Dave Dombrowski

Royals 5 Tigers 1

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Well this game was a cacophony of nonsense.  Verlander was just short of terrible.  The hitting was horrible. The fielding was sub-par and the base running was embarrassing.  The Tigers, tonight, were hard to watch.

The big news, however, was the release of general manager Dave Dombrowski.  I wasn’t completely surprised.  I figured that since he hadn’t been extended he was probably gone.  I just didn’t expect it to be now.

I don’t know much about Al Avila but I was hoping Dombrowski’s replacement would be an advanced metrics person. Perhaps the former Angels’ GM?  I’m sick and tired of the same old thing. I want to see something new; a change of direction. I want to see new ideas.  I’m afraid we are going to get more of the same.

Or perhaps the Tigers could get a real old school GM that believes in good base running, moving runners over, scoring runners at third with less than two outs, not bouncing into five double plays a game. I want to see something other than the garbage I’ve watched this season.  I want to see another World Series champion.

Joba Designated For Assignment…

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So I’m listening to MLB radio and they reported the Joba has been DFAd.

Did I mention in a previous post, that “beat him into a conniption”, would describe accurately enough what the Pirates did to him in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game?

Perhaps Dave Dombrowski couldn’t find the word’s either.

Update: Add Tom Gorzelanny to the DFA list.

Pirates 9 Tigers 3

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After the 14 inning affair Tuesday night the Tigers needed innings on Wednesday from Alfredo Simon.  They got 5.2. To be fair, it wasn’t all his fault.  The defense made two errors behind him but Simon was up in the strike zone all night and surrendered six earned runs on 15 hits.

Basically, the Pirates beat Simon into a conniption and I don’t have the adjective to describe what they did to Joba. I don’t think “conniption” accurately describes the type of beating they put on him.  Try to remember the beating Freeway Ricky put on Youk in Fenway a few years ago.  Or perhaps think of the whooping Nolan Ryan put on current White Sox’s manager, Robin Ventura, you know, the Dumbest Manager In Baseball.  If you take those two beatings, multiply them by 1000, you may begin to get an idea of what the Pirates did you Joba last night. When Joba left the mound he didn’t know whether to crap his pants or wind his watch.

DD needs to trade David Price soon  He’s not re-singing here.  This team is not making the playoffs. They need to get something for him.  This rotation is a mess.  When you subtract Price, you don’t have much left.  Is it too early to start thinking about next year?  I’m not so sure.

Tigers 2 Royals 1

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The offense is still AWOL.  However, last night, the CY Young Award winner, David Price, showed up and shut down the Royals.  Thanks to Price, the Tigers have a chance to salvage a split in this series.

In my post yesterday, I lamented the inconsistency of the Tigers offense.  Prior to the game, Mario and Rod showed a statistic validating my complaint.  I don’t have the number committed to memory but I believe the graphic showed that the Tigers lead the league both in games scoring two runs or less and games scoring 10 runs or more.  Like I said yesterday, this goes beyond this year, this is a problem with philosophy.  It is a stubborn philosophy that has plagued this team for the last 5-8 years and they refuse to change.

Victor can’t hit right now, left handed, to save his life.  Defenses play “the shift” on him and give him the entire left side of the field but he won’t take his single. I know he can run but with the way the defense is playing him he doesn’t have to.  Same thing with Avila.

I believe someone a lot smarter than me once said “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.”

Mr. Illitch, I know you are a regular reader, it is time for a different direction.  Start with DD and BA.

Royals 4 Tigers 1

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Despite giving up four runs and 10 hits in 7.1 innings, I thought Kyle Lobstein pitched very well.  We has the victim of Eric Hosmer beating “the shift” with a bunt and a few seeing eye base hits.  I guess that’s what happens when you put the ball in play.  For a fifth starter, I’m not sure you can ask for more than Lobstein has given the Tigers this season.

The offense is maddening.  I know statistically they are in the top of every category but it is the same song and dance every year, inconstancy. Ten runs one game then nothing for a week.  Even tonight when they didn’t get a hit until the eighth inning, they had base runners courtesy of walks but couldn’t even put the ball in play to plate a run.  This team is striking out at an alarming rate.  The strikeouts combined with the double plays does not bode well for winning close games.  Again, it is the same old story.  Nothing changes.  I think it is time to clean house from Dombrowski all the way down. This formula is has not, is not, and in my humble opinion, will not work.

What is the story with hitting Chris Young?  Miggy is hitting under .200 for his career against him.  Ok, perhaps he’s got Miggy’s number but what about everybody else?  Is he suddenly Greg Maddux?  WTF?

Yankees 13 Tigers 4

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It is outings like this that, if I were Dave Dombrowski and Mr. Ilitch, would nag me about offering David Price a big contract. These are not bad outings. These are Fukushima like melt downs that happen too often for a guy looking for $20 plus million a year.

Going back to last season, this is the second start in a row that the Yankees absolutely beat David Price into a conniption and if I’m not mistaken the Giants put a similar beating on him last year as well.

Oh, how much more of The Amazing, Everyday Al do we need to see?

