Harry How/Getty Images

Since the Detroit Tigers announced the signing of Prince Fielder last week, the team, the fans and even the city have been on cloud nine. Who can blame them? Adding a player like Fielder bolsters an already-potent lineup and greatly increases Detroit’s chances of reaching the World Series for the first time since 2006.

It’s a happy time—so happy that even Jim Leyland cracked a smile.

In fact, the only person that isn’t cracking a smile is the Tigers’ embattled veteran third baseman Brandon Inge. He had been preparing for 2012 as a comeback type of year. He had a good chance of being in the lineup every day as the Tigers third baseman.

After being sent down to the minors in 2011, he responded by posting a .314 average in the month of September and had some key hits during the playoffs.

Unfortunately for Inge, his dream season appears to have been crushed—like so many baseballs—by Fielder (indirectly). The Tigers have announced that Fielder will start at first base. Tigers All-Star Miguel Cabrera would move to third base.

Effectively, this makes Inge the odd man out.

If you listen to Leyland and the Tigers, you’d think that the decision to move Cabrera to third was a no- brainer. In fact, the Tigers are now saying that Cabrera’s embracing the move to third like a long-lost brother. As reported by Tom Gage of the Detroit News, the Tigers even say that they wouldn’t have signed Fielder if Cabrera was not on board.

Who will play more games at third base for Detroit?

Miguel Cabrera Brandon Inge Other Submit Vote vote to see results

Who will play more games at third base for Detroit?

Miguel Cabrera

0%

Brandon Inge

0%

Other

0%

Total votes: 0

I sense some major athlete coddling going on here, folks.

Let’s be honest, Cabrera is no Brooks Robinson. Despite Leyland’s confidence about Cabrera’s ability to be successful at third, the Tigers must have serious concerns. Just look at his numbers (from Michael Rosenberg’s article on freep.com):

Cabrera played third base in 2003 and in 2005-07, though not exclusively. His fielding percentages at third those years, in chronological order: .986, .971, .957, .941. Notice a trend there? As Cabrera gained weight, his fielding got worse. In 2008, the Tigers put Cabrera at third for 14 games. He made five errors. He is older, bigger and slower now.

In my opinion, the Tigers are knee-deep in “Operation: Keep Cabrera Happy.” There’s too much hope and positivity going around right now. No one wants to rock the boat. 

The reality is this: There’s no way Cabrera can play a full season at third base. I’m not the only one who thinks so according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. That’s why I believe Brandon Inge just needs to be patient. 

The Tigers will be calling his number soon enough. Who else is going to play third when they move Cabrera to DH?

Harry How/Getty Images

No, I did not plant a bug in Jim Leyland’s office. No, I did not wiretap Dave Dombrowski’s phone. I’m simply exercising common sense and looking at the Tigers’ history with Cabrera.

After signing him in 2008, the Tigers proclaimed that Cabrera would be their third baseman for eternity. Five minutes later they moved him to first. What’s changed—besides his waistline?

He couldn’t play third base then and he surely cannot play it now.

Not to mention everything the Tigers have been through with Cabrera. It’s great that he is pursuing recovery now—he should really be applauded for that—but he hasn’t exactly been the most reliable guy over the last two years.

Yet, the Tigers are willing to let the season ride on his ability to lose weight and master a position he hasn’t played in four years? Sorry, I don’t buy it. It’s all lip service to me.

Cabrera makes the most sense as the Tigers DH. Everyone knows it but no one wants to say it. For now, the Tigers are content with going along with this Cabrera-plays-third pipe dream. Who does it hurt? Inge?

Who do you think the Tigers care more about upsetting? Their best player coming off an MVP-caliber year, or a utility infielder who struggled to hit over .200 for most of the year?

In my opinion, the Tigers will continue to endorse Cabrera as their third baseman going forward. They may even start the year with him there. At some point though, Leyland will sit him down and have a man-to-superstar talk with him. In the best interest of the team, Cabrera will move to DH.

