SB Nation - Todd Jones

Morning Prowl: Winter Meetings, Suitors For Adam Everett and Brandon Lyon, and Multi-Year Deals For Relievers

Ian Casselberry — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:00:16 -0000

by Charles Krupa - AP

Is Edwin Jackson the most likely Detroit Tiger to be traded at next week's Winter Meetings?

In his latest column, CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler (former Tigers beat writer for MLive.com) believes the Tigers will be a team to watch at next week's Winter Meetings, and perfectly sums up their will-they-or-won't-they offseason. Besides clearly explaining Detroit's payroll issues and why Edwin Jackson is the most likely Tiger to be traded, Knobler also lends some insight into what the team's budget could be.

(Hat tip to Mack Avenue Tigers)

The Tigers were bound to have some competition for Adam Everett this offseason. One of the teams in pursuit might be the Red Sox. According to WEEI.com, the Sawx have been in contact with Everett, though haven't made any sort of offer. Alex Speier also reports that the Red Sox were willing to offer Alex Gonzalez $3 million, so Everett could probably expect something similar.

Marco Scutaro appears to be the favored free agent shortstop for the Red Sox, however. That is, if they don't move Dustin Pedroia over there.

(via The Cutoff Man)

Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal report that the New York Yankees have shown interest in Brandon Lyon. But the Yanks are likely to show interest in virtually every free agent reliever (probably including Fernando Rodney). Those plans will depend on what the team does with Joba Chamberlain and/or Phil Hughes, however.

So we now know the Mariners didn't want to trade Brandon Morrow and Shawn Kelley for Jackson, but what's the take from the other side? Seattle Times beat writer Geoff Baker thinks the Tigers would've had to throw in another player, at least.

On the MLB.com Hot Stove blog, Jason Beck wonders if the Tigers might offer a multi-year deal to a reliever this offseason. That could be what it takes to re-sign Brandon Lyon or Fernando Rodney. And Dave Dombrowski has given two-year contracts to relievers (Rodney, Todd Jones, Troy Percival) before.

Two bloggers who think the Tigers should've offered arbitration to Placido Polanco: Brian Borawski at TigerBlog believes this shows the team is more interested in cutting costs, and could see season ticket sales affected by that. Baseball Musings' David Pinto thinks a second baseman who can hit is worth more than the relievers who received arbitration offers from Detroit. (Pinto also sees Polanco as a good fit in Boston.)

One reliever you can probably take off Detroit's shopping list - if he was ever on it - is Jose Valverde. The Astros offered him arbitration yesterday. Would the Tigers want him if they have to give up a first-round pick? (Not to mention the guy made $8 million this season.)

Remember how Kelly Shoppach killed the Tigers in 2008 (.333/.404/.905, six homers, 11 RBIs in 13 games)? But then he fell off the table this year (.214/.335/.399 overall), and was likely to be released. Now, he's out of the AL Central, after the Indians traded him to the Rays.

Two FanPosts to check out: john.kmiecik is asking for suggestions to replace his Polanco jersey, now that he'll likely be moving onto another team next year. And NCDee is looking to meet up with some fellow BYBers while she's in Michigan for the holidays.

WAR Lords of the Diamond: Greatest. Rockies. Ever.

Jabberwocky — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:30:19 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Todd Helton features prominently in any conversation about the greatest Rockies ever.

Browse more photos »

Previous Sessions in the WAR Lords Series:

C I 1B I 2B I 3B I SS I LF I CF I RF I RP I SP

Now that I've discussed the greatest Rockies ever by position according to WAR, I'll summarize my data and reveal my All-Time Rockies squad. In all, 224 Rockies have been weighed, measured, and (mostly) been found wanting in this quest, yet some have clearly risen above the rest.

Of course, due to the fact that the Rockies' history is only 17 years old, there isn't exactly a deep pool of players to choose from in this study. Therefore, I will be ranking all players who produced a career WAR of over 3 wins at a position for the Rockies or was a significant player for the team.

Here was my methodology:

1. I only used stats accumulated when they played for the Rockies.

2. The categories used were: career with Rockies, best three consecutive years with Rockies (establishes average production), and best single year with the Rockies (establishes peak production).

