Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Tigers Interested in Gordon and Hoffman

According to Jason Beck of MLB.COM, the Tigers, after losing out on BJ Ryan and Kyle Farnsworth, are now interested in Trevor Hoffman and Tom Gordon. Here are the highlights:

While the Tigers were never more than secondary participants in the bidding for Billy Wagner, believed to be the top closer on the market, they had hopes of signing either Ryan or Farnsworth, two younger arms entering the prime of their careers.


Ryan came to town for a visit two weeks ago and was high on Detroit's list when he and the Blue Jays shocked baseball with a five-year, $47 million deal. Soon after that, former Indians setup man Bobby Howry spurned Detroit, signing a three-year contract to join the Cubs and passing up a reported three-year, $13.5 million offer from the Tigers.


As of Wednesday, Farnsworth was close to a three-year deal to join the Yankees as setup man to Mariano Rivera. Meanwhile, the Tigers have jumped into discussions with the agents for Tom Gordon and Trevor Hoffman, two relievers with whom they had not had contact until recently.


Gordon reportedly wants a three-year offer from the Phillies, who are aggressively pursuing him along with the Tigers and four other teams. Hoffman's side reportedly asked for a three-year deal from the Padres in October before he hit the open market.


After Gordon and Hoffman, the market becomes much more of a question. The Tigers have not shown interest in Bob Wickman...Nor is it believed they have interest in a lengthy deal with former Tiger Todd Jones

At their ages, neither Hoffman or Gordon sounds like a great signing if it's more than two years which it probably would be. If the deal is not too crazy though, either of these guys could be very tradeable next year at the deadline.

Tiger Targets Choosing Different Destinations

It's still very early in the off season, but several Tiger targets (confirmed or rumored) have already headed elsewhere. BJ Ryan is a Blue Jay. Billy Wagner is a Met. Bob Howry is a Cub even though, according to Peter Gammons of ESPN, the Tigers offered him 1.5 million more. Kyle Farnsworth is reportedly close to a three year deal with the Yankees (according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports). On the potential trade front, Javier Vazquez has apparently included the Tigers on the list of six teams to which he can not be traded (found near the bottom of this News Day artcle).

Again it's early, but so far we are getting reminded that Detroit is still not an attractive destination for free agents or other players with a choice in where they play. This is not something that a lot of Tiger fans like to hear after watching losing seasons for more than a decade but it's becoming more and more clear each year that the Tigers will not be able to buy their way out their struggles. I'm convinced that the Tigers are not ever going to be a consistent winner or even an occasional winner until they start developing young talent on a regular basis. This is not said out of frustration in their failure to make early moves. It's something I believe to be true even if they do make a Major League signing or two.

With blue chip prospects such as Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya and Cameron Maybin and other promising young players such as Brent Clevlen, Jordan Tata, Jeff Frazier, Jeff Larish, and Kyle Sleeth on the horizon, the Tigers appear to have a more impressive collection of minor leaguers than they have had in years. Now, that is in comparison to some pretty poor crops of the past but the organization does seem to be moving forward. They need to continue to accumulate players through draft, trade and foreign free agency and they need to develop them into Major Leaguers who can either help the parent club or be traded for other players at positions of need. It will be a long process but I think it's the only way the Tigers will see success again.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Isolated Power by Position

As promised yesterday, I will now present tables showing how the Tigers ranked in isolated power (ISO) among American Leaguers by position in 2005. The first table is a summary table showing only the Tiger players. It lists each Tiger at his most frequently played position, gives the number of players qualifying (at least 295 PA) at that position and tells where the Tiger ranked among them in ISO. You’ll see the following:

  • The Tigers had their highest ranking sluggers (rank as a proportion of qualifiers) at first base (Pena and Shelton) and left field (White).

  • They had a power shortage in the outfield (Logan, Ordonez).

  • Their two highest ranking sluggers at their respective positions (Pena and White) are the most likely ones not to return next year.

Tigers by Position


Pos

Player

No

Rnk

C

Rodriguez

13

6

1B

Pena

23

7

1B

Shelton

23

9

1B

Young

23

11

2B

Infante

16

9

2B

Polanco

16

12

3B

Inge

15

7

SS

Guillen

13

9

LF

White

19

6

CF

Logan

15

15

RF

Monroe

18

13

RF

Ordonez

18

17



The tables which follow list all American League players by position ranked by ISO. It also includes batting average (BA) and slugging average (SLG).

