Hooray! Let's dig in:
1. Renteria's Troubles at shortstop
Uh oh, Lynn has been picking on Edgar lately, mainly concerned about his lack of any extra-base hits and lackluster range in the field.
It is, to me, an astonishing case of loyalty. Renteria has had an abysmal season that is stretching into its fourth month.
You wonder how many baseball people would be surprised if he were released. It's difficult to believe the Tigers would fare as badly if Ramon Santiago and a trade-deadline utility infielder replaced Renteria.
I understand past performances and the need to believe in players, but this in one personnel issue that's thoroughly baffling.
Wow, Lynn seems to be implying that the Tigers would should just outright release a guy they traded Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez for just a few months back. And his plan to replace him? 1/2 of the Flying Infantiago brothers (career batting line of .239/.307/.320 in 913 at-bats) and a "trade-deadline utility infielder." Gosh, I hope Dombrowski is better at obtaining trade deadline utility guys than off-season starting shortstops.
Strange though, I remember Lynn telling me different things about Mr. Renteria in the past. For instance, from March 22, 2008:
Edgar Renteria, shortstop: He is not flashy. His days as an All-Star are probably in the past. But
he gets the job done at shortstop. He nails down the most important position on the field. The Tigers
paid a hefty price to land him, but no team is going anywhere without a quality shortstop. And
Renteria is all of that.
My big question is, if they release Renteria, aren't they forfeiting all of those clutch hits he will rack up with his clutchy goodness in the postseason?
2. Miner's big start
Lynn seems to think that Miner is going to propel the Tigers down the stretch. Currently, Zach Miner has 28 walks and 24 K's this season. But hey, that was mostly as a reliever, and he's a starter now!
He is back doing what he does best, starting, which was clear Monday night. He is more relaxed as a starter and is better able to let off the throttle on his fastball, which gets him into control trouble when he overthrows it.
Miner's career as a starter: 91 innings, 4.74 ERA
Miner's career as a reliever: 106.1, 3.47 ERA
Now, it's very possible that a 4.75 ERA as a starter has more value to the Tigers than a 3.47 ERA as a reliever, but I don't think Lynn was getting at that. Actually, I'm certain that has nothing to do with what Lynn is saying.
3. The making of an ace
Lynn is really excited that Justin Verlander might end up with 15 wins despite starting out 2-9. Of course, this is incredibly unimportant, but it launches Lynn into the following:
Prove that he could end up doing it all before he's finished: 300 victories, Hall of Fame -- you can't rule out anything when a pitcher has the superior talent Verlander owns.
Verlander is 25 years old. He currently owns 43 MLB wins. Lynn is talking about him getting to 300. Let's just assume he gets to 15 wins this year. That would give him 50 career victories. If he averaged 16 wins for the next 15 years, he'd have 290. He'd need 10 wins in his age-41 season to get to 300.
I'm taking the under.
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