REACTION: 'Tigers are now an official baseball superpower'

Oh Yeah!

GO TIGERS!

GT!!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Tigers

Leyland's lineup stacked with stars

Lynn Henning / The Detroit News

Carlos Guillen was sizing up his new Tigers team Friday, offering a wry thought by way of his Venezuela-based cell phone.

"I think we're going to have a pretty good lineup," quipped Guillen, the first baseman who might have dropped a spot in manager Jim Leyland's batting order because of all the horsepower added last week when the Tigers made their ground-shaking trade for third baseman Miguel Cabrera in an atomic eight-player deal with the Marlins.

The uncertainty about where Guillen -- or several other Tigers, for that matter -- might hit in the suddenly intimidating batting order has to do with Leyland's professed open-mindedness.

"I don't know," Leyland said last week, explaining that he and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had played around with a few potential lineups during dinner the previous evening. "I don't know how it's going to play out."

Leyland said he already had been intrigued by one lineup randomly placed on a display board the previous evening by Mike Smith, the Tigers' director of operations, who etched his idea for a possible batting order that would stack up against most starting pitchers on most days.

For all his noncommittal ways, anyone knows Leyland has a basic idea of his Opening Day order. The intrigue has to do with newcomers Cabrera, Edgar Renteria and Jacque Jones, who offer Leyland more flexibility -- and far more offensive crunch -- than any batting order Leyland ever has had the pleasure of pondering.

Breaking it down

Cabrera, Gary Sheffield and Magglio Ordonez are conceded by Leyland to be somewhere in the 3-4-5 mix for next year, while other positions perhaps are less in flux. It also is possible, if not probable, Sheffield as the designated hitter will remain right where he batted throughout 2007 -- third -- and that Ordonez will stick at cleanup following his amazing season, which saw him win the American League batting championship and drive in 139 runs.

It would seem plausible Cabrera will bat fifth. He has had anywhere from 112 to 119 RBIs in each of his first four full seasons in the big leagues and figures to get much more lavish RBI opportunities because of the star-studded hitters who will precede him to the plate compared with the cast he followed with the Marlins.

Guillen was Leyland's typical choice as the No. 5 hitter last season but likely will drop to sixth. His switch-hitting ways provide an antidote to all the earlier right-handed batters when the Tigers face a right-handed pitcher.

It leaves the early and latter parts of the order to consider. With respect to the initial choices, the table is very much set.

Curtis Granderson almost certainly will be Leyland's choice to continue as the leadoff batter. His numbers last season were astounding for a top-of-the-order hitter: .302, 23 home runs, 23 triples and 74 RBIs. His strikeouts dropped from 174 in 2006 to 141 and his on-base percentage jumped from .335 to .361.

Leyland likely will not mess with Granderson, nor with Placido Polanco, the hard-hitting, contact specialist whose .341 average would have been good enough to win a batting title many years.

The Tigers' bottom three choices are less defined. It would seem logical, if not a mandate, that Leyland would bat Pudge Rodriguez ninth. Now 36, Rodriguez does not flash the extra-base pop that once was a trademark. But he did hit .281 last season and is a man on his way to the Hall of Fame, which is an interesting designation for a No. 9 hitter.

The seventh spot, just behind Guillen, almost certainly will go to the right-handed hitting Renteria, the new shortstop who last year had his typical All-Star-grade numbers: .332 average, .390 on-base percentage, 12 home runs and 57 RBIs. Renteria struck out only 46 times in 494 at-bats.

It makes his on-base tendency a nice prelude to the batting style of left-handed hitting Jones, whose extra-base potential (33 doubles last season and 27 home runs the year before) makes him capable of regularly performing that Leyland-loved offensive act: scoring a man from first base.

Can't go wrong

The only real assignment for Leyland with respect to the middle of the lineup is to have fun. He can go just about any way he chooses and live out a managerial fantasy.

Cabrera has a career on-base percentage of .388, which is gaudy, indeed, but still nine points beneath Sheffield's lifetime .397. And Ordonez's on-base percentage during his magical 2007 season was a staggering .434.

Leyland could decide that Cabrera has simply too much constant explosiveness about him to bat his new slugger anywhere but third, not wanting to risk giving up an at-bat at some point in the game.

