Tigers sign Prince Fielder

[Captain Cold Nose]

People who don't normally watch baseball: "That guy on the left is an athlete?"

I guess a lot of people on this thread are thinking the same thing, regardless of knowing what Fielder has actually done. Surely a guy like that, after several years so it's hardly a new subject can't play baseball or hit the ball or contribute in an actual game situation. Oh, wait . . .

[bluesky5]

I guess a lot of people on this thread are thinking the same thing, regardless of knowing what Fielder has actually done. Surely a guy like that, after several years so it's hardly a new subject can't play baseball or hit the ball or contribute in an actual game situation. Oh, wait . . .

Fielder is an impressive overall ball player compared to anyone, let alone a man his size.

[Rich the Giants fan]

According to ACTA Sports, the 12-11 Tigers have the second worst defense in the Majors so far this year, with -19 defensive runs saved. UZR has them third worst at -11.7.

Early season results seem to indicate that the Tigers may have underestimated the importance of defense. Then again, they'll probably still roll out 90+ wins, but this will be interesting to keep an eye on all year.

[UnderPressure]

A corner infield of Cabrera and Fielder will do that to you, Rich. Luckily for the Tigers, their offense will outweigh their defensive woes.

[doctor_gogol]

According to ACTA Sports, the 12-11 Tigers have the second worst defense in the Majors so far this year, with -19 defensive runs saved. UZR has them third worst at -11.7.

Early season results seem to indicate that the Tigers may have underestimated the importance of defense. Then again, they'll probably still roll out 90+ wins, but this will be interesting to keep an eye on all year.

Their fielding is one thing. Their pitching is pathetically inconsistent. We can't even rely on Verlander this year. So far.
Smyly has been a surprise though.

[DClutch]

It doesn't help that Leyland DH's a very good, young, athletic outfielder in Andy Dirks and puts DELMON YOUNG in LF. I Mean how can you justify Delmon in the field with a young guy with speed like Dirks at DH? Awful.

This past few days with Young have been great. Dirks and Kelly have been out in the outfield, making great catches on the run, diving catches down the line. Delmon Young would be NOWHERE near catching these balls, turning them into RBI doubles.

Add in Boesch in RF, it's ugly. With Danny Worth called up, he will improve the defense at 2nd base.

Cabrera hasn't been that bad. Yes, you can talk about his range, but he's making all the routine plays, the bunts, balls down the line, etc. Fielder some games is a like a statue and can't seem to catch anything if he has to move.

If they would just put Dirks in LF, they would have a drastically improved outfield group. But with Delmon, it's an awful group. But Leyland is one of the worst when it comes to lineups. I'm OK with Cabrera/Peralta because they catch everything they get to, which is fine when you have a big bat to offset it. Raburn sucks because he isn't playing as much anymore.

Detroit could be a much better defensive team if they had a better manager. Leyland has a made a career of that the fact players respect him. But in terms of baseball, his lineups are atrocious (Don Kelly career .600 OPS hitting 5th), Delmon Young in LF over Dirks, Boesch hitting 2nd, a top 10 OPS guy in Avila hitting 8th?? Last week, Leyland played Kelly everyday. He hit him 5th, 6th, in front of Peralta and Avila. And this guy is a untility player who hits about .230 with no power.

It's funny how he is such a NL manager (bunts all the time) but yet runs out all these defensively challenged guys while his more atheltic guys sit on the bench or DH

[dominik]

It doesn't help that Leyland DH's a very good, young, athletic outfielder in Andy Dirks and puts DELMON YOUNG in LF. I Mean how can you justify Delmon in the field with a young guy with speed like Dirks at DH? Awful.

This past few days with Young have been great. Dirks and Kelly have been out in the outfield, making great catches on the run, diving catches down the line. Delmon Young would be NOWHERE near catching these balls, turning them into RBI doubles.

Add in Boesch in RF, it's ugly. With Danny Worth called up, he will improve the defense at 2nd base.

Cabrera hasn't been that bad. Yes, you can talk about his range, but he's making all the routine plays, the bunts, balls down the line, etc. Fielder some games is a like a statue and can't seem to catch anything if he has to move.

