The Detroit Tigers Go Young

Not so much on this blog but in conversations with league mates and on message boards I've been saying that Gary Sheffield was toast and not worth drafting. That said, I was shocked when I heard that the Tigers had released him. Fourteen million is a lot to pay a player to perform for another team. I should have seen it coming when they acquired Josh Anderson (who I like a lot). I see Marcus Thames and Carlos Guillen getting the bulk of the designated hitter at-bats with Anderson frequently starting in the outfield for a boost to both the defense and the team speed.

I expect to see Anderson leading off for the Tigers more often than not. He does not walk much, but his very good contact skills and speed allow him to post acceptable on-base percentages. His speed should be very disruptive to the opposition. I see 30-40 steals for Anderson this season.

Anderson's stats courtesy of FanGraphs.com:

Season	Team	BB%	K%	BB/K	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP	wRC	wRAA	wOBA
Total	- - -	6.0 %	19.2 %	0.33	.364	.419	.782	.103	.379	30.8	4.0	.351
2006	Astros (AA)	4.6 %	13.0 %	0.37	.349	.385	.734	.077	.351	76.5	-1.2	.339
2007	Astros (AAA)	5.9 %	14.6 %	0.43	.325	.341	.666	.068	.317	58.4	-16.5	.311
2007	Astros	6.9 %	9.0 %	0.83	.413	.403	.816	.045	.393	11.3	2.0	.363
2008	Braves (AAA)	5.7 %	11.5 %	0.53	.358	.405	.763	.091	.349	75.5	11.0	.354
2008	Braves	5.6 %	24.3 %	0.24	.338	.426	.764	.132	.370	19.5	1.9	.344
2009	Bill James	5.1 %	13.8 %	0.39	.322	.362	.684	.079	.323	40.2	-11.3	.312
2009	CHONE	5.6 %	15.7 %	0.38	.332	.374	.706	.088	.334	67.9	-4.0	.319
2009	Marcel	7.7 %	19.4 %	0.43	.351	.423	.774	.130	.343	35.4	1.7	.339
2009	Oliver	4.7 %	15.8 %	0.31	.318	.363	.681	.085	.322	65.8	-16.6	.304
2009	ZiPS	5.0 %	13.6 %	0.38	.310	.337	.647	.070	.303	58.6	-14.8	.298

The Tigers also awarded Ryan Perry a spot in the major league bullpen. He will not be closing, at least not right away. Jim Leyland plans to give Fernando Rodney the first opportunity. Rodney has been a solid reliever but has failed when given closer responsibilities. Perry was drafted with the expectation that he could quickly reach the majors and contribute to the bullpen. The closer of the future label has been tossed around a lot. He's definitely going to be a target of mine this weekend if the price is right.

Perry is very young and has not spent much time in the minors. But he has fantastic stuff. You can see his college numbers here. For what is worth here are his MiLB stats thus far:

Season	Team	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	AVG	WHIP	BABIP	LOB%	FIP
2008	Tigers (R)	18.00	0.00	4.00	0.00	.000	0.00	.000	100.0 %	-0.80
2008	Tigers (A+)	9.26	5.40	1.71	0.00	.313	1.89	.418	73.9 %	3.20
2009	CHONE	4.85	5.88	0.82	1.73	.290	1.81	.296	68.3 %	6.63

Tigers Release Gary Sheffield

Porcello and Perry Earn Roster Spots

Porcello in Starting Rotation