Then Inge, like the proverbial cat with nine lives, will return to reclaim what—in his mind—is rightfully his.

Source

Nick Laham/Getty Images

Robinson Cano was my top-rated second baseman last year. The view hasn’t changed from the top of the Lester’s Legends 2012 fantasy baseball Second Base rankings. Here’s the initial list.

1. Robinson Cano, New York Yankees: No way he’s moving from the top of the class after posting a .302-104-28-118-8 line. Not getting the stolen bases you need from a second basemen? Make it up elsewhere.

2. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox: If Cano weren’t sooo good, Pedroia could have a shot at No. 1. There is nothing to be ashamed of his .307-102-21-91-26 line. He was good for everything last year.

3. Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers: The ultimate Risk/Reward option. When he can stay healthy, he delivers. His .255 average makes you cringe, but his 121 runs, 32 HR, 77 RBI, and 73 SB more than make up for it.

4. Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds: Phillips was Pedroia lite. His .300-94-18-82-14 line is solid across the board. Nothing elite, but he doesn’t harm you anywhere.

5. Dan Uggla, Atlanta Braves: Uggla was ugly for the Braves hitting .233. He did score 88 runs, slug 36 HR and drive in 82 runs though. He also hit .296 with a .948 OPS after the All-Star break. Things are going to get better.

6. Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay Rays: Zobrist bounced back from an ugly .238-77-10-75-24 2010 to a solid .269-99-20-91-19 2011 season. As long as he isn’t one of those players that alternates good and bad year, you should be fine.

J. Meric/Getty Images

7. Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies: Utley is 33 and has missed 106 games in the past two seasons. His health is clearly a concern. So is the fact that his OPS has decreased every year since 2007.

8. Richie Weeks, Milwaukee Brewers: Losing Prince Fielder and potentially Ryan Braun for 50 games puts a damper on Milwaukee’s offense. Weeks posted a .269-77-20-49-9 line. He’ll likely be in line to drive in more runs this year.

9. Dustin Ackley, Seattle Mariners: Ackley had some high expectations and delivered for the most part. Despite a .219 September he finished with a .273-39-6-36-6 line in 90 games.

10. Howie Kendrick, Los Angeles Angeles: His .285-86-18-63-14 was solid. Add Albert Pujols to the mix and he should be even better in 2012.

11. Jason Kipnis, Cleveland Indians: Kipnis’ cup of coffee went very well as he hit .272 with 24 runs, seven HR, 19 RBI and five stolen bases in 136 at bats.

12. Neil Walker, Pittsburgh Pirates: Walker proved his .296-57-12-66-2 2010 line wasn’t a fluke by posting a .273-76-12-83-9 line last year.

13. Jemile Weeks, Oakland A’s: Weeks is your stolen base specialist. In 97 games he swiped 22 bases. He didn’t just steal bases, though, as he hit .303 with 50 runs. He’ll basically be a three-category player, but there is value in that.

14. Omar Infante, Florida Marlins: The re-made Marlins feature Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez. Infante had a down year by his recent standards, but should post solid numbers, especially in the batting average category.

15. Danny Espinosa, Washington Nationals: Granted, his .236 average isn’t making anybody happy, but he was one of five second basemen with 20 HR and 15 stolen bases last year.

Also check out:

2012 Fantasy Baseball First Base Rankings
Additional 2012 Fantasy Baseball First Base Options

Source

What is Pat Burrell’s career legacy?
Jeff Fusco/Getty Images



Although seemingly lame on its surface, “Pat the Bat” was the perfect nickname for Pat Burrell. Not only did it rhyme, which of course made it cool, but it did what all nicknames should for athletes: It described their game.

Pat Burrell was as much of a bat as Walter Payton’s game was of sweetness, Jerome Bettis was a bus or Ed Jones was tall…too tall. Why? He did exactly what a bat could do…he could hit something hard, while being solid itself. The key word though is could, not would. Bats, and Pat being one of them, could hit something hard.

