Results tagged ‘ Vance Wilson ’
An Observation
You know, amidst all the talk surrounding the release of Gary Sheffield, I began to think back to the day the Tigers traded Ivan Rodriguez. I also thought of how the “greatest lineup ever assembled” has been disassembled since the Tigers AL Championship of 2006. The Tigers have had their share of roster turnover, all teams do. The difference though might be on how it was all turned over. I present now, names of those from the 2006 team that are no longer here.
Colby Lewis
Chad Durbin. Durbin was let go by the Tigers because we thought we had too much pitching. As it turns out, Durbin now has a World Series ring thanks to the Phillies.
Andrew Miller
Roman Colon. This guy got his ticket out of town because he couldn’t get along with his teammates in the minors. Between injuries and bad performance, Colon hasn’t been in the big leagues since 2006.
Jamie Walker. One of the only former players who actually left the Tigers. He had a career year in Baltimore in 2007, and didn’t do so hot in 08.
Mike Maroth. I felt he got a raw deal when he was traded in 07. As it is, he pitched poorly for St. Louis following the trade, and hasn’t been close to the bigs since.
Wil Ledezma. This former Rule 5 pick has bounced around so much since the 07 trade to the Braves it isn’t funny anymore. Add in stops with San Diego and Arizona, plus I think he was in camp with the Nationals this year.
Jason Grilli. Wrote a check with his mouth that his arm couldn’t cash.
Todd Jones. Retired due to injury. I bought his jersey soon after.
Kenny Rogers. Can’t remember if he ever made his retirement official. Can’t be mad at his peformance at all. Gave us everything his body had left in it.
Mike Rabelo
Kevin Hooper
Jack Hannahan
Neifi Perez
Alexis Gomez. The other player to leave the team of his own accord. He wanted to get a bigger role that he thought he earned from his 2006 season. Maybe he had a point. But he never saw the bigs again. Spent this spring back in Tigers camp. Just sent to minor league camp last week.
Vance Wilson. Injuries have killed his career.
Dmitri Young. Released just before September callups in 06.
Chris Spurling. Released early in 06.
Sean Casey. Told he wasn’t needed anymore after 07.
Omar Infante. Traded away after 07 season for Jacque Jones. Not the best idea ever.
Chris Shelton. Big Red fizzled after a hot start in 2006. Just got back to the majors last year with Texas. I think he was in camp with Seattle this year.
Craig Monroe. Stopped being useful midway through 2007. Been with Cubs and Twins since. In camp with Pirates now.
Ivan Rodriguez. Traded last August to the Yankees. Didn’t produce much. In camp with Astros now to prove something left in the tank.
Matt Stairs. A post deadline pickup who wasn’t able to be on the post season roster. Sometimes overlooked for his time here. Stops with Toronto and the World Champion Phillies since here. A much cheaper DH than Sheffield. Also, I did the math, since acquiring Sheffield, Stairs has had a slightly higher home runs per at bat ratio than Sheff. So despite Gary knocking 44 since becoming a Tiger and Stairs 34 since leaving, Matt Stairs with Gary Sheffield’s at bats could have done better.
There you have it. 24 players who did something in 2006 no longer with the club. Yes, Alexis Gomez has since come back, but he was one of two players to leave on his own. Todd Jones’ retirement was something that was coming anyways. The other 21 were all moved because the team decided that they weren’t wanted anymore. Kenny Rodgers, while probably done, was shown by the team that he wasn’t wanted, otherwise Rodgers would have taken another one year deal if offered. I’d throw in more players from 07 or 08 who aren’t here any longer, but the trend is the same. Players no longer leave Detroit becase they want to get the hell out of here. They leave because the baseball club no longer wants them. Remember that, when you shout good riddance or bemoan the loss of the next future Hall of Famer.
Another Case of Then and Now
In my latest installment of “where are they now”, I’ve come across six players who were in camp late into March last year and I decided they deserved a little recognition.
First up is Aquilino Lopez. He did pretty much anything you could want out of a reliever last year. He pitched a career high 78.1 innings over the course of 48 games, which is the only time besides 2003 with the Blue Jays that he hung around for that much of a season in the bigs. His 2008 stats include a 4-1 record with a 3.55 ERA. These were his first ML wins since 2004, and also managed to lower his career ERA to 3.78. While many have said over the offseason that the numbers are skewed, I don’t see what they see. Only 2 unearned runs were scored against him. Opponents hit .277 against him and only one blown save. Maybe the Tigers thought he could have done a better job. Maybe he was one of the many casualties of the economic crunch of free agents. Oh, by the way, he’s still looking for a job this spring.
Second on today’s list is Max St. Pierre. I don’t have much on him other than he is on his second stint in the Tigers organization. While he was gone, the Brewers tried to make a pitcher out of him. He’s in camp this year as one of four or so non-roster invites at catcher. My opinion is that he goes 1 and 1A with Dane Sardinha. Add Dusty Ryan to the mix and the 3rd catcher/first callup for injury becomes a log jam that doesn’t work in St. Pierre’s favor at the moment. He’s going to need to be electric this spring and into the season to rise on the depth chart.
