OT: Dontrelle
Okay, I know it's a stretch, but go with me here.
A) Verlander is obviously back to his old self, it seems. (i.e. - one of the most dominant pitchers in the game)
B) Edwin Jackson has been lights out, and I see no reason he won't continue it.
C) Rick Porcello continues to evolve into something special.
D) D-Train just MIGHT, maybe, be finding that uber-dominant form again.
E) Assuming Bonderman comes back healthy, Galaraga can rest his arm up, and we can clear space without demoting Miner, we have THREE, very good, easily No. 3 or so starters we can put at the back of the rotation whenever we choose.
Does that, or does that not look to you like THE BEST rotation in baseball?
deserves mad props.
... never could make up his mind between playing Quarterback or Defensive End for Michigan. Fortunately, he had offers for both.
And OSU was banished forever from Mega City One.
I would say that they have a shot at being the top rotation in baseball, and with the versatility of the lineup and the nice variety of position players, I really, really like this roster.
I'm trying to think of other rotations that are better, the Braves could put up a fight if their kids come through at the back end, but no one in that rotation could go toe to toe with Verlander on his best days. The Red Sox have a lot of talent that hasn't performed, the Blue Jays have Halladay and a bunch of guys probably performing over their heads, but the same could be said about the Tigers. The Yankees probably have the best potential rotation but with Wang sucking and Burnett not in a contract year they are struggling, and that bullpen is in shambles.
The biggest threat to that though, is the Angels. Lackey, Santana, and Saunders are all very good, and they already had one of, if not the best, starters ERA's with Lackey and Santana out. Thank god we don't really have to worry about them, unless we get them in the playoffs, in which case, they don't have the offense, especially with Vlad hurt, to hang. On an interesting side note, Santana's legal name was Johan before he changed it to avoid confusion with the best pitcher in the game.
Just to make this post longer...I like the Reds rotation a lot. Harang is a stud who had a bad year last year, Volquez and Cueto are the real thing, and Bailey looks to be putting it back together. Combine that with a so-so bullpen and 2 very good young offensive stars in Votto and Bruce, and a few players in the minors who are hitting the cover off the ball and just begging for a call, and I think the Reds make a serious charge at the playoffs.
Yes I am a baseball nerd...a bad one too.
hah!
I think they would probably send down or make Porcello long relief to keep his innings down.
I don't know about the best rotation in baseball - maybe - but a best-case scenario, that is, one involving a return to form for Dontrelle and Bonderman, certainly means a better rotation than 2006, when we had Verlander, Kenny, a career year from Robertson, and half a year of dominance from Bonderman. I can dream.
So this is what 1 year on DL and in the minors was worth waiting for haha
Hopefully he can pitch consistently like he did tonight and I think our pitching staff is starting to round out rather nicely. They're looking pretty good.
That bullpen still looks rather weak to me. I'd like to see them make a trade or just find somebody else to help in relief.
Who would have thought at the beginning of last season that it would have taken this long for the Tigers to be 5 games over .500 again. Yet at the same time, the wait makes it that much more gratifying as a fan watching every game. Here's to hoping nobody get's injured (knock, knock) and derails this season.
During the 12-year stretch of losing seasons (1994-2005), I'm not sure the Tigers were ever five games over .500.
I'm rooting for Dontrelle just as hard as anybody, but maybe we should
A) Wait for him to string together more than 1 quality start
B) Wait to see if Bonderman is at all effective when he returns, especially with Galaragga struggling (although I think he'll come around)...
...before we start claiming that the tigers have the best staff in baseball. These question marks leaves the whole back end of the rotation in doubt. If we still had Jair Jurrgens then I would agree 100%. Also, as well as Rick has been pitching I worry that he will eventually hit a wall once the innings get up. I would prefer he go back down to the minors so he doesn't go the route that bondo went (Dombrowski said that Bondo being pulled up so early was the worst thing for him since he never developed a change up and has only relied on his fastball and slider)
On a positive note, Edwin Jackson has been the steal of the offseason. People thought I was crazy when I said Edwin Jackson would win 15+ games during the preseason since he didnt even make the ray's starting rotation during the playoffs but you can't teach that talent. If it wasn't for our poor run support on his days he'd be close to the lead league in wins right now.
Porcello has 4 pitches he uses while Bonderman has only fastball, slider. I would just worry about Porcello's innings.
According to fangraphs, Porcello uses 74.1 percent fastballs, 15.6 percent curves, and 10.3 percent changes.
2% butterscotch ripple.
as a relatively casual fan, i was content with seeing verlander back on track. would be nice to see dontrelle stay on track and porcello continue to develop. it's weird, the more they win, the more interested i get. there is a similar effect when a i see a wagon drive by carrying a band.
the one w/ the band, how do I get on that?
Check Walmart, they usually carry their gear.
In addition to the change-up and curveball he throws a two-seam and a four-seam fastball. He also has a below-average slider that he threw in the minor leagues last year.
Willis threw with a labored motion almost all of his last season with the Marlins. Basically, from the first pitch on, he already looked like a pitcher who was tiring and needed to be taken out of the game. When the Tigers got him, I posted this concern on a few forums and stated that he may need time to heal before they could count on him. It appears that I was correct. I only saw ESPN highlights, but Willis' motion didn't appear to be labored at all.
I asked a question that still befuddles me even now:
If a fan could see this on TV by watching a few games and ESPN highlights, why couldn't people who do this for a living see it before they acquired him? In other words, how could one of the most astute GM's in the game not know that Willis probably needed time to heal?
At any rate, it looks like he is OK, at least for now. A Dontrelle Willis with an arm to match his heart could be the extra piece that the Tigers need to get them back into postseason play.
Then again, arms are so fickle that we might not get to see him ever get back to the pitcher he was. I hope he makes it, for him and the Tigers.
"I asked a question that still befuddles me even now:
If a fan could see this on TV by watching a few games and ESPN highlights, why couldn't people who do this for a living see it before they acquired him? In other words, how could one of the most astute GM's in the game not know that Willis probably needed time to heal?"
LOL. Really Tater?