3. If the players spent less than three years with the Rockies, their career total was used in the other metrics as well. If the player was at different positions for different years, the player would be considered for the position in which he had the most starts (or greatest impact, at my discretion) for the Rockies.

4. The players were ranked in each category. Those ranks were added and averaged out--the lowest average rank was the most valuable Rockie.

5. The data used was only for seasons that were completed (e.g. not 2009).

Remember, I'm using Sean Smith's historical WAR database (not Fangraphs) to compile these numbers (with a big assist to the fantastic Baseball Reference; here is the glossary of the terms Smith uses and an explanation of WAR's calculation for position players and pitchers. Note: the calculation that Smith uses is different than the one used in my article, so the numbers at Fangraphs will be slightly different than the ones I present in these articles.

After the jump I'll outline the greatest (and worst) Rockies squad as found using my methodology, as well as the best single year performances.

The All-Time Greats

Remember, this ranking takes into account best career WAR, best consecutive 3-year WAR period, and best single WAR year to accurately capture a player's greatness and to mitigate somewhat the fact that WAR is a counting stat and is heavily influenced by longevity. Slash stats are (Career WAR / 3 Year WAR / 1 Year WAR).

Starting Lineup

C: Jeff Reed (1996-1999) (4.3 / 4.6 / 1.8)
1B: Todd Helton (1997-2008) (53.9 / 21.7 / 8.8)
2B: Eric Young (1993-1997) (9.5 / 7.3 / 3.8)
3B: Garrett Atkins (2003-2008) (11.1 / 10.8 / 6.4)
SS: Troy Tulowitzki (2006-2008) (6.2 / 6.2 / 5.6)
LF: Matt Holliday (2004-2008) (16.9 / 15.9 / 7.3)
CF: Juan Pierre (2000-2002) (3.0 / 3.0 / 2.4)
RF: Larry Walker (1995-2004) (44.1 / 18.3 / 9.0)

Bench

Vinny Castilla (1993-1999, 2004, 2006) (15.1 / 10.1 / 4.5)
Ellis Burks (1994-1998) (10.8 / 10 / 7.6)
Andres Galarraga (1993-1997) (11.3 / 6.3 / 3.6)
Jamey Carroll (2006-2007) (5.1 / 5.1 / 4.3)
Chris Iannetta (2006-2008) (3.2 / 3.2 / 2.7)

Batting Order

1. Eric Young
2. Troy Tulowitzki
3. Larry Walker
4. Todd Helton
5. Matt Holliday
6. Garrett Atkins
7. Juan Pierre
8. Jeff Reed

Starting Rotation:

SP1: Pedro Astacio (1997-2001) (9.9 / 9.3 / 5.3)
SP2: Aaron Cook (2002-2008) (10.3 / 7.3 / 3.4)
SP3: Jason Jennings (2001-2006) (9.1 / 6.6 / 4.2)
SP4: Kevin Ritz (1994-1998) (6.6 / 6.5 / 3.9)
SP5: Armando Reynoso (1993-1996) (7.6 / 5.0 / 3.1)

Bullpen (in order of importance):

Steve Reed (1993-1997, 2003-2004) (9.2 / 5.6 / 3.1)
Brian Fuentes (2002-2008) (8.8 / 5.2 / 2.7)
Curtis Leskanic (1993-1999) (5.2 / 3.2 / 3.1)
Bruce Ruffin (1993-1997) (5.7 / 4.6 / 1.9)
Jerry Dipoto (1997-2000) (4.7 / 4.4 / 2.1)
Jose Jimenez (2000-2003) (4.2 / 4.2 / 2.3)
Darren Holmes (1993-1997) ( (3.8 / 3.6 / 2.3)

Analysis

The construction of this team historically tells us that in the last few years the Rockies have played several of the best position players in team history (three of them are on this squad). After 2009 is completed Chris Iannetta will supplant Jeff Reed at starting catcher while several other players shoot up the leader boards.

From a pitching standpoint, the bullpen is heavily comprised of guys that were in the 1997 bullpen (five of them!). After this year not much will change as far as relievers go, but Ubaldo Jimenez's stellar 2009 will place him in the rotation as the second-ranked starting pitcher. It should be noted that Ellis Burks would probably supplant Juan Pierre in center field.