Next I bring up Virgil Vasquez. Here was a guy who had potential. He’s somone my dad would call “not ready for prime time”. This was proven when his first or second ML start actually was on prime time to a national audience. To be fair, that was 2007. He didn’t earn a callup in 08, for good reason. Since anyone who could throw was called up at some point, that says something. Since the offseason began, Vasquez has been let go by the Tigers, Red Sox, and Padres. Currently he is in camp with Pittsburgh, but they’re already speculating that he won’t make the team out of camp.
For the sake of expressing opinions, I’m bringing up Freddy Dolsi next (he was in the game I watched from last years archives). He exploded onto the scene with his early May callup. His spring 07 outing that I just finished watching wasn’t great though. The commentators were comparing him to Pedro Martinez (it was a Tigers-Mets game which Pedro pitched in). They said “Pedro is a pitcher, and right now Mr. Dolsi is a thrower.” With that said, Dolsi appreared in 42 games over a couple callups last year. He went 1-5 with a 3.97 ERA and went 2 for 3 in save opportunities. The record obviously isn’t good, but I didn’t think the loses were all his fault when they happened. A sub-4.0 ERA is very good for a rookie pitcher on last years team. Dolsi hadn’t been above A ball before the 08 season. Some might like to think that he has an inside track on making the ball club out of camp because of his experience. I, on the other hand, see what he did raw and think that begining the year at Toledo would make him better prepared for his next callup, which is why I didn’t pick him in my initial 25-man roster the other day.
Now I come to a surprise on my radar, pitcher Orber Moreno. He pitched well in the game I saw, not great, but well. He’s seen big league action in 1999, 2003, and 2004 with the Royals and Mets. Not real sure what the story is on him. This was the first game out of five or so I’ve seen him appear in. I remember seeing his name on the camp lists last year, and that’s about where it ends. He looks like the kind of veteran arm I would have given an inside track to as far as looking for arms. He was last known to be in the Tigers organization, but at the moment isn’t with any club that I know of at all. MLB.com and MiLB.com link him with Detroit because no one else is available to lay claim. At the same time there is not connection to being on any club whatsoever, like I said. His last visable stats were from the 2008 Venezuelan Winter League. The bright side to this story is that Moreno is currently on the roster for Team Venezuela in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. I hope he catches on somewhere.
Last on today’s trip through memory lane is Nick Trzesniak. Who is Nick Trzesniak? I had the same reaction myself. I saw him in an early spring game (from last year) and dismissed him as a random player from Tigertown. But today I saw in another game (again, from last year) that was a few weeks later. The comentators had expressed that he might have been a viable option as backup catcher, since Vance Wilson wasn’t yet done for the year and Inge was still supposedly on the trade block. So I decided to investigate and answer for myself who Mr. Trzesniak was. Turns out that he is a relative nobody, no major league experience and is in camp this year with the Padres, I think. But he had a good spring statistically from the archives I saw, and now I’m a bit of a believer that he will get his cup of coffee in a big league clubhouse before he hangs up his cleats.
Stay tuned when some of my next writings will be about my expectations for the 2009 team and an update to my stats-driven fantasy roster game.
Rememberance of the Ones Lost
As I wait for this spring’s games to be televised, I continue to watch the games from last year. It occurs to me that some words are needed in regards to the players who were in camp last year and now hindsight has produced odd results.
Ivan Rodriguez: I was not a fan of trading him away at the time. Still, when/if he signs with another team, wouldn’t there still be compensation near the kind we got when we “lost” Kyle Farnsworth to the Royals? Luckily, the Yankees didn’t get much offensively out of Pudge. He hit .295 for us, .219 for them. He only drove in 3 RBI (2 HR) for the Yanks in 33 games, so the Tigers easily won that end of things.
James Skelton: When camp broke last year, everyone was talking about Skelton and how he would be the future of the team. Now, he still might be, but nobody is talking about Skelton right now. Now there is a whole new set of backstops in Detroit, with Dusty Ryan and Dane Sardinha most likely calling games in Toledo. In fact people are talking about Ryan like they used to talk about Skelton, so the short term future doesn’t look good for the guy, too bad.
Edgar Renteria: Ok, so we figured out he is DEFINATELY not an AL player. In his last two years in St. Louis, Renteria hit .330 and .287. In Atlanta, he hit .293 and .332. In his two seasons in the AL (Boston and Detroit), Egar hit .277 and .270. Not a terrible drop off, except that his Detroit .270 is the second lowest batting average of his career. Career low in stolen bases in 2008. Fewest walks since he was a rookie, but at least it was his fewest strikeouts in five years. Lowest RBI total since leaving Flordia. Hits, runs, and doubles were also his lowest since 2001. Whether he didn’t want to be here, or just flat out cannot play in the AL, I’m not going to miss him. P.S. Lowest fielding percentage since season in Boston.
Todd Jones: Simple, quality player and a better man. Didn’t deserve to go out on an injury.
