As many of you know, I spent the winter finishing my book Beyond Batting Average. Hence, I didn't do as much analysis on Tiger Tales as I usually do in the off-season. Along with promoting my book, I now have two other projects which will take priority over my blog this season.
First, I am covering the Tigers for John Burnson's Heater Magazine. Heater is a subscription fantasy baseball news site. If you are just looking for news on the Tigers, then Heater is probably not for you. However, if you are into fantasy baseball, I would recommend checking it out. You can see a sample issue or purchase a subscription here.
My newest project will be writing about relief pitchers from a fantasy baseball perspective at Baseball Prospectus. This is a collaboration between Heater and Baseball Prospectus. It will be part of BP's premium content. You can read more about it here.
I will continue to post at Tiger Tales but, for the time being, it will be difficult for me to continue the volume of analysis I have done in the past. I will comment on all the big news and will do an analysis here and there but it won't be as regular as it has been in past years.
Showing posts with label Blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogs. Show all posts
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thursday, December 03, 2009
A Couple of Tigers Links
There are a couple of excellent articles I wanted to bring to people's attention. First, Kurt has an excellent series of articles on Dave Dombrowski this week at Mack Avenue Tigers. Also, Mark Anderson has a very interesting interview with Tigers instructor Brian Peterson at TigsTown.
Friday, May 08, 2009
New Tigers Blogger
There is a new Tigers blogger on the block. J. Ellet Lambie writes a blog called Hazaa - The J. Ellet Lambie Blog. In his latest post, he gives a detailed summary of the first sixth (27 games) of the Tigers season. He plans to do five more similar summaries during the season along with regular updates.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Live Blogging at Tigers Corner
Long time writer, analyst and Tigers fan Gary Gillette will be blogging tonight's game from the press box at Comerica Park so don't forget to drop by Tigers Corner for this unique perspective of the game.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tigers Corner
A few people have asked about Tigers Corner - a book/magazine about the Tigers published by Maple Street Press in 2007 and 2008. The 2009 Tigers Corner was ready for publication this year but Maple Street Press decided not to publish it. So, the authors have decided to provide the content of 2009 Tigers Corner online free of charge. The articles will show up over the next couple of weeks. The authors include executive editor Gary Gillette, managing editor Brian Borawski, bloggers Ian Casselberry, Bill Ferris, Matt Wallace, Michael McClary and myself as well as Holland Sentinel Writer Dan D'Addona. The current article discusses the Tigers top prospects. It was written by Gillette, Borawski, Wallace and myself. My role in this particular article was limited but you should read it anyway!
The Tigers Corner site is currently in Beta mode but will soon become permanent and more impressive looking. The plan is to keep producing new content on the site throughout the year and then to publish a Tigers Corner Book like past Tigers Corner's books prior to the 2010 season.
The Tigers Corner site is currently in Beta mode but will soon become permanent and more impressive looking. The plan is to keep producing new content on the site throughout the year and then to publish a Tigers Corner Book like past Tigers Corner's books prior to the 2010 season.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Blogger tries out for Tigers
For the second straight year, fellow blogger Kyle tried out for the Tigers yesterday and has written a nice story about his experience. If you want a first hand account of what goes on at a tryout camp, go check out the article. He had no aspirations of making the team but rather used his experience to promote his cause - a homeless shelter in Lakeland called Talbot House. He will be accepting donations for the next month.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Ducksnorts, Polanco and historic Tigers all-stars
Just a few random items today while I patiently wait for some Tigers starter to get through a couple of innings without walking multiple batters or piling up exorbitant pitch counts:
Geoff Young, who has been writing his San Diego Padres themed Ducksnorts since before blogs were called blogs, has published his annual Ducksnorts book. It's a book about the Padres but I have read his three annuals and have come away each time learning something new about the game. Geoff is an excellent writer who has the ability to analyze the game and tell an entertaining story at the same time. Among other things, this year's book includes an extensive Padres farm report, a review of the inaugural Padres 1969 season, research on pitcher run support and an essay on the relationship between fans, management and media.
