Right on, Mo. Pessimism is a beautiful thing.

This team fucking blows! 76 wins, AT BEST.

76 wins? I bet they break their own 2003 record! Bring back Devi Cruz!

Hey Wil, 16-5 heading into May? More like 3-18.

How's the AL Central Cellar look, Wil? Because the Tigers and their fans are going to be spending a lot of time getting to know what it looks like down there?

I hate to say it, but some of you guys may remember how I felt before last season -- I said I had a bad feeling and we wouldn't make the playoffs. Someone (I think it was Wil) said I was crazy or something along those lines.

Anyhow, I don't feel the same way this year. I feel better. Not World Series-better, but better. Defense is underrated in this game, and I feel a ton better about our left side. A large part will depend on how Guillen does in left, and obviously, our bullpen's health...

We'll see.

How's the AL Central Cellar look, Wil? Because the Tigers and their fans are going to be spending a lot of time getting to know what it looks like down there?

LOL

I hate to say it, but some of you guys may remember how I felt before last season -- I said I had a bad feeling and we wouldn't make the playoffs. Someone (I think it was Wil) said I was crazy or something along those lines.

Anyhow, I don't feel the same way this year. I feel better. Not World Series-better, but better. Defense is underrated in this game, and I feel a ton better about our left side. A large part will depend on how Guillen does in left, and obviously, our bullpen's health...

We'll see.

HEY! Who do you think you are?

Not-LDB.

:cogent:

You should be thanking God for that.

Stranger things have happened.

We don't have to win 90+, we only have to win more games than the 4 AL Central teams, and if you look through the rosters and offseasons those teams had, it shouldn't be a stretch to think the Tigs can contend for the AL Central.

We were in the hunt last year up until August 1, even with atrocious pitching. We don't need great pitching, just average or mediocre could be enough.

Our lineup is still the most potent in the division.

Last year is pretty much irrelevant, IMO.

Zumaya is supposed to pitch today, and rumor has it he's hitting trips on the radar gun again.

Zumaya is supposed to pitch today, and rumor has it he's hitting trips on the radar gun again.

No white text = I'm forced to believe that you are stupid.

jk buddy, but still...FUCKING READ!

IF ITS NOT 103 I DONT CARE

WELL, I NEVER...

^ Should be used less than it is, even though I don't see/hear it being used too often.

It's very Dad type.

And regarding that most recent PM you sent me...

uoy htiw tuo ekam ton lliw I ,on

WHEN WILL YOU GROW UP?

That's libel, Glenn. I'll see you in court.

Thanks Mo.

Say, Mo, want to see some funny Stuckey pictures?

Thanks Mo.

Say, Mo, want to see some funny Stuckey pictures?

I feel so jilted.

I'm sure that you'll be very happy together, though, so that's nice at least.

Detroit Tigers’ payroll is fifth highest in baseball, but down from last year

By Bill Shea
Crain's Detroit Business

The Detroit Tigers’ $115 million payroll is Major League Baseball’s fifth-highest this season, according to the annual USA Today salary survey unveiled today.

That’s a 16 percent decline from last year’s $137 million, which was the second most expensive in the majors in 2008 but bought a last-place finish in the American League Central Division.

The team opens the season today at 7:15 p.m. at the Toronto Blue Jays. Detroit’s first game this year at Comerica Park, a sellout against the Texas Rangers, is on Friday.

Topping baseball’s 2009 payroll list is the New York Yankees at $201 million, down from $209 million in 2008. Also spending more than Detroit are the New York Mets ($149 million), Chicago Cubs ($134 million) and Boston Red Sox ($121 million).

Overall, 14 of baseball’s 30 teams cut payroll this year, including 10 years that slashed by at least $10 million, according to the salary database.

While Detroit’s overall payroll is down, the medium salary is up to $2.2 million from last year’s $1.4 million.

The payroll decline is fueled by the departure since last season of several high-priced players, but kept among the most expensive by mid-level acquisitions and contractual salary increases for numerous players with multi-year deals.

The contractual increases are why the median salary rose this season.

Gone are reliever Todd Jones ($7 million), pitcher Kenny Rogers ($8 million) shortstop Edgar Renteria ($10 million) and catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez ($12.3 million). Outfield Carlos Guillen’s deal pays him $10 million this season compared to $12 million in 2008.

