Roster move #1 - dump Peralta

We just can't afford ($6 mill) an aging shortstop (31 next year) with no range and no stick, but good hands.

Time to move him on.

Clearly, 2011, his one All-Star year was an aberration. For his other nine years, he was closer to last year's .239 average.

Just about the only redeeming feature (beyond his steady hands) is the pop in his stick, 13 HRs last year and 21 in 2011, which makes him good enough to trade for a pitcher or a prospect.

Here's a deal!! Cook up a three way deal, we put in Peralta and a right-hand pitcher to be named later (tomorrow.) The Rangers give us their phenom shortstop Profar (who they clearly love, but don't have a place for with Elvis Andrus at short and Kinsler at second. A third team who needs a shortstop like Peralta and maybe some pitching throws in a few talented prospects, maybe a pitcher.
You make the deal, Dumbrowski, just get him out of our infield letting so many grounders roll through the holes.



Let's work over the roster!

So, let's officially begin the "Hot Stove" League. Let's pick over the Tiger's 40-man roster one by one.

In no particular order. If you would like to join in the fun, pick any player who hasn't been "done up" already.

(and there's no way Coke is 6'1" and weights 210.)

Detroit Tigers Active Roster


#    Pitchers                 B/T     Ht      Wt   DOB

62 Al Alburquerque    R-R     6'0"   195   Jun 10, 1986

64 Duane Below          L-L     6'3"    220   Nov 15, 1985

53 Joaquin Benoit        R-R     6'3"    220   Jul 26, 1977

40 Phil Coke                 L-L      6'1"    210   Jul 19, 1982

45 Casey Crosby          R-L        6'5"   225   Sep 17, 1988

20 Octavio Dotel          R-R        6'0"   230   Nov 25, 1973

38 Darin Downs            R-L        6'3"    210   Dec 26, 1984

58 Doug Fister               L-R       6'8"     210    Feb 4, 1984

44 Matt Hoffman           L-L         6'2"     225    Nov 8, 1988

49 Luis Marte               R-R         5'11"   200    Aug 26, 1986

     Melvin Mercedes     R-R        6'3"      190   Nov 2, 1990

43 Andrew Oliver        L-L          6'3"      210   Dec 3, 1987

56 Jose Ortega              R-R         5'11"    185   Oct 12, 1988

21 Rick Porcello          R-R         6'5"       200   Dec 27, 1988

36 Luke Putkonen         R-R         6'6"       210   May 10, 1986

22 Bruce Rondon         R-R         6'3"       265   Dec 9, 1990

37 Max Scherzer          R-R         6'3"       220   Jul 27, 1984

55 Daniel Schlereth     L-L          6'0"       200   May 9, 1986

33 Drew Smyly            L-L         6'3"        190   Jun 13, 1989

35 Justin Verlander      R-R         6'5"       225   Feb 20, 1983

60 Brayan Villarreal    R-R         6'0"       170   May 10, 1987

57 Adam Wilk              L-L          6'2"      180   Dec 9, 1987

# Catchers
13 Alex Avila               L-R         5'11"     210  Jan 29, 1987

50 Bryan Holaday         R-R       6'0"        205  Nov 19, 1987

41 Victor Martinez        S-R        6'2"       210  Dec 23, 1978

# Infielders
24 Miguel Cabrera        R-R         6'4"      240   Apr 18, 1983

28 Prince Fielder          L-R         5'11"     275  May 9, 1984

4 Omar Infante              R-R         5'11"     195  Dec 26, 1981

29 Dixon Machado       R-R        6'1"        170  Feb 22, 1992

27 Jhonny Peralta         R-R        6'2"        215  May 28, 1982

Hernan Perez                R-R        6'1"        185  Mar 26, 1991

39 Ramon Santiago       S-R        5'11"      175  Aug 31, 1979

29 Danny Worth            R-R       6'1"        185  Sep 30, 1985

# Outfielders
52 Quintin Berry           L-L        6'0"        175  Nov 21, 1984

26 Brennan Boesch       L-L         6'4"       235   Apr 12, 1985

12 Andy Dirks              L-L          6'0"      195  Jan 24, 1986

34 Avisail Garcia        R-R          6'4"      240  Jun 12, 1991

48 Torii Hunter            R-R          6'2"      225  Jul 18, 1975

14 Austin Jackson        R-R          6'1"      185  Feb 1, 1987

.

Hall of Famers, or Hall of Shamers?

It's a sad choice, because all three of these guys (Clemens, Sosa, and Bonds) might have been shoo-ins for the Hall without their drugs.

As I heard this afternoon on the radio, there are druggers in the Hall right now, and there will be in the future...