The team that is best by my metrics is by and large the best team by Career and 3 Year WAR totals too, but there are definitely some interesting outlier seasons by others that shake up the best single year roster.

The Greatest Single Season Performances

Collected below is an unholy amalgamation of the best individual seasons by position in Rockies history. If these players had all produced at this level in the same year, they would have produced 67.2 batting WAR (20.4 off the bench), 19.2 relief WAR, and 22.1 starting pitching WAR for a total of 88.1 WAR. This team should statistically win 136.7 games out of 162 (a replacement level team would win 48.6, or 30% of its games).

Starting Lineup

C: Chris Iannetta (2008) 2.7
1B: Todd Helton (2000) 8.8
2B: Jamey Carroll (2006) 4.3
3B: Garrett Atkins (2006) 6.4
SS: Troy Tulowitzki (2007) 5.6
LF: Ellis Burks (1996) 7.6
CF: Juan Pierre (2001) 2.4
RF: Larry Walker (1997) 9.0

Bench

Matt Holliday (2007) 7.3
Vinny Castilla (1998) 4.5
Kazuo Matsui (2007) 4.1
Eric Young (1996) 2.7
Jeff Reed (1998) 1.8

Batting Order

1. Jamey Carroll
2. Ellis Burks
3. Larry Walker
4. Todd Helton
5. Garrett Atkins
6. Troy Tulowitzki
7. Chris Iannetta
8. Juan Pierre

Starting Rotation:

SP1: Pedro Astacio (1999) 5.3
SP2: Joe Kennedy (2004) 4.7
SP3: Jason Jennings (2006) 4.2
SP4: Marvin Freeman (1994) 4.0
SP5: Kevin Ritz (1995) 3.9

Bullpen (in order of importance):

Gabe White (2000) 3.3
Steve Reed (1997) 3.1
Curtis Leskanic (1995) 3.1
Brian Fuentes (2005) 2.7
Manuel Corpas (2007) 2.4
Jose Jimenez (2000) 2.3
Darren Holmes (1995) 2.3

Analysis

Obviously I'd play Holliday in left field and shift Burks to center, improving the lineup (and overall WAR) immensely, but those were the best players by WAR at their position in one season. From this year's team, Carlos Gonzalez is close to surpassing Juan Pierre, while Ubaldo Jimenez will jump atop the starting rotation, where he will perhaps be joined by Jason Marquis (depending on how his last start turns out). I'll talk more about this next week.

Rockies fans have been privileged enough to witness in the last couple of years some of the greatest seasons ever--Smith's WAR calculations are park-adjusted, so when Coors Field changed due to the humidor's implementation so did the formula for calculating WAR. As a result, early pitchers get a large boost (and hitters a large detraction) relative to today's players because of the pitcher's hell that was early Coors Field/Mile High.

And finally...

Single Season Goats

This would be the worst single-season lineup the Rockies could put on the field (worst players starting). The sad thing is that many of them did play a large role for the Rockies. The damage: -15.9 hitting WAR (-11.2 from the starting lineup), -7.5 relief WAR, and -8.5 SP WAR for a total of -31.9 wins above replacement. This team should statistically win 16.7 games out of 162.

Starting Lineup

C: Kirt Manwaring (1997) -2.1
1B: John Vander Wal (1997) -0.7
2B: Luis A. Gonzalez (2006) -1.0
3B: Vinny Castilla (1993) -0.5 [soon to be supplanted by Garrett Atkins, 2009 (-0.9)]
SS: Neifi Perez (1998) -1.2 (and yes, he played all 162 games)
LF: Dante Bichette (1999) -2.8
CF: Choo Freeman (2004) -1.2
RF: Brad Hawpe (2008) -1.7

Bench

Cory Sullivan (2006) -1.1
Steve Finley (2007) -1.1
Jason Bates (1996) -0.9
Jeff Baker (2007) -0.7
Gary Bennett (2002) -0.9

