Motor City Sports Scene

Detroit Tigers -- Mike Maroth

2006-04-07T12:47:00.000-04:00

For several years now, I've thought of Mike Maroth as a poor man's Jamie Moyer. So, that got me to wondering if the two actually compare. Moyer has had an interesting career. He started off way back in 1986 with the Cubs and won 7, 12 and 9 games before being shipped off to Texas at age 26. He floundered for several seasons and missed the 1992 season entirely. Moyer's career really didn't take off until the ripe old age of 33 in 1996 when he split the year between Boston and Seattle. He won 13 games that season and went on to win at least 13 games every year until 2004. He won 20 ga,es om 2001 and 21 in 2003.

So, it begs the question, will Maroth find similar success? It's hard to tell from the numbers. I only looked at a few things -- hits to innings pitched and strikeouts to walks. From 1997-99, Jamie Moyer allowed .99 to 1.03 hits per inning. In that same time frame, he struck out 2.62 to 3.76 batters for each one he walked. In his best season among those three, he averaged 1.61 walks per nine innings. Maroth has pitched three full seasons, starting at age 25 in the Tigers hurrendous season of 2003. In that span, Maroth allowed 1.12 to 1.19 hits per inning and struck out 1.74 to 2.25 for each batter he walked. His best walks per 9 innings was 2.44 in 2004. So, his numbers were not quite as good as Moyer's, but you have to keep in mind that Moyer pitched for a vastly better team.

What does it all mean? Again, hard to say. I think this could be Maroth's pivotal year, at least with the Tigers. It's no secret that Dombrowski favors hard throwers and Leyland covets talent over age and experience. With several prospects that fit those criteria, Maroth must dramatically improve to keep his spot in the rotation. And, really, there's no reason he shouldn't. He will get good offensive support. If he can get the number of hits he allows down and stay about the same in terms of walks per 9 innings, I think he'll win 16-18 games this season.

Detroit Tigers -- Opening Day

2006-04-04T13:01:00.000-04:00

Random Thoughts -- My first thought about the Tigers opening day? Good baseball. That's not a phrase we've been able to utter very often around here in the last dozen years. Pitching was very good with Kenny Rogers looking sharp for six innings. Then Joe Zumaya... WOW! The kid throws smoke. He looks a bit like Goose Gossage with the No. 54 on his back. His motion is completely different, but the results are about the same. He looks like a closer and my guess is that he will have the job by the end of the season or next year.
The Tigers offense was a bit troubling. Mags did not look good and the issue of timely hitting was still there. They won't be able to win with three solo home runs very often. I thought Leyland made all of the right moves, although I have to admit bringing Rodney in to close it out made me very nervous.

Fantasy Baseball -- KCL Predictions

2006-04-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

Perhaps in no other recent season has any one team stood more above the crowd than the Adams Family did in the Kaline’s Corner League in 2005. The Family had everything needed for a winning club, including the best lineup since the giddy, steroid-inflated numbers of the late 1990s. The remaining nine owners were left to claw it out for second and third places.
While the Family returns a strong lineup, 2006 is a year up for grabs. There is no Super Team out there, nor is there any dogs. Every team has at least a few good players and legitimate hope that if everything falls their way, they will finish somewhere in the money. Conversely, any team hit with a major injury or two will plummet in the standings. I think it will be that close.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so iffy about making picks. And I think that’s a compliment to all of KCL’s owners. In the old days, a few owners, namely Gil, Jerry, and Jim, simply outclassed everyone else in evaluating and picking players. I don’t think that gap exists today. If you don’t come into Draft Day with your stuff together, all of the owners will bury you. And then you better be good at keeping track of waiver wire players and making an astute trade or two.
Over the years, I’ve tried to come up with a magic formula for evaluating the race. I’m not really sure I’ve developed a great method, but I did try something different this year. I evaluated each team in terms of hitting, starting pitching, and relief pitching. I then assigned each team a rank of 1-10 and gave each category a value. To me, hitting is the single most important category. So I assigned a value of ½ your rank. If you were ranked the top-hitting club, which was the Strykers this year, your point value for the category would be .5 while 10th place would be 5.
I assigned starting pitching a value of 1 per rank order and relief pitching 1.5 per rank order (perhaps it should have been 2). I then totaled points for each owner. Teams were then ranked from lowest point total to highest. With that said, here’s what I came up with for 2006:

