A year ago, the Padres brought back Tyson Ross on an incentive-laden, one-year contract. He had had his best years in San Diego earlier this decade, but underwent Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in 2016; the track record of recovery following that surgery has been spotty at best. Ross made 10 ugly starts for the Rangers in 2017 before the Padres guaranteed him $1.75 million last season. Early in the year, Ross looked like a promising trade chip for a rebuilding San Diego team, using his slider often to get outs. But that wasn’t the way the season ended for the right hander, who was claimed off waivers by the Cardinals. Now, the Tigers are going to try the same gambit as they rebuild. According to Ken Rosenthal, Detroit has agreed to a deal with Ross for one year and $5.75 million.

While the Padres were likely hopeful in May that they would receive a decent prospect for Ross, he ended up netting them nothing. As the year wore on, his arm wore down. In June and July, he made 10 starts, striking out just 16% of batters and walking 11%, and gave up 10 homers on the way to a 5.93 FIP and 5.81 ERA. That incentive-laden contract turned out to be a burden for the Padres, who had to pay Ross $200,000 for each of his starts from number 20 through start 29.

St. Louis used Ross mostly in relief, and while his strikeout and walk numbers weren’t any better, he gave up just one homer in 26.1 innings. This is what Ross’ fastball velocity looked like during the year.

His velocity dipped after a strong start, and was inconsistent the rest of the way, though it ticked back up at the very end of the season. Ross used a cutter more often with the Cardinals and that might have helped increase his ground ball rate and help him last as a starter. Perhaps more experimenting with his good slider could help keep batters off balance.

It’s possible Ross simply can’t withstand starting for a full season given his injury history. Maybe with a year under his belt post-surgery, he’ll have more strength built up to make it through a full year. Ross is pretty far removed from his good seasons, but he’s less than a year removed from being an effective starter, at least for a stretch. The Tigers have made a minimal commitment with low expectations, and can afford to see what the 31-year-old has to offer. If Ross can put it back together again, and if he does, they might be rewarded at the trade deadline.

Alex Kirilloff grew up hitting baseballs. A lot of baseballs. His father owns an indoor hitting facility, and having been home-schooled for much of his life, the top prospect in the Minnesota Twins system not named Royce Lewis would often accompany dad to work. He didn’t sit around reading comic books while he was there.

“I was blessed to have access to a cage, and I took advantage of that,” Kirilloff told me prior to suiting up for this summer’s Futures Game. “We had these big Iron Mike machines that would hold something like 600 balls in the hopper and I would hit two or three of those a day.”

This past season, he banged out a steady stream of hits against Florida State League and Midwest League pitching. Playing 65 games each in Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids, the left-handed-hitting outfielder stroked 107 singles, 49 doubles, seven triples, and 20 home runs. His slash line was a scary .348/.392/.578.

In terms of hands-on molding, Kirilloff isn’t Frankenstein’s monster. His hitting-instructor father didn’t skimp on pointers, but he also understood that a swing has to come naturally. Read the rest of this entry »

Bill Madden of the New York Daily News wrote a column the other day explaining — among other things — why he checked off Placido Polanco’s name on his Hall of Fame ballot. Predictably, the reaction on social media has been anything but kind. There are two reasons for that: 1. While he was a fine player during his day, Polanco falls short of traditional Hall standards. 2. Social media is social media.

Let’s pause for a moment to define a pair of idioms:

“Maddening crowd” means that the crowd is driving one mad.

“Madding crowd” means that the crowd itself is mad.

Back to Madden’s opinion(s).

While his perspective was maddening to many of you, I found it interesting. (Calm down; I don’t view Polanco as being Hall-worthy either. No need to @ me.)

Madden noting that Polanco boasts the highest fielding percentage in history at both second base and third base was especially eye-opening. Does the stat itself need to be taken with a sizable grain of salt? Of course it does. Even so, Polanco having that dual honor is impressive. So are some of the Dominican infielder’s other accomplishments. He was a very good player. Read the rest of this entry »

The Detroit Tigers have a rich history. The franchise has claimed 11 American League pennants and four World Series titles since being established in 1901. An “Olde English D” has emblazoned the jerseys and caps of numerous all-time greats.

