Hey Now...

You see what I'm doing here? If you're like me, any number of songs may have popped into your head. ...the dream is over... and, if you're like me, you now have the horrible all star song in your head. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is.

Consummate Tiger fan and card blogger sixtyfeetsix (aka Jim) was digging through some boxes and found a bunch of extra cards from the 2005 All Star fanfest in Detroit. I happened to be in Detroit for all of the All Star festivities, but didn't make it out to fanfest and also wasn't collecting cards at the time. That's where Jim comes in.

The 2005 All Star Fanfest set had 9 cards, thanks to Jim, I now have 6 of them. I also happen to have a few extras if anyone is interested.

First, there are some great dual Tigers Hall of Famers/HOFer-to-be cards:






Next, a couple of Bronx Bombers:




And finally...


JIM!

I know that people are tired of relic cards, but you know what? I'm not. When someone sends me a card like this out of the blue, I can't help but become overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you so much for the cards, Jim. I am now officially on a mission to complete the rest of the 9-card set.

Cabrera To Start The All Star Game

Justin Morneau is sitting out of this week's All Star festivities after suffering a concussion and Joe Giardi snubbed Kevin Youkilis and chose Paul Konerko as his replacement.

Of course, the important take away from all of this is that which just became official: Miguel Cabrera will be starting the All Star game. Tigers have been major factors in recent All Star games. Last year Curtis Granderson hit a late-game Triple that led to the winning run. The year before Carlos Guillen hit an extra-inning double that just missed being a home run, although he was ultimately stranded and didn't score. My guess is that Miguel Cabrera is going to have an impact as well. He has been a force all season and deserves the starting nod which, by the way, is the first start that he's had in an All Star game, and his first appearance as a Tiger.

With 76 RBIs before the break, he has the most RBI's by a Tiger at this point in the season since Cecil Fielder had 77 in 1993. Oh, and he still had today to break that. He leads the major leagues in Batting Average (.346) and RBIs (76) and is 2nd in Home Runs (22). An AL Lineup that has some sort of Cabrera, Hamilton, Vlad combination in the order seems pretty near unstoppable, Ubaldo be damned. And add Cano into that mix? Forget about it.

As always, I'm excited for the All Star game, but with this little bit of good news today, I feel it all the more so. Cabrera deserves the recognition that has escaped him as the Tigers' best player for the last three years. Now, with the starting nod, he'll have the chance to do the team proud, and there's little doubt in my mind that he will.

In other news

• Brennan Boesch missed the cut by 1 Plate Appearance yesterday. If he plays today (no reason to think he won't) then he'll be among the league leaders by day's end. He's currently hitting .343.
• Cabrera is still in the Home Run Derby, which is always a good time.
• With Mariano Rivera sitting out, don't be surprised if the dominant Jose Valverde is the game's closer. I love the prospect of two Tigers having major roles in the All Star game. I grew up with being forced to suffer Robert Fick and Damian Easley and the like as token ASG representatives. It's so nice to have players that actually belong.
• Is anyone else a little bummed that the break is coming just as the Tigers are on an absolute tear?

Here's hoping for a sweep of the Twins today and then enjoy the festivities this week!

A Special No-Hitter for "BB" Jackson

I love this new nickname that I just invented for him. BB Jackson. This is all self-congratulatory italics, but let's dissect for a moment. One: "BB" is a great nickname. There can no be argument here. Two: The cool nickname juxtaposes with the rather insulting insinuation that Jackson earned the nickname by walking so many people. Three: Yet in a great double entendre, a pitcher who is pitching excellently to the point that he is essentially impossible to hit is said to be "throwing BB's", like the little things you shoot out of a BB Gun. In all, we are left with a perfectly apt nickname that is also really cool sounding. Spread the word.

2009 Topps #AST-39 Edwin Jackson Platinum (1/1)

I'm not sure if it qualifies as "One-of-a-Kind" the way this card would, but Edwin Jackson's no-hitter last night was really...something. His no-hitter took him all of 149 pitches, something no pitcher has done since Livan Hernandez threw 150 in 2005. It also included 8 walks and a batter reaching on an error.

