Comments on: Wounded Tiger

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:19:13 +0000

Your comments, as well as everyone else’s, are always welcome here, mark.

But the hyperbole of “5 additional wins,” in combination with a whole slew of tweets from others that came out on the heels of the Fielder announcement, had me shaking my head.

Look, there are things about the decisions being made by the front office that I’m not terribly supportive of, either, but I feel that some folks almost can’t wait to find a way to react to every post or every piece of news that comes out in a manner that… well… lashes out… at the Twins and that kind of gets a bit old.

That’s how I interpreted your “5 games” comment. If that’s not how it was intended, I apologize.

By: mark

mark — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:45:58 +0000

I would hardly call my comments “lashing out.” If honest opinion comments are not welcome here then perhaps I’m not either. You disappoint me JC.

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:28:18 +0000

Parker from OTB tweeted that Fielder’s WAR, over and above Martinez’s, over the past 3 years averaged about +1.6. That doesn’t take in to account WAR the Tigers may lose by not upgrading the back of their rotation.

For that additional one and a half wins, the Tigers are paying over $36 million (Martinez’s salary + Fielder’s)… and that doesn’t even begin to take in to account the risk of paying that kind of money to Fielder for 9 years.

Five additional wins? Not likely. But hey, why let anything get in the way of another opportunity to lash out, right?

A year ago, people were certain that the WhiteSox had brought in the power bat they needed to leave the rest of the division behind. How did that work out?

By: mark

mark — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:08:49 +0000

Big Fat Prince gives the Tiggers five more wins in 2012. Plus Big Fat Prince feasts on Twins pitching. I suggest Gardy institute the back-to-back intentional walks when Miggy and Big Fat Prince come to bat 3rd & 4th in the lineup.

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:06:59 +0000

I agree, AW. My sense is that they looked around at the rest of the AL Central and decided that they have a wide open path to the Division title, with little competition, so they should go for broke to get that World Series this year. It may just work. too. But Fielder wasn’t enough to get the Brewers to the WS, even with Braun in the same line up. And if Verlander doesn’t have a 3rd straight Superman-like season, that rotation is beatable. They’re the best team in the Division, on paper, by a long shot. But they aren’t immune to injuries and performance lapses.

By: AW

AW — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:00:42 +0000

Agreed, JC. My first impression is that I think the Tigers made themselves a better team for the near future, and Fielder certainly is a great player that has been dependable to date. But the nice thing about baseball is that 1 player doesn’t make or break a team.

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:55:18 +0000

The Tigers certainly did replace Martinez well. But, before Twins fans go jump off of bridges, let’s think about this a bit further.

How many more wins is Fielder worth for the Tigers over and above what they would have been projected to get with Martinez?

Before you answer that, consider also that if Martinez had stayed healthy, the Tigers would have had money to upgrade the back end of their rotation.

So the real question is… how much better off are the Tigers, really, than they were two weeks ago before Martinez got hurt? Would you rather have Martinez AND Jackson (who certainly would have been available for half what they’re laying out for Fielder) or Fielder with the Tigers existing rotation?

It’s certainly not a GOOD thing for the Twins in 2012 that Fielder is in Detroit, but I don’t see it as the Apocolypse, either… and it almost certainly ties the Tigers’ hands for years to come. They are rolling the dice, absolutely, but it just seems like a questionable decision for the mid-long term. After all, Martinez is on their books for a few more years, right?

By: AW

AW — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:24:53 +0000

Uh oh. Looks like the Tigers managed to fill Martinez’ shoes pretty well. Sounds like Fielder will play first, and Cabrera will DH this year. That’s about as good of a 3-4 punch as you can find.

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:28:36 +0000

I’ve never done more than a few hikes up comparatively small hills in Colorado when I used to spend some time out there during the summer as a teenager, so your St Helens effort gets a lot of respect in this corner, lisa.

I can’t imagine the kind of effort that those ballplayers had to exert to accomplish what they did and I certainly didn’t intend to make light of the effort necessary to get back down safely. I’ve actually been Googling them to try to catch updates on their return, but after a lot of attention to their reaching the peak about 3 days ago, I haven’t seen anything at all since then.

Here’s to hoping they return to their families and their teams safely and that their efforts bring the hoped-for attention to the charity they are associated with.

By: lisatwink

lisatwink — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:57:21 +0000

Okay, I really have nothing intelligent to say about Martinez other than it makes the division look pretty interesting.

But having scaled Mount St. Helens this fall (nothing like Kilimanjaro, for sure, but nothing to sneeze at, I trained for a year), I’m just gonna note that anyone who’s done any serious hiking knows that the trip back down is the hard part, so you just go ahead and knock on wood there, JC, until we know that those ballplayers climbing for Jesus and charity and whatnot have landed back on flat earth. It still makes my thighs hurt to think about that trip down. I just about called in sick for work two days later because I wasn’t sure my ass was ready to sit on for a few hours.

Okay, back on topic. Sorry about the diversion there.