Brent's Sports Blog

This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone, even though the Nichol family has maintained that Keith wasn't going to leave Oklahoma. Keith just wasn't going to play for the Sooners with Sam Bradford in front of him.

Nichol's Oklahoma career reads like this after just one season - played in three games for the Sooners, rushed for 8 yards and completed only one pass in his debut against North Texas. He finished his freshman season completing 2 of 7 passes for a total of 15 yards.

Keith Nichol is arguably one of the most talented quarterback commodities to ever come out of West Michigan. He has pin-point accuracy mixed in with great speed. He was an "Elite 11" quarterback during his senior year at Lowell.

I remember two years ago when Nichol withdrew his verbal from Michigan State and decided to go to Oklahoma. On the surface, it looked like a great move. MSU was going through a head coaching change, having just fired John L. Smith and things were very uncertain in East Lansing. Mark Dantonio was soon hired and one of his first missions was to connect with Nichol to find out his intentions. Ultimately, Nichol's intentions were to move away from MSU and focus on OU.

Now the landscape is wide open again for Nichol. Where will he end up? Will Dantonio decide to reach out to Nichol and open a dialogue agaub? If Nichol decides to transfer to a Division I school, he'll have to sit out the 2008 season, meaning he'll become eligible again in 2009. By the fall of '09, Bryan Hoyer will be graduated. But if Nichol returns to MSU, what does Dantonio tell backups Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles? Cousins and Foles were expecting to battle it out to see who the 2009 starter would be. If Nichol is brought in, he'll be the starter, and Foles and Cousins will look to leave. I don't see Dantonio taking this path. I think Dantonio will have a courtesy conversation with Nichol but ultimately the Lowell product will not end up in East Lansing.

Ironically, Michigan is where Nichol should end up. He's exactly what Rich Rodriguez needs for his spread offense. The Wolverines lost out on Terrelle Pryor to rival Ohio State, so wooing a talent like Nichol would be huge and a perfect fit. I believe Rich Rodriguez will definitely reach out to Nichol and see if he has any interest in coming to Ann Arbor.

The other school Nichol could consider is Cincinnati. Brian Kelly no doubt followed Nichol's career while he was coaching CMU. In fact, I'm sure Kelly and Nichol had some conversations when Kelly was still at Grand Valley.

If Nichol wants to play right away, he has to either transfer to a I-Double-A college or step back to Division II of Division III. If he really wants to play close to home, he could consider Grand Valley. Former Lowell QB Mark Catlin went to GVSU, which has one of the elite Division II football programs in the nation.

The one thing we do know is Keith Nichol will be coveted by a lot of schools again. It's almost like the recruiting process has started over from scratch. Wherever he goes, he must find a situation where he'll play right away. Transferring from OU to another school just to hold the clipboard again can't be an option this time around.

My bet is on Michigan. Expect to see Keith Nichol wearing the Maize & Blue and starting under center in 2009, and we'll see if he can out-duel Terrelle Pryor when the Wolverines and Buckeyes hook up on the gridiron late in the season.

Justin Verlander is supposed to be the ace on the Tigers' pitching staff. In his seven outings thus far this season, he's looked far from being that. In fact, during last night's 5-1 loss to the Red Sox, Verlander almost acted like he didn't care. He seemed 'detached'. When he allowed the 3 runs early, it didn't seem to phase him. He acted the same way when he gave up the 2-run homer to Kevin Youkilis in the later innings. I saw another shot of him chatting in the dugout with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez about something. Verlander just shrugged his shoulders, as if he were saying, "I don't really care, whatever", when Hernandez asked him something. If Verlander is such a competitor, you'd think he'd be working constantly on how to break out of this personal funk. Right now, he's an automatic loss everytime he takes the mound.

This is a guy who's fastball was clocked between 98-100 MPH each of the past two seasons. Now it's clocking somewhere in the mid 90's, and opposing hitters are catching up to it.