What's incredible to me, is that he walked all but one of the batters in the first three innings--he was at 68 pitches after three--and then went on to only allow two more baserunners for the rest of the game. That's some stamina. In the words of Joe Maddon (via Hardball Talk):

"He throws 68 pitches after just three innings and settles in and pitches like he did? You've got to give him a lot of credit. He's a horse and a great athlete. He's a great kid and he deserved to do that tonight. Hats off to him; he's a wonderful man."

I just thought that would be a nice quote to include from a former Manager. He's right though, Jackson is a horse. Even if he doesn't always pitch as well as you would like, he has that ability to come through when needed. Kind of like he did last night.

Amidst all the hulaballoo about this, the OMG 149 PITCHEZ! has been getting the most play. Ruin his arm, you will. Or, you just left him in to try and get the no hitter, even if it wasn't in the best interest of the player or the team, to which, responses abound, the best of which is from the Dbacks manager himself:

You do want to make smart decisions, but you do have a chance at history and you don't want to take it away from him. And that's for everybody involved, from the team, to the fans, to anybody that was included in this game.

And I think that's exactly the right way to look at it in most cases, including this one. But what about the pitch count that everyone's huffing and puffing about? Leave it to Sports Economist JC Bradbury to assuage our fears:

On average, every pitch thrown raises a pitcher’s ERA by 0.007 in the following game. Jackson’s ERA was 5.05 going into Friday’s game averaging 104 pitches per game; thus, based on the historical response of pitchers to pitch counts Jackson’s expected performance in his next start is about 5.37. So, Jackson can be expected to pitch worse, but not that much worse

This claim is backed up by, you know, math and stuff, but is really just a short sweet post worth checking out. However, you do wonder whether this regression (a "fractional polynomial regression"), like so many, fails at the extremes, of which 149 pitches is definitely one, so that even if it holds true in 99% of cases, it's not necessarily true in cases where there are so few modern data points available. I don't know, I'm not a doctor.

Regardless, congratulations to Edwin Jackson, who was an excellent first-half pitcher for the Tigers last year and by all accounts was an excellent teammate and first-rate Tiger. I hope his future holds continued success, perhaps in the form of a lower ERA, fewer walks and his arm not falling off. I'm not sure that any of those are likely after last night's no-hitter, but no one ever said that he's not capable of such excellence.

This Just In: A Gift from the eBay Gods, Just In Time

With everyone all atwitter over 2010 Topps being out, I find myself racing to plug the last holes for my 2009 set.  It's just my luck that I had a few eBay rewards bucks--just enough to pull in one of the last cards I need at no cost to me:

2009 Topps U&H #AST-16 Brandon Inge

No, Brandon isn't the last card that I need from 2009 Topps, but he might as well be. Everything else is serial numbered low enough that I'm not going to stress about it, or is otherwise just too difficult to obtain. So, for practical purposes, I'm done with 2009 Topps. Bring on the new guys!

And Another

Only six of these suckers. Granderson's first jumbo patch, and boy, is it ever big.

Slack Jawed Drooling

Ah, to be an All Star.

Starting price $40, I'll be interested to see how the market shakes out on this.

The Catch Up

Well, it's been a surreal, whirlwind of a week for me. In order to collect my thoughts, I think a bulleted post is necessary.

-Granderson was killer in the All Star game. 1-1 with a Triple?! If not for Crawford's Granderson-esque catch, I think we would have seen the first Detroit All Star MVP in the history of baseball. Boy, that would have been nice. Not to say that Crawford didn't deserve it, and I'm certainly one to appreciate excellent defense, but he was only 1-3 with a single. Granderson hit what was essentially a double and used quick thinking and hustle to push it to a triple, single-handedly setting up the winning run. Say Crawford doesn't make the catch, and he single-handedly sets up the tying run. Regardless, great job by Curtis, shining his brightest on the national stage.

-I have a billion packages to go through, with all sorts of cards in them. In fact, here's one that you can feast your eyes on:

2009 Topps Attax Curtis Granderson Silver Foil

This hereby closes my 2009 Topps Attax set.

-Speaking of sets, I've been compiling checklists for the public good. Only 2009 so far, but I will keep it updated and start working backwards.

-Speaking of the public good, I am now a full-fledged Zistler. That's right, I am on board with Zistle after realizing that I could supplement my checklists with a collector's tool. I have slowly been uploading checklist information to Zistle and will add pictures as new cards come in.

-The Series 2 retail group break is on and active. I will speak more about this