The offense wasn’t much better. I realize you aren’t going to win many games when your pitching staff gives up 13 runs but the offense did nothing except hit into two more double plays. The four runs they got in the bottom of the first came courtesy of four walks and only two hits.

Ok, ok 13-4 isn’t bad and a split in a four game series will make me feel a little better but I’m serious about what I said about Price. His Fukushimas scare me.

Sent from my iPad

Fister Trade A Good One?

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This article, hat tip Nebraska, makes the case and it is hard to argue with.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2015/04/16/mlb-insider-tigers-greene-making-up-for-fister-trade/25903481/

Fister essentially turned into Shane Greene and two starts in, Greene is SMOKIN’ BALLS!!

This is the most intriguing part of the article:

Dombrowski, though, pulled the trigger the first chance he had, when the Diamondbacks came calling in November and early December. And make no mistake, they wanted Ray. The deal could not have been done without Ray. They liked infield prospect Domingo Leyba, too, but Ray was the prize — and they never considered another Tigers pitching prospect. I had long been under the impression Arizona would’ve settled for another Tigers pitching prospect, since the Tigers have several nice ones, thus continuing to rule the Fister trade an uncharacteristic gaffe by Dombrowski.

“And make not mistake, they wanted Ray.”?  Too much peyote perhaps? 🙂  They can have him.  We’ll take Greene.

Orioles 7 Tigers 6

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“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The Tigers bullpen has been its Achilles heal for the past four years. The genius Dave Dombrowski, has done nothing to remedy the issue.

Oh, I know he made a half hearted attempt with the acquisition of Soria. But he knew Soria didn’t work out almost immediately and did nothing.

The TBS broadcast showed a statistic of the Tigers bullpen ERA during the last three post seasons. It wasn’t pretty. If I’m not mistaken, the 2011 ERA was over eight. Dennis Eckersley made the comment that the pen has been the single reason the Tigers haven’t won the World Series. (No kidding.)

For some reason, Ausmus keeps sending out the same parade of idiots. I know, ‘what can he do? That’s all he’s got’. I thought you’d never ask. How about leaving Sanchez in for the 8th or how about Kyle Lobstein? How about Porcello? Anybody but Soria, Chamberlain, Coke, Nathan, et al.

Now JV wasn’t good. I thought the home plate umpire was a joke but JV wasn’t good. He got picked up by his offense and Anibal Sanchez who was brilliant.

Do you remember a few months ago when I said third base coach Dave Clark was the second worst third base coach in the history of baseball behind Tom Brookens? I was wrong. He’s worse than Tommy Brookens. His asinine send of Cabrera in the eight with nobody out proved to be a dagger in the heart.

Given the deficiencies this team has it is a wonder they have won four division titles.

I’m sick.

Joe Nathan – Ass Clown

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Boohoohoo Nathan.  You crybaby.

Did Joe Nathan give chin flick to Detroit Tigers fans last night? | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.

You got booed because you suck.  If you can’t take it, quit.  And while you’re at it, grow a pair, and take responsibility for pitching like the the piece of garbage you are instead of blaming rookies.

Go back to Texas you shit bird.

Hey Double D, if you have a pair you’ll cut this pile of shit. You have to eat his salary regardless and is he helping the Tigers win?

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Tigers 5 Indians 4

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The Tigers won their third straight and second against the Indians, 5-4.

JV, was very good tonight.  He pitched seven innings, allowed two runs, one earned, struck out eight and walked one.

At first, I was annoyed that he didn’t come out for the eighth inning.  However, after thinking about it, I believe sitting him down was the correct move.

JV has thrown a lot of pitches and innings over the last five or six years.  It might be time to pull the reins in a piece. Also, he’s struggled lately, so let him come out of the game feeling good about himself.

The problem is that he has to turn the game over to one of the worst bullpens in MLB.  In fact, according to the CBS post game show, the Tigers bullpen ERA is second worst and has surrendered 10 more NINTH inning runs than the next worst team. I think the Astros are the only team with a worse bullpen ERA this season.

I’m not going to complain too much about Nathan tonight.  He blew the save but sometimes you just get a bad run of cards and there’s not much you can do about it.  Nathan struck out the first two batters in the ninth.  He had David Murphy 1-2.  Murphy worked the count to 3-2 then hit a ball off the ground into center field to extend the inning.  In fact, Nathan had Murphy, Gomes, and Bourn down to their last strike and ended up giving up three consecutive singles.

The good news is, Phil Coke was SMOKIN BALLS.  When have I ever said that before?  Have I ever said that before? He came in to pitch the 10th inning, struck out the side, and got the save.

Blaine Hardy came into relieve the The Amazing Al in the eighth and looked pretty good.  I’m not going to get too excited yet but so far so good.

One more troubling statistic that I saw on the post game show was that this isn’t the first year the Tigers bullpen has hit the skids.  They’ve been among the worst in baseball for the last five years.  This is probably a big reason why the Tigers haven’t won the World Series since 1984.  You’d think Dave Dombrowski would have plugged this hole by now.

“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural