Tigers Demote Ryan Raburn; Who Do They Call Up?

 By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

It finally happened, the Tigers were out of options to deal with the struggling Ryan Raburn and opted to send him down to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens after Tuesday's game with the Boston Red Sox. Raburn had a very respectable spring training, but once the season started so did Raburn's troubles. When he was demoted on Tuesday he was hitting just .146.

While it has been his style to struggle in the early portion of the season before flipping a switch and playing like an all star after the break, but this season's swoon, coupled with the team's struggles, caused Detroit to pull the leash on their second baseman.

Following the Tigers loss to the Red Sox on Monday, Jim Leyland said that he thought that he may have given Raburn too much leash so far this season and that he would have a much shorter one from then on. Well, it must have been very short.

There was no corresponding roster move made in Toledo after Raburn was optioned down tonight; one is expected to come on Wednesday. Raburn's struggles have been historic for him; the only time his on-base percentage was lower was in 2004 when he played just 12 games with the Tigers and had only 29 at-bat's. Currently, his OBP is sitting at .209 with a on-base percentage plus slugging of .420, which is terrible in the major leagues.

There was speculation abound Tuesday night as to who would be called up to replace Raburn in the Detroit lineup; first instinct was that the Tigers would call on another second baseman in Eric Patterson. But that was quickly shut down when Tigers beat writer Jason Beck tweeted that the player to be called up would not be a second baseman, per Jim Leyland.

That being said, speculation shifted elsewhere that the Tigers would go and bring up a reliever. Only problem with that is that the Tigers already have seven relievers in the bullpen and five starters. By carrying 12 pitchers on staff, Detroit limits itself on the bench.

The Tigers should bring up Mud Hens designated hitter Brad Eldred to replace Ryan Raburn. By recalling Eldred, Detroit would maintain a more normal bench and would add a big bat that they could bring into a game in the late innings. As it stands, if the Tigers need to go to the bench in the late innings they can turn to Danny Worth, Gerald Laird or Don Kelly. Not exactly murder's row is it?

By adding Eldred the Tigers would be able to have pop off the bench that they dont currently possess and because he can't play a position in the field they would have no problem sending him back down to Toledo when Austin Jackson comes off the disabled list.

What Can Berry Do For You?

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

Austin Jackson was having a renaissance season, he was hitting and drawing walks as well as playing the elite center field that Tigers fans have come to expect. But a funky swing in an at-bat in Chicago tweaked something in Jackson's back and it just wasn't right. He rested it for a number of days and when he felt it could be ready to go he stepped into the batting cage for some batting practice in Cleveland. However, Jackson's back disagreed with his time table for returning to the lineup and after re-aggravating it in BP the Tigers placed him on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to a week earlier, and called up Quintin Berry from the Toledo Mud Hens.

So who exactly is Berry and what can he do for the Tigers? First things first, he can play a tremendous center field. He has the range, plus some, of Jackson and so far with the Tigers he has shown that he has a decent arm from center field as well. While he might not have the arm that Jackson does in the field, he won't need to use it with the speed that he possesses.

Tigers fans have come to see Jackson as the only source of speed on their roster, and for the most part they are right, but the addition of Berry to the lineup gives the Tigers something they haven't had in a long time; blistering speed. Berry isn't just fast, he's Usain Bolt fast. With the kind of raw speed that Berry has, he can steal a base despite the entire stadium knowing that he is going to try for the steal.

That kind of speed can change games. Just think about the last time the Tigers played the Angels; every time one of their runners reached base they at least threatened to steal second, or even third, base. And because of that threat Tigers pitching threw over to the bag multiple times and the pitcher was unable to focus on the batter because he was thinking about the runner on base.

One thing that this Detroit team lacks is speed. Jackson was the Tigers only speed and possible base stealer, and opposing teams knew that. Once Jackson was off the bases there was no urgency paid to the runners and the pitcher was able to focus wholly on the batter. With the addition of Berry opponents will have to implement all the tools at their disposal to keep him from stealing; throws to the bag, look overs, pitch-out's, snap throws by the catcher.

But when the dugout and pitching battery are strategizing about the runner who has already reached base, that is a mental victory for the Tigers. Berry has stolen 55 bags in a season while in the minors, he is the real deal. When Jackson returns to the lineup, Berry should stay with him if the Tigers truly want to make a run.