Batting Order

1. Neifi Perez
2. Choo Freeman
3. Vinny Castilla
4. Dante Bichette
5. Brad Hawpe
6. John Vander Wal
7. Kirt Manwaring
8. Luis A. Gonzalez

Starting Rotation:

SP1: Dennis Stark (2004) -1.9
SP2: Joe Kennedy (2005) -1.9
SP3: Brian Rekar (1996) -1.6
SP4: Andy Ashby (1993) -1.6
SP5: Mike Hampton (2002) -1.5

Bullpen (in order of suckitude):

Shawn Chacon (2004) -1.7
Todd Jones (2003) -1.4
Mike Dejean (1999) -1
Darren Holmes (1994) -0.9
Jose Acevedo (2005) -0.9
Jeremy Affeldt (2006) -0.8
Javier Lopez (2004) -0.8

Analysis

This team is horrible, but some of the names on the list were just having a statistical anomaly of a bad season or were getting their first look at major league hitting/pitching. In fact, several went on to have nice careers. Several of them did not, and for good reason.

Next week, I'll look at how the 2009 Rockies performed individually and as a team from a value standpoint.

Showdown In Dome Town: Twins Playing Host to Tigers

Jesse — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:32:32 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Tigers @ Metrodome

Detroit Tigers Bless You Boys
@ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town

Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT
Metrodome

Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing

Complete Coverage >

Sat 09/19 4:10 PM EDT

Sun 09/20 2:10 PM EDT

Games back: 4.0

For weeks we've been back and forth on this. Every time the Twins hit a streak of luck and run off a couple of wins they manage to take a step back. And yet every time they're pushed to the brink, to the point where it seems they can do no right and nothing more than a whisper would push them into the abyss of elimination, they find a way to scratch and fight back above .500.

In most divisions that wouldn't be good enough. But in the AL Central it's a reality, and it's making for another heartburn-happy September.

Thanks to Zack Greinke and the Kansas City Royals, the Tigers will be prowling through Minneapolis this weekend with a four-game lead over our Minnesota Twins. Forget records, this is all about the gap to first place. We all understand what's at stake here.

Injury Report

Twins:
Both Justin Morneau and Joe Crede are out for the season, leaving the middle of the order down 40% on their power hitters. Michael Cuddyer is filling in at first base, giving Ron Gardenhire the chance to play Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young everyday. Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris will be picking up more of the time at third.

Tigers:
Dontrelle Willis has been out for some time, but both Nate Robertson and Jarrod Washburn are fighting injuries and won't pitch this series. Detroit has no scheduled starter for Sunday's contest.

Probable Pitchers

Friday, September 18: Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing
Saturday, September 19: Justin Verlander vs Carl Pavano
Sunday, September 20: TBA vs Scott Baker

Opposition Focus

Rick Porcello: For a kid who won't be able to legally drink until two days after Christmas, Porcello doesn't seem to be too worked up over the pressure he's been facing with his team down the stretch. His fastball has good sink and it's been his best pitch, while his breaking ball(s) and off-speed pitch haven't been quite as effective. Porcello will beat you by inducing contact, and because his ground ball rates are so good (54.8%) you'll need to string together two or three hits on most occasions before you score a run. If he does let one get up, however, they're a little more likely to get a little boost. If the Twins are getting a lot of line drives or are hitting some hard flies on Friday night, it should be a sign that they're seeing him pretty well. Hopefully that would turn into runs. If Porcello gets into a groove, however, those innings could start flying by with nothing more to show than a string of 6-3 put outs.

Justin Verlander: Verlander is good. I'd probably vote for Zack Greinke for the Cy Young, but Verlander isn't too far off. Over 12.1 innings in two starts versus the Twins this year he's allowed seven runs over 12.1 innings, giving up 12 hits, five hits and striking out 19. Yes, 19.

Magglio Ordonez: He's really bounced back, and all that's missing from his game is power. Sort of like Bobby Abreu. Only with less power. He's back to hitting third for the Tigers, hitting .347/.418/.493 since the All-Star break.

Brandon Inge: Still looks like the biggest jerk to ever jerk a jerk. Doing a great Joe Crede impression this year. If Joe Crede were healthy.