Ah, decisions, decisions.

They are the kind, in this context anyway, Leyland will savor all winter long.

I think I will enjoy being a fan of our "Superpower" team!!

table is set!

It doesn't get much better than this, Boys and Girls! I just hope Pizza King is willing to shell out the bucks to KEEP what we have!

Now if they can get them all signed, or at least a contract offered by tomorrow mid-night (12/12) or they go free agent. I would rather have arbitration than loosing Cabrera, Willis, Nate Robertson, Tim Byrdak, Bobby Seay, or Marcus Thames.

• Freep.com»Sports»Tigers
  

COLUMNIST: Meet the most powerful division in baseball - the AL Central

December 11, 2007

By BOB NIGHTENGALE
USA TODAY

Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams, eyes glazed and body weary, slumped in a chair, trying to make sense of this ruthless behavior besieging the American League.

"If I ever leave this job or if I ever get fired," Williams says, "I'm not coming back to the American League. I'm going to the National League. You've got a fighting chance over there."

The Detroit Tigers made sure last week everyone knows they plan to play with the big boys, acquiring third baseman Miguel Cabrera and pitcher Dontrelle Willis from the Florida Marlins. They're the latest NL stars to switch leagues.

If the AL Central weren't the toughest division in baseball — with four playoff teams in the last three years —it has become perhaps the most powerful.

The White Sox, of course, just so happen to play in the AL Central.

"I feel for Kenny. I feel for all of us," says Seattle Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi, of the AL West. "Look, of all of the teams that came to the winter meetings, only one team (the Tigers) told everyone they were done. Only one team said they were set. Only one team said they were content.

"Then, ka-boom! The Tigers dropped this on us. I hate to speak for everyone else in our league, but damn, I wish they kept their word."

The Tigers, besides their Marlins' trade, grabbed All-Star shortstop Edgar Renteria from the Atlanta Braves and plucked starting outfielder Jacque Jones from the Chicago Cubs.

The Kansas City Royals signed outfielder Jose Guillen to a three-year, $36 million deal and said they guaranteed more money to center fielder Andruw Jones before he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"We call it the black-and-blue league," Marlins vice president Dan Jennings says. "It's a bludgeon league, where they just bludgeon one another to death."

"I'd sure like to see some of these players head to the NL for a change," says Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro, whose club won the 2007 AL Central. The amount of players coming to the AL is unbelievable."

AL power

The AL's superiority perhaps has never been greater. The AL has had teams win more than 90 games 13 times the last three years. The NL has had two. The AL also has dominated interleague play, going 427-329 the last three years, a .565 winning percentage.

"You can go into the season thinking you have a good team, have a very good season," Williams says, "and be home in October."

The Mariners and Tigers indeed won 88 games each last season and didn't come close to the playoffs.

In 2006 the White Sox won 90 games and in 2005 the Indians won 93 games, yet neither team made the playoffs. Meanwhile, the San Diego Padres won 82 games in 2005 and 88 games in 2006 and won their division in 2005 and tied for the lead in 2006.

"It's like the Cuban Missile Crisis over here. Everybody keeps adding (to) their arsenal," says Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, whose team won 94 games in 2007 and struggled to make the playoffs.

"I mean, there is no breather. It's not just Boston. You've got Detroit. You've got Anaheim. You've got Cleveland. In our own division Tampa Bay is no walk in the park, especially what they're doing. Toronto can be hell.

"You try going up against that pitching in Minnesota," Cashman says. "I'm telling you, it's a nightmare. It's not anything like the National League."

The Toronto Blue Jays, who won back-to-back World Series in 1992-1993, haven't made the playoffs since while stuck with the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East.

The Royals, whose last postseason appearance was when they won the 1985 World Series, are trying to steadily improve while watching the Tigers suddenly go Steinbrenner-esque with their $127 million payroll. The Mariners are trying to hang with the Angels, with owner Arte Moreno spending $140 million just on center fielders the last two years (including his 2006 package of $50 million for Gary Matthews Jr.).

"Their lineups are just so powerful with the designated hitter," Jennings says of AL teams. "They call it a DH. In our league, we call it a left fielder."

