By Jeff Moss
May 14, 2012
DetroitSportsRag@gmail.com
I am not going to lie to you people. I am getting worn down by the duties attached to running this website.
Fighting Twitter Wars on three fronts has left me more depleted than the US military. Working on a Sima Birach, Jr expose and trying to sift through allegations of gunshot wounds, alleged sexual harassment, lawsuits against him by his own FATHER and alleged bankruptcy fraud is a full-time job for Woodward, Bernstein, M.L. Elrick and Gary Grantham COMBINED.
Then when you mix in my nuclear response to Gregg Henson’s 20-year old rumors about my family and his mocking of my wife’s ectopic pregnancy coupled with having to deal with Twitter accounts named, “JeffsDeadFetus”, well; you probably can understand why I am a bit run down.
And I haven’t EVEN mentioned what this site is really supposed to be all about and what I SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON … My tremendous opinions on Detroit sports teams and criticism of the [Verlander] awful media whose charge it is to cover them.
So instead of having the time to write an article about Sergei Fedorov’s retirement and why his jersey should be retired by the Wings or the incredibly frustrating process of being a Tigers fan from every angle possible, I have wasted my time copying and pasting derogatory Tweets when I am not blasting Jerry(atric) Green.
So, on Monday morning I was really looking forward to composing an original and thoughtful article while washing away all of the negativity of the last week when I clicked on the Detroit News website and read the following headline:
“Forget Inge; letting Placido Polanco go was Tigers’ worst mistake”
Yes, Terry Foster actually penned a column that not only stated the Tigers have never recovered from letting Polanco go in the winter of 2009, but that they were CURSED by the decision.
Also, the race baiter stated it was the worst mistake the Tigers have made recently. And yes, we are talking about an organization that traded away the dude who finished FOURTH in the AL MVP voting last year (Curtis Granderson) and a team that passed on trading Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry for Roy Halladay a couple years back.
Yep, letting Polanco go was the team’s biggest mistake and one that haunts the Tigers to this day.
Except one small detail. Placido Polanco. He hasn’t been good since he left Detroit. OHHHHHH.
Give me a moment to put this in perspective for you. For over SIX MILLION DOLLARS a season, Polanco has given the Phillies the following OPS figures in the last three years:
2010 — .726
2011 — .674
2012 — .648
I am pretty sure that Foster has no clue WHAT THOSE NUMBERS mean so let’s go to the guy who defined them, Bill James.
A .726 OPS is average. .674? Below average? .648? Getting in the neighborhood of TERRIBLE.
Yep, for $18 million dollars over three years, Polanco has been BELOW average offensively. And this year he just plain sucks which is best represented by an on-base percentage of .309. You know, the current season the Al Sharpton of health style reporting wants to bring Polanco back to Motown.
I mean, a .309 OPS in the second spot right now? Tigers fans would be attempting to run the guy out of town for that sort of production with that type of salary!!!!
If you aren’t a big sabermetric devotee (in other words, a member of the Detroit Sports Media), let me put Polanco’s top OPS in the last three years (.726) under greater scrutiny.
Last season, another second baseman turned third sacker the Tigers traded away for NOTHING possessed an OPS of .741. This player had an on-base percentage of .342. Polanco’s best OBP since the Tigers rightfully let him walk? .339!!!!
So if Polanco was “steady and would be the perfect No. 2 hitter behind Austin Jackson” as mentally challenged Foster claims, what would he call a guy who in his FIRST FULL SEASON IN THE BIGS actually got on base more frequently than Polanco and who had a superior slugging percentage?
I am sure everyone who is reading this (except Foster) knows that the player I am talking about is Scott Sizemore. Who the Tigers traded away for David Purcey. The same David Purcey that didn’t even finish the 2011 season in Detroit. Also, Sizemore made 6.1 million less than Placido last season.
I don’t know, call me bi-polar, but that seems to be a worse move than not giving Polanco $18 million plus over three years also.
This know-nothing actually suggested trading for a 36-year old with an OBP of .309 to bat second on this team and he ACTUALLY thinks that will be some sort of elixir for the Tigers struggling offense.
Even though the CURRENT #2 hitter has an OBP of .413 and an OPS of 1.042. To say the problem with the Tigers offense is their number two hitter would be like saying the main issue with the Detroit News sports section is the work of John Niyo.
Suggesting the Tigers should trade for an over-the-hill Polanco because Ryan Raburn, Danny Worth and Ramon Santiago aren’t getting it done would be like giving a single and horny Denise Richards the advice to give Charlie Sheen a second shot.
And I am not even going to enter any discussion that the Tigers made any sort of mistake when releasing Brandon Inge. That shithead is coming off a CAREER WEEK as it would appear a Genie granted him three wishes and yet HE is STILL hitting .188 with a .243 OBP for the year.
And one last item about this asinine suggestion that the Tigers made a monumental error when they said goodbye to Polanco and that second base is now under a witch’s spell.
As bad as Ryan Raburn has been so far this season, his OPS in both 2010 and 2011 (the only two complete seasons since Polanco left) far exceed Polanco’s.
What a curse, you IDIOT. We should all be so cursed. If so, we’d be walking around with 12-inch dongs.
To summarize this article, a supposed sports writer for a major daily newspaper suggested that the Tigers acquire a player who is making $6 million this season and whose key offensive statistics have gone downhill for SIX STRAIGHT YEARS.
A guy who has an OPS that is currently 15 out of 17 among qualifying third baseman. There are also SEVENTEEN second baseman with a higher OPS than Polanco’s meager .648. You know, the spot he’d ostensibly play if Terry Foster was the team’s GM.
In most hardcore sports towns a columnist who wrote such a ridiculous piece would be mocked by his colleagues for sitting down at this laptop and doing absolutely ZERO research on his subject.
Not.
This. Town.
Of course, this is the same paper where ANOTHER columnist suggested the team’s biggest offseason mistake was not re-signing Joel Zumaya.
I gotta die.