Tiger Talk 3.12.12

Not much has changed since Friday with the Tigers record this spring as they tied both their games over the weekend as spring training games are only allowed to go 10 innings, however the Tigers are down to the Mets currently 7-3 in the 5th and looks like Jacob Turner is falling out of the race for 5th starter as he gave up 5 earned today and has an 11.25 ERA this spring.  Turner is the #16th ranked prospect on Pepper's Top 100 Prospects for 2012

Here's your latest Tiger news

• The Tigers are batting Brandon Inge second to get him additional at bats this spring and will continue to battle Ryan Raburn who is impressing with a hot bat
• Lynn Henning is getting to know Prince Fielder
• JV has four "horrible" shutout innings over the weekend
• Announcer Jim Price bounces back after second bout with Cancer.  I can attest to this as Carl and I saw Mr. Price down at fantasy camp.  He was moving slow but in very good spirits.
• The Tigers are looking to give Miggy more work at third base
• The Bleacher Report has a Tigers Spring Training Report breaking down the biggest roster battles

Tiger Talk 3.9.12

Less than a month away from REAL baseball.

• Doug Fister (3 scoreless innings) and Delmon Young (homer) take their turn looking good in spring training. (Yahoo!)
• The Tiges are still unbeaten.  (MLive) Until they lose the Phillies today after a bad David Pauley inning.
• For some reason Dave Dombrowski is talking up Brandon Inge. Trade? He might actually make the team?  Yikes.  (DetNews)
• Lynn Henning talks Brennan Boesch batting bonanza
• Tom Gage tells of Delmon Young feeding off Tigers potential
• MLB Trade Rumors has some notes on JV, Miggy, & Inge

On a side note, Jayson Stark talks about the 10 greatest spring injuries of all time.  This is worth the read...

Brandon Inge, Tigers Openging Day Second baseman???

As you may have heard, the Tigers are off to a great start this spring winning their first six games of the season with most being convincing wins.  I also wouldn’t recommend getting to caught up in the Tigers record or as we’ve said in the past that stats really don’t matter in the spring either…unless you competing for a job that is.  Here’s a check in on players stats that are in competition for starting jobs through six.

Second Base

• Brandon Inge, 4 games, 9 AB’s, 3 hits, 2 2B, 1 BB, 2 K, .333 Avg, .966 OPS and one and a raving review from DD
• Ryan Raburn, 4 games, 7 AB’s, 3 runs, 3 hits, 1 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 2K, .429 Avg, 2.016 OPS
• Ramon Santiago, 4 games, 11 AB’s, 3 runs, 4 hits, 2 2B, 1 BB, .364 avg, .940 OPS

Synopsis: A great start by all three guys competing for a platoon role on the job, however what needs to be taken in to consideration (and unfortunately we don’t know) is who and when each players hits and outs came.   To explain further, with only 6 games player, and each guy playing 4, they are obviously being substituted in game, and at this point in spring a starter only goes 2 innings and then you may run in to another less qualified starter, a bullpen guy, or a minor leaguer who doesn’t really have a shot at the big club.  So basically saying we don’t know the talent level that each of these guys got their hits or outs off of  but I have to give the advantage right now to Brandon Inge based on DD’s comments.

5^th Starter Spot

• Casey Crosby, 1 game, 0.00 ERA, 2 IP, 2 hits, 1 BB, 2k’s, .250 average against, 1.50 WHIP
• Andy Oliver, 1 game, 0.00 ERA, 3 IP, 3 BB, 3k’s, .000 average against, 1.00 WHIP
• Drew Smyly, 1 game, 0.00 ERA, 2 IP, 2 hits, 1k, .286 average against, 1.00 WHIP
• Jacob Turner, 2 games, 1 started, 0.00 ERA, 2.1 IP, 2 hits, 4 BB, 1k, .222 average against, 2.57 WHIP
• Adam Wilk, 1 game, 0.00 ERA, 2 IP, 2 hits, 1k, .250 average against, 1.00 WHIP
• Duane Below, 2 games, 3.00 ERA, 3 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1k, .286 average against, 1.33 WHIP

Synopsis: It’s way too early in Grapefruit League to name a starter and all but Jacob Turner got off to a good start, but Turner did start and faced the most Major League talent out of the group.  Turner did pitcher better in his last outing as his 4 walks came in his 1.1 innings started against the Braves.  Advantage to no one at this point, but Turner did not help his case early on with the walks.

