The Tigers announced this week that Victor Martinez is likely to miss the 2012 season with a torn ACL and though GM Dave Dombrowski said the team won’t act rashly, the Tigers figure to be on the lookout for a bat. Here’s the latest on the defending AL Central Champions…
- Tigers manager Jim Leyland said on MLB Network Radio that the Tigers probably aren’t going to find someone as good as Martinez. “So if you say it’s not gonna hurt us, you’re lying,” he added. Hat tip to Jason Beck of MLB.com, who has a partial transcript of Leyland's comments.
- Leyland said Johnny Damon’s name will likely come up since he can contribute to a club, even if he's not a "prototype DH."
- Leyland knows there are a lot of options remaining for teams in search of hitters. “How good they produce anymore, I don’t know,” he said. “And I always ultimately leave that up to Dave. We’ve already had some discussions, I won’t say who they are, of some guys internally.”
- John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press suggests Vladimir Guerrero and Raul Ibanez could be fits for the Tigers and notes that it remains to be seen whether Martinez's injury will affect the Tigers' pursuit of Yoenis Cespedes.
- Right-hander Jacob Turner, third baseman Nick Castellanos, left-hander Drew Smyly and left-hander Casey Crosby top Baseball America's list of the Tigers' best prospects entering the season.
- Leyland said the Tigers could round out their rotation with a trade or a free agent acquisition, James Schmehl of MLive.com writes. Turner and others would compete for the team's final rotation spot if Dombrowski doesn't add a starter.
- Right-hander Max Scherzer is an extension candidate and I previewed a possible deal last night.
Tigers have a lot of players they have a hard time getting abs for – why not leave the spot open for those guys and see if one of them steps forward? Other than taking a gamble on Manny Ramirez, that is probably the best way to go.
Did Leyland actually say “prototype DH” instead of “prototypical DH” or is that just a misprint?
I’d guess knowing Leyland it wasn’t a typo…
Epstein will sign Yoenis, nobody will go to wrigley just to see Castro…
I’d bet on White Sox. Faster way to majors. Torres agent??
There is no faster way to the majors than the Cubs.
Have ya seen our 40 man roster?
I’m alright with Johnny coming back simply because… Knowing how Leyland likes to construct his lineups, Johnny would bat 2nd instead of Don Kelly or Santiago. The 2nd spot of a tiger lineup is usually filled with an awful hitter.
He used Boesch there. He’s not awful.
Instead of all this Soriano talk, the Tigers should go after Marlon Byrd. The Cubs apparently are the favorites for Cespedes and Byrd would be a solid defender in LF for the Tigers versus below average in CF. His approach at the plate is similar to VMart as well. They could then shift Delmon Young to DH where he can’t be a defensive liability.
Am I the only one who thinks the Tigers should offer Fielder a one-year deal to come home? I mean, he spend much of his youth here clobbering homers out of Tiger Stadium. He can’t get the multiyear deal he wants. He probably doesn’t want to spend five years in Washington or Seattle if he wants to win a ring. Detroit would offer him a chance at that ring. A lefty power hitter would boost his offensive stats at Comerica Park. Give him $22 million – which he’ll probably get per year, anyway – and tell him to hit the market next year when you don’t have Pujols to contend with on the market. That’s what Ol’ Ping thinks, anyway.
any tigers fan would love that, but Prince and Boras only want a long-term deal.
And Soriano and Garza for Turner AND Smyly? Ha. I wouldn’t trade that rapscallion William Cotter Maybury for Soriano let alone Smyly.
Some combination of Raburn/Boesch/Young in a platoon at DH would probably be nearly as good as Martinez would have been. What’s the difference, one win, maybe? These sorts of things tend to get overblown, and then we wind up with an aging veteran stinking it up for 4 months before the Tigers realize that he’s not going to come around. This should not cost the Tigers (in money and in wins) as much as they’ll make it cost themselves.
Close, IMO. Boesch needs to find a permanent home and the DH isn’t the spot. Raburn will be platooning at second, and I imagine will spend some time in LF with his howitzer for an arm…
I think unless they sign someone, the young will be a full time DH. I just don’t see the tigers putting him out in the field if there is a spot for him to use just his bat
Well I guess Will Rhymes won’t be the answer.
According to FanGraphs the avg. of DYoung, Raburn, & Boesch’s WAR was 1.1 compared to VMart’s 2.9 WAR. Obviously it’s a frustrating loss for the Tigers, that I feel will cost them more then a couple games, but they play in the weak AL Central, so they should still be able to win the league and do not need to do anything drastic to overcompensate for the loss of VMart. (A healthy Boesch will be influential though).
I wouldn’t mind Vlad in a Tigers uniform. Sure, he’s not as dangerous as he once was, but he would drive in a lot of runs if he batted between Cabrera and Boesch/Avila.
Coming from an Angels fan, wonder if Dombrowski would be interested in talking about Bobby Abreu? Does a sensible salary split exist?