Over at Sully Baseball, Paul Sullivan includes two Tigers all-star teams - the all time home grown team and the all-time acquired team. You may or may not agree with all his selections but it's a good read either way.
And one more item from the Fielding Bible: In the final section of the book, they rank position players on the aggregate of everything they did in 2008 including hitting, fielding and base running. They determined how many runs each player was worth according to batting runs created, base running runs using linear weights and defensive runs. The top Tiger in 2008 was Placido Polanco. They credited him with 126 runs - 83 with his bat, 38 with his glove, and 5 with base running. That was good for 30th in the majors.
Polanco was followed by Curtis Granderson who was responsible for 125 runs (99 batting, 17 fielding and 9 base running). Miguel Cabrera (108) and Magglio Ordonez (101) created more runs offensively than Polanco but were dragged down by sub-par fielding and base running.
Geoff Young, who has been writing his San Diego Padres themed Ducksnorts since before blogs were called blogs, has published his annual Ducksnorts book. It's a book about the Padres but I have read his three annuals and have come away each time learning something new about the game. Geoff is an excellent writer who has the ability to analyze the game and tell an entertaining story at the same time. Among other things, this year's book includes an extensive Padres farm report, a review of the inaugural Padres 1969 season, research on pitcher run support and an essay on the relationship between fans, management and media.
Over at Sully Baseball, Paul Sullivan includes two Tigers all-star teams - the all time home grown team and the all-time acquired team. You may or may not agree with all his selections but it's a good read either way.
And one more item from the Fielding Bible: In the final section of the book, they rank position players on the aggregate of everything they did in 2008 including hitting, fielding and base running. They determined how many runs each player was worth according to batting runs created, base running runs using linear weights and defensive runs. The top Tiger in 2008 was Placido Polanco. They credited him with 126 runs - 83 with his bat, 38 with his glove, and 5 with base running. That was good for 30th in the majors.
Polanco was followed by Curtis Granderson who was responsible for 125 runs (99 batting, 17 fielding and 9 base running). Miguel Cabrera (108) and Magglio Ordonez (101) created more runs offensively than Polanco but were dragged down by sub-par fielding and base running.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Tigers Links
Tigers bloggers are very active as the calendar turns to 2009:
- Blake continues his series on the top 100 Tigers of all time and Placido Polanco is #75.
- Mike finishes up his series on the top 10 Tigers stories of 2008. As you may have guessed, the majority of stories were not pleasant ones.
- Matt is looking at Tigers prospects by position and most recently covered the left-handed relievers.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
TigsTown round table - Updated
Paul Wezner, executive editor at Tigstown, invited me to participate as a guest writer at his site this week. On Wednesday, we wrote about the players who need to do well in winter ball this year in the weekly round table. I'll be contributing another article this weekend. TigsTown is a subscription site but the round table article is one of the free items available at their site. Thank you to Paul and the rest of the TigsTown staff for giving me the opportunity to write for them this week.
Update: For those that subscribe to TigsTown or are thinking about subscribing, my other article is now up at TigsTown. It's an analysis of Tigers minor league pitchers using Fielding Independent Pitching.
Update: For those that subscribe to TigsTown or are thinking about subscribing, my other article is now up at TigsTown. It's an analysis of Tigers minor league pitchers using Fielding Independent Pitching.
Top players of 2008 and some PMR numbers
There are a couple of very informative recent articles to which I wanted to bring your attention today:
First, Sky Kalkman has completed his series on Total Value Estimates for the 2008 season with a listing of the top 50 players in baseball. The article also includes links to the top 25 players at each position. You can read about the system on Justin Inaz's site. It's not a perfect system but it's a good one, probably the best total player value system publicly available right now. Think of it like VORP except that it also takes into account quality of fielding and not just position. For those of you who are familiar with WARP, it's even more similar to that but the fielding component is a more sophisticated play by play system.
Two Tigers made the major league top 50: Curtis Granderson finished 19th and Placido Polanco 33rd. Granderson was 47 runs above placement offensively and 3 above replacement defensively (using Zone Rating and Revised Zone Rating). He also gets 2 runs added because he's a center fielder. So, he was a total of 52 runs above replacement. Polanco was 27 runs above replacement offensively, +12 defensively and gets 2 points for his position for a total of 41.