1. Strykers (10) – You’ve got to love this lineup. Albert Pujols and Travis Hafner are the big guns, but then you’ve got great balance with Chase Utley, Scott Rolen , Bobby Abreau and Johnny Peralta. If there’s a chink in the Strykers armor, however, it’s starting pitching. Outside of Curt Schilling, who’s going to win more than 12-14 games on this staff? Doug Davis? Noah Lowry? OK, Barry Zito… maybe. Even Schilling presents a problem. Having Schilling in the Strykers starting lineup means he has got to sit either Marino Riveria or F-Rod in the bullpen. This is a large problem. If anything is going to derail the Strykers, this is it.
2. Mud Hens (10.5) – This is what my Magic formula told me and, of course, its probably biased. But, I think it’s reasonable to say the Hens have the best starting pitching in the KCL with the likes of Carpenter, Colon, Peavey, Willis and Lieber. True, Carpenter had a career-year and Willis’ win total will surely drop to 15 or 16, but it still rates as the best staff in my humble opinion. The Hens bullpen is very ordinary with Dempster and Wickman. Both have history of injury, so this could become a big problem. The Hens rated 7th overall in hitting … meaning their overall rank should probably be a notch or two lower. The lineup isn’t terrible, just kind of average. Hank Blalock and Torri Hunter must rebound from off-seasons while Paul Konerko and Pat Burrell must mash the ball for the Hens to stay close.
3. Adams Family (13.5) – The Family still has an awesome lineup with Teixeira, A-Rod, Tejeda and Crawford. It’s not as strong as last year and the outfield could become a sore spot if Crisp and Pierre don’t score a ton of runs. The Family has two real studs on the mound with Roy Halliday and Josh Beckett, although both have spent serious time on the DL over the past few years. If that happens again to either one, the Family is toast. Look for Kevin Millwood to win 16 games this year. Nice bullpen with Nathan and Wagner.
4. Eagles (14.5) – This is not a team that knocks your socks off when you first look at it. But the more you examine the Eagles, the better you should like them. David Wright, starting just his second full year, is a younger and better version of Scott Rolen. Miguel Cabrera is another young horse while Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano and Ichiro lead a solid supporting cast. A solid rotation is lead by Johan Santana and Jon Garland while Dan Haren could emerge, too. The bullpen features young guns Derrick Turnbow and Huston Street.
5. Beavers (14.5) – Only a potentially horrendous starting pitching staff holds the Beavers back. A good lineup is led by Aramis Rameriz, Carlos Lee, Vic Martinez and Lance Berkman. The bullpen should be fine, too, with Chad Cordero and Trevor Hoffman. But the Beavers starting pitching is far and away the worst in the league. Ben Sheets is a potential 20-game winner, but he NEVER puts in a full season (he’s on the DL already). Beyond that, you’ve got the likes of Joe Blanton, Kelvim Escobar and John Lackey. Guys with potential, sure, but they never seem to produce big numbers.
6. Chiefs (18) – This is another pitching-challenged club. The Chiefs are relying on some impressive young arms in Felix Hernandez, Zach Duke and Rich Harden. All three could be stars, but only Harden seems sure to deliver 15+ wins this season. Jason Schmidt is another good pitcher who gets hurt too much and Cliff Lee’s deficiencies have been masked by massive run support. On the positive side, the Chiefs have a decent lineup led by Delgado, Soriano, Damon and Edmonds. The bullpen is OK with Flash Gordon and Izzy. If the young arms come through, the Chiefs could make some noise.
7. EME (18.5) – This club looks solid on paper, but I just have a sinking feeling that problems will arise… especially in the lineup. Adam Dunn and Big Poppi Ortiz will produce numbers. But the rest of the lineup has question marks, starting with Holiday and Wilkerson in the outfield. Is Jorge Cantu for real? When is Melvin Mora’s bubble going to burst? What about Ryan Howard – does he really have that much power? As always, EME will have good starting pitching. Mark Mulder, Jake Westbrook, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Clement are all good pitchers that should win 14-18 games. Brad Lidge is about it in the bullpen.
8. Sluggers (18.5) – The Sluggers actually have one of the league’s best pitching staffs with Bonderman, The Big Unit, Oswalt and Pedro. Francisco Cordero and Todd Jones will get their share of saves, too. But the Sluggers will not live up their name at the plate. Beyond Vlad Gurerrero and Derek Lee, there’s a bunch of average players (with the possible exception of Grady Sizemore).
9. Raiders (20) – This once proud franchise continues its downward spiral. The highlight of this team is its starting pitching with the likes of Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, Tim Hudson and CC Sabathia. The bullpen could be very good … or totally blow up depending on Eric Gagne’s comeback. Richie Sexon and Troy Glaus both had good years last season, but history suggests one or both will see decline due to injury. Jason Bay is a fine outfielder and Vernon Wells is solid, too. If everything goes right, the Raiders could move towards the KCL’s top half.
10. Robsters (27) – I know the Robsters must be tired of looking up at the rest of the league, and I’d like to rank them higher, but I just can’t. Their hitting should be decent with Manny Rameriz and Todd Helton. But there are holes in the other spots in the lineup. There are no stud starting pitchers and BJ Ryan has only one decent season under his belt. Anything can happen, but I think the Robsters, of any team, are mostly likely to finish where I’ve picked them.

