Most Powerful Tigers

Who are the best sluggers in the American League? On the Detroit Tigers? The statistic "homeruns" (or even at bats per homerun) is limited because it does not take doubles and triples into account. Slugging average (SLG) adds doubles and triples into the equation but also includes singles. Another statistic, isolated power (ISO), was developed by Branch Rickey and Allan Roth (perhaps the first sabermetrician) in the 1950s. It was re-introduced by Bill James in the 1980s in his Baseball Abstracts.

ISO describes a hitter’s ability to get extra base hits by separating doubles, triples and homeruns from singles. It is calculated by subtracting batting average (BA) from slugging average and is a purer measure of slugging ability than slugging average. Note that isolated power is not a good measure of overall batting performance. It doesn’t say anything about how often a batter makes contact or how often he gets on base. It just measures one aspect of hitting – power.

The table below shows how the Tiger players ranked among American League hitters in isolated power. All players with at least 295 at bats are included. I used 295 as a cut off because I wanted Carlos Pena to be on the list.

Rnk	Player	BA	SLG	ISO
13	Pena	.235	.477	.242
22	Shelton	.299	.510	.211
29	Young	.271	.471	.200
50	White	.313	.489	.176
54	Monroe	.277	.446	.169
61	Rodriguez	.276	.444	.168
72	Inge	.261	.419	.158
85	Infante	.222	.367	.145
97	Ordonez	.302	.436	.134
104	Polanco	.338	.461	.123
111	Guillen	.320	.434	.114
128	Logan	.258	.335	.077

The table shows that the Tiger who slugged the most this year was Carlos Pena. Pena ranked 13^th amongst American League hitters. Of course, most of that slugging occurred in the last two months of the year. Other Tigers in the top 50 were Chris Shelton (22^nd), Dmitri Young (29^th) and Rondell White (50^th).

Later in the week, I will take a position by position look at ISO in the American League.

Winter Leagues Update

It's been more difficult than usual to find Winter ball statistics this off season. Neither Baseball America nor MiLB.com has been carrying them in an easy to use format. I'm not sure whether it's because they chose not to cover them or because the leagues are not providing them. Since these statistics have been published in the United States for years, I have a feeling the leagues are not making the stats very accessible this year. Baseball America does provide some links to Spanish language sites covering the various leagues.

Here is what I can gather after searching around the net. According to the Venezuelan Winter League site, Omar Infante is batting .277/.340/.457 with 9 walks and 25 strikeouts in 94 at bats for Anzoategui. Once you link to the site, you can find statistics by hitting the various tabs in the Estadistican (statistics) section in the left-hand column.

According to the Tigres del Licey site, Curtis Granderson batted .194 and is no longer with the team. Since Granderson has never batted anywhere close to .194 in his life, I would guess that he was either tired or was experimenting with some new approach at the plate. I found his batting average by looking through box scores (they have a box score tab in the left-hand column) and finding the most recent game which for Granderson was November 20. They also have an Estadistican tab but it doesn't seem to be working.

Ryan Signs with Blue Jays

According to the New York Daily News, the Toronto Blue Jays have signed BJ Ryan to a 5 year 47 million dollar contract. Here are the highlights:

The Toronto Blue Jays, with a payroll surplus of $25-30 million for next year, have made a bold statement that they intend to be big players in the AL East by signing lefty free agent reliever B.J. Ryan to a five-year $47 million contract...

The 6-6, 260-pound 29-year-old Ryan had 36 saves in 41 attempts for the Orioles this past season and had been pursued by the Indians, Tigers and Red Sox, with both the Mets and Phillies viewing him as a fallback in the event they couldn’t sign Billy Wagner.

While I thought Ryan was the best closer on the market, that's still a lot to be paying for a reliever. I suspect the Blue Jays will regert this deal by the time it runs out. The Tigers had been rumored to be interested in Ryan but I'm glad they didn't sign him for what he wound up getting.