What about some of the Tigers who didn't make the top 50? Carlos Guillen was next finishing 34 RARP: 28 for offense and 6 for defense. Cabrera was very good offensively (+49) but his defensive dragged him down. He was -7 for his fielding and loses 10 points for being a first baseman for a total of 32. Magglio Ordonez finished at +24 (offense +40, fielding -10, -6 positional adjustment).
In other news, David Pinto has been cranking out his Probabilistic Model of Range numbers. Today, he has the left fielders. If you scroll down on his site you can also find other positions. Matt Joyce was +9 plays better than expected for an average left fielder and Marcus Thames was at -19. Keep in mind that the sample sizes for these two are small so the numbers might not be total reliable. In the past, Thames had done surprisingly well on this system.
Magglio Ordonez was 4 plays below the average right fielder and Curtis Granderson -13 in center field. Carlos Guillen was -19 at third base. If some of these numbers sound worse than the ones listed in Sky's Total Value Estimates above, remember that Sky was looking at "above replacement" whereas Pinto's numbers are "above average".
First, Sky Kalkman has completed his series on Total Value Estimates for the 2008 season with a listing of the top 50 players in baseball. The article also includes links to the top 25 players at each position. You can read about the system on Justin Inaz's site. It's not a perfect system but it's a good one, probably the best total player value system publicly available right now. Think of it like VORP except that it also takes into account quality of fielding and not just position. For those of you who are familiar with WARP, it's even more similar to that but the fielding component is a more sophisticated play by play system.
Two Tigers made the major league top 50: Curtis Granderson finished 19th and Placido Polanco 33rd. Granderson was 47 runs above placement offensively and 3 above replacement defensively (using Zone Rating and Revised Zone Rating). He also gets 2 runs added because he's a center fielder. So, he was a total of 52 runs above replacement. Polanco was 27 runs above replacement offensively, +12 defensively and gets 2 points for his position for a total of 41.
What about some of the Tigers who didn't make the top 50? Carlos Guillen was next finishing 34 RARP: 28 for offense and 6 for defense. Cabrera was very good offensively (+49) but his defensive dragged him down. He was -7 for his fielding and loses 10 points for being a first baseman for a total of 32. Magglio Ordonez finished at +24 (offense +40, fielding -10, -6 positional adjustment).
In other news, David Pinto has been cranking out his Probabilistic Model of Range numbers. Today, he has the left fielders. If you scroll down on his site you can also find other positions. Matt Joyce was +9 plays better than expected for an average left fielder and Marcus Thames was at -19. Keep in mind that the sample sizes for these two are small so the numbers might not be total reliable. In the past, Thames had done surprisingly well on this system.
Magglio Ordonez was 4 plays below the average right fielder and Curtis Granderson -13 in center field. Carlos Guillen was -19 at third base. If some of these numbers sound worse than the ones listed in Sky's Total Value Estimates above, remember that Sky was looking at "above replacement" whereas Pinto's numbers are "above average".
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Total value estimates
Justin Inaz at On Baseball and the Reds and Sky Kalkman at Beyond the Box score have developed a player rating system called "Total Value Estimates" which ranks players based on a combination of hitting and fielding. It's not a perfect system due to limitations in current fielding data, but it may be the best one I've seen for estimating overall player value. You can read about the system on Justin's site.
Sky is presenting data by position on his site. So far, he has articles on first basemen, second basemen and center fielders. The Tigers rank pretty well at each of those positions with Curtis Granderson ranking third in CF, Placido Polanco fifth among second basemen (thanks largely to his defense) and Muguel Cabrera seventh at first base.
Sky is presenting data by position on his site. So far, he has articles on first basemen, second basemen and center fielders. The Tigers rank pretty well at each of those positions with Curtis Granderson ranking third in CF, Placido Polanco fifth among second basemen (thanks largely to his defense) and Muguel Cabrera seventh at first base.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Tigers blogger wins writing award
Kurt Mensching who authors the excellent blog, Mack Avenue Tigers, recently got an award for the work he does in his day job - writing for the Marquette Mining Journal. He was named Top Sports Columnist in his newspaper class (based on circulation size). Congraulations Kurt!
