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The most underrated bad move in recent years by Tigers
Most underrated bad move by the Tigers in recent years: Giving up on Omar Infante at the age of 25.
At the age of 28, he is hitting .340 and spearheading a postseason drive by the Atlanta Braves. Anybody remember who the Tigers got for Infante? Jacque Jones from the Cubs. Infante was traded by the Cubs for a couple minor leaguers just a week or two later to the Braves. The Tigers released Jones, who was clearly past his prime, early in the 2008 season. He was soon out of baseball.It was a curious move. Infante has much better physical tools than, say, Ramon Santiago, is much more versatile (he is a good outfielder and can play all infield spots) and younger. The Tigers would not have this glaring need for a shortstop had they kept Infante. He is a better shortstop defensively than anybody they have right now.
Random Thoughts
The handwriting is on the wall. Michigan will be 5-0 going into the Michigan State game. By then, the Wolverines could very well be among the Top 15 - maybe even Top 10 - teams in the country.
Michigan State has two difficult games before then - Notre Dame and Wisconsin. But both those games are at Spartan Stadium. Could be more than a little interesting Oct. 9 in Ann Arbor.
The Wolverines have Michigan State, Iowa and Wisconsin at home. They win those games, it will represent significant progress - regardless of what happens at Penn State or Ohio State.
Michigan State’s season will defined by road games - at Michigan, Northwestern and Iowa.
- Don’t know what ESPN is thinking, and nothing against Ryan Mallet or Denard Robinson, but Terrelle Pryor is far and away the leading candidate to win the Heisman Trophy at this point.
My latest column in The Oakland Press: What to make of Michael Vick facing the Lions Sunday at Ford Field http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/09/15/sports/columns/doc4c8ff7bc53fdf510569680.txt
At the age of 28, he is hitting .340 and spearheading a postseason drive by the Atlanta Braves. Anybody remember who the Tigers got for Infante? Jacque Jones from the Cubs. Infante was traded by the Cubs for a couple minor leaguers just a week or two later to the Braves. The Tigers released Jones, who was clearly past his prime, early in the 2008 season. He was soon out of baseball.It was a curious move. Infante has much better physical tools than, say, Ramon Santiago, is much more versatile (he is a good outfielder and can play all infield spots) and younger. The Tigers would not have this glaring need for a shortstop had they kept Infante. He is a better shortstop defensively than anybody they have right now.
Random Thoughts
The handwriting is on the wall. Michigan will be 5-0 going into the Michigan State game. By then, the Wolverines could very well be among the Top 15 - maybe even Top 10 - teams in the country.
Michigan State has two difficult games before then - Notre Dame and Wisconsin. But both those games are at Spartan Stadium. Could be more than a little interesting Oct. 9 in Ann Arbor.
The Wolverines have Michigan State, Iowa and Wisconsin at home. They win those games, it will represent significant progress - regardless of what happens at Penn State or Ohio State.
Michigan State’s season will defined by road games - at Michigan, Northwestern and Iowa.
- Don’t know what ESPN is thinking, and nothing against Ryan Mallet or Denard Robinson, but Terrelle Pryor is far and away the leading candidate to win the Heisman Trophy at this point.
My latest column in The Oakland Press: What to make of Michael Vick facing the Lions Sunday at Ford Field http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/09/15/sports/columns/doc4c8ff7bc53fdf510569680.txt
Labels: Omar Infante Ramon Santiago Ryan Mallet Denard Robinson Terrelle Pryor Michael Vick
posted by Pat Caputo at
12:03 PM
14 Comments:
Well shucks, I too noticed that Omar Infante was a good player and shouldn't have been traded. It's fun to say -hey I told them not to trade that guy!
Let's talk about a second baseman that's batting 304 this year named Placido..
Is this the "Monday morning quarterback" section of your blog?
I think you're drinking the koolaid, Pat. Settle down.
Yes, I was impressed with Michigan's victory at ND. I think ND is a fairly solid team, and beating them in their house is a feather in any team's cap.
That said, ND went a long stretch without their starting QB, who was definitely their spark, as we saw on that early drive. Were Michigan to lose Robinson for such a stretch, they'd be cooked. He's it for them, so far.
Michigan's kicking game fell apart, field goals missed, and the punting was atrocious. Face a really good team, and they'll get whacked on that alone.
Michigan's defense is more than suspect. It's nearly a sieve, and didn't get off the field nearly enough in that game. That starting QB worked them pretty good on many plays, and they couldn't close out on him in the pocket, and the tackling was often shabby downfield. This combination always spells trouble... always. Check our Lions, if you require confirmation of what suspect defense leads to.