Did they cheat? Sure they did. Might they have made it anyway? Maybe.

I'm just put off by their "grossness."

I say no. Let them stand in the cold outside Cooperstown. Warmed by their millions.

Let's ask Brother Peek, the only one among us who can actually vote. What sayest thou?

(When asked what was his biggest mistake, President George W. Bush said "Trading Sammy Sosa." Wonder how he would vote?)

Rafael Soriano

The Freep reported today that the Tigersare talking with Scott Boras (the famed agent) about signing Soriano. With the return of Mariano Riviera, Soriano is not needed by the Yanks.  They ARE ASKING IN THE RANGE OF 60 MILLION DOLLARS over a four year period.  A lot of money for a 33 year old pitcher.  Thoughts???

Stephen Drew

The Free Press had an article yesterday specualting the Tigers would acquire Drew from Oakland.  His average his OK, but he is a better all around ballplayer, according to the Freep.  Even though they signed Perralta they would then be able to trade Jhonny to a couple of clubs that appear to be interested.  Mr. I appears to be going all out; it is his money!  Comments?

The future of Ryan Rayburn

One of the stations I listened to today said that Ryan Raybrun will not be offered a place on the 40 man roster, which should be announced shortly.  Is that Leyland's decision?  What say ye?

Should the Tigers sign Sanchez?

I guess there are two ways of answering this question:
1.  With an unlimited payroll - the answer would probably be yes.
2.  With the recent signing of Hunter, plus with the money already owed to several superstars - it gives you pause to wonder.  I say is you can get him for a resasonable (wht is that?) amount - sign him -- if not let him go and settle with Verlander, Porcello, Fister, Scherzer, and Smyly (unless there is an amazing spring training phenomenon.)
Ilitich wants and deserves a World Series winner.  Most thought Fielder was the missing piece (even with v Mart out for season), but that was not the case.
What say ye??

Miggy - MVP

Congrats to our transplanted third baseman.  He deserves it!!  I hate listening to sportstalk.  One of the guys said that if Miggy didn't win, it was because of racism because Miggy is not an American and speaks poor English.  Aye yi yi!!  Oh well he won the Triple Crown and the coveted award.
Nothing to watch on TV, when does Spring Training start?

Done Deal

My son just got home from school... turned on Sportscenter (what else)  Tigers sgined Tori Huntr for 2 years fro $25,000,000 - lot of money for a 37 year old.  Whatcha think??

Tori Hunter

Latest rumors revolve around us signing Tori.  In an interview, he said he would prefer to sign with the Angels,but that is not gonna happen.  He was in Detroit yesterday, but signed nothing.  One of the sports guys on 97.1, added Hunter to his twitter account and saw that just last night Hunter added Cabrera and Velander to his twitter.  Hot Stove at its best!

A few geeky notes

By very definition, as a “blogger” I guess I’m something of a geek.


But I really only started “At the Corner” as a way to converse with you guys about our Tigers. While ATC isn’t nearly as popular as the “BIG BLOGS” it is kind of interesting when we look at some stats.

I know sometimes, it feels like we’re just two or three guys talking to ourselves, but the stats show otherwise. For example, did you know that:

• Yesterday, 62 times somebody looked at our blog (AKA pageviews)

• Last month, we had 1,673 pageviews

• We’ve had 21,800 pageviews since we started

• My own pageviews don’t count in that total, so I’m not running up the numbers

  • We had 705 posts since we started in July of 2008.

• Most of us are from the U.S., but we also people looking in from (in descending order) France, Latvia, Australia, Russia, Germany, U.K., Canada, Malaysia, Bosnia and Herzgovinia.

Australia I can kind of understand, since my pal John has been looking in and contributing of late, and I guess some fool in Latvia was looking for information about Bengal Tigers, and stumbled in, but 17 times? Who’s watching us in France? (24 times)

Most of us (80) are Windows users, but surprising to me, Mac come in third behind Linux users. (Looking in from the office are we?)

Most (39%) look in through Firefox, or Explorer (24%).

Before I get too carried away with the “success” of ATC, I must admit, I think we’re tiny compared to some blogs. Just the other day I asked our blog host (blogspot) if somebody might want to advertise here; thanks but no thanks was the response. I have a hunch it was because we’re just too tiny and narrow, but it might have something to do with the fact that we regularly “pirate” photos and articles from other copyrighted sources. I always try to give them credit, but it is without their permission.

As I’ve said before, I’d like to take this to a place that is much easier to use. Jim Domzal and John Holland can’t figure out how to contribute, and we don’t have a clue how many others have the same issues. Chuck can’t figure out how to post pics. We tried WordPress during spring training, but we agreed it was no easier.

