Jim Leyland is a good manager. Let's be frank: the Tigers' problems are not in the handling of players. Leyland knows his stuff, and his players respect him. So all those out there who say, "Fire Leyland," well, you folks are all out of whack.
The problem with this team is in the personnel, and for that Leyland and Dombrowski deserve some blame. The Renteria trade was awful, because the Tigers sent the Braves a star in the making in right-handed pitcher Jair Jurrjens (10-6, 3.06 ERA) and prospect Gorkys Hernandez. At the time, Dombrowski acknowledged the Tigers gave up a lot, but he called Renteria an "all-around" player. Renteria is washed up, and Dombrowski did not do his homework. If both Boston and Atlanta moved him in successive seasons, that should have told the Tigers GM a thing or two.
Second, the Tigers have five every-day players of magnitude: Ordonez, Guillen, Granderson, Polanco and Cabrera. All others can and should be considered for trade. In the pitching department, only Verlander, Galarraga and Zumaya are untouchable, in my opinion.
So, what you have is a team of eight players, really, and that is not a big enough talent pool. The other 17 are players you would not miss -- at all -- and that's not a good enough roster, frankly.
The Tigers are NOT good defensively and have a SPOTTY bullpen and ERRATIC starting pitching.
Too many negatives in the last sentence, don't you think?
They should have moved Sheffield, but, of course, who wanted him? And even though the Farnsworth blowup over the weekend looks bad, moving Pudge was a great, great move.
The Tigers have a lot of patching up to do, and Leyland should move on this NOW. This is where the team is making its mistake. Put Zumaya in the closer role, let Rodney be the setup guy, along with Seay from the left side. Consider moving Robertson NOW for something, perhaps a shortstop with range and some speed.
This team has shown us what it has over 110 games or so, and it is NOT very good.
Let's make moves now.
Monday, August 4, 2008
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