OT: mandatory rag on zumaya post
Someone needs to teach him how to pitch. He's a million dollar arm with a ten cent head, and that might be a little on the high side. Not only is he incredibly unreliable in a set up role, he's one misplaced fastball away from braining some poor guy and doing serious damage to more than a scoreboard. I'm betting he has options left and would like to see one used, get him to work out his mental issues. I'd love to see him work it out, but as it stands, he is too inconsistent to be used in high leverage type situations. In a bit of good news though, miggy is bringing the power back, I think that homer is in orbit now.
send joel away for a short bit.
Relief pitching is not a spot where the Tigers have a lot of depth. Otherwise, Nate Robertson would most assuredly not be on the roster. That said, Zumaya really needs to work out his mental issues. He shook off Laird twice against the Cubs so that he could throw his third pitch, a change-up, which led to a go-ahead home run. This was his second consecutive blown save and fourth in five opportunities, a misleading statistic, as a failed hold is equivalent to a blown save, but still unacceptable.
Are you serious? Robertson is on the roster because of his contract. We have depth that may or may not be good, but we can't find out. Im sure Lucas French could at least do what Nate does. Fu-te ni could be another lefty specialist and Clay Rapada still exists. He was good at one point. We have guys. That is not the problem.
I disagree that Robertson is still on the roster due to his contract. If they cut Sheffield and ate the $15 million, then if Dombrowski told Illitch he needed to get rid of Robertson, he would be gone. I think the only reason he is around, besides being LH, is because Leyland has a soft spot for him from his starting days. The number one thing I want the Tigers to trade for is a LH reliever so we can roll with Seay and the addition.
Nate would be owed 17 million if he where released. That combined with the differences in return you get from, not only freeing up a bench spot (more valuable than a rp, just by scarcity), but also ridding yourself of somewhat of a distraction. Nate is getting paid too much to cut, because the roster spot he opens isn't that valuable. It would be another reliever, probably a lefty like fu-te ni. Plus, when nate complains, noone listens...
Relief pitching is probably their deepest spot. If zumaya went down, seay would probably move into a set up role, so bringing up a lefty would make the most sense. I'm thinking fu-te ni, the lefty they signed in the offseason. I'm on my phone so I can't check the stats, but I know he was at toledo with a sub 3 era, and he was very tough on lefties. Other names would be casey fein, who has great k numbers, or some longshots, satterwhite and weindhart, both in aa, I think, and last I saw, both tearing it up. Oh, and nate is still on the team because they don't want to eat his contract, and he can refuse minor league assignments, and remain on the roster.
Bobby Seay would be a disaster as a set up man. He's a situational lefty. If you have him do much else, he would get exposed. Big Time.
His numbers against righties are decent, it might be a small sample size, but its either him or lyon. I guess lyon has been good lately though, I'd just like to see seay against more righties to see if he can get them out on a regular basis.
But he's my guitar hero.
I'm seriously considering resrving my seat on the "Joel Zumaya should be a starting pitcher in 2010" bandwagon. That would force him to develop and use his other pitches.
That changeup to Micah Hoffpauir in the Cubs' first game was uh, misguided at least.
Nate Robertson would be on the roster regardless, simply due to his contract. That's the same reason they keep trying to work with Dontrelle Willis as well. Otherwise they'd send both of them as far away from Detroit as possible.
Dombrowski said it a while ago, right after he took over as GM, and maybe right when he hired David Chadd to handle the draft: He wants big guys that throw hard (read: 95+). That's why he has drafted Justin Verlander, Andrew Miller & Rick Porcello, as well as the kid we just drafted this year. The problem is, every flamethrower we have in the bullpen has control issues: Zumaya, Rodney and Perry, when he gets back, and Andrew Miller wasn't exactly accurate either.
As for turning him into a starter, he can throw Ball 4 in the 1st inning just as easily as he can in the 8th.
was ridiculous. You've got a kid who is so far behind your fastball he's swinging at the ball after it's already back to the pitcher's glove, and Zumaya wants to change speeds? Laird should have gone out to the mound and smacked him in the back of the head.
When the Tigers reached the WS a few years ago, it looked like their young, strong arms would set them up as a perennial contender for a long time. Sadly, it hasn't turned out that way.
Figaro already gave up 7 runs.
Fu-Te Ni has been recalled, per the Detroit News.
is he injured again?
Nope, just stupid.