Adam Everett: Anybody wish we'd given him another shot? He's hitting a paltry .244/.296/.335, but that's not much worse than some of our other infielders. His UZR/150 is only 4.2, but that's better than any of the five guys the Twins have tried at the spot this year. For reference, Orlando Cabrera's UZR/150 with the Twins is -17.9. He's also still making plenty of plays outside of his zone (36 and counting), although not as frequently as he once was.

Miguel Cabrera: Also awesome. The man is only 26 and has amassed ~~438~~ 205 home runs. In the history of the Minnesota Twins, only Harmon Killebrew [edit: and Kent Hrbek and Bob Allison and Tony Oliva and Kirby Pucket end edit] and has ever hit more home runs than a 26-year old. Incredible. And let's not even pretend he's a one-dimensional offensive force.

Fernando Rodney: Tigers fans, this is a closer. Rodney isn't a bad pitcher, but after dealing with Todd Jones for so long it has to be like watching the second coming of...wait...oh my god, really? Todd Jones is Detroit's career save leader? I feel so dirty.

You want meaningful autumn baseball? This might be as close as we get. Get out and support the Twins this weekend if you can, and if not, then we'll see you here.

Matt Lindstrom working off the rough edges

craig — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:41:40 -0000

Everyone finally admits Matt Lindstrom is in extended spring training but it is taking place in the majors.

The Marlins are waiting on Matt Lindstrom to develop into their closer, and it's unfair to evaluate Lindstrom after the first week because he is coming back from a rotator cuff injury this spring.

''I think he is still working through some things,'' Gonzalez said. ``This is still like spring training for him, because he didn't get the full spring. I think in another three or four games we'll see him.''

Lindstrom agrees.

''I'm still building arm strength. It's not all back right now,'' he said. ``I have had some real good bullpens and I feel it coming back, but on the mound at times I know it's not all there yet. Three weeks ago, I had a bad rotator cuff.

''I didn't get to pitch in as many games as I would have in the spring. Maybe that has something to do with it,'' Lindstrom said. ``I just run out of gas a little bit. I'm a guy who is used to having 100 percent of my stuff, and it's not 100 percent right now.

``I think the bullpen is going to get better. I think we have some good arms here.''

Gotta love that WBC.

As it stands right now, Lindstrom has speed on his pitches but very little velocity. The physics lesson for today is that the difference between speed and velocity is that velocity is a vector which contains a directional component. Speed does not.

To say it another way is that he can throw hard but he can't control the location of the pitches with any accuracy.

Hopefully he will rectify the situation soon.

Also, I do think the bullpen is better than it has shown so far this season. I really don't think we have been transported back in time to 2005 when Todd Jones was the only reliever that could get anyone out with any consistency.

The problem early on is that they are work in progress which isn't the way you want to start the season. But if the starters and the bats keep coming through, the Marlins have some time to right the bullpen ship.

Let's think back to last year, at the start of the season the starters weren't all that good but the bullpen and the hitters saved them from embarrassment. (Sort of) Ricky entered the rotation and eventually did fabulous. Scott Olsen did yeomen's work. Both were coming off nagging injuries, it just took some time.

That completes the optimistic view of the bullpen. But for now, none of them are completely trustworthy. However that doesn't mean they won't be later on. And even if they are not, the organization possess a lot of live arms in the minors.

The Brewer Advent Calendar #10: Trevor Hoffman

KLSnow — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:00:10 -0000

Behind door #10 we find...Trevor Hoffman!

via www.heybrewer.com

So we established last week that Hoffman has something in common with this guy:

via i14.photobucket.com

But we also know he has something in common with this guy:

via www.operationlettertosanta.com

Yes, Trevor Hoffman is old. He'll be 41 on Opening Day, when he starts his 17th big league season. He's also averaged 37.8 saves over the last 14 seasons, despite one season (2003) where he didn't close a single game.

