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Detroit Tigers Player-by-Player First Half Reviews: Starting Pitchers by Seth9

This post is courtesy of Seth9 who currently blogs with me at MM. Anyone who hasn’t read Seth’s stuff is missing out on perhaps the best up and coming sports blogger on the internets. I asked him if I could post this here and he told me I could so without further ado I give you Seth’s mid-season report card.

 

 

With their 12-9 win on Monday afternoon over the Baltimore Orioles, perhaps the second worst team of the decade (number one being the 2003 Detroit Tigers), the Tigers hold a record of 44-37 over the first 81 games of the year, meaning that we have hit the actual halfway mark in the Tigers season. This record is good for first place in the AL Central, 1/2 game over the Minnesota Twins.

As the Tigers have finished the first half of their season, I will be grading the first half performances of every player. This post is dedicated to the starting rotation. The next will cover relievers and the last will cover position players.

Note: I will not be using a number of advanced statistical performance measures during these reviews. For instance, I will not use the Fielding-Independent Pitching (FIP) statistic because, in my opinion, the assumption that hits should be treated as irrelevant is not a good one to use for pitchers, as a large proportion of Tigers pitchers give up hits at a higher clip because they are power pitchers who tend to locate their off-speed pitches poorly. As a result, they give up a fair number of hits and runs, but are able to lower their FIP by striking out a bunch of batters.

Justin Verlander

Grade: B+

Verlander has without a doubt been the best of the Tigers starters, producing a 10-5 record in 17 starts with a 3.85 ERA. He has 103 strikeouts and 37 walks in 110 innings pitched. He has generally been able to go deep into games, pitching 7+ innings 10 times and pitching fewer than 6 only five times. The problem with Verlander, as usual, was an atrocious start to the season. Verlander's first four appearances included a 1-1 record with a 6.95 ERA, a major problem as the bullpen was strained early on and having to regularly bail out the ace didn't help matters.

Jeremy Bonderman

Grade: C+

Bonderman has been highly inconsistent during the first half. This is not a terrible thing. After all, he has 8 quality starts in 15 starts, which makes him the only Tigers starter other than Verlander to produce a quality start over 50% of the time. The problem with Bonderman is that when he's not having a good start, he is often very, very bad. Even so, considering the rather low expectations that most Tigers fans had for Bonderman going into this season, considering his injury history, a 4-6 record with a 4.81 ERA over 15 starts isn't bad.

Max Scherzer

Grade: B-

Max Scherzer got off to a decent start, going 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA in his first four starts (he gave up quite a few preventable unearned runs that made his start look better on paper than it really was). Then, he had a string of four incredibly awful starts from April 28 through May 14 in which he went 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA, which led the Tigers to send him to the Minors for a couple weeks. Since coming back, however, he's been excellent, going 4-2 in 7 starts with a 2.62 ERA with 11.3 K/9, 3.29 K/BB, and a 1.12 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched). This adds up to a 5-6 record over 15 starts with a 4.88 ERA. Outside of his atrocious stretch from late April to mid-May, Scherzer has been at least as good as Verlander on a daily basis. However, when coming up with a grade for him, a string of starts bad enough to get sent down to the Minors has to be taken into account. That said, his future looks very bright for this season and beyond.

Rick Porcello

Grade: D-

If Jeremy Bonderman in the most inconsistent pitcher in our rotation, then Porcello is our most consistent pitcher. Unfortunately, he was consistently bad. In his 13 starts, he went 4-7 with a 6.14 ERA. He had a decent set of games in May, procuring 3 quality starts in 5 games, but has otherwise been simply bad. Really really bad. As in, Michigan's linebacking corp did better this past season than Rick Porcello is doing this year. Porcello's specific problems are major issues. He's had trouble controlling his pitches and his breaking balls have not bite to them. And he simply seemed to lack confidence on the mound. Porcello was sent down to Toledo in June and will hopefully get back to form and return to the rotation relatively soon, just as Scherzer did earlier this season. After all, his stuff is still excellent when he's on and he's got a lot of potential.

