SB Nation User Blog: grozzy

Elijah Dukes??

grozzy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:00:09 -0000

So the Nats just sent down Dukes and are supposedly looking to dump him. I really hope Dombrowski has his eye on that. Dukes is incredibly talented and seems to have shaken off a good deal of the baggage he had in Tampa. We could use an athletic power hitter like Dukes. He seems like a younger, cheaper, more athletic Thames at worst and has the potential to be a middle of the order power hitter. What are your thoughts?

Pitch f/x in the minors?

grozzy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:18:45 -0000

How long do you think it will take before baseball teams will start pushing for pitch f/x systems in the minors? It seems to me that it would be invaluable to a team's ability to scout their and other young pitchers. Not only being able to get an accurate idea of the movement and velocity their young pitchers are generating, but in being able to diagnose problems. Having an easy way to see quickly if they are struggling with a certain pitch in a certain area or whatever.

It would be interesting to see if a team could gain a noticeable scouting advantage by installing them in their own minor league parks before everyone else.

Just some thoughts

Does anyone want Mark Prior?

grozzy — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:10:42 -0000

ESPN was reporting that the Cubs are looking to trade Prior and are likely to non-tender him otherwise. Does anyone think that hes not a lost cause at this point? Who do you think takes a gamble on him?

I have to think that he has some value, even after all the injuries. He was arguably the most valuable pitcher in baseball after 2003 given his age and performance. At this point it is probably unreasonable to expect him to regain his stuff, but its not impossible that he could at least be a solid pitcher with weaker stuff given his control.

Should the Cubs be able to get even a marginal prospect for him from a team? Does anyone want him bad enough to give up even a marginal prospect to make sure they get him?

Does anyone even care at this point?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3129805

Bad News Tigers (Casey Crosby)

grozzy — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:11:51 -0000

5th Round Draft pick Casey Crosby is likely going to need Tommy John surgery.

He was supposed to be a high upside arm that they paid over slot to get. All the scouting reports were very promising, but this is an obvious setback.

Tommy John is not nearly as career threatening as it once was, but the Tigers must handle him very carefully now. It is still risky, and if he's mishandled he could easily develop other arm problems or never fully recover from this one.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/665900,CST-SPT-baseplug25.article

Tigers: Sign Fernando Cabrera now!

grozzy — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:20:55 -0000

He cleared waivers and is now a free agent. He has a great arm out of the pen. Hes young and shows a lot of promise. Hes not going to be worse than Grilli and we dont need 3 LOOGYs. He could potentially be great. Plus the Indians are giving him away for nothing, so, hopefully, we can motivate him with the ability to get them back.

He'll cost nothing and has some good upside.

The Tigers need to go get him now before someone else gets a good steal!

Who has been the Mets best pitcher thus far?

grozzy — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:58:57 -0000

Before the season I predicted Ollie would be. He, Glavine and Maine have all been very good, and Sosa has been quite good lately as well. I absolutely love watching Ollie pitch and am very happy that Peterson has been able to turn him around.

As a Tigers fan I would love to see us face him in the World Series, though I'd be scared to face him as well.

What do you all think?

Poll

Who has been the best starting pitcher?

Glavine

11 votes

El Duque

2 votes

Maine

15 votes

Perez

19 votes

Pelfrey

0 votes

Sosa

0 votes

Vargas

0 votes

47 votes | Poll has closed

Tigers Prospect Weekend Roundup

grozzy — Mon, 14 May 2007 15:16:15 -0000

Sorry I was away from a computer most of the weekend due to visiting my parents for Mother's Day.

AAA:
Saturday:
Trahern 6.1IP 5H 2ER 3BB 2K 14-3 GO-FO
This was his first AAA start and he had a very solid outing. Good to see his extreme groundball tendencies translating upward. It would be nice to see him K more batters, but he's getting terrific results so far.
Sat and Sun:
Shelton 0-0 Sat; 2-4 2B, BB, K
I dont know why he left Saturday early, but he had a decent game Sunday. I cant complain about the K when he had a BB and a XBH.
Raburn 1-4 HR, 2RBI Sat; 0-5 3K Sun
That Sunday line is pretty bad and hopefully is just a blip in his hot streak and not him slowing down.
Clevelen 0-4 2K Sat; 1-3, K Sun
Struggling very badly in AAA right now. .260 OBP in May. Striking out way too much. Couldnt hit AA last year. Even worse this year. Did he get hot at the right time (MLB callup last year) to save his prospect status? Last two years would have made most players completely forgotten. I have heard that he can become disinterested in the minors, though pushing him to AAA should have dealt with that.

