Inge, Bautista look good
For those who were wondering, Brandon Inge looked fine in center field today, though he wasn't really tested all that much (two fly balls). He said he found it pretty simple, that he could read where to position himself before the ball was hit by where the catcher was lining up for the pitch.
"It's really common sense out there," Inge said. "It's almost like a golf game. Just figure out the elements and play 'em."
Time will tell whether it ends up being a showcase, but it's probably better than the challenge of catching again while trying to work in his hitting changes.
More important to the Tigers' fortunes this year, though, might be the performance of Denny Bautista. He put up two more scoreless innings today, giving him five for the spring, and the only baserunner he allowed was on a walk. Jim Leyland ran him out there earlier than his other two appearances so that he could see how he fared against better hitters, though the fact that it was a Phillies split squad didn't help that. He's getting good movement on his pitches right now and he's locating his fastball for strikes. He threw totally out of the stretch today and said he felt comfortable doing it. One keeps waiting for the wild version of Bautista to come out and struggle to locate, but that hasn't happened so far.
Leyland has said the last couple days that he has about five relievers fighting for one or two spots (depending on Fernando Rodney's status as spring goes along). Leyland won't name names, but he doesn't really have to. With Matt Mantei heading home and Francisco Cruceta still stuck at home, Bautista is taking advantage of a very good opportunity and gaining confidence with each step. As large as the odds appeared against it, this might be the place where the light turns on for him.
I gotta think Aquilino Lopez is being looked at seriously too. Whatever happpened to Darensbourg?
Miner has looked good and IMO Grilli has not looked that impressive. I think we are waiting for someone to come home oan turn the lights on as far as Jason is concerned. I don't think he knows how good his stuff is. Or if he does doesn't believe it will last. I hope he pulls it all together.
Heard the rumor about the Cubs being interested in Inge as a center fielder. I think that is a pretty weak rumor. The Cubs are on the verge--they can't afford to be employing an untested outfielder in CENTER!.
Starters continue to throw well.
Report any abuse or spam
word is that cruceta 'might' or 'should' be to camp by this weekend. hopefully.
hope bautista continues his good form and doesn't regress... i'm just really hoping zoom is back and effective sooner than anticipated....
Report any abuse or spam
Jason- Is there anything to the rumors of the Tigers being interested in Jorge Sosa, maybe sending Thames to the Mets for him? I hope not. I'd take our chances with what we have rather than bringing in the next Jose Mesa.
I would think that Bautista's chances of making the team are still limited. With Jones, Rodney, Seay, Byrdak, Grilli, Bazardo, and Cruceta all out of options and filling all seven pen spots, and Miner looking good and deserving, plus eventually Zumaya coming back, there is a numbers crunch. I still like our pen better than most for depth. Just need some quality at the back end, and most of all we need the starters to log some innings to lighten the load on the pen.
Report any abuse or spam
TDawg, I don't like your rumor! Let's keep Thames at all costs. If Sosa were that good the Met's would keep him. This Thames continues to be a monster. He just needs to get that one big break that gets him some consistent ab's. Hey, can we teach him to catch? I didn't really say that did I?
Report any abuse or spam
JT, I think you're right. Marcus carried the team a bit early in the summer IMO.
He is prone to some glaring slumps but nothing that a fair amount of ABs wouldn't correct. He is under utilized and will unfortunately not get the playing time he needs with Jacque Jones here. BTW, Perez and Guzman are both playing well too. Can't see either of them stick though
Marcus won't get a lot of time at 1B either with Carlos SW hitting there.
Where I see his hidden value is in replacing Ordonez or Sheffield. Sheffield is injjury prone and ordonez won't be able to go through a full season without being hobbled either.
If Sheffield goes down I would like to see them give the job to Marcus--but you can bet JL would take the platoon and hot-bat approach should that happen.
On top of all that he is a class act. I don't think I have ever heard a sniff of a complaint or a whine from him.
I don't want to beat the Inge thing to death, but I hope they are able to give him what he wants. I think it would be best for all concerned. He may be a good athlete but I would be a little queasy with him filling in for Curtis. I think Raburn patrols very well out there, especially since he was really trained as an infielder.
Back to Marcus, he is always the odd man out but I think he can make enough noise with his bat that he will be hard to ignore. No way should we trade him.
Report any abuse or spam
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080305&content_id=2407692&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
UH-OH
Report any abuse or spam
I haven't heard anything specific on a Thames-for-Sosa deal, but that doesn't mean anything. Here's the thing to consider: If you have a positional glut and you determine you can't trade Inge, you have to do something to clear space on the roster. That means either optioning Raburn to Toledo or dealing Thames, who is out of options. That's not to say they'll do it, but at this point, they have to weigh their options.
I saw Sosa throw in the Caribbean Series and it was his typical performance. He had one very good game and one game where he couldn't find the strike zone. You kind of have to accept that this is what you get with him. Other than experience level, I'm not really sure that's any better than what you can get from Bautista.
Report any abuse or spam
We all knew the reason we traded for J. Jones. A left handed bat that can handle the field. Although, with a similiar number of bats in spring training so far (yes, it is only spring) Thames is tearing it up. I think he is really putting it all out there to be the 'starter' in front of J. Jones in left.
Dan, as far as JJ in the article you posted, I guess I am not surprised and I would imagine most of the guys on here feel the same. We all had our reservations about trading him and I am sure we will continue to follow at a distance how he does in ATL, like we do with alot of our former Tigers. I wish him the best and I think if his arm stays healthly he will make a great addition to the Braves staff.
Report any abuse or spam
Ty--I read the article but it wasn't me he posted it.
JJ could be a really nice pitcher. I think we will miss him but we really did need **** of the calibre we got in Renteria.
I don't see marcus getting the nod ovr Jones in left and figure Jones will get the bulk of the playing time to be sure. I do think Marcus will get more ABs against RHP though this year.
I see Brandon is playing 3B today. I guess he'll be smilin' today!
Hard to say what will go down with the bench players. I have a sneaky suspicion that Vance Wilson's days are numbered. With Inge not being thrilled with the prospect of catching I would suspect that we will see Sardinha open the season. Not sure what kind of skills Skelton has but Sardinha appears to be close to being ready for a reserve role.
Fingers still crossed with the bullpen situation. Particularly closing. A closer's fate includes the inevitable time when they can't get the big out anymore. It comes with age and physical erosion and if we can get one more year out of Todd Jones we should count our lucky stars. He's on borrowed time.
Report any abuse or spam
Dan, I stand corrected, I guess Farms posted that.
In any event, it is true what has been said before, Thames needs his ABs to stay consistent.
Report any abuse or spam