A tip of the cap to Delmon Young

[sabretooth]

I certainly hope that the Tigers aren't stupid enough to make player-personnel decisions based on 100-at-bat splits of positional hitting.

[pyrotigers]

I hope they're stupid enough to make it based on the 'game 1 of the world series' sample size

[Nastradamus]

DeJesus signed with the Cubs on November 30, 2011

Willingham signed with the Twins on December 15, 2011

Victor Martinez injury occured on January 17th, 2012

Here's Delmon Young's career splits;

I	Split	G	AB	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
	as LF	534	2053	56	308	97	375	.284	.320	.432	.752
	as RF	159	639	13	83	24	125	.290	.318	.415	.732
	as DH	138	540	17	76	21	100	.269	.295	.404	.699

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/24/2012.

Here's Delmon Young's 2012 season splits;

Split	G	AB	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
as LF	30	110	5	15	3	22	.300	.336	.518	.854
as DH	118	461	13	59	17	88	.260	.287	.388	.675

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/24/2012.

I guess you didn't read my post.

[catswithbats]

DeJesus signed with the Cubs on November 30, 2011

Willingham signed with the Twins on December 15, 2011

Victor Martinez injury occured on January 17th, 2012

Here's Delmon Young's career splits;

I	Split	G	AB	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
	as LF	534	2053	56	308	97	375	.284	.320	.432	.752
	as RF	159	639	13	83	24	125	.290	.318	.415	.732
	as DH	138	540	17	76	21	100	.269	.295	.404	.699

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/24/2012.

Here's Delmon Young's 2012 season splits;

Split	G	AB	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
as LF	30	110	5	15	3	22	.300	.336	.518	.854
as DH	118	461	13	59	17	88	.260	.287	.388	.675

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/24/2012.

What does when DeJesus and Willingham signed/when VMart's injury occurred have anything to do with non-tendering Young after the 2011 season and signing DeJesus or Willingham? Or VMart's injury, for that matter?

[tiger337]

Don't blame Delmon. This is perhaps the dumbest quote I've ever heard from an athlete:

Detroit Tigers' Delmon Young: Offense not to blame in Game 1 loss to San Francisco Giants | MLive.com

[will the thrill]

Don't blame Delmon. This is perhaps the dumbest quote I've ever heard from an athlete:

Detroit Tigers' Delmon Young: Offense not to blame in Game 1 loss to San Francisco Giants | MLive.com

If these quotes don't find the guy a new place to play next year, nothing will. This article is filled with "i really don't care" comments

"I knew it was gone off the bat," he said. "I just had to give the courtesy jog."

"The offense?" Young said. "We were down 4-0 quick, so you can't blame the offense."

"We were out of the game before we had our second at-bat," Young said. "Didn’t matter if we had two months off or we played yesterday. They were up 4-0 quick."

"I don't know," Young said. "We don't have a left-handed BP thrower. … We don't see lefties every day. We see a lot of right-handed pitching all throughout the year. Most people who play baseball are right-handed. Lefties are unique. It doesn't matter what velocity they throw, they'll always have a job for you as a left-handed pitcher.

How damn hard is it to find a lefty to throw BP?

[Yoda]

Stop hating Delmon just because he called some guy a name.

[Casimir]

Stop hating Delmon just because he called some guy a name.

Can I hate him because he's lousy at his craft?

[Euphdude]

Can I hate him because he's lousy at his craft?

I dislike him because he seems like he's a jerk and he's not a very good baseball player.

[Casimir]

I dislike him because he seems like he's a jerk and he's not a very good baseball player.

Yeah, there really isn't a whole lot to like there.

It boggles my mind. There are opinions abound that Young is a high quality ball player while Bumgarner is a crappy pitcher. Yet readily available statistics reveal both opinions as false. I don't get it.

[stanpapi]

A rapid-fire exchange between a media member and Young helped assess the current state of the Tigers.

Question: What was the big difference tonight?
Young: "They scored two. We didn't score at all."
Question: Why?
Young: "Because they found ways to get the guys home."
Question: What do you guys have to do to make that happen?
Young: "Win."