There are other spots up for grabs including in the bullpen and for backup spots but these will be the two most intriguing throughout the spring.

We’ll keep you up to date as the spring season rolls on

Cardboard Memories: 1995 (Baseball Cards)

Looking back at my personal collection this was one smallest amount of cards I had from any year and really only had bought boxes of Upper Deck and Donruss and had yet to catch on to the rookie card monopoly held by Bowman (that was '96).  Disposable funds were low due to college and my fondness for beer so I'll complain further about the market expanding to 28 standard product releases in 1996 and that doesn't include many of these core brands being released in two series meaning buying multiple boxes.  A few trends that I did noticed first was how quickly it was becoming more about the inserts then standard sets themselves since that's value was at the time.  Number two was that with products having multiple series releases that actually allowed for updating players teams when traded or signed as free agents as well as catching hot rookies, but it also eliminated the need for sets like Donruss Rookies and other update and traded sets. Finally that a lot of sets core and premium were actually decreasing the number of player cards in a set which is a shift from the very early 90's when sets ballooned to 800+ cards in their sets.

So on to the cards, again here are some of my favorites, some that impacted the industry, and others just to give you an idea of the design.   Enjoy...

Name: Albert Belle
Team: Cleveland Indians
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Bazooka
Number: #116
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.20
Comments: Decent design and was priced on the very low end for everyone

Name: Vladimir Guerrero
Team: Montreal Expos
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Bowman
Number: #90
Status: Rookie Card
Beckett Hi Value: $15.00
Comments: Bowman beats everyone to the punch again as this and Bowman's Best were Guerrero's only rookie cards in '95

Name: Scott Rolen
Team: Philadelphia Phillies
Position: Third Base
Card: 1995 Bowman's Best
Number: #B87
Status: Rookie Card
Beckett Hi Value: $20.00
Comments: Similar to Guerrero, Best and Bowman are Rolen's only rookie cards

Name: Michael Jordan
Team: Chicago White Sox
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Collector's Choice Select Edition
Number: #238
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $2.50
Comments: The last year Jordan's cards were produced in standard baseball card sets

Name: Karim Garcia
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Collector's Choice
Number: #39
Status: Rookie Card
Beckett Hi Value: $0.10
Comments: The "Latino Bambino" signed with the Dodgers at the age of 16 and was known more for off the field issues then on, including stealing Derek Jeter's glove in hopes of selling it

Name: Cal Ripken Jr.
Team: Baltimore Orioles
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1995 Donruss
Number: #83
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $2.50
Comments: A very crisp design from Donruss with very little in the way of rookie cards, but a decent amount of inserts

Name: Barry Bonds
Team: San Francisco Giants
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Emotion
Number: #192
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $2.50
Comments: Confident, that's one way to put it...

Name: Hideo Nomo
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Position: Starting Pitcher
Card: 1995 Finest
Number: #228
Status: Rookie Card
Beckett Hi Value: $10.00
Comments: DON'T PEEL THE STICKER!  No really each card had this sticker over it that was used to protect the cards surface.  I'm not sure if the card carries the same value if the sticker is peeled, my gut says no

Name: Pedro Martinez
Team: Montreal Expos
Position: Starting Pitcher
Card: 1995 Flair
Number: #164
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.75
Comments: Flair was an underrated brand I think as the quality and photography blew competitors away but the scarcity wasn't there

Name: Greg Maddux
Team: Atlanta Braves
Position: Starting Pitcher
Card: 1995 Fleer
Number: #311
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $1.25
Comments: Yep, it's ok to ask wtf is wrong with that card.  In '95 Fleer decided to have a different design for each of the baseball divisions and this was the NL East's version

Name: Will Clark
Team: Texas Rangers
Position: First Base
Card: 1995 Leaf Limited
Number: #20
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.75
Comments: Decent design for a premium brand that had only minor impact in the industry

Name: Mark Grace
Team: Chicago Cubs
Position: First Base
Card: 1995 Leaf
Number: #277
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.50
Comments: Wow, so Leaf went in a completely different design direction then their first iconic release

Name: Fred McGriff
Team: Atlanta Braves
Position: First Base
Card: 1995 Pacific
Number: #12
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.30
Comments: One word...Fugly

Name: Ken Griffey Jr.
Team: Seattle Mariners
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Pinnacle
Number: #128
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.75
Comments: Is that Ken Griffey Jr. or the Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lady in Total Recall on Mars?