In 2007, Hoffman was the oldest pitcher ever to record 40 saves. In 2008, Hoffman was only the third pitcher ever to record 30 saves in a season after his 40th birthday. In 2009, he could be the second ever to reach that figure at 41. Here are the oldest pitchers ever to record 30 saves:

Pitcher	Season	Age	Team	Saves
Dennis Eckersley	1997	42	St. Louis	36
Dennis Eckersley	1996	41	St. Louis	30
Doug Jones	1997	40	Milwaukee	36
Trevor Hoffman	2008	40	San Diego	30
Trevor Hoffman	2007	39	San Diego	42
Todd Jones	2007	39	Detroit	38
Trevor Hoffman	2006	38	San Diego	46
Jose Mesa	2004	38	Pittsburgh	43
Mariano Rivera	2008	38	New York (AL)	39
Todd Jones	2006	38	Detroit	37
Dennis Eckersley	1993	38	Oakland	36
Tom Gordon	2006	38	Philadelphia	34

Friday Notes: Matt Millen Round-Up

Sean Yuille — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:31:14 -0000

New general manager Martin Mayhew doesn't plan on trading Roy Williams.
Steve Mariucci spoke out about the Matt Millen era and had some interesting things to say.

The team was 9-7 when Matt was hired, and he was hired to take the team really to the next level, so to speak, and in doing so, he dismantled that team, dismantled that coaching staff – some of the front office – and made an attempt to rebuild it.

And it’s been experiment after experiment trying to find the right combination – primarily of coaches. That’s been just a revolving door, as you know. There aren’t any players – not many – that have been there long-term. You have Jeff Backus, Dominic Raiola, but there are not many that have been there very long.
Mooch also said this about how Millen handled Joey Harrington once it was becoming obvious that things weren't going to work out with him.

[Millen] wanted to see if we could make [Harrington] into a legitimate starting quarterback -- a winning quarterback -- and I was willing to do that early. As time went on, you know, a young quarterback with a young team -- that's not a good recipe for success.

So, we weren't quite sure that he was going to be the guy, Rich. In fact, we suggested, you know, trading with somebody else for other veteran quarterbacks because we gradually believed that Joey would be better suited to be a backup for a while and watch somebody else do it.

So Matt wasn't willing to spend more money on the quarterback position. Matt insisted that we try to develop Joey and build up other parts of the team while we were trying to develop his skills, but it wasn't going to happen.
As more and more comes out it becomes all the more evident that while he meant well, Millen had no idea what he was doing.
The Free Press' Michael Rosenberg wrote an absolutely idiotic article about how he thinks the Lions should hire Joe Dumars -- yes, the Joe Dumars -- to be their new general manager. Seriously.
Drew Stanton talked about Matt Millen being fired and how he is progressing on his blog.
As Tom Kowalski points out, Rod Marinelli really has to try to make something out of this season. Most fans believe that the season is already over, and personally, I'm counting down the days until the offseason begins. The reason for that is because the offseason means a new GM (hopefully) will be hired and we can start to move on from the Millen era for good. For the players and coaches, they have to try their best as they will be auditioning for the new GM or for other teams. Every game does matter in that sense, win or lose.
Mark Schlereth, an ESPN analyst and one time teammate of Matt Millen, weighed in on how Millen did as a general manager and didn't sugarcoat anything.

Schlereth prefaced his comments by saying he personally likes Millen. "He's a guy that I respect," Schlereth said. "A guy that I love." And then Schlereth unloaded.

"It may be the worst personnel job in the history of the National Football League," Schlereth said. "He was horrible. Matt was -- I mean, it was absolute garbage."
I couldn't agree more.
The Free Press put together a photo gallery recapping the Matt Millen era. They also compiled quotes from the era and created a timeline on it.
The Detroit News compiled quotes from some former Lions and members of the media about Millen's firing.
Ryan Parker made a song called "Goodbye Matt Millen."
The American Mustache Institute is in mourning as not only was Matt Millen fired, but Todd Jones retired on Wednesday as well.
As of right now, the Lions have 9/4 odds of finishing with the league's worst record and having the #1 overall pick in next year's draft.

Todd Jones Will Be Retiring

Ian Casselberry — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:00:04 -0000

With all due respect to Todd Jones for a 16-year major league career, he picked the wrong day to announce his retirement.

Today in Detroit, the people are ready to throw a parade and shoot off fireworks for the Lions' long overdue firing of Matt Millen. Local sports talk radio has pre-empted programming all day to cover this. It's like cable news channels covering presidential election results. I'm pretty sure Kool and the Gang are on their way to downtown Detroit to perform "Celebration."

