Jimmy is pleased

I love the way that Jim Leyland is managing the Tigers so far this season. With last year's team, there was really nothing to do but set the lineup and the beginning of the day and hope for a couple of big innings. With a nice mix of power, speed, and average sprinkled throughout this year's everyday lineup, Jim Leyland is managing like a stoner in a 711; there are so many options, why not take advantage of all of them? Hit-and-runs, squeeze bunts, pinch runners; Leyland is happily emptying his bag of tricks on a daily basis. And it's working. The bottom of the Tigers' order is manufacturing runs and providing a perfect complement to the thump at the top of the order. I am certainly a subscriber to sabermetrics and preserving as many outs as possible, but I can still appreciate the stuble excellence of a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. The Tigers are playing the game the way Leyland wants it to be played and it's led to the best run differential in the division.

Sign Ben Sheets

Last week, Jim Leyland announced the Tigers’ starting rotation: Justin Verlander, Armando Galarraga, Edwin Jackson, Jeremy Bonderman, and either Nate Robertson, Zach Miner, or Dontrelle Willis. In simple terms, the Tigers’ current 2009 rotation consists of a solid young pitcher, a ground bal machine, a Rick Vaughn-esque talent with crappy control, a first inning nightmare/injury risk, and one hell of a question mark. Do you know what’s missing from that list? An ace. I, along with every other diehard Tigers fan hope and pray that Justin Verlander will turn into the anchor that stabilizes the Detroit rotation for the next 10 years, but based on what happened last season, that is far from guaranteed. At this point, it is certainly not a stretch to say that Detroit has the worst rotation in the Central division. The offense will be strong again and the bullpen will be improved, but the Tigers are not winning the Central if their starters don’t carry their weight.

I read a great piece today on espn.com in which Buster Olney talks about how the economy has hurt the value of pitchers like Ben Sheets. Three years ago, Sheets would probably have already signed a 4-year $60 million contract with somebody, but this year, he is left teamless going into February. The only team that is taking a hard looks at signing Sheets is the chronically pitching-starved Texas Rangers, who have made a 2-year $16 million offer. Pardon my crass language, but are you fucking kidding me? I understand that Sheets is an injury risk, but when A.J. Burnett, who has the pain threshold of a teething infant, gets $84 million, Sheets is certainly worth more than $16 million. That said, his worth is whatever that market says it is and the Tigers need to take advantage. Sheets’ agent is probably too smart to allow his client to be locked in at a discount for any more than 2 years, but even so, this is a move that Dave Dombrowski needs to make. I don’t think he will make it, and I completely understand his rationale for doing so, but I must disagree with it.

Sheets will not be a Tiger because he is a type-A free agent, which means that the team who signs him must hand over a first or second round draft pick to his former team, in the case, the Milwaukee Brewers. An argument can be made that a first round pick is more valuable for the Tigers than an injury-prone ace, as the Detroit farm system is in dire need to replenishing and Dave Dombrowski has a long and distinguished draft record. For the future, the better move is pass on Mr. Sheets, but looking at how the America League Central division lays out for 2009, it’s anybody’s game. The White Sox, Twins, Indians, and Tigers are all bunched at the top and adding a proven ace like Sheets could be the additional push that catapults Detroit to a division title. Generally, I am always in favor of what’s best for the future, but with a team with key players that only have a few years left (Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen), you can’t walk away from a move that could win you the division and get your team into the playoffs where as the Phillies and Rays showed last season, anything can happen.