I'VE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF YOU SONNY
fire dumars
in case you were holding out hope you shouldn't have been
Orson on the Iron Bowl.
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Doug Fister reportedly going back on the DL retroactive to May 29, this season has become a nightmare and might prove too much to overcome. The Tigers have far too many holes and not enough prospects to help get the assets they need, it could be a long wait for football season to get here.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/30/and-just-like-that-doug-fister-is-back-on-the-dl/
I like Casey Crosby pitching on Friday, put into a tough situation right away with a Friday Night Home game against the Yankees. Likely a sold-out crowd and he's pitching against of the best lineups in the MLB.
Hopefully Turner can rehab from his shoulder tightness or whatever it is quickly.
I'm a Yankees fan, so I have no dog in the fight, but I think you're overreacting. The Tigers, when the end of the 162 game sample size is reached, should far and away have the best offense in the AL Central and, at worst, pitching numbers approaching the best as well. Things could not be going better for the White Sox or Indians and could not be going much worse for the Tigers, and yet the Tigers are 5 games out. If you honestly think a 5 game deficit to the Cleveland Indians is insurmountable at the end of May, you have not followed baseball very closely over the last 20 years.
Remember when the Kansas City Royals were tops in the AL Central in July 5 years ago? How did that one turn out?
I still have hope they can win because in my mind at least, we have the most talent in the division, but at the same time 0 depth. This team is not built to survive any sort of injuries, the farm system is depleted of everything besides starting pitching, the lineup has struggled and has more holes than people realize. The White Sox have the pitching to stay in the hunt for the division.
Like I said I still have faith, but to think we don't have issues is a little naive.
on what teams do have depth; especially in the AL Central. there is always a significant drop-off in talent when a starter goes down. Even the yankees and red sox are having trouble filling-in their everyday linups with the injuries they have.
the tigers have one hole (2B) and i am perfectly fine in having santiago there awhile for his solid D. the others just need to pick up the offense to resemble expectations.
and despite a few bad outings, the tigers have probably one of the deepest bullpens in baseball.
You don't think the Red Sox have depth? Wil Middlebrooks filled in great at 3rd while Youk was down, Nava is a rookie corner outfielder, Sweeney is a young outfielder that has done some good things as well, hell they even have Shoppach and Punto as backups who have at least seen MLB caliber pitchers.
The Tigers called up a 32 year old career minor leaguer to DH (Eldred), they've called up a 27 year old career AA CF (Berry) we'll see if he continues to do good things, and now they've called up Omir Santos who is again another AAAA player. This team again has 0 depth besides some arms in Toledo.
nava is a 29 year-old rookie; probably no better or worse than berry. eldred has more career HRs (15) than sweeney (14) in just 276 career ABs to sweeney's 1645. sweeney is a dime a dozen journeyman with no pop. and eldred played in only 5 games. it's not like the tigers were counting on him. hell, the redsox have podsednick playing. i thought that dude retired a couple years ago. punto stinks. always has. he's an older version of worth.
sox have caught lightning in a bottle with middlebrooks. no moreso than the tigers with dirks.
the tigers hitting depth was to come from dirks, santiago, inge and kelly. unfortuneately, raburn and inge sucked big time.
Santos is an emergency catcher. not sure about that move unless avila is ailing.
the red sox are so desperate for OF depth that they have been playing adrian gonzalez out there.
the point is, every team will struggle to find quality replacements when a couple guys get injured.
You make a good point, but I think the lack of depth is more in regard to the whole organization than the 40-man roster. On offense, our best prospect is Castellanos, and he needs another full year before he'd be ready to take a shot at the Bigs. And even then, where is he going to play? And aside from him, who do we have that's really knocking the cover off the ball? For pitching, we have a lot of promising prospects at the upper levels (Oliver, Crosby, Turner), but they've all been very inconsistent. You can say what you want about rushing players and such, and I'll give you that, but nobody's really knocking on the door, putting pressure on the guys in the Bigs.
As an organization, we are very top heavy. And when you see teams that are top heavy, there's just an expectation that they are going to win.
that's DD's philosophy and i agree with it. draft as much pitching as possible then fill in the hitter holes with free agents. now, as you point out, the tigers can trade a young pitcher for some hitting help if needed.
my suggestion before the season started was to get rid of porcello for a 2B leadoff type. but easier said than done. now porcello's trade value has clearly dropped. so hope he turns it around.
i'm really not worried about the tiger's hitting depth. they play in the AL and they are pretty strong 1-8, so no PHs are even needed. kelly and worth provide enough late inning defensive help.
This adds to the Tigers lack of depth at nearly every part of the team. This season has looked like 2008 all over again so far.
seriously, who has depth? the best team in baseball (dodgers) lose kemp for awhile and resort to tony gwynn jr to replace him. look at the red sox outfield. look at the phillies rotation, which was thought to be the best in baseball on day 1.
teams just don't have megamillionaires coming off the bench.
I'm not necessarily talking about their bench players. I'm talking about the bottom end of their bullpen (which has been good when we're losing I guess), the bottom end of their SP rotation, and the bottom half of their everyday batting order (5-9). I think the most important aspect has been the lack of deep talent in their batting order.
Tigers back on bottom of the AL Central
It will be interesting to see how Crosby does against the Yanks; maybe he'll prove to be a pleasant surprise, just as Smyly has been. My hopes aren't up, though. Crosby has a good K rate in AAA, but his BB rate is higher than I'd like it to see, and the Ks are harder to translate to the big league level. I saw Crosby pitch during Spring Training, and he was far from impressive. FWIW though, he's been pretty good in his last 4 starts: 27 IP, 32:9::K:BB. Shoot, if he pitches 6.2 innings and strikes out 6 or 7 against the Yanks, I'll be happy.
On the Tigers overall, it's getting tough. You can only say "it's still early" for so long. But, as Tim points out, it still is early and we're far from out of it. And, as others have said too, we weren't in a much better spot at this same time last year. It seems like Peralta and Avila are starting to slowly turn things around, and if we could just get some consistent pitching, we'd be set. Maybe that's asking for too much though.
So, should I drop Fister from my fantasy team, or should I stick him on the DL, wait it out, and hope that he actually comes back 100% this time?
I don't feel like the season is over by any means. I like Jake Peavy and Konerko for the Sox and some of the Indians players, but considering that the season is basically a quarter done, it is too early to expect their current success to continue.
Yes, the defense is bad and the pitching has struggled, but this team is one 6 wins out of 8 streak away from being at the top of the division. If this team is still behind by 5 games in August I'll worry, but for now it looks like a team with some issues working its way through them.
I don't consider myself to be a "fire Leyland" guy, but certainly a critic. I just don't see why you sit Andy Dirks tonight. It makes no sense. Lester is a leftie, sure. But aren't we desperate for a W in this game - and doesn't Dirks give you one of the better bats on this club?
He makes terrible choices with the lineups. I get that people love the old bastard, but accountability needs to go up. He doesn't inspire anyone, and the team has lost confidence in his decisions.
The team has lost confidence in Leyland's decisions? Support your claim.
I made no claim that the team has lost support in Leyland. I was simply asserting my own opinion that Andy Dirks should be in the lineup because he is a valuable hitter that we need in the lineup. If, as the poster below me noted, he has a minor injury, Leyland's decision is obviously understandable. But yahoo's fantasy notes indicated it was because the Tigers were facing a lefty - which if that was the only reason for him sitting, I disagree with.
Something was wrong with Dirks shoes that made his foot uncomfortable and sore, that's the reason he's sitting according to the radio feed. I believe his post was in reference to Roachgoblue, maybe its only visible on the phone app.
Dirks has a sore Achilles according to the pregame on the radio, night off for him.
They're the Tigers fergodsakes. I am just going to enjoy the season come what may. If they fall short of the playoffs it won't be from lack of effort,
