This is part one of a four-part series introducing the Tigers’ four new players to readers who may not know much about them. Unfortunately, there’s not a ton of information out there on these guys, but we’ll share whatever we dig up. Parts 2-4 will come later.
As sad as I was that Curtis Granderson was traded, I’ve ran out of tissues started to see the bright side of this trade. The Tigers received four quality players that should be able to help the team right away while slashing a big chunk of payroll in the next few years. Detroit owed Granderson over $30 million over the next four seasons (if he were to pick up a player option in 2013). Edwin Jackson, the already-forgotten piece in the “Granderson to New York” hoopla would also have been owed about $5 million this year alone. The newcomers should be a significant drop in payroll, even this season. [contract numbers via MLive]
Max Scherzer is probably the best-known player of the four that the Tigers received in this deal (especially if you’re into fantasy baseball). He’s a 25-year old right-handed pitcher with a big arm. He went to the University of Missouri and was drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2006 as the 11th overall pick. Over his year-and-a-half in the big leagues, Scherzer has started 37 games (30 in 2009) and appeared in 9 more. He is 9-15 (9-11 in 2009) with a 3.86 ERA (4.12 in 2009). The stat that has the Tigers staff drooling? 240 strikeouts in 226.1 big league innings. [stats via Baseball-Reference.com]
From what I can gather, he’s got a great fastball and a nasty slider but has had trouble developing a solid third pitch (sound familiar?) His mechanics have also been a concern among some of the AZ faithful. Some think that the D-Backs planned on using Scherzer as a reliever in the future (he’s got the stuff to be a dominant closer) and they traded him to fill holes in their starting rotation. DBacks Venom thinks Scherzer is a bigger risk than Arizona would like.
Scherzer has a very good fastball and a deceptive delivery, but still needs to work on his secondary pitches. His unusual delivery, along with the big jump in Innings Pitched last year (110 between AAA/Majors to 175) leads many to view Scherzer as a large injury risk.
Though Max saw a big jump in innings last year, Billfer at DTW points out that Scherzer’s arm doesn’t have a lot of mileage on it yet.
Scherzer is a year younger than Jackson, but with only a year and a half of service time he won’t reach free agency until the 2015 season. The righty was Arizona’s top pick in the 2006 draft.
For a seemingly cash-strapped franchise, the five years left on Scherzer’s contract are a huge plus. He’ll be eligible for arbitration before then, but he’ll still be a lot cheaper than Edwin Jackson. The more I look at this trade, the more I see Scherzer-Jackson as a straight-up trade, with the rest of the newcomers as compensation for Granderson (it’s not exactly like that, but just humor me for a bit). I believe that Jackson peaked last season and won’t put up the same numbers he did last year. He could prove me wrong in his first year in the desert, but I think we’ll see him start to decline in the next couple of years.
Of all the new Tigers, Scherzer excites me the most. Rob Neyer of ESPN sums up my thoughts nicely.
Scherzer seems like the big prize, because he’s cheap and might strike out 200 hitters next year (Verlander/Scherzer is downright scary).
If Rick Knapp can have have a similar effect on Max Scherzer that he had on Edwin Jackson last year (minus the late-season collapse), he could be a great #2 starter for the Tigers. What Neyer forgets in his above quip is that there will be a 21-year old phenom named Rick Porcello in the Tigers’ rotation as well, and the kid gloves are going to be off for Slick Rick next season. There aren’t many (or any) teams in the MLB that would want to see a Verlander/Scherzer/Porcello lineup for a three game series. And… imagine if Jeremy Bonderman comes back healthy. Bondo, the guy once deemed a cornerstone starter for this franchise… as a 4th starter? If everything pans out for the Tigers next year (and that’s a BIG if), this rotation could be scary good.
I’m already excited for next year. Bring on Spring Training.
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