[stanpapi]

If these quotes don't find the guy a new place to play next year, nothing will. This article is filled with "i really don't care" comments

"I knew it was gone off the bat," he said. "I just had to give the courtesy jog."

"The offense?" Young said. "We were down 4-0 quick, so you can't blame the offense."

"We were out of the game before we had our second at-bat," Young said. "Didn’t matter if we had two months off or we played yesterday. They were up 4-0 quick."

"I don't know," Young said. "We don't have a left-handed BP thrower. … We don't see lefties every day. We see a lot of right-handed pitching all throughout the year. Most people who play baseball are right-handed. Lefties are unique. It doesn't matter what velocity they throw, they'll always have a job for you as a left-handed pitcher.

How damn hard is it to find a lefty to throw BP?

Just went back and re-read these. He should be booted off the team for even thinking about saying this stuff. You don't have a left handed throwing BPP???? Frank Tanana lives in Farmington. Call him. But that's not the reason...maybe you just....suck.

[Yoda]

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of Delmon's defenders...

[tiger337]

In all fairness, I would guess that the original question caught him off guard. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but it's hard to believe he would say those things if he had time to think about it. He doesn't seem to do the baseball cliche thing (which is refreshing in a a way) and probably just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. It really came out sounding ridiculous though.

[Shelton]

I appreciate that delmon doesn't give stock quotes. I still don't like him or want him on the team, but at least e is honest.

I can't fault him for his response to those questions. The team struggles against lefties and idiot writers want some sort of explanation. The thing is, delmon is better against lefties, but he didn't say that. He tried to give them some reason because they asked for one.

Saying that lefty pitchers are tough, in general, is nothing new.

As for the 4-0 comment, he was right. The offense was in a huge a hole early. If you want to spread blame for the game 1 loss, it should fall solely on the pitching and bad luck. Te offense didn't do any favors, but when you are down 8-1 with one out to go, it is hardly the offense's fault. It's not as if they stopped trying to score runs, anyway. They just didn't.

[John_Brian_K]

Yeah, there really isn't a whole lot to like there.

It boggles my mind. There are opinions abound that Young is a high quality ball player while Bumgarner is a crappy pitcher. Yet readily available statistics reveal both opinions as false. I don't get it.

.317
8 RBI
.876 OPS in the playoffs

What is so hard to understand? He has helped the team get this far.

[tiger337]

Young had an opportunity to put the Tigers in front when he came up in the first inning. I'm not blaming him for failing to do so, but it's kind of silly for him to say that that the offense was put in an early hole before they had a chance to do anything. This is the comment that struck me as most odd though: "We were out of the game before we had our second at-bat," That sounds like a game thread post. You never want to hear a player say the team was out of the game down 4-0 in the third inning.

[stanpapi]

Young had an opportunity to put the Tigers in front when he came up in the first inning. I'm not blaming him for failing to do so, but it's kind of silly for him to say that that the offense was put in an early hole before they had a chance to do anything. This is the comment that struck me as most odd though: "We were out of the game before we had our second at-bat," That sounds like a game thread post. You never want to hear a player say the team was out of the game down 4-0 in the third inning.

Maybe Delmon was just speaking the truth. Maybe they think they really are out of it at 4-0 in the 3rd. In which case, the least painful approach would be for them to just lay down and be swept, then come back next year with some players with some more confidence in their game.

[pyrotigers]

.317
8 RBI
.876 OPS in the playoffs

What is so hard to understand? He has helped the team get this far.

.267
74 RBI
.707 OPS in the regular season

What is so hard to understand? He didn't help the team make the playoffs to begin with.

[will the thrill]

Just went back and re-read these. He should be booted off the team for even thinking about saying this stuff. You don't have a left handed throwing BPP???? Frank Tanana lives in Farmington. Call him. But that's not the reason...maybe you just....suck.

Frank can probably still sling it up there as hard as Zito too

[Yoda]

.317
8 RBI
.876 OPS in the playoffs

What is so hard to understand? He has helped the team get this far.

