OT: Uh, Tigers re-sign The Big Potato
http://www.freep.com/article/20130404/SPORTS02/130404031/detroit-tigers…
My blood pressure automatically rose 10 points after hearing this. He has that effect.
your posts right now seem to be very...consistent and direct
Complain about him all you want, but he's a lot better than Phil Coke. Yeah, he was a disaster in the playoffs for sure. But Coke is a disaster at ALL times.
Ebola is better than the plague.
Phil Coke doesn't showboat either.
Coke was pretty damn good in the playoffs last year. I'd take him over Valverde any day.
Phil Coke is not a disaster against LHH.
Valverde is a disaster against everybody he pitches to.
Meh, it's a minor league deal, and there's pretty much no chance he'll actually pitch his way onto the 25 man roster...at least I hope so.
Does anyone remember just how far the Tigers had fallen before DD and Leyland took over? Now, they have gotten to the World Series twice in seven years. I'll never understand a major portion of the Detroit fanbase. I can remember how everyone wanted to run Sparky out of town. How did that work out?
I'll give DD credit, but the manager doesn't have more of an impact than any regular player.
Valverde has an out clause - If he isnt on the Major League roster by May 5, he can leave. Something tells me he was given some sort of confidence from the Tigers, ie if you do this, this, and this, we'll bring you up. This is Boras we're talking about, dude knows how to do his job
"former closer"
Quite obvious he's going to be a starter now.
Poo Poo Turde? You are better than that.
The thing is, he really isn't.
... Poo Poo Turde might just fall in the "so far beyond bad to come back to good" category. Kind of like the liquor selection on major airline dometic flights.
Yeah let's sign the guy coming off of Tommy John surgery and can't start pitching til June/July! That'll be the key kog to a championship caliber team....I don't particulary enjoy the Valverde signing but Brian Wilson is NOT the answer.
I don't really see the downside here. Minor league contract, cheap, gives you a safety blanket and it's not like he is the worst option out there. He just was a bad choice if his contract kept the Tigers from signing someone else.
No blown saves does not equal best in the league, yo.
60% of the time getting the save every time would be TERRIBLE.
"Everyone complains that he lets things get too tight and isnt enough of a sure save but there are only a handful of guys every year who 60 percent of the time will get the save every time."
Just a couple of comments:
1. Getting a save 60% of the time is beyond horrible.
2. That's just false. The difference between an average closer and Mariano Rivera is only a couple of percentage points. The league is littered with guys who can be an average closer.
Only a minor-league contract though
..say oh fuckin shit in bold cap letters until I read it's a minor league deal.
I don't get all the hate. This guy is one year removed from finishing 5th in the Cy-Young balloting. Yeah, his 2012 wasn't great, and he melted down in the 2012 playoffs. But his 2011 was stellar.
This is baseball. BAD YEARS HAPPEN. I'd rather take someone who has been good very recently and has a pretty good track record. (Very good years in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011) over just some random pitcher.
And if his splitter isn't working in the minors, then the Tigers won't bring him up. But if it IS working, he instantly becomes the best closer on the team as far as I can tell.
Who knows what a winter off did for him? It isn't like he's ancient or something.
Valverde was the third most effective pitcher in the Tigers bullpen in 2011.
His name appearing on even a single Cy Young ballot was a joke.
And last year was more than a down or bad year, he was downright awful.
He's lucky his HR/FB was so low otherwise he woulda be designated for assignment by the all-star break.
His stuff can't strike out ML hitters anywhere close to a rate for him to be successful.
...if Kenny Powers can make it back to the bigs then why not Valverde? Let's hope he sucks his dream's cock.
Seriously, if Valverde somehow makes it back to the closer role with the Tigers it will be because he earned it by playing well. That wouldn't be such a bad storyline. And if he really does suck then it's doubtful we'll even see him in Detroit at all. The upside is that maybe he saves 30-40 games and the downside is that he'd probably only get to blow couple before getting canned.
wrong post
Sorry, I'm sure the info. is great, but I'm still not gonna give them a click.
Get over it already.
Thanks for the advice, but I'll choose to not support them.
I'll make sure to click extra for you and Section1 then!
The parameters of the deal are interesting really - no major league commitments and the clause which allows Valverde to walk away from this consequence-free if he chooses in the event he is not on the Tigers roster by May 5th, as someome mentioned.
Supposedly, they even discussed rough figures for a salary should Valverde make the club, but no specifics were laid out. Especially if he's willing to allow the Tigers essentially experiment with him, I don't have an issue with it, particularly if the hypothetical upside is that Jose Valverde can return to the form of the guy who converted 110 of 118 save opportunities at one point. If he cannot work out whatever caused problems last year, the worst that happens is there is a story in May that Jose Valverde has left the Tigers' organization.
I think so too even though most don't agree.
But hey, taters gonna tate.
he converted 110 out of 118 save opportunities.
Not too many out there with numbers like that who are not coming off surgery.
I wish him well.
I thought this was a joke at first when my buddy posted it on FB. Why?