Bonderman's changeup

Although we lost, some very encouraging things today. First we scored some runs. Second, Bondo had a nice outting.

Guys sorry about continuing the B/I dialoge because I know we are all getting tired of it. However, many more tirades about catching like this latest one and I'm going to stop supporting him. Look at the way JL handles his guys, always positive. For him to say, "I'm not going to catch someone who doesn't want to catch", well it must be pretty bad. Hey Brandon, as the back up catcher to Pudge, that gets you in at least 40 games right there. Considering all the other possibilities, you're going to play in at least half of the other games. That's another 63. Now you are at 103. Somebody is bound to get injured and you might pick up another 20 that way. Man, you're at 123 and that's close to 500 abs. Plenty to show your stuff and be a big part of this team THIS YEAR!

Can't you see, you're more valuable to the Tigers than any other team?

For the love of god, stop complaining.

JT -- you are right on about this. Glad you said it and not me (I don't want to keep ranting and raving).

Brandon is a wonderful, interesting and even exciting 3Baseman. But, get over it Brandon. You lost your job because contenders have to be strong at the corners offensively. Brandon will be hard pressed to hit .270 and 2006 was probably an anomaly for power.

DD and Illitch were absolutely right in going after MCab.

I do hope Brandon gets picked up by someone as their regular third sacker. Both for his sake and, I think it fair to say after all the complaining, for the Tigers' as well. I would like to see him stay but he is burning bridges with his comments and is smart enough to know what he is saying and to whom.

Bonderman had a very productive outing. Let's hope he has a "grip" on throwing a changeup.

All the LHB outfielders had a good day too.

Aquilino Lopez is making people stand up and notice too, expecially with Cruceta, Grilli and Tata struggling.

I hate to keep harping on this myself, and yes I wish Brandon would be happy here in the role he is being presented with. I guess that I don't really understand why he doesn't have the right to be a little upset about it. Do I think that he should get over it?? ABSOLUTELY!! But what I read was that he did enjoy the catching but that he feels like he doesn't have the ability to be a good catcher and hit like everyone wants him to including himself. I think that up until yesterday he had been hitting pretty well and had taken 4 walks and he equated catching to his poor performance at the plate and probably the reporters caught him when he was still completely frustrated with his performance, not to mention he made and error throwing?? So I just wonder how much of it was taken out of context??? I wonder how everyone would be reacting to these comments had he just said no comment instead of answering the question. Everyone would probably be pissed at him for not answering the question??

Now on to the game today. Good outing by Bondo, and Lopez, everyone else there left a lot to be desired. I have to say that I respectfully disagree with Dan's opinion that Grilli is struggling. He has pitched in three innings allowed 2 hits, 1 bb and 1 run. And I think that it is a little to early to decide that that is struggling (just my humble opinion) As least I hope that it is not a sign of things to come. I just hope that we get road and late in the season Grilli and not the guy that pitched at home.

I really for what ever stupid reason didn't have a ton of fears regarding the pen this year. However with the Cruceta situation, Rodney's possible shoulder situation and now this Mantei thing I have to tell you I am not feeling at all comfortable anymore. I really don't understand what the deal with Cruceta is, and why he is unable to get his visa, and did the Tiger organization realize that this might be a problem early on???? It is just crazy that they cannot figure out a way to get him into the country. If it is infact his steroid use that is the hold up, I am not sure why this is that much more of an offense than Liriano's drunk driving conviction and he go in last week?? I am disappointed about this Mantei thing because there were such rave reviews going on and his situation doesn't sound very good. I know that it is early but, I am still having some concerns.

Anyway nice to really talk about baseball again and hopefully we will be talking about the Tigers in the playoffs in October

Sorry for rambling, I really got on a role there. Promise to shorten up next time.

GO TIGERS

I am in agreement with you on Brandon Inge GK. After reading that piece on him, I saw more frustration than I did bitterness or whining. You gonna criticize a guy for being frustrated? Any of you guys that actually played this game (and I assume most of you did) ever like sitting on the bench? I didn't. I loved playing baseball and I love watching it (from the stands) I know there are guys who did enjoy the vicarious pine thing, but I was never particularly fond of "cheering" from the bench. It's just too much fun to play. It's a team game but maybe even more so an individual game. Anyway, Brandon was awarded a very generous contract after 06, then after a sub par hitting season had a bomb dropped on him. Ain't easy to adjust to that. Easy for us to criticize. Easy for us to condescendingly label him our super sub... Hey Brandon, it's what's best for our team. That's not very consoling. No offense, but I hope Brandon gets what's best for him and his family. If it works out to be what's best for the team, great. Brandon is one of the top mlb defensive 3rd baseman, but at this point is in the bottom tier hitting wise. The defense is not going away, but the hitting could still improve. Problem: based on last year's offensive numbers, the salary is high, ironically , I believe, maybe less BI's fault than his agent's and Tiger management's. Seems for him to be movable,something needs to be creatively done with his contract. My gut feeling is that Brandon is expensive insurance that management is more than willing to pay for. And I don't blame them. He could wind up playing a very important role. I honestly hope Brandon remains on the team and somehow finds his niche, but I don't blame him for any frustrations he might have and I don't even see him as being any real distraction. I'm much more concerned with how the pitching plays out but that's another blog.
How are you guys all doing?