Tigers president Dave Dombrowski says if not for the Red Sox and Yankees, they might not have bothered with their eight-player trade with the Marlins. They came into the winter meetings with a team built to contend in the AL Central but perhaps not with the two-headed monster out of the East.

"We have a very powerful league," Dombrowski says. "You have to constantly make moves to make yourself stronger. We took the approach that we want to win right now."

For the rest of the league, particularly the AL Central, the neighborhood just got a whole lot more pricey.

"I got out of that division just in time," says Hunter, who had spent his career in Minnesota before joining the Angels. "Believe me, it was tough enough as it was. When you're playing over there, you look forward to playing the NL. It's the only time you get a breather. It was cut-throat already, but now the Tigers brought along some more weapons."

What's a team to do, particularly one that must face the Tigers 18 times a year? "That's easy," White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf says, laughing. "Move us to the National League. Put me in the NL Central right now."

I love this part:

"I feel for Kenny. I feel for all of us," says Seattle Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi, of the AL West. "Look, of all of the teams that came to the winter meetings, only one team (the Tigers) told everyone they were done. Only one team said they were set. Only one team said they were content.

"Then, ka-boom! The Tigers dropped this on us. I hate to speak for everyone else in our league, but damn, I wish they kept their word."

And this really caps it off:

What's a team to do, particularly one that must face the Tigers 18 times a year? "That's easy," White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf says, laughing. "Move us to the National League. Put me in the NL Central right now."

But the NL Central won the World Series in 2006.....OUCH!!

AL East, that is!!

AL Central THIS year!!

tigersaint wrote:

AL East, that is!!

AL Central THIS year!!

Yea

I'm giddy.... (see PM)

TIGERS ARE THE MOST POWERFUL TEAM IN BASEBALL!

WE ROCK!!

Everyone, as we get these reports, it sure gives us some great signature lines!

Pete Rose says, "I'd bet the farm on the TIGERS this year....."

gogetemtigers wrote:

Everyone, as we get these reports, it sure gives us some great signature lines!

Hearing that other GM's around the league are squirming makes me feel all warm and tingly inside....

tigersaint wrote:

Pete Rose says, "I'd bet the farm on the TIGERS this year....."

Pete Rose would bet on Anything...so that's not saying much! lol :haha:

Ohios#1TigerFan wrote:

tigersaint wrote:

Pete Rose says, "I'd bet the farm on the TIGERS this year....."

Pete Rose would bet on Anything...so that's not saying much! lol :haha:

THE TIGERS ARE A SURE THING! PETE CAN"T GO WRONG!

from: http://sethspeaks.net/121407b.htm

Tuesday, December 18, 2007


Q&A with Pat Neshek

Twins Relief Pitcher

Quote :

SethSpeaks: You got off to an incredible start and were so good in the first half that Jim Leyland put you on the ballot for the final AL All-Star roster spot. That had to be a great honor going against guys like Jeremy Bonderman and Roy Halladay. How did it feel when you heard that news?

Pat Neshek: Well, I thought it was pretty neat that Jim Leyland picked me as one of the last guys he thought should be an All Star. He has been around forever and, from what I hear, he is one of the best managers to play for, so knowing he selected me meant the world. I also was excited because you don't really hear of relief pitchers making the All Star team. It was a huge honor and I really liked my chances until Lew Ford came over to me in the clubhouse and said I had no shot because I was up against the Nation of Japan. He was right -- Okajima had a lot of internet fans in Japan! But overall I thought it was cool a small name like myself beat out Roy Halladay and K Escobar. I would've like to have seen a final vote total though, they never released the final numbers for some reason.

Quote :

SethSpeaks: Again, I'm not going to put you on the spot and ask specific questions, but in general, what do you think that the Twins need to do in the offseason for 2008? Rebuild? Major overhaul? Minor tweeking?


Pat Neshek: I think as of right now we are going to put a competitive team out on the field. I'm ready to win some games and will to back down and I think that goes for the rest of the Twins. Detroit is gong to be tough and have an unreal lineup and Cleveland is coming back with a stacked team. It's going to be tough but I'm ready for the challenge.

Interesting!

The fur is gonna fly this summer!

It sure will!

I wish Neshek played for Jim Leyland right now.....so does catbox!!