Catchers

Rnk

Player

Team

BA

SLG

ISO

1

Barajas

TEX

.254

.466

.212

2

Varitek

BOS

.281

.489

.208

3

Lopez

BAL

.278

.458

.180

4

Martinez

CLE

.305

.475

.170

5

Posada

NYA

.262

.430

.168

6

Rodriguez

DET

.276

.444

.168

7

Pierzynski

CHA

.257

.420

.163

8

Molina

LAA

.295

.446

.151

9

Buck

KC

.242

.389

.147

10

Zaun

TOR

.251

.373

.122

11

Mauer

MIN

.294

.411

.117

12

Hall

TB

.287

.368

.081

13

Kendall

OAK

.271

.321

.050


First basemen

Rnk

Player

Team

BA

SLG

ISO

1

Ortiz

BOS

.300

.604

.304

2

Hafner

CLE

.305

.595

.290

3

Sexson

SEA

.263

.541

.278

4

Teixeira

TEX

.301

.575

.274

5

Giambi

NYA

.271

.535

.264

6

Konerko

CHA

.283

.534

.251

7

Pena

DET

.235

.477

.242

8

Sweeney

KC

.300

.517

.217

9

Shelton

DET

.299

.510

.211

10

Broussard

CLE

.255

.464

.209

11

Young

DET

.271

.471

.200

12

Morneau

MIN

.239

.437

.198

13

Martinez

NYA

.241

.439

.198

14

LeCroy

MIN

.260

.444

.184

15

Palmeiro

BAL

.266

.447

.181

16

Johnson

OAK

.275

.451

.176

17

Stairs

KC

.275

.444

.169

18

Hinske

TOR

.262

.430

.168

19

Hillenbrand

TOR

.291

.449

.158

20

Lee

TB

.272

.426

.154

21

Millar

BOS

.272

.399

.127

22

Erstad

LAA

.273

.371

.098

23

Hatteberg

OAK

.256

.343

.087


Second basemen

Rnk

Player

Team

BA

SLG

ISO

1

Soriano

TEX

.268

.512

.244

2

Cantu

TB

.286

.497

.211

3

Roberts

BAL

.314

.515

.201

4

Belliard

CLE

.284

.450

.166

5

Cano

NYA

.297

.458

.161

6

Ellis

OAK

.316

.477

.161

7

Iguchi

CHA

.278

.438

.160

8

Boone

SEA

.231

.385

.154

9

Infante

DET

.222

.367

.145

10

Bellhorn

BOS

.216

.360

.144

11

Hudson

TOR

.271

.412

.141

12

Polanco

DET

.338

.461

.123

13

Gotay

KC

.227

.344

.117

14

Green

TB

.239

.346

.107

15

Punto

MIN

.239

.335

.096

16

Kennedy

LAA

.300

.370

.070


Third basemen

Rnk

Player

Team

BA

SLG

ISO

1

Rodriguez

NYA

.321

.610

.289

2

Crede

CHA

.252

.454

.202

3

Chavez

OAK

.269

.466

.197

4

Mora

BAL

.283

.474

.191

5

Blalock

TEX

.263

.431

.168

6

Cuddyer

MIN

.263

.422

.159

7

Inge

DET

.261

.419

.158

8

Beltre

SEA

.255

.413

.158

9

Koskie

TOR

.249

.398

.149

10

Gonzalez

TB

.269

.410

.141

11

Mueller

BOS

.295

.430

.135

12

Boone

CLE

.243

.378

.135

13

Teahen

KC

.246

.376

.130

14

Hill

TOR

.274

.385

.111

15

Figgins

LAA

.290

.397

.107


Shortstops

Rnk

Player

Team

BA

SLG

ISO

1

Peralta

CLE

.292

.520

.228

2

Tejada

BAL

.304

.515

.211

3

Young

TEX

.331

.513

.182

4

Crosby

OAK

.276

.456

.180

5

Uribe

CHA

.252

.412

.160

6

Scutaro

OAK

.247

.391

.144

7

Jeter

NYA

.309

.450

.141

8

Adams

TOR

.256

.383

.127

9

Guillen

DET

.320

.434

.114

10

Renteria

BOS

.276

.385

.109

11

Lugo

TB

.295

.403

.108

12

Cabrera

LAA

.257

.365

.108

13

Berroa

KC

.270

.375

.105


Left fielders

Rnk

Player

Team

BA

SLG

ISO

1

Ramirez

BOS

.292

.594

.302

2

Dellucci

TEX

.251

.513

.262

3

Mench

TEX

.264

.469

.205

4

Matsui

NYA

.305

.496

.191

5

Everett

CHA

.251

.435

.184

6

White

DET

.313

.489

.176

7

Crawford

TB

.301

.469

.168

8

Crisp

CLE

.300

.465

.165

9

Ibanez

SEA

.280

.436

.156

10

Anderson

LAA

.283

.435

.152

11

Catalanotto

TOR

.301

.451

.150

12

Johnson

TOR

.269

.412

.143

13

Kielty

OAK

.263

.395

.132

14

Winn

SEA

.275

.391

.116

15

Stewart

MIN

.274

.388

.114

16

Long

KC

.279

.378

.099

17

Surhoff

BAL

.257

.356

.099

18

Podsednik

CHA

.290

.349

.059

19

Womack

NYA

.249

.280

.031


Center fielders

Rnk

Player

Team

BA

SLG

ISO

1

Sizemore

CLE

.289

.484

.195

2

Wells

TOR

.269

.463

.194

3

Hunter

MIN

.269

.452

.183

4

Matthews

TEX

.255

.436

.181

5

Hollins

TB

.249

.418

.169

6

DeJesus

KC

.293

.445

.152

7

Finley

LAA

.222

.374

.152

8

Kotsay

OAK

.280

.421

.141

9

Rowand

CHA

.270

.407

.137

10

Damon

BOS

.316

.439

.123

11

Williams

NYA

.249

.367

.118

12

Ford

MIN

.264

.377

.113

13

Reed

SEA

.254

.352

.098

14

Matos

BAL

.280

.373

.093

15

Logan

DET

.258

.335

.077


Right fielders

Rnk

Player

Team

BA

SLG

ISO

1

Gomes

TB

.282

.534

.252

2

Guerrero

LAA

.317

.565

.248

3

Gibbons

BAL

.277

.516

.239

4

Dye

CHA

.274

.512

.238

5

Sheffield

NYA

.291

.512

.221

6

Swisher

OAK

.236

.446

.210

7

Blake

CLE

.241

.438

.197

8

Hidalgo

TEX

.221

.416

.195

9

Jones

MIN

.249

.438

.189

10

Rivera

LAA

.271

.454

.183

11

Nixon

BOS

.275

.446

.171

12

Brown

KC

.286

.455

.169

13

Monroe

DET

.277

.446

.169

14

Huff

TB

.261

.428

.167

15

Sosa

BAL

.221

.376

.155

16

Rios

TOR

.262

.397

.135

17

Ordonez

DET

.302

.436

.134

18

Suzuki

SEA

.303

.436

.133

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