Name: Randy Johnson
Team: Seattle Mariners
Position: Starting Pitcher
Card: 1995 Score
Number: #222
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.50
Comments: Score, welcome to being irrelevant

Name: Ozzie Smith
Team: St. Louis Cardinals
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1995 Select Certified
Number: #55
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $2.00
Comments: I have nothing on this unfortunately other then do you think Ozzie was thinking, "man I need to do another back flip so I can be a Hall of Famer" after grounding out weakly again?

Name: Don Mattingly
Team: New York Yankees
Position: First Base
Card: 1995 Select
Number: #101
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $1.25
Comments: Donny Baseball's last professional season and still hadn't caught on that mustaches weren't cool in the 90's

Name: Vinny Castilla
Team: Colorado Rockies
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1995 SP Championship
Number: #43
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.40
Comments: Yet another gimmic set like Select Certified, Collector's Choice SE, and on and on.

Name: Paul Molitor
Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Position: Designated Hitter
Card: 1995 SP
Number: #203
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.40
Comments: I always liked SP but have to question the design with the writing on the left side cutting in to the picture

Name: Tony Gwynn
Team: San Diego Padres
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Stadium Club
Number: #475
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $1.00
Comments: Who shrunk Tony Gwynn?  Ok, I'm mailing it in at this point.

Name: Rickey Henderson
Team: Oakland Athletics
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Studio
Number: #123
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $1.00
Comments: Had given up on this product by now, but I have to say I really like this design

Name: Ben McDonald
Team: Baltimore Orioles
Position: Starting Pitcher
Card: 1995 Score
Number: #4
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.15
Comments: Man, I hope his teammates gave him sh*t over doing the whole put your hand behind your bicep "trick" to make it look bigger

Name: Carlos Beltran/Juan LeBron
Team: Kansas City Royals
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Topps Traded
Number: #12T (LeBron), #18T (Beltran)
Status: Rookie Card Errors
Beckett Hi Value: LeBron $6.00/Beltran $12.00
Comments: Yep, Topps Traded did the a big mix up putting Beltran on LeBron's card and LeBron on Beltran's card and was never corrected.

Name: Mark McGwire
Team: Oakland Athletics
Position: First Base
Card: 1995 UC3
Number: #51
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $2.00
Comments: Kind of like Sportsflics I guess...no thanks

Name: Sammy Sosa
Team: Chicago Cubs
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Ultra
Number: #139
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.75
Comments: Ultra won't find a place in the market until the David Ortiz rookie card in '97 and they start short printing cards in'98

Name: Bobby Higginson
Team: Detroit Tigers
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Upper Deck
Number: #233
Status: Rookie Card
Beckett Hi Value: $0.75
Comments: I can't recall which I did more, liked Bobby Higginson or hated him...

Name: Kirby Puckett
Team: Minnesota Twins
Position: Outfield
Card: 1995 Zenith
Number: #65
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $1.00
Comments: See SP Championship comment

Tiger Talk 3.8.12

What you talkin bout, Tigers?

• Miggy is making plays and hitting homeruns.  And all is right with the world. (MLive)
• Double D says we'll be surprised at how well Inge is playing at second
• Austin Jackson is working on adding bunting to his batting options. (Free Press)
• Hopefully the Tigers remain in this position on the MLB standings all season long. (MLB.com)
• Even though Jacob Turner had a tough outing, Leyland says he's still in the running for the 5th rotation spot
• Pepper Blogger John may need to get a pepper ready for Ryan Strieby as he's swinging for a spot with the big club
• The Bleacher Report has the 5th starter watch for the Tigers as well

Elsewhere:

• Yu Darvish did well for himself in his spring training debut. (Yahoo!)
• Corey Hart is out with a knee injury.  No word on if he is wearing sunglasses or if it is nighttime.

Trippin' With Dock Ellis

So let me start this story off with a guy named Dock, Dock Ellis who pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late '60's and '70's.  Well one day in June of 1970 Dock threw a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres something that has happened 271 other times over the course of the game going in to the 2012 baseball season.  What made this one so special though is that Dock would later admit in 1984 that he had thought he had the day off and was trippin' on LSD during the game.  Ellis couldn't see the batter really or the catcher but struck out 6 and walked 8.  Thanks to Pepper reader Mark E on sending this surly award winning Youtube animated narration of the event.

