Mark “the Bird” Fidrych passed away yesterday while working on his farm in Massachusetts. I was in utero during his magical 76′ season, and frankly have no memories of his 5 seasons with the Tigers. I do know he made a huge mark in Detroit, and left a big impression with my family and friends long after he retired. Here’s a great article in today’s Detroit News from Wojo, who witnessed 76′ firsthand.

Lots of strange news coming out of Lakeland as we make final preps for the 2009 season. Sitting just 1  home run shy of 500, the Tigers cut Gary Sheffield this morning. No time for sentimentality here. This news comes on the heels of sending Dontrell Willis and Joel Zumaya to the DL. Defying all laws of medicine, the Tigers are claiming D Willis has an anxiety disorder which was found through a blood test…Um, ok.

The Tigers also traded for Josh Anderson. A young, speedy outfielder. Both Rick Procello and Ryan Perry, two young pitchers with great arms, seem to have locked up roster spots.

Are these the signs of a desperate team making rash decisions late in spring? Or have we simply turned the corner in shedding dead weight from an abysmal 2008 campaign? I’m hoping for latter.

Getting younger, faster and leaner seems appropriate as we try to recapture some of the magic from 06.

Early March, springtime, a (hopefully) bottoming out economy and Tiger baseball. Cautious optimism seems an appropriate tone to take heading into spring/summer months. Gone is the giddy optimism of years past, blockbuster trades, and multimillion dollar contract extensions.

It’s hard not to draw parallels between last year’s Tigers and our rotten economy. Foolish spending, bad decisions from executive leadership and a failure to produce was all the rage in 2008. Now we are paying the price.

We’ve tried to right ship. Renteria and Pudge are gone. Modest signings were made to improve team defense and pitching. We traded away strength (outfielder Matt Joyce) to fill a potential weakness in our starting rotation, landing Edwin Jackson.

The Lyon signing could go either way. But adding a strong arm with upside to our bullpen should be a positive.

I’m lukewarm on moving Inge to third and adding Everett to play short. They collectively hit .204 last year. Short of fielding the position like Spiderman, I’m not sure you can win with limited offensive output from the left side. Hopefully I’m proven wrong.

I do like Guillen in left. If he can stay healthy, along with our starting pitching and bullpen, we may sneak up on people.

So I’m heading into the season with cautious optimism. As long as I don’t watch the news or check my 401k…

As pitchers and catchers report to spring training, word is coming out of Lakeland that Joel Zumaya is feeling good and ready to battle for the closers role.

Nothing too surprising here, since 2006 Joel has had numerous stops and starts in what has become an ongoing effort to recover from multiple injuries. The circumstances surrounding the injuries are well documented, from “moving boxes” to avoid a fire at home, to playing a video game, to hurting his  esophagus doing a keg stand, Joel is nothing if not interesting.

So forgive me if i’m a bit skeptical of this latest comeback. What I found interesting from his recent comments in Lakeland was not his bravado or confidence. We’ve heard that before. No, it was a more subtle remark he made in recounting his offseason. The context was in dealing with a fracture that was healing slower than he expected. “So I stopped going to the doctor’s. I just cut it — didn’t even answer the phone calls telling me I had an appointment.”

Say what? Does this sound like a measured and rational approach to dealing with an injury? Sounds like more of the same irrational immaturity from Joel. Evidence that we should probably expect more of the same this year.

The good news is that Tigers officials have finally developed a contingency plan around Joel. With the acquisition of Lyon, we at least have alternative options besides the dynamic Zumaya/Rodney combo.

Should be a fun spring.

After another inspiring performance by Nate Robertson last night, I thought I would open a discussion about awarding a 2008 Tiger LVP. There are plenty of candidates and they each make a strong case. But, there can be only one.

Edgar Renteria

Put aside the fact that we gave up a promising young pitcher in the trade that brought us Edgar. Playing nearly every day, he’s hitting .266 with 7 homeruns and a measly 44 RBI. His slugging percentage is an amazingly low .359. To add insult to injury, he’s finally started to hit right around the time we fell out of the pennant race (thanks a lot Edgar). Now the Tigers are considering bringing him back for another $9 mil. Add to this his reduced range and lack of speed, and you have the makings of a prime LVP candidate.

Brandon Inge

A favorite with the young girls and Tigers beat writer Lynn Henning (apparently Brandon is cute and is “a good guy”). Here are the cold hard facts, Inge is hitting .217 with 10 homeruns and 39 RBI. Add to this his pouting all spring training about losing his third base job and the drama that ensued.

Nate Robertson

Nate the “bull dog.” Has there ever been a less appropriate nickname? The stats are impressive, 7-10 record and a 6.09 ERA. This on the heels of a 2007 season in which he had to shut it down because of a ”tired arm.” Impressive indeed. 

