years, $30.25) is signed through 2013. Smart move on the Tigers’ part.
        Carlos Guillen is signed through 2011 which will probably bring him to the end of his career. By then, at age 36, he will be making $13 million. “I won’t have to retire,” Guillen said the other day. “They’ll retire me.”
        Rick Porcello is signed through 2010, with club options from 2011 and 2012 — when he will still only be making $1.344 million. Don’t be surprised if Scott Boras, Porcello’s strong-armed agent, asks to revisit that deal.
        But first things first.
        Those long-term contracts and lavish salaries will be a lot easier to swallow with another trip to the postseason in the Tigers’ rear view mirror.

Ordonez inches closer to $18 million; $15 million in 2011 awaits

2009-08-19T14:28:00.001-07:00

        “How are you doing?” I asked Magglio Ordonez before batting practice Wednesday night.
        “I’m breathing,” he responded with a smile. “I’m breathing and I’m walking.”
        Ordonez was back in the lineup Wednesday, even though a right hander, Ian Snell, was on the mound for the Seattle Mariners. With the Tigers scheduled to face left handers on Thursday and Friday, by the weekend Ordonez could be within 70 plate appearances of cashing in on the clause in his contract that will guarantee him $18 million next season.
        More and more, it appears as if the front office has decided to let the season play out in whatever manner that gives the Tigers the best chance of winning -- even if that means paying Ordonez another $18 million next season despite his dramatic drop in power and run production.
        That frees up Jim Leyland to make out the lineup as he sees fit each day, without weighing the complicated financial implications.
        However, even if the Tigers do bite the bullet and allow Ordonez to return for $18 million next season, this controversy is not going away.
        Ordonez has another clause in his contract which guarantees him a salary of $15 million in 2011, provided he makes 135 start or 540 plate appearances next season or 270 starts or 1,080 plate appearances in 2009-10 combined.
        Ordonez isn’t getting any younger. He will be 36 next year and 37 in 2011. It is hard to imagine him hitting with more authority or more regularity in the summers to come.
        So we could be going through the same thing again next season.

Tigers spare no expense in signing top draft picks

2009-08-18T06:27:00.001-07:00

        For years, the Tigers were the punch line of a bad joke when it came to drafting, signing and developing young baseball talent.
        No more.
        On Monday, the Tigers -- whose current first-place status is due, in large part, to past draft picks such as Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, and Curtis Granderson -- signed their top two selections in this year’s draft, highly-regarded pitchers Jacob Turner and Andrew Oliver.
        And they didn’t spare any expense in doing so.
        The Tigers also signed their sixth-round pick, Daniel Fields, who turned down a scholarship at the University of Michigan to follow in the footsteps of his dad, former Tigers player and coach Bruce Fields.
        Turner, the Tigers’ 6-foot-5, 205-pound first-round pick, who had planned to enroll at the University of North Carolina if he didn’t sign, received a four-year major league contract potentially worth $6.85 million, including a $4.7 million bonus, for signing straight out of high school.
        Oliver, who, like Turner, is represented by high-powered agent Scott Boras, collected a $1.495 million bonus to sign a minor league deal. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound Oliver was the Tigers’ second selection in the June draft.
        Fields, the high school player of the year in Michigan, reportedly received a seven-figure bonus. The 18-year-old Fields would likely have been a second-round pick had it not been for the perception that he was headed for U-M.
        In all three instances, the Tigers exceeded baseball commissioner Bud Selig’s suggested cost-containing limits for signing bonuses.
        In summers past, Tigers management has felt Selig’s wrath for the bonuses it has bestowed on hotshot prospects Rick Porcello ($7.4 million), Justin Verlander, Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin.
        The Tigers only failed to sign one of their top 10 picks,       eighth-rounder Craig Fritsch, who elected to return to Baylor for his junior season.
        The Tigers also used the draft in another way on Monday, using promising young right-handed pitcher Brett Jacobson, who was their fourth-round pick in 2008, as trade bait to land Baltimore slugger Aubrey Huff.
        All in all, it was a very good day.

Ability to hit left-handed -- and catch -- makes Avila a keeper

2009-08-16T08:12:00.001-07:00

        A kid who hits left handed — and can catch?
        That’s what I call a keeper.
        And that’s why Alex Avila isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
        Five games into his big league career, Avila is still living a dream. The 22-year-old rookie with the quick, compact swing, is batting .471 with a couple of home runs and six RBI.
        But it is something that the average fan doesn’t see that has caught Jim Leyland’s eye.
        “One thing that really good athletes can do is they’re able to slow the game down,” the Tigers’ manager explained Sunday.
        “He’s real quiet at the plate. He slows everything down when he hits. That’s pretty impressive for a young player. If you watch him hit, he’s real slow, not herky-jerky. He has a knack for identifying a ball from a strike real early. That’s a tremendous trait
        “That’s something you accomplish with concentration over the years,” Leyland continued. “Somebody, probably has dad (Tigers’ assistant GM Al Avila), has done a good job teaching him.”
        The Tigers never doubted young Avila’s ability to hit. His bat was why they picked him on the fifth round in last summer’s amateur draft.
        But learning to catch quickly became what Avila called a “crash course.”
        Avila’s ability and rapid development behind the plate are made all the more amazing by the fact that he didn’t begin catching full-time until his final year at the University of Alabama.
        “Let’s not get him in the Hall of Fame just yet,” Leyland cautioned. “But I really like him a lot from what I’ve seen.”
        What’s not to like?