Roster Breakdown

Continuing the breakdown of the Detroit Tiger 2012 roster.  Will your favorite player get a pepper this week?  Read on to find out.

• Brandon Inge.  We know what you want to read about. This is going to be the most interesting decision this spring. 
• Pro:  He is showing some signs of life with the bat in the spring training games.
• Pro: Can play multiple infield positions (arguably not as good defensively as Danny Worth at any of them)
• Pro: By keeping him the Tigers don't have to eat his $5.5 million dollar contract
• Con: Knees won't allow him to be the emergency catcher (Don Kelly's job last year)
• Con:  Career hitting statistics and patterns do no project for future success
• Con: We have to keep writing/reading about Brandon Inge.
• Hopefully the Tigers are on the phone with Billy Beane trying to convince him to take Inge of our hands to replace the injured Scott Sizemore. 
• Bless You Boys came out with their projections for the 25 man roster. Major differences:  They don't have Collin Balester in the bullpen, and are giving Brandon Inge and Andy Dirks roster spots. In our analysis Clete Thomas has a pepper and Dirks does not.  Also, they have awarded the 5th starter spot to Duane Below.
• If the Tigers are going to keep Dirks, hopefully they will find a trade partner for Clete Thomas, rather than just letting him go.
• The optimal Tiger line-up will have Delmon Young at DH.  Prediction: they'll pretend he is the left fielder to start the season, but gradually he'll be moved to the DH spot in favor of Dirks/Thomas/Raburn in the outfield.
• Can't find any information on where Danny Worth stands from an option standpoint.  If he is out of options, it would be hard to imagine the Tigers cutting him loose in favor of Brandon Inge just to save money on a bad investment.
• Congrats to Ramon Santiago, Danny Worth, and Don Kelly who have gained peppers this week.  Santiago will likely be moved to the bench by the next post.  Worth and Kelly could easily lose their peppers with poor spring performances.

Tiger Talk 3.6.12

The Tigers move to 4-0 in the Grapefruit League with a 3-1 victory over a split squad Miami Marlins team.  Porcello goes two giving up an unearned run and both Drew Smyly and Casey Crosby got a couple innings in as well with both giving up 2 hits each, no runs and Smyly striking out one and Crosby striking out two.

Second, Pepper would like to stop and thank Carlos Guillen for all the memories and hard work that he put in for the Tigers and the fans as he officially announced his retirement today.  By the way, one of my favorite Guillen moments (thanks KO) and maybe one of my favorite of all-time is posted below.


Now on to you Detroit Tigers news...

• ESPN's Jayson Stark writes a great article on Prince and Miggy and the impact of the two on the Tigers
• Justin shows his Cy Young stuff in his first start of the spring according to Tom Gage
• MLive believes the Tigers are set up to win long term with their young rotation and lineup
• Not directly Tigers news, but sounds like Carl Crawford won't be in the lineup when the Sox open up against the Tigers on April 5th
• Lastly, check out the outstanding acting by Justin Verlander in his latest MLB 2k12 commercial.  Thankfully this pitching thing is working out for JV

Stepping Back To 1994 ( Baseball Cards)

So 1994 hits and I've lost all interest in baseball cards for the most part as I graduated from high school that year, went to college, and the baseball strike it.  So with little income, no baseball, and the card market expanding to 21! regular season releases I can't say I had many of these cards outside of Upper Deck.  New for 1994 was Bowman's Best a super premium release from Bowman (Topps), Collector's Choice which was a ho-hum release from Upper Deck, Leaf Limited a similar type release to Bowman's Best, and  one of the ugliest releases of all-time...Pacific.

Here's some impact cards from '94 as well as examples of some of the other manufactures (although I can't bring myself to post any of Triple Play or Fun Pack):

Name: Jorge Posada
Team: New York Yankees
Position: Catcher
Card: 1994 Bowman
Number: #38
Status: Rookie Card
Becket Hi Value: $8.00
Comments: Only his Bowman Best rookie card is worth more ($10)

Name: Jeff Bagwell
Team: Houston Astros
Position: First Base
Card: 1994 Bowman's Best
Number: R53
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $0.75
Comments: '94 was the first big year of Bagwell's career with 39 dingers

