Tigers Winter Meetings - Kevin Bacon Game

Now that the Tigers have signed Adam Everett, the story for the Tigers at the winter meetings is Mark Teixeira or Joe Mauer. Here is what I mean …

Gerald Laird comes to the Tigers, known as a good defensive catcher. In the Rangers organization, Laird didn’t start regularly, with the exception of 2007, and arguably 2006. He was 3rd in the major leagues in 2007 for number of attempted base stealers caught stealing (39). The two catchers ahead of him in the category, Johjima (40) and Martin (41) each played at least 100 more innings behind the plate.

Combined for 2006-2007, here are the top catchers for “caught stealing”. I’ve included successful stolen base attempts to demonstrate the differential.


Name....Stolen Bases..Caught Stealing
Martin..............153.............73
Posada..............166.............70
Johjima.............103.............69
Paulino.............141.............65
Hernandez........123.............62
Laird.............84...........60

2006-2008
Name....Stolen Bases..Caught Stealing
Laird..................137...............81
“Pudge”..............124...............72

So it should be interesting to see what Laird can do behind the plate, if he stays healthy, with a full season behind the plate, particularly if new pitching coach Rick Knapp is successful in implementing a “throw strikes” philosophy.

Leyland likes Laird’s potential as a gap hitter at Comerica Park, “He's a gap hitter, and a gap hitter in our ballpark is a good thing to have.” He didn’t hit the gaps in 2007, but he did go 4-7 with a walk at Comerica Park. Additionally, Laird once held the California state records for career hits by a high school player and, to Leyland’s point, the career record for doubles.

Laird was named as part of the honorable mention category for California high school baseball player of the year for 1997 – his junior year. The player of the year for California in 1997 was Tiger nemesis Jon Garland. The player of the year for Hawaii in 1997: one of Detroit's 2008 catchers, Dane Sardinha.

Laird was also named to the 1998 All-USA baseball team. Included on that team were Mark Teixeira and current Lions QB Drew Henson.

There is another Teixeira connection. Laird was obtained by the Rangers in the 2002 trade that sent former Tiger Carlos Pena to the A’s. Pena was considered a top prospect in the Rangers organization, but Rafael Palmeiro was planted at first base. So Texas moved Pena. In 2003, Texas fell out of the pennant race, and Palmeiro was replaced at first base by Mark Teixeira – a third baseman without a home, a la Brandon Inge, because Hank Blalock was at third base. As a side note, the Rangers future, at that time, possibly included Teixeira in the outfield after they obtained Adrian Gonzalez to play first base in exchange for former Tigers Ugueth Urbina

Laird is considered very athletic, much like Brandon Inge. Laird was – and may still be – known as “Chipper” by close friends because he has a chipped front tooth, and he used to wear #9 because Ted Williams was his hero.

Of course, Ted Williams played in Boston. Adam Everett didn’t play in Boston, but he was drafted by the Red Sox. Everett was a first round draft pick in 1998, and was rated by Baseball America as the top defensive player in that draft. The Red Sox didn’t have a second rounder in 1998, but took Everett’s friend and former Tiger Mike Maroth in the third round. The Red Sox drafted a high school player in the 9th round that year who didn’t sign, and is rumored to have been part of the demise of then Red Sox scouting director Wayne Britton, who was eventually replaced by Tigers VP of Amateur Scouting David Chadd. The ninth round pick in 1998 for Boston was … Mark Teixeira. Teixeira would be drafted again, in 2001, by Texas – the team that in the 1998 draft, selected Carlos Pena in the first round. Meanwhile, Everett ended up as another example of a player that Boston didn’t bring up through their system. He went to Houston in exchange for Crazy Carl Everett – an interesting trade because (a) I believe they are the only two players in MLB history to spell their last name as “Everett”, and (b) there was some sort of contractual issue (rumored back then to potentially involve foul play) for Everett, then a minor leaguer, that delayed the trade.

Once Everett worked his way to the major leagues in Houston, his performance exhibited the excellent defensive shortstop – once compared to Orioles defensive wizard Mark Belanger – everyone expected. The last year that he was healthy, 2006, Everett finished 6th in total chances at shortstop, including 3rd in assists. Only Omar Vizquel had a better fielding percentage among starters – Everett made just 7 errors over the season (compared to Carlos Guillen who made 28 that year for the Tigers).