Michigan's offense and Robinson made a spectacular comeback on that last drive... truly memorable. He's a special player, for sure, but they should have been up more in the 2nd half, but because they didn't get points up on the board, ND had a chance at the end.
They have to improve. Yes, they can do so, but let's wait before walking them up into the top 10, shall we?
State I don't know about. They are suspect no matter what happens, imo. Dantonio better come through this year, or he can take over the Rich Rod hotseat.
Pat,
This is off-topic, but I was curious as to your views on the Reggie Bush/Heisman situation that played out. IMO it sure seems pretty hypocritical that this guy had his hand forced to return the trophy. If this was the "standard" then I would totally agree with how it played out, but I'm not naive enough to sit here and really believe that he is the 1st or the last winner of the award who has/will take money. This resembles the police who are busting the low level drug dealer rather than A) bringing down the kingpin or B) doing things that deter the demand for the drug itself. As a society it sure seems like we set standards when it's fitting. Tom Lewand drives drunk (putting others in harms way) and he gets a 30-day suspension and a poor kid who is making his university millions of dollars has his name drug threw the mud because he profited. I'm not condoning what he did but at the same time it sure seems bizarre that their is such a hard line stance when it's convenient. To me it seems like wrong is wrong and right is right. If he took $1 or $1,000,000 it is the same thing and I'm willing to bet that other winners of this award accepted $1 or 2. Also, I keep hearing things about the standards that the student athlete is to live by (notice the word student is placed before athelte) and I'm just curious as to what the GPA was for all the previous winners? Isn't that part of the "integrity" that is supposed to be associated with this award (supposedly)? Lastly, the new USC AD (Pat Haden) made a comment a month ago that if he was Reggie Bush then he would do what was right and return the award. I heard an interesting comment from Desmond Howard on this. He stated that if Pat Haden stood on such a high moral ground then he should be returning all the money (Including from the BC$ appearances while Bush was there) that the school made. I'm willing to bet that this isn't the case and I find it pretty disturbing that one can be such a hypocrite. Thoughts?
Lil Rob
When they got rid of Omar Infante, you aren't the only one who shouted out loud: why are you trading this guy?!
This is fun. Shall we discuss a second baseman (now third baseman) who is healthy and batting 304 this year...intials PP.
So, is this the Monday morning quarterback blog? Sign me up.
Book,
Reading between the lines of stories written by reporters at the time,it was clear that Leyland and Infante had a strained relationship. I always thought that it was Leyland's dislike of Infante that got him banished.
I remember Leyland playing Neffie Perez over Infante, clear insanity. When asked about Omar, Leyland was always snarky in his responses.
Alan
You win some and you lose some.
Easy to do Monday morning QBing.
But I think Dumbrowski is way overrated.
Have fun, Mike I. in making all the salary obligations in the lousy trades of all the pitchers, etc. that Dumbo signed up.
terrelle pryor? really? the kid has 480 yards passing and 4 TDs...denard robinson has twice that much yardage, and has single-handedly won both games for his team. i don't like michigan, but even i can say you're way off. denard has put up SICK numbers that i don't think anyone has ever duplicated in the first 2 weeks of a season. SICK numbers. unreal Xbox like numbers. what are so special about pryor's numbers? nothing. especially when last week his completion percentage was 44%. and week 1 he played marshall, wow tough game.
Lynn Benoit,
Both decision haven't exactly turned out well for the Tigers. Can you imagine how much better they'd be with Polanco at second and Infante at short?
Caputo
Anonymous,
No question they caught a break when Crist went out and the FG kicking must get better. But you have to Robinson and the Wolverines this much - they made the plays when it mattered. End of the season schedule tough one for the Wolverines.
Caputo
Lil Rob,
You make a great point on that. How many of the other winners were so "clean." Then there others, like O.J. and Billy Cannon, who have gotten in so much trouble after their FB careers ended.
Caputo
Anonymous,
Tram was frustrated with Infante as well, so there were some attitude issues. Both Trammell and Leyland felt like he was indifferent, although he did put his work in.
Caputo
Anonymous,
What you call Monday morning QBing, I call keeping score. You make good deals or don't - and it should be pointed out down the road how they worked out. This one didn't.
Caputo
Anonymous,
Terrelle Pryor is just a much more accomplished football player than Robinson or Mallet. It's not just stats, either.
Caputo
Pat, very good answer on Monday QBing vs. keeping score.
That's what we expect from you guys.
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