Now we know why he has not been updating his blog lately. It's not because he has given up on the Tigers. It's because he's been incredibly busy. He promises to relaunch Mack avenue Tigers in the fall.
Now we know why he has not been updating his blog lately. It's not because he has given up on the Tigers. It's because he's been incredibly busy. He promises to relaunch Mack avenue Tigers in the fall.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wednesday Links
Here are some interesting articles from around the net:
RotoExperts has a profile on Rick Porcello which includes videos of him pitching.
Sky King is generating quite a bit of buzz with his list of top 25 position players in baseball.
Eddie B has essentially cracked the Elias formula for ranking free agent catchers and he reports that Pudge Rodriguez will almost surely be a Type A free agent. This means that the Tigers could get two first round draft picks if they offer him arbitration, he fails to accept, and signs with another team.
Eddie also has has put together an eligibility list for free agents and arbitration. The list covers not only the Tigers but their entire system. Eligible free agents include Kenny Rogers, Todd Jones, Casey Fossum, Pudge Rodriguez, Vance Wilson and Edgar Renteria. Arbitration eligibles will likely include: Fernando Rodney, Bobby Seay, Marcus Thames, Ramon Santiago, Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya and Aquilino Lopez.
RotoExperts has a profile on Rick Porcello which includes videos of him pitching.
Sky King is generating quite a bit of buzz with his list of top 25 position players in baseball.
Eddie B has essentially cracked the Elias formula for ranking free agent catchers and he reports that Pudge Rodriguez will almost surely be a Type A free agent. This means that the Tigers could get two first round draft picks if they offer him arbitration, he fails to accept, and signs with another team.
Eddie also has has put together an eligibility list for free agents and arbitration. The list covers not only the Tigers but their entire system. Eligible free agents include Kenny Rogers, Todd Jones, Casey Fossum, Pudge Rodriguez, Vance Wilson and Edgar Renteria. Arbitration eligibles will likely include: Fernando Rodney, Bobby Seay, Marcus Thames, Ramon Santiago, Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya and Aquilino Lopez.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Blogger collaborations and Clete Thomas
I was recently asked to participate in some all-star break collaborations with other bloggers. First, Jeeves at Life in the Cell (a White Sox blog) compiled a Mid-season summary of the AL Central teams. The Tigers representatives were Kurt at Mack Avenue and myself.
Then, Blake at Spot Starters asked a group of Tigers bloggers to answer several questions on the state of the Tigers at the break. Participants included Kurt, Billfer, Ian and myself.
In other news, the Tigers have optioned Clete Thomas to Toledo to make room for Magglio Ordonez who will return to the Tigers line-up tomorrow night. I had thought they might send back Jeff Larish but they probably need him to back up first baseman Miguel Cabrera who is still dealing with a strained hip flexor. If they need to add a 12th pitcher later in the week, then Larish may go back then.
Then, Blake at Spot Starters asked a group of Tigers bloggers to answer several questions on the state of the Tigers at the break. Participants included Kurt, Billfer, Ian and myself.
In other news, the Tigers have optioned Clete Thomas to Toledo to make room for Magglio Ordonez who will return to the Tigers line-up tomorrow night. I had thought they might send back Jeff Larish but they probably need him to back up first baseman Miguel Cabrera who is still dealing with a strained hip flexor. If they need to add a 12th pitcher later in the week, then Larish may go back then.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Around the Minors
Over the past couple of years, coverage of Tigers minor league teams has expanded quite a bit. Today, I'm going to give a brief tour of some of the more informative sites:
I'll start with the excellent minor league forum at MotownSports.com. One recent example of the kind of detailed information you can find there is Tony's recent look at some of the top prospects in the Tigers system. Tony humbly claims that he is unqualified to rank prospects but it looks like a good list to me and it's a very interesting read.
