Magic in Motown: A 2015 Tigers Dynasty

[buckeye22]

Hello OOTP community! None of you know me, but I've been playing the game for almost 2 years now starting with 14 and I've loved each new version a little bit more. Like I'm sure most people here, I've always been fascinated with both stats and the business side of baseball. Since I'll never get to live my dream of actually being the GM of a real team, it's been great to have a game this in depth that I can live out that dream in a virtual world. I joined the forums sometime last year but I just never got around to logging in and posting, but I've been lurking and I've especially loved reading the dynasty reports.

My only problem is, with all the customizable options in the game and all the ideas for different worlds floating around in my head, I've never truly had any one game last very long. I'd run one for a little bit, get bored, and then move on to the next, or I'd find something new that I never saw before in the options and decide I needed to test that out in a different game. But one thing I've thought could help keep my interest and enjoyment on a single game is doing my own dynasty report. I just never got around to doing it, in part because of laziness and in part because I told myself that as a new guy, no one would actually want to read it.

Well with the release of 16, I've decided to just jump in and try one. I'm normally one for challenging myself and trying to rebuild a bad team, but in this case I'm going to take over my favorite team, the Tigers, and try to lead them to that elusive first title in my lifetime. Hopefully a few people end up interested and read it, but if not I have no problem talking to myself lol.

[buckeye22]

Manfred resigns, Dombrowski takes over

March 20, 2015: In a shocking turn of events, new baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has resigned from the job a little less than 2 months after taking office. Wasting no time trying to make his mark, Manfred wasted no time in going public with ways he thought the game could be improved, and even succeeding to get rules passed to speed up the pace of the game. However, a number of his ideas quickly became lightning rods of controversy among fans, who didn't waste time letting the new commish know exactly the way they felt. At his press conference announcing his resignation, Manfred was quoted as saying, "I didn't realize that baseball fans were such big meanie faces(actual term not safe for print and omitted). I can't do this anymore!"

With just a little under 2 weeks remaining before the start of the regular season, the news sent the league's owners into a panic. However, despite reports in late 2014 saying he was completely happy with his current job and not even being a finalist, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski quickly stepped up to volunteer, at least on an interim basis. The owners, wanting a quick resolution, met via teleconference and unanimously voted Dombrowski as the new commissioner.

Said the new commish after being introduced, "I really did love my job in Detroit, and I thought I would retire there. But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to help the game I love grow and prosper in the 21st century. I hate putting the Tigers in this situation with only 2 weeks before their first game, but I think I left them with a team that's a contender. Mr. I and I have talked before about who should get the job if I ever decided to step away, and there are a couple of real strong in house options that I'm confident could take that team to the next level; the only one I failed to get them to."

Reports are that these "in house options" are Assistant GM Al Avila and Dombrowski's hand picked special assistant, 27 year old Tommy Keeran. Due to his experience in the game and the young age of Keeran, it is widely expected that Avila is the favorite for the job, and that an announcement from the team could be coming "in the next couple of hours."

[buckeye22]

Tigers have new GM

March 23, 2015: In news that was expected to come down on Friday, the Detroit Tigers and owner Mike Ilitch instead took the weekend to decide who would be the man to lead the team in the wake of former GM Dave Dombrowski's sudden resignation and promotion to commissioner. And the news is, well, I guess the only way to put it is shocking.

Baseball insiders were convinced that the job would go to Assistant GM Al Avila, but today the team shocked the world and promoted life long Tiger fan and special Dombrowski assistant Tommy Keeran, a 27 year old with no real front office experience beyond, in his words, "2 years of playing the great management sim Out of the Park Baseball" to the top job, making him the youngest general manager in major league history. Further reports say that as late as Sunday afternoon, the job was Avila's, but then he took himself out of competition because he thought it would be a conflict of interest to be in charge of the team that his son plays for. Instead, Avila will be leaving the organization and taking a job with MLB working with Dombrowski again. Keeran's deal will reportedly be for 4 years, and in his first move as GM he has appointed Tiger scout and former Pirate general manager Dave Littlefield as his new assistant GM. Said Keeran about Littlefield, "I know his time in Pittsburgh has been judged harshly, and for good reason considering all of the losses. But he's at least got experience in this role and it will be great to have someone to lean on when I inevitably need a little help during my adjustment period."

On his management style: "I consider myself a sabermetrics guy, although not nearly as much as guys like Billy Beane. I trust what my scouts have to say, especially on amateurs and guys in the low minors....but at some time a guy simply has to produce. Once we get a feel for what we think a guy is and can be as a player, I will judge him based on what he does on the field, and only those who are productive will get a chance to wear the Olde English D."

On prospects: "I'm big on building through the draft, which is one place you'll notice a bit of a difference between Dave and I. He did a great job of drafting and then using those prospects as trade chips for established talent, and I'm not saying that's a bad approach. It worked well for him. But I'm much more likely to hold onto my prospects and develop them myself. We have one of the leagues highest payrolls right now, and my long term goal is to try to get away from trying to outspend the Yankees and Red Sox and Dodgers and act like the mid market team we are. I certainly won't shy away from big money deals for the right player, and for the right piece I have no problem trading prospects. But expect to see a lot more of our lineup being home grown in the years to come."

On taking over a team expected to perform: "It's certainly a lot of pressure, but I welcome the challenge. At least to start, it's not like there's a whole lot I can do. Just come in, make a couple of little tweaks, and let the stars and Brad (Ausmus, Tiger manager) do their thing. I'll sit down with the coaching staff and see if there's any last minute moves we need to make before we go into the season, but as of now I'd anticipate nothing major. We like the team we have and we're confident that it can not only bring us our 5th consecutive AL Central title, but that it can bring World Series championship baseball back to Detroit for the first time in 31 years."


Some background info on Keeran: He's a 2010 graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in business. During his time in Columbus, he interned for a summer with the Columbus Clippers, the AAA affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, before doing the same with the Tigers upon graduation in the spring of 2010. Impressed by his work ethic and willingness to learn anything he could about the business of baseball, Dombrowski quickly took him under his wing. When asked about Keeran, one baseball executive was quoted as simply saying "WHO?" while another gave this insight: "This is a guy everything thought would be a GM somewhere someday. But now? At 27? Without any real experience? What the **** are the Tigers thinking?" At 27 years, 5 months, and 1 day old, Keeran eclipses Texas GM Jon Daniels as the new youngest general manager of all time. Daniels was 28 years, 41 days when he was hired in 2005.

[buckeye22]

With just 2 weeks left until the season starts and a few important roster decisions to make, there's no time to waste. Time to get right down to business.

Our owner, Mike Ilitch, has laid out a few goals for me as I settle in my new office, and looking them over I think they're all pretty reasonable and shouldn't be much of a problem to reach.

1 Achieve a winning record in 2015: I'm actually a little disappointed he didn't set his sights higher here. With the talent we have in place I see no reason why we can't contend for a championship, and anything short of a winning record in my eyes, barring a rash of injuries decimating the roster, would be a drastic failure.

2 Sign David Price to an extension: This one I'm a little more iffy on, but only because of my personal beliefs. Price is one of the top pitchers in the league and should be for at least a few more years, so I'd obviously love to see him stick around for a few more years. The problem? We've already got guys like Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez, and Victor Martinez making a lot of money in the next few years, and Price is about to turn 30. My personal opinion is that pitchers in their 30s really shouldn't be signed for more than 3-4 years at top dollar. I'm not saying I would NEVER do it, and some guys are able to stay healthy and stay close to the top of their game well into their 30s. But as we've seen here in Detroit firsthand with Verlander, sometimes guys hit 30 and just seem to hit a wall. There's not much I do about JV other than hope he can rebound, but I can make sure we don't have another situation like that. I'd like to sit down with David and see what we can work out....but I'm not going to break the bank OR go too long on him.

3 Acquire a nationally popular player by 2017: As long as Mr. I is alive and willing to spend money, this will be no problem at all.

4 Reach the World Series by 2021. For a franchise with this kind of talent on the roster and who's been there a couple of times in the last decade already, our goal should honestly be to WIN the World Series by 2021. If we can't find a way to at least get there, I'll take that as a personal failure.

Now that that's out of the way, I also sat down with manager Brad Ausmus to talk about his plans for this year. I believe in constructing the roster and then letting the coaches coach, so I'll give Brad a lot of room to do his thing and then take care of any minor issues that come up myself. With that said, here's a look at the projected roster of the 2015 Detroit Tigers.