Slightly more than 12 percent of the $115 million payroll is the $14 million being paid to Gary Sheffield, the 40-year old designated hitter released last week by the Tigers.

The Mets, who signed him Saturday, will pick up $400,000 of his contract.

Getting big pay days in 2009 are pitcher Jeremy Bonderman ($8.5 million in 2008 to $12.5 million this season), pitcher Miguel Cabrera ($11.3 million to $14.3 million), outfield Magglio Ordonez ($15.7 million to $18.9 million), pitcher Nate Robertson ($4.2 million to $7 million) and pitcher Dontrelle Willis ($7 million to $10 million).

USA Today updates salaries weekly on an online database, and has compiled payroll numbers since 1988.

Zach Miner dropped from Tigers' rotation for now
by Gary Bond | The Grand Rapids Press
Wednesday April 15, 2009, 12:15 AM


DETROIT -- Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland defended his starting pitcher, Zach Miner, after Monday's 10-6 loss to the Chicago White Sox, calling the conditions he pitched in the worst this season.

Then on Tuesday, Leyland took the right-hander out of the starting rotation. At least for now.

With two off days on the Tigers' schedule in the next six days, the Tigers shifted their rotation by skipping Miner's next turn. Miner also likely will be skipped next week.

The Tigers' clubhouse was closed to the media after the postponement of the game with the White Sox on Tuesday due to inclement weather.

Miner (1-1) gave up a career-high three home runs in 3 1/3 innings of work Monday. The total eight runs given up (all earned) also matched a career high. He had a solid start in Toronto, going 5 2/3 innings, giving up six hits and one run in a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays.

Miner doesn't even want to start, does he? Didn't he say as much this Spring?

Miner doesn't even want to start, does he? Didn't he say as much this Spring?

I think he would rather start because he can throw all his pitches then.

He complained last year that when he's not starting, he's hesitant to throw his 3rd and 4th pitches because you don't want to get beat on those as a reliever.

It's only temporary though, he'll be back in the rotation within the next couple weeks.

Tiger's in 1st place.

I'm really starting to like the mix of this year's roster.


Our pitching has thrown the 5th fewest walks in the entire league.

DETROIT -- The Detroit Tigers on Tuesday placed outfielder Carlos Guillen on the 15-day disabled list because of inflammation in his right shoulder. Guillen was hitting just .200 and also had been slowed by a sore right Achilles' tendon.

Detroit also optioned pitcher Clay Repada to Triple-A Toledo and recalled outfielder Clete Thomas and designated hitter Jeff Larish.

It was obvious that something was wrong with Guillen. I was hoping (and still am) that he hasn't simply just lost his bat speed.

He's had an achilles since the begining of the season too. He's just banged up. Thats all. Nothing to see here. Move along. CG will be fine, IMO.

He's had an achilles since the begining of the season too.
This is a sports cliche beef of mine. Why do coaches, etc say phrases like that? Why can't they add the word "injury" to injuries.

"He had a (insert body part)" doesn't make sense. Are you going to tell me about that body part or just tell me he has one?

That IS exactly why I do that too. It sounds really screwed up.

"Joe Blow has an ankle" No shit?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/aggregate?statType=pitching&group=9&season=2009

Tigs have a top 10 pitching staff thus far...

D-Train's starting on Wednesday.

Zach Miner to bullpen.

Juan Rincon probably gets DFA or Perry gets sent down. Most likely the former.

Howabout we DFA Lyon?

Rod is all pumped about D-Train.

I'll believe it when I see it.

How's he been doing in the minors? Is he actually ready this time?

It looked to me that he was doing 'just ok' if I read his lines right. Rod acted like they can't even score a run on him.

The Tigs have gotten more RBI from their SS's this year than any other team in the league...

talk about a mind-blowing stat

I think we're in 1st again.

The Tigs have gotten more RBI from their SS's this year than any other team in the league...

talk about a mind-blowing stat

Yeah, especially considering they signed a defensive minded SS.

If we finish with the same winning % as we have today our record at the end would be 88-74.

Also, I was watching the Bondy interview and I've seen him wanting to pitch in the bigs like this.