Well I'm doing fine, Marty, how are you? I'm heading for FLA tomorrow and, starting next Monday, will be attending six Tiger games in a row. Unless we burn out on it and end up at Disney World or something.

Regarding ol' Brandon, I agree with some of what each of you has said. All good and valid points. I will say, Marty, that he has done what's best for him and his family by getting that big contract, so now it's about the game itself. I have a feeling this thing will work itself out.

It's interesting how big a story this seems to have become, and I think it has to do with the type of baseball fans the Tigers have. Very loyal to guys who have proven to be loyal to Detroit, almost a family-like thing. Wasn't always this way. I don't know how many of you followed the team in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but that was a real circus. They had guys I just didn't like and found hard to root for. Without naming names, if there's a pitcher that always seems to be getting into fights, I don't like him. If a .246 hitter suddenly hits a homer then cadillacs around the bases like the second coming of Mickey Mantle, I don't like him. If a guy with all the talent in the world is too lazy to work on his game, I don't like him either. And if a group of players abuse a flight attendant on an airplane, I REALLY don't like them.

So here Brandon, one of our guys, is going through a rough time and people are actually worried about him. That's quite something, when you think about it. We've had a complete turnaround in the type of people who make up the Detroit baseball club. When JL says this is a great group of guys, it sounds hokey, but it's actually true. And this doesn't happen very often, believe me.

--Rich

Good points, pro and con on B/I. I'm sure he was frustrated, but also believe he is "campaigning". Like I said, the telling thing was JL's comments. "Not going to catch a guy who doesn't want to catch", effectively ends this little experiment. B/I you "say" it's all about playing but you just lost yourself the chance to get in 40 games and 150 ab's.

Hey, haven't all you guys been "benched" before? I sure as **** have as recently as last year. What are your options, cry in the corner? BTW, given the Tiger's comments about back up catchers, I'm sure they could live with a little less offense on the days that you catch B/I.

Also, about riding the bench and being frustrated, you can only put nine guys out there, so somebody is going to be disappointed every game.

Still a B/I supporter, but evolving from really wanting to keep him, to thinking it's best to trade him.

Finally, a visual, Shawn Casey's attitude in B/I's body.

In an attempt to change the subject (I feel that the BI stuff is getting way too much play) I would like to talk about Joel Zumaya. I don't know how many of you are local to the Detroit area but on the channel 7 news the other night they did a story about Joel and his jacked up, pimped out truck that he drove from California with his brother and Grandma. Well what he says disturbs me a lot more than this Inge stuff. He was talking about traveling from California speeding the whole way and I mean really speeding and how he likes to take it to the sand dunes and tool around there. To me this is some of the behavior that Joel needs to tame down. He needs to put himself in a bubble. It may already be too late for him, but I think that he needs to learn to mellow out and take it a little more easy, and stop being so reckless.

I'm happy for ya Rich. Joker Marchant Stadium is a great place to watch a game. Arrive early to avoid fan traffic, and hang around out front later if you're interested in getting pictures and autographs. Last year I believe on about the 8th of March, my daughters and I saw the Tigers play the Mets, and we hung around for well over an hour. Curtis G., Chris Shelton, Vance Wilson and JL did not disappoint. They were all very gracious and patient with the hand full of us remaining. My daughters loved it. Anyway, we did not have great seats, we were sitting down the left field line in that block of seats that's actually disconnected from the rest of the stadium seats and we still felt fairly close. Tell you what, that grassy slope beyond the left field fence looked like a great place to watch. People brought beach towels and baby strollers and whatever and looked like they were really enjoying themselves. Kenny Rogers pitched that day and,after pitching, was doing some easy conditioning running between center and left. Between runs he talked with some of the folks down in the left field corner. Very relaxing atmosphere... Just in case any of you bloggers out there are considering a game and either have no tickets or want to see a game cheaply.
My fondest memory of Joker Marchant was back in the mid 90's when after a game with the Reds, I had my 35 mm out taking pics and saw Ernie Harwell up in the press box. As I zoomed in on him, he saw me and leaned right out of the window and smiled and waved to me like he was my best friend. That's the kind of person he is. It's one of my favorite shots.

Yes Rich, you are right that Brandon and his family have been WELL taken of financially. He has absolutely no reason to complain there. And until something happens (or not), he is after all an employee of the Detroit Tigers. Funny, most of us could quit our jobs anytime and look for employment elsewhere, but it doesn't work that way in mlb.

Good rebuttal JT. Points well taken. Yeah, I've been benched and no, I never whined or cried in the corner about it but I still hated the feeling.

Anyway, here's a thought. If you bloggers were given a choice of playing for one year as a starter in mlb (for living expenses) or just receiving 1 million dollars, which would you take?

I hadn't heard about the Zumaya thing, it is a worry. The back end of the bullpen is clearly the primary area of concern. Jones is not a long-term solution. Rodney is up and down, both in terms of injury and consistency. Zumaya is an unknown, we'll just have to wait and see what happens when he comes back. Maybe we'll get another arm for Inge, if that trade happens.

My $0.02 on the Inge thing. I think a lot of good points have been raised. My only question is what would you do if your employer was talking about making you do something that you really didn't want to do? How would you respond? I don't feel that his comments (in context) have been that whiny or inflammatory. I wish he'd stay, but I don't want him to stay if he'd be unhappy.

matt