The Detroit Tigers: What I Would Do

Blake VandeBunteJun 17, 2009

There has been a bit of chatter about the Tigers in the media lately following Mike Ilitch’s statement that he is ready to spend some money.

The Tigers current payroll is right around $115 million. Last year it was near the $140 million mark, so they have spent less. However, they are also drawing less fans.

Anyway, it’s not my money, so what do I care? If Ilitch wants to spend more money and wants to make this team better he should okay the following moves:

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Bleacher Report1w

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RELEASE DONTRELLE WILLIS: Willis’ time in Detroit can be considered nothing less than a disaster. He has been a train wreck from day one and very seldom gives the Tigers a chance to win ball games. He is 1-6 wit the Tigers with 63 walks in 57.2 innings. His ERA with the Tigers is 8.27, the second worst in baseball among pitchers with at least 55 innings. The other pitchers with him on the top four of that list have thrown a combined 2.1 innings in 2009. The Tigers need to follow the trend and dump the guy.
RELEASE NATE ROBERTSON: Every time I see Robertson pitch, it looks like there are about 300 places he would rather be spending his time. I’d be okay if he looked uninterested and pitched reasonably well in mop up situations, but he cannot even do that. No one in baseball has thrown as many innings as Robertson since 2008 and has a worse ERA. He’s as bad as it gets. The Tigers have arguably the two worst pitchers in the Major Leagues.
RELEASE/TRADE MAGGLIO ORDONEZ: Rod and Mario love to talk about “track records”. They say that Magglio has the track record of a good hitter and that means that he’ll get it going soon. He’ll get back on track. This logic is obviously flawed. Ordonez is 35 and it’s possible that he’s just done. His OPS+ this season is 82, way below league average and that’s just unacceptable from a No. 3 hitter making $18 million a year. Magglio’s contract states that if he starts 135 games this season or gets 540 plate appearances his contract will become guaranteed for 2010—another $18 million. If the Tigers can keep those starts and plate appearances low prior to the trade deadline, they might be able to trade him to another contender. This is plan A. If they cannot trade him I really think they should release him. Sure they’ll be sued by the Player’s Union, but the Tigers can just argue that his performance was killing them. They can say they found someone better than him to play right field.
ADD AN OUTFIELD BAT: If the Tigers are able to get rid of Magglio then they should make a play for a slugging corner outfielder. Brad Hawpe of the Rockies has been mentioned and so has Matt Holliday of the Athletics. Both of these guys would be obvious upgrades over Ordonez, Josh Anderson, Clete Thomas, and Ryan Raburn.
LIMIT PORCELLO’S INNINGS: Porcello threw 125 innings last season and faced 527 batters. He’s currently on pace to throw about 175 innings and faced 710 batters. These are both relatively low totals, but may be a bit much for a 20-year-old player making the jump from A-ball to the big leagues. Porcello will almost certainly get a start skipped around the All-Star break but the Tigers need to find a couple other times to skip his start and rest that young arm. I’m scared that if they get caught up in a playoff race they’ll just keep running the guy out there and he’ll have a 5.89 ERA in 2010.
ADD A STARTING PITCHER: Armando Galarraga and Dontrelle Willis are killing the Tigers. They rarely win their starts and put a lot of pressure on the other three guys in the rotation. I’m fine with Galarraga staying on as the fifth starter if Leyland refused to move Zach Miner into that role. Starting pitchers can be had for a relatively cheap price around the trade deadline. The Tigers don’t need to trade for an ace, they just need a legitimate No. 4 type of pitcher. This usually costs a A-ball arm and that would be an acceptable move in my opinion.