Tigers, Pistons

2006-03-27T21:58:00.000-05:00

Tigers -- Shortstop Carlos Guillen sat out for the second straight day today with a "stiff back." Apparently, from media reports, the Tigers aren't saying much about it. The speculation, of course, is that he hurt it during the recently completed World Baseball Classic. I guess I really don't care how he hurt it, but I do know that if he's out for any extended period of time, the Tigers chances of a decent season are seriously damaged. Guillen, when he's right, is a near All-Star caliber shortstop. Our other alternatives are Omar Infante or Ramon Santiago. If that doesn't scare you, nothing will. Infante is the middle infield version of Carlos Pena. Santiago is marginal even is a utility guy, let alone as a starter. Lets pray Guillen's stiff back loosens up in a real hurry.

Pistons - Apparently, Grant Hill is expressing some interest in returning to the Pistons next season for a shot at winning a title. I know many Detroit fans felt Grant was soft in his tenure here. I couldn't disagree more. The man was a fabulous player and a true gentlemen. No, he wasn't Michael Jordan or a get-in-your-face leader. But, so what! Having Hill come off our bench, even if he was only 50 percent of what he used to be, would be great. He has proven over the last few years that he can still play. Using him in limited minutes, say 12-16 per game, would give the Pistons bench a boost.

Tigers, Pistons, Lions, Red Wings

2006-03-25T07:21:00.000-05:00

Tigers -- Manager Jim Leyland announced yesterday that Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya have both made the Opening Day roster.... and I say AWESOME! It's about time that we get a couple of studs instead of some 30-year-old AAA retread. I think both of these guys have the potential to be top-notch pitchers. Verlander will work in as the 5th starter, and I'm sure he will have his ups and downs. In fact I'll make a prediction: Verlander will go 8-11 with an ERA of 4.15 and boat load of strikeouts. I think he'll start strong, run into trouble during the middle of the season and then finnish with several good starts. I think he has the talent, but he needs to go through it for a year. I wouldn't be surprised if he wins 15 games in 2007. As for Zumaya, I'm not quite sure what to make of him. He'll be in the bullpen and I think Leyland will try to use him for 2 inning stints as a bridge to Todd Jones. He has done fine in the spring, but I wouldn't be surprised if he struggles. He has a great fastball and a couple of decent breaking pitches, which he must throw for strikes. Matt Anderson proved that major leaguers can hit 100 mph fastballs. I just hope they use him on a regular basis. I think it would be an awful mistake to keep a 21-year-old on your roster and then just use him in mop-up.