Decisions need to be made, but these are good decisions. Whomever gets taken out of the rotation will bolster our pen that sucked in Twinkie Dome.

Mags will miss the next 3 games for unspecified reasons.

In all seriousness, Laird is struggling at the plate, and Sardinha just blows offensively. Why is Dusty not the backup catcher right now? He could be getting some solid playing time, at least until Laird gets out of this slump.

With the pitching going so well I'm sure they don't want to rock that boat.

Went to the Mud Hens game against the Red Sox, Dice-K was pitching a minor league rehab assignment, so there wasn't much offense for the 5 innings he pitched, but our young guys looked pretty good. Dusty didn't look fantastic at the plate but he wasn't bad. He seemed to call a good game, though. Our SP seemed to not have the best command but Dusty still managed to call a 3-hitter shutout.

All Dusty, all the time.

WTFDusty.com is available, btw.

If we finish with the same winning % as we have today, we'll end up with 92 wins.

Mags will miss the next 3 games for unspecified reasons.
Wife having surgery.

We're playing crazy good right now, but we only have a 8.5 game lead on the last place team in the division. It'd be nice to at least have shaked shaken shook shooked got rid of 1 team in the division.

After last year, I'll definitely take being 8.5 games out of last place at this point.

Yeah, I just know we're going to hit the shitter at some point and a bigger lead after playing to well lately would be nice.

Well, the Royals will wear down in time. They can't keep up their early pace (as evidenced by 3 wins in their last 10 games). People will learn how to hit Grienke better.
The Twins will hang around, they always do. They're a team to watch out for.
The White Sox are lucky to be as good as they are. They've been outscored by 47 runs (of course, 19 of those came in ladt night's game).

The Indians are the team to be worried about. Hear me out. Even though they're in last place, they've lost 6 games by one run and another 8 by 2 runs. They're in most ballgames. If Sizemore and Wood can get right (Sizemore hitting more than 60 points below his career average and Wood has more than doubled his career ERA) they'll be winning 60% of their games.

Until Cleveland comes up with something even resembling a bullpen, you can count them out. There is a reason they lose close games.

Many of their pitchers had career years too. Can you count on the Indian pitchers having that type of year again?

You can always count on Cleveland!!!

Many of their pitchers had career years too. Can you count on the Indian pitchers having that type of year again?

What year are you talking about? Cliff Lee was the only guy in their rotation to have a career year last year. Pavano didn't even pitch for them, Carmona (who has a career year on 07) missed about 10 starts and was not great by any means, they obviously lost Sabathia and Byrd, Laffey looks like he could be decent, but he only pitched in 16 games last year, and Reyes (converted RP) had a career stretch last year but that was only 6 games. Add the fact that one of their highest paid pitchers (Westbrook) pitched in only 5 games last year and is on the DL again this year, and I would say they still have the makings of a decent rotation.

Lee
Pavano
Carmona
Westbrook
Laffey

That could be a very good rotation when healthy, career years or not.

As for the bullpen, the fact is their closer is twice as bad as he's ever been. Wood has serious issues right now. Fix those and you;ve fixed the biggest problem. Lewis and Betancourt aren't amazing, carrying similar 4.50-ish ERA's, but there are teams winning with worse (insert: Lyon, Robertson, Seay, Rincon).

note: I understand Laffey isn't generally a starter. I think I would make him a starter given the chance.

I must have been thinking of 07. Carmona and their setup/bullpen guys had a good year then. Anyway, the point is their pitching is very suspect. They don't scare me.

Well, in the course of this discussion about Cleveland we picked up another game on them, along with a game on 2nd place KC. Let's keep it up.

For the sake of luck, anyone want to tackle why KC might be legit? People naturally want to compare them to the Tigers from a few years back, a team that gets comparisons each year.

Ok, since no one else wants to take it, here goes:

The Royals are winning in SPITE of several key weaknesses that can't really get worse.

Aviles is playing horrible right now. As a starting SS he's hitting .188 with a .469 OPS. Last year? .325 BA and .834 OPS. When he turns it around it will help their lineup a ton.
Olivo and Crisp can also improve. Crisp's BA is down .43 and Olivo's OPS is down .113 both from last year. They may not match those numbers, but they'll improve.
Those three can make the offense much better.