Verlander needs to sit for a few starts, do some bullpens, and try to regain the velocity that made him one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball the past two seasons. Don't be surprised if/when Dontrelle Willis returns from the DL that he replaces Verlander in the rotation and Armando Galarraga remains. Verlander would then be placed on the DL with a "tired Arm", allowing him time away to get "it" fixed.

Something has to happen with Verlander now. He's grossly ineffective in every start and is doing nothing to help this ball club dig itself out of the early season hole.

He's 1-6, people. Time for the Tigers' so-called ace to go back to the drawing board and figure it out.

The title for this blog entry kind of sounds like I'm upset with the moves the Tigers made yesterday afternoon. But to be honest I'm far from upset. Giving Jacque Jones his outright release was a great move. It probably should've happened in Spring Training, to tell you the truth, because Jones didn't hit then either. Why not call up Matt Joyce? He was hitting .299 with 5 homers in 29 games in Toledo. Joyce becomes the 38th former West Michigan Whitecap player to put on a Tigers' uniform. He was 0-2 with a walk last night but it was his first big league game. I'll bet he plays again tonight because you can't call a guy up from the minors, who's playing as well as Joyce was, and sit him at the end of the bench. He's a lefty stick, just like Jones was, and he's a home-grown comodity. Might as well see if this kid has the chops to succeed in the Majors.

I know a few weeks back I used a blog entry to rip into Gary Sheffield. I still think he's trying to play through a considerable amount of shoulder pain. Sheff said soon after he was traded to the Tigers last year that if he ever had to spend an extended amount of time on the disabled list again in his career he'd probably retire. Well, I think Sheff is doing everything he can to avoid a trip to the DL, but in the process he's been a major offensive liability this season.

So, Leyland decides to see if playing defense might help his offense. Gary Sheffield requested to play in the outfield so Leyland made it happen. I think this is a good move. I never thought of the Tigers doing this before with Sheffield because they've been against it since the start. Sheffield played 13 games for the Tigers in the outfield last season. He was 16-for-44 in those games with a .364 batting average. In his 213 career games as a DH, Sheff was just a .264 hitter. So, this is a brilliant move and, in my opinion, should've happened last year when the team gave up on Craig Monroe. Being a DH isn't easy. If you fail in a plate appearance, you then have to sit and simply watch the game for 2 or 3 more innings before you can get a chance at redeeming yourself. At least Sheff can feel like he's contributing in other ways now and maybe this will jump-start him. Who knows. It can't hurt to try this experiment and see if it works.

As for the team, they're back to playing like they did in early April. Not hitting and no scoring. Tigers were issued 10 walks last night and left a grand total of 15 men on base. With a lineup full of sluggers, they should've won this game 12-6!

It was the first time in 10 years the Tigers lost a game in which they walked 10 or more times.

Here's the stat that really kills me. The Tigers are 0-16 this season when they score less than 5 runs in a game. They are an all-or-nothing team and you can't win that way. Now they've ruined all their hard work which allowed them to pull to within a game of .500 last Thursday.

I like the moves. It shows me that Leyland and Dombrowski are no longer going to hang onto the phrase "it's early". That's because it isn't early anymore. The baseball season is now 7 weeks old, and Memorial Day is the first mile marker on the road, during a season, where teams find out if they're contenders or pretenders. The Tigers still aren't sure about that, and they only have 3 weeks to right the ship again. They've been fortunate up to this point that no other team in the AL Central has played well. If the Tigers were in the NL West, they'd be 10 games behind the Diamondback and left for dead. At some point either the Twins, White Sox or Indians will string together 8 straight wins and if the Tigers continue to play like they have in the past week, any chance of turning things around and making a legitimate playoff run this season will end.

Again, I like the moves. Now, get some winning results with them!

During a baseball season, there are key dates involving key games that can define a team's success, failure and direction. May 4th, 2008 could end up being one of those dates to remember for the Tigers. They score six runs in the first inning and slowly let that lead fade over the next eight innings. Tigers lose a real tough one, 7-6 to the Twins and as a result get swept three straight in Minnesota.