C Alex Avila (.215/.327/.359, 11 HR, 47 RBI in 457 PA). A lot of fans are down on Alex because of his failure to follow up on his All-Star 2011 season, but I'm not one of them. Solid defense, a little bit of pop, and the ability to work a count. That's all I really look for in a catcher, and he can do all 3. His concussion history is worrisome though, and he's a free agent after the season so we'll see what his future has in store for him. For now, he's our starting catcher no questions asked.
1B Miguel Cabrera (.313/.371/.524, 25, 109 in 685 PA). What needs to be said about Miggy? Simply, in my eyes at least, the best hitter in the game today. Even in a down year last year while coming off of surgery in the 2013 offseason, he STILL put up an .895 OPS and drove in over 100. he says he's totally healthy this year, so I expect him to put up MVP caliber numbers once again. He's our anchor.
2B Ian Kinsler (.275/.307/.420, 17, 92, 15 SB in 726 PA). He struggled mightily at the plate in the 2nd half last year, and I really wish he could get the OBP up. Nevertheless, he's one of the best 2nd basemen in the league on both sides of the ball.
SS Jose Iglesias (.303/.349/.386, 3, 29 in 382 PA in 2013). Missed all of 2014 with a shin injury, so it'll be interesting to see how soon he can shake of the rust. I don't think he'll EVER come close to the .303 BA he put up in 2013 again, but his defense is top notch and he can run a bit, so he doesn't need to.
3B Nick Castellanos (.259/.306/.394, 11, 66 in 579 PA). Had a decent rookie season at the plate and should only continue to improve. However, his defense was atrocious. I think part of that was being moved around so much between 2012 and 2014 after spending some time in the OF, but he's going to have to improve. Luckily he's young and Omar Vizquel is on the staff, so I have no doubt he will.
LF Yoenis Cespedes (.260/.301/.450, 22, 100 in 645 PA). Came over from Boston for Rick Porcello in the offseason. Everyone knows how good the raw tools are, but he's yet to put it all together. Really needs to improve on the .301 OBP.
CF Anthony Gose (.226/.311/.293, 2, 13, 15 SB in 274 PA)/Rajai Davis (.282/.320/.401, 8, 51, 36 SB n 494). I'm not the biggest fan of either guy in this platoon, but there's probably not much I can do about it right now. Gose came over from Toronto in a trade for top prospect Devon Travis(I'd MUCH rather have Travis), and he's certainly not in the lineup for his bat. But he's a good glove in center and can run, and he hits righties better than Davis so he'll probably see the bulk of the playing time. Davis had a solid year last year for us, but he's really not a CF in my eyes. Combine below average defense and an inability to hit right handers well, and he's basically a 4th OF who will start against lefties.
RF J.D. Martinez (.315/.358/.553, 23, 76 in 480 PA). A late pickup from Houston last year, J.D. broke out with by far his best season in 2014 and earned himself a full time in 2015. My only question is if he's for real. I personally think he is and look forward to him being in the organization for a while, as he's only 27.
DH Victor Martinez (.335/.409/.565, 32, 103 in 641 PA). I don't necessarily like the deal we gave Victor this offseason, but I'm sure glad to have his bat around the next 4 years. Had a career year in 2014 and will probably never come close to hitting 30 bombs again, but he's the perfect compliment for Cabrera and could excel anywhere between 2nd and 6th in the lineup in my eyes. With his bad knees, he's probably pretty much done as a defensive player, although I wouldn't be shocked to see him and Miggy swap 1B and DH from time to time to keep Cabrera fresh.

Bench: C Bryan Holaday(.231/.266/.276 in 171 PA), IF Hernan Perez(.287/.331/.404, 6, 53, 21 SB in 597 PA at Toledo), OF Tyler Collins(.263/.335/.423, 18, 62 in 528 PA at Toledo). Not the strongest bench, and I wouldn't be shocked to see C James McCann or OF Steven Moya in the mix at some point in the season. Collins is a 5th OF who will mostly be used as a pinch hitter with some pop. Holaday is a roster filler until I know McCann is ready, otherwise pretty expendable. Perez should end up being a pretty solid utility player, but I'd prefer to keep him in Toledo again this year. Unfortunately, he's out of options so I'll keep him in Detroit and demote Andrew Romine(who's also out of options, but I'm hopeful he can pass through waivers). This is an area I will look to improve in the coming years. Yuck.

Rotation: David Price(15-12, 3.26 ERA), 271 K/38 BB, 248.1 IP). Perennial Cy Young candidate. Not much else needs to be said.
Anibal Sanchez(8-5, 3.43, 102/30, 126). When he's healthy he's one of the best starters in the American League. Unfortunately, his health is always a concern and he doesn't seem to be able to go a full season without an injury.
Justin Verlander(15-12, 4.54, 159/65, 206). Had his worst year since his 2008 disaster last season. But to be fair, he was also coming off of core muscle surgery and got a little better late in the season, so maybe there's a chance for a nice bounceback. I certainly hope, because that's a lot of money over the next 5 years if he's a back of the rotation guy now......
Alfredo Simon(15-10, 3.44, 127/56, 196.1). Had a breakout year in Cincinnati after years in the rotation, making his first All-Star team. Also broke down a bit down the stretch, and personally I think he's a better fit as a long reliever. But for now, he's in our rotation so hopefully he's closer to his first half of 2014 then his 2nd half.
Shane Greene (5-4, 3.78, 81/29, 78.2). Had a decent rookie season for the Yankees and we could probably do a lot worse for a 5th starter. Our scouts aren't very high on him, but I think he has the potential to be a dependable mid-late rotation guy for a while.

If there's one area of the team I could potentially look to upgrade before Opening Day, it's the rotation. Just too many question marks for my liking, between Sanchez's injury history, Verlander's bad year, whether Simon is a starter or reliever, and if Greene is actually a capable Major League starter. Don't be completely surprised if I shop around and see what's available on the trade market here in the coming days.

Bullpen: Al Alburquerque (2.51 ERA in 57.1 IP), Joe Nathan (4.81 in 58), Joakim Soria (3.25 in 44.1), Joba Chamberlain (3.57 in 63), Tom Gorzelanny (0.86 in 21), Blaine Hardy (2.54 in 39), Alex Wilson (1.91 in 28.1). Last year's achilles heal has a couple of new faces, but for the most part comes back intact. I'm not sure if that's good or not, but the track record of some of these arms suggest they can't POSSIBLY be that bad again. Having Soria for a full year should be a big plus. Hardy was a pleasant surprise in 2014, and Gorzelanny has to better than Phil Coke was. It will be interesting to see what Nathan has left in the tank and which Chamberlain shows up. In my eyes Joba was our most trustworthy reliever for well over half the season last year, being the only bright spot in a bad pen for quite a while. But mostly because of overuse, he fell apart down the stretch. With less pressure and hopefully fewer innings, hopefully he can be that trustworthy guy again this year and help lead this pen to respectability.


And there you have it, barring any last minute moves(I'm not ruling anything out), your 2015 Detroit Tigers! Hopefully the group that can bring the World title back to the Motor City.

[buckeye22]

You'd think after a whirlwind day of press conferences, interviews, and meetings I would have just wanted to go home, or at the least relax in my new office and get acclimated to my new surroundings. Well, you thought wrong. If there's one thing I learned over the last few years learning from, in my humble opinion, the best GM in the game, it's that this is a 24/7 job and there's no time for rest. So instead, I hit the phones trying to see if I could find one more starting pitcher. Hey, you can never have too much pitching, especially with the question marks in our rotation! My first call was to our old friends in Washington, home of 2/5 of our 2013 rotation. My call was actually to see if I could pry away Tanner Roark, the odd man out in their great rotation, with maybe a slight shot at bringing Doug Fister back to Detroit. The words that came out of Mike Rizzo's mouth next almost knocked me to the floor.


"For the right price, Strasburg can be had."

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I didn't think I had enough chips that I was actually willing to part with, but I HAD to see where this was going. The first guy I thought of was Steven Moya. Our scouts are high on Moya, coming off an impressive year at AA Erie where he hit 35 homers. I on the other hand, am not quite sold. The 35 homers almost equaled the TOTAL number(36) he had hit in 4 seasons before that. We're talking 1127 PA in the minors with a total of 36 homers, then he breaks out with 35. Was it a fluke? Worse, his career slash line is only .251/.285/.454, and he's walked 70 times....IN HIS CAREER. Add in 161 strikeouts last year, and I would need to see a lot more before I'd be convinced he had value for us. But if I could get another team to value him as much as our scouts and bite.....

I knew Moya alone wouldn't land Strasburg, but I decided to add him to the deal and then let the Nats tell me what else they needed from there. The answer I got almost killed the deal then and there; they wanted either starting SS Jose Iglesias, or starting 3B Nick Castellanos. With 2 weeks remaining before the season and no good option in house to replace either of them, I really didn't want to fix one POTENTIAL hole and create a SURE one. Plus I really like both guys and think they could be centerpieces to build around. If I'm going to try to lower payroll and improve the minor league system, how could I possibly pull the trigger here? But on the other hand, this is Stephen Strasburg. One of the best pitchers in the league who would instantly give us, arguably, the best 1-4 in the American League! How could I turn him down?

After a night of intense thinking, I made my decision.

Me: "So for Moya and Castellanos, we can have Strasburg?"
Rizzo: "I might be crazy for this, but yes."
I decided to see just how far I could push this deal.
Me: "How about you throw in some cash? Say, 5 million? I mean you DO kind of owe us for fleecing us on the Fister deal......."
*Rizzo laughs hysterically* "You sure do drive a hard bargain kid. Alright, you got yourself a deal."

And with that, my first trade as a major league GM was complete. I was over the moon with excitement, thinking about all the wins that will out of our starting rotation this year, when I remembered CRAP, what am I going to do about 3B now? There's no way I'm letting Hernan Perez play there all season......... Looks like I got some work left to do before opening day....

[Clemente21PIT]

Let me be the first to congratulate you on getting Strasburg! I wish you the best of luck with the Tigers and I hope that you can fix your third base situation and make it to the playoffs for this season and the next several. I'll be following along!

Just wondering, what are your trade settings on? Thanks

[buckeye22]

Originally Posted by Clemente21PIT

Let me be the first to congratulate you on getting Strasburg! I wish you the best of luck with the Tigers and I hope that you can fix your third base situation and make it to the playoffs for this season and the next several. I'll be following along!

Just wondering, what are your trade settings on? Thanks

Didn't change any settings as of yet, honestly totally skipped my mind until after I had already pulled this one off. Going forward I'll be changing it to at least hard. Still not quite experienced with the game enough to go very hard yet but that's my ultimate goal.