As for the pitching, Greinke is real, but others can improve. They're missing their closer right now on the DL. He's a very capable closer. Fransworth might be closing right now, and he was horrible in April going 0-3 with a 9.95 ERA. Speaking of horrible, former #1 overall Hochevar is killing the team. He's had two starts and failed to get more than 10 outs in either, with an ERA over 16. He was dominating at AAA and spent a ton of time in the big leagues last year, so he'll only improve. Finally, Gil Meche will settle down. He's not horrible, but at 30 he's having his worst year so far as a Royal. Some mild improvement from him can be expected.

In other words, the Royals aren't going away any time soon.

Y'all go way more in depth than I could go, but I'd be fine with any 2 teams being in the running. All of them bites.

KC and Minni will prolly be there. I'm guessing Chisox and Cleveland to fall off.

I honestly believe we have 'it' this year. Not saying we'll win the division, but we should be there close, in the end.

I keep waiting for Greinke to get out of the zone he's in. He's not going to continue with the .87 ERA for the whole season. I'm expecting him to fall off fairly soon. Then we'll see how good of a pitcher he really is when he's had a couple of tough starts and has to fight back.

Well, the "luck" factor may have worked. KC got shut out by the Cards today.

Ilitch stands up to baseball, for the fans
By: Peter Gammons
Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Baseball has duly honored Jackie Robinson and the memory of veterans who fought for freedom. Now, with the Red Wings on the brink of another Stanley Cup and the Tigers in first place, it is time to honor Mike Ilitch alongside workers and family shop owners and working victims of the economy.

I don't know Ilitch and his family, but I know what the automobile industry did to the city he loves. I am staggered that he is constructing the monuments to GM, Ford and Chrysler. I appreciate that he has lost millions upon millions to make the Tigers competitive, which allows his teams to give his people of Detroit diversion and hope and happiness.

There were reports Wednesday that Bud Selig has warned owners that he is going to try to force them to cut back bonuses by 10 percent after the June 9 draft because of the economy.

Ilitch is more loyal to his neighbors in Detroit than he is to Selig, which is why a 20-year-old kid named Rick Porcello won his fifth straight start Wednesday afternoon. If Selig had been able to muscle Ilitch into overruling general manager Dave Dombrowski and his esteemed scouting director David Chadd, Porcello would be pitching for the University of North Carolina on Friday against Dartmouth in the NCAA regionals.

Instead, Porcello has six wins and a 1.50 ERA in his past five starts. With manager Jim Leyland's careful monitoring of Porcello's 85-95 pitch limit, the youngster is on a pace to win somewhere between 17 and 21 wins; for some perspective, over the past 50 years, the only pitchers under 21 years old to win 17 games were Doc Gooden (17 at 19, 24 at 20), Wally Bunker (19 at 19) and CC Sabathia (17 at 20).

Porcello is smart, and he comes from a family that wanted him to go to college. Ilitch had to OK more than $8 million to get him to forget about a dorm room in Chapel Hill, N.C. Ilitch took Selig's calls and allowed Chadd to go above Selig's price-fixing "slot" and sign Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller, who in turn gave Dombrowski the chips to trade for Miguel Cabrera, one of the best hitters in the game.

So the Tigers have Cabrera, at 26 a potential Hall of Famer. They have Porcello. They have Ryan Perry, Chadd's No. 1 from last year, throwing 97 in middle relief.

In Houston, Astros fans must realize that owner Drayton McLane cares more about Selig's favor than his fans. He forces his scouting people to adhere to "slot." Hence, in 2005, they were not allowed to draft Michael Bowden or go $30,000 above slot for Josh Lindblom, and today Bowden and Lindblom would be Houston's Nos. 3-4 starters. No wonder the Astros are such a dysfunctional team.

In Pittsburgh, the signing of Pedro Alvarez last summer proved that ownership cares about the fans, not the favor of the commissioner. Pirates fans were used to ownership forcing Bryan Bullington and slot players on them instead of the best talent available.

Detroit has been a city betrayed for more than a half-century, a city with a proud history and great sports fans. It is a city whose people have been beaten down, some left in poverty by greed and incompetence, and Ilitch has used his personal fortune to make the Tigers and Red Wings the hope and happiness that allow people to look past the boarded-up houses and projects.