Sure the team has been playing well over the last two weeks. They swept the Yankees in the Bronx for the first time since 1966, and pulled to within a game of .500. But the May 4th game tells me that the '08 Tigers still aren't quite right.

Does June 1st, 2007 ring a bell to anybody? If you're a true Tigers' fan, that date should jump out to you immediately. Tigers were in Cleveland facing the Indians. They took an 11-7 lead into the bottom of the 9th inning. Todd Jones was brought in and he blew it. Jones proceeded have one of his most memorable meltdowns of last season, allowed 5 runs and the Tigers ended up losing the game, 12-11. I remember watching that carnage unfold on live TV and it still makes me sick to my stomach to this day.

Everybody was to blame for the May 4th meltdown in Minnesota. Tigers hitters thought six runs was enough. It might've been enough in 2006, but it's certainly not enough for 2008. Tiger hitters started giving away a lot of at-bats. Hey guys, you ever heard of add-on runs? After the first inning, Tigers hitters made Boof Bonser look like Cy Young. Once again the bullpen looked bad. Zach Miner was brought in to get one out. Instead he proceeded to give up a ground rule double which got the Twins within a run, 6-5, and extended the inning to allow the tying and winning runs to score for the home team. I still feel that Zach Miner should be the next guy to be shipped out of town, either sent back to Toledo or traded for a prospect.

I'm also starting to sour on Jacque Jones. He just isn't getting it done at the plate. I know he's a lefty bat, and you can't have enough of those in the lineup, but I'd rather play Marcus Thames right now, or Ryan Raburn, and bench Jones.

Tigers can't afford to start another big losing streak. The Red Sox come to Detroit for four games starting tomorrow, then the Yankees come to town for a weekend series. If there's a date to remember this week, it better be for a memorable win instead of another memorable loss.

Somebody had to be left without a chair when the music stopped. The Tigers hand was forced. The deadline for the Tigers to make a decision on Francisco Cruceta was May 10th. He either had to be pitching for the big club by then or the Tigers had to let him go. That meant somebody in the bullpen was on his way out.

I'll admit, I thought that person was Zach Miner. He has one minor league option left and, while he's pitched okay recently, overall he's been grossly ineffective this season. Even though Denny Bautista lost complete control against the Yankees Tuesday night, he's proven to have pretty good command and control in most of the appearances prior to that one, so he wasn't going to go.

Jason Grilli was the man left without a chair and, I for one am perfectly fine with that. To Grilli's defense, he has pitched well recently but Aquilino Lopez is just plain a better pitcher. Grilli has not been a fan favorite for the past year. He served up several melt-downs last year and his confidence has really never returned to the level it was at the year he helped the Tigers get to the World Series.

Cruceta has been a Tiger since November, when they signed him to a $500,000 major-league contract. He missed all of spring training because of visa problems, but has been very impressive in three appearances for Toledo. Cruceta has pitched seven innings for the Mud Hens, allowing just one run on two hits, with three walks and 15 strikeouts.

Cruceta has only limited big-league experience, and he had a 10.05 ERA in six big-league games, split between a stint with Cleveland in 2004 and another with Seattle in 2006. But the Tigers believe he can be an effective late-inning reliever.

He could be the true setup guy the Tigers need and, if Todd Jones continues to struggle, Cruceta could be the closer-in-waiting. Don't think for a second Dombrowski hasn't thought that far ahead. Let's keep in mind, Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya may not pitch for the Tigers this entire season. The club can't just sit around and wait for those two guys to recover. It has to move forward.

Tigers were going to call Cruceta up no matter what. The Grilli deal was on the table and Dombrowski had to take it.

The next big move will be who gets sent down when Dontrelle Willis comes off the DL. It'll be hard to send Armando Galarraga down given how dominating he's been. Miner still could be the odd man out when that happens and Galarraga would move to the bullpen and assume a long-relief position.

I hope Cruceta can come into tonight's game against the Yankees because I'm excited to see this guy's stuff. He was the only free agent signing the Tigers made during the off season. His addition was lost amidst all the blockbuster trades Detroit made.

