The Detroit Tigers
2010 MLB Record: 81-81 (3rd in the AL Central)
Minor League Power Ranking: 28th (out of 30)
Click for: Last Year’s Top 10 Prospect List
The Prospects
1. Jacob Turner, RHP
Acquired: 2009 1st round (Missouri HS)
Pro Experience: 1 season
2010 MiLB Level: A/A+
Opening Day Age: 19
Estimated Peak WAR: 5.0
Likelihood to Reach Peak: 40%
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This is an article providing detail on the top tiered Detroit Tigers prospects. It is meant as an introductory to fans that don’t follow the farm system, and focuses on the potential WAR they could ultimately contribute as Major Leaguers.
One staple of the David Chadd era as Tigers scouting director has been big, hard-throwing pitchers. It’s no secret in the industry that Chadd uses every chance he can — and almost every dollar — to get guys like Scott Green, Casey Crosby, Jacob Turner, guys with big traditional pitching frames with already-present big league velocity. In many cases, like with Rick Porcello or Andrew Miller, it was Chadd paying top dollar for talent when other teams were scared off by bonus demands. So, in one sense, the guy loves big pitchers.
But, as he proved this year, the trend isn’t refined to hurlers, though he hasn’t had an elite offensive prospect in his system since Cameron Maybin. Chadd believes that first rounders are a bargain at any price, so if he has to break a record to get forty-fourth overall pick Nick Castellanos signed for top five money, he’ll do it if the talent is there. In 2009, he didn’t have a hitter in the first round that appealed like Castellanos, but the team went big dollars on sixth rounder Daniel Fields. And because of it, for the first time since a time I can’t remember, the Tigers have two must-follow offensive prospects. Trust that Chadd has the top-end pitchers, too, and you see an organization healthy at the top.
Matt Eddy and Baseball America released their annual collection of minor league free agents yesterday – it’s a must bookmark for those who partake in organizational rosterbation. The offseason becomes officially underway once the legions of busted prospects pop up on the radar once again, if only to cause for great reminiscing about those who the game passed by. One of the names delivered in this year’s edition is Angel Salome.
In a trade that sheds some light on why the Athletics bid on Hishashi Iwakuma, Oakland today shipped out starting pitcher Vin Mazzaro to the Kansas City Royals along with prospect Justin Marks for outfielder David DeJesus.
Yesterday we discussed the team that has the longest path out of the cellar. Today we’ll switch gears completely and examine the team that is closest to losing the last place tag. The Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians jockeyed for fourth place positioning in the season’s final month, and Cleveland won by a mere two games. They also finished just 14 games behind Detroit, which is closer than four last place teams were to their next closest competitors. With an elite minor league system the Royals could be ready for a rise from the cellar. It could all start in 2011.
This edition of Offseason Notes contains:
1. A list of notable minor league free agents.
2. Some notable ZiPS projections for the Texas Rangers.
and
3. A diamond not quite as large as, but nearing the size of, the Ritz.
During his tenure with the Minnesota Twins, Nick Punto has often been the object of scorn around the internet, generally being lumped in with players like Willie Bloomquist as another “speedy” white dude whose alleged “scrappiness” overshadows overall lousiness on the baseball field. The Twins recently decided that they weren’t enamored enough with Punto to pick up his five million dollar option for 2011. With Orlando Hudson looking for bigger deal in 2011 and thus unlikely to return, Minnesota seems to be looking to Alexi Casilla as their 2011 second baseman at the moment. I don’t think Casilla is as good as Punto — whatever small advantage he has with the bat is taken away by a terrible glove — but if the Twins need to trim payroll, not picking up Punto’s option makes sense (although picking up Jason Kubel’s option is an odd choice…). That’s a lot of money for a part-timer.
Last week, I asked you guys to suggest some players who fit the profile of guys who might do well in Japan. I was hoping I would get 15-20 suggestions, but you guys came up with 38 names. I’m still sorting through the suggestions, so in the meantime I thought I would share the list I started with. Read the rest of this entry »
Signs that the uneventful portion of the offseason is upon us: Eric Hacker stole the spotlight for about an hour’s span yesterday. There are a lot of starting points in most acquisitions, but not here, as the protagonist is a virtual unknown. One could say that Hacker’s offseason job is forest ranger and nobody would know any better. His onseason job is starting pitcher and more relevant to the discussion at hand.
Hacker is a short righty originally drafted by the New York Yankees in 2002. The Yankees traded Hacker to the Pittsburgh Pirates in May of 2009 for Romulo Sanchez. Hacker made a trio of relief appearances with the Pirates during the 2009 season before eventually hitting free agency and signing with the San Francisco Giants. That major league stint left some pitchfx residue in its wake, allowing us to confirm his low-90s fastball and usage of a mid-80s slider and mid-70s curveball.
Why is he relevant? Because the Minnesota Twins made a questionable decision yesterday by signing Hacker to a big league deal – a contract that places him directly onto the 40-man roster.