Here's a verse to honor an owner who cares about his city and its people:

As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds

Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing

Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight

Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight

An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night

An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

- "Chimes of Freedom," Bob Dylan

Porcello won his sixth game the day after President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Obama suggested Sotomayor "saved baseball" by ending the 1994-95 strike and the use of replacement players to try to break the union.

She didn't necessarily save baseball; she saved the owners from themselves. The people who tried to rig the system with collusion, pay-for-performance and the artificial attempt to implement their own labor system were, as usual, ill-advised and leaderless. When Sotomayor forced the game to resume and charged that they bargain in real faith, baseball under Selig went from a $1.3 billion to $7.5 billion business.

Major League Baseball clearly does not care about those people in Detroit who have become underdog soldiers in the night. Thankfully, Mike Ilitch does, and for all those underemployed refugees on the unarmed roads of flight, may Rick Porcello and Miguel Cabrera stand as symbols that even a man as wealthy as Mike Ilitch is one of you. And he cares.

^Is it me or is that article very poorly written? It seems like he wants to accomplish some sort of point with the article, and then never completes a full thought and then goes on to the next thought.

Agree...I thought it was a lil Tahoe'esque.

He touches on some topics and never really explains them. I think I know what he's saying, but still not sure.

He's from Boston.

He keeps having strokes.

MLBTradeRumors...


The Tigers, Giants and Red Sox have all scouted and/or discussed the possibility of acquiring Corey Hart, reports the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo.

Hart is having a bad season (.256, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 3 SB) but he's still a young kid and would be an intriguing acquisition.

Milwaukee is desperate for some quality pitching, so Hart would probably cost a starter like Galarraga or Bonderman rather than giving up prospects.

I doubt we make a deal, but if Guillen doesn't get healthy, then I'm sure we'll be looking to add a veteran, because Clete Thomas is sure to hit a wall in the coming weeks.

Could this be a "sell high" on Galarraga? Have teams figured him out, making last season a one hit wonder, or will he rebound?

Could this be a "sell high" on Galarraga? Have teams figured him out, making last season a one hit wonder, or will he rebound?

I don't think it's really a 'sell high', since he's still somewhat young (27).

It's tough to trade a guy like Galarraga because he hasn't even been in the league for 2 full seasons and he makes less than a million dollars on the payroll.

When you're making such little money, it's hard to be a liability.

That's why a guy like Zach Miner always seems to stick around. The dude makes pennies in terms of the total payroll and his return value wouldn't be to the point where it'd make much of an impact.

How did we get that guy?

I just mean it like "have we seen him reach his full potential", meaning if we trade him now, that's the most value we'll ever get for him because last season was a fluke. I'm not saying it was, I'm asking the people that have seen him pitch this year. I've only seen him pitch once or twice at the beginning of the season.

I'm not sure. I think he could get better from a numbers stand point, but he'll never be more than a 3rd or 4th starter in a rotation.

Thames comes back Friday, hopefully Larish goes back to AAA.

Bonderman will probably be activated after the weekend and make his debut during our doubleheader on Monday vs. the White Sox.

Jesus Christ, I wish Bondo would just go away.

Jesus Christ, I wish Bondo would just go away.


I don't know why you'd suggest that.

For everything our pitching staff wasn't last year, Bondo was 3-4 and had a modest ERA.

Plus he doesn't boast the control issues that Dontrelle does and Bonderman is also a fairly good strikeout pitcher.

He just had a bad year last year, which turned out to be an injury issue. I wish he could finally develop that extra pitch he's been working on for 4 years now, but other than that he's been solid for us. He's never going to be a #1 but he wasn't a bad #2 and he's a solid #3 for sure with Jackson stepping into that #2 role.

He just had a bad year last year, which turned out to be an injury issue. I wish he could finally develop that extra pitch he's been working on for 4 years now, but other than that he's been solid for us. He's never going to be a #1 but he wasn't a bad #2 and he's a solid #3 for sure with Jackson stepping into that #2 role.

I still have fond memories of that absolute gem he pitched against the yankees in the ALCS. He gets a few more chances from me.

Larish down, Thames up? I think thats what I heard.

