Sports Geekly (Today: Jeremy Bonderman)
There is a lot of negative energy emanating from 4 Championship drive, a lot of he said he said, and people covering their tracks, and stories being told, and frankly, I don't care. James Stewart, if he were still a part of the detroit sports scene, would so eloquently put it: "it is what it is." I do plan to post on that topic, but need a breather to do more fun stuff, the stuff that makes following sports so intoxicating, rather than focus on the seedy business side of sports.
So today, I present to you a comparison of Jack Morris' third season in the majors:
W-L, ERA, G, (CG), IP, H, R, (ER), HR, BB, SO
17-7, 3.28, 27, 9, 197.2, 179, 76, 72, 19, 59, 113
with Jeremy Bonderman's current numbers:
W-L, ERA, G, (CG), IP, H, R, (ER), HR, BB, SO
12-6, 4.05, 20, 2, 135.2, 128, 62, 61, 15, 38, 107
His ERA is elevated, but he is playing in an elevated power era. You can see that just in terms of the home runs he has given up. Hits: IP and BB:IP, are comparable, so the gopher ball is what has done in JB. He has almost the same amount of strikeouts in just 3/4 the starts, his SO:BB ratio is better, and he is on pace to better his win total. Oh, and, like Jack, he is a slump stopper! he is a true ace, a bulldog.
One more thing. Jack Morris' third season was 1979, the year Sparky came on board. 5 years later, he was a world champion. Mark my words: Jeremy Bonderman is going to lead this staff and this team to a World Series title within the next 5 years
posted by SportPsych Detroit @ 9:27 AM
6 Comments:
I think Bonderman's the real deal, but if you think this Tigers franchise is in the same position as the 1979 team was, you must be smoking something.
First, they had an A+ grade manager who had won before and was at the top of his game. Second, they had a plethora of prospects to hit the majors at roughly the same time (Gibby, Parrish, Tram, Whitaker,Morris, & Petry). They had a savvy, if conservative, GM. And ownership willing to do the little things to win.
This team has some nice pieces (Inge, Bonderman) with some on the way (Verlander, Zumaya), but few position players on the rise, no genuine position player All stars on the current roster, a manager who is average at best, and ownership who waver in commitment to winning. I'll give you the savvy GM.
So what makes you think this team is on course to be better than just a 78-85 win team over the next 5 years?
Now that hockey costs are "contained," Maybe Pizza Man can take that extra 40 million and throw it the Tigers way.
The Marlins proved that any team can win within a few years, even starting from scratch. But the tigers have been losing for too many years. They have a loser mentality. Bobby Higginson has not played on a team that was over 500 since high school, and he has been on the team for the last decade.
Win the division first, or better yet, finish over 500, and get within five games of the wild card spot. Then we can start talking World Series
I know, it's difficult to set a realistic goal of winning the World series when they've been that bad for so long.
However, you have to try really really hard to stay that bad for that long. One simple statistical rule is regression to the mean, so the Tigers should be at least average. Once they get there (and I believe they are there now), the only way to actually win a championship is to expect it and demand it.
I, for one, am laying down the gauntlet, daring them to be bold.
yeah, but regression to the mean can also keep them from becoming great
Anon,
I think that it is much harder to stay bad for 15 straight years than it is to be near the top for 3-5 straight years. Sure, regression to the mean will pull the Tigers back, but I believe they've got a good run in 'em.
For the first time in a long time, their current braintrust (Dave Dombrowski) knows what he's doing. I think he will contnue to develop young talent, pick up a dominant in his prime pitcher, and add one power-hitting left-handed bat. The team is 3-4 high quality players away from competing for the division. One is Justin Verlander. Two is A.J. Burnett. The third is our new outfielder (maybe Adam Dunn). Hopefully, we can pick up near major league ready players when we trade Rondell White and Dmitri Young.
We used to be a proud baseball city. Think positive and positive things will happen: If you think you can, you will. If you think you can't, you won't...
I still think you are drinking the kool-aid...they are at best 8th in the league. They'll need alot more than you think to leapfrog all of those teams
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