Armando Galarraga

Grade: A+

On May 16, Galarraga was called up to pitch against Boston to take over Max Scherzer's spot in the rotation while he worked in the Minors. He stayed in the Majors after Scherzer came back, as the Tigers chose to release Dontrelle Willis and keep Galarraga in the rotation. A couple days later, Galarraga pitched what should have been a perfect game, retiring 28 batters in a row, despite giving up a nominal infield single to Jason Donald because of because of perhaps the worst call in MLB history:

 

Since the near-perfect game, Galarraga has not been very impressive, producing only 1 quality start, which came against the Pirates, in five outings (of course, as I write this, he's pitching very well against Baltimore). In those five starts, he has gone 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA and a worrying 0.60 K/BB ratio. Since these grades are supposed to cover the entire first half, Galarraga doesn't really deserve an A+. However, he does deserve a perfect game, so I figured I'd give him a compensation prize. It isn't much, but it's more than what Bud Selig gave him.

Dontrelle Willis

Grade: C-

Willis did not play well in his time at Detroit. Before this year, he played in a few games, showed no control, and spent most of his time on the DL for anxiety disorder. This year, he started in 8 games and produced a 1-2 record with a 4.98 ERA. He actually pitched fairly well in April, but fell apart in May. The biggest problem with Willis was that he never went deep into games. His longest outing lasted 6 innings, a feat he accomplished only 3 times, none of which happened outside of April. As such, when Scherzer was ready to come back from Toledo, the Tigers chose to release Willis and let Galarraga in the rotation. Willis was picked up by Arizona and released after a performing poorly in both the rotation and a relief appearance.

Andrew Oliver

Grade: C

Oliver was called up to replace Porcello while Porcello works out his issues in Toledo. He has gone 0-2 in his 3 starts with a 5.93 ERA. However, he also has 11 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings, as well as 2 quality starts. And, when you look at his games individually, the overall stats do not seem as bad. Oliver had a solid first outing against the Mets, in which he gave up 2 runs in 6 innings and got the loss. In his second outing, he went up against the Twins and was the recipient of poor defense on the way to his second loss (although he was the cause of some of it). After his first two games, he had a 3.00 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 12 innings. His latest outing, which I attended, against the Orioles was terrible. He gave up 6 runs (5 earned) in 1 2/3 innings and his pitches had little movement and were not well located. Still, he's been decent and has done well enough for a temporary call-up from the Minors.

Overall

Grade: C

The rotation has not been good this year. While Verlander and Scherzer project well for the second half, definite questions remain for the bottom of the rotation. If this season is going to be a success, then Porcello needs to get it together and Bonderman and Galarraga need to be more consistent, or the Tigers will need to make an acquisition before the deadline. The problem is that the Tigers do not have a ton of prospects available to trade and there are also holes at catcher, the middle infield, and, thanks to the Zumaya injury, the bullpen that demand Dombrowski's attention and he cannot solve all of them.

Willis and Jackson make their return to Comerica

Former Tigers, Edwin Jackson and Dontrelle Willis roll into Comerica Park this weekend, with their new team, The Arizona Diamondbacks. Jackson is having a rather subpar year, so far he is 3-6 with a 5.18 ERA. He has walked 35 while striking out 75. A 1.43 WHIP hasn’t exactly helped him.

The D-Train has made two starts for the Diamondbacks and hasn’t looked terrible so far. He still has control problems as he has walked 10 in 10 IP for the DBacks. I loved the D-Train while he was in Detroit. He was one guy I always rooted for, and I wish him the best in Arizona. Hopefully he can put it all together, and get back to the way he used to be. I just hope that the turn around doesn’t start tonight.

The Tigers, winners of 6 in a row, look to keep that winning streak going tonight as they send Mr. Perfect, Armando Galarraga to the hill. This guy has been fantastic since he was called up from Toledo. LETS GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!

