Posts Tagged ‘Detroit Tigers

08
Dec
09

Yankees Trade for Granderson, Tigers Make Out Well Too

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Baseball
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The Curtis Granderson to the Yankees rumors turned out to be true, when just a few hours ago the Tigers, Diamondbacks and Yankees agreed to a three-team 7-player deal. Granderson heads to New York, Detroit gets Arizona starter Max Scherzer and reliever Daniel Schlereth as well as NY’s Phil Coke and OF prospect Austin Jackson. Arizona takes home Edwin Jackson from Detroit and Ian Kennedy from NY.

I LOVE this deal for the Tigers, sure, losing Granderson’s defense and lead-off ability hurts, but considering for his career he has an OPS+ of 50 against lefthanders, it’s not a gigantic loss. The Yankees are going to ultimately need to platoon Granderson with someone who can actually hit lefties sooner rather than later. However, his defense is going to be huge in Yankee stadium, especially if they bring back Damon to play left. Meanwhile, I think Austin Jackson has a decent chance of being nearly as good as Granderson (with less HRs) within a year or two at a significantly cheaper cost. Add in Scherzer’s power arm, Schlereth and Coke upgrading the bullpen and all of sudden the team has fixed one of their biggest weaknesses while replacing two important starters with serviceable replacements.

Me, personally, I’d much rather have Scherzer than Edwin Jackson because he’s younger, has better breaking pitches and has a chance to have better command, unlike Jackson who has yet to string together a full season that matches his talent.

What I don’t understand is what the hell Arizona is doing. They take on Jackson and Kennedy, two pitchers who are OK, but with less potential than Scherzer, plus Jackson is more expensive and has less years of control remaining. What is the plan there? Justin Upton is about to become a monster on the major league level, plus MVP-candidate Mark Reynolds help drive the offense, presumably players like Stephen Drew and Chris Young can’t be as bad as they were last year but the pitching staff still has holes and they just gave up two young power arms, because, you know, those aren’t needed. The NL West is a weak division, I simply don’t get why you make this trade that weakens your team.

Also, now I’m super sad because I always really liked Granderson and now he’s a Yankee…(Incidentally, I won’t be surprised when he records 35 HRs next season in Yankee Stadium.)

[ESPN]

21
Oct
09

Carlos Guillen Wants to Play 9

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Baseball
Tags: , ,

Carlos Guillen Leyland HugJim Leyland and his left fielder Carlos Guillen had a long phone conversation on Monday after Guillen made it known he didn’t want to continue playing left field. After the conversation Leyland told reporters that “We were talking a lot about playing time, about (his) playing 9 innings. There is absolutely no problem there. We talked for quite a while, Carlos wants to play and we want Carlos to play.”

Considering that Guillen has 2 years remaining on his contract and was pretty solid once he finally came back from injury late in the season, the Tigers can ill-afford to not have an effective Guillen on the field. Guillen apparently was dissatisfied with being removed late in games for a defensive replacement and wants to be playing the full game. Of course, since he moves like a 85-year-old three-time hip-replacement person, that doesn’t seem too likely.

Mostly though, I just really love this picture of he and Leyland sharing an awkward hug several years ago. Adorable!

[Detroit Free-Press]

12
Sep
09

The Most Darling Moment of the Baseball Season

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Awesome and Baseball
Tags: ,

Friday’s Tigers/Blue Jays game featured a very special visitor to the mound; a 6-year-old boy in the stands who jumped out of the stands at the end of the 7th inning and went straight towards the mound. His hat falling off his head, the little boy grabbed the ball that was left on the mound for the Tigers’ next pitcher and ran back to the stands.

Security was obviously caught unawares but in a surprising bit of decency, and conferring with a police office and the boy’s uncle who was in the crowd they allowed the boy to go back to his seats and to keep the ball.

According to the uncle, his nephew misunderstood when he suggested that he go to the railing and try and get a ball. A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.

I’m trying to find video of it, but so far it eludes me. Don’t worry though, I’m on the case!