So even though Jonesy's official announcement won't come until tomorrow with a news conference in Detroit (and even though this news was expected), he's getting overshadowed just a bit. The Rodney Dangerfield of closers continues to get no respect. Kind of a shame.

Jones retires as the Detroit Tigers' all-time saves leader with 235, 81 ahead of the next closest reliever on the list.

At least he should get some headlines to himself by waiting until Thursday. And for all of the slamming Jones has taken in his eight combined seasons with the Tigers, he deserves some spotlight and applause for his achievements. Not too many players revive an apparently dead career the way Jones did in 2005.

We'll certainly have more on this in the days and weeks to come, as more details, quotes, and other such information becomes available.

Guillen's Back? Not For Awhile

Ian Casselberry — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:00:13 -0000

I'm a couple of days late in writing about Carlos Guillen sitting out with back pain that's also developed into numbness down his right leg, along with increasingly sore hamstrings. But with Jeff Larish being called up from Toledo to take his place and Todd Jones very likely calling it a career yesterday, I think the sentiment I originally wanted to express on Tuesday is still timely.

When it comes to the Detroit Tigers these days, three words often come to mind as I see the aches and injuries pile up. Shut him down. (I'm sure you could think of a more colorful three words in reference to the overall season, but that's why we have comments and GameThreads here at BYB.) Obviously, someone has to play these games, and the paying customers deserve to see major league talent on the field. But for those who are aching and nursing injuries that just won't get better without rest, what's the point of pushing this? This thing the Tigers have been doing has taken on the feel of a funeral march. Why add actual career casualties to the proceedings?

Guillen is obviously dealing with something serious here, with symptoms that hinted toward this outcome when he was originally diagnosed with a pinched nerve. He has three more years on his current contract, with skills that could very well be diminishing. (10 home runs this year?) Shutting him down and trying to get him as healthy as possible seems like the best way to try and ensure getting the best from Guillen over these next three seasons. What good would playing a few more games at third base or hitting fifth in the lineup this year really accomplish now?

The Tigers have wasted far too much this season in sending injured or recuperating players onto the field, either not realizing how debilitating their pains were or hoping they could play through their physical issues. Gary Sheffield? Joel Zumaya? Todd Jones? Dontrelle Willis? Maybe even Nate Robertson? They did the right thing with Jeremy Bonderman, but his condition really didn't give the team a choice. And Jonesy acknowledged inevitability, opting to end his season with some dignity rather than delude himself with false hopes.

Next season, I hope the Tigers put feelings or loyalties aside, and act much more aggressively and decisively about putting players on the DL when they're not in any condition to help. What good does it do to have Sheffield or Guillen on the bench if a healthier player is available to help out, especially one who might have a future with the team? Shut him down.

Detroit Tigers Bless You Boys @ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT Metrodome Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing Complete Coverage >
Sat 09/19		4:10 PM EDT
Sun 09/20		2:10 PM EDT

SB Nation - Todd Jones

Morning Prowl: Winter Meetings, Suitors For Adam Everett and Brandon Lyon, and Multi-Year Deals For Relievers

WAR Lords of the Diamond: Greatest. Rockies. Ever.

Showdown In Dome Town: Twins Playing Host to Tigers

Current Series 3 game series vs Tigers @ Metrodome Detroit Tigers Bless You Boys @ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT Metrodome Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing Complete Coverage > Sat 09/19 4:10 PM EDT Sun 09/20 2:10 PM EDT

Current Series

3 game series vs Tigers @ Metrodome

Games back: 4.0

Injury Report

Probable Pitchers

Opposition Focus

Matt Lindstrom working off the rough edges

The Brewer Advent Calendar #10: Trevor Hoffman

Friday Notes: Matt Millen Round-Up

Todd Jones Will Be Retiring

Guillen's Back? Not For Awhile

Current Series

3 game series vs Tigers @ Metrodome

Detroit Tigers Bless You Boys
@ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town

Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT
Metrodome

Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing

Complete Coverage >

Sat 09/19 4:10 PM EDT

Sun 09/20 2:10 PM EDT