Name: Cal Ripken Jr.
Team: Baltimore Oriokes
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1994 Collector's Choice
Number: 240
Status: n/a
Beckett Hi Value: $1.50
Comments: I'm pretty sure he's on the phone with Zack Morris or maybe Mr. Belding

Name: Ozzie Smith
Team: St. Louis Cardinals
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1994 Donruss
Number: #35
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $1.25
Comments: Great photo and believe Donruss actually started to cut back on production at this standpoint

Name: Barry Bonds
Team: San Francisco Giants
Position: Outfield
Card: 1994 Finest
Number: #230
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $8.00
Comments: Another very good release from Finest, however the rookie card selection is missing

Name: Alan Trammell
Team: Detroit Tigers
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1994 Flair
Number: #53
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $0.50
Comments: My Tiger card for the year, Flair was a pretty nice release with a thick card stock, good photography, but missing on rookie selection

Name: Mark McGwire
Team: Oakland Athletics
Position: First Base
Card: 1994 Fleer
Number: #268
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $2.00
Comments: Big Mac still looking pretty small on his card in '94 and a pretty basic release for Fleer

Name: Roberto Alomar
Team: Toronto Blue Jays
Position: Second Base
Card: 1994 Leaf Limited
Number: #75
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $1.50
Comments: Very similar to Flair and Finest, Limited was a high quality release with a small production run

Name: Mike Piazza
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Position: Catcher
Card: 1994 Leaf
Number: #436
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $1.50
Comments: '94 must be the year for ugly products

Name: Don Mattingly
Team: New York Yankees
Position: First Base
Card: 1994 Pacific
Number: #430
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $1.25
Comments: The worst looking release of the group

Name: Trot Nixon
Team: Boston Red Sox
Position: Outfield
Card: 1994 Pinnacle
Number: #270
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $1.25
Comments: A very clean look from Pinnacle and great photo quality.  By the way, I was pushing for my son's name to be Trot, my wife didn't buy it

Name: Derrek Lee
Team: San Diego Padres
Position: First Base
Card: 1994 Score
Number: #585
Status: Rookie Card
Becket Hi Value: $1.50
Comments: Lee struggled in 2011 and 2011, but lets not forget he is a career .281 hitter with 331 home runs

Name: Barry Bonds
Team: San Francisco Giants
Position: Outfield
Card: 1994 Select
Number: #211
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $2.00
Comments: His head still looks normal, no GHB yet...

Name: Alex Rodriguez
Team: Seattle Mariners
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1994 SP
Number: #15
Status: Rookie Card
Becket Hi Value: $80.00
Comments: Before ARod's injuries and admitted steroid use, this card would book for $100 easily

Name: Ken Griffey Jr.
Team: Seattle Mariners
Position: Outfield
Card: 1994 Stadium Club
Number: #85
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $1.25
Comments: As the materials in the cards become a bit more quality and the production starts to drop, cards values start to increase.  This is a prime example.

Name: Barry Larkin
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1994 Studio
Number: #168
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $0.50
Comments: Just loved the sleeveless Cinci pinstripes

Name: Derek Jeter
Team: New York Yankees
Position: Shortstop
Card: 1994 Topps
Number: #158
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $3.00
Comments: Lets me honest, this card gets its value from Orlando Miller's career .259 average and 24 career homers that or add up the other 3 guys on here and see if they equal that of a five seasons for Jeter

Name: Wade Boggs
Team: New York Yankees
Position: Third Base
Card: 1994 Ultra
Number: #93
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $0.50
Comments: Ultra really didn't become all that relevant until they started short printing cards later in the '90's, we'll get to that...

Name: Jose Canseco
Team: Texas Rangers
Position: Outfield
Card: 1994 Upper Deck
Number: #140
Status: n/a
Becket Hi Value: $0.50
Comments: Yep, one of those WTF cards...

Name: Michael Jordan
Team: Chicago White Sox
Position: Outfield
Card: 1994 Upper Deck
Number: #19
Status: Rookie Card
Becket Hi Value: $8.00
Comments: Yes, you weren't tripping on acid in '94 (or maybe you were but..) Jordan actually quit basketball to give baseball a try (that or he was quietly suspended for gambling)

If you're keeping track of how the market took off from an annul manufactured set release, here's a simple line graph to display what I've been complaining about.  The BLUE line represents sets like Topps, Donruss, SP, etc.   The RED line represents releases like Topps, Donruss, SP, but also includes late year sets like Topps Traded, Donruss Rookies, etc