Personally, I’ve gotten used to posting both articles and pictures, but when I try to make format changes or start a new blog, I’m lost.

So, I might be a geek, but not much of a geek.

The Race that Stops a Nation

(John Holland is having the same problem as Jim Domzal, can't figure out how to post. If anybody has a suggestion where to move this blog so as to be more "user-friendly" I'm open to suggestions-The Commissioner)

Today for approx. 4 minutes at around 3.00 p.m. Australian eastern daylight saving time an entire nation comes to a standstill. People driving pull over to the edge of the road and turn on the radio. Those shopping or walking along the street, stop and watch a TV in a shop. In the city of Melbourne it is a public holiday.

In every office, a sweep is run (set up in advance if the office is in Victoria ; done on the day if in other states). In offices and factories in states other than Melbourne , people stop work and gather in the conference room, canteen or wherever else there is a TV. In every city, town and village the local totalisator agency (TAB; government run betting shop) opens four hours earlier than normal and has a queue outside the door. Every pub has its TV turned to one channel.

Tens of thousands of women have gone out and spent a small fortune purchasing a special frock just for this day.

In every suburban Melbourne rail station, there will be the incongruous site of men and women dressed to the nines as if going to the opera and boarding trains on the one day of the year they would deem to leave their cars behind and take public transport. On this day they are “off to the races”.

Throughout suburbia, the smell of onion frying on the barbie will permeate neighbourhoods and cause heads to pop up over fences. Many of those heads will say to themselves: “that’s a bloody good idea, I’ll go and grab a few snags from the fridge and fire up my own barbie.” They will then call out to their wives: “Hey, darling, I’m going to get the barbie going, can you make some coleslaw?” In countless homes throughout Victoria , those barbies will be held with the TV set up outside and going all day. Unusual for a barbie, the normal stubbies of beer will be replaced by tall stems of champagne. The first question everyone will ask each other as they arrive will be: “What horse have you backed?” And no matter which horse it is, everyone will hope that you will win, even though they may have put their wager on another horse.

Today is the first Tuesday in November: Melbourne Cup day. Horses from around the world have come to Melbourne for the Spring Carnival, two weeks of horse racing and socialising which culminates in the running of the Melbourne Cup, or just the “Cup” as any Aussie says. With a purse of AUS$6 million (US$6.4 million), it is the country’s richest race. But it is also the richest in tradition; in past years legend recalls how country nags have been walked hundreds of kilometres to Melbourne to compete and win against the city thoroughbreds.

Now, in the year, 2012, it is a race with a global audience of some 700 million people in 120 countries.

In Melbourne , approx. 120,000 people will cram into Flemington Racecourse, one of four courses in the city - yes, racing is that big in Australia. Many of the men will come in top hat and tails with the women in gorgeous, delicate, flimsy, often revealing, always fashionable, frocks which often leave them freezing cold when the weather turns as it can do four times in a few hours in a city which often experiences every season in one day. They will gather in the Members Car Park around cars with the boot open, a portable TV set up and a picnic hamper featuring chicken sandwiches - no vegemite today! - and champagne measured by the esky full, not the bottle.

A few fortunate ones will relax in the corporate marquees, graciously sipping Mumm champagne or cointreau-on-ice while grazing on foie gras and assorted canapés as their hosts and hostesses ensure that the client is well looked after so that contracts are renewed next year.

Other men and women, the plebs of a multi-strata society, will congregate on the lawn as close as they can get to the Winning Post. They will have come by train and tram - there is train stop right at the gate to the racecourse - with dozens of special trains running the 5 or 6 km distance from the city centre to the course.

If room can be found, rugs will be laid on the ground, picnic hampers dumped on the corners and a bottle opened and some sangers (chicken again) distributed. If room can’t be found, you just drop onto a patch of grass a few square centimetres in size in between a couple of strangers and say “don’t mind if we squeeze in here do you?” without expecting an answer. But always an answer will come back “no worries mate, getting a bit crowded isn’t it?”. And after 15 minutes of shuffling and wriggling they will somehow have moved over a bit (more likely, reduced the size of their area), your rug will be overlaying theirs and their neighbours and there will be room. Some will have to stand; not everyone will be able to sit down, no one will be able to lie down. That is, until late in the afternoon after the champers (champagne) has taken hold and some of the younger bucks and a few of the fillies are simply no longer capable of standing up.

Their outfits vary. From standard skirts and dresses, slacks and shirts, to dinner suit jackets and bow ties worn with shorts and rubber boots. One year, one wag turned up in a frogman’s outfit. Appropriately, it rained.

At around 2.45 p.m. a murmur will rise as the horses are led out to the mounting paddock. Then, at 3.00 p.m. as the gates open, with a cry of “They’re off and running” coming from every TV screen and radio, at the course itself a roar will go up which can be heard for miles around.