Pistons -- Props to DEEEE TROIT BASKETBALL. The Heat were running their yaps before the game the other night. The Pistons shut them up in a hurry and showed that they're still the team to beat in the East. I was very surprised at how well they shutdown Wade. Shaq had a good game, but ran out of gas in the 4th quarter. I think it's a good strategy on Sanders' part... I don't think Shaq can beat the Pistons by himself. It will be interesting to see how a series between the Heat and Pistons plays out.

Lions -- Goodbye, Joey and goodluck. I wasn't shocked to see him get out of town. I really can't blame the guy. He has been through the ringer here. I would want a fresh start if I was him. Harrington has talent enough to be a decent starter. But I think he needs to go somewhere where he can sit back and observe for a year. As for the guys the Lions signed to replace him, Kitna and McGowan, I'm skeptical. Kitna was a good QB a few years ago, but he's older now and he hasn't played that much recently. I really don't know much about McGowan other than he had a few big games with the Cards last year. But he wasn't good enough to beat out Warner, who has been washed up for several years now. As I've said before, I like Marinelli. But I think he has basically got the same roster. Unless they pull some coup at the Draft, I don't see the Lions being a playoff team this fall.

Red Wings -- The Red Wings are the Atlanta Braves of hockey. They've reached the 100 point plateau this year, the 10th time in the last 12 seasons. It's akin to probably winning 90 games in baseball. Despite their success, I don't think the Wings are legit Stanley Cup contenders. I could see them being knocked out in the second round by a Nashville or Calgary. It will depend a lot on the goaltending. I think the Wings will score goals in the playoffs, but can they stop a younger, faster team from scoring? The combo of Legace and Osgood has been solid during the regular season, but I'm wary of the Wings relying on either in the playoffs. Stay tunned.

Detroit Tigers - Prospects

2006-03-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

Jim Leyland made an interesting comment the other day. He said, in a nutshell, the Tigers have been winning this spring because their prospects are better than some other teams. Now, I know managers and GMs have a tendency to hype their minor league players even if they stink. God, how long did we listen to Sparky go on and on about Chris Pittaro and Torrey Lovullo.

But, this time around, I think it's actually legit. The idea of the Tigers growing a real ace pitcher like Justin Verlander and a star closer in Joel Zumaya is really exciting. Jeff Weaver was supposed to be that guy, and he did have talent, but he was never a real No. 1 starter. I think you pretty much have to go back to Jack Morris or Dan Petry. Then there's Cameron Maybin. True, we haven't seen him in action yet, but just about everyone in baseball says this guy can't miss. He may be an upgraded version of Tori Hunter.

For me, having real prospects for your home team is a big part of the game. Lets face it... only a few teams make the playoffs, let alone the World Series. Have guys like Verlander, Zumaya and Maybin, though, gives us hope that we might one day get back to the promise land.

World Baseball Classic -- America loses!

2006-03-08T20:05:00.000-05:00

In case you're not following the World Baseball Classic -- OK, OK, so only baseball geeks like me are following it -- the U.S. lost to Canada on Wednesday, 8-6. I have to say that this is just a bit disturbing. How can we lose to the freakin' Canadians? They make beer and play hockey. They grow blueberries in Nova Scotia. They carp about Americans. BUT THEY DON'T BEAT US AT BASEBALL, DAMN IT!