Burrell always seemed to require someone to swing him, though, otherwise he was like a bat that was not picked up or was just sitting on the bat rack and not doing anything. Something needed to fire him up, in order to whack something. When he did, he did it well. But that’s how I will remember Pat Burrell.

I think back to when he was coming up, not paid yet and starting to break into the league. Larry Bowa inserted him into the cleanup spot in 2002 and he took off from that point, going on to hit 37 home runs that season while driving in 116 runs for a very mediocre baseball team.

Then, he was rewarded with a big contract and the team added Jim Thome in the 2002-03 offseason. So with Thome and his MVP season on board swinging away, Pat the Bat went back on the rack.

A few years later, Charlie Manuel came on board as the new manager. Manuel of course was the players’ coach-slash-hitting guru. His approach to managing swung Burrell, literally and figuratively.

Instilling confidence in Burrell, he swung him for a career-high 117 RBI. Burrell’s average would slip nearly 25 points the next year, all while Ryan Howard emerged and there was no need to swing Pat’s Bat.

Burrell hit 37 HR in his breakout 2002 season
Brian Bahr/Getty Images

The bat would sit on the rack until 2007, when the Phillies were starting to crumble with injuries. Chase Utley was among the biggest injuries faced in the second half, and it was around that time Pat would start being swung.

Why? The team was desperate for a 3-hole hitter, so that got Burrell going. He would explode for a .435 average in July and ten August home runs.

They were part of his second-half power surge of 22 home runs. The team needed a nice swing and a long drive to get away from the awful start to which they began the season.

Within that 2007 season were a few of the hardest swings the bat ever swung. Burrell and a former Phillies reliever had gotten into a feud through the papers, with Pat Burrell calling Billy Wagner a “rat.”

Twice did the “bat” swing hard and drive one far off the “rat” in big games, twice leading to Phillies victories to complete sweeps against the New York Mets, as they would win the division by one game.

This was the following year after Burrell and Wagner got into it. It’s not the only time a Mets closer has caused Burrell to swing hard, as he often would battle with Armando Benitez. Burrell three times burned Benitez with home runs, each of which caused the two to boil even more with each other.

The bat seemed to always swing well when it was mad. I still have the image in my head of Pat Burrell ripping a two-run home run to left field in 2005 against Texas and slamming his bat down viciously.

The cause? Bobby Abreu, at that time the hottest hitter in the world, was plunked by a pitch. That was enough to make the “bat,” his protection in the lineup, swing and take one for a long drive.

It’s one of plenty images we’ve seen of Burrell being angry and looking to do something viciously.

Remember his seemingly unnecessary and childish staredown with Roy Halladay in the 2010 National League Championship Series? Well, in the at-bat immediately following that one, Burrell would rip a double to left field and then proceed to later score the last Giants run of the night.

Who could forget the intense stare down between Roy Halladay and Pat Burrell?

His biggest “Pat the Bat” moment was in the 2008 World Series. His hit in Game 5, his only hit in the series, led to the series-winning run.

But even in a moment that big, he needed to be swung. Jimmy Rollins had barked at him in the clubhouse tunnel right before the at-bat, which got the “bat” swinging.  

In all these cases, he needed something or someone to swing him. He never seemed to do it himself or automatically.

His teammates even used him like a bat. One of his other nicknames around the ballclub was “Bait,” because of his ability to get women at bars and clubs.

In a different sense, his teammates were using him to hit something. It was really just like a bat though. Pat the Bat.

Even when he walked around in the gimp outfit as “The Machine” in Brian Wilson’s interview, you have to wonder if that was really him doing that automatically. You have to think that Brian Wilson picked up the bat and swung him in that direction to seriously go on national television dressed like that.

This was as silly as the seemingly rehearsed Spring Training home run he hit off former teammate Cole Hamels in an exhibition game at Citizens Bank Park. Burrell homered, leading off, then immediately left the game. There was reason to think this, too, was an act of someone swinging him.

And so that will be Pat Burrell’s legacy in my mind: being one of the best nicknames in sports. He contributed to an increasingly weak category, nicknames in sports.

