When the top team in the National League and all of baseball traveled to Motown for a three-game series against one of the American League’s best, I promised ALDLAND would be on site as the Tigers closed out April in the D. The following is my report from the weekend.
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Airships are away in the Detroit Tigers empire as I write. After a crash landing at the final destination of the team’s only West Coast trip, the Tigers limped back to the Motor City, and promptly (indeed, retroactively) placed Octavio Dotel, who has been pitching without a functioning elbow since Oakland, on the disabled list. In immediate need of bullpen reinforcements, GM Dave Dombrowski & Co., air traffic controller furloughs be damned, revved up the sky fleet. The first move was to bring the franchise’s top relief prospect, Bruce Rondon, in from Toledo, something that admittedly is unlikely to require the services of a jet airliner. But then! Wheels up! Jose Valverde is on a flight to Detroit RIGHT NOW! The town and team turned on the once-perfect (49-0!) reliever after a down year last season, but now, in their need, redemption? The front office is mum for now, but the implication from Valverde’s comments this evening is that, at the end of his short-term minor league contract, he will sign a one-year contract with the club in Detroit.
What does all of this mean for a should-be frontrunner floundering in third place in the weak AL Central with a .500 record? Even though it’s early, and fans of baseball teams that struggle early love to rail against “small sample sizes,” we can set aside results and other numbers and acknowledge that the bullpen was working way too hard this month, and two fresh, if unsteady, arms are sure to provide at least temporary relief for a staff that seems like it could use a collective deep breath. For Rondon, my hope is that he’s ready for the big leagues. For Valverde, I just hope he has enough left to allow the coaches to use him in a way that helps the team. That may be ending this jet-set flourish with something of a sigh, but let it be, in part, a sigh of relief as you remind yourself that at least it wasn’t Brennan Boesch’s birthday flight that landed at DTW this evening.
Keep reading to find out who else will be on a flight to Detroit this week…
We’re a dozen games into the season and the Tigers, with a few hiccups, are off to a respectable 7-5 start. Despite the day/Pacific time starts and my living outside the Tigers Radio Network, I’ve been able to keep decent track of these first few series and, while mindful of small sample size they represent, I was beginning to notice something concerning.
Things aren’t quite what they used to be around Hockeytown this year, and with realignment looming, it isn’t even clear that the Red Wings will get to seek needed playoff revenge against the Predators this year, much less turn the tide against the Blackhawks. Right now, the Wings season in one play looks something like this:
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Caption contest in the comments.
Grantland’s Zach Lowe is a fairly technical NBA observer, and in his latest league rundown, he twice mentions the Grizzlies and their newest acquisition, Tayshaun Prince.
He first discusses the issue of spacing, a topic that’s come up here and elsewhere in the context of the Prince trade:
Prince is shooting 42 percent from 3-point range, and he’s been especially good from the corners, but the notion that he would help Memphis loosen its spacing just a tick hasn’t played out yet. Prince has been operating a lot in the elbow area, often in a two-man game with Marc Gasol, and when he does spot up, he’s often a step inside the 3-point arc. And while he has shot well from deep, Prince needs time to lock and load, which means he’ll often pump-fake and take a step inside the line against aggressive closeouts. There’s a reason he barely attempts one 3 per game. But let’s give this new Grizz team some time to jell.
He has more to say about Prince and his new team later in the article:
Rudy Gay wasn’t exactly a knock-down 3-point shooter in Memphis, either, and when you watch the new Grizz, you can see how the front office might have envisioned Prince being more polished at all the cuts and screens and quick-decision passes inside the arc through which Memphis has long tried to manufacture spacing. Prince and Gasol have shown potential in a two-man game around the left elbow, and Prince can run a side pick-and-roll in a pinch.
Prince can also post up, with Gasol taking on Greg Monroe’s old role as Prince’s entry passer on the right side of the floor. And here’s a new wrinkle for Memphis: After delivering that entry pass, Gasol will amble across the foul line and to the left side of the floor, as if he’s clearing the right side for Prince to work. Zach Randolph will already be stationed on the left block, Gasol’s apparent destination, but as Gasol gets into the paint, Randolph will suddenly cut right around him, so that the two crisscross in the paint. It works as a kind of (legal) moving screen for Z-Bo, whom Prince can hit in the post for a close-range shot.
Memphis’s assist rate is up since the trade, but they started the season with three weeks of high-assist play that proved a blip.
As a native Michigander, I always will love the 2004-era Pistons, and if one of the members of that team was going to come and join the Grizzlies, I think Prince is the best option in 2013. Any team would love to add a Chauncey Billups or Rasheed Wallace (yes really), of course, but neither of those guys would fill a need for Memphis at this time. On the other side of the coin, Antonio McDyess is retired, Ben Wallace has washed out, and the once-tireless Rip Hamilton seemingly has become tired of being a great teammate.
Prince really is a perfect fit for this Grizz squad. He remains a very viable player in his eleventh year in the league, and he carries a very complimentary set of assets that would benefit any team on both ends of the court. As far as his personality, let’s just say most people are shocked when they remember he went to Kentucky. (Of course, some were somewhat belatedly shocked to learn of his recent transfer to Memphis.)
Barring any off-court distractions, Prince’s presence is going to fit right in and make these Grizzlies fun to watch down the stretch this season.
[Cross-posted from Grizzly Bear Blues. -Ed.]
In case you decided yesterday afternoon was a good time to crawl under your proverbial rock, here’s the Deadspin investigative report on how the biggest human-interest story of the 2012 football season was a complete hoax.
Here’s how we saw the day from our Twitter command center:
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Big Boi is a tough act to follow, but here goes. The Seattle Seahawks meet the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome today at 1:00. There are a couple things you should read before then:
Yes, Floyd’s still doing his thing, although his thing seems to be less and less about boxing these days. Mayweather is thirty-five years old and still undefeated, the pound-for-pound champion of the sport, the self-proclaimed face of boxing. His mix of wealth and outspokenness keeps him relevant even as, for a variety of reasons, he fights less frequently. Juan Manuel Marquez’s knockout of Manny Pacquiao earlier this month only serves to complicate the question of whether Pacquiao and Mayweather ever will fight.
Meanwhile, Grantland has the story of Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin, a young fighter who, like Mayweather, has Grand Rapids roots, preaches a gospel of hard work and dedication, and doesn’t lose:
(Here‘s the original post.)
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