Uncertainties, not question marks: 2015 Tigers

Game scores: Verlander 80, Archer 78.

"Rebooting"

*whew*

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/assets/images/9/6/4/139546964/cuts/Dombrowski480_b88j2y99_alznm6vz.jpg

@beckjason
Norris on relation to 2nd cousin Brad Ausmus: "It’s like my mom’s dad’s daughter’s husband or something like that? Second cousin’s dog?"

@beckjason
Ausmus: "I just want outs, whether we're related or not."

@Lynn_Henning
Toledo muscleman Mike Hessman just hit a monstrous grand slam at Fifth Third Field. It makes him the all-time minor league HR hitter: 433.

Waiting for the lengthy Mitch Albom profile with a subheading for every other paragraph.

dombrowski out

i guess winning four straight division titles doesn't have the cachet it used to

what have u domb for me lately?

Cold business. Apart from a handful of bad contracts and only a couple bad trades, he was great here.

Looking forward to bombing a different team's seasonal threads with dombrowskipout jpgs.

@JeffPassan
Dave Dombrowski is out as Detroit president/GM. Stunning. Players heard the news about 15 minutes ago. Speculation he ends up in Toronto.

I'll always wonder how Dombrowski would have spent the money used to get Prince. Seriously doubt anyone but Ilitch wanted that to happen.

@Tom_Gage
if DD was fired for performance, you'd think Avila would have been dumped, too-as Avila just said on FSD, "I've been involved in everything"

Avila just said that Castellanos "is having a good year." Uh oh.

Odd press conference. Avila was up there alone -- no Ilitch or Ilitch family.

@pgammo
This has been the greatest decade in Tigers history, in wins, attendance, revenues. Thanks for the memories, Dave Dombrowski. Joke

Gammons OTM

@Tom_Gage 25s25 seconds ago
really odd timing on the DD move - before a night game instead of Monday's day off - when Avila said he was told Saturday??? odder than odd

pretty wild that their greatest decade didn't involve any of their four titles

i guess i assume that the now-horrendous long-term deals that are burying the tigers were mostly ilitch's doing, and while of course you trade away prospects to bolster a contender, maybe not quite to this extent of depletion

also wouldn't be surprised if dombrowski was like fuck it, i don't want to do another rebuild

just guessing, i dunno. seems weird on its face, tho. and it's going to be strange with avila jr. going into free agency on a down year

they better bring up hessman next month imo

while of course you trade away prospects to bolster a contender, maybe not quite to this extent of depletion

Did the Jays cross that line this year? Eleven pitchers in a week. Anyway, I know this is the Tigers thread.

Maybe!

Norris and Boyd's first starts as Tigers: 14.1 IP, 11 H, 2 ER, 7 K, 1 BB

Tiger fans: "Waaaaa, wake us when Avila's off the team, waaaaa..."

Yikes.

https://twitter.com/blessyouboys/status/629828436849238017

https://twitter.com/blessyouboys/status/629829251290787840

@Lynn_Henning
Quite candidly, the last two guys on this team you'd expect to squabble would be James McCann and Jose Iglesias. But 2015 hasn't made sense.

digging the spanish jerseys

new vp of player development: dave littlefield

rip

Promising:

"One thing I will bring different is expanded analytics," Avila said. "I will tell you that I feel that we have a ways to go to catch up with the industry. We have been making some strides, but we'll fast-forward a little bit and add to that department.

"You'll see a big difference there."

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2015/08/12/avila-bringing-new-look-tigers-front-office/31595203/

daniel norris, career: 1.000/1.000/4.000

also he grows a beard and camps out on the way to spring training cause he's a lefty

Left the game with a strained oblique.

Wonder how that happened.

Welcome, Guido Knudson.

Really appreciate HR-allowed leader Sanchez pitching through a strained rotator cuff "the past few months."

Farmer Tanned

Whole staff tanned.

Gose cooked.

Playoff tix on sale!

From a Detroit Free Press article on Gose's Saturday mishap:

"Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said after the game that Gose knew he screwed up and it wouldn’t happen again."

It did happen again--on Sunday.

So...who managing this team next April???

Todd Jones and the cast of Sharknado 4.

kingfish?

Seems like the least surprising choice would be Gardenhire.

Guido Knudson gave up a home run to Cheslor Cuthbert.

Guido Knudson is the first relief pitcher to give up a home run in each of his first four career appearances.

The Tigers were already in a 4-0 hole by the fourth inning, and losing their best hitter did not help matters, as Cabrera was ejected for arguing after a called strike. The 32-year-old slugger was visibly upset after Quinn Wolcott punched him out following a pitch that Cabrera clearly felt was a ball.

Cabrera voiced his displeasure to Wolcott and appeared headed back to the dugout when third-base umpire and crew chief Gary Cederstrom tossed him from the game.

It was not immediately clear what prompted Cederstrom to toss him, though Cabrera appeared to gesture at him at one point before heading to the dugout.

"He don't got nothing to do with that play," Cabrera said of Cederstrom. "I don't know. Eventually, [the media is] gonna write something and Major League [Baseball] is gonna fine me, so I don't care. What am I gonna do? I didn't do anything."

After being ejected, Cabrera approached Cederstrom, with manager Brad Ausmus trailing close behind.

Ausmus said Cabrera was restrained when he approached Cederstrom after the ejection.

"Miggy was very calm when he was talking to Cederstrom," Ausmus said. "He didn't use any bad language."

The Tigers manager wouldn't venture a guess as to why Cabrera had been ejected.

"You'd have to ask Gary that," Ausmus said.

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/numlocation.php?pitchSel=570649&game=gid_2015_09_02_detmlb_kcamlb_1/&batterX=28&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3&league=mlb&pnf=&zlpo=&cache=1

http://m.rays.mlb.com/tb/video/v461145183/?partnerId=as_tb_20150907_52089086&adbid=640958719941935104&adbpl=tw&adbpr=39682297

Better reaction: Wolf's or the Rays fan's?

Detroit Tigers Minor League outfielder Magglio Ordoñez, Jr. has received a 50-game suspension without pay following a second positive test for a Drug of Abuse.

Looks like the manager's firing is being handled as well as that of the GM.

If Brad Ausmus is going to be fired at the end of the season, as WDIV was reporting late Thursday night, it’s news to him.

“I haven’t been told anything,” Ausmus said in a text message to The Detroit News.

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 51s52 seconds ago
#Tigers GM Al Avila: “I spoke to Mr. I today and to Brad and I can reconfirm that our evaluation is ongoing and decision has not been made.”

decision to arrive by the end of the season, apparently?

Whenever Gardenhire's ready.

@DannyKnobler
On clumsily-handled Ilitch manager firings, Larry Parrish still ranks first. This one would fight for a spot with Buddy, Tram, Garner.

Tigers rookie James McCann has done something no other catcher in modern baseball has done before. In 102 appearances behind the plate, he's been completely flawless.

The record was previously held by former Cleveland Indians catcher Frankie Pytlak, who didn't commit an error in his first 93 games in 1932-34.

As expected, the Tigers lost the Verlander start and won the "nightcap" in which their AL-worst bullpen went six innings. Cabrera went 0-for-5, team scored nine runs -- of course.

Sanchez's rotator cuff strain, which put him on the DL Aug. 19, flared up at the end of his bullpen session Monday. He said he planned to be examined by Dr. James Andrews, possibly as soon as Tuesday.

Thanks again for being a bulldog and toughing it out.

2014 HR9: 0.3
2015 HR9: 1.7