No “Tony Plush” nonsense, just a catchy, rhyming nickname that was appropriate. I will actually think of his nickname more than I ponder the quality of his career.

It is an interesting question: Did the Bat do enough? To do enough, was it swung enough and swung correctly with the first overall pick?

Nicknames aside, Burrell did have a nice career for a No. 1 pick, winning two World Series in three postseason appearances.

Those were team accomplishments, but individually he did well for himself, collecting six 27-plus home runs, 85-plus RBI seasons, and slugging a respectable .472 percentage. But isn’t that what a bat should do?

It’s the question that his career and legacy will face, being a No. 1 overall pick. Was he not swung enough? And would you have swung this bat with the first overall pick or would you have taken the pitch?

Source

With Miguel Cabera making the move to third base, Nick Castellanos needs to find a place in Detroit’s future
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

It’s official: slugger Miguel Cabrera will be manning the hot corner at Comerica Park in 2012. The batting champ will take over third base after the signing of Prince Fielder created a need for Cabrera to relocate on the field.

While this means that fans probably won’t see a lot more of third baseman Brandon Inge, most aren’t too concerned by this, considering the veteran is seemingly nearing the end of his career.

It does, however, leave a question mark about what the Tigers will do with their top positional prospect, third baseman Nick Castellanos.

Castellanos, a 19-year-old slugger from Florida played his first full season of professional baseball in 2011, impressing many a scout as a member of the Low-A West Michigan Whitecaps.

While rumors were swirling earlier in the offseason that Castellanos could be part of a trade package for Oakland Athletic-turned-Washington National Gio Gonzalez, the Tigers never pulled the trigger on the deal.

As of right now, it seems as though the Tigers have no intention of moving Castellanos. That being said, the question of what to do with him when he’s ready for the big leagues has to be asked.

There are a number of things the Tigers could do with the prospect, but one in particular definitely stands above the others. However, leaving nothing to chance, the following are a few possibilities that fans could see going forward.

Castellanos Moves Back to Shortstop

This isn’t all that likely, but it’s not impossible. Castellanos used to play the position in high school and did it very well. Jhonny Peralta’s contract could expire in 2013, although there is a club option that Detroit could exercise.

Victor Martinez could be the odd man out in Motown going forward
Harry How/Getty Images

The problem with this, though, is that Castellanos may lack the range that a shortstop needs to play at the Major League level.

If his defense improves, Castellanos could play shortstop at some point in his career. However, look for Detroit to exercise the club option on Peralta, especially if he continues to play at the level he did in 2011.

Castellanos Gets Traded at the Deadline

Although Detroit is saying that trading Castellanos isn’t in the franchises’ plans, this is a statement that’s easy to make in the wake of signing a huge name like Prince Fielder.

Here’s a scenario, though: what if the Tigers are trailing Cleveland a week prior to the trade deadline this season? That would change things a bit, and the Tigers could be desperately searching for a way to upgrade the rotation or lineup.

If the Tigers want to go after a big name, Castellanos could be a part of the package. Although the Tigers have been extremely reluctant to trade their top three prospect—Jacob Turner, Castellanos and Drew Smyly—the team has so much pressure on it to win in 2012 that a trade could seem like a necessity if Detroit doesn’t have a grasp on the division.

Miguel Cabrera Moves to DH, Castellanos Plays Third

This seems like the most likely option. While DH/C Victor Martinez is under contract until 2015, the Tigers could trade him depending on how well he does coming off of his injury.

Even if the Tigers don’t trade him (they probably will not), Castellanos will only be 22 when Martinez sees his contract come to an end. While he had an extremely impressive season in 2011, it looks as though Martinez will be the odd man out going forward now that the Tigers have Fielder on their payroll.

All in all, anything could happen going forward. However, the likely ending will be Martinez moving on, Cabera heading to the designated hitter role and Castellanos ultimately getting a shot at the bigs.

While anything could happen with the prospect, he seems to have enough upside to be worth the swapping of the lineup.

Source