It’s Boesch Time!

Brennan Boesch is by far the most impressive rookie I have seen play this year. This kid, who for the record, wasn’t rated in the Detroit Tigers top 30 prospects, continues to kill the fucking ball. I love Brennan’s baseball philosophy, “See Ball, Hit Ball”. That is exactly what he does. He rips the cover off the ball. It’s an absolute joy to watch.

He did it again tonight against the Nationals. The youngster went 3 for 4 with 4 RBI’s including a mammoth 3 run homer off of Livan Hernandez in the 7th. You knew the second that you seen him make contact that this ball was out of here, an absolute no doubter.  

I should also mention that Justin Verlander went 8 solid innings, including 11 k’s. This was the first time all year that Verlander had reached double digit strikeouts. Verlander did give up 2 long balls early in the game, but you know what they say “no harm, no foul.”

If we could only play bottom tier National League teams for the rest of the year. Bondo looks to complete the sweep tomorrow and the way he’s been pitching I’d say there’s a good chance of it happening.

‘Gers Beat the Nats

7-4 was the final score, the Tigers had a fine offensive performance including a 3 run shot by Ryan Raburn. Max Scherzer struck out 9, and gave up 4 earned over the course of 6 innings. Brandon Inge extended his hit streak to 10 games.

This win currently puts the Tigers win streak at 4 games, all which have come against bottom tier National League opponents. I guess you do whatever you can to make up ground, although Minny is currently up 9-3 on Colorado in the top of the 9th as I write this.

I think maybe the Tigers have things figured out. I realize that I’ve said this about 936 times so far this season, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen recently. The starting pitching has been consistent, if not pretty good. The bullpen has been very good, and the bats, especially the bottom 3rd of the lineup, have seemed to perk up.

It’s really to bad that we can’t play every game against Washington and Pittsburg, but what the well at least we get 6 in a row. Hopefully the Tigers can continue there magic over the next couple of games.

BTW, I’ll try to update the site a little bit more, life has been hectic lately. 

26 Hours Later

I thought I would take some time and allow myself to cool off before I wrote anymore on the debacle from last nights Tigers game. I briefly covered my feelings on the matter here.

A little more than 24 hours later and honest to God I feel the same way. Armando Galarraga threw the 21st Perfect Game in MLB History. I know that the record books will call this game a one hitter. However we fans of Major League Baseball sometimes have a duty to throw record books out the window. Jim Joyce admitted he blew the call. Bud Selig decided he won't overturn the botched call. So what? We as fans of the game have a duty to remember this as a piece of perfection. Cy Young would want it that way, Don Larson would want it that way. Hell Babe Ruth would want it that way. Major League Baseball has a rich and storied history, and Armando Galarraga just help write a new chapter. 20 years from now I sincerely hope that people remember 6-2-2010 as the day Galarraga threw a perfect game.

Fwiw Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga may be the two classiest human beings to ever be a part of this game that we love so much. First Galarraga who in my epinion should have been irate last night, instead humbly accepted Joyce’s apology. He said that no one is Perfect we all make mistakes. Armando you were wrong because last night my friend you were perfect.

Jim Joyce will go down in the history books as my favorite umpire. It took s0 much guts to go out there today and call this game. And he did it, and called a good game. He had tears in his eyes when Galarraga brought the lineup card out to him. He profusely apologized to Galarraga for costing him the Perfect Game. That is guts. More officials in the game need to take a page out of Joyce’s book. It’s so easy to forget that we are all human and therefore prone to making mistakes. 

Armando has probably received more fame from almost throwing a perfect game, then had he actually done it. This was easily the top story in all of sports for the last 26 hours. He also got a sweet new Corvette out of the deal courtesy of Chevy. The quote of the day also comes courtesy of Mr. Galarraga.

I will keep the CD," Galarraga said. "I will tell my sons I have (a perfect game). It's not official, but I know I have it.

Well done Armando, Well done.