AA:
Saturday:
An. Miller 8IP 6H 1ER 0BB 7K 14-2 GO-FO
AA Debut and its easily his best game of the year so far. Could A+ troubles have been to working on things and not worrying about results? Very encouraging start, lots of Ks and groundballs.
Sunday:
Jurrjens 7IP 4H 1ER 5BB 5K (2IBB)
Another very good start out of Jurrjens. 2 of the walks were intentional. Got the no decision against Lofgren. Only 2 decisions on the year. I'd like to see him K more batters, but he's having a very good year.
Sat&Sun:
Larish 0-4 K Sat; 0-3 RBI, 2K Sun
Average down to .231 and OPS under .800 for a 1B is really poor for a AA 1B. I had high hopes that he would start pushing Shelton, but he's faded pretty badly. He shows a lot of promise at times, but lately he's reminding why he gets little prospect talk.
Kirkland 2-4, 2B, RBI Sat; 0-3 Sun
No Ks in either game. The way Lofgren was dealing, 0-3 with 0Ks Sunday was ok. Good game Saturday. Not showing the power that he has, but slugging .535 in May, I feel like the power will come around. Hitting very well overall though.
Holliman 1-4 2K Sat; 0-2 K Sun
Im really down on him overall. I just dont think he will ever be a major league caliber hitter. This weekend did nothing to sway me otherwise. He gets talk for keeping his OPS above .800 for a 2B, but he's always been old for levels and his best asset has been his eye.

A+:
Saturday:
No pitcher worth mentioning in either game, but Lakeland did win a 17 Inning game Saturday getting a lot of good innings out of the pen. Benitez, Witt, Hammond, Ramos and Dolsi through 9 scoreless innings out of the pen.
Sat&Sun:
Maybin 4-7, 2B, R, 2RBI, BB, 3K Sat; 2-5 2R, K, SB Sun
Still hitting the ball and striking out in May. Average is staying up, but power hasnt been there in May. It will come around, but as has been talked about, he really needs to get the ball off the ground still. All his singles were on the ground, though 3 found holes, he only beat out 1 infield single and one bunt single. Non-K outs were all in the air though and he had a well hit double.
Justice 1-4, R, 2B, BB, 2K Sat; DNP Sun
Decent game Saturday. .293/.394/.534/.928 line so far this year. Has cooled a bit in May, though he has a 13/10 BB/K in May, so it looks promising.
M Hernandez 2-8 R, RBI Sat; 3-5 2 2B, R, Sun
Im always back and forth about putting him on here, but he is hitting .312 with a .956 OPS this year. On the other hand he's 24 in high-A and didnt hit in low A last year and is a corner OF. Very good weekend though driving in 3 runs and hitting a pair of double Sunday.

A:
Saturday:
Cody 7.2IP 10H 3ER 0BB 13K
Wow. Another excellant game. 8th inning just fell apart on him. After a leadoff double. A bunt single set runners up at 1st and 3rd and a groundball single back to the pitcher scored the 2nd run. 3rd run was allowed in by a reliever that failed to strand him. Great game overall though, was totally in control for 7 innings. 58/8 K/BB for the season.
Sat&Sun:
Gorkys H. 0-4 RBI, K Sat; 2-5, R, RBI, BB, 2K
Okay weekend out of him. Nothing real bad or real good to speak of. Batting .336 this year. Really a good hitter.
Sizemore 1-3 BB Sat; 1-4 R, 2RBI, BB, K Sun
Pretty good weekend for him overall. Hits in 7 of his last 8 and controlling the strikezone well, though only one of those was a multihit game. At least he's making contact though.
Skelton DNP Sat; 4-5 2 2B, R, 3RBI, K, SB
Hitting .366 this season. Splitting time with Kunkel but seriously out hitting him. In May he's hitting .533/.559/.700/1.259 with a 3/3 BB/K.

Keep your eye on another young Tiger pitcher...

grozzy — Sat, 05 May 2007 16:11:02 -0000

Eulogio De La Cruz has really started looking good in Erie. He is 23 and repeating a level, but he is also improving in all the areas that were considered a problem for him.

Hes another hard throwing young tiger. John talked about him as throwing "consistantly 95-96" and "capable of hitting 100". He also said he has a "good curve" and "non-terrible change".

One knock on him was his average K rate for someone with such good stuff, but this year he's right near a K an inning and has struck out 10 in each of his last two starts. He's also kept his BB rate down, only 8 walks in 32 innings. His ERA is a bit high, but hes only allowed 33 baserunners in 32 innings and he has been improving after a slow start. He also has a terrific 3.05 GO/AO which is all the more encouraging to his future success. His last two starts he went 8-4 GO-AO and 15-2! GO-AO.

He looks like a great guy to go after just as he's starting to breakout before the hype shows up for those of you in leagues with minor league players. For us Tigers fans, its exciting to see our farm system reload on arms with De La Cruz, Jurrgins, Vasquez, Trahern, Cody and of course Andrew Miller

Mark Pawelek Story

grozzy — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:08:31 -0000

It seems that not everyone caught onto the April Fools joke.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/baseball/fungoes_blog/

Near the bottom of todays blog on there:
"John Sickels reports that the Cubs' 2005 first round pick, Mark Pawelek, has been awesome in minor-league camp in Arizona after a disappointing 2006. He's been clocked at 99 mph and showing a "Koufax-like" break on his curve. "

Oliver Perez

grozzy — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 16:35:18 -0000

Does anyone know how his stuff has looked this spring? Hes been pretty successful and looking solid, but does anyone know where his fastball has been sitting and peaking? and how does his slider look?

Im a huge fan and think he's in for a big bounceback year. He seemed to be turning it around a bit near the end of last year and it would be HUGE for the Mets if he could flash some of his former glory.