Beyond stealing bases Berry makes the opponents rush every play that he is involved in. For instance, in Cleveland there were two plays where Berry's speed helped the Tigers despite neither of them being the theft of second base. Berry laid down a bunt, presumably to try to catch the Indians off balance, but due to his speed he pulled the second baseman out of position and turned an ordinary bunt into a bunt double and his first major league hit.

Another instance was when Berry rolled over a ball and the pitcher charged off the mound to grab it and throw him out at first. This is an ordinary play, but because the pitcher knew in the back of his head how fast Berry was he rushed the throw and pulled his first baseman off the bag.

While his bat hasn't shown up yet with Detroit, the sample size is still small and he should be given more of a chance. But if he does begin to get hot at the plate when Jackson is ready to return the Tigers need to keep him in the every day lineup. Berry could be shifted over to left field and Jackson would be able to reclaim his position in center field. Andy Dirks, who is currently manning left field, could be moved to the DH position.

The odd man out in that situation would be Delmon Young, who prior to his arrest in New York was the Tigers every day left fielder. Since his incident he has been the DH in almost every game that he has played. Seemingly Detroit would like to keep his bat in the lineup without sacrificing defense in left field. However, his bat hasn't really showed up and something needs to be done to spark this team and keep them hot.

Berry is that spark and that spark should be tindered and cared for until it goes out. Detroit needs to ride their lightning bolt as long as they can.

Is Mud Hens Cale Iorg Criticizing Peralta After Verlander's One-Hitter?

From the Toledo Blade

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

Story updated May 19 at 11:12 p.m.

It's hard to find anything wrong with Justin Verlander's one-hit performance from Friday night, so Mud Hens short stop Cale Iorg found fault with someone else on the Tigers; Jhonny Peralta.

In the world of social media athletes can find themselves compelled to talk about the things that they would never say if there was a microphone in front of their face, but when it's a cell phone screen or computer monitor, things are different.

Verlander had mowed through the Pittsburgh lineup and gotten into the ninth inning with a no-hitter intact. He retired the first batter of the inning before Pirates' Josh Harrison hit a ball back up the middle, just out of the reach of Detroit's short stop Jhonny Peralta, for the Pirates only hit of the night.

Most fans were disappointed, and it even looked like Verlander mouthed the word "sorry" to the crowd following the final out, but most people attributed it to baseball being baseball and let it die. Not Iorg, who took to Twitter following the Mud Hens impressive comeback game.

At 11:04 p.m. Iorg posted this Twitter message;

That seems like a shot at Peralta by Iorg. Saying that Peralta didn't do enough to try to get to the ball to try to preserve Verlander's no-hitter. Iorg may say that now, but when it comes time to play the field in the ninth inning of a major league no-hitter, if he is so lucky, he may not be so sure about diving for anything "a few feet away."

Perhaps if Peralta had dove he may have been able to get the webbing of his glove on the ball and it may have slowed the ball down, but would he have been able to get up and gun it over to first in time to beat the runner? Maybe, maybe not.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and Iorg believes that Peralta should have at least attempted a dive at the ball. Tigers fans can think what they will about the game and the play, but Iorg may want to think before he presses send from now on.

A tweet was sent to Iorg asking for clarification on his original tweet, seen above. He responded with this tweet;

 

So perhaps he wasn't criticizing Peralta, but it sure sounded that way. Could just be chalked up to a young player getting excited after a chance at a no-hitter and not thinking before sending a tweet. Iorg is a solid young player and this is nothing in the grand scheme of things, he could be on his way to playing in the field in a no-hitter bid rather soon.

Could Patterson Be The Answer At 2B?

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

Second base is one of the most glaring areas of need for the Detroit Tigers right now, all three of their options in the majors, Ryan Raburn, Danny Worth and Ramon Santiago are all hitting under .200. While Raburn typically has a slow start to the season, things are reaching a breaking point for the Tigers.

Manager Jim Leyland has said that he is trying to get Raburn going but if things don't go his way soon, there will have to be changes made. Perhaps the answer is Worth, who only has eight at-bats this season but has only recorded one hit in that time.

With Worth hitting .125 and Santiago also hitting under .200 there don't seem to be many options for the Tigers at second right now. Either they stick with Raburn and hope to ride it out or they give Worth every day playing time and hope more at-bats could lead to an increased batting average.