Fernando Rodney

Good old Fernando missed the first 2 months with tendonitis, which is a feat unto itself. He’s pitched better lately, but only after putting the nail in the coffin of 2008 with 4 out of 5 blown saves during a critical late July/early August stretch.

Gary Sheffield

Everyone’s favorite Tiger, Gary has outdone himself this year. He continues to be a prick off the field, and now sports a .234 batting average to go along with it. Putting him on waivers may have been the highlight of the season. Watching him sit there and collect zero interest from other teams continues to put a smile on my face.

Honorable Mention

Joel Zumaya. Todd Jones. Justin Verlander. Kyle Farnsworth. Jason Grilli. Pat Sheridan.

2008 Tiger LVP

This one is a toss-up, but out of pure spite I’m going with Brandon Inge. Please feel free to cast your vote and comment at the link below.

Joe Torre is a racist. Sheff never took steroids. Sheff is still an every day player that can play outfield. And yes, L Ron Hubbard is a prophet and we have been implanted by extraterrestrials.

Deal with it.

The Tigers are dragging ass through the dog days of summer, scuffling to an anti climatic ending to the 2008 season. About the only thing interesting now is the late inning carnage delivered by the bullpen, and the new and unusual ways we find to blow late leads (Renteria errors, bullpen meltdowns, etc.).

I know it’s hard, but resist the urge to get too skeptical. Reason for hope? Miguel Cabrera and Curtis Granderson. King Cabby and Grandy may be two of the best players in the league under the age of 27, and both are locked up with long term contracts. Each are transcendent talents, and will be cornerstones for years to come.

I can’t think of any other team with 2 young players with this amount of talent. That fact alone means we should avoid any extended rebuilding processes, and will stay an interesting and exciting team into the foreseeable future.

Jim Leyland has always been a players manager. He sticks up for his guys and I admire him for that.

That said, I feel a lack of accountability has permeated the clubhouse, and much of it rests on Jim Leyland. Since Sunday’s meltdown I’ve been waiting patiently for heads to roll. The fact that Fernando Rodney is still on this squad after his last performance is mind blowing. I’ve been watching baseball for a long time. I’ve never witnessed anything as embarrassing as Sunday’s 10th inning. Yet Rodney remains on the team and most likely will pitch in the critical Sox series.

Edgar Renteria is still our everyday shortstop, despite the fact that he has extremely limited range, is slow as hell and can no longer hit for power or average. At one point this season he hit into 27 consecutive double plays. OK that is an exaggeration, but he did have over 200 at bats without an extra base hit. That’s some accomplishment.

After a recent bad stretch of baseball Leyland made the excuse that his players were tired. I’m sure that message resonated well with the hometown fans.

Obviously, our primary issue this year has been the bullpen. That said, a soft attitude and lack of accountability for poor performance and effort has been apparent from the start. Both of those issues have come to a head in dramatic fashion in early August, and have spelled the end for the 2008 season.

The news came quick and startling yesterday. Much like it did back when we landed him as a free agent in 2004. Pudge was traded to the Yankees and I couldn’t help but feel we closed a chapter in Tiger history.

Fans here have mixed feelings about Rodriguez. He strikes out too much. He no longer has the power he once had. He hardly ever walks or scores. But he’s also a hell of a competitor, a fantastic defensive catcher and still hits above average for his position.

I’ll remember Pudge best for a game against the White Sox during the second half of the 2006 season. The Sox were beating the hell out of us on a routine basis (sound familiar). I may have some of the details wrong but as I remember it was late in the game with the score tied and the whole Tiger team seemed to be standing around waiting for a chance to lose. Pudge comes to bat, guts out a single. Steals second to get into scoring position, aggressively takes third on a ground ball, then scores on a shallow sac fly with a play at the plate. I vividly remember him standing on second smacking his hands and screaming at the Tiger dugout. He willed out the run and victory, bringing a competitiveness and edge to the game that the team responded to.

We’ve all seen Pudge do it. Maybe it was the fact that he seemed to be bringing less of that fire that made the trade inevitable. Regardless, I’ll choose to remember him by games like this one. He meant a lot to this franchise and was instrumental in turning us around.

His acquisition in 2004 signaled a change of direction for this franchise. I hope his departure doesn’t do the same

A starting pitcher with an ERA approaching 7? A closer with an ERA nearing 6? Robertson and Rodney are quite the dynamic duo. How can Leyland justify trotting these clowns out there? I suppose you could argue we don’t have much choice. Then again, blowing 6-0 leads, giving up 8 runs in 3 innings, walking batter after batter, wearing horrible facial hair and a crooked hat is getting pretty tiresome.

Quite a game last night. And oh have i mentioned lately that Renteria is a stud (sarcasm).

God damn can that Cabrera kid mash though?