August 17th, 2009 at 3:50 PM ^
Sorry, mommatheregoesthatman, but Jay for the win for the proper OT tag. The time stamps were identical on the two threads. I'll plus one you if you post back here if you really care about the mgopoints that badly.
August 17th, 2009 at 3:53 PM ^
I dont really care about the 2 MGoPoints. Im just excited that we finally got that left handed bat. This could really help our struggling offence and to hopefully take the central :)
August 17th, 2009 at 3:57 PM ^
Then I'll just neg you for spelling offense with a "c".
August 17th, 2009 at 4:00 PM ^
I believe him to be Canadian.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:02 PM ^
you are correct, eh.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:20 PM ^
I thought so, especially since he picked Homer in a plaid hunting out fit. Dead give away.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:43 PM ^
I thought the dead giveaway was that the Ohio State logo should be flipped on the y axis to show an accurate reflection off of the lens of the sight. Silly Canadians.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:18 PM ^
It was either that or Bart playing hockey
August 17th, 2009 at 5:55 PM ^
and 600 points? That's some serious posting, or a screw up of some kind.
August 19th, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^
Its now 3 weeks and 1000 points sweet
August 17th, 2009 at 3:51 PM ^
I choose yours. Because it says OT and I like that. Solid pick up for them, can play some 1B and DH too.
Reading his Wiki page, he had a terrible childhood experience where his father was killed in a "workplace domestic dispute" in which a man had shot his mother as well...unreal experience for a 6 year old to go through.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:00 PM ^
The Sox thank you for weakening Baltimore slightly before they play them this weekend. But only slightly, as after last year's bizarrely excellent year he's resumed being Aubrey Huff again.
I take it after the Ryan Raburn Ruination at third yesterday and Inge needing days off with the knee problem, the Tigers are planning on trying Huff there? He's mainly DH'd and played first for Baltimore this year, but did play some third last year. Hasn't played outfield since '06.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:04 PM ^
He can't be any worse than Raburn was at 3rd. I would expect Huff to play at 1st for Miggy once in a while as well.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:05 PM ^
Third, first, corner outfield, the works. Huff can be an everyday player and rotate about five different players out of the lineup as needed. Great pickup.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^
He's definitely useful as a backup to give some guys a rest. His OBP/SLG are actually worse than Raburn and Clete, better than Anderson, and his OPS is the same as Magglio's (lower OBP, higher SLG). But I'm guessing he can still play a credible third, and after yesterday that probably matters a lot.
I'd probably avoid playing him in the OF in home games though, since he hasn't been out there in a while I'm guessing his range might be a reason, and Comerica of course has a spacious outfield.
Basically a no-risk move, unless they play Huff all the time and his performance totally craters. I doubt the guy they gave up will come back to bite them at all. Could help, probably won't hurt.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:06 PM ^
The word on the street is that we traded Baltimore Brett Jacobson. He was pitching for Lakeland. He was selected in the 4th round last year. Decent numbers, nothing spectacular. I call this a win.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:08 PM ^
Can he play in the post season? Those rules are always tricky.
I assume this will also allow them to keep Magglio's PAs down for the whole contract thing.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:11 PM ^
Huff would be eligible for the postseason roster.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:22 PM ^
Indeed. You must be on the 25 man roster or the DL on August 31st, right before the September call up, IIRC.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:18 PM ^
Maybe we can stop giving Magglio AB's and save $18 million next year. Thames/Clete Thomas have been dreadful of late as well...great move.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:19 PM ^
I like this deal. A lefty bat with lots of defensive versatility.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:24 PM ^
I'm not really much of a Baseball fan but I am a Wings and Ilitch fan. I know they're trying to get the right pieces together to win at everything they try.
So it surprises me that the Tigers are so much of a let down, year after year. Huge expectations and they=epic fail most of the time.
Amazing.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:33 PM ^
....
