Detroit Tigers
Don't look now but the Tigers might have turned a corner. Following a sweep at the hands of the Yankees in Yankee Stadium that concluded August 2nd, Detroit finished the season 32-29. The pitching was pretty terrible from beginning to the end but a strange thing happened: the offense started scoring enough runs to win. They're a typical young team: they don't know how to wait for pitches yet but they rip longballs as well as anybody in the league and are quite fast as well. This is great news for a club with a losing streak that is nearly as long as Cleveland's. It's hard to believe that this is the same club that was the toast of the American League in the teens and early 20s.
Code:
Record overall 67-87, .435 PCT 7th, 29.0 GB
Home 34-43, .442 PCT
Road 33-44, .429 PCT
X-inning games 3-10, .231 PCT
One-run games 18-15, .545 PCT
Versus LHP 20-27, .426 PCT
Versus RHP 47-60, .439 PCT
April 4-6, .400 PCT
May 11-16, .407 PCT
June 10-17, .370 PCT
July 10-17, .370 PCT
August 14-13, .519 PCT
September 13-12, .520 PCT
October 5-6, .455 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .281 - 6th in AL
On-Base Percentage .325 - 8th in AL
Slugging Percentage .417 - 5th in AL
On-Base + Slugging .742 - 7th in AL
Runs Scored 793 - 5th in AL
Hits 1581 - 6th in AL
Extra-Base Hits 500 - 3rd in AL
Home Runs 99 - 4th in AL
Bases-On-Balls 367 - 8th in AL
Strikeouts 533 - 7th in AL
Stolen Bases 47 - 3rd in AL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 5.29 - 8th in AL
Starters' ERA 5.31 - 7th in AL
Bullpen ERA 5.24 - 7th in AL
Runs allowed 925 - 6th in AL
Hits allowed 1684 - 5th in AL
Opponents AVG .301 - 6th in AL
BABIP .311 - 6th in AL
Home Runs allowed 123 - 8th in AL
Bases-On-Balls 664 - 8th in AL
Strikeouts 452 - 5th in AL
Pitching
The pitching staff can be summed up by Eric Overcash teaching a bunch of kids how to pitch. Overcash is an unlikely choice for teacher. Detroit was the 6th team of his 10 year career. Sooner or later everybody seems to tire of his game, which doesn't feature anything fantastic but also doesn't have any single noticeable flaw (at least now that he's sort of learned a bit of control). The first five clubs he played for released him outright. For Detroit he managed to overcome giving up a career high 20 homeruns and a BB/K ratio of almost 2:1 to record his third straight .500 or better season.
After Overcash the staff consisted of a bunch of young guys who got outs with varying level of consistency. One thing they all had in common was control, or rather a lack thereof. This is what you get, we guess, when Ed Overcash is your pitching mentor.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Ed Overcash 33 14 14 0.500 35 35 0 259.1 288 131 20 124 71 4.55 47.6
Eric Jackson 26 8 8 0.500 29 23 1 167 190 77 15 37 59 4.15 37.3
Ben Armstrong 26 8 9 0.471 43 14 3 138 167 82 9 83 65 5.35 14.9
Marvin Robinson 20 5 8 0.385 23 16 1 127.1 159 82 14 64 55 5.80 6.6
Dan Simmons 30 7 6 0.538 16 16 0 115 152 61 19 41 35 4.77 18.6
Bi-jun Seow 30 6 6 0.500 20 14 0 105 135 61 7 45 16 5.23 12.5
Chadwick Duffy 23 5 5 0.500 50 0 16 78.2 84 30 3 30 45 3.43 22.9
Craig Mahone 41 2 7 0.222 13 9 0 71.1 98 48 8 40 12 6.06 1.5
Charlie Henderson 23 1 7 0.125 10 10 0 56 79 53 3 43 18 8.52 -12.4
Danny Collier 23 5 2 0.714 30 0 2 55.1 61 28 6 29 20 4.55 10.2
Luis López 34 2 3 0.400 8 8 0 48 56 28 1 31 7 5.25 5.6
Harry Stringham 22 0 3 0.000 23 0 0 42.2 53 34 6 30 9 7.17 -3.6
Curtis Ballentine 28 1 3 0.250 6 6 0 27.2 46 28 1 9 8 9.11 -8.5
Bob Gragg 23 0 0 0.000 14 0 1 22.2 41 23 7 12 11 9.13 -6.2
Curt Blue 20 2 1 0.667 13 0 1 18.1 17 2 0 11 6 0.98 9.7
Bryan Debose 21 0 0 0.000 12 0 0 16 25 9 1 10 6 5.06 2.2
Harry Harvey 20 0 3 0.000 3 3 0 10 17 15 2 15 3 13.50 -7.1
Byron Honeycutt 25 1 2 0.333 9 0 0 10 16 13 1 10 6 11.70 -5.4
Team Totals 26 67 87 0.435 357 154 25 1368.1 1684 805 123 664 452 5.29 146.4
Catcher/First Base
Lomond's ability and age screams "trade bait". A strained oblique kept him from setting career highs in runs and RBIs; clearly he is in the prime of his career. This offseason the Tigers need to ask themselves the hard question of whether or not Mark Morrison is ready for the big leagues. If he is, Lomond is out of here. Morrison has hit .372 and .309 in the minors the last two years but so far hasn't been able to translate that success to the world's stage.