As far as prospects, I'll just leave that netural.

[buckeye22]

Opening Day! Well, Opening Night, I guess, we still have to wait until tomorrow. But just those two words bring so much hope. A new season means a clean slate, a chance to forget about last year's disappointments. For some, it's a chance for last year's losing record to become this year's breakout playoff team. For others, like us, it's a chance to put last year's playoff failures behind you and hope, no, plan a parade in October.

So much hope. So much excitement. So much.....panic. It's been 2 weeks since I traded Castellanos for Strasburg, and I STILL haven't totally solved the 3rd base hole I personally created for us. I have a potential plan in place, but as anyone who's been around this game long enough can tell you, those plans can fall through quickly. I'm hopeful I'll have news in the coming days, but as of now all I have to report is a minor trade that added some depth. Well, minor in terms of what it did for our 3rd base situation. In another way completely it's a big deal for us.

Tigers acquire: 30 year old third baseman Danny Valencia and 24 year old minor-league starting pitcher Juan Oramas
Blue Jays acquire: 40 year old relief pitcher Joe Nathan, 21 year old minor-league outfielder Austin Schotts, and 27 year old minor-league shortstop Josh Prince

The initial offer the Blue Jays gave me was totally different and completely unacceptable: reliever(and projected closer) Al Alburquerque and 19 year old center fielder Derek Hill, a guy we see eventually becoming a solid player for us. There was absolutely no way that deal was happening, and I was prepared to just go into the season with Hernan Perez at 3rd and very little depth behind him if need be. How I managed to talk them into not only taking Nathan, who was due to make 10 million dollars and was coming off of by far his worst season last year, but also Schotts(who the scouts are high on but has hit .229, .192, and .211 in short season and low A ball the last 2 years) while also giving us Oramas, who while probably nothing more than a higher minor league arm and potential major league spot starter, still helps add to our pitching depth should the worst case scenario happen with our big league rotation. Prince, the 3rd guy we gave up, is simply a 27 year old SS who was going to give us a little depth in the high minors, but is someone I'm not worried about losing in the least. The real win in this deal though, was getting rid of Nathan's contract. Even if Valencia winds up never playing a game for us and this ends up being a salary dump, I view this trade as a win for the organization. Let Nathan be Toronto's expensive problem.

We made 2 other transactions since I last reported, one of which should have all Tiger fans fired up while the other should eventually pay big dividends for us. First, we signed 22 year old Cuban middle infielder Andy Ibanez to a minor league deal with a $2,000,000 signing bonus. Andy can play either middle infield position, but 2B is his better spot and the one we project him to play for us in the future. He's a little raw, but our scouts say he could someday be a .310 hitter with good gap power, a decent ability to draw walks, and the ability to avoid strikeouts. We'll probably start him out in A ball and have him work his way up, but if everyone goes well I fully expect him to replace Ian Kinsler as our starting 2B in 2018.

The 2nd signing that I said should have fans excited? We resigned David Price! And better yet, we signed him to a fairly short term deal(4-5 years) for less than he would have gotten on the open market. The deal calls for him to make 20 million in 2016 and then 25 million in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and then a vesting option for 2020 for 25 million that kicks in if he pitches at least 150 innings in 2019. I figured the vesting option was a safe way to go because if he's still healthy and good enough to get to 150 innings for us in 2019, then he's likely still productive enough for us to keep around in 2020, which also happens to be the same year when Justin Verlander has a team option. Total guaranteed value of the deal is 95 million over 4 years, and it jumps to 120 million over 5 if the option kicks in. What makes this most exciting is it means we now Verlander, Anibal Sanchez, and Price all locked up through at least the 2018 season....and there's still always the possibility that we could lock up Strasburg if the price is right.

Around the league

Tonight marks the beginning of the 2015 MLB regular season with the Cardinals and Cubs playing in the annual Sunday night opener. Tomorrow we open our season at home against the Twins with Strasburg taking the mound against Phil Hughes.

The OSA released their top prospects list, and the results for us....were not pretty to say the least. We're tied for the number 29 system in the majors with the Angels, with not a single player ranked in the top 100. In other words, dead last. Although there's still some nice pieces in our minor league system, this is something I'm going to have to fix. It looks like in the short term, I'm going to HAVE to continue spending money(wisely) to contend, but I'm hopeful that in the next 3-5 years we can start seeing more home grown talent see the field for us. My long term goal is to see our organization run more like the St. Louis Cardinals, rolling out guys they developed everywhere they can and then filling in the holes with free agents and trades instead of trying to compete with the Dodgers and Yankees for the highest payroll. That's a battle that, IMO, we'll always lose. According to the OSA, the top 10 prospects this year are:



In more positive news from the OSA for us, we're still predicted to win the AL Central this year! In fact, with our 93-69 predicted record, we're the preseason favorites to win the American League, with only the St. Louis Cardinals at 94-68 predicted to be better from the National League. Time will tell if these predictions can be trusted, but already it looks like there may be something to trying to emulate the Cardinals organization strategy.....

From here on out I will be posting monthly updates, with special reports if any important breaking news happens.

[buckeye22]

April 17: It took almost a full month since the big trade to do it, but it looks like we've FINALLY got our 3rd base situation taken care of again! You see, shortly after the trade, I made an offer to Cuban 2B/3B Hector Olivera, and while he liked the offer he took a while to sign. I guess maybe he was giving it some time to see if a better one came. Or maybe he had some kind of visa issues. Whatever the case, he finally signed today! And not a moment too soon, after the Hernan Perez/Danny Valencia/Austin Romine combination went 5-31 over the first 9 games of the season.



The deal is 3 years/$18.5 million with a $10 million team option for the 4th. Olivera's best position is 2nd base, and he's already 30 years old, so there are some natural concerns about how he will adjust not only to playing 3rd every day, but how he'll adjust to big league pitching. Culturally, he should be a great fit in the clubhouse, especially with fellow countrymen Jose Iglesias and Yoenis Cespedes on the team(and ironically, both also manning positions on the left side of the diamond).

In other news around the team, it's been and up and down start to the season, which sees sitting at 4-5 so far. Things started out smoothly with a sweep of the Twins, but quickly went sour on the road trip to Cleveland and Pittsburgh. After being swept by the Indians(who are the last remaning undefeated team in the majors at 8-0), we went on to lose the first 2 in Pittsburgh before salvaging the last game to go 1-5 on the road trip. Anthony Gose was put on the DL after the 2nd game of the season, out 4-5 weeks with an intercoastal strain. In his absence, Rajai Davis was bumped up into the full time CF role.

The schedule doesn't exactly ease up the rest of the month, with a 10 game homestand against 3 winning teams(White Sox, Yankees, and Indians) followed by a trip to Minnesota. Sure, it's early, but hopefully we can take care of some business at home and not fall too far back this early. In particular another sweep at the hands of the Indians could be disastrous considering we're already 4.5 games back 9 games in.

Around the league:
4/7- Prince Fielder of the Rangers and Jesse Hahn of the A's were suspended 2 games each for their roles in a fight on a opening day.
4/8- Giants announce that closer Sergio Romo is out 5-6 months with bone chips in his elbow and ace Madison Bumgarner is out 12-13 months with a torn flexor tendon. Not a good day for the defending champs.
4/8- Marlins and Padres swap 3rd baseman, with the Marlins receiving Will Middlebrooks and a minor league pitcher for Martin Prado and $3 million.
4/9- Reds send starter Mike Leake to the Mariners for OF Justin Ruggiano and a minor league shortstop
4/10- Reliever Huston Street signs a 3 year extension with the Angels for a reported $34.8 million.
4/11- Dodger SS Jimmy Rollins is out 3-4 weeks with a sprained finger.
4/11- A's IF/OF Ben Zobrist is out 7 weeks with a strained quad.
4/14- Blue Jays SP Mark Buehrle picks up career win #200 in the Jays 4-2 win over the Rays.
4/15- White Sox SP Jeff Samardzija is out 8-9 weeks with shoulder tendinitis.
4/16- Mariner SP "King" Felix Hernandez is out 3-4 months with a partially torn labrum.

Quite a few big time pitchers going down early on. Luckily we've avoided the injury bug for the most part....hopefully it stays that way!

[mpejkrm]

This is good stuff you've got going here so far. I'm liking the acquisitions you've made. As you said, it will be a battle to rebuild the minor league system, but I'm sure you can do it.

[buckeye22]

That month was certainly not I hoped for. Sure, a losing April has never officially eliminated anyone from the playoffs, not to mention that due to a lot of mediocre teams thus far we're ONLY a game out of the Wild Card. But a losing April, and worse yet already being 6 games behind a red hot Cleveland team who started their season out 10-0 is certainly not what I had in mind. But now definitely isn't the time to panic. There are 139 games left in the season and quite a few of our guys are simply having early season slumps right now. The Indians will fall back to Earth(if they haven't already, considering the 6-5 finish to the month), so as long as we can at least stay within reach we should be OK.

A look at how our April went:


The picture says it all: an up and down month, and we're TERRIBLE away from home. I believe in the old adage "win your home games and find a way to split on the road." Well, we're doing a pretty good job of winning our home games(9-4). But 2-8 on the road simply won't cut it.