If Cruceta can dominate in the bigs like he has in the minors, this could be a move we look back on five months from now and be thankful it happened.

Oh, and hey Todd Jones, if you're listening, mister Cruceta wants your job, so you'd better start getting outs when your called upon. A few more of your pattented late-inning disasters and you'll be the next Tigers pitcher without a chair when the music stops!

Gotta admit, anchoring sports Tuesday night was a true joy. Being able to watch the Pistons hammer the Sixers.. at the same time the Tigers held on to win at Yankee Stadium.. and knowing that game three between the Red Wings and Avalanche was still to come. It was an awesome night to be a Detroit sports fan.

The Pistons played with a sense of urgency for once. Chauncey Billups had his best game of the series, recording a double-double.. 21 points and 11 assists. In fact, Billups, Wallace and Rip Hamilton accounted for 58 of the Pistons 98 points. Now they have to go into Philly Thursday night and play with the same sense of urgency. I don't think Thursday's game will be easy at all, but if they can keep it close for three quarters, then Detroit will win. If the Pistons fall behind by double digits again early, this series may go seven games, allowing the Orlando Magic to continue to rest.

The Red Wings, Avalanche series is no contest. This series will be a sweep. The Avs just aren't as good as the Wings and, to add insult to injury, are just too banged up to compete. Remember when Pavel Datsyuk was ripped for not showing up in the playoffs? Well, I guess he's silenced those critics. Datsyuk has scored 13 goals in his last 27 playoff games. He only scored 3 goals in playoff games stretching between 2002-2006. Replacing Hasek with Osgood may go down as the greatest decision ever made by Mike Babcock. Of the five previous playoff meetings between the Wings and the Avs, the winner has always gone on to win the Stanley Cup.

Gary Sheffield finally snapped out of it. At least for one at-bat. Sheff's 2-run homer in Tuesday's 6-4 win over the Yankees broke his personal 0-for-17 slump, and it might've gotten him back on track at the plate. Placido Polanco was 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored, Curtis Granderson was on base all night and scored 3 runs. He also homered to the deepest part of Yankee Stadium. How important is Granderson to this Tigers' team? I don't think common words can describe his importance. He's noticeably a better hitter, he works counts and has no problem taking a walk. Granderson from two years ago, or even last year, wasn't this picky at the plate. He's learning how to work counts fro guys like Sheffield and Ordonez.

Anyways, all three Detroit teams win. And all three games were meaningful. The Tigers win over the Yankees matters because before it's all said and done, the Tigers could be battling the Yankees for the AL Wildcard. These head-to-head meetings will factor into the equation when late September rolls around.

April and May are the best times of the year if you're a Detroit sports fan. Tuesday night proved that, hands down!

I normally don't do blog entries on the weekend, but I just can't resist this one.

It's time for Gary Sheffield to hang it up. His shoulder injury is obviously not okay and he's an MLB-worst 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position. A perfect example of this was last night's game against the Angels. Instead of just trying to get a base hit, Sheff went for the grand slam. Admittedly, Sheff came about 3 feet from hitting a grand slam, which would've no doubt led to a 6th straight Tigers' victory, but a simple base hit in that situation would've scored two runs and given the Tigers a 5-4 lead. That might have been enough to win the game.

Cutting ties with Sheffield would also allow Jim Leyland to move his infield pieces around properly and give him a better designated hitter option. Leyland could keep Miguel Cabrera at first base, install Brandon Inge back to his regular position at third base and move the rangeless Carlos Guillen to be his everyday switch-hitting DH. In the process, Inge would become a starter again and that would certainly make him feel better about his situation.

Tigers have enough injuries right now. The jury is still out as to whether relief pitchers Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney will even be activated this season. Curtis Granderson is still not playing at 100%, and is one head-first slide away from probably re-injuring his hand, Placido Polanco's back is probably one tweak away from a trip to the DL, and I think the Tigers are hiding something with Kenny Rogers, who hasn't looked good at any point so far this season.

