By Jeff Moss
June 13, 2012
DetroitSportsRag@gmail.com
I am not sure if you people out there are sick of these columns of mine bashing Jim Leyland and his continued indefensible maneuvering, but I am sure as hell tired of writing them.
Unfortunately, since nobody else in the Detroit Sports Media will call this ancient fossil out for his asinine decisions, the DSR has become the de facto “Library of Congress” when it comes to cataloging all of this disgusting slob’s atrocious moves.
And after the last few days of Leylandisms, I am pretty sure we’re going to have to start construction on a new wing to include the following decisions Cancer Stick made during the series in Cincinnati.
1) On Friday night, Leyland made the move of allowing relief pitcher Duane Below to BAT in the eighth inning of a game in which the Tigers had a one run lead.
It was actually the correct decision because the team’s bullpen was depleted and the former starter (Below) has the ability to pitch multiple innings.
Of course, even when Leyland does something right, it is only a matter of time until he completely fucks it up with a subsequent horrid move and this game was no exception.
When Miguel Cairo led off the bottom of the eighth with a single for the Reds and then was moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt, Leyland made the HISTORICALLY AWFUL decision to pull Below.
Now, let’s talk about Below for a second. In 2012, the man has an ERA of 2.57 and an amazing WHIP of .79. To put that number into perspective, in 2011 when Justin Verlander won the Cy Young AND the AL MVP, his WHIP was POINT-NINE-TWO.
Opponents in 2012 have an OPS of .486 off of “Send the Duane” Below which means he pretty much turns every hitter into Ryan Raburn, Danny Worth or Don Kelly.
At the time Leyland pulled Below from the game (the same Below who HIT in the top of the inning!!!!!), he had thrown a whopping 15 pitches. 15. Pitches. For a guy who probably should be STARTING for this team.
And who did Cancer bring in from the bullpen to replace a man with a .79 WHIP and maybe the most consistent relief arm we’ve had ALL YEAR?
Rollie Fingers? Bruce Sutter? Goose Gossage? Guillermo Hernandez? “The Duke?Nope. Some guy named Jose Ortega who was making his MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT in this crucial situation. Yep, a kid from Toledo that was called up just a day or so before that game and was thrown into this pressure cooker of an at-bat.
So, you are probably saying to yourself, this kid must have been lights out in the International League if Leyland decided to replace Below with him. Well, if you consider an ERA of 3.94 and a WHIP of 1.89 closing the door on the opponent, than yeah, Ortega is your guy.
I am not making this up, folks. Jose Ortega in TRIPLE A, has walked 29 batters in 29 2/3 innings. Seriously. Dude is almost averaging a walk PER FUCKING INNING.
This is who replaced DUANE BELOW in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday night and proceeded to cost the Tigers the game.
Chance Ruffin. Thad Weber. Luke Putkonen. And now Jose Soft Taco Shells. All rookies making their FIRST APPEARANCE who this FUCKING IGNORAMUS MANAGER has brought in to pitch during a crucial moment with a game on the line.
Like, how many times does this, “I am going to try to sneak this rookie in here and hope he can get out of this jam because the opposition doesn’t know what to expect” theory going to fail before he STOPS putting inexperienced pitchers in untenable spots?
I mean, Side Show Bob had a quicker learning curve.
Does anyone call the relic out for this? Did you have any clue before reading this article that Ortega had a WHIP of 1.89 in the INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE?!!???
Of course not. Because that would damage their narrative that Jim Leyland is a great manager and borderline irreplaceable.
Seriously, THIS MOVE ALONE should be cause for his DISMISSAL.
2) Because Jhonny Peralta was unavailable and on maternity leave for the birth of his twin daughters, the team called up Hernan Perez from SINGLE A for a few games.
When this transaction was announced, I figured even Leyland wouldn’t allow this 21-year old KID to do anything except maybe get inserted as a pinch runner or late inning defensive replacement.
That would be the LOGIC of a normal human being considering Perez had an OPS of .589 in LAKELAND when he was recalled.
So what does Emaciated Grossness do with Perez over the weekend? He utilizes him as a pinch HITTER TWICE!!!!! Yep, a 21-year old child who is batting .255 with an OBP of .284 a full two rungs below the majors was used as a pinch hitter in TWO close games.
This moron’s fascination with employing every member of his 25-man roster is INSANE. Hell, if famous imposter, Barry Bremen, was still alive, there is no question he could get into a game by sneaking onto the Tigers bench and just sitting there patiently for a couple of innings.