Who's hot: SS Jose Iglesias(29-72, 2 2B, 0 HR, 9 RBI, .403/.392/.431)
RF J.D. Martinez(31-90, 6 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, .344/.422/.511)
1B Miguel Cabrera(27-91, 4 2B, 4 HR, 12 RBI, .297/.385/.473)
Our big 4 starters(9-6, 3.13 ERA, 1.13 WHIP

Who's not: SP Shane Green(0-3, 8.10 ERA, 1.85 WHIP)
2B Ian Kinsler(15-85, 4 2B, 0 HR, 7 RBI, .176/.260/.224)
3B Hector Olivera(11-55, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .200/.274/.345)

It's not all negative around the team, as a few guys are off to great starts including, probably most surprisingly, Jose Iglesias coming off an entire missed season in 2014. He broke out with a .300+ batting average in 2013, but even I had legit questions about if he'd ever come close to that again. So far he's not only proving that was for real, but he's surpassing it. Also nice to see J.D. Martinez get off to a hot start and show us that his breakout last year may not have been a fluke. If he keeps this up he may become a candidate for a contract extention.

On the other side though....yuck. Shane Green is a young pitcher we acquired from the Yankees, and after his solid rookie season in New York I thought we had ourselves a decent 5th starter. We still might; after all 4 starts is a small sample size and he may turn it around soon. But so far it's not looking good. We have a couple of guys pitching well in Toledo, so this is one guy we'll keep an eye on. Ian Kinsler ended 2014 on a slump that lasted most of the 2nd half, and so far he's picking up right where he left off. He's still owed 41 million over the next 3 years and plays great defense, so his job his safe. But hopefully this now 5 month long slump isn't a sign of what's to come. Finally, I can't be too hard on Hector Olivera just yet. Coming to a new country, 10+ games into a new season, with and then being thrown into the lineup without a spring training while being expected to play a position that isn't your natural one is a lot to ask of anyone. He's starting to come around too. In his first 8 games he only had 3 hits and was batting .088. In his last 6 he's had 8 hits, including 2 3 hit days, and raised his average up to .200 while also hitting his first career home run. He's playing solid defense as well so it's way too early to even think about calling him a bust. I think he'll be fine in the long run.

Down on the Farm

At the end of each month I'll update everyone on how our minor league affiliates are doing as well as update some key players that we're high on.

AAA Toledo: 12-9, 1st in the IL West
SP Kyle Lobstein(25): 2-0, 25.2 IP, 2.10 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 9.1 K/9
SP Kyle Ryan(23): 2-0, 21.2 IP, 4.57 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 2.9 K/9
SP Drew VerHagen(24): 1-0, 21.2 IP, 1.66 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 4.2 K/9 (currently on the DL, but scheduled to be back tomorrow)
RP: Alex Wilson(28): 7.2 IP, 1.17 ERA, .78 WHIP, 7.0 K/9 (10.13 ERA, 1.88 WHIP in 2.2 IP in Detroit earlier in the year)
RP Jose Valdez(25): 11 IP, 1.64 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 13.1 K/9, 6 Saves

AA Erie: 9-11, 6th in the EL Southern
SP Buck Farmer(24): 3-1, 30 IP, 2.10 ERA, .83 WHIP, 5.7 K/9
SS Dixon Machado(23): .68 AB, 2 HR, 2 SB, .235/.342/.353

A+ Lakeland: 11-10, 4th in the FSL North
2B Andy Ibanez(22): 67 AB, 2 HR, 1 SB, .358/.500/.522(.500 OBP! My initial plan with Ibanez was to have him go up one level per year and then take Kinsler's job in 2018. But if he keeps this up, it's gonna be hard to keep him away from Erie.....)

A West Michigan: 9-12, 8th in the MWL Eastern
C Grayson Greiner(22): 71 AB, 0 HR, 0 SB, .282/.373/.380
SP Spencer Turnbull(22): 0-2, 19 IP, 5.68 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, 9 K/9
CF Derek Hill(19): 89 AB, 1 HR, 3 SB, .315/.333/.404 (And the Blue Jays honestly though I'd give him up for Danny Valencia.......)

A- Connecticut, GCL, DSL, and VCL Tigers all start their season in mid June.

All in all, considering the rep of our farm system....not bad. Everyone's at least hanging around .500 so far, and some of top prospects are performing really well. I'm especially interested in Ibanez, Greiner, and Hill. All 3 play positions we will most likely have a need for in the next few years, so all 3 are guys to keep an eye on as they move through the system.

Around the league:
4/17- Padre OF Justin Upton will miss 7-8 weeks with a sprained ankle
4/18- Brewer OF Ryan Braun will miss 5 weeks with shoulder tendinitis
4/21- Angels sign RP Brian Wilson to a 1 year/2.32 million dollar contract
4/24- Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez will miss 11 months with a torn PCL
4/25- Texas 2B Rougned Odor and Angels SP Jered Weaver were suspended 6 games for fighting. This is the 2nd fight the Rangers have been in in a month.
4/27- Yankees SP Nathan Eovaldi will miss 5 months with a bone spur in his elbow.
4/27- Tampa Bay 1B James Loney extends his hitting streak to 20 games.
4/28- Astros OF George Springer and Padres SP James Shields were suspended 10 games for their part in a bench-clearing brawl.
4/28- Loney's hit streak snapped at 20.
4/29- Giants SP Ryan Vogelsong will miss 5 months for shoulder inflammation. This is the Giants 2nd starting pitcher to go down already.
5/1- Twins SP Ricky Nolasco will miss 5 months will a torn labrum.

Awards
AL Batter of the Month- Seattle 2B Robinson Cano(.341/.416/.659, 7 HR, 16 RBI in 101 PA/88 AB)
NL Batter of the Month- Pittsburgh CF Andrew McCutchen(.467/.588/.700, 1 HR, 13 RBI in 80 PA/60 AB)
AL Pitcher of the Month- Cleveland SP Trevor Bauer(4-0, 1.95 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 10 BB/16 K in 27.2 IP)
NL Pitcher of the Month- St. Louis SP Michael Wacha(5-0, .70 ERA, .52 WHIP, 4 BB/43 K in 38.1 IP)
AL Rookie of the Month- Toronto CF Dalton Pompey(.326/.385/.465, 1 HR, 12 RBI, 5 SB, 96 PA/86 AB)
NL Rookie of the Month- San Francisco 2B Ehire Adrianza(.349/.431/.460, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SB, 72 PA/63 AB)

[buckeye22]

May was a little bit better, but we're still just not quite where we want to be. The positive is that a 16-13 month(and in particular a 9-4 finish) has FINALLY pushed us to above the .500 mark after hovering anywhere between .500 and 4 games under for most of the first month and a half. We lost Ian Kinsler for about 3 weeks during May, but all that did was allowed us to try a few new things, and the results were encouraging. Hernan Perez even proved that he can handle a full time gig for a short period, posting a .286 BA for the month while playing good defense at 2nd base. Maybe I was a little too harsh on him this preseason. Maybe he could grow into a full time role at some point after all. And we now come out of May in *knocks on wood* remarkably good health, with Gose back now, Kinsler not only back but beginning to show signs of heating up, and 2 relief pitchers that we didn't have out of spring training(Josh Zeid and Bruce Rondon) finally healthy and on the rehab trail. And look at that last week! After all our road troubles early on, it was great to see us go out west and take 5 of 7 from 2 contenders.

Now for a bit of bad news:


Cleveland just isn't cooling off yet, and we've dropped 7 games back in the division. It's way too easy to give up and there are plenty of head to head games against the Indians left, but for now I'm focusing most of my attention on the Wild Card race that we're just 2 back of and just making sure we get into the playoffs. If we're able to get hot and still win the Central again, then that's great.

Who's hot(stats from May only):
1B Miguel Cabrera (29-106, 4 2B, 8 HR, 16 RBI, .274/.371/.538)
DH Victor Martinez (37-116, 10 2B, 1 HR, 11 RBI, .352/.405/.476)
3B Hector Olivera (35-102, 11 2B, 2 3B, 0 HR, 12 RBI, 4 SB, .343/.404/.490)
LF Yoenis Cespedes (27-96, 6 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, .281/.381/.500)
SP David Price (5-0, 1.85 ERA, .64 WHIP)
SP Anibal Sanchez (3-0, 2.35 ERA, .91 WHIP)
Who's not:
C Alex Avila (17-88, 7 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .193/.283/.341)
2B Ian Kinsler (9-51, 3 2B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, .176/.250/.294, 15 games missed)
SS Jose Iglesias (16-89, 1 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 3 SB, .180/.204/.225)
CF Rajai Davis/Anthony Gose (32-148, 5 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 11 SB, .216/.240/.317)
SP Stephen Strasburg (2-4, 6.20 ERA, 1.40 WHIP)

Some guys starting to heat up, while Iglesias is regressing back to what I expect from him. As I said earlier, since returning from injury Kinsler is showing signs of breaking out, going 7-21 with 3 2B and a HR in his last 5 games. The name I'm worried about most on this list is Strasburg. My legacy, at least here early on, will most likely be defined on the trade that brought him over...and so far it hasn't been good.



One bad start in April turned a great month into a good one, which happens. But in May? It was the exact opposite. One great start(against Houston, no less, where he STILL took a loss) was his only saving grace in the middle of a string of mediocre or downright bad ones. With his track record and pure talent, I expect him to turn it around soon and be the dominant pitcher that we traded for. But I certainly haven't been getting a good return on my investment thus far, especially considering Castellanos is off hitting .295 in Washington(but still playing his normal bad defense. Take that for what you will). I still stand firm by why I made the deal, but I certainly hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the long run.

