Sam McGuffie Leaves Michigan

I am sure most of you have heard this by now, and apologies from the Ace of Sports staff for being late on the updates-finals had something to do with it.

McGuffie is gone, most likely headed somewhere closer to home.  What can you say if you are a Michigan fan?  It sucks.  It really sucks.  Yeah, maybe he had a hard time breaking tackles.  Maybe he was never going to a a workhorse back.  Doesn't matter.  The dude was probably the most talented freshman on the team last year, and him leaving really sucks.  

He showed flashes of that talent at times, and began to hit his stride early on, especially in the Notre Dame game.  Then, the concussions happened.  He reportedly suffered two in a span of three weeks, and that's never good.  He played sparingly the rest of the season, with Brandon Minor taking on most of the running back duties.  

Though this is very disappointing, running back is not the position Michigan needs to worry about-that would be uh...every other position.  Brandon Minor proved, at least to me, that he can run well against a very good defense (Penn State, anyone?), Michael Shaw has a ton of potential, and who knows what Carlos Brown will do when (or if) he ever returns.  

I don't believe this was Rich Rodriguez's doing.  I think Sammy was very far from home, he was not in the system he signed up for, and I don't know if his maturity level would have allowed him to assimilate easily onto any team, even one in the south.  

Definitely sucks, but Michigan fans just have to move on.  Good luck to Sam, wherever he goes.    

Real Winter Meeting Update

Reporting live (just kidding) from these winter meetings for Ace of Sports, I'm Joe Stapleton.

As I said in the earlier, hastily-put-together post, the Tigers trade for Gerald Laird was met with a resounding "meh."  Laird fills a need.  Will he be any good?  Who knows.  We only really need him to be serviceable, considering our, ahem, POTENTIAL hitting prowess.  

Seriously, it's going to be hard for Dave Dombrowski and Co. to surprise any of the fans this off-season after what they pulled last winter, landing Edgar Renteria, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.  Of those three, only Cabrera lived up to the hype, and that's pretty generous.  He got off to a very slow start, and he only really crawled out of it when things stopped mattering and it became apparent that no matter how many runs the Tigers gave him, Nate Robertson was going to keep finding a way to lose games.  As for the other two "big time" free agents, one was profoundly ineffectual and the other's career is probably over.  Guess who is who.

As of now, those signings did NOT work out.  However, Cabrera still has time to be great, and my bet is he will be next year.  

The Tigers also traded for Rays starter Edwin Jackson after talks for Mariners closer J.J. Putz fell through.  They gave up Matt Joyce, which is too bad (a power bat with potential), but they got a pitcher who was tied for the team lead in wins last year and showed some great potential. The guy has a chance to be very good, he's only 25, and we desperately need starting pitching.  So there.

Apparently we are also talking to Jon Smoltz, which is a little disturbing but if it works out could be awesome.  And the Rangers are "interested" in Shef.  Take him.  Please.

Hopefully through this storm of trades we will come out still holding Clete Thomas.  Dude's awesome.  More updates later. 

Ok, instead of making a new post I'm just going to add on to this one: the Tigers claimed this kid Kyle Bloom in Rule 5.  Lots of upside: he's a lefty, he's been a starter for most of his time in the minors, but we would probably use him as a reliever.  As a reliever in the minors, his stats have been much better than his starts.

We also got shortstop Adam Everett from San Fran, who mercifully took The Bum Renteria off our hands.  Good riddance.  The man is just collecting a paycheck at this point.        

While it's nice bringing on a young reliever with potential, the Tigers were not able to do what they came to the meetings wanting to do: nab a consistent, reliable closer.  They were in talks with Putz for a while, but he decided he would rather go to New York to be a setup man for K-Rod.  By the way: the Mets can suck it.  Keep spending fellas, you're just going to end up choking your brains out in August and September.  Not that I'm bitter.  I really wanted Putz. 

However, I am currently in the process of talking myself into Edwin Jackson as a reliable starter.  Instead of relying on a turnaround from either Robertson or Willis, we can just hope.  The guy clearly has some good stuff. 

Overall I would rate the Vegas trip pretty productive.  Depending on what kind of tail Dave and his boys ended up with, I think they would say the same thing, maybe a little better, maybe a little worse.

 

Tigers Winter Meeting Happenings

The Tigers popped the cherry at baseball's Las Vegas winter meetings, acquiring catcher Gerald Laird from the Texas Rangers on Monday.

Laird split time with Jarrod Saltalamacchia last year and posted some impressive numbers for limited playing time.  The Tigers gave up two prospects, which sucks.  

The Tigers needed a catcher, so it was a needed move.  Was it necessarily profitable?  Who knows.  For now, all I have to say is "meh."

For now, we're reportedly in contact with the Mariners about J.J. Putz, who would be a huge pickup.  More updates and appropriate analysis to come.  

Completely Random Lookalike Epiphany

I'm watching the Red Wings/Ducks game tonight (with Detroit currently winning 2-1 ... thank you Marian Hossa). Johan Franzen scores a goal on a beautiful tip-in of a Nick Lidstrom shot. FSN subsequently zooms in on Franzen. I have a moment of clarity that makes me realize I watch too much TV:

Johan Franzen, Right Wing, Detroit Red Wings

Toby Flenderson, Human Resources, Dunder Mifflin Paper Co.

And yes, I Googled "Johan Franzen Toby Office" to make sure I didn't steal this from somebody else.