Or they could dip back into their reserves in Toledo. Eric Patterson is lighting the International League on fire this past week and the rest of his season has shown that he could be ready for a call-up.

In 28 games with Toledo this season Patterson, 29, is hitting .286/.433/.327. Those numbers are impressive, but when you look at how he had performed over the past 10 games things get really good looking. In the past 10 games Patterson is batting .323/.475/.387 with nine walks and two stolen bases.

Those numbers are solid and he brings another left-handed bat to the Tigers lineup, and one can never have too many lefties in the batting order. While Patterson hasn't fared that well in his past big league time, he could be a good stop-gap for General Manager Dave Dombrowski while he looks into the trade market for a more permanent solution such as Pittsburgh's Neil Walker or Kansas City's Chris Getz.

Scherzer And Young On the Edge

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

It's no secret that the Detroit Tigers Max Scherzer hasn't had a good start to the 2012 season; his pitching is erratic and inconsistent and on several occasions he has been chased from the game in the first few innings. His performance is drawing so much negative attention that some in the Tigers organization are considering using one his options and sending Scherzer to Triple-A Toledo to work on control.

Scherzer isn't the only member of the Tigers organization that could be seeing change in the near future - Delmon Young was arrested and could be charged with a hate crime in New York City. Just hours after the Tigers landed in New York, Young was in intoxicated front of the team hotel, and assaulted a group of tourists while supposedly yelling anti-Semetic epithets. Depending on what happens in court and what the MLB rules, the Tigers could void Young's contract.

In his first five starts of the season, Scherzer has turned in a 7.77 ERA with 10 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9. Similar to last seasons early struggles, Scherzer has an elevated WHIP, but this season's 2.05 WHIP has just been too much for him to overcome. In April last season Scherzer was named  "The Pitcher of the Month," but his proved that  his record would come back to earth quickly, and it did.

Young was arraigned on assault charges on Friday afternoon in a New York court; while in court Young did not say anything. But he did release a statement earlier that day where he says, "I sincerely regret what happened." He then apologized to those involved in the altercation and to the Detroit Tigers, the Illich family and to Tigers fans.

When Manager Jim Leyland was speaking about Scherzer's struggles he said that "there are always options," and that "he loves the guy, but we need to get him going." With Leyland standing by his pitcher Scherzer could have a few more outings available to turn things around before any one truely looks into sending him to Toldeo, but it is clear that Leyland has thought of that situation and is willing to do it.

The New York court expects to have Young back in at the end of May, at which time a trial may commence, as long as no plea deal is agreed to prior to that date. If Young is convicted of a crime, the Tigers have the option under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement to void his $6.75M contract for this season. He is due to meet with MLB officials within the next few days to determine if he may return to the Tigers or if he must undergo some rehab beforehand.

The Curious Case of The Detroit Tigers Second Base

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

It was supposed to be a straight forward decision, it was made in spring training; Ryan Raburn was going to be be the second baseman for the Detroit Tigers and would be rested for Ramon Santiago. Then Brandon Inge decided that he needed to play second base and foul things up even further, of course despite proving to be just about as useful as a wet towel, Inge was awarded with the job.

Fine, whatever. As long as he can hit his weight and continue to field above-average Inge will be accepted at second. But that's not happening, and his self-serving choice to force his way into the second base position has done some damage to Raburn and Santiago. Raburn left Lakeland, Fla. hitting better than he ever had to start the season - but part of that was because he was allowed to settle in at second base and play every day.

With Inge filling his spot in the lineup in Detroit Raburn was forced to play the outfield and become the designated hitter, with this came uncertainty of playing each day and when playing DH, long periods of sitting on the bench before each at-bat. There is nothing that will quench a hot streak faster than moving a guy around the field, it's no wonder Raburn's bat appears to have been left in Florida. Coming hot out of spring training Raburn has seen his batting average drop all the way to .090, as of Apr. 25, 2012.

Santiago also had a decent spring, but has also struggled as of late, hitting just .153. He has been his usual self in the field posting a perfect fielding percentage. But Manager Jim Leyland usually opts to put Inge or Raburn in the lineup at second base and leave Santiago for a late-inning substitution. While this may hamper some players, Santiago has gotten used to this as most of his career has been spent in this fashion. If given more opportunities he could buoy his average, but nothing is certain.