Tigers now have $29.5 million trio pitching at Toledo

2009-08-14T13:43:00.001-07:00

        Dontrelle Willis, who has been limited to seven starts this season and who has been on the disabled list since June 15, will begin another rehab assignment at Toledo on Monday.
        Willis will join Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson, who are already rehabbing with Toledo -- which means the Tigers will three candidates for this season’s starting rotation, who are making a combined $29.5 million this year and who together are guaranteed $34.5 million next year, pitching at Triple-A.
        It is hardly a cost-effective situation.
        No wonder Jim Leyland sounded a bit testy Friday when he was asked about Willis who will start his first game since June 14 for the Mud Hens on Monday.
        “I’ve got too much else on my plate right now,” Leyland growled.
        “That goes for any of those guys down there,” the manager continued. “I don’t want to hear, ‘This guy threw two innings,’ or ‘This guy threw 17 pitches,’ or ‘This guy threw six strikes and four balls.’
        “If that sounds cold, then so be it. I don’t mean it that way. I’m hoping they all get back and can all help us this year. But until that happens, I’m not going to worry about it.”
        Bonderman, who has been pitching out of the Toledo bullpen, allowed one run in 1 1/3 innings of relief against Syracuse on Thursday night. In four outings, spanning five innings, he has yielded six runs on 12 hits.
        In two starts at Toledo, Robertson is 0-1 with a 6.23 ERA.
        Both will probably pitch out of the bullpen if and when they rejoin the Tigers this season, although the Tigers are counting on Bonderman to return to the starting rotation next year.

Healthy Bonderman would help Tigers' over-taxed bullpen

2009-08-12T05:44:00.001-07:00

        Jim Leyland knew the question was coming -- and he was ready for it.
        “How far away is Jeremy Bonderman?” a reporter asked.
        “Sixty miles,” the Tigers manager replied with a straight face.
        Then, after a suitable pause, Leyland added, “He’s in Toledo.”
        “How long have you been waiting to use that line?” I asked.
        Leyland looked at me and grinned.
        But, to answer the question, Bonderman will almost certainly be back with the Tigers when the roster is expanded on Sept. 1 -- if not before.
        Just in time for the September stretch drive, which could get intense and go right down to the final week when the Tigers will host their top two rivals in the American League Central, the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins.
        In fact, 13 of the Tigers’ final 16 games will be against the ChiSox and Twins.
        And that will almost certainly put added burden on the middle of their pitching staff which is already stretched thin.
        That was evident on Wednesday when they returned reliever Chris Lambert to Toledo and recalled Freddy Dolsi -- neither of whom holds the answer to what ails the Tigers.
        Lambert had to bail out Rick Porcello on Tuesday night when Porcello was ejected after hitting Boston’s Kevin Youkilis, which started a brief brawl.
        Ironically, the Red Sox’ pitcher on Tuesday night was none other than Junichi Tazawa, a player from the Japanese Industrial League that the Tigers coveted. Tazawa would have given them some much-needed pitching depth in the organization.
        Meanwhile, Leyland is being careful not to count on Bonderman or Nate Robertson until they demonstrate that they are ready to deliver.
        “He (Bonderman) has got to get people out, that’s the way I look at it,” Leyland explained. “He’s got to build himself back up to where he’s ‘pitchable.’
        “The thing about guys who are coming back off the disabled list is, they all think they’re ready six weeks before they’re ready,” the manager continued.
        “They think that just because they walk into the clubhouse and their arm doesn’t hurt they’re ready to pitch. That’s that true. Feeling good and getting hitters out are two different things.”

Leyland on steroid controversy: "You get sick of it"

2009-08-09T12:10:00.001-07:00

        The Tigers begin a four-game series in Boston on Monday and Jim Leyland knows he is going to be asked about the Red Sox’ David Ortiz and the continuing steroid controversy.
        On Sunday, the Tigers’ manager made it clear where he stands on the matter: He doesn’t condone the use of performance-enhancing drugs, of course, but he is tired of hearing about it and talking about it and he doesn’t think most baseball fans really care.
        “The people who care about it probably don’t like baseball,” Leyland declared, equating the people who clamor for the release of the names of all of the players who tested positive in the supposedly confidential 2003 survey to “nosy neighbors.”
        “I don’t condone steroids or growth hormones or anything else,” Leyland said, firing up another Marlboro. “But it’s gotten to be boring for me.
        “If David Ortiz said he didn’t knowingly take anything, I believe him. I could care less what anybody else thinks.
        “I don’t know how stuff like that comes out. I’ve always thought when something was confidential and sworn to be confidential, that’s what it is. Confidential. That’s exactly what that means to me, confidential. I think that’s kind of unfair.
        “I’m not blaming the media, but they're not going to let it alone. I’m not blaming anybody because it’s news and that’s what you people do for a living.”
        But Leyland wishes people would just drop the whole witch hunt and move on.
        “You get sick of it,” he said.
        “When a team wins the World Series, and everybody is celebrating, do you think those fans are saying, ‘I wonder how many of those guys are on steroids?’ ”