The fan base is reliably loyal. The club is coming off a pair of 98-loss seasons, and there hasn’t been a championship to celebrate since 1984, but people in Detroit, and throughout the state of Michigan, continue to show their support. They love their Tigers.

In celebration of the iconic franchise, I asked a cross section of people within the game if they could share their thoughts — and perhaps a few anecdotes — on baseball in Detroit.

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Michael Fulmer, Tigers pitcher: “With the new renovations and Little Caesars Arena, it’s cool to have all four major sports teams in a four-block radius. And I feel that Detroit is a diehard baseball city. Michigan as a whole. The fans are unbelievable. They’ll let you know when you’re doing good, and they’ll also let you know when you’re not doing so good. That’s OK. You can’t blame them for that. They want us to win, and we’re doing everything we can for them. But they are sticking with this team through thick and thin. They’re excited about the younger players. The feedback we’ve gotten, and the high energy we’ve gotten from this team, is cool to watch.

“Mr. Kaline and Alan Trammell bring a lot of history. Willie Horton. Those guys are around the clubhouse quite a bit, and it’s really cool to be able to talk those guys. They’re legends. I grew up hearing those names, so to be able meet them in person and talk baseball with them… it’s really cool.

“Jack Morris isn’t around as much as some of the other guys, but I have talked to him a few times. They’re obviously retiring his number this year, and last year I got to catch a first pitch he threw out. That was pretty cool, too.”

Dave Dombrowski, former Tigers GM: “It’s a great baseball city. It’s a historic franchise — Detroit is one of the original baseball cities — with a lot of great players in different eras. Detroit supports all sports, including baseball. The fans are very passionate. They love their Tigers.

“I remember when I first took the job. They weren’t drawing very well, but people who had known the city for a long time were telling me what a sleeping giant it was. That’s because of the love people had for the team. And that’s what it turned out to be.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to win a championship while I was there. We won everything short of that a couple of times. But again, the fans are very supportive. You see Tigers memorabilia items everywhere. They welcome the old-timers, the guys who were part of the franchise in the past.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Pitchers learn and develop different pitches, and they do so at varying stages of their lives. It might be a curveball in high school, a cutter in college, or a changeup in A-ball. Sometimes the addition or refinement is a natural progression — graduating from Pitching 101 to advanced course work — and often it’s a matter of necessity. In order to get hitters out as the quality of competition improves, a pitcher needs to optimize his repertoire.

In this installment of the series, we’ll hear from three pitchers — Ron Darling, Jack Morris, and Tyler Thornburg — on how they learned and developed their change-of-pace pitches.

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Ron Darling, Former All-Star

“When I first started throwing a split, I was one of those pitchers who could never develop a changeup. I was in the minor leagues with Al Jackson, who was a crafty left-hander in his day, and he taught me a screwball. He used to throw one. I got very adept at it, but it made my arm hurt. I had to develop a change-of-pace pitch that didn’t hurt my elbow, and that’s how the split-finger came to be.

“It was an era where the pitch was popular. Roger Craig taught it to a lot of pitchers, but it was a split-finger fastball for those guys. For me it was more of a forkball. It was something soft that I could combine with my fastball and hard curveball.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Hamilton has been the radio voice of the Indians since 1990. Very early into that tenure there was a chance — albeit a small one — that he would move on and spend the bulk of his career elsewhere. How might that have happened? In the winter following Hamilton’s second year in Cleveland, the Detroit Tigers inexplicably informed iconic broadcaster Ernie Harwell that 1991 would be his final season in the booth.

“Ernie told me that I should apply for the job, or at least go if I got called,” Hamilton explained. “I felt uncomfortable about that — nobody wanted to see Ernie have his career end that way — but he came to me and said that I should. The Tigers did call, so I interviewed even though I didn’t really have an interest. Not only was I happy in Cleveland, I didn’t want to be the guy following Ernie.”

Rick Rizzs, who is now in Seattle, ended up getting the job. Predictably, he wasn’t well-received. While Rizzs was, and remains, a quality baseball play-by-play announcer, that means little when you’re stepping into the shoes of a legend.