Inge simply wants to stay in the lineup and who can blame him, his is getting paid to play his favorite sport and all he wants to do is play. It's hard to knock a guy for not wanting to call it quits, but the numbers are not great for Inge. Through Apr. 25, Inge had recorded just two hits in the season for a .100 average. While many may not have expected his bat to come with him to second base, many still believed that he could be an asset up the middle with his excellent glove work from third base. Unfortunately, that did not follow him.

It is a hard transition to move from a position you have played much of your professional career to the position you played in high school, but his defense has suffered mightily in his time at second base for the Tigers. In his time at 2B this season Inge has posted a .963, committing several errors, and several others that should have been charged to him. Because of this, Inge's Rtot/yr is a -15. Rtot is the measure of the number of runs above or below average a fielder is worth per year. And at -15, Inge is worth 15 runs less than the average second baseman. Meaning that he costs the Tigers 15 a year.

None of the three mentioned players are the solution at second base; Raburn was meant to be a temporary stop-gap at best, Santiago is not an every day player and Inge is costing the team runs. Then where do the Tigers turn to fix the problem? Danny Worth.

Worth only appeared in three games with the Tigers this season before he was sent down to Toledo to make room for Inge. But while he was with Detroit he had five plate appearances and was able to get a hit in that time. His .200 average is already higher than any of the three players currently playing the position and he is supposedly the answer the Tigers brass had for 2B when they traded away Scott Sizemore after his brief time in the Olde English D.

Since being sent down to play with the Mud Hens, Worth has had 48 at-bat's and recorded 14 hits during those appearances. He has also drawn six walks in Toledo which puts his on-base percentage at .370. While he still has problems striking out, he would give the Tigers someone different to put in at second and perhaps fix the problem.

The definition of stupid is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result; now isn't that what Detroit is doing with the three players they have playing second right now? Trying to fit square pegs into a round hole. It just won't work, why not bring Worth up, give him 100 at-bat's and see if he really is the fix that they desperately need.

The Stink Is Growing...Get Rid of Schlereth

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

It's the seventh inning and the Tigers are up two runs with a runner on base. The starter has thrown 110 pitches and needs to be relieved, there are lefties that will be coming up in the order so Manager Jim Leyland looks at his bullpen card. Who is available - Duane Below, no, he's more of a long reliever. What about Phil Coke, well that could work, but where's the fun in that? No, lets go with Daniel Schlereth because we would rather not win the game.

Tigers fans know all too well the perils that come when Schlereth is on the mound. The stress that came with Fernando Rodney throwing in the late innings is nothing compared to the mediocrity that is Schlereth, at least Rodney eventually earned a save.

Yes, Detroit needs a left-handed reliever. Do they need three, that's debatable, but Leyland likes the options that come with having three southpaws in the bullpen. Below has shown that he is an adequate spot starter but can be invaluable out of the bullpen as a long relief pitcher. Coke has been solid and shows no signs of that changing any time soon. Schlereth, however, has alway been terrible. There were glimpses of what he could be, then he was sent to Triple-A Toledo to improve. He returned but his improvement was short lived.

As of Thursday morning Schlereth's line was less than impressive; four appearances, 4.0 innings pitched, six hits allowed, four runs allowed, two home runs, three walks, a 4.50 ERA and a 2.25 WHIP. Those numbers would be expected of a Triple-A player who is competing in Toledo, not those of a big league pitcher. Add in his line from Thursday night against the Texas Rangers; 1.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 12.60 ERA and you have a clear decision to make.

Two things need to be done with Schlereth, he needs to inherit his father's nickname and become "Stink," because well, he does. And he needs to either be offered as trade bait for some unsuspecting team or sent down to Toledo to completely retool his game to actually get good.

There are options in Toledo that could fill his role on the Tigers, Brayan Villarreal. He was performing well with the Tigers when he was sent down to the Mud Hens to make room for Adam Wilk to come to Detroit and fill the hole left in the rotation when Doug Fister was injured. In Villarreal's three appearances with Detroit in 2012 he threw 1.1 innings, and allowed one hit while keeping opponents from scoring and not walking any batters.

It is understandable that Leyland would want to keep three lefties in his bullpen, but when one consistently hurts your team each time he is brought into the game it is time to cut the cord. Get rid of Stink and bring back Villarreal.