Justin Verlander has given up eight earned runs in his last nine starts. I'll say that once again so it sinks in: Verlander has given up 8 runs in 9 starts.

That's good for a 1.10 ERA.

Makes you wonder WTF happened last year. Sort of.

Justin Verlander has given up eight earned runs in his last nine starts. I'll say that once again so it sinks in: Verlander has given up 8 runs in 9 starts.

That's good for a 1.10 ERA.

Wouldn't an ERA of 1.10 end up with 9.9 runs in nine games? Shouldn't it be less than 1?

You're assuming he pitched nine innings each game, which he did not.

That's some good medicine. Thx Doc.

You're assuming he pitched nine innings each game, which he did not.

He has 65.1 innings of work in those 9 games. That's 7.2 innings a game.

Don't ever doubt my math.

Don't ever doubt my math.
http://www.blog.0tutor.com/archive/64/nerd-image.jpg


[/goshboots]

Clete Thomas sent to AAA
INF Don Kelly purchased from AAA

Ryan Perry's back in Detroit
Bondo back to DL? (not official though what the corresponding move was).

What? Cleter going down? I'm somewhat surprised by that... What's a Don Kelly?

What's a Don Kelly?
14 SBs, MOTHERFUCKAAAA

What's a Don Kelly?

A poor man's Nook Logan.

Thats pretty poor

Okay so we all know Sardinha is the worst player to ever put on a Tigers uniform. Laird can't hit the broad side of a barn right now. The Tigers have zero offense currently. Why not kill Dane (cutting him would be letting him off too easily), bring Dusty up and split time with him and Laird? I don't care that Dane is good defensively, having him in the lineup is 3-4 automatic outs per night. Laird isn't doing much better. TRY SOMETHING ELSE. Fuck, bring up Avila for all I care.

As for the rotation, our top 3 are going to win 85% of the times that they're out there. Our bottom two are going to win 10% of the time they're pitching. Time to switch it up. Galaraga is doing better, and deserves a couple more starts. Willis is DONE. I've been a supporter of his, but he is DONE. Bring Zack Miner (Farnsworth Trade) back into the rotation, and have Galaraga be #5. Zack is always solid, and if he can pitch well enough to give the Tigers a chance to win, that's all I care about. It's better than the shithouse we have at the 4 and 5 slots right now.

Hey, how did we...um, nevermind.

I made sure to answer that question in my post before it was even asked.

nb;Gdr

I made sure to answer that question in my post before it was even asked.

And it worked!
:cogent:

Alfredo Figaro sent down

Luke French will start on Friday vs. the Twins

French had a few scoreless innings about a month ago vs. Oakland

Clete Thomas recalled from AAA

Don Kelly DFA

Later Donny boy!

They just got rid of Kelly? That makes little sense...

the thing leyland consistently does to piss me off is replace an important bat in the late innings of a tied game, just because he got on base and someone faster is available. leyland never considers the notion that a bit more speed isnt as important as having that big bat, should the game go to extra innings.

he's done it without fail since he's been here, and its always annoyed me.

i also agree that he does micro manage the bullpen, but disagree that he should ignore pitch count. i've noticed he's let verlander and jackson go to the 120's fairly regularly. we got to protect the starters, especially those two.

They just got rid of Kelly? That makes little sense...

I'm sure he'll slip through waivers. He didn't do that bad of a job (.250) but he only had 3 RBI in 48 at bats and hit for zero power.

He'll probably be back in September.

There is far more upside with Clete though as opposed to a AAAA journeman player like Kelly, so I can see why Leyland made this move.

I wonder if DD will sign Giambi now that the A's have released him?

I wonder if DD will sign Giambi now that the A's have released him?

I'm kicking your ass.

Lambert got sent back down. Freddy Dolsi was re-called.

Lambert, despite only pitching in 2 games, did quite a number on our bullpen ERA...

Let's hope we've seen the last of him. Even though Mike Maroth is no longer in the league, I'd say the Cardinals won that trade.

