Early Tiger observations
Evening News sports editor Ron Montri gave some interesting early observations on the Detroit Tigers in his column Sunday. Here are some highlights (for the full column see Sunday’s Monroe Evening News).
* Joel Zumaya looks like the closer of the future, but here’s a bold prediction. In five years, his major league career will be over because of arm trouble.
* Brandon Inge takes too many strikes. Once he’s behind in the count, he’s in trouble. He seldom gets a two-strike hit.
* Maybe Gary Sheffield isn’t suited to being a full-time designated hitter. He started his career as a shortstop. It wouldn’t hurt to give him a few starts in the outfield. It wouldn’t harm the defense. Craig Monroe isn’t exactly a gold glove performer in left. Same with Magglio Ordonez in right.
* Major League Baseball ordered Carlos Guillen to stop wearing his uniform with the back pockets turned out. Why doesn’t MLB make a fuss over the length of Ordonez’s hair? It looks worse than Guillen with his pockets inside out.
* Pudge Rodriguez is on his way to the Hall of Fame. He ranks with the greatest catchers when you consider his hitting and his percentage of throwing out base runners. He should do a better job of getting down to block bad pitches.
* Why has Curtis Granderson attempted only one stolen base this season? He’s the leadoff man. He should be running more, especially with Placido Polanco batting second. Polanco is a great contact hitter and an expert at hitting behind the runner.
* Polanco never seems to be in a hole, even when the count is 0-2. He has to be one of the toughest outs in baseball. He never complains, he just goes out and plays the game the way it was meant to be played. He’s a joy to watch.
* Kenny Rogers is 42, starting his 19th season in the league and is a major influence with the young pitchers. But he is watching from home while he’s on the disabled list. He should be around the ballpark more often to give advice.
* Baseball is in love with statistics. Why doesn’t it have a stat for saves by the first baseman? Sean Casey probably has saved 10 errors by digging up bad throws at first.