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2013 Detroit Tigers Team Preview

March 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

 

If someone told a Tigers fan that this would be the closing picture to the 2012 Detroit season, they would have been ecstatic.  The  only problem is that this picture is from the ALCS victory, not the World Series.  For the second time in six years, The Tigers were the runner up to a National League club.  For Detroit fans in general, I’m sure it seems like you city has been short on luck the past several years with little hockey, the Pistons and Lions being horrible, and general economic problems.  (Side note:  sometimes it feels like Detroit and Cleveland are in a race to the bottom.)  The Tigers have been a bright spot. Spending plenty of money, signing big free agents, and winning.  But coming up short hurts bad – no one denies this.

So what did Detroit do in the off season do avoid this fate again.

Major Off-Season Moves:

  • Resigned SP Anibal Sanchez
  • Resigned SP Rick Porcello
  • Signed OF Torii Hunter

A lot of people thought the deal that the Tigers gave Sanchez, $80M over 5 years, a steep price to pay for a 4th starter.  But that’s the free market.  The Tigers valued a 4th starter more than other teams valued a number two – because I think that’s what Sanchez can be.  Meanwhile, they filled out the fifth spot by keeping Porcello around.  Then the signed Torii Hunter, who is seemingly ageless.  He’ll be a upgrade over having to play Delmon Young in the OF.

More goodness after the jump. [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 Diamond Hoggers Season Previews, Detroit Tigers Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

MLB 13 The Show Cover Vote Kicks Off

January 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Today over on MLB.com, MLB ’13 the Show launched it’s cover vote with seven of the finest candidates imaginable taking center stage.

Andrew McCutchen has jumped out to an early surprising lead, but our favorite candidate is trying to pull out all the stops.


One of my lucky fans voting #MLB13HARPER will receive 2 tickets and BP passes a meet and greet! #VOTEON
January 7, 2013 11:35 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@Bharper3407
Bryce Harper

Voting has gone the way of the All-Star game, and if you have a twitter account it’s fairly simple. You just have to release a tweet into the cyberworld stating “#MLB13HARPER” to cast a vote for Harper.

It’s already the greatest video game on the planet, let alone baseball game ever made. Producers of The Show have again pulled out all the stops in not only aligning themselves with MLB.com but ensuring that whoever ends up on the cover will assuredly be one of the game’s most rising stars.

And although we wouldn’t mind seeing Cutch, Miggy, Posey, or even Braun on the cover; no one makes more sense from a marketability standpoint than that of Harper.

Even Hardball Talk had a post up about it today, props on the gif of the old school Atari. Baseball really is abuzz about The Show 13.

Filed Under: MLB the Show, Video Games Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Miguel Cabrera: Triple Crown Winner

October 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I have to admit, I never thought I would live to see a Triple Crown winner in Major League Baseball.

On this night, Miguel Cabrera becomes the first man in baseball to win it since Carl Yastremski in 1967.

Cabrera polished off a .330, 44 home run, 139 RBI season. And I didn’t own him on any fantasy teams. What a joy that must have been.

Filed Under: Detroit Tigers, History, Triple Crowns Tagged With:

One More Day of Sunshine

October 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I can’t believe it. Our beautiful regular season has dwindled down to just one final day. It’s like that sad part of the candle that’s all crumpled wax and barely any wick left. It’s been a wonderful, memorable spring and summer. This has been the most enjoyable season of my adult life. So many amazing storylines. It delivered everything I wanted to see in a regular season and then some.

I find myself so preoccupied worrying about the Reds and their postseason destiny that I almost forget what is going on around me in the baseball world. Miguel Cabrera is closing in on a TRIPLE CROWN today (and he’s not sitting to preserve it)! Bryce Harper didn’t flop, but rather had the type of 19-year old season that a future legend in this game would have (4.8 fWAR).

Then there’s Mike Trout. Glorious Mike Trout. A 10.3 fWAR in his own right, he single-handedly willed the Angels back into the race until the final few days. He’s been just unbelievable to watch all season long.

Not to mention my fantasy rotisserie baseball league championship run comes down to today, and I could still lose it. We’ll find out where the Reds are headed by the time the sun sets and possibly by the time most people get off work. The Yankees and Baltimore are in for a wild finish this evening for the divisional crown. It’s going to be a fast and furious couple of days for our sport–with a brief pause in there tomorrow. For a baseball fan, this is the time to really enjoy the greatest forms of excitement and drama the game has to offer.

Another summer gone and just a few battles left. A lucky few will be carved out forever as immortals, while most will be forgotten. I’ll always remember the glorious regular season that 2012 provided me with.

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Your Opening Day 2012 Post

April 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I read an article in the New York Times the other day that should be required reading of any close friend of mine. Maybe that’s because basically all of my close friends like baseball or it’s at the very least been what has sewn us together in the first place. The article was called ‘What Baseball Does to the Soul’.

