Motivating the Tigers
After a rough series against the Chicago White Sox last week, it looks like the Tigers will miss the playoffs for the second straight year. The good news is Miguel Cabrera looks like he’s finally come around and is hitting the way he should. Trading Pudge didn’t work out too well with Kyle Farnsworth looking worse than Todd Jones [and that’s pretty tough to do].
So talking trades, here is my first motivational sign. It’s for general manager Dave Dombrowski.
A little sarcasm is warranted. Edgar Renteria has struggled during his second stint in the American League while Jurrjens has been a solid pitcher for the Braves.
I’ve been all over the place regarding manager Jim Leyland. When I first heard he was coming out of retirement to manage the Tigers I was furious. I really didn’t want a guy who didn’t seem to have anything left in the tank to guide the team. Leyland showed he did have something left and his tirade early in the 2006 season has widely been seen as the turning point that led the team to an American League pennant and a berth in the World Series. Here’s my motivational poster for the “skipper”.
Leyland has one year left on his contract. I don’t think there’s any way Dave Dombrowski would sign him to a new contract - but this is the guy who signed Todd Jones to be his closer so all bets are off. Perhaps Mike Illitch steps in and says “hey guys I didn’t spend all this money to miss the playoffs again”. Leyland also supported the Penguins during the Stanley Cup finals. As much of a douchestick as Larry Brown is, at least the world’s biggest carpetbagger would support other Detroit teams during the roughly 1.45 seasons he actually had his heart into coaching the Pistons.
If Leyland decides to head back off to retirement it might help to solve the persistent problem of Todd Jones being designated the closer despite all evidence showing he is no longer fit to fulfill this role. There might be only one way to explain why Jones was consistently used in the closer role.
Of course this is another sarcastic poster. Jones had a great career as the Detroit Tigers’ closer. It’s time to move in another direction. One guy who really looked like a whiny little bitch given the way the season started was Brandon Inge. The Tigers brought in a guy in Cabrera who projects to be one of the greatest power hitters in the history of the game and Inge whined about how the Tigers used to be motivated by going up against the teams with the highest payrolls. So here’s my motivational poster for Inge.
So those are my suggestions for the Tigers. The core of the team is pretty solid. While this season looks like another lost year a few important changes could help get the team back to competing at the highest levels. Tigers
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It’s amazing how quickly Tigers fans have turned on Leyland. The thing is, I tend to agree with them. JV throwing 130 pitches last week was really the last straw for me. I really respect the guy, but I think it’s his time to go.
What Dusty Baker did to Mark Prior makes me ill.
But I love the www.despair.com “demotivators” treatment of the Tigers’ season. Very funny - and accurate.