So, it's time for Sheffield to go. Can the Tigers trade him? Not sure. Probably not, because he's worthless with the shoulder problem. His next team would be inheriting the same problems the Tigers currently have with him. Plus, his days as an outfielder are done, so that means he can only play for American League teams. The Tigers simply don't need him with Cabrera now in the fold and, moving Guillen to the everyday DH would keep him healthy. Guillen is a liability defensively no matter where Leyland puts him. Sure, moving him to third base might improve things, but he's still going to commit 25 errors no matter which infield position he plays. The Tigers have gone from having Inge and Casey playing the corners, two excellent defensive players, to Guillen and Cabrera, who combined for nearly 50 errors last season. Casey's gone but Inge is not. Installing Inge back at third would at least solidify the left side of the infield. Cabrera will no doubt struggle for a while at first base, but in time hopefully he'll grow into the position.

I interviewed Gary Sheffield when I was in Lakeland two months ago. He was very nice to me and extrememly accomodating. But I think it's over for him. I doubt he will just retire because his ego won't let him, and because he's playing on a team that still could turn things around and make the postseason and possibly get to the World Series.

Releasing Sheffield will allow the Tigers to become a better team in many ways.

It's just time.

See what happens when the Tigers get their true leadoff hitter back? Curtis Granderson gets activated right before he helped his team hang 19 on the Rangers. Clete Thomas was optioned back to Toledo to create the roster spot for Granderson. Curtis did what a leadoff hitter is supposed to do - get on base and let the 'heavy-lifters' do the work. He was on base four times last night and scored 3 runs in his season debut. You may be thinking that wasn't a big accomplishment. Well, it is a big accomplishment when you consider that all the leadoff replacements for Granderson scored just three runs in the Tigers' first 21 games!

Heck, he scored twice in the 6th inning alone! That's what he does. He even worked two walks last night. Working counts was something Curtis told me was one of his main focusses in Lakeland two months ago. Having Granderson back at the top of that lineup just flat out feels right. It allows Jim Leyland to manage differently as well. Now it sounds like both Gary Sheffield and Placido Polanco will be back Friday. If those two guys can return, Friday's game will be the Tigers' first gane this season with all the pieces in place. Think about that for a minute. The Tigers will virtually play the first month of the season short-handed. Once they become 'whole', look out.

The Tigers' bullpen could be getting a huge lift very soon. Francisco Cruceta pitched in relief against the Columbus Clippers, who beat Toledo, 5-3, and did not allow a hit or a run in a 41-pitch outing, featuring command of three impressive pitches.

He struck out the side on 10 pitches in the sixth and retired the Clippers 1-2-3 in the seventh on two ground balls and a fourth strikeout. In the seventh, he added two more strikeouts.

Cruceta will likely be added to the Tigers' 25-man roster well ahead of the May 10 deadline the team faces in deciding Cruceta's future. He's out of big-league options and cannot be returned to the minors without being exposed to waivers. He was granted a 30-day extension on Major League Baseball's restricted list because of his visa holdup.

I hope when Cruceta is added, Zach Miner will be sent down. Miner still has talent. He proved that in 2006 when he was fairly effective in spot starts and in long relief scenarios, but this season he has nothing. Cruceta was the guy Leyland and Dombrowski raved about in Lakeland two months ago but couldn't get into the country due to visa problems.

All that's solved now and the Tigers will be monitoring his minor league appearances very, very closely over the course of the next week or so.

Kenny Rogers concerns me a bit. He may just no longer have it. Maybe at 43 he's just spent. He barely pitched past the 3rd inning last night.

Wednesday's 19-6 outburst is a sign of things to come.

Zach Miner needs a demotion. He needs to get sent down to Triple-A Toledo for several months to get things figured out. Tuesday night, he had yet another bad outing. Miner pitched one-third of an inning, alowed a run on two hits. That's just flat out unacceptable, in my humbe opinion. Bad pitching has become a trend for Miner, who last week pitched one inning against the Indians and allowed five earned runs on five hits. His ERA is still bulging around 15.00.