A couple of things I like from this article I’m requiring you to read if you already haven’t on Opening Day Eve:

  1. This is what baseball can do to the soul: it has the ability to make you believe in spite of all other available evidence.
  2. Baseball does what all good sports should do: it creates the possibility of joy.
  3. It confirms that life is not static. There is so much more left to be lived.

That’s really just a few of the reasons that it’s a great read, and why Opening Day is a celebration of hope. And changing seasons. And new beginnings.

I say it every year in this annual post: we could truly see anything tomorrow. We could see anything this season. That’s what makes tomorrow and the next several months to follow so special. Let your mind dream for a minute on what might be in store for this 2012 season.

We could see Jay Bruce win the National League HR title. We could see Jay Bruce become the MVP. How many bombs is Giancarlo Stanton going to hit? Will Adam Dunn rebound to be the Adam Dunn we all grew up watching? Are the Anaheim Angels going to roll to the World Series Miami Heat style? How’s Pujols going to adjust to American League pitching?

This will also be the year that we get acquainted with Bryce Harper for the first time–and we’ll get to know Mike Trout a lot better perhaps. Your fantasy teams are looking pretty solid right now, and every day is your chance at redemption for last year’s poor showings amongst your peers.

How many knocks will Joey Votto get towards earning that new big contract? How will Prince and Miggy fare together in Motown? Cubs fans have hope until the games are played tomorrow. The bad news is so do the Twins, Astros, and Orioles as well. Everyone’s in first place again.

The spring will quickly fade into summer and the seasons will change, and soon we’ll be doing this exercise all over again. Baseball will still be there for us, going on; happening. No clock involved. When we’re at the park, time will stand still for just a few hours after walking through the turnstiles before we have to walk opposite way out of those same entry points and return to reality.

It’s the greatest sport on earth, and it’s begun again. It’s time to savor the moment and enjoy it. As you take it all in tomorrow, baseball is good for the soul because the possibilities are unlimited and it allows you to dream where most other things in life do not. And remember on Opening Day, you might just see anything.

Diamond Hoggers salutes you, the fan; on Opening Day 2012. Follow Diamond Hoggers on Twitter live from Opening Day in Cincinnati for the 8th straight year.

Filed Under: Opening Day Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Detroit adds a Prince

January 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Detroit Tigers signed Prince Fielder to a monster, 9-year $214 million dollar contract today. While you were busy thinking of him in a lineup that already contains Miguel Cabrera, or where the Tigers will put Fielder, Cabrera, and Victor Martinez once Martinez returns from injury in a year or so; you probably didn’t realize that this deal brought Fielder to the city where the Fielder name gained fame and notoriety in the baseball world.

Prince is going to the city where his daddy Cecil hit 284 big league home runs. The Tigers were the forgotten team all along while everyone seemed to speculate about Prince signing with the Nationals, Mariners and Rangers. All the while, this move makes perfect sense for the Tigers who were likely to jump into the sweepstakes once Victor Martinez went down with season ending surgery on his knee last week.

Our opinion is while it’s a great signing for the immediate term–Fielder got too much money. He’s not like an Albert Pujols in the sense that he’s likely always to remain in peak physical condition into his middle and late 30′s. By the time this deal is done, Fielder probably won’t be worth the value. This deal is really going to see the value come to the Tigers within the first four to five years of the contract. This is not unique for a lot of baseball contracts that are signed today. How many 9-year contracts ever even see the player live out the life of the contract in the same place?

It was that same length and money amount that got Prince Fielder through the door in Motown. And while we all thought the market for Prince Fielder was becoming extremely thin with the Rangers throwing big money at Yu Darvish, the market all along was very much alive.

Filed Under: Detroit Tigers, Free Agency Tagged With: , ,

The Baseball Show: The Best, Around

February 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Today on The Baseball Show Mike Rosenbaum of The Golden Sombrero and I usher in Spring Training the best way we know how. Today we talked about the following:

  • The beginning of Spring Training baseball games
  • The Adam Wainwright injury
  • Was Johnny Gomes really singing a song in The Karate Kid? Or celebrating not having to face Waino?
  • What is Chris Carpenter’s value on the open market if the Cardinals fall out of the race?
  • Was the Jose Bautista’s contract a poor move for the Blue Jays?
  • Thoughts on Miguel Cabrera’s DUI
  • Can Bryce Harper play at the big league level for the Washington Nationals this season?

We didn’t have time to cover Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects or some other things we would have liked to have talk about. But as I and Mike talk about; business is about to pick up. Baseball lovers, we have just about made it.

Filed Under: The Baseball Show by Diamond Hoggers Tagged With: , , , , , ,