Matt Wallace at Take 75 North writes something (usually a lot) about the Tigers minor league system daily. This includes detailed recaps of each game, transactions, feature stories on prospects and some other things. Matt is very informative and also a good writer.
Mike Cassidy also does recaps at Tigers Minor League Baseball Blog. One great feature which was added to that blog this year was Andrew Hess's minor league diary. Andrew is a pitcher for the West Michigan White Caps and he frequently blogs about his experiences.
Chuckles and Potthole cover the White Caps in detail at The Surge. They do recaps, write player profiles, conduct player interviews and more.
Deran and Kyle write about the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Lakeland Flying Tigers Blog. Among other things, they provide photos and videos of important prospects and rehabbing Tigers.
Speaking of photos of Tigers prospects, expert photographer Hueytaxi has hundreds of them at his Flickr site.
Eddie's Detroit Tigers Thoughts is not exclusively a Tigers minor league site but some of his best work involve analysis of the the Tigers system. In one recent post, he started to scan the pitchers in the Tigers system. He has made it through Detroit, Toledo and Erie so far.
I'll start with the excellent minor league forum at MotownSports.com. One recent example of the kind of detailed information you can find there is Tony's recent look at some of the top prospects in the Tigers system. Tony humbly claims that he is unqualified to rank prospects but it looks like a good list to me and it's a very interesting read.
Matt Wallace at Take 75 North writes something (usually a lot) about the Tigers minor league system daily. This includes detailed recaps of each game, transactions, feature stories on prospects and some other things. Matt is very informative and also a good writer.
Mike Cassidy also does recaps at Tigers Minor League Baseball Blog. One great feature which was added to that blog this year was Andrew Hess's minor league diary. Andrew is a pitcher for the West Michigan White Caps and he frequently blogs about his experiences.
Chuckles and Potthole cover the White Caps in detail at The Surge. They do recaps, write player profiles, conduct player interviews and more.
Deran and Kyle write about the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Lakeland Flying Tigers Blog. Among other things, they provide photos and videos of important prospects and rehabbing Tigers.
Speaking of photos of Tigers prospects, expert photographer Hueytaxi has hundreds of them at his Flickr site.
Eddie's Detroit Tigers Thoughts is not exclusively a Tigers minor league site but some of his best work involve analysis of the the Tigers system. In one recent post, he started to scan the pitchers in the Tigers system. He has made it through Detroit, Toledo and Erie so far.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Billfer bumped by Bush
I tune into WDET today expecting to hear a blogger round table featuring Bill Ferris and four other detroit sports bloggers and I get George Bush instead. That was disappointing. Fortunately, the blogger discussion is still going to take place, just not today. Maybe Wednesday. The other bloggers are: Big Al of The Wayne Fontes Experience and Side Lion Report, Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys, and Bruce Macleod of Red Wings Corner and The Macomb Daily.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
New Flying Tigers blog and other notes
Online coverage of the Tigers minor league system expanded again today with the addition of a Lakeland Flying Tigers blog. The two authors - Deran and Kyle (known respectively as Yoda and Deadshot on Motown Sports.) - are Lakeland residents and will be able to provide firsthand observations and interviews of players among other things. This should be an excellent addition to the Tigers minor league online community.
Matt at Take 75 North analyzes the Mike Hernandez/Armando Galarraga trade in much more detail than I could have provided.
The Surge has yet another interview up. This one is with second baseman Scott Sizemore who is one of my favorite Tigers prospects.
Two popular Tigers bloggers - Ian (Bless You Boys) and Mike (Daily Fungo and Detroit Tigers Podcast) - have started up a general baseball blog called Baseball Blend. Although it's not a Tigers blog, it's worth checking out as it promises to be both informative and entertaining.
Matt at Take 75 North analyzes the Mike Hernandez/Armando Galarraga trade in much more detail than I could have provided.
The Surge has yet another interview up. This one is with second baseman Scott Sizemore who is one of my favorite Tigers prospects.
