Here's the latest from the A.L. Central:
- While the picture remains somewhat unclear, it seems apparent that the Tigers are preparing to deal with life without young shortstop Jose Iglesias for some time. The club made an inquiry with the Diamondbacks about shortstop Chris Owings, tweets Jon Morosi of FOX Sports, but the discussions were not fruitful.
- Of course, one obvious possibility involves the signing of free agent Stephen Drew, which seems not to be the club's first option. While there is a seeming fit — Drew is a solid veteran, the Tigers are a win-now club — some pundits agree with Detroit's inclination to look internally while exploring the trade market. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs, for example, argues that Detroit is better off patching things over to start the year and evaluating as time goes on. The performance of the fill-ins, recovery of Iglesias, and developments in the market could all lead to solutions and increase clarity, and Cameron says the team is likely good enough to absorb some performance decline in the meantime.
- The Royals are expected to tab prospect Yordano Ventura to open the season in the rotation, tweets Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star. The 22-year-old has backed up his billing as one of the game's top pitching prospects with a stellar spring. Of course, if Ventura breaks camp on the active roster, the Royals will lose the chance to delay his service clock and retain control for an additional season.
- There is an increasing sense of urgency in Minnesota with ticket sales lagging, and the Twins will be aggressive with roster changes if need be in the early going, reports ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Insider piece). The club already spent the sixth-most cash in the game through free agency, and Olney says it may be willing to move up some high-end talent if it struggles out of the gate. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire admitted today that he was intrigued by the possibility of utilizing the towering Alex Meyer out of the pen for his first taste of MLB action, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
Nick Franklin, please.
He’s the best bet for short-term solution that can hit.
Didn’t he finish the second half of last year batting around like .150?
Closer to .225. He had a couple of pretty good knee injuries that did affect him. One was a foul bunt off the top of his knee cap, the other was a deep gouge from a catcher’s cleat. Then the whole team was basically a head case after Wedge’s stroke, his return and his quitting on the team. The kid is only 23 this year. He will hit.
just looked it up he hit .276 the first half and .194 the second half and ended up with a .225 BA. It’s tough to say but it would entirely depend on what they want for him. If it’s too much then I think I’d feel safer going with in house candidates as who’s to say he’s going to produce right now, which is what we’d need from him. I understand he’s young but were not really in a position to bring in a young guy and let him develop. This is by no means an endorsement for Drew as I believe that is terrible choice.
Franklin is very young, but he’s ready. Cameron made a great point over at fangraphs. Go in house, sign Drew after the draft so there’s no draft pick loss and he can’t get a QO. He thinks the division isn’t so strong and the Tigers are so much better than everyone else they can handle the hit. But they need to improve SS in the 2nd half going into the playoffs. Franklin doesn’t make sense.
The one problem with that idea is after their is no longer a draft pick assigned to him do you really think Detroit would be the only team after him? You’re going to have more suitors inclined to offering him a longer term deal with more $ attached to it. Overall I’m just not real thrilled with the prospect of adding Drew.
The draft pick compensation is a non-factor. Teams simply (and wisely) do not want to spend $10M per year, $40M total for a shortstop who is no longer elite.
I’m pretty sure the draft pick is a factor at this point. If someone doesn’t throw caution to the wind and sign him before June when the draft pick drops off then I can say with certainty someone will sign him afterwards.
Stephen Drew had an OPS+ of 111 and a wRC+ of 109 last year. Does that not count as “being able to hit” for a shortstop, suddenly?
Sign Drew, and slide him to third next year, Castellanos back to OF.
Or move Iglesias to 3B if he is still having leg problems. The other option is simply trade Drew. I can see him landing a decent player coming off another good year at SS. Everyone seems to have an excuse for not improving their team, competition is not what it used to be I guess Tigers have a high payroll, but I am sure a backloaded deal and some deferred dollars could address any cash flow problems..
Too expensive for a guy who hasn’t shown any recent history of being able to stay on the field. Would rather keep an ear out for a trade and if not… let Perez or Suarez take it. Solid gloves
With regards to the Royals and Ventura.
The Royals want to win.
So to heck with that year.
Let it ride and let him pitch!
How does that work with Ventura and delaying his service clock when he already has big league experience?
They would have to keep him down in the minors for long enough that he wouldn’t accrue a full year of service time this season. If he doesn’t, then they retain control of him for one more season. Typically it’s like 3 to 4 weeks, I believe. With his service time from last year it might be a bit a longer.
Considering how most teams don’t need a 5 sp till middle of April they could keep him down.
Worth hits just as well or better and isn’t a bad glove.
I agree. let’s see what he can do.
Why would the Diamondbacks trade the front runner to be their ss this year? Not like the Tigers are flushed with prospects or depth? If the Tigers are looking for a glove first ss, why not the Backs’ Pennington.
I’d say that’s why the talks were fruitless. The Tigers are picky on who they want. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
Glad the Tigers aren’t hitting the panic button. Iggy was never really expected to be an impact bat, so there’s no need for a major upgrade right now. They can get by with Worth or Perez for a few weeks to see how the shins progress and if the fill-ins can hack it. It would be crazy to sign Drew… lose a draft pick, have an expensive guy long-term blocking young talent, it just doesn’t make sense to do now. Wait until there’s no draft pick attached and see if you need him then.
The trade ideas sound intriguing, but most are for young talent that would be duplicative once Iggy comes back. The Tigers system is also pretty thin at this point and I’m not sure what they can afford to give up, as young mlb-ready SS don’t come cheap. One intriguing idea I read is to trade for Rollins. Rollins wants to break some Philly records, but then he might accept a trade to a team making a pennant run and the Phils might take a middling prospect just to get him out of their clubhouse and off the books. You can be careful not to trigger his option and then he’s a FA next season and gone.