Off-season moves // thoughts on new GM Al Avila
The Detroit Tigers had a lot of situations they wanted to address
this off-season and they've done it quickly, efficiently, and
painlessly. Here are my thoughts on what our new General Manager has
done in the past month of free agency and the Winter Meetings.
As optimistic as I am/try to be, I have to be realistic and say that, overall, our bullpen has been sub-par for the past several seasons. On paper at least (and the experts are praising this too), our bullpen looks much improved thanks to the addition of closer Francisco Rodriguez (traded here from Milwaukee) and relievers Mark Lowe (free agent) and Justin Wilson (traded here from the Yankees). We still have Blaine Hardy, Alex Wilson, and Drew VerHagen, along with several guys who could become relievers, so the bullpen will hopefully be at least average. I'm not holding out for spectacular, but dependable is what I'm hoping for.
Let's face it, our starting rotation will never again be what it used to when we had combinations of Scherzer, Porcello, Smyly, Verlander, Sanchez, Fister. But with Verlander back to his old tricks and newcomer Daniel Norris showing promise, the additions of Jordan Zimmerman (free agent) and Mike Pelfrey (free agent) seem to give us a pretty solid starting rotation. Hopefully Sanchez is healthy and stays that way, and no one else gets seriously injured (or injured at all!).
Okay, to be honest, I have no idea why Cameron Maybin is here. But from all accounts, he seems a pretty good player, so we'll see how the Tigers use him and how he helps us.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia. And you thought Alburquerque was a long name :) He is here to play backup to McCann and maybe - if Bryan Holaday makes a good enough impression - platooning with Holaday for backup. At the very least, we now have three catchers - a very good thing at the position with some of the greatest potential for injury.
None of the moves make me jump up and down (I was hopeful to get Doug Fister back as our fifth stater), but they seem like good, smart moves. Avila was able to get us help and not trade away a bunch of our top prospects in the mean time. Win-win.
As a side note, you may remember Lloyd McClendon? Well, he's back with the Tigers organization as the manager of the Toledo MudHens.
As optimistic as I am/try to be, I have to be realistic and say that, overall, our bullpen has been sub-par for the past several seasons. On paper at least (and the experts are praising this too), our bullpen looks much improved thanks to the addition of closer Francisco Rodriguez (traded here from Milwaukee) and relievers Mark Lowe (free agent) and Justin Wilson (traded here from the Yankees). We still have Blaine Hardy, Alex Wilson, and Drew VerHagen, along with several guys who could become relievers, so the bullpen will hopefully be at least average. I'm not holding out for spectacular, but dependable is what I'm hoping for.
Let's face it, our starting rotation will never again be what it used to when we had combinations of Scherzer, Porcello, Smyly, Verlander, Sanchez, Fister. But with Verlander back to his old tricks and newcomer Daniel Norris showing promise, the additions of Jordan Zimmerman (free agent) and Mike Pelfrey (free agent) seem to give us a pretty solid starting rotation. Hopefully Sanchez is healthy and stays that way, and no one else gets seriously injured (or injured at all!).
Okay, to be honest, I have no idea why Cameron Maybin is here. But from all accounts, he seems a pretty good player, so we'll see how the Tigers use him and how he helps us.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia. And you thought Alburquerque was a long name :) He is here to play backup to McCann and maybe - if Bryan Holaday makes a good enough impression - platooning with Holaday for backup. At the very least, we now have three catchers - a very good thing at the position with some of the greatest potential for injury.
None of the moves make me jump up and down (I was hopeful to get Doug Fister back as our fifth stater), but they seem like good, smart moves. Avila was able to get us help and not trade away a bunch of our top prospects in the mean time. Win-win.
As a side note, you may remember Lloyd McClendon? Well, he's back with the Tigers organization as the manager of the Toledo MudHens.
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