Well, it's the final day of the month of April and it's high time I handed out some grades to see how the Tigs are doing through the first month of the year.
Hitting- It's been an up and down sort of month for the Tiger bats. Some games they're putting up 9 or 10 runs, others they're struggling to get hits against mediocre pitchers. There have been a ton of games already this season where great games by the pitching staff have been wasted by the hitters' inability to put the bat on the ball and get some hits. That being said, Placido Polanco, Magglio Ordonez, Pudge Rodriguez, and Curtis Granderson have really gotten off to good starts. They've each had nights where they've been pretty much carrying the team, and so far it's worked, to a certain extent. The AL Central has some of the best pitching the majors, so the line-up's roller coaster ride so far can be excused to a certain extent, but there are enough guys struggling (Brandon Inge, Sean Casey, Craig Monroe, Gary Sheffield) that are in the order every day that drag this grade down. Grade: C.
Starting Pitching- At this point in the season, we're getting exactly what we can expect from these guys on a day-to-day basis: good opportunities to win. There have been very few games where the starters have gotten totally shelled to the point that the game is lost in the 2nd or 3rd inning. Saturday against the Twins would be a good example of one of these times. However, this is really the only example that jumps to the forefront of my mind. Even in Bondo's bad start against the Angels last week resulted in the Tigs almost coming back to win the game. So far, the starters have given the Tigs a chance to win in pretty much every game and that's what they're meant to do. Justin Verlander, with the exception of Saturday's start, has been very impressive so far this year, as has Nate Robertson. Bondo has also been very solid, while Mike Maroth looks okay and Chad Durbin bought himself another few weeks in the bigs with his game in Chicago on Wednesday. Looking good so far. Grade- A-.
Fielding- The Tigers started off the season pretty much unable to make an error, it just didn't happen for a few weeks. And then it seemed all in the last week or so, the defense took a nose dive on the left side of the infield. Brandon Inge and Carlos Guillen combine for a total of nine errors, with Carlos comitting six of them. Not exactly the type of numbers that you look for from a guy who just signed an extension in the off-season, but it's almost what we've come to expect from him over the past few years. Inge is the same way- for all the spectacular plays he makes in the field, he's guarenteed to fuck up some that he should have had. With an overall team fielding percentage of .980, and a total of 15 errors, there's room for improvement, but it's not all that bad. Grade- B.
Bullpen- Of course, here has been the real big problem over the past month. Everyone coming out of the bullpen has experienced their problems, even the originally solid Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones, who until the last week had zero blown saves in eight chances and then blew two in a week. The main trouble makers have mostly been Fernando Rodney, Jose Mesa, and Jason Grilli, all of whom you've read enough in this space over the last month. Mesa is currently on the DL, but allowed his ERA to bloom up to a rousing 20.25 in just four appearances earlier this month. Rodney and Grilli are sitting pretty with 6.55 and 5.56 ERAs respectively, not great by any means, but definitely down from astronomical levels they were at a couple weeks ago. There have been too many blown games by this pen already this year, with Rodney racking up four losses already and blowing all three games that he has come into in extra innings. One of the big bright spots however, is the emergence of Wilfredo Ledezma. He's 3-0 with a 3.38 ERA and is becoming a very solid lefty specialist. However, the lack of confidence in these guys is what is really scary so far, hurting them immensely in this grade. Grade- D (and that's being generous).
Bench- With players like Omar Infante on the Tigers bench, guys who can be plugged in anywhere and look like they belong, the team is in good shape. Marcus Thames has been getting some looks at first base, and he looks okay there- nothing great, nothing awful, just okay. Which is perfect, it's going to be his spot on this team in the future. He's hit some big flys already this year, sending last Sunday's game against the White Sox into extra innings and putting the TIgs up for a few innings yesterday. Neifi Fucking Perez makes me hate, and Mike Rabelo has been absolutely atrocious at the bat, and teams have definitely taken advantage of him in Pudge's absence by running on him when he's behind the plate. I, for one, can't wait to get Vance Wilson back in the line-up so Rabelo can go tune up in Triple A or something. Grade- B.
Manager- Jimmy Leyland's golden touch of last year is gone, that much is for sure. Some moves he's made over and over again this year, like putting Rodney on the mound in the 10th inning, and each time they backfire the same way that they did earlier. However, he's making the right move getting Thames reps at first and made a great move by giving Sheffield the night off last Sunday against Chicago, as it seems that any day now Gary will climb over the Mendoza line. He may not be perfect so far this season, but he put on a helluva show Saturday when he got kicked out of that game. Fantastic. All he needs now is to fire these guys up with the same type of talk he gave them last year early in the season, because these guys might need a little fire under their ass to get them going. Grade- B.
Overall, this team hasn't been playing great baseball, but they're only two games back in the division with plenty of time to make up. There haven't been any serious injuries that are going to cripple this team down the road and, even though it seems like they're playing shitty baseball on a regular basis, they're still about .500. Right now, they're looking pretty average. Overall Grade For April- C+.
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