 

 

 

28 Up 28 Down

Armando Galarraga became the 21st pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball to throw a perfect game tonight. What makes Armando’s perfect game a little bit odd, is the fact that he did it with 28 outs.

Jim Joyce, who was the 1st base Ump for tonight’s game, made one of the WORST calls in baseball history. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, Joyce proceeded to call Cleveland Shortstop Jason Donald safe, when he was out by a full step.

Armando was brilliant tonight, and I don’t care what MLB says, this was a perfect game. Nothing will ever change that.

I waited about an hour after the game ended to write this, My anger has subsided but I am left with an empty feeling. Not only did the Tigers need some magic, but hell the State of Michigan could also use a bit of magic. However it was not to be on this night. Or maybe it was, I think in 10 years I’ll honestly look back on today’s game as a piece of perfection. And Fuck You Bud Selig if you disagree with me.

Goodbye Mr. Willis

 

 

 

 

The Tigers last night, in a move that surprised no one, Recalled Max Scherzer from Toledo and designated Dontrelle Willis for assignment. This ends the D-Trains reign of terror in Detroit. Since 2008 Willis record in the motor city is an appalling 2-8 with a  6.86 ERA.

Willis was a huge get for the Tigers in 2008, coming over from Florida along with Miguel Cabrera, for Andrew Miller, and Cameron Maybin, whom were the two top prospects in the Tigers organization.  This was a guy who was supposed to anchor the Tigers rotation, he was just a couple of years removed from winning 22 games and finishing 2nd to Chris Carpenter in the NL Cy Young race. However things were not to be as Willis had all kinds of problems throwing strikes. It was never an issue of him missing close, he would pitch and the ball would fly over the backstop. It was a little bit sad to watch.

Willis has 10 days to clear waivers at which point he would be eligible to go pitch in the minors, an option that the Tigers do not think that Willis will take. Gerald Laird seems to think that Willis’ career is not over. He noted that he has watched Willis make huge strides over the last couple of years.

Report Card: Quarter of the way through the season issue.

Yes we are a little over a quarter of the way through the 162 game season, time to do Grade Reports for Your Detroit Tigers:

Starting Pitching

Grade: C+

Starting pitching which carried this team last year has kind of been the Achilles heel of the Tigers this season. Outside of Verlander we really don’t know what we’re going to get. Verlander is a MLB Ace however, just ask Rod Allen, he’ll tell you all bout it. Porcello has had some really good starts and some really bad ones. Opponents are still hitting over .300 against him. Willis still walks every other guy he faces, the sad thing about this is, his pitches are really good. Guys have a hard time hitting the D-Train when he’s on. Bondo has been really good, this needs to continue if the Tigers hope to have a chance of winning the division. The 5th spot is currently held by Galarraga but he’s just holding the spot until Scherzer gets his issues figured out.

Prediction: Eddie Bonine becomes a starter if Galarraga, Willis or Scherzer can’t figure it out

Bullpen

Grade: A+

In 2009 the Tigers pen wasn’t very good. Zumaya spent the majority of the year hurt, Rodney was very inconsistent in non save chances, for the most part the pen sucked. Fast forward to 2010. Zumaya is pitching like the 2006 version of himself, except maybe he’s a little bit better. Jose Valverde has been phenomenal. He may be the single biggest free agent signing in Detroit since Magglio Ordonez.  You know when Valverde comes in to close a game out, its a done deal. Phil Coke and Fu Te Ni have been two very good lefty’s out of the pen. Both pitch extremely well against left handed hitters. Finally Eddie Bonine who I think is headed for a starting spot, has been very very good in long relief for the Tigers.

Prediction: Alfredo Figaro gets a call up to the majors in the near future to work long relief for the Tigers.