...
the fuck are you talking about?
this year, people thought they would be in the AL Central hunt ... which is exactly where they are. if anything, they have exceeded expectations by being in sole possession of 1st for a big chunk of the year.
they were a let down in 08 - that's once. and even some people (like Jay) called that before opening day.
in 07, they contended, just like expected.
in 06, they went to the f'n World Series, like about 2 people in the world expected.
they had no expectations from about 1993 to 2005.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:43 PM ^
2009
New York Yankeees $201,449,189
New York Mets $149,373,987
Chicago Cubs $134,809,000
Boston Red Sox $121,745,999
Detroit Tigers $115,085,145
11 teams with higher win %
2008
NY Yankees—–209,081,579
Detroit—–138,685,197
New York Mets—–138,293,378
Boston—–133,440,037
Chi.White Sox—–121,152,667
18 teams with higher win %
2007
New York Yankees $189,639,045
Boston Red Sox $143,026,214
New York Mets $115,231,663
Los Angeles Angels $109,251,333
Chicago White Sox $108,671,833
Los Angeles Dodgers $108,454,524
Seattle Mariners $106,460,833
Chicago Cubs $99,670,332
Detroit Tigers $95,180,369
6 teams with better win%
2006 Made it to the WS.
2007 they did what was expected of them.
2008 Huge payroll and they flopped.
2009. If I heard right, they lost 15 away series in a row. Don't know, but that may have been all of them. Just a quick perusal of their record indicated that they may have lost every(?) series against every team with a higher win %.
That's not domination. That's hanging on for dear life by the skin of their teeth in the worst division in MLB.
Neg me as needed, but this year and last they're the pre-cap NY Rangers of MLB. High payroll and unexpected breakdowns for no obvious reason.
I say with their payroll, their on-again-off-again winning is not an indication of the resources the Ilitches have supplied them with. And I call that a disappointment. I really don't see how that can be disagreed with.
However, is it possible they are going to go on a tear and make it to the WS or possibly win it? Yes.
Their spotty record is no indication of it. They lack consistency.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:39 PM ^
i'm not sitting here saying the 09 Tigers are a juggernaut. Most predictions had them, at best, challenging for the division. Whether it's the worst or not, they are in first place. That's kinda important. They'll go into September as the leaders, most likely, with a great chance to make the playoffs. That's so far from EPIC FAIL it isn't funny.
Your original point is still flat out wrong. They weren't EPIC FAIL (in terms of meeting expectations) until 2008. The teams up till 05 were expected to be terrible and they were. Then in 06 they caught fire for a half and ended up in the Series - the exact opposite of epic fail. In 07 they were picked to contend - not necessarily win - and they hung around till the end. I already gave you 08.
You can try to weasel out of this, but your original post was off base. Badly. They aren't "always" failing to meet high expectations - they failed, ONCE - to meet high expectations.
August 17th, 2009 at 11:00 PM ^
I was thinking that it'd been more years since they made the world series.
It just seems like most of the time I'm reading about them, its always a one way game. They're either playing a tight low scoring game or getting blown out. Seems like most days either just the pitchers or just the hitters show up.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:38 PM ^
You're right you're not much of a baseball fan. Until 2006 there were no expectations for the Tigers. 2008 they underachieved but this year they werent expected to be more than the 3rd or 4th best team in the division, they are now in 1st exceeding most peoples expectations.
Now for the trade....love it. While Huff is by no means an All Star or future Hall of Famer, he does add that extra little bit that they need to clinch the division. He's left handed and can give Cabrera & Inge the day off when needed. Probably wouldnt of made those errors that Rayburn made yesterday. Honestly I've never been a fan of Rayburn/C. Thomas. I wouldnt mind seeing either one of those going.
DD has outdone Kenny Williams with Washburn/Huff. The Sox get an injured pitcher who didnt want to go to them earlier and an overpriced average outfielder. Good move Dombrowski.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:08 PM ^
They've only had high expectations for the past three seasons. 2006 was a shocker, and before that no one expected them to do anything. (Ilitch didn't really open his pocketbook until 2004 or so.)