[Detroit News]

12
Aug
09

I Wouldn’t Like Youk When He’s Angry

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Baseball, Boston and Douches
Tags: , , , ,

soxgal1__1250037217_5227I think we can all agree that I’m a pretty good Red Sox apologist. However, I’m disappointed in Kevin Youkilis’ unnecessary and selfish charging of the mound last night. Not only did he look like an asshole, but Youk then got TOSSED by a 20 year old who weighs at least 20 pounds less than him. Add in Youk’s wussy throw of the helmet and you have the work of a full-grown asshole. I love Youk, don’t get me wrong, but he was wrong in this instance and should have just taken his base. Maybe it’s for the best though, since Porcello looked like he was DEALING!

And yes, I’m also partially mad because I benched Mike Lowell on my fantasy team because he wasn’t in the lineup and then gets in and hits 2(!) home runs.

02
Apr
09

Tigers Pull the Ol’ Switcheroo

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Awesome and Baseball
Tags: , , , ,

magskalineFor yesterday’s game with the Braves, in a team-unity measure, Curtis Granderson got his Tigers teammates together and they decided to trade uniform tops before their game. Magglio Ordonez went out in Hall of Famer Al Kaline’s jersey, while Justin Verlander traded in his top for Gerald Laird’s. Newly named closer Fernando Rodney played kiss-up a little, going out to the mound as Fernando Leyland.

“Fernando asked if he could wear my shirt,” Leyland said. “So I let him. I had a pretty good change-up, didn’t I?”

When Leyland was asked about Magglio’s day, after he went 0-4, Leyland quipped, “Not a Hall of Fame day.”

[Det News]

28
May
08

Carlos Guillen Needs a Donut, But Not That Kind

By slanch Leave a Comment
Categories: Baseball
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Carlos Guillen is a personal fantasy baseball favorite of mine. The erstwhile shortstop/first baseman for the Detroit Tigers is an excellent source of high average, home runs and even some occasional steals for my various teams. The first time I ever had him on a team, it was way back in 2004, life was great and my friend,  frustrated with lack of production and a poor playing Tigers team, dropped him outright. A few days later, needing a middle infielder, I picked up Guillen. Together with my pickup of Victor Martinez off the waiver wire, I rode their collective stellar stats to a third-place finish, it was awesome.

Since then, I have had Carlos Guillen on my team every year but 2005, I like everything he brings to the table, a .300 plus average, 20 HRs and near 100 RBI and runs, he even used to be a pretty good fielding shortstop, although some injuries have hampered his range in the last year or so, hence the initial move this year to first. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they weren’t expecting Miguel Cabrera to instantly become StoneHands over at third and so they were forced to switch Guillen back across the diamond.

This year, Guillen has been OK, he started out the season super hot, even though the rest of the Tigers struggled but he has since cooled down some, particularly after the position switch. Then, last night I was perusing the game story for the Tigers game, as I am wont to do, and noticed this little throwaway line: “Leyland said Carlos Guillen has been shifted from 3B to DH because Guillen has a bad case of hemorrhoids. Guillen made two errors in the opening game of the three-game set in Anaheim. Inge started at third Tuesday. …”

I know that baseball players are used to being in the spotlight and having fans knowing lots about their lives, but I think we can all agree that we don’t need to know about this. According to Wikipedia, “Hemorrhoids are actually the anatomical term for ‘Cushions of tissue filled with blood vessels at the junction of the rectum and the anus.'” Yum! Now I know all about Carlos’ ass cushions!

You have to believe that only a manager like Jim Leyland would have said this in a press conference, he doesn’t give a fuck about anything and he probably was trying to light a fire under his players’ asses. For Leyland who is old-school, you play no matter what, and you don’t let any bullshit excuses get in the way. That’s part of the reason why he’s been so successful and why players like to play for him. Of course, it’s also probably why Leyland smokes three packs a day…

So, anyways, Guillen now joins Kaz Matsui on the anal injury list of 2008, I can only look forward to Robinson Cano’s upcoming torn rectum injury sustained while Jeter tries “everything possible to bust out of his slump.”

Follow The Slanch Report

 Subscribe to RSS Feed

twitter / slanchreport

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 19 other subscribers

Sign Our Petition!

The Slanch Report has started an online petition asking the MLB Network to air the Dock Ellis no-hitter he threw on June 12, 1970 against the San Diego Padres. The moment was a seminal piece of baseball history and is certainly worthy of being rerun.

Please join us in this cause and sign the petition below so we can all share in this special and fantastic moment of baseball history. THANKS!
SIGN THE PETITION HERE! AND PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND PASS THIS ALONG!

March 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Categories