Two popular Tigers bloggers - Ian (Bless You Boys) and Mike (Daily Fungo and Detroit Tigers Podcast) - have started up a general baseball blog called Baseball Blend. Although it's not a Tigers blog, it's worth checking out as it promises to be both informative and entertaining.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Giarratano, Total Zone and other links
Here is a roundup of some interesting items on the net today:
The Tigers have released once promising infield prospect Tony Giarratano. This happened after the oft injured shortstop had a setback with his surgically repaired shoulder earlier in the week. this is what Dave Dombrowski had to say about the move:
I will surely have more to say about his system after I've had a chance to look at the data more carefully. For now, I'll point you to Billfer who has listed the best Tigers fielders, according to this system, from 1956-1986.
Potthole has an interview with Pedro Cotto at the Surge. Cotto is not a big time prospect but he has been a popular player among Tigers minor league fans the last couple of years.
Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus lists his top 100 prospects. It's not premium content so check it out. Rick Porcello is ranked #11. Keith Law at ESPN also has his top 100 list up. Porcello is number #22 on his list.
Mike McClary continues his series on obscure former Tigers by saying happy birthday to Dave Stegman.
SG (Replacement Level Yankee Blog) has done Diamond Mind Simulations of the 2008 season using his own CAIRO projections and has the Tigers winning 91 games (the average of many simulations) and winning the AL Central.
The Tigers have released once promising infield prospect Tony Giarratano. This happened after the oft injured shortstop had a setback with his surgically repaired shoulder earlier in the week. this is what Dave Dombrowski had to say about the move:
“Unfortunately, Tony has not be able to recover from his previous surgery and it does not appear feasible for him to continue his career at this time,” Tigers President, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager David Dombrowski said.Sean Smith at The Hardball Times has come up with a new defensive statistic called Total Zone. There are already a bunch of new defensive stats which I've already covered this month so why do we need another one? Well, those stats were derived using detailed play by play data which has only been available the past few years. What do we do when we want to evaluate players from earlier eras? Smith has developed a system using retrosheet play by play data and has applied it to players going back to 1956. He provides rankings of players from 1956-1986.
I will surely have more to say about his system after I've had a chance to look at the data more carefully. For now, I'll point you to Billfer who has listed the best Tigers fielders, according to this system, from 1956-1986.
Potthole has an interview with Pedro Cotto at the Surge. Cotto is not a big time prospect but he has been a popular player among Tigers minor league fans the last couple of years.
Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus lists his top 100 prospects. It's not premium content so check it out. Rick Porcello is ranked #11. Keith Law at ESPN also has his top 100 list up. Porcello is number #22 on his list.
Mike McClary continues his series on obscure former Tigers by saying happy birthday to Dave Stegman.
SG (Replacement Level Yankee Blog) has done Diamond Mind Simulations of the 2008 season using his own CAIRO projections and has the Tigers winning 91 games (the average of many simulations) and winning the AL Central.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Brett Jensen and Other Links
I'm in the process of preparing my base running data set so I won't be writing about a new analysis today. Instead, I'll give you some more links from around the net.
Chuckles, who writes for the Surge (a blog about the West Michigan Whitecaps), interviewed Brett Jensen who pitched for the team in 2007. Jensen is a decent reliever prospect who will pitch at Lakeland or Erie in 2008.
Eddie B. is doing a series of posts which explain options and waivers and how they could effect the 2008 Tigers.
Samara and Ian write about the Jose Canseco/Magglio Ordonez situation.
Geoff Young (Duck Snorts) is asking readers to submit their projections for the San Diego Padres players. He starts off with the catchers today. LBoros (Viva El Birdos) already did the same for the Cardinals Yadier Molina and presents the results today.
Chuckles, who writes for the Surge (a blog about the West Michigan Whitecaps), interviewed Brett Jensen who pitched for the team in 2007. Jensen is a decent reliever prospect who will pitch at Lakeland or Erie in 2008.
Eddie B. is doing a series of posts which explain options and waivers and how they could effect the 2008 Tigers.
Samara and Ian write about the Jose Canseco/Magglio Ordonez situation.
Geoff Young (Duck Snorts) is asking readers to submit their projections for the San Diego Padres players. He starts off with the catchers today. LBoros (Viva El Birdos) already did the same for the Cardinals Yadier Molina and presents the results today.
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