Keep in mind that it's hard to make the playoffs in baseball. If MLB had the NHL playoff system, the 2007 Tigers would've easily made it.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:30 PM ^
It's August 17th and we're in first place. We are going to play meaningful baseball for the remainder of the season. We have a very good chance at making the playoffs where anything can happen (see 2006 Cardinals). We have a solid core of players that includes a Gold Glove candidate in centerfield (Granderson), one of the 10 best hitters in the league (Cabrera), and one of the 10 best pitchers in the league (Verlander). We got this line-up through astute scouting, drafting, and player development coupled with some intelligent trades instead of spending the GNP of Denmark like some other Evil Empires do. How does any of this fit your characterization of this franchise? Stick to hockey.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:46 PM ^
"We got this line-up through astute scouting, drafting, and player development coupled with some intelligent trades instead of spending the GNP of Denmark like some other Evil Empires do."
Don't get carried away there, it's not like the Tigers are running on a Twins-level payroll. They had the 5th highest opening day payroll in the game this year, behind only the Yankees, Mets, Cubs and Red Sox.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/salaries
August 17th, 2009 at 6:57 PM ^
Well, Trading Maybin and Miller for Cabrera and Willis is a success of the farm system.
Trading Jurrjens for Renteria, even though it didn't pan out, was as well.
Verlander, Porcello, Galarraga are from the farm system.
Luke French for Washburn, farm system win.
Edwin Jackson, good scouting.
Granderson, farm system.
I think Ordonez is the only FA on the team, maybe Guillen as well. And those 2 were both 4 years ago.
I think like $28M is tied up in Bonderman, Robertson, and Willis this year. $18M in Ordonez. So, $46M this year has been wasted on nearly useless players.
The problem is that we have no hitting from the catcher position, SS, LF, and RF. Also, Polanco has been about 50 points below his career OBP until recently.
As of last week, the Tigers had the 2nd best pitching in the AL, and the 4th worst hitting. The fact this team is hanging in there and still in first is pretty impressive to me.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:28 PM ^
Well last years draft has produced 3 major league players for our team out of the top 5. Perry is on the team and pitching fairly well. Avila has added a small spark and looks pretty good at the plate, and Jacobson just turned into Aubrey Huff. Farm system win.
I'm pretty sure we traded for Guillen too. Traded i think Ramon Santiago and someone else I would think.
Also, Laird has added great defense for our pitchers. System Win.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:57 PM ^
See, I can do the same thing for the Sox though, but I'll never say the Sox aren't leveraging their financial abilities. Every single player on their roster other than Rios, Dotel and Linebrink was either from the farm system, received in trade for prospects and/or developed major league talent, or originally signed on the cheap as free agents (like Dye back in '04).
It's not a bad thing to have the financial muscle to make good moves when they present themselves and to be able to keep your good players. When Cabrera/Willis came available the Tigers jumped on it because they were willing to pay those guys what they wanted in contracts, so now they have one of the better hitters in the league. It allowed the Sox to make the Peavy move. Sure as heck a lot more fun than the alternative, rooting for a team that always has to unload guys.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:43 PM ^
I think you're forgetting just how much a willingness to outspend almost everyone in the draft has played in building the farm system. Miller and Porcello are the most obvious examples.
And regardless of how the team was built, it's still the 5th highest payroll. Money affords you the ability to make big mistakes. You think the Twins could field a good team while stuck with that inexplicable Willis contract?
I'm not saying the Tigers didn't do some smart things, but the idea that this isn't a team that threw the money around is plain wrong. Some of my fellow Sox fans seemed to have the same delusions about the Chicago teams, that the Cubs just tried to outspend everyone the last few years even though the Sox payroll (albeit ignoring the money they were getting from other teams like the Phillies from past deals) was higher than the Cubs was.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:49 PM ^
is correct.