If they would just put Dirks in LF, they would have a drastically improved outfield group. But with Delmon, it's an awful group. But Leyland is one of the worst when it comes to lineups. I'm OK with Cabrera/Peralta because they catch everything they get to, which is fine when you have a big bat to offset it. Raburn sucks because he isn't playing as much anymore.

Detroit could be a much better defensive team if they had a better manager. Leyland has a made a career of that the fact players respect him. But in terms of baseball, his lineups are atrocious (Don Kelly career .600 OPS hitting 5th), Delmon Young in LF over Dirks, Boesch hitting 2nd, a top 10 OPS guy in Avila hitting 8th?? Last week, Leyland played Kelly everyday. He hit him 5th, 6th, in front of Peralta and Avila. And this guy is a untility player who hits about .230 with no power.

It's funny how he is such a NL manager (bunts all the time) but yet runs out all these defensively challenged guys while his more atheltic guys sit on the bench or DH

I agree with young however I don't think the LFer will make such a big difference. LF is not as important as a position as other position. many team park challenged guys there. I would think that the IF is the bigger problem although of course detroit is a big park where OF might have a bigger role than in a bandbox.

[doctor_gogol]

Detroit could be a much better defensive team if they had a better manager. L

DING DING DING!!! We have a winner!!

It also doesn't help that Leyland's biggest weakness is leaving pitchers in far too long while getting pummeled. I've yelled at the TV far too many times while Brad Penny last year, Porcello and Scherzer this year give up 6-7 runs in an inning and Leyland leaves them in.

If a team with this talent still has a mediocre record by the all star break, Leyland needs to go

[dominik]

DING DING DING!!! We have a winner!!

It also doesn't help that Leyland's biggest weakness is leaving pitchers in far too long while getting pummeled. I've yelled at the TV far too many times while Brad Penny last year, Porcello and Scherzer this year give up 6-7 runs in an inning and Leyland leaves them in.

If a team with this talent still has a mediocre record by the all star break, Leyland needs to go

I agree with that. While I think the defense thing is not his fault (even if he removes young he still has two below average corners IFs in there) I do think that he uses his pitchers often too much.

I think the same is true with halladay in philly. those old school managers think that complete games and such stuff are great. they are certainly nice to watch but with the hugely blown up postseason I would rather pull my ace after 110 and safe some bullets for the post season.

I still cannot believe why he lets verlander throw 130+ pitch CGs in early RS games sometimes even in easy wins.

[DClutch]

Leyland isn't going anywhere. In any other 'big city', a manager would have been fired after their '07 collapse, 2008 meltdown, or even fading down the stretch in 2009 and 2010. But he's still here.

They have created a bad vibe. Leyland his boys (Lamont and Mcclendon) are here forever. When the Tigers rotation struggled last year, they let go of Rick Knapp (who isn't part of their 'group') for no reason. He was the scapegoat, and gave the pitching coach job to somebody the Tigers have fired 4 times (Jeff Jones.) And that was a small stretch of bad pitching, and Knapp is gone. This team struggled offfensively for 3 YEARS and Mcclendon's job was never in jeopardy. Gene Lamont gets runners thrown out by MILES at home plate, costing injuries to Ordonez and Martinez, and many runs, but his job will never be in question either because them and Leyland go way back.

There's nothing Leyland could ever do to get fired. He would have been at least twice if he was in any other city. His buddies will never get fired even when their hitters struggle for years. But Knapp, an outsider, got the can for no reason other than to 'shake things up.' And Knapp was a great pitching coach who was a big part in turning around the staff from the disaster of '08 to the good team of '09, and he helped Verlander a lot. And he's fired, to hire a guy they have fired 4 TIMES BEFORE? LOL

And LF is a big position at Comerica, and in general. Delmon YOung's boneheaded plays cost us runs in two close games this season. And in the time he has been out, Dirks/Kelly have directly saved 3 runs (and possibly more) with catches that Young couldn't make. Every position is important.