This would be like the U.S. routinely kicking their frosty butts at hockey or, hell, annexing Ontario. Come on, is nothing sacred in this world anymore? If you want to read the sorry details, here it is: http://www.cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/wbc/gamecenter/recap/WBSC_20060308_CAN@USA

Detroit Lions -- Free Agency

2006-03-03T13:52:00.000-05:00

So the Lions jumped into the free agent market today .... well, they stuck their big toe in and signed Shaun King to be Joey's back up at quarterback. This is a nothing move, but it sends a clear signal that Harrington will indeed by Detroit's QB in 2006. King wasn't even in the league last year, meaning he is absolutely no threat. Lets just pray Joey doesn't get hurt.

I hope this also means the Lions will be more aggressive in free agency in other areas. As I've written before, their biggest need is on the offensive line. If the NFL and players can't come to an agreement, there will be lots of good linemen available. Matt Millen has to be licking his chops. I've heard various numbers as far as how far under the cap the Lions are, but $13 million seems to be the right number. At that price, they should be able to sign 2-3 quality guys.

How would you break that down? I'd use two of those positions for either a guard, tackle or center. The other slot, I think, should be a linebacker... probably a middle linebacker. You could go for a cornerback, too.

Let me know what you think!

Detroit Lions -- Joey Harrington

2006-02-27T06:18:00.000-05:00

At the risk of sounding like a Detroit Lions slappy, I think the boys in blue and silver are finally on the right track. I like the hire of Marinelli and Martz. Rod seems like a no BS kind of guy, and I like that. Martz' track record speaks for itself. Hey, the fact that he's getting rid of the West Coast offense makes him a winner in my book.

I also think they are making the right move by holding on to Joey Harrington -- although I hope they can redo his contract to soften the salary cap hit. I think Harrington can play and I'm interested to see what he can do in an offense that plays to his strengths. Harrington, in my mind, isn't the most important component of this offseason anyway.

The Lions must, MUST upgrade the offensive line. I believe it is the most important position on the team. If you have a good offensive line, it makes every other area of your team better. A good line will give Harrington more time to throw and open holes for Kevin Jones. That should translate to more points and more time of possession, both of which will help the defense.

Tigers

2006-02-22T22:18:00.000-05:00

OK, I admit it. Spring training is one of my favorite times of the year. It's the first real sign of spring. It just the anticipation that baseball is soon to be played and summer can't be far behind. And there's always a hope, even for the Tigers, that this might be the year they finally turn it around.
Not much has changed with the team, save Todd Jones and Kenny Rogers. Then there's Jim Lelyand. I finally feel the Tigers have a legitimate manager since Sparky. How much of a difference will he make? My guess is that the Tigers will get to .500 this year, 82-80 or 83-79.
Health is the key issue. They will have enough offense if Guillen and Ordonez both get 500 at bats. It could potentially be a very good offense, in fact.
I'm anxious to see the two young pitchers this spring, Verlander and Zumaya. If you believe the hype, they're both star-level prospects. We'll see. I've heard lots of hype before. I'm ready to see results. If they are as good as advertised, then the Tigers could be very good within a two years.
You have to figure Bonderman is going to put it together for a full year now. I think he'll win 15-20 games for years to come. Robertson and Maroth should hover around .500. But if you add two stud starts into the middle of that rotation, it could be excellent.

Pistons Basketball -- Darko trade

2006-02-15T06:37:00.000-05:00

It appears the Pistons are close to moving Darko and Carlos Arroyo to Orlando for center Kelvin Cato and a first round draft pick, which I believe is conditional. I've got to say that I don't like this move for several reasons.

Dumping Darko is no big deal. He is not going to develop here, there's no playing time available. He hasn't earned it. But I think trading Arroyo is a risk. I wasn't a big fan of his, but without him I'm assuming Detroit is going to rely on Lindsey Hunter to back up the point. Given his age and recent injury history, that's a risk.

To me, this is a trade for the future. Cato will be gone at the end of the season, and the Pistons will have $8 million freed up on the cap. That's great and the draft pick could turn into a good player. But the future is now! Who knows if and when the Pistons will be in the position they're in right now -- a favorite to win the NBA title. Perhaps Dumars has another move up his sleeve, and I give him kudos for recognizing a mistake in drafting Darko. But I think his trade should have been for immediate help.