Brent's Sports Blog

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

Should he have flipped the ball for the force at second base, or should he have put it in his pocket, knowing the degree of difficulty that play presented. It's tough to say, because when you're in the middle of a play like that you have to make a quick decision. Had Edgar Renteria just put it in his pocket, the worst case scenario was the Royals having the bases loaded with 2 outs. You then hope Francisco Cruceta can somehow get the third out and you head to the top of the 9th inning still tied 2-2.

Personally, I think Edgar Renteria should've put the ball in his pocket and not tried to be a Sportscenter highlight. It was the bottom of the 8th inning, for crying out loud! Two outs. Esteban German was going to keep running no matter what. Renteria needed to recognize the situation better. Flipping a ball, against your body's momentum in the bottom of the 8th inning, in a tie game, with the go-ahead runner rounding 3rd base, probably isn't wise.

Bottom line, Renteria should've held the ball.

Would that have guaranteed a Tigers' win? Who knows. The way this team is playing, probably not. But it would've increased the team's chances. That's for sure.

You can ovecome an error like that in the 3rd inning of a game. But in the bottom of the 8th, on the road, with runners moving and 2 outs, not as easy to overcome, as evidenced by the final score last night.

Nate Robertson had his best outing of the season. He allowed 2 runs, no walks over 7 innings. Only 82 pitches. He wouldn't have gotten the win because he was relieved when the game was tied. I can't remember a single game so far this season where the Tigers got great starting pitching combined with timely hitting. They just can't put it all together.

Here's the sobering stat of the season thus far, the Tigers are now 0-20 when they score 5 or fewer runs in a game. 0-20!!

This team is still in trouble, folks. One third of the season will be over on Memorial Day. That's less than two weeks away. When Leyland and Dombrowski take inventory on the Tigers' first 60 games, I don't think they're going to be doing cart wheels.

It's become abundantly clear that somebody either needs to be fired or cut from the Tigers. Personally, I don't think Jim Leyland will be that person, but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on who should go.

Should it be Gary Sheffield?
Should the Tigers try to trade Carlos Guillen so Brandon Inge can play fulltime again?
Should the hitting and pitching coaches be flushed?

C'mon West Michigan, let me hear your rants... Just click on the 'comments' link below and unload. Trust me, as a diehard Tigers' fan, it's very theraputic for me to do it too.

Brent

Most of you probably heard about what happened last night before the Tigers beat the Mariners, 12-8. Jim Leyland spoke to the media about some comments former Tigers relief pitcher Jason Grilli made in an article in USA Today. Grilli said, "The Tigers have no chemistry and and there are too many cliques in the clubhouse." Well, Leyland took major offense to that and sounded off about it during his pregame news conference.

I ran :50 of Leyland's rant during my sportscast last night, but I managed to find the entire transcript today. So I decided to clip and paste here.

Let me know your thoughts after you read it. Was Leyland in the right? Should he have just kept his mouth shut like he does in most cases?

You decide

Here is the majority of Leyland's rant.

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"I find that hard to believe that that has anything to do with somebody not getting a run in. I mean, would I like this to be a little more close-knit? Yes. Do I buy a lot of people when they start talking about that, and some of it comes from players, I think they ought to look at themselves in the mirror. I think it's diversionary tactics, and I really take offense to Jason Grilli's thing about not having Sean Casey. You have to be kidding me. I mean, please. Jason Grilli ought to just worry about Colorado. Jason Grilli's not here any longer because Jason Grilli didn't pitch good under pressure situations and didn't pitch very well in Detroit. You want to tell it like it is? When players want to start talking, I'll start talking. But I'm very reserved about stuff like that. Jason Grilli ought to worry about Colorado, not Detroit.

"Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I miss Sean Casey. But Sean Casey doesn't have anything to do with the fact that the Tigers are where we're at. Now let's get that straight right now. And people want to start talking about things and this and that, what this guy's doing, what that guy's doing, they should look in the mirror. They should look right in that mirror, look at themselves and see what they're doing. And what some of these guys are doing on this club, the last thing they should be doing is popping off in the newspaper. They're diversionary tactics and they look foolish. You can quote every bit of that. There's nothing wrong with inside the clubhouse. The problem here is in between the lines. That's where the problem is. But everybody looks for an excuse, and to me, that's a weak excuse. Look in the mirror. Are you knocking in runs? Are you getting hits? Are you doing your share? And if you don't like what's going on in the clubhouse and you're a player, then say something about it. Put a name to it. Stick your chest out and put a name to it."

The other issue he had was with Carlos Guillen. Here's what Guillen said in the story:

"We never said we were going to win 100 games. All we said was that we have a good team with good players. That was the (sports) media and fans doing the talking. You don't win games looking good on paper. You've got to do it on the field. That wasn't fair to us."

Here's Leyland's response:

"It isn't fair all of a sudden for people to have expectations? Well, why wasn't it fair? What are you talking about, it wasn't fair? You're supposed to love the expectations. You're saying it wasn't fair to have expectations? What are you talking about? I'm a grown man. I can take my heat, and I deserve some for the performance of this club. But you better be careful when you're a player. If you're hitting .200 and .220 and striking out or hitting .200 and .215, you shouldn't be popping off, in my opinion, about other situations. You ought to be taking care of your own business. If they want to play games, I'll play games, and it won't be long [before] I'll put names to it, if they want me to. I'm not quite to that point yet. They want to play games, I'll play games. I'll quit protecting some of these guys night after night after night after night. And I'll put some names to it."