Outfielders

Grade: A

This unit has been very consistent, which is pretty surprising considering the youngsters they have playing out there. Both Brennan Boesch and Austin Jackson are rookies and they are probably the two favorites for AL Rookie of the Year right now. These kids can flat out hit, and Jackson is the equivalent of Curtis Granderson in the outfield.  Boesch started out slowly playing the field, but he has made some nice plays recently. Ordonez and Damon provide veteran leadership for the two youngsters, its nice to see Mags return to form. Lets face it 2009 was an anomaly. Damon was a good free agent pickup, he’s still one of the best table setters in the game.

Infielders

Grade: B-

Without Miguel Cabrera this grade would probably be a D+/C-, however Cabby is probably the 2nd best 1st baseman in baseball, right behind Albert Puljos. The rest of the infield has been pretty substandard. Lots of errors. At 2nd base so far we have seen Sizemore, Worth, Raburn, and Santiago, all start there. Guillen will be the starter once he gets back. Inge is still probably the best 3rd baseman in the game, yet he still can’t hit. Everett and Santiago platoon the shortstop position,a role that I would like to see Santiago get 75% of the playing time. Everett is well lets face it, he sucks at the plate. His glove is good no doubt about that, but Santiago’s glove is also good, and He can hit a little bit more consistently than Everett.

Prediction:  Brent Dlugach gets a call up sometime in June.

Catchers

Grade: D

The catching position has been woefully inconsistent. However even if Laird and Avila can’t hit they both are pretty solid defensively.  The Tigers are going to have to hope that Avila grows into this role, and hopefully he can replace Laird as the everyday catcher.

Overall Grade: 

 

There you have it folk the Tigers a little over a quarter of the way through the season Report Card We Own The Central Style.

ESPN Power Stankings

So in ESPN's new power rankings, The boys in Bristol rank the Tigers who sit a game out of first place 11th. The Twinks who are currently ONE game up on the Tigers, are ranked 4th. What gives ESPN?

This is a Tigers team who has been playing really good baseball over the last 3 weeks or so. Forget losing 2 of 3 to the Dodgers, whom may be the hottest team in baseball right now. This Tigers team has series wins in the last few weeks over, The A’s, The Red Sux, The Yankees, the Twins. This is a good baseball team, albeit a Team with a few lingering issues.

We need more starting pitching. Dontrelle is reverting to the old Dontrelle ways of walking every other batter he faces. Galarraga is still the same pitcher he was last year. His fastball has incredible movement on it, however that doesn’t matter much when you can’t locate it.

You never know what you’re going to get when Porcello goes out there. Sometimes(like on Sunday) he looks like a legitimate ace, other times he looks like Armando Galarraga. I’m not going to be too hard on the kid yet though, he is only 21 years old. And then there is Bonderman who is starting to figure himself out. I think Bondo could be a pitcher who can give you 12-15 wins per season. His slider is a very good pitch and he is learning how to throw the 2 seam fastball.

Finally Justin Verlander for my money is the best pitcher in baseball. I wouldn’t take another starting pitcher over him, but yes I am a bit of a Homer. 

Taking over Fox Tonight!

So our beloved Tigers take over Fox tonight. Will we become bigger than the Simpsons? We Already have.

Armando Galarraga gets the start for Detroit tonight hoping to build off of his good outing last week against the Yankees. I noticed that Armando’s two seam fastball had tons of late life on it. His control was erratic at best, but with the way the Dontrelle Willis has pitched his last couple of starts, we really need Galarraga to step it up.

Fwiw I really think that Scherzer is probably on his way back soon. I also think that the D-Train may be done in the Motor City. This is unfortunate but the Tigers are trying to win a Division, and 14 walks per 9 isn’t going to get it done.

Speaking of Scherzer, in his one start at Toledo he went 8 innings giving up only one hit and walking only one while striking out TEN. Max we’d love to have you back pitching with the old English D on your chest. Hurry up and figure out your stuff and come back and win us some games.

Chance at First

As I am writing this the Minnesota Twins are Losing to the Boston Red Sux 4-0 in the top of the 5th. If the Twins don’t mount some sort of comeback the Tigers will be tied for first going into inter-league play.