I give Dom and the Tigs a lot of credit for not missing with many of those picks - that's a feat - but it helps when Porcello drops to you because nobody wanted to deal with Boras. In a more "just" world, Porcello would have gone Top 5.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:09 PM ^
Believe me, that was a time when the Sox's general unwillingness to deal with Boras really sucked. When you're stuck picking in the 20s and "the best high school pitching prospect since Beckett" drops to you? Yeah, would have been nice if they'd have made an exception. Granted, the guy the Sox did pick (Poreda) was good enough to be one of the frontliners in the Peavy deal, but still, a 20 year old holding it down well in the majors usually portends an All-Star future (barring injury of course).
August 17th, 2009 at 8:14 PM ^
I agree with this to some extent, but there is a difference between paying mad cash for free agents and signing your own drafted/traded for/developed players for money.
Some teams aren't even trying to win though. Look at KC, Minnesota, Pittsburgh. How are those markets THAT different from Detroit? Historically, they aren't. They either horrible management (Pitt), management that doesn't want to spend (Minnesota) or just can't decide either way (KC).
As for Porcello, he was the 27th pick. The Dodgers, Phillies, White Sox, St. Louis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Seattle, Cubs, and others all passed on him. So it's not like teams with money couldn't have got him well before the Tigers did.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:31 PM ^
The Pirates seem to have figured this out. They ponied up for Pedro Alvarez last year, and are (or at least were) considered the most likely team to sign Miguel Sano, the top Latin American prospect this year. And Minnesota has done a pretty good job of drafting and scouting, especially when you consider they don't have the finances (will be interesting once they're in their new park -- that should increase their available money).
KC is willing to spend in the draft sometimes, I just don't think they have a damn clue what they're doing.
I think more of the league has caught on that you should pay for the guys in the draft though, because it's cheaper to give a bunch of guys some money in the draft than to try to buy players on the open market. I think just about everyone has figured out that if you give a guy 5 million, even 10 million, and he's really supposed to be that good, you more than make up for that money in the years you have him under team control if the guy ends up being any good at all. I'd say the Cubs got full value out of Mark Prior's 10 million dollar contract just in the two seasons he actually managed to pitch. Boras demand guys will still drop some, but I think Porcello was the last time a guy drops that far down who isn't someone that everyone thinks is a solid college commit.
August 17th, 2009 at 11:12 PM ^
Agreed.
Separate issue, Minnesota does have the money, but as long as they are semi-competitive on that payroll they will really never change much. Their owner is more concerned with making money on the team than winning. The Twins pocket their revenue sharing checks and call it a day as long as they are decent.
August 17th, 2009 at 11:27 PM ^
I wish that's how the Astros would do it. Instead they overpay a bunch of veterans for the same result.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:32 PM ^
i like it.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:44 PM ^
...if Huff proves capable of driving in the runners in scoring position, esp. guys on 3rd with less than 2 outs.
This year's team has been pretty decent, but their lack of timely hitting has been frustrating, to say the least.
They've got the starters, the 'pen is coming around, and they can play defense. Now someone has to drive in some freakin' runs.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:59 PM ^
Also, as of right now, Aubrey Huff qualifies for Type A free agency status. FWIW.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:09 PM ^
He's a prime non-tender candidate though. The lowest the Tigers could offer him in arbitration is a 20% pay cut, which is $6.4 million. Anyone really think he'd be guaranteed to get that as a free agent? I'm sure he and his agent will be aware of that as well, so if the Tigers offer him arbitration he will be very likely to take it. The only way the Tigers avoid it is by non-tendering him, which means no draft pick compensation.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:02 PM ^
Great pick up by the Tigers.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:06 PM ^
Huff was a fan favorite down here in Tampa Bay, and it pissed off a lot of fans when he was traded. During the last place years, Huff was one of the few bright spots on the team. He was always a threat to put one in the seats, and hit pretty well in the clutch.
I know his work ethic might be in question because of his comments about Baltimore having no nightlife, but from all reports, his work ethic was great down here. I can't imagine that changing.
I think you will like him up there.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:55 PM ^
The question is: Can the Tigers sign stud pitcher Jacob Turner?
August 17th, 2009 at 6:58 PM ^
Its going right down to the wire. 50/50 he signs IMO.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:34 PM ^
Says the deals may be done already for our top two picks.