Overall, eyland's problem was with current players going off in the press:

"If players want to play games in the press, I'll play games in the press. And it won't be very pretty. That doesn't have anything to do with a guy hanging a slider or missing a fastball right down the [middle], throwing the ball away. That has nothing to do with it. That's a weak excuse. That's a lame excuse."

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So, did Leyland do the right thing here? Or is this step number one in the complete crumbling of the Tigers clubhouse and the exit of Leyland?

Bottom line folks, it ain't comfy right now in Detroit. Dave Dombrowski can spin it however he wants it but I've been in the broadcasting business for almost 20 years; when stuff like this leaks out, not only is it usually true, it's definitely not good. And now Leyland is deciding to no longer protect his players in the media.

Winning will cure everything, but if they don't start doing that on a regular basis soon, I think we as Tigers fans can expect more of these rants and player call-outs.

If Leyland has more to say, I will have it in my sportscast tonight on Fox 17 News at Ten. So please remember to check it out.

Brent

So I decided at the last minute this past Saturday to go with one of the Fox 17 photojournalists to game one of the Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit. I had a gut feeling that if I wanted tp get to one of these games, the first game had to be it. Plus, all work and no play makes Brent a dull boy.

I sat in the press box and watched a Red Wings team surgically destroy the young Penguins over the final two periods. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin could do nothing, ad the Wings defenders got back and sealed off the blue line.

I then went on the Sports Ticket Sunday night and called for a sweep by Detroit. After watching game two from the comforts of my living room, I stand by my sweep prediction. Simply put, the Penguins don't belong on the same ice as the Red Wings. Detroit is just flat out better in every phase of the game.

Penguins fans may argue that the series is now shifting to Pittsburgh, where the Pens haven't lost a game in almost three months. They will have a jump in game three. They will try to match the Wings in the physical department, but I don't think it will lead to a win.

If the Pens can get the first goal in game three, and feel what it's like to play with a lead, they'll feed off the home crowd and play better. But eventually the Wings experience will rise to the top again and Detroit will win.

This series is over folks. The young Penguins are now faced with having to beat the Red Wings four of the next five games, including one game at the Joe.

Not gonna happen!!

The only thing that upsets me is that the Wings won't be able to skate the cup at home. It'll happen Saturday night at Mellon Arena.

For the third straight year the Pistons bow out in the Eastern Conference Finals. Detroit blew a 10 point 4th quarter lead and lost Game Six, 89-81. Pistons have reached the Conference Finals six straight seasons and have two Finals appearances and one championship to show for it.

It's time for heads to roll starting with Flip Saunders. Once again he got out coached in the 4th quarter of a big game. He had no answer for Paul Pierce down the stretch in Game Six. Saunders failed to get the Pistons back to the Finals each of the past three seasons. Is assistant coach, Michael Curry ready to take over as head coach? Hey, Isiah Thomas is available! Maybe Joe can woo Gregg Poppavich out of San Antonio?

Botttom line, this team is aging, and it needs new leadership. Rip, Chauncey, Sheed, McDyess are all in their early 30s now. Realistically, they can't continue to maintain this run they've enjoyed especially when you consider other teams in the East have improved. You know the Cavaliers will add another player or two this off season to help get LeBron a title. The Orlando Magic aren't too far away from being a contender and, heck, the Sixers gave us fits in the first round. Philly is only a player or two from getting better.

Joe Dumars has shyed away from signing big-name free agents in recent years because he believed in winning with a bunch of players with no egos. Well Joe, maybe it's time for you to put your ego in your back pocket and take a page out of the Boston Celtics' book. The Celtics won 24 games in 2007. That's right, 24 games! One year later, GM Danny Ainge decided to make some bigtime trades and sign some free agents. They turned 24 wins into 66 wins and an Eastern Conference Championship.

I remember a year or so ago Dumars had a chance to trade for Kevin Garnett. If I recall, a deal was on the table and Dumars withdrew. Now I wonder if he wishes he had reuinted Garnett with Saunders in Detroit. That move might have brought the Pistons back over the hump. Instead, it's the Celtics who go from the NBA's outhouse to the penthouse in 12 short months. And it's the Pistons who hit the glass ceiling again.

I have the utmost respect for Joe Dumars. I grew up in the 80s and watched him help the Pistons win back-to-back titles in 1989-90. But you need star players to win in the NBA these days. Adding Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett turned the Celtics from a laughing stock into a champion. This is two straight years a Flip Saunders Pistons team has been eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals by a new kid on the block. Last year the Cavs upset us. The Pistons are quickly getting a reputation for being an easy team to beat in a seven-game series.

It's time for Joe-D to start rebuilding this team. In my opinion, the only untouchable players are Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey and Jason Maxiell. Everybody else is expendable, including Richard Hamilton. I wouldn't be surprised if Rip gets dealt this off-season, perhaps to get a higher draft pick. Stuckey has proven he's a deadly shooter who can be trusted at any point during games. I also think Rasheed Wallace needs to go. His act has grown tiresome.

The two teams in the NBA Finals each have star players. The Lakers have Kobe and the Celtics have Garnett. Both teams are built around their star players. The Pistons have no star players. In fact, nobody on this Pistons team will ever make it to the Hall of Fame. Sure they've won but the rest of the East is catching up, and the Pistons are close to becoming a punch-line.

We can't live in 2004 & 2005 forever, and Larry Brown is now in Charlotte. The Pistons, in their current form, are not good enough anymore. I certainly hope Joe Dumars realizes that after missing out on their goal.... again!!