[Rich the Giants fan]

Now 52 games in Fielder is batting .322/.387/.508 while Cabrera is batting .315/.366/.507. However UZR has the Tigers as a team at -21 and they are just 24-28. Cabrera is at -4.9, or -17.1 per 150 games while Fielder is at -2.2 for the year, projecting to -7.2 per 150.

Was the defensive portion of the game undervalued a bit in this instance?

[SamtheBravesFan]

Now 52 games in Fielder is batting .322/.387/.508 while Cabrera is batting .315/.366/.507. However UZR has the Tigers as a team at -21 and they are just 24-28. Cabrera is at -4.9, or -17.1 per 150 games while Fielder is at -2.2 for the year, projecting to -7.2 per 150.

Was the defensive portion of the game undervalued a bit in this instance?

Brennan Boesch, Ramon Santiago and Delmon Young aren't helping matters in that department either. The Tigers in general lack a good chunk of defense, despite Austin Jackson

[doctor_gogol]

Brennan Boesch, Ramon Santiago and Delmon Young aren't helping matters in that department either. The Tigers in general lack a good chunk of defense, despite Austin Jackson

They all produce at times, but inconsistently.

Quintin Berry is producing, Dirks when he's healthy is having a career year. I'm hoping Fielder is just having AL adjustment problems. The problem is consistency for the Tigers. When players are having a good day, they're all having a good day. When they're having a bad day, they all are. Its the proximity sympathetic menstruation.

[ol' aches and pains]

Its the proximity sympathetic menstruation.

Now that's a term you don't often see on a baseball forum. That's why you're the Doctor.

[dominik]

I think the problem here is not so much defense but the hitting of the other guys. last year several guys had career years. this year everything is on miggy and fielder (who is an improvement but the guy he replaced was no slouch either).

the other guys (exept austin jackson who is having a great year) need to start hitting. I'm not the biggest leyland fan either but the real problem is the hitting of the other 7 guys.

but I think they will come around and win the division in the second half again.

[doctor_gogol]

Now that's a term you don't often see on a baseball forum. That's why you're the Doctor.

You'll get my bill at the end of the month.

the other guys (exept austin jackson who is having a great year) need to start hitting. I'm not the biggest leyland fan either but the real problem is the hitting of the other 7 guys.

but I think they will come around and win the division in the second half again.

I think they will too.

Then there are Dirks and Berry. 2 guys who nobody has any reasonable expectation that they'd be doing anything this year, but have been the Tiger's top hitters.

[ol' aches and pains]

You'll get my bill at the end of the month.

You'll get my check when the Cubs win the World Series.

[Captain Cold Nose]

I think the problem here is not so much defense but the hitting of the other guys. last year several guys had career years. this year everything is on miggy and fielder (who is an improvement but the guy he replaced was no slouch either).

the other guys (exept austin jackson who is having a great year) need to start hitting. I'm not the biggest leyland fan either but the real problem is the hitting of the other 7 guys.

but I think they will come around and win the division in the second half again.

I think so many got caught up in the signing of Fielder that the rest of the lineup was overlooked when all those wild predictions were made. Could it honestly be expected that Peralta and Avila would replicate what they did last year? Or the young outfielders would come through? Or Delmon Young would stay healthy? For whatever reason, Brennan Boesch is still looked at as the rookie who tore the cover off the ball his first half-season. He hasn't been near that since. All these guys are doing their Brandon Inge impressions, the occasional hot hitting and the majority of the time not so much.

It is frustrating because the promise was there. Maybe things just went too well last year.

[nccavediver]

Fielder sure is locked in right now.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

Fielder sure is locked in right now.

He is having a good year but it seems his homeruns are down. I have to wonder if he'll even get 30. Paul Konerko is having the same type of lower homerun year although Fielder is the better of the two so i'm betting Fielder really goes on a rampage these last few months.

Least I hope he does because he's on my fantasy team.

[ol' aches and pains]

He is having a good year but it seems his homeruns are down.

Playing half your games in Comerica Park will do that to you.

[GiambiJuice]

Playing half your games in Comerica Park will do that to you.

Prince has hit 12 home runs at home and only 7 on the road.