Youkilis, umpires at fault in Tigers-Red Sox brawl

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 | Feedback (http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/mailbagESPN?event_id=15332) | Print Entry (http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=4392773&type=blogEntry)

There are two real culprits in this Tigers-Red Sox mess, when a brawl broke out in the bottom of the second. First is Kevin Youkilis (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=5375), who showed once again that he can't keep his emotions in check by charging the mound without a moment of hesitation after he was hit by a pitch. Tigers starter Rick Porcello (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=29966) backed off and raised his hands as if to ask why Youkilis was rushing the mound. Those of us in the scouts' seats had the same reaction. Porcello looked like he was in for a dominant outing, sitting 91-94 with great sinking life, and had a three-run lead.
He had a win in his sights; was he really throwing at Youkilis, or was it another two-seamer that ran too far to his arm side? Youkilis had probably already decided he wanted some pretense for charging the mound (maybe to get Porcello out of the game?) and he should be suspended for acting like a fool.
The other culprit is the umpiring crew, and while some responsibility has to fall on home plate umpire Brian O'Nora, it's time MLB took a more serious look at Tuesday's first base ump and crew chief, Jerry Crawford.
This is Crawford's second major incident of the month, after Friday's egregious blown call and subsequent outburst against Arizona manager A.J. Hinch (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3781). While Crawford has yet to sink that low during this game -- the night is still young as I type this -- the crew's decision to toss Porcello after he hit one batter with a three-run lead and no warning in effect was incompetence at best and cowing to a hostile Fenway crowd at worst. Crawford's involvement in two on-field blowups, both featuring bad umpiring decisions, calls into question his fitness to umpire major league games, especially ones with playoff implications like Tuesday's.
Youkilis was the fifth batter plunked in this series through 10-plus innings. Miguel Cabrera (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=5544) was hit twice, once in each game, although Junichi Tazawa (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=30095) was struggling badly with his command and almost certainly didn't intend to hit Cabrera, while Brad Penny (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=4115) most likely did mean to hit him the night before. To suddenly decide "that's enough" after Porcello hit Youkilis without any prior warning reeks of pandering to the home crowd. Even if that wasn't a factor, it showed very poor judgment on the part of Crawford and his crew.

I'll guess that Gammons, Crasnick or Neyer didn't write that.

Fixed the quote to reflect the writer source.

We have until midnight on Monday to sign our 1st rd pick Jacob Turner.

Apparently he wants 'Porcello money', which I'm sure Dombrowski knew prior to selecting him. It seems that most of the BA 'experts' expect he'll sign in time.

Jacob Turner signed for $6.7M...

2nd rd pick Andy Oliver also signed for about $1M

im suprused strasburbgrg got done.

i trusted dd would get turner done... in an ideal world hes the centerpiece to another tiger blockbuster.

http://www.rotoworld.com/images/headshots/MLB/5982.jpg


^ Pic of Turner per Rotoworld.

I'm not sure he'll be able to see the plate.

ROTOWORLD!!

Mags last year in Detroit?

Anybody else had enough of Clete Thomas playing every day?

He just got done striking out 9 times in a 3 game series vs. pitchers who aren't known for racking up K's.

His inability to shorten his swing when he has 2 strikes on him has become pathetic to watch.

He's a solid defender, but I'd much rather see him come into the games in the later innings to replace Maggs, Guillen or Thames in the OF rather than get 4 AB's a game. His average is approaching .240 and he's officially hit a wall.

He offers very little power, he doesn't steal bases, and for all the time's Leyland has hit him 3rd--he has very few RBI's to show for it.

Both Raburn & Thames offer more at the plate than Clete does right now.

I agree that his swing is way too long.

(TWSS)

self-TWSS'ers are lame.

Well, fuck me in the ass.

...

D-ray fix your sig. They are too good to be broke.

Bonderman, Bonine, Fien, Ryan, Ramirez and Dlugach are Tigers September callups.

rodney suspended for 3 games

He's an idiot.

wut happen

I'm guessing that it's from the other day when he threw the ball into the stands after the game.

Oh, right. I didn't even know that happened.

Anybody else remember when Rodney rocked the "Lord Vader" hair helmet?

I tried to find a pic, but no luck.

I don't.

Anybody know where that post of Wil's is that listed the Tiger's contracts that are coming off the books after next season.

Thanks in advance.

http://wtfdetroit.com/forums/showpost.php?p=345539&postcount=94

Polanco won a gold glove.