So why didn’t I wait. Maybe a small part of me thinks posting this before the final will prove that I have super powers. If the Sux end up blowing this game, you can lynch me, because I most certainly have the power to change the course of a Major League Baseball game.

So yeah this post is too more or less find out if I’m super.

Inter-League play kicks off tomorrow with the Tigers heading into LA to face the Dodgers. I love inter-league play, when MLB decided to adopt this format, they did it right. Baseball purist’s you can suck it.

No LiveBlog tonight

I'll try again tomorrow night, just remember to support you neighborhood TIGERS!

Preview Chicago White Sox

 

The White Sox come into Detroit with an astounding 15-22 record. Have Ozzie Guillen’s meltdowns spelled doom for this team? I don’t know.

This has turned into a very good rivalry over the last couple of years. In this series the Tigers will send two of their best(Porcello and Verlander) to the mound to face the reeling White Sox.

Porcello gets the start tonight, coming off his best outing of the season, in which he beat the Yankees 2-0, throwing 7 strong innings. I look for this trend to continue, as Porcello’s stuff is just to good to keep getting hammered. Facing him will be Freddy Garcia.

Verlander gets the start tomorrow, squaring off against John Danks. Once May arrived, Verlander really seemed to turn the corner, and once again is the dominating pitcher we have all come to love. Danks has had a very strong year, but has been hurt by lack of run support.

Great Lakes Loons

 

 

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So this weekend I made the drive over to Midland and received a full tours of Dow Diamond , The home of the Great Lakes Loons, the class A affiliate of the Las Angeles Dodgers.

For being part of the Dodgers, the crew that runs things in Midland sure knows how to put on a good show. I was treated to a full tour of the Front Offices, the Press Box, and the indoor batting cages. It was quite cool. I have been to several Minor League ballparks over the last few years, and Dow Diamond ranks right up near the top of the list.

As for the game itself, we were treated to extra innings baseball. This unfortunately was offset by the FREEZING cold temps. In the top of the 14th the Dayton Dragons scored to take a 3-2 lead. The Loons had their last chance in the bottom of the 14th and boy did they take advantage. With 2 outs Christian Lara doubled home Austin Yount and Rafael Ynoa, to end the game with a 4-3 victory.

Would I go back? Yes, even if this team is affiliated with the Dodgers. They put on a helluva show, and played really good baseball.

Go Back to New York

We took 3 out of 4 from the heralded Yankees. Somehow I get the feeling that Baseball Tonight won’t praise Detroit as much as they’ll find reasons that New York lost.

Well ESPN fuck off, because we Tigers fans have become used to your neglect(and when you do praise us bad things happen. See the 2006 World Series).

The Red Sox(Dead Sox?) come into town tomorrow, if there is a team I hate almost as much as the Yankees, it’s the Red Sox. Boston I’ll always praise you for the 1776 revolution, but that’s it. YOU GET NO OTHER PRAISE(okay you get a little bit of praise for Tom Brady  and Zolton Mesko).

Rainout

Day night double header tomorrow. Day game starts at 1pm and the night game starts at 7pm. This sucks, there is nothing on TV tonight and now I don’t even get to watch the Tigers. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fuck The Yankees

Well that says it all now doesn't it. Young Rick Porcello looks to make it two in a row tonight as he squares off against Javier Vazquez and his ERA of almost 10.00. New York the only good thing about your club is Curtis Granderson, and he's injured so there is currently nothing good about your club.

Site Update

So in the last couple of weeks I’ve gotten pretty lazy about posting stuff. But lets be honest, there is all kinds of Detroit Tigers blogs on the interwebs that do a much better job in doing REAL coverage of this team. So what I’m going to do is give you Dark Blues crackhead opinion on all things Tigers related. Maybe if the following grows we can turn this site into a real baseball blog. Until then…….

Look to the right of the screen . Yes that is a message board play with it and have fun. Don’t mind the flamewars between ultra pseudo homo Hulk and myself. It’s just business.