3) And while Ortega and Perez are back where they belong as of this writing (the MINOR LEAGUES), this next Leyland decision is a continued problem with the big league roster.
(Yep, a day after Ortega was thrown to the wolves in his first MLB appearance, he was sent back to Toledo. In 24 hours the relief pitcher went from Leyland’s best option out of the pen during the EIGHTH frame in a one run game to his normal gig of walking one batter per inning in the International League.)
Can someone explain to me what Delmon Young has done over the last season and a half to guarantee him a spot in this every day lineup?
After 213 plate appearances in 2012, Young has walked a grand total of SEVEN TIMES while possessing a pathetic OPS of .679.
Young isn’t hitting for power (.388 slugging percentage), he isn’t getting on base and when he is actually allowed to play the field, the left fielder is an utter abortion.
TWICE this season the Tigers have petitioned MLB to change an official scorer’s ruling on a botched play by Young in the outfield. The most recent incident occurred on Saturday when Young dropped a fly ball and cost Verlander two runs and who knows how many additional pitches.
The former first pick overall in the draft isn’t fast, he is a HUGE liability on defense and he hasn’t even been able to take advantage of batting behind Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder in the Tigers’ lineup.
Seriously, this guy was batting SEVENTH in the Twins lineup last year before getting traded to the Tigers in August. Like, the 2011 TWINS lost 99 games and were outscored by EVERY SINGLE AL team except the Mariners and Ron Gardenhire had him batting SEVENTH.
Since coming to Detroit though the guy has batted either third or fifth. WHY?!?!?
If Delmon Young was ANY good, I am guessing the Twins wouldn’t have traded him to a divisional rival. They wouldn’t have agreed to send him to Detroit for nondescript relief pitchers, Lester Oliveros and Cole Nelson. And considering the deal occurred AFTER the July 31st non-waiver deadline, I am guessing another team would have blocked the move if they thought very much of Delmon.
(FULL DISCLOSURE: I totally supported Dave Dombrowski’s decision to offer Young arbitration over the winter. I even called the move a “no-brainer.” I was dead wrong.)
At this point in his career, what does Young offer this franchise other than swinging at the first pitch and popping it up? He refuses to work the count and couldn’t even earn a walk from Jose Ortega.
And it isn’t like the Tigers don’t have a viable replacement for Young on the roster. In 79 plate appearances, Quintin Berry has an OBP of .372 and an OPS of .778.
He is a better defender. His speed causes the opposing pitcher fits. And he has shown a propensity to GET ON BASE more frequently than Young.
UNTIL Berry proves that he cannot get on base regularly, he should be in the lineup as opposed to this one-dimensional bust that hasn’t even been able to display THAT dimension.
And are we 100 percent sure that Berry is going to stop getting to first and stealing second? In the minors in 2011, Berry had an OBP of .383.
Before getting the call to Detroit this season, Berry’s OBP for the Mud Hens was .368.
In his last 500 plate appearances on a variety of teams and leagues, Quintin Berry has been able to GET ON BASE. So how about we ride that train until it STOPS?!?!?
And if it isn’t bad enough that Leyland refuses to replace Young with Berry in the lineup, this career under .500 manager doubled down on stupid with the following comments on Monday:
“(I’d like to) play Delmon a couple games a week in left field. I think he’d do better. I talked to him a little bit about that, DH maybe four or five times a week but play the outfield a couple just to break it up for him I think would help.”
So, not only is this guy going to DH when he can’t hit, Leyland is going to actually put him in the field a couple of times a week and presumably DH Andy Dirks when Dirks returns from the DL and interleague play ends.
This strategy would be unfathomable for most managers, but this is what Tigers fans are stuck with until the man either develops lung cancer or Dombrowski grows a pair of nuts and FIRES HIS ASS.
And even though I am a born Jew, the least offensive part of DY’s 2012 was his alleged beating of a homeless Orthy who was wearing a yarmulke in NYC.
Hell, if Young would start hitting for power and stop dropping popups he could burn down Shir Shalom and screen a Mel Gibson film festival at the Howell Theater for all I give a shit.
But he hasn’t and he won’t and it is time to stop running him out there every game thinking he is going to snap out of it when you have a replacement who this year has been better than Young at EVERY FREAKING aspect of the game.
Of course, this stubborn asshole won’t change a damn thing and only Victor Martinez’s return this season will necessitate the benching of this no-tool loser.
Tell Tim Diemer he was right. You … were …. right.