In better news, how about Hector Olivera! I expected an adjustment period coming over the U.S., and there certainly was one as his .200/.274/.345 slash line in April shows. Fast forward one more month and he seems to have gotten the hang of things, raising the slash all the way up to .293/.358/.439. Even better, after watching the defense Castellanos played last year, he's been decent at 3rd base. 7 errors in only 108 chances is a little much, but his zone and efficiency ratings suggest that he's a little above average at the hot corner. As he settles into life in the states and gets more and more comfortable at the plate, I expect the number of errors to even out as well.

Down on the Farm

AAA Toledo: 30-20, 1st in the IL West
SP Kyle Lobstein(25): 3-4, 55.1 IP, 5.04 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 8.3 K/9
SP Kyle Ryan(23): 4-0, 58 IP, 3.72 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 4.3 K/9
SP Drew VerHagen(24): 2-1, 55.2 IP, 4.04 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 4.7 K/9
SP Buck Farmer(24): 1-0, 11.2 IP, 3.09 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 10 K/9 (called up mid month. 5-2, 55 IP, 1.96 ERA, .85 WHIP, 8.7 K/9 at AA Erie)
RP: Alex Wilson(28): 19 IP, 0.95 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 8.1 K/9 (7.45 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 9.2 IP in 2 stints in Detroit)
RP Jose Valdez(25): 24.2 IP, 1.09 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 12.4 K/9, 12 saves
RP Bruce Rondon(24): 3.1 IP, 5.40 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 13.5 K/9, 2 saves(rehab stint)

AA Erie: 21-29, 6th in the EL Southern
2B Andy Ibanez(22): 31 AB, 0 HR, 3 SB, .355/.44/.452 (44 AB, 0 HR, 0 SB, .227/.244,.250 at Toledo during Kinsler's injury, 100 AB, 2 HR, 2 SB, .320/.461/.440 at Lakeland) Suffered an injury yesterday, diagnosis pending.
SS Dixon Machado(23): 76 AB, 2 HR, 2 SB, .224/.330/.329, sprained ankle May 2nd, out 2-3 more weeks

A+ Lakeland: 21-29, 6th in the FSL North

No players of note at Lakeland currently

A West Michigan: 20-30, 8th in the MWL Eastern
SP Spencer Turnbull(22): 1-3, 50.1 IP, 5.01 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 9.3 K/9
C Grayson Greiner(22): 158 AB, 2 HR, 0 SB, .253/.360/.373
CF Derek Hill(19): 210 AB, 2 HR, 8 SB, .262/.302/.352

A- Connecticut, GCL, DSL, VSL Tigers begin play later this month.

Toledo is not only hanging on to their lead, but has extended it out to 3.5 games. Otherwise....not good. Every other team we have playing currently sits in last. We need an infusion of talent in the lower minors ASAP. Next week's draft is going to be crucial for us as we prepare for our future.

Around the League
5/2- Texas 3B Adrian Beltre hits his 400th career home run.
5/3- Cincinnati SP Johnny Cueto will be out 5 months with a radial nerve compression (score one for me. Cueto was one of the guys I considered going after when I ended up with Strasburg)
5/3- Atlanta SS Andrelton Simmons will miss 2 weeks with a sore wrist.
5/6- Texas 3B Adrian Beltre will miss 3 weeks with a quad strain.
5/10- Toronto SP R.A. Dickey will be out 5 months with shoulder inflammation.
5/10- Texas SP Nick Martinez will be out 5 months with shoulder inflammation.
5/12- Diamondbacks trade RP Addison Reed and $3 million to Yankees for 2 minor league pitchers.
5/13- St. Louis RF Jason Heyward is out 3 weeks after being injured while making a defensive play.
5/15- Cincinnati RP Sean Marshall is out 5 months with a torn rotator cuff.
5/17- Boston SP Clay Buchholz will miss 7 months will bone chips in his elbow.
5/18- Astros trade SP Brett Oberholtzer to Blue Jays for minor league pitcher Matt Smoral.
5/20- Atlanta 3B Chris Johnson is expected to miss 10 months with a torn ACL.
5/21- Detroit 1B Miguel Cabrera hits career homer number 400.
5/24- Toronto LF Michael Saunders will miss 5 months with a broken hand.
5/24- Arizona 3B Yasmany Tomas is expected to miss 8 months with a broken kneecap.
5/25- Rangers trade RP Shawn Tolleson and minor-league pitcher Brett Martin to Twins for C Kurt Suzuki and $3 million.
5/27- Jimmy Rollins, sidelined by a torn labrum, announces his retirement at the age of 36.
5/27- Pittsburgh's Jung-Ho Kang and Miami's Mat Latos were suspended 2 games each for fighting.
5/30- Met 2B Daniel Murphy extends hit streak to 20 games.
6/1- Seattle 2B Robinson Cano will miss 3 weeks with a concussion.

Awards
AL Batter of the Month: Toronto RF Jose Bautista (.343/.437/.648, 9 HR, 24 RBI in 127 PA/105 AB)
NL Batter of the Month: Pittsburgh CF Andrew McCutchen (.359/.463/.728, 9 HR, 17 RBI in 123 PA/103 AB. 2nd NLBOM win this year).
AL Pitcher of the Month: Houston RP Luke Gregerson (4-0, 7 saves, 0.59 ERA, 0.52 WHIP, 0 BB/20 K, 15.1 IP)
NL Pitcher of the Month: NY Mets SP Matt Harvey (6-0, 3.29 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 2 BB/36 K, 41 IP)
AL Rookie of the Month: Detroit 3B Hector Olivera (.343/.404/.490, 0 HR, 12 RBI, 4 SB in 114 PA/102 AB)
NL Rookie of the Month: Pittsburgh LF Andrew Lambo (.318/.375/.602, 5 HR, 21 RBI in 96 PA/88 AB)

Next up: First-Year Player Draft on June 6th.

[rjl518]

look who is on top of the NL East... I do believe its the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins!!!

oh...go Tigers, by the way!

[buckeye22]

Originally Posted by rjl518

look who is on top of the NL East... I do believe its the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins!!!

oh...go Tigers, by the way!

Mets are looking good. 4 guys batting over .300 with 2 more above .275, Harvey, deGrom, and Colon are having good years with Colon still sporting a sub 2 ERA, and the highest bullpen ERA currently is 2.61.

I wind up following the Mets a bit more IRL than I ever thought I would because I went to high school with Niese. Can't wait to see what all their young starters do here in the next few years, even though that does probably mean they'll force the one guy I'm following them for out lol.

[buckeye22]

June is only 6 days and 5 games old, but it's been kind to our Tigers. Extremely kind. A 5 game winning streak to open up the month has brought our overall streak to 6 games, and we've now won 14 of our last 18 to bring our record up to 32-25. Better yet, a quick check of the standings finds us as the first wild card in the AL, 1.5 games up on the Angels for the 2nd slot and a full 2 ahead of Baltimore and Tampa Bay. Even the Indians are starting to finally slow down a bit, losing their last 3 to drop their lead over us to 4. Hopefully we've weathered the early season storm and are now poised to breakout and reclaim our spot atop the American League Central. With 6 games against the Indians this month, we should learn a lot about if we're contenders, pretenders, or the team to beat by the end of June. Stay tuned. But in the meantime, it's June 7th. That means that yesterday was by far the most important day of my first year on the job: draft day! And as the end of May update showed you, our farm system is in terrible need of a talent infusion, especially at the lower levels. There's not a whole lot I can do right now about cutting payroll at the major league level, unless I'm willing to trade some of our veterans for prospects and start the rebuild now. Since I'm not willing to do that(I feel like we have some guys right in the primes of their career and we need to take a couple more shots at the title NOW while developing our future), there's only 2 ways I can improve the system: international free agents(which has already yielded a potential 2nd baseman of the future) and the draft. Our chance to keep this team competitive for years to come starts now.

Of course one of the complications of spending for stars and winning lots of games is that you're stuck towards the bottom of the draft order. Luckily, at least according to head scout Scott Pleis, this was a pretty deep draft, and if his scouting work on the guys we got early on proves to be good, I feel like we got some solid talent.

With the entire system in need of upgrading, I didn't set any real goals coming into the draft. Hitting or pitching, high school or college, or even what position the players played didn't really matter to me. I needed the best talent I could find at each pick, plain and simple.

First, this is how the OSA saw the top 10 players in the draft.



Drafting all the way down at number 26, I basically ignored all of these guys. Sure, if one happened to drop to me I'd be thrilled to have them, but the odds of that happening just aren't good. And sure enough, every one was gone by pick 14.

First Overall Pick (Arizona Diamondbacks)



Happ was rated the number 10 overall prospect by the OSA, but interestingly Pleis was a little iffy on him. It'll be interesting to see who's right.

The rest of the top 10 prospects:
Allard: #7 overall to Philadelphia
Everett: #11 to San Diego
Tate: #4 to Minnesota
Aiken: #6 to Boston
Mantuella: #9 to the Cubs
Lemoine: #14 to Atlanta
Buehler(anyone? No?): #10 to Cincinnati
Bregman: #3 to Texas
Rodgers: #2 to Colorado

When it came our turn to draft at number 26, I had my sights set on 3 different players. Somehow, I managed to grab all 3 in the first 3 rounds. Time will tell if any of the 3 become good players for us, but for now I'll consider that a great draft.

First round:


Hooper's potential was rated a 78 by Pleis and a 72 by OSA. According to Pleis, he's "as close to a "can't miss" prospect as you'll find on a pitching mound," with the potential to have great stuff, with good movement and good control. Considering we're currently screwed if any of our top 4 starters go down because of a lack of depth, I just couldn't turn down a potential top of the rotation starter.