Another Wolverine State sports legend made Hamilton’s reluctant interview more than worthwhile. Read the rest of this entry »

In all likelihood, Tyler Clippard’s numbers are better than you realize. In 696 career appearances encompassing 752 innings, the 33-year-old Toronto Blue Jays right-hander has a 3.17 ERA. Moreover, he’s allowed just 6.5 hits per nine innings, and his strikeout rate is a healthy 10.0. Add in durability — 72 outings annually since 2010 — and Clippard has quietly been one of baseball’s better relievers.

He also has 68 saves on his resume, and the fact that nearly half of them came in 2012 helps add to his under-the-radar status. It also helps explain the size of his bank account.

“My biggest jump in salary was the year I had 32 saves, and that was essentially the only reason,” explained Clippard, who was with the Washington Nationals at the time. “My overall body of work was pretty good, but numbers-wise it wasn’t one of my better seasons. I had a bad stretch where I had something like a 10.00 ERA, so I ended the year with a (3.72 ERA). But because I got all those saves, I received the big salary jump in salary arbitration.”

Circumstances proceeded to derail the righty’s earning power. The Nationals signed free-agent closer Rafael Soriano to a two-year, $22M contract, relegating Clippard to a set-up role. While Soriano was saving games, Clippard was being paid less than half that amount while logging a 2.29 ERA and allowing 84 hits in 141 innings. Read the rest of this entry »

Please note, this posting has three internship opportunities.

Position: Baseball Analytics Intern

Location: Detroit, Michigan

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist with importing, cleaning, and preparing of baseball datasets.
• Assist with the design, development, testing and support of proprietary data collection and decision-support systems.
• Design ad hoc SQL queries.
• Assist with statistical modeling of baseball data.
• Execute exploratory research and analysis as directed.
• Review public research on a regular basis.
• Provide support for important events such as the Rule 4 Draft, the trade deadline, contract negotiations and salary arbitration.
• Support Baseball Operations, Scouting and Player Development with ad hoc requests.
• Other duties as assigned by members of the Baseball Operations Department.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• The ideal candidate must be at least a college senior or recent graduate (within 6 months).
• Demonstrated familiarity with SQL querying and database design principles.
• Demonstrated knowledge with of baseball-specific data, modern statistical techniques and sabermetric analysis.
• Familiarity with R/Python and/or other software applications/languages used for statistical calculations and graphical representations.
• Experience with software development, including requirements definition, design, development, testing, and implementation, a plus.
• Experience with ETL processes that integrate multiple data sources, a plus.
• The ideal candidate must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• The ideal candidate must have excellent organizational skills.
• Highly motivated with excellent attention to detail.
• The ideal candidate must be available full-time.
• The ideal candidate must be available to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as dictated by the baseball calendar.
• Willing and able to relocate to the Detroit metro area.

Working Conditions:

• Office Environment
• Some evening, weekend, and holiday hours will be required.

Duration:
January/May 2019 through December 2019.

To Apply:
To apply, please use this link.

Position: Baseball Software Development Intern

Location: Detroit, Michigan

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist with importing, cleaning, and preparing of baseball datasets.
• Assist with the design, development, testing and support of proprietary data collection and decision-support systems.
• Design ad hoc SQL queries.
• Assist with the day-to-day operations of data warehousing and modeling processes.
• Assist with documentation of current processes.
• Assist with the collection of bug information for all processes and user-facing systems.
• Provide support for important events such as the Rule 4 Draft, the trade deadline, contract negotiations and salary arbitration.
• Support Baseball Operations, Scouting and Player Development with ad hoc requests.
• Other duties as assigned by members of the Baseball Operations Department.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• The ideal candidate must be at least a college senior or recent graduate (within 6 months).
• Demonstrated familiarity with SQL querying, database design principles, and object-oriented programming concepts.
• Demonstrated familiarity with either C# and/or Java plus web application design in a Windows environment. Knowledge of Angular is a plus.
• Familiarity with R/Python, Shiny, and/or other software applications/languages used for statistical calculations and graphical representations, a plus.
• Experience with software development, including requirements definition, design, development, testing, and implementation, a plus.
• Experience with ETL processes that integrate multiple data sources, a plus.
• The ideal candidate must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• The ideal candidate must have excellent organizational skills.
• Highly motivated with excellent attention to detail.
• The ideal candidate must be available full-time.
• The ideal candidate must be available to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as dictated by the baseball calendar.
• Willing and able to relocate to the Detroit metro area.