Momentarily, as the riders do their initial jockeying for position, that roar will drop before rising again as the horses come past the finishing post and members' grandstand for the first time around the course. As the 3200 metres (approx. 2 miles) is raced, the crowd steadily increases the volume of its calls. “Go Dunaden.” “C’mon Lights of Heaven”. “C’mon, C’MON, C’MON”.

At the final turn as they enter the home straight, it is a bedlam of shouting, jumping, waving people. And then the horses flash past with a cheer going up for the winner. A champion has won and the crowd always acknowledges that the best horse won, no matter which horse they had bet on.

Postscript: Horse racing is a great celebration in Australia. Every city and tiny country town which boasts a racecourse has a public holiday when its local"Cup" day is held. There is one "town" (Birdsville) at the end of a very long dirt track in outback Queensland which has a population of less than 100. But each year thousands of people drive for days to get there - or fly in on their own light planes and land in the scrub - for the Birdsville Races.

(editor's note- The Melbourne Cup 2012 was won by Green Moon, a 20-1 underdog. Second was taken by a 30-1 horse, and an 80-1 nag took show. Wish I had a trifecta card n that one!)







The view from down under...

(This note from my pal John Holland in Melbourne, Australia.)

G'day Gregg,


First of all commiserations on the Tigers' loss. You email of a few days ago not only reminded me that the world series was on, it also motivated me to get out of bed at ungodly hours to watch the last two games.

For game three I got up at 1.00 a.m. For game 4 I got up at 3.25 a.m. That is because I was watching delayed telecasts on free-to-air TV because Janette and I are not prepared to pay $75 per month x 12 months cable so that we can see live baseball for one month of the year. And both our boys - mad baseball fans and players as you know - agree.

I enjoyed watching both games even if game 3 was fairly boring while game 4 was more interesting but neither were exactly rivetting baseball.

So, Gregg, thanks for the reminder. It got me back into baseball even if only for two days.

Not sure what you thought, but I was very disappointed at the Tigers' approach. There was zero team spirit, zero enthusiasm, zero excitement, zero pride. How can players simply sit on the bench (not even at the rails) and just chat as if they were at a sunday school picnic? They owed their supporters and themselves more than that. Leyland needed to give them a good kick up the backside. He owed himself, themselves and their surpporters that.

As for Prince Fielder - well that bloke has always been a flop when the play-offs come. When it gets to game 4 and you are three games down, you bench him - as was done to A-Rod. Performance and a big name during the home-and-away season is irrelevant when it comes to the crunch. Truly great players are great when it counts.

While I wanted the Tigers to win I think the Giants did deserve the victory - they played the better baseball and were a team looking to win rather than being a few individuals on a diamond.

So here is to next year - for either the Tigers or the Rangers. Surely one of them must break through.

Cheers

John





Hot Stove

Well what are your hearing out there?
Somebody from ESPN wrote that he feels Melky Cabrera would be a perfect #2 hitter.  Is he all right?  Would we be baby sitters?  Without steroids would he be effective/ (look at A-Rod?)
For a closer - some minor leaguer - Rondon has been suggested.
They say the Tigers will not be able to afford Sanchez, given the other 3 starters, and he will be gone to Toronto.
Ichiro has been bandied about for us as well.  How many good years does he have left?
What are you guys hearing?

One week ago

It's hard to believe that one week ago we were in the thick of chasing the World Series crown.  We were down 2 games to 0.  We had no tickets for Saturday's game, but we went down there to party.  It was fun.  Lots of positive spirit.  We were in the Filmore theater because they allowed minors in.  We wore matching "Fear the Beard shirts" - 7 of us.  A few people even took our pics.  beer was expensive, but not as bad as the ball park.  *It was fun.  We walked all around Comerica.  Bought souveniors.  Tried to get into Chelis, but there was a $20 cover.  The biggest negative was that the lines to get in were extremely long.  I have been at many sold out games, but there were people who could not get into their seats until the 3rd inning.  We ended up at Nemos  for dinner and watched the game on TV.
Sunday was game day.  Joe had bought me a ticket for my birthday - WOW.  We started in the gift shop.  It was wall to wall people - everybody wanted their peice of hiistory.  Those gift shops had to make millions (serious) just on that one day.  T shirts were $50 and then the prices took off.  We had fun window shopping.  Typical ball park food.  Joe said the pizza slices were smaller.  Our seats were upperdeck 13 rows behind the plate.  They were awesome.  Game disappointing, but what a bonding this proud dad had with his son.
Miss the Tigers -- nothing to watch on TV.
Bless you Boys for a fine season!!