Bonus demand: $1.2 million
Recommended slot: $1.28 million
Bonus offered: slot

Second round:


Another high school pitcher that both Pleis(78 potential) and the OSA(71) were high on. Says Pleis, "Matt is the kind of player scouts drool over. A bonafide ace who will one day chew up big-league hitters and spit 'em out." Expected to have great stuff and command and OK movement.

Bonus demand: $1.1 million
Recommended slot: $800,000
Bonus offered: $1.1 million

Third round:


Once again, I went with another high schooler. I prefer a better mix of college and HS, but as I said we're just trying to get good young players in the system right now. We're not desperate for players to be in the majors in a year or 2, and I intend to give these guys as much time as they need to develop. Anyway, Mountcastle is listed as a SS, but his best position is 3B. At 6'3" and only 18 years old with plenty of time to fill out, I see his future being at 3B. Once again, both Pleis and the OSA were high on this kid, with Pleis rating his potential at 78 and the OSA at 75. Our scouts say "Mountcastle is a guy who does enough things right that it's easy to see him having a long career, but it's hard to see him being a superstar." They go on to say he's a potential .290 hitter with tremendous raw power, a patient approach at the plate, and average speed and defense.

Bonus demand: $350,000
Recommended slot: $400,000
Bonus offer: slot

In the 4th and 5th rounds I went back to offense, once again with high school kids. My 4th round pick, 1B/OF Bryant Harris has a potential rating of 74/55 and in particular grades high in power and eye. Our scouts see him as a potential .270/.370/.490 guy, and while he's listed as 1B, he has no prior experience at the position and is going to be brought through the system as an outfielder. His bonus demand and recommended slot were $230,000 and $260,000, and once again I offered him slot.

In the 5th round, I went with C Wyatt Cross. On this pick, I trusted Pleis and ignored the OSA, as Cross' potential ratings are 74/30. Like Harris, he's expected to be about a .270 hitter with the potential for great power and a great eye. Demand/slot for him was $130,000/$180,000 and once again, I offered him the slot.

For the most part, since none of these guys were asking for the moon and most were actually a little UNDER slot, I just offered the recommended slot for them, with the exception of McGarry. My only condition with him is that he didn't exceed the first rounder's bonus(always drives me crazy to see a team give a lower round pick more than the 1st rounder. Really? Is that all you think of your 1st round pick?), and since his demand was $180,000 less than slot money for the 26th overall, I met his demand. With $5.625 million in draft money alone and then another almost $39 million in extra budget money, bonuses weren't really a concern for me...but I don't see the use in paying these guys a bunch of money "just because." But I kind of want to get these negotiations over with and get these guys out to their first stop on their way to Detroit, so for the most part I just gave them a little more than they were asking for.

From the 6th round on I put a lot of faith in our scouting department and the work they did all year on these guys. I know in quite a few cases the scouts will miss and the guy won't pan out, but if they manage to hit on every one of our picks, I feel like this draft will be the foundation of our team for the future. Of our first 17 picks, the lowest potential rating we drafted(based on scout's ratings) was a 52, and 15 were 60 or above. It's entirely possibly that we have bad scouts and my faith is misguided, but I'm willing to take that chance.

The best news of all is I still have $38 million to play around with between international free agency and the trade deadline, so I should be able to(for this year at least) take on almost ANY contract that could help push us over the top. I already spent 2 of the 3 million we're allowed to spend on international guys when I signed Andy Ibanez in the spring, but for the right guy I'm willing to overspend the limit and deal with the taxes and future implications that come with it. In particular I wouldn't mind finding a good young CF. I have Hill down at West Michigan, but I believe it's never a bad thing to have 2-3 good prospects at every position, just in case a couple don't work out.

Now it's time to go out and see how far we can push our big league win streak! We're getting solid contributions from pretty much everyone right now, and entire rotation(including Greene) is coming together right now. The result has been fun to see early on in the month, hopefully we can keep that up and possibly climb into the division lead by the next update!

[buckeye22]

June has continued to be a good month for us, as a 14-6 record has pushed us to 41-31 overall and a 4 game lead over the 3rd place Wild Card team. Unfortunately, 4 of those 6 losses are against the Indians. I have no idea why, but those guys just seem to have our number this year so far. We're 2-9 against them, but yet here we are in late June only 2.5 back in the division. One more game against them here awaits, and then we don't see them until we play 7 early in September. Those are shaping up to be 7 REALLY important games, and hopefully we can figure out a way to beat them when it matters most.

But for me to break in and update before the end of the month, I'm sure you all know that I'm not currently worried about wins and losses. There's news to be broken, and some big news it is!



When I first made the trade to bring in Strasburg, I obviously wasn't trading 5 years of Castellanos and potentially 6 of Moya to get 2 years of Strasburg. My plan from the start was to at least attempt to extend him, and I actually had offered him a deal right after the trade. We couldn't come to an agreement at that time, but we promised each other that we'd keep the lines of communication open and see what we could do later. I was highly considering waiting until next spring before opening talks back up, but in the end I just decided I couldn't risk letting him get a year away from free agency and the big money that comes with it: as Scherzer showed us with his rejected extension and eventually free agent move in 2014, it was now or never. The deal that ended up being worked out couldn't have been better for us though.



Stephen Strasburg, in his age 27-30 seasons, for a total of 56 million dollars. These years coincide with the last 4 guaranteed years of Verlander and Price's deals, which is huge because I wasn't sure if we could afford another huge contract in that time. Then in 2020 it goes to 25 million, but that's the year that Verlander has a team option and Price has a vesting. There's a good chance that at least one and maybe both will be gone and we'll be able to handle 25 million a lot easier. He will also receive a million dollars for every Cy Young and 200,000 for every All-Star team he makes.

Total value of the deal if all bonuses and options kicks in would be 159,600,000, a far cry from the 10 year/216,500,000 dollar contract he wanted when he first called him up.

With this deal, we now have Strasburg, Price, Verlander, and Sanchez locked up through 2017....although don't be shocked if someone *cough Sanchez cough* is floated around this offseason to help fill a potential hole like catcher or center field.

See you all in a week for the end of June update, and then again 2 weeks later as reveal the 2015 All-Star teams!

[buckeye22]

The standings seen here were from June 21st. After having fallen back by as many as 7 games earlier in the year, we were right where we wanted to be. 1/2 back with 3 coming up against Cleveland. Win that series and we reclaim our spot at the top of the division, hopefully for good.


There's just one problem there. We can't beat Cleveland this year. We were swept in that series, then lost 3 of 4 at home against the White Sox before closing the month with a loss at home to Pittsburgh. 7 losses in 8 games after flying high and getting ourselves back in the race. Ugh. Looks like I'm going to have a busy July figuring out where the holes are and trying to fill them at the deadline.



These are the standings now. A far cry from just 10 days ago, now we're once against fighting for our lives, barely hanging on to the Wild Card. I'm still not discouraged, because the late May/early June run showed me a lot about this team. They won't go down without a fight. Now it's up to me to do whatever it takes to put them over the top.



Despite the late month swoon, June was still a good month for us. 15-11 with 2 different 6 game win streaks, a solid draft day, and the Strasburg extension. The future is still bright, no matter how the last 3 months of 2015 play out.

Who's hot(June stats only):
1B Miguel Cabrera (33-106, 8 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 19 RBI, .311/.387/.575)
2B Ian Kinsler (35-102, 7 2B, 3 HR, 16 RBI, .343/.376/.500)
LF Yoenis Cespedes (26-86, 6 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 17 RBI, .302/.375/.558)
SP Stephen Strasburg (5-0, 1.77 ERA, 0.91 WHIP)
SP Shane Greene (2-2, 3.38 ERA, 1.19 WHIP)
The Bullpen (3-3, 6 sv, 75.2 IP, 2.37 ERA, 1.05 WHIP)
Who's not:
C Alex Avila (16-80, 5 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .200/.319/.300)
SS Jose Iglesias (19-82, 2 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI, .232/.267/.329)
CF Rajai Davis/Anthony Gose (34-154, 3 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 12 SB, .221/.280/.279)
SP Anibal Sanchez (1-2, 6.21 ERA, 1.41 WHIP)
SP Justin Verlander (1-2, 4.85 ERA, 1.21 WHIP)

Nice to see Kinsler finally get on track, and the bullpen hasn't been half bad after being a total garbage fire last season. However, I'm starting to see a couple of spots that we could probably improve. I don't expect Iglesias at short to be a great hitter because he's a great defender, but it seems like every month we do this Avila and the CF platoon show up. Gose is another guy who plays good defense, and maybe giving him regular ABs instead of being in a platoon could help the bat. But Avila is a free agent after this season and that's an area we could really look to improve.