Zach Miner has one option left. That means the Tigers can demote him to Toledo and he doesn't have to clear waivers first. I know Francisco Cruceta just arrived in Toldeo but I'm certain he'd be more effective than Miner in the big leagues.

Curtis Granderson will probably be activated at some point today. The Tigers should send Miner down and Keep Clete Thomas. I know Thomas was the last player selected to the 25-man roster when the team left Lakeland but he's hitting .300 and he's a lefty stick. He's proven after a month that he can play in the major leagues. Is he a great center fielder? No, but he's serviceable, and did I mention he's a lefty stick?

Zach Miner should be the player demoted when Granderson is activated.

Dontrelle Willis is still a week or so away from returning. He threw a bullpen session Monday and says he felt fine. That means he'll soon be sent to the monorsn for a few rehab starts. Get ready Whitecaps fans, the D-Train could be making a B-Line to Grand Rapids very soon!

Interesting news coming from Jim Leyland after Tuesday's 10-2 win over Texas. Miguel Cabrera is moving to first base and Carlos Guillen is shifting to third base. From Leyland's tone, this is an indefinite move. Are the Tigers admitting that moving Guillen to first base was a mistake? So far it has been. Guillen has been brutal at first. I'm not convinced that Cabrera will be any better. I'm beginning to think the Tigers underestimated Sean Casey and wish they had him back. Sure, Casey's power numbers and batting average were down last year but how many times did he 'pick-it' at first base? He was an outstanding defensive first baseman, and the Tigers are now scrambling to put a band aid on a bad decision.

Maybe Guillen will play better at third. It's sort of like shortstop, but hell have to show more range. I don't see Guillen diving for balls hit hard down the line, though.

If Guillen wasn't a switch-hitting power guy, he'd be the odd man out and Brandon Inge would still be at third base. The good news in all this is that Cabrera didn't throw a diva fit and complain about the change. He welcomed it with open arms.

Here's to hoping it doesn't backfire.

I thought first-round playoff stress was only reserved for the Red Wings and their fans. Kudos to the Wings for finally putting away those pesky Predators and advancing. But on the same day the Wings close out their series with Nashville, the Pistons decide they want to make things interesting with the Sixers. This veteran Pistons team has no business blowing a 15 point lead at home, no matter if it's game one of the playoffs or game one of the regular season.

Here's the numbers to prove my point. The Pistons starters entered this series with a combined 493 playoff games under their belts. The Sixers starters had a combined 30 playoff games on their resume. Simply put, the Pistons have no excuse for their lack-luster performance in the second half on Sunday. Chauncey Billups, the league's second best free throw shooters during the season, misses 3-of-4 at the charity stripe in the 4th quarter. Mister big shot, as he's affectionately known, was just 3-of-7 from the field in game one with only 14 points. Rip Hamilton was worse, with only 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting.

While the Pistons went ice cold, Philly players Andre Miller and Detroit native, Willie Green started heating up. Pistons got rattled, out of sinc, and were never able to right the ship.

Wednesday night had better be different. Pistons must come out and dominate this game from start to finish. The All-Star backcourt has to start playing like it and, if they get up by 15 again, they'd better go for the kill and win by 25.

Philadelphia is a decent young team, and they've already shown that they have no fear in this series. After all, they're not supposed to win.

The Pistons had better realize fast that their window of winning another title is quickly closing. There are too many other good teams in the NBA who want a ring. Up-and-comers like New Orleans. Don't think for a minute the Hornets won't start building around Chris Paul. The Lakers with Pau Gasol look unbeatable. The Cavs were there last year and head into these playoffs knowing what it takes. The Spurs are still very good and built to win titles for years to come.

Flip can't be blamed for Sunday's loss. He didn't have two high percentage shots to tie the game, like Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed had, in the final minute ot regulation. The shots were there but they were missed. Flip, however, needs to find a way to motivate this team and get them to stop playing-down to their competition. That happened in the Cleveland series a year ago, and it happened Sunday.

No question, Wednesday's game 2 is a must-win for the Pistons. And in my humble opinion, the game had better not be close.