2012 MLB Regular Season Running Thread

His OPS is 150 points higher away from Safeco with a slash line of .297/.314/.402.

All he's gotta do is hit ninth and play the same defense he has been — and steal some bases every now and again. His 15 steals is more than any Yankee.

Cust is a glorified DH at this point, which doesn't help them because they have Jones and Ibanez. Dickerson is hitting .281 with one homer in 153 at-bats.

 

Has he ever been anything else?

 

They also plug the yawning gap at 2B with Infante and can dispense with the rotating clown show of 4 sub-utility infielders at that position. Instead of running Ryan Raburn (.180) out there every other day, they now go with Infante (.287) day in and day out, and the utility players can be utility players.

For the immediate future, Sanchez steps into the No. 4 rotation slot, bumping Porcello to 5 (where he should be fine). I presume after throwing money around by the bucketload at Fielder, et al., Ilitch will be willing to pony up to keep Sanchez (or get somebody just as good) in the offseason.

The Tigers are rocketing toward an attendance record, ticket prices are higher than ever, and TV ratings are through the roof. So he's got plenty of money; let him spend it.

It's a good trade unless both Infante and Sanchez bomb the rest of the season a-la Jered Washburn and Aubrey Huff.

If they both play up to form and the Tigers re-sign them in the offseason, it could be a great trade.

Remember, a few years ago people were hand-wringing about trading away Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin.

 

You lost me on that last one. Just because two prospects they traded away haven't really worked out doesn't mean they should keep giving away top prospects.

 

Well, nobody involved in this deal is Miguel Cabrera.

But the Tigers have definitely cooled on Turner over the last year or so. Supposedly he has lost something like 3-5 mph off his top fastball. His numbers in the minors are not real good, and he got absolutely blitzed in one MLB start before doing OK last night.

 

Colby Lewis = torn flexor tendon. Out for rest of season.

Rangers had been really lucky not to suffer any season-ending injuries in their big run the past two years. This definitely hurts.

 

That sucks.

 

No shit lol. Guess we'll see how deep their minor league reserves are. They recalled Martin Perez from Round Rock for another stint. They really need to make a move for someone now though. Hamels maybe? Dempster since the trade to the Braves seems to be on hold?

I dunno.

Maybe Nolan can throw a few games

 

Dombrowski is clearly figuring this current Tigers team has a window of this year and then maybe 3 more in order to do its damage.

AGES:

Verlander 29, Cabrera 29, Fielder 28, Fister 28, Scherzer 27, Boesch 27, Berry 27, Young 26, Avila 25, Jackson 25.

Peralta at 30, now Infante at 30, Laird at 32 are the senior citizens.

The entire second-base combination, Raburn 31 and Santiago 32, is older, mediocre and exceptionally unlikely to get any better over the next 3-4 years.

If Victor Martinez, 33, comes back next year, it's a bonus. Valverde, 34, IMO will probably not be re-signed over the winter.

Turner will probably not be really MLB ready for another year, probably not really get his bearings for a year or so after that. Brantly is two years away for sure.

In four years Turner and Brantly may be MLB starters, but in four years the current core of the team will be on the downhill slide, and Ilitch is 83. He doesn't want to worry about what's gonna happen in four years.

 

According to CBS, the Dempster trade is being held up because he wants to go to a team that has spring training close to his home in Arizona.

Not sure if this was posted earlier. If it's a repeat, I apologize.

 

Infante is a solid player, but I'm still a little disappointed in this trade on a personal level. One of our local guys, Justin Henry, is their Triple-A second baseman/utility guy. No power whatsoever, but he's worked his way up through the minors, done well at each stop, and is hitting around .280 at Toledo. Good contact and speed guy. Hard worker, too. Covered him since high school and he's always been a solid, stand-up guy who's done some offseason charity work back in his hometown.
He's 27 and his contract is up at the end of next year. Given how bad their second base situation has been, I was really hoping he'd get a shot with the big league club this year. Then they went and ripped off a winning streak and turned into buyers at the deadline. Getting Infante, who is under contract this year and next, is going to make it significantly harder for Henry to get to the majors. He's not yet on the 40-man, so it looks like it'll be spring training before he gets any sort of shot as a utility player.

 

Well, they've been running everybody and his brother in and out at second base: Ramon Santiago, the nominal starter, Raburn, utility guys Danny Worth and Don Kelly, and for the first weeks of the season, the immortal Brandon Inge, who they were just utterly hell-bent on finding a position for, so I would guess if Henry is 27 and hasn't been able to get ahead of anybody in that motley crew, he might really be better off getting cut loose and going to spring training with somebody else.