Down on the Farm

AAA Toledo: 48-30, 1st in the IL West
SP Buck Farmer(24): 5-1, 45.1 IP, 2.38 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 10.3 K/9
SP Kyle Lobstein(25): 5-4, 97.2 IP, 3.87 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 6.9 K/9
SP Kyle Ryan(23): 6-3, 88.1 IP, 3.77 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 4.4 K/9
SP Drew VerHagen(24): 5-4, 87.2 IP, 4.52 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 4.9 K/9
RP Jose Valdez(25): 1-2, 20 saves, 38 IP, 1.66 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 13.3 K/9
RP Alex Wilson(28): 2-1, 32 IP, 1.13 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 9.6 K/9 (0-1, 9.2 IP, 7.45 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 8.4 K/9 in Detroit)
C James McCann(25): 152 AB, 2 HR, .257/.299/.362
2B Andy Ibanez(22): 44 AB, 0 HR, .227/.244/.250 (109 AB, 2 HR, 4 SB, .321/.397/.400 at Erie, 100 AB, 2 HR, 2 SB, .320/.461/.440 at Lakeland)
LF Tyler Collins(25): 190 AB, 10 HR, 2 SB, .279/.356/.489 (9 AB, 0 HR, .222/.222/.333 at Detroit)
CF Daniel Fields(24): 311 AB, 5 HR, 17 SB, .277/.342/.402 (somehow overlooked him the first 2 months)

AA Erie: 27-51, 6th in the EL South
SS Dixon Machado(23): 121 AB, 2 HR, 2 SB, .223/.338/.314

A+ Lakeland: 33-41, 6th in the FSL North
no players of note at Lakeland currently

A West Michigan: 35-41, 8th in the MWL Eastern
SP Spencer Turnbull(22): 2-5, 75 IP, 5.16 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 9.1 K/9
C Grayson Greiner(22): 246 AB, 7 HR, .293/.384/.484
CF Derek Hill(19): 315 AB, 4 HR, 12 SB, .273/.324/.365

A- Connecticut: 4-8, 4th in the NYPL Stedler
C Franklin Navarro(20): 44 AB, 1 HR, .295/.380/.455
C Shane Zeile(22): 39 AB, 0 HR, .179/.233/.179

R GCL Tigers: 7-4, 1st in the GCL Northeast
SP Justin Hooper(17): 0-1, 10.2 IP, 5.06 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 6.8 K/9
SP Matt McGarry(18): 0-1, 16 IP, 3.38 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 9.6 K/9
SP Kyle Ostrowski(16): 0-0, 7.2 IP, 12.91 ERA, 2.48 WHIP, 5.9 K/9
SP Mike Soroka(17): 0-0, 10 IP, 2.70 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 9.9 K/9
RP Gabriel Gonzalez(18): 0-0, 2 saves, 4 IP, 4.50 ERA, 3.00 WHIP, 11.3 K/9
RP Cole Hart(17): 2-0, 6.2 IP, 1.35 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 10.8 K/9
RP Cameron Kremers(19): hasn't pitched yet
RP Sixto Torres(19): 0-0, 1.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 6.8 K/9
C Wyatt Cross(18): 30 AB, 1 HR, .300/.432/.400
C Hunter Southerland(18): 5 AB, 1 HR, .200/.429/.800
2B Daino Deas(18): 42 AB, 1 HR, 4 SB, .286/.362/.405
3B Ryan Mountcastle(18): 44 AB, 1 HR, .318/.388/.477
SS O'Neal Lochridge(18): 36 AB, 1 HR, .333/.395/.472
SS Jonathan Meola(18): 31 AB, 0 HR, 1 SB, .323/.432/.452
LF Jonah Davis(17): 29 AB, 3 HR, 1 SB, .345/.387/.724
RF Jordan Einstein(17): 3 AB, 0 HR, .000/.000/.000
RF Bryant Harris(18): 16 AB, 0 HR, .188/.188/.313, out 4 months with a torn calf muscle

R DSL Tigers: 4-7, 4th in the DSL San Pedro de Macoris
CF Allan Santos(17): 37 AB, 0 HR, .162/.244/.216

R VSL Tigers: 3-8, 5th in the VSL
C Elys Escobar(18): 38 AB, 1 HR, .289/.386/.447

Toledo continues to extend it's lead, and West Michigan is at least making a run at .500(although that's not enough to get out of last in a really tight, really mediocre division. Otherwise, the complete stink in the mid levels continues. Erie is totally lost, and Lakeland is fading fast. Connecticut, full of mostly draftees from the last few years(and the prior regime) is off to a bad start....leaving our best hope in the low minors at the GCL level. I told you I ended up drafting a lot of high schoolers this year? Every player listed here at the GCL level was a 2015 draftee. There's a good deal of talent there, some of which is even producing already. But every one is extremely young and nothing can be taken from their performance....yet. The foreign leagues? We'll see what happens in international free agent(which starts tomorrow). Maybe there's a bit of a talent infusion coming at those levels. If not, as long as we can occasionally find a gem down there, I'm happy. I plan to rebuild through the draft more than anything else.

Around the League
6/2- San Diego SP Ian Kennedy is out 5-6 months with a torn labrum
6/2- Met 2B Daniel Murphy's hit streak stopped at 21 games
6/6- Washington RF Bryce Harper will miss 5 weeks with a strained oblique
6/11- Tampa Bay sends minor-league outfielder Brandon Guyer to Boston for 1B Mike Napoli and minor-league P Cameron Varga
6/12- Colorado SS Troy Tulowitzki is out 7-8 weeks with a herniated disk
6/12- San Diego sends SP Andrew Cashner to the Dodgers for a pair of minor-league pitchers
6/13- Philadelphia RF Dominic Brown hits for the cycle
6/14- San Diego RP Joaquin Benoit is out 4 months with a partially torn labrum
6/16- Dodger SP Brandon McCarthy is expected to miss 4 months with a ruptured finger tendon
6/17- Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia extends hit streak to 20 games
6/18- Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia's hit streak ended at 20 games
6/18- Yankee 3B Alex Rodriguez picks up career hit number 3000
6/23- Detroit and SP Stephen Strasburg agree to contract extension. Deal is for 7 years/125 million with the potential to extend to 8/159
6/24- San Francisco Giants win 10th consecutive game
6/25- 925 year old Colorado reliever LaTroy Hawkins(Ok, he's "only" 42) will miss 16 months with a torn UCL
6/25- Detroit LF Yoenis Cespedes and White Sox P Matt Albers suspended 3 games each after a bench clearing brawl
6/27- Cincinnati LF Justin Ruggiano will miss 10 months with a broken elbow
6/28- Colorado trades OF Drew Stubbs to Seattle for SP Hisashi Iwakuma and $1,175,000
6/29- Dodger SP Zach Greinke is out 2-3 months with a strained oblique
6/29- Oakland 3B Brett Lawrie will miss 6-7 weeks with a strained oblique
6/30- Baltimore SP Ubaldo Jimenez is expected to miss 9-10 months with a partially torn UCL

Awards
AL Batter of the Month: Toronto RF Jose Bautista (2nd straight win, .402/.508/.907, 14 HR, 27 RBI, 120 PA/97 AB)
NL Batter of the Month: Arizona 1B Paul Goldschmidt (.291/.416/.612, 10 HR, 19 RBI, 125 PA/103 AB)
AL Pitcher of the Month: Detroit SP Stephen Strasburg (5-0, 1.77 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 8 BB/50 K in 40.2 IP)
NL Pitcher of the Month: Milwaukee SP Wily Peralta (5-0, 1.79 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 13 BB/39 K in 40.1 IP)
AL Rookie of the Month: Toronto SP Daniel Norris (5-0, 2.15 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 11 BB/38 K in 37.2 IP)
NL Rookie of the Month: Dodger CF Joc Pederson (.248/.350/.465, 6 HR, 15 RBI, 117 PA/101 AB)

[buckeye22]

July 8th

We've rebounded nicely from our June slide, starting July out with a 5 game winning streak and winning 6 of our first 8 overall. We've managed to cut back into the Cleveland lead a little bit, with us 4 games back now. My goal is just to stay in touch and see what happens with the last 6 games against them. Maybe we can finally find a way to beat them when it matters. More importantly, we've extended our lead over the 3rd wild card back out to 5 games. All in all things are looking pretty good for us at the moment.


Even so, with our CF platoon hitting a combined .229 and putting up a combined WAR of -0.3, I was getting a little antsy. Gose is at least still young and cheap, so he could turn into a useful player for the future. But Rajai Davis has largely been a 5 million dollar waste of a roster spot this season, and I feel like it's been CF more than any other position that's been holding us back. Sure, Avila at catcher hasn't been good either, but he's at least got a positive WAR. He's been providing a little value, and looking around the league there aren't exactly very many premium catchers out there.

So despite there still being more than 3 weeks before the trade deadline, I decided it was time to do something about this problem. I could have easily waited until the deadline and the team would have been fine....but I'm an impatient guy. If there's 2 things you'll learn about me it's that 1 I'm always looking ahead to the next trade that might push us over the top, and 2 I hate to lose. I won't be totally satisfied with my team until it's 162-0, or at the very least lifting that trophy at the end of October. I see a hole, I want to fix it. NOW. But preferably without depleting the farm system any more than it already has been. While looking around the league I quickly found 2 potential trade partners: Philadelphia and Ben Revere or Milwaukee and Carlos Gomez. Because Revere is younger(27) and cheaper(still in his arbitration years, making less than 5 million currently), I started the discussions with them.

Potential trade #1:
Tigers acquire 27 year old CF Ben Revere
Phillies acquire 34 year old CF Rajai Davis and 23 year old AAA SP Kyle Ryan

Not a bad deal at all. It would allow us to keep Gose and let him develop for a few years, and Ryan is an expendable pitcher. He was good for us out of the pen last year, and he's having a solid season at Toledo this year, but long term he's probably a #5 starter at best for us and more likely a middle reliever. Certainly nothing that's not easily to replace elsewhere. My ONLY issue with this trade is that, while leaving us better at CF now, I'm just not sure it's enough. Revere is good, but his OBP is still a little too low for my liking in the lead off spot and he has absolutely NO power. I can live without one or the other, but not both. Still, it's a tempting offer and one I can come back to if the Gomez talks don't go anywhere.