What you quoted, if you actually read it, questions Delmon being a quality player, not whether or not he's had a good postseason. We all watch the games. Lots of horrible players have had good postseasons in the past, it doesn't make them good players overall.

[Antrat]

While there were some streaks where Delmon definitely was hot and helped the team win some games down the stretch, I would say that they were outweighed by the much longer stretches where he struck out or grounded into DPs(Or add any number of other ways he made outs), thereby hurting the Tigers' chances for the post season.
He's not the only one on this team that falls into that category. Hence the 88 wins in a crappy division.

[will the thrill]

.317
8 RBI
.876 OPS in the playoffs

What is so hard to understand? He has helped the team get this far.

.300 .786 OPS

Don Kelly career in the playoffs, doesn't make him a good player

[tiger337]

How many people want Delmon back next year?

Fan polls: Which Tigers free agents do you want to see return? | Detroit Tigers | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

[STLTiger69]

What does when DeJesus and Willingham signed/when VMart's injury occurred have anything to do with non-tendering Young after the 2011 season and signing DeJesus or Willingham? Or VMart's injury, for that matter?

Dave Dombrowski and Tigers management decided too keep Young and non-tendering Young was not in the DD playbook. This did not change after Young's arrest in NY at the start of the season. The only time that the Tigers were serious about "adding a bat" was after V-Marts injury. We can speculate all off season what would have happened if Dombrowski would have non-tendered Young, or anyone else like Raburn, Boesch, Thomas, or cut Inge before the season started, etc, if you'd like to as well....but I'm just not sure why.

The bottom line is that the Tigers decided to cast their lot with Delmon Young for 2012 and only after the V-Mart injury did the Tigers contemplate getting "another bat". Until the injury the Tigers were ok with Young in LF and V-Mart as DH for 2012.

[sabretooth]

Delmon certainly provided some great HR memories in th 2012 postseason.

[Yoda]

Delmon certainly provided some great HR memories in th 2012 postseason.

That probably nobody will remember.

[TheCouga]

If these quotes don't find the guy a new place to play next year, nothing will. This article is filled with "i really don't care" comments

"I knew it was gone off the bat," he said. "I just had to give the courtesy jog."

"The offense?" Young said. "We were down 4-0 quick, so you can't blame the offense."

"We were out of the game before we had our second at-bat," Young said. "Didn’t matter if we had two months off or we played yesterday. They were up 4-0 quick."

"I don't know," Young said. "We don't have a left-handed BP thrower. … We don't see lefties every day. We see a lot of right-handed pitching all throughout the year. Most people who play baseball are right-handed. Lefties are unique. It doesn't matter what velocity they throw, they'll always have a job for you as a left-handed pitcher.

How damn hard is it to find a lefty to throw BP?

I didn't find anything wrong with any of those quotes. Not all players are PR experts. He's just stating the obvious.

[STLTiger69]

That probably nobody will remember.

I'm sure Yankee fans have a healthy fear of him,.... for several reasons......

[Gehringer_2]

[QUOTE=will the thrill;...

How damn hard is it to find a lefty to throw BP?[/QUOTE]

This is an area where I think baseball is just waiting for some team to wake up and start the next next new thing in team management/training.

Today's teams have up to a 100 million dollar (or more) investment in their hitters and you go watch the average MLB batting practice session and it looks like something set up for a little league team. A bunch of old guys soft tossing flat foot from 45 feet is the best you can do? For the price of a couple major league minimum contracts you could probably professionalize BP with arms and methods and who knows what you might get.

[pyrotigers]

This is an area where I think baseball is just waiting for some team to wake up and start the next next new thing in team management/training.

Today's teams have up to a 100 million dollar (or more) investment in their hitters and you go watch the average MLB batting practice session and it looks like something set up for a little league team. A bunch of old guys soft tossing flat foot from 45 feet is the best you can do? For the price of a couple major league minimum contracts you could probably professionalize BP with arms and methods and who knows what you might get.

Well now you're just talking crazy. Next a team might decide that bunting, intentionally walking, and batting low obp hitters at the top of the lineup are suboptimal strategies that should be avoided.

[waffel]

Bye, Delmon