Working Conditions:

• Office Environment
• Some evening, weekend, and holiday hours will be required.

Duration:
January/May 2019 through December 2019.

To Apply:
To apply, please use this link.

Position: Minor League Baseball Information Intern

Location: Lakeland, Florida

Job Description:
This position is designed to assist with day-to-day department activities, projects, presentations and overall organization.

Key Responsibilities:

• Utilization of STATS software to chart, upload and download game information.
• Act as main video personnel for both Gulf Coast League teams.
• Assist in day-to-day video operations during Spring Training.
• Daily management of data collected from various affiliates throughout the Minor League season.
• Preparation of advance scouting documentation prior to each series.
• Assist scouting staff with video needs from local and televised games and workouts.
• Recording of any on-field activity as requested by Tigers staff.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• The ideal candidate must be at least a college senior, recent graduate (within 6 months).
• The ideal candidate must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• The ideal candidate must have excellent organizational skills.
• The ideal candidate must have excellent attention to detail.
• The ideal candidate must have excellent knowledge of general baseball concepts.
• The ideal candidate must be available full-time.
• The ideal candidate must be willing to work longs hours, including days, nights, weekends and holidays.
• The ideal candidate must be have excellent computer skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Bilingual in Spanish a plus.

Working Conditions:

• Office Environment
• Some evening, weekend, and holiday hours will be required.

Duration:
February 2019 through October 2019.

To Apply:
To apply, please use this link.

Detroit’s contention window didn’t just close in 2017, it dramatically shut on the team’s fingers, the paramedics arrived and kicked them in the groin, and then everything caught on fire. I have zero problems regarding the 2006-14 team as a dynasty even if they failed to to win a championship. At their best, they were as dangerous a team as the Tigers of the mid-1980s.

The Setup

The Tigers squeezed out an 86-75 season in 2016, but they were also clearly a team on the downswing, with most of the key contributors approaching free agency, well into their 30s, and sometimes both things. With a 56-48 record at the trade deadline and sitting just 4.5 games back in the AL Central, the Tigers did precisely nothing, likely a result both of a farm system weakened by previous trades and a lack of understanding between the front office and ownership about what lay ahead for the team.

In this case, rather than a stubborn inability to agree, the discord (such as it was) was a product of owner Mike Ilitch’s interest in winning a championship before his passing, a fact which his age (he was 87 at the time) dictated must occur sooner than later.

This après moi, le déluge was, of course absolutely justified — even if it wasn’t necessarily great for someone who’d remain a fan of the Tigers into the 2018 and -19 seasons. After all, this is a sports team. The only consequences for unwise spending in the present are (a) fewer wins in the future and (b) slightly fewer millions of dollars for the billionaire’s heirs.

Ilitch passed away before the 2017 season, but there were no big offseason additions — unless you’re the world’s biggest Brendan Ryan or Alex Avila fan. The team managed to lurk around .500 into early June, 29-29 representing their final .500 record, but the club struggled after that, going 18-28 in the period from then to the trade deadline, and I don’t think any analyst (and I doubt anyone internally) really thought Detroit was going anywhere.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Clevinger has been channeling Trevor Bauer. Not just in terms of effectiveness — the long-maned righty has a 3.11 ERA and a 9.3 strikeout rate — but also with competitiveness and ingenuity. While the Cleveland Indians teammates aren’t exactly two peas in a pod, Clevinger is certainly being influenced by his mad scientist of a rotation mate.

“He’s a wealth of knowledge, and a really good resource, especially with our new cameras and stuff like that,” Clevinger said of Bauer, who uses 2,000-frames-per-second video to parse the movement and spin of pitches. “We have the same mindsets and goals on the mound. It’s never going to be a completed process. For us, it’s always going to be ‘What’s the next step? What’s the next move to get better? What’s the next level to take it to?’ Throw harder. Make it nastier.”

An 80-MPH slider is one of Clevinger’s nastiest pitches, and while Bauer didn’t play a role in its development, he has broken down its nuts and bolts. Read the rest of this entry »