The Tigers liked John Owen's bat and tried him at first base with less than great results. Some players have a natural position and need to be there to be the most effective. Speaking of first baseman, the Tigers haven't quite given up on David Garrett yet, despite a career average of .251 over 419 at-bats. It's put up or shut up time for him.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C #Jim Lomond 30 102 99 380 66 124 28 5 14 67 0 1 47 26 0.326 0.400 0.537 0.937 34.1
C John Owen 27 71 65 254 34 68 12 0 9 38 0 0 28 18 0.268 0.345 0.421 0.766 -5.4
C Mark Morrison 23 14 10 42 3 11 4 0 0 8 0 0 3 3 0.262 0.311 0.357 0.668 -1.0
1B Don Gordon 29 84 63 247 52 72 11 4 7 39 0 0 42 22 0.291 0.395 0.453 0.849 6.9
1B John Joseph 31 48 28 131 18 30 8 0 1 15 1 0 8 10 0.229 0.277 0.313 0.590 -11.9
1B David Garrett 23 42 30 121 16 24 2 2 4 15 1 0 16 11 0.198 0.295 0.347 0.642 -11.6
1B Garrett Gully 29 26 13 57 4 8 2 1 1 9 0 0 3 7 0.140 0.194 0.263 0.457 -7.6
Infield
So far in his three year career, Charlie Parson has alternated two solid seasons with one really horrible one. Needless to say that the Tigers would like him to halt that trend. Last year he was a fantastic utility man, splitting time between third base and right field and ending the season as the Tigers' #3 hitter.
Noah Bashford, a waiver-wire pickup from the Philadelphia Phillies, provides the grit and determination one needs at the keystone position. He came into the organization in the nick of time: it as hoped that Ron Paquette would be able to handle the bat well enough to justify his very good fielding but he ultimately proved that he is best suited as a late-inning defensive replacement and emergency sub. That's probably the best role for Yoshifumi Yamamoto as well but Detroit fans love the flashy plays the man makes. He'll at least continue to provide a bit of enjoyment until the team needs actual production from the position.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B Ron Paquette 27 90 76 325 43 77 11 3 2 37 5 5 18 26 0.237 0.281 0.308 0.588 -22.9
2B Jason Irwin 23 92 63 263 35 83 15 2 5 40 1 4 14 17 0.316 0.349 0.445 0.794 11.5
2B Noah Bashford 27 57 55 205 26 63 8 2 3 35 2 2 16 27 0.307 0.353 0.410 0.762 8.6
2B *Phil Beadle 26 5 5 16 2 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 4 0.125 0.211 0.250 0.461 -0.7
3B Charlie Parson 23 136 133 569 89 182 28 7 12 79 6 1 31 61 0.320 0.353 0.457 0.810 22.7
3B Benedict Henderson 33 65 65 290 45 88 24 2 6 36 1 0 19 18 0.303 0.345 0.462 0.807 12.0
SS Yoshifumi Yamamoto 31 110 108 366 34 94 16 4 1 42 2 4 28 37 0.257 0.307 0.331 0.637 -17.6
SS Clarence Hines 22 4 2 7 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0.143 0.143 0.143 0.286 -1.3
SS Matt Collins 28 7 0 6 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.167 0.167 0.333 0.500 -0.7
Outfield
Carl Penley looks like the real deal. He set pretty much every record for a teenager that you can imagine. Teenagers, heck - those 57 two-baggers were the most anybody has hit in Major League Baseball history. You would hope that one day he learns that you get to first base for free once you get four balls. Even if he never gets better at the game, though - and you just know he's going to get better - he might end up the best outfielder of the 1930s - and the 1940s.
Between Penley, Bill Taylor, Gene Smyth, and Rusty McCarty, the Tigers have four top-quality outfielders who are all under 25 years of age. That's not just a good path to .500, that's a path to American League dominance. Obviously the Tigers have a lot of ground to make up elsewhere but this is one heck of a start.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF Carl Penley 19 117 117 555 88 190 57 11 5 55 15 6 3 60 0.342 0.345 0.512 0.857 23.4
LF *Ed Berndt 27 13 0 13 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0.154 0.214 0.154 0.368 -2.1
CF #Bill Taylor 25 103 102 442 62 130 27 11 7 56 10 3 17 50 0.294 0.319 0.452 0.771 9.2
CF *Gene Smyth 21 74 72 296 44 96 19 2 7 50 0 0 38 19 0.324 0.402 0.473 0.875 19.0
CF Naoya Imai 30 48 30 148 21 35 6 2 1 14 2 0 11 12 0.236 0.287 0.324 0.612 -7.9
CF *Tod Bly 24 21 21 92 14 24 5 3 2 16 0 2 2 5 0.261 0.277 0.446 0.722 -1.6
CF Mal Wenger 31 12 5 24 2 5 4 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 0.208 0.269 0.375 0.644 -0.9
RF #Rusty McCarty 23 58 51 208 31 61 18 3 6 37 0 0 5 25 0.293 0.303 0.495 0.798 5.0
RF Bob Scarbrough 26 39 19 103 15 26 7 0 4 19 0 0 2 7 0.252 0.274 0.437 0.710 -5.0
Code:
- *Cory Atkins 30 4 0 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.250 0.250 0.250 0.500 -0.4
- *Je-myung Kim 22 4 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.250 0.250 0.250 0.500 -0.3
Team Totals 26.2 1803 1386 5625 793 1581 336 65 99 748 47 28 367 533 0.281 0.325 0.417 0.742 61.8