Next call- Doug Melvin of the Brewers. A little background on Carlos Gomez. He's a 29 year old CF who is under contract for the rest of this year at about 3.7 million(8 million dollar deal and we're a little over halfway through the season) and all of next year at 9 million. Certainly nothing bank breaking, even with our other high priced contracts, and still a pretty cheap deal for an All-Star level CF. He was an All-Star in both 2013 and 2014, and with a WAR of 3.0 already this season he's at least in the discussion for this year(currently 3rd place in the LEFT FIELD voting for 2015). He also won a Gold Glove in in center in 2013, and since 2012 he's averaged 22 home runs and 37 steals a season. In other words, he's a legit 5 tool player in the prime of his career with one more full year left on a team friendly deal. Forgive me if I was a little skeptical we could even come CLOSE to getting a deal done from the start......

But much to my shock, another potential deal came quickly.

Tigers receive: 29 year old CF Carlos Gomez
Brewers receive: 34 year old CF Rajai Davis, 24 year old CF Anthony Gose, and 25 year old AAA SP Kyle Lobstein

I was floored. Lobstein is another guy in the Ryan mold, only instead of being good in relief in 2014 he put up 7 solid starts late in the season. But again, the best we were looking at was a 5th starter candidate and most likely he would ended up a middle reliever for us. I'm perfectly fine with giving him up. Otherwise, we're basically giving up OUR centerfield platoon which had combined for -0.6 WAR for Carlos Gomez and his 3.0 WAR? A real part of me wanted to hang on to Gose, who's a good defensive center fielder and young enough to grow with the bat...but with his slash line currently at .207/.269/.274 as a 24 year old, how can growth can we expect? Would his ceiling be a .250 hitter who plays above average D? This deal is just too good to NOT accept. The only potential issue is who would our CF in 2017 be if we can't bring back Gomez for a couple more years...but that's too far into the future to concern myself with right now. For now, we have ourselves a great CF and a top of the order hitter for the next year and a half.

We also made one more very minor move, purchasing SP Cesar Carrillo from Camden of the Atlantic League. Cesar is a 31 year old that we had in our organization in 2012(high level of AA Erie) before he was busted for PEDs. He's got a good curveball and 2 other decent pitches, but realistically he won't ever crack the big league rotation for us. He's simply organizational depth and, in particular, Lobstein's replacement at Toledo.

With this move, I consider our roster pretty well set for the rest of 2015. I'm comfortable with Avila behind the plate, especially considering there's not much else out there. That said, I already mentioned that I'm an impatient guy who's always looking at the next trade. I won't make a move JUST to say I made one, but if the right deal comes through(likely for one more bullpen arm or a catcher), then I won't hesitate to pull the trigger.

Next update will be a 2 parter for the 2015 All-Star game!

[buckeye22]

It seems like only yesterday that I was called into Mr. I's office and finding out that I was being given my dream job. But somehow, here we are at the All-Star break. It's been a whirlwind 3.5 months full of meetings, trades, free agent signings, scouting, and of course still my favorite, Tiger baseball games, but I've enjoyed every minute of it. Here's to many more years of this!

During my monthly updates I've mostly been updating everyone on what our players have been doing month by month. Here at the unofficial half way point of the season, I think it would be a good time everyone on just how the team got to where they are right now.

First, the team as a whole:



At 50-40 and still in the thick of the AL Central race, I can't say I'm TOO disappointed at anything. But I gotta say, I had so much higher hopes for this offense. With Kinsler towards the top of the lineup, a middle 4 of Cabrera/Martinez/Martinez/Cespedes, and then bringing in a solid hitter in Olivera, I expected this team to be among the league leaders in almost every offensive category. We've got a solid average and we're 5th in the AL in runs....but the power numbers are SEVERELY lacking. We also don't draw near enough walks, but this was a weakness I already knew about and there's not much I can do right now except try to make it a priority among our prospects. I don't expect veteran's to suddenly change their approach mid career.

The pitching is about exactly what I expected, with one of the best staffs and especially one of the best rotations in all of baseball. But a pleasant surprise is the bullpen. This unit was blasted by pretty much everyone last year, but they've rebounded nicely to become a middle of the pack unit. There are still some improvements to be made, but this group should at least do a much better job of not costing us games down the stretch and in the playoffs like last year.

What I'm most proud of though, is the defense. To see where we were 3 years ago when we somehow thought throwing out Prince Fielder, Omar Infante, Jhonny Peralta, and an out of position Miguel Cabrera on the infield and then Delmon Young/Ryan Raburn/Brennan Boesch taking up 2/3 of the outfield on most days was acceptable, and then to see where we are now is amazing. I would now say that we're at least above average at all 8 positions in the field, and the result is that we're now 2nd in the American League in defensive efficiency. That, mixed with some great pitchers is a great recipe for success. If we can give them JUST a little more help on the offensive side, this team can make a big run in October...as long as it gets there.

Now for the hitters, with a short analysis for each one:



Miguel Cabrera- After a "down year" last year, he's picking up right where he's been his entire career...in the MVP race. Batting average is down a bit, but he's still in the discussion for best hitter in the game.
Victor Martinez- I expected a drop off in his power numbers after his career year, but not THIS much. Needs to produce more to justify his big contract, especially as a DH. Still, having a solid season.
Yoenis Cespedes- A little bit of a pleasant surprise. The power and the average is right about what I expected, but he's drawing a few more walks then I thought he would.
J.D. Martinez- Not AS good as his breakout 2014, but he's proving himself to at least be a productive major leaguer. Would like to see a little more power out of him, but otherwise no complaints.
Hector Olivera- He struggled at first to make the adjustment to American pitching, but once he got hot in May he's been absolutely dynamic for us. Well worth the 5 million we're paying him, and a candidate for rookie of the year.
Ian Kinsler- Struggled big time in April and May(along with missing some time), but he's heated up since. Hopefully he continues that for the rest of the year.
Jose Iglesias- He's not here for his bat, so I have no problem with a .256 BA. 3 HR is more than I thought he'd hit all year. He'll need to learn a little plate discipline as he gets older though. A .277 OBP isn't helping anyone.
Alex Avila- Seems to just regress more and more with the bat. Still a solid defender, and he still works counts, but if he can't at least hit the Mendoza line and hit 10-15 homers I'm not sure he's useful going forward.
Rajai Davis/Anthony Gose- There's a reason we traded both.
Hernan Perez- Had a good couple of weeks while playing 2nd for Kinsler. If he ever learns to work counts he may be a sleeper for a full time job, but as of now he just doesn't get on base enough.
Danny Valencia- Helped us shed Joe Nathan's contract AND hit us a couple of homers. I'm happy with him.
Bryan Holaday- Only here because James McCann needed ABs. He's not a big leaguer.
Carlos Gomez- Not enough time here to judge him, but I expect him to be the dynamite lead off guy we've been looking for in the 2nd half. Should help a lot.
Tyler Collins/James McCann- Both broke camp with the big league team, but neither were getting enough ABs to justify keeping around. Both could become useful major leaguers in the near future. Collins is now 4th OF again and should get a shot to prove himself down the stretch.
Andrew Romine- Has spent most of the year at Toledo and is purely a good glove depth guy in the middle infield.

And now the pitchers:



Al Alburquerque- I've long been a fan of his because of his pure stuff, but he was never consistent enough to get a big role. This year changes all of that. He's now an All-Star closer and under team control for a couple more years.
Joakim Soria- Quite possibly the best set up man in the game. Most questioned not making him the closer after the Nathan trade, but so far he and Alburquerque have worked well together and turned most games into 7 inning affairs for us.
Blaine Hardy- Came out of nowhere last year to post solid numbers for us, and continues it this year. Should be a nice lefty in our pen for a while, although his WHIP is a little high for my liking.
David Price- Ace. Glad to have him for the foreseeable future.
Tom Gorzelanny- Another solid lefty guy to have, putting up solid numbers across the board this year. Only making a million dollars.
Anibal Sanchez- Has been healthy so far, which is always our one concern with him. Otherwise he's been what we expect. A secondary ace to complement the big guys.
Stephen Strasburg- Struggled a lot in May, but otherwise been one of the best pitchers in the league. Excited to have him for the long haul.
Joba Chamberlain- Not going to lie, I almost released him in late May with his ERA pushing 8. He's rebounded nicely since then though, and at only a million dollar he's a nice arm to have.
Justin Verlander- Still isn't and probably never will be a staff ace again, but he's not having a bad year. Not quite 28 million dollars good, but he's a nice mid rotation guy, a fan favorite, and a couple of times has already stopped losing streaks for us.
Shane Greene- April and May were bad and he was almost demoted because of it. He's been solid since though and I can't complain about a 5th starter with his numbers.
Josh Zeid/Alex Wilson- Both spend short stints in Detroit but otherwise have been in Toledo. Wilson has a better future of the 2, but both are 28 and will probably spend the next fears on the I-75 shuttle back and forth.
Bruce Rondon- Probably our future closer, if he can ever stay healthy. Has shown great stuff in his limited time this year, just had a couple of bad outings raise the ERA. He's a nice 7th inning guy to have.
Alfredo Simon- Wasn't a fan of the trade to get him from the start, but I thought maybe if we could put him in the pen it would be alright. It hasn't. At least he's a free agent after this year......

We've been blessed thus far with some pretty good health, and as a result the 25 man roster has remained pretty stable. If that continues in the 2nd half it will be a huge help as we continue to try to run down Cleveland.


Next up will be part 2 of the All-Star break post, in which we will reveal the 2015 All-Stars in both leagues and post a recap of the All-Star game.

[gotigers]

Loving this, buckeye. I'll definitely keep tabs on this thread! Please be sure to check in with mine from time to time.