Other relievers

Bob Howry, another reliever in which the Tigers reportedly had interest, signed with the Cubs for 3 years 12 million earlier in the week. With Billy Wagner probably headed elsewhere, Kyle Farnsworth might be their prime target at this point. Since the Detroit papers have not been reporting much, I would guess that nothing is imminent on the Farnsworth front or any other front.

Tigers sign Crabtree

It looks like the Tigers have signed their closer after all. Well, not quite...the Jackson Citizen Patriot reports that the Tigers have signed Tim Crabtree to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training. Crabtree last played in the majors for the Rangers in 2001 before injuring his rotator cuff.

Fan Fielding Survey

Tangotiger, who has one of the more interesting and informative sabermetric sites on the net, conducted a very interesting survey on defensive skills. He asked fans to rate the fielding skills of players on their favorite teams just based on observation. He instructed them not to use any stats at all. He also urged them not to vote based on what somebody else told them. He wanted them to just use their own eyes. They were the scouts. As you can see on the ballot, fans were asked to scout players on reaction/instincts, acceleration/first few steps, speed, hands, release/footwork, throwing accuracy and throwing strength.

He then tabulated the results which can be seen in detail on his site. I’ll summarize the results for the Tigers below. Note that the sample size for the Tigers was rather small but I think the results are still relevant.

I did tell him that I’d try to get more Tiger fans to participate in the survey. So, I hope that some of you will fill out the survey whenever you get a chance. It would be good to see a larger sample size the next time he updates the results.

Best Overall defense
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Placido Polanco
3. Brandon Inge

Reaction/Instincts
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Carlos Guillen
3. Carlos Pena

Acceleration/first few steps
1. Nook Logan
2. Brandon Inge
3. Ivan Rodriguez

Speed
1. Nook Logan (fans voted him #1 in all of baseball)
2. Omar Infante
3. Brandon Inge

Hands
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Carlos Guillen
3. Placido Polanco

Release/Footwork
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Placido Polanco
3. Carlos Pena

Throwing Strength
1. Brandon Inge
2. Ivan Rodriguez
3. Omar Infante

Throwing Accuracy
1. Ivan Rodriguez
2. Placido Polanco
3. Carlos Guillen

Red Sox, Marlins Close to Deal Involving Beckett

According to ESPN, the Boston Red Sox and Florida Malins are close to a deal that would send Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to the Red Sox in exchange for Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and another prospect to be named later. Here are the highlights:

The Red Sox and cost-cutting Marlins have come to a tentative agreement on a trade that would send Beckett, the MVP of Florida's 2003 World Series win over the Yankees, and three-time All-Star third baseman Mike Lowell to Boston for highly touted shortstop Hanley Ramirez, right-handed prospect Anibal Sanchez and a minor-league pitcher.

The Red Sox have agreed to take on all $18 million of the money owed to Lowell over the next two seasons, a baseball official with knowledge of the discussions told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark.

Over the weekend the Rangers were considered the frontrunner to land the hard-throwing Beckett. Texas were offering All-Star third baseman Hank Blalock and one of its two top pitching prospects, either Thomas Diamond or John Danks...

I think this was a good trade for both teams. Beckett could be the dominant starter that the Red Sox need to get them into the playoffs again and perhaps win a championship. In return, the Marlins receive two top prospects for a couple of players they weren't going to be able to afford to keep.

This deal is relevant to the Tigers as they had been rumored to be interested in Beckett. While this deal made a lot of sense for a contending team like the Red Sox, it would have made less sense for the Tigers. The Tigers likely would have had to give up Justin Verlander/Joel Zumaya and another top prospect to get Beckett. Beckett has one of the best arms in baseball and is dominant when healthy but has missed significant time each year with blister problems and last year had a shoulder ailment. There would also be the problem of signing him when he becomes a free agent in a couple of years, something that will probably be easier for the Red Sox to do than the Tigers.