Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Tigers would have been better off keeping Polanco and not signing Damon

Did you see what Placido Polanco did last night? Two outs. Bottom of the eighth. Tie game. Big game-winning hit.
Dumbest move of all was letting Polanco go. He is a much better player than Johnny Damon at this point- both offensively and defensively - and plays more premium positions.
And the Phillies are paying Polanco less money than the Tigers are paying Damon in 2010.

Random Thoughts

- If Will Rhymes is so fast, how come he doesn't have a stolen base?

- Justin Verlander has a 15-8 record. He will probably get four more starts this season, and could end up with 17 or 18 victories. What's the complaint?

- It's nice Damon is talking about how "close" the Tigers are to becoming a good team. But they'd be a lot better if he weren't having such a subpar season. His performance has fallen way off from last season. And the man has made boot-licking an art form.

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9 Comments:

Blogger Barry said...

Pat, as we always said and wrote that JD was a bad signing because it blocked the development of players. Tigers were not going to win the World Series anyway so this year was a development year. Hopefully the Tigers are not in the same position as last year. Tigers are getting a bit crowded at 2B in the minors.

4:08 PM 
Anonymous Rob said...

Pat, we all loved Poly and we all know it was a big mistake to let him walk. However we had no idea Sizemore wasn't going to pull a Jackson like season, we took a risk and lost. With our pitching and prospects, next year we take over.

4:26 AM 
Blogger Fred Brill said...

Book,

No doubt about Polanco - Damon comparison - but the way it played out Polanco was gone before Damon ever came along. It's not like they traded Polanco for Damon.

Damon's act is getting tiresome though.

Rhymes does make some stuff happen though - stuff that likely wouldn't happen. Not bad for a rookie trying to break into the bigs. I'll bet the Tigers get an offer for Rhymes this off season and take it.

I don't think Sizemore's the 2B answer.

7:41 AM 
Blogger Glen J Stroup (WiredTiger) said...

I get the feeling that Illitch changed the payroll on Dombrowski. Not offering arbitration to Polanco was a very strange decision unless you were at your payroll ceiling.

9:13 AM 
Blogger Pat Caputo said...

Barry,
I am not sure what players Damon's signing blocked, though. Boesch, Wells, etc have gotten chance this season.
Caputo

9:31 PM 
Blogger Pat Caputo said...

Rob,
I thought Sizemore would be better, too. At first, I thought it was just that he was coming off an ankle injury. But it looked like major league pitchers just toyed with him.
Caputo

9:33 PM 
Blogger Pat Caputo said...

Fred Brill,
Yeah. I hear you on Damon, Fred. How more hits and less bootlicking? A lot of people agree with you about Rhymes, but I see him as a Triple-A player who is having his 15-minutes of fame - probably deserved - in the major leagues.
Caputo

9:34 PM 
Blogger Pat Caputo said...

Glan J. Stroup (WiredTiger),
From what I understand, you are right. The Tigers were going to cut payroll, but later in the off season Ilitch wanted to Damon - and gave Dombrowski the go-ahead to break original budget to do so.
Caputo

9:36 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

rhymes doesnt has a stolen base because leyland is too conservative

11:57 PM 

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