Macay McBride: Injuries hurt his 2008. I’m looking for him to rebound in AAA and be the first lefty to get a call when there is an injury or a need for another southpaw. At the same time, he could be one that gets moved for his near term upside to get someone with a longer term upside.
Tim Byrdak: I was sorry to see him go. He was a feel good story in 2007. He had a quality season with Houston in 2008. Played in more games in 08 versus 07, and with that in mind his Tigers numbers were a little better. Still, he is still with the Astros, which means he’s doing better than Rodriguez right now.
Francis Beltran: Like Renteria, Beltran is with the Giants organization. With the bullpen by comittee last year, his face blended in with the others who came through the revolving door. His highlights included his first ML win in 4 years (didn’t see ML service between 05-07). Otherwise the only thing I can say for him is that he lowered his career ERA while in Detroit.
Clete Thomas: I mentioned this in my last blog, there’s no room for him on this years team without someone else getting tradded or hurt. Injuries really cut his 2008 season short. I see him having success in the big leagues if he becomes the Placido Polanco of the outfield. His .284 average in 40 games is promising.
Brent Clevlen: Stop me if I repeat myself, but there is no room for Clevlend either right now. He’s out of options, so he is going to have to play his way on to the team and thensome. Not a whole lot to brag about from his 2008 callup. Increased his walks. He is a career .233 hitter, but his shining stat of the moment is that he is still 100% on his fielding.
Timo Perez: I can’t believe he didn’t get a look in 2008. He killed the ball in his 07 callup. Had a heck of a spring training in 08. I mean, you have to be doing something really right to hit .389 over 90 AB. Plus, unless I missed something, he can play anywhere in the outfield and can run very well.
Mike Hollimon: Another one bit by the injury bug. I don’t see a spot for him either out of spring training, but probably the first callup if we get an injury in the middle infield. Mostly played SS, but also some 2B and 3B. I’m thinking he’ll play mostly for his defense and not for his bat, but he’ll still need to hit to get on this club at some point. Just because Dane Sardinha did it doesn’t mean all the backups can.
Yorman Bazardo: Another of the lost faces in the bullpen shuffle. Currently in camp with the Phillies. There is nothing I can say other than he pitched for us in 08, and that he had higher expectations when we had him.
Matt Joyce: I’m going to miss Joyce. Obviously, he was the most attractive piece of the near future, which is why the Rays agreed to trade Edwin Jackson. I saw Joyce as the future of the outfield just like Thomas and Clevlen were/are the future. Yeah, he finished the season batting .252, so there is room for improvement. The 12 HR was pretty attractive from a rookie, and they always seemed to be loud ones. Struck me as a dependable and capable outfielder, hopefully this won’t bite us too badly.
Mike Hessman: I can’t stress this enough, Hessman should be on a national league roster. There is no room for him in Detroit without injury. He’d be a great backup corner infielder and pinch hitter. Granted, he only had 27 AB in 2008, but you have to be happy with his .296 batting average. Actually hit a career high 5 HR in 08 with the second fewest AB in his brief stints over four seasons. If someone gets hurt on the infield, I’d like to see what he can do with Marcus Thames-like ABs. Also, Hessman is out of options, so while I might be right about the NL roster, I’d still miss having him in the system.
Denny Bautista: Not going to miss him. With the Pirates now, but I expected more out of the Jose Capellan trade. Truth be told, he has is lowest ERA ever with his time in Detroit, and until he went to Pittsburgh later in the season, also had a career high in games with Detroit. Compared to other players’ ERAs, we probably should have kept him a bit longer than we did, but instead Bautista was lost in the roster shuffle. Opps.
Vance Wilson: I will miss his leadership. Probably one of the best backup catchers we’ve had in a while. Completely lost the last two years to injury. In 06 he batted .283, compared to .197 in 05. I’d like to think that he’d do .250 or better still. Considering he was playing once every two weeks or so backing up Pudge, what more could you really ask. I wanted to see him get a camp invite to at least prove himself, but what are you going to do?
Jacque Jones: BUST!!! I would definately take Omar Infante back compared to what we went through with Jones. On the other hand, we could probably have gotten any other left-handed bat who played LF and done better. Or….. Timo Perez could have gotten a shot, he bats left, played LF in 07, and I still say he earned better than he got in camp last year.The bright side of Jacque Jones….he played worse for Flordia last year than he did for us. With Cincinatti now, good luck to the Reds.
Chris Lambert: Nothing spectacular to say about his rookie 08 campaign. Still too early to judge him versus Mike Maroth, whom he was traded for. This spring and the season to follow should be a statment for Lambert to see if he is in future plans.
Freddy Guzman: Didn’t make it to Detroit in 08. Looked impressive in the spring games I was able to watch. In camp with Seattle now. Best of luck.
And that’s my roundup from 2008 camp players who warented a mention.Still going to watch more of last year’s games as I wait for this year’s to be broadcast. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll do another of these look back blogs when other former or lesser known players show up.
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