Everett also brings something else that the Tigers need, a potential return to some “small ball”. Take a look at where Everett ranked for sacrifice hits when he was healthy at the major league level.

Year, Sacrifice Hits, “Summary” Ranking
2006, 10 sacrifice hits, 9th in majors for non-pitchers
2005, 8 sacrifice hits, Top 25 in majors for non-pitchers
2004, 22 sacrifice hits, 2nd in majors for non-pitchers
2003, 11 sacrifice hits, 6th in majors for non-pitchers

His 51 combined sacrifice hits between 2003 and 2006 were tops in the majors, including pitchers. Simply put, Everett is a great bunter. The Tigers had 30 sacrifice hits as a team in 2008 (tied for 9th in league); not surprisingly, Everett’s former team, the Minnesota Twins led the league with 52. The last Tiger to reach double digits for sacrifice hits in a season was Vance Wilson (10) in 2006. Hopefully, with the additions of a few more “small ball” players to the lineup, the Tigers will have a new source of offensive production more readily available to ensure consistency.

To achieve consistency on the defensive end, the Tigers went beyond Laird and Everett, and obtained pitcher Edwin Jackson. Jackson provides the Tigers with another power arm who could join Verlander and Zumaya as reaching the 100 mph mark. Reportedly, Jackson hit that mark in 2004 in Colorado – by the way, possible Tigers person of interest Derrick Turnbow has also hit the 100 mark.

Jackson rose quickly to the major leagues. He was one of three high school players drafted in 2001 to reach the majors in 2003, one of the others being Tiger Jeremy Bonderman. Jackson was considered one of the better prospects to come out of the state of Georgia in 2001, although the top two prospects that year were two college players – Mark Teixeira and Jackson’s teammate in Tampa Bay last season, Gabe Gross. Joe Mauer went first in the draft that year. Jackson made his MLB debut was in September 2003, on his birthday, in a fill-in start for an injured pitcher, former Tiger Hideo Nomo. Jackson went to 98 on the radar gun for that start.

Overall, Jackson has yet to live up to the extremely high expectations that were expected of him, after he was drafted as an outfielder, converted to a pitcher and performed so well in 2002 and 2003. That being said, in his two full seasons as a starter, Jackson has improved, putting up better numbers in the 2008 campaign as compared to 2007. Most hopeful, he finished the 2008 season going 9-4 after July 25th. It should be exciting to watch Jackson pitch, which many of us got to do during the post season.

Jackson was born in Germany – son of an army staff sergeant. Jackson is said to be an easygoing guy in the clubhouse.

As to Rule V draft pick Kyle Bloom, I don’t have much. Here is a link to someone with more: http://oldbucs.blogspot.com/2008/11/look-at-killer-kyle-go.html

In terms of what the Tigers have given up, we know Matt Joyce was a hard-working player who had some pop in his bat, a good arm and some range in the outfield. He was a player who emerged on the scene in May, after the flop by Jacque Jones, and won player of the week for a period in July. He helps Tampa Bay present an extremely talented defensive outfield. Joyce is considered somewhat of an overachiever, and he returns home – Tropicana Field is approximately a half hour car drive from Joyce’s high school in Seffner. The Rays like the long-term opportunity Joyce offers to the team - and expect him to help, perhaps in 2009, but moreso in 2010 and beyond.

An interesting player to watch develop will be Guillermo Moscoso, who pitched a perfect game a couple years ago in the Tigers system. It was only the second nine-inning perfect game in the history of the New York-Penn league.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070715&content_id=275109&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

As mentioned in the link, the first nine-inning perfect game in the New York-Penn league was thrown in 1956 by 20-yearl old rookie right-hander John Herbert of Erie. Of course, Erie is a present day Tigers affiliate, and a team where Moscoso finished 2008 and former Tiger Matt Joyce enjoyed success.

Moscoso has dealt with shoulder problems in the last few years, but could be effective at the MLB level, should he stay healthy. The irony being that Moscoso has tended to throw a lot of strikes, something the Tigers are trying to embed within their pitching philosophy.

Carlos Melo is apparently just 17 years old. 2008 was his first professional season.