OT: He's Baaaaaack. Papa Grande Saves Game for Tigers
Zombie apocalypse strikes baseball! Jose Valverde has come back from the dead and regained his closer role with the Tigers. In his first appearance since last year's playoff implosion Valverde faced the Royals tonight and it was three up and three down for the save.
Candidly I'm glad for the guy. Not many people could come back from the utter disaster of last year's post-season and Lord knows the Tigers need a closer.
Maybe they just found one.
April 24th, 2013 at 10:46 PM ^
April 24th, 2013 at 10:47 PM ^
April 24th, 2013 at 10:48 PM ^
He mostly, according to media reports, threw fastballs in his minor league stint--and IMO and also according to scouts, his inability or unwillingness to throw his split finger is what has led him to trouble last year (velocity down too)
April 25th, 2013 at 12:00 PM ^
April 24th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
He may only throw fast balls, but he does mix it up pretty well with the 4 seam and 2 seam fastballs. When his Splitter is working as well, he is very dangerous. His rotation on the 2 seam looked so much better than it did at the tail end of last season.
April 24th, 2013 at 10:56 PM ^
April 24th, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^
April 24th, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^
Can you imagine the humiliation that poor guy went through last year? I mean he goes from an All-Star closer one minute to a punch line the next. That could not have been easy to deal with. Any yet....here he is again with the same team in front of the same fans and getting the job done at least once.
I give him major kudos for guts, determination and courage. Tonight he had to have been nervous as Hell knowing what a bad outing would mean. And the dude did it!
April 24th, 2013 at 11:09 PM ^
It wouldn't be a Valverde save if there wasn't a little bit of dramatics. Having said that I feel very glad for him as a person to overcome what happened last year and it would really help the Tigers out if he could regain his old form.
April 24th, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^
Meanwhile, also in Detroit...
The Red Wings pick up another huge regualtion win, this time against the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Huge for their chase for a playoff spot.
I wasn't sure this warranted its own thread, but it gives me much excitement.
April 24th, 2013 at 11:20 PM ^
I hate it. I don't like relying on him in the playoffs.
April 24th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
So let me get this straight. It's bad he did good because now you'll have to rely on him in the playoffs instead of somebody else? You do realize without at least a decent closer the Tigers have a rought road TO to the playoffs? And exactly who on the team today would you prefer "relying on" given their present performance?
Anybody else you rooting for to suck?
April 24th, 2013 at 11:34 PM ^
Its just bad. And I hate it...
/ Jaked
Rooting for him to suck? I never said that. I hope he does well. I think he is a good regular season closer, just wouldn't want to rely on him in the playoffs. He has not proven to be trustworthy in the playoffs throughout his career. Career Playoff Stats: 14.2 Innings pitched, 20 Hits, 11 Walks, 9.82 (!) ERA. Do you trust him in game 7 of the world series? I sure don't.
It was implied when you said, "Bad, I hate it" that pretty much tells us you'd rather not see him succeed.
In the 1.2 innings pitched in last year's playoffs, he accumulated 11 of those hits and 9 of his 16 allowed runs. That means before last year he had 9 hits and 7 runs in 13 innings pitched and an ERA of 4.85 in the playoffs. That's one run every other game, which isn't bad. It's actually right in line with what you expect from a generic closer in the playoffs. Everyone knows about his meltdown last year, but he was bad all year, not just in the playoffs.
If he goes 40/40 on saves this year, you're telling me that you won't trust him in the playoffs? If that's the case, then who would you rather have closing?
April 24th, 2013 at 11:26 PM ^
He needs to keep his weight down. Last year he was slinging it across his belly and it hurt his velocity and movement big time.
April 24th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
and appreciate what Valverde did both tonight and at times in the past, no way do I see any sustained success for him in the future. As it is, he was rarely a "dominating" closer, all too often flirting with disaster, even during his best season (2011). I just don't think that in the long run that he's the solution, so DD and Leyland would be smart to still look for an experienced closer this summer before the trade deadline.
April 24th, 2013 at 11:46 PM ^
They have plenty of time to see this experiment through though, why give up trade assets when you might have the solution(s) in the system?
I can't believe so many people thought bringing up Valverde now was a bad idea, as long as the velocity was there and he was locating the fastball while throwing in a few splitters it seemed like a no brainer to give it a try.
April 24th, 2013 at 11:28 PM ^
April 24th, 2013 at 11:42 PM ^
April 24th, 2013 at 11:59 PM ^
NO POLITCS MR. QUAYLE!
April 25th, 2013 at 12:45 AM ^
I like to think of Jose Valverde as a Dominican Kenny Powers.
Estás jodiendo a cabo! (Thanks, google translate?)
I was a huge Papa grande fan when he was one of the top closers in the league a couple of years ago. He is not the same pitcher anymore. I just feel like if we want to win it all, we need a reliable closer. And Valverde proved last year that he was not that. I think that he is going to have a decent to good regular season and everyone will jump back on the bandwagon. Then in the playofs, he will blow saves like he has before. Just my opinion. Hope he proves me wrong.
What should they give up for him, and is he available?
If you can't answer any of those questions, you're just complaining. There are that many sure fire closers out there, and the teams they're on don't want to give them up. Everyone else makes their fans nervous too.
Jose Valverde is a Detroit, no, a national treasure and there is not another player in the game we should feel so privileged to have playing for this club. We get all of the gut wrenching excitement and emotion of UTL everytime Valverde takes the mound, and what are sports without that?
Buckle up, ladies.
He's no Todd "Roller Coaster" Jones though.
Good for him. Can't be any worse than the motley crew they've been trotting out so far.
From the tone of articles on the subject, both Leyland and Dombrowski are taking a "one game at a time" approach, which is completely fair and how the "Valverde Experiment", if you will, should be approached right now. As other have touched on, it is early in the season, and the simplest solution to plugging holes in the roster is to find the plug within the organization - in the case of the Tigers, you have a closer who is third among active closers for career saves and one who has converted 93% of his save attempts over the last three years. I would think that the overall resume makes this a worthwhile experiment before you start foraging for prospects in the system that might tempt a team into giving you someone else who can fill the closer role.
It was nice to see him back last night, and back to form - Gordon, Escobar and Butler accounted for half the Royals' hits and 3 of their 5 runs and Valverde got them out in order. Not a bad way to begin a return at all.
What's the latest on Rondon? He was there last night. Are there any plans to give him a shot soon?
April 25th, 2013 at 10:21 AM ^
I thought I heard somewhere that they want to try to throw him in the fire a couple times this season to see how he does. I think the plan is to use him as a relief pitcher to get him some experience, test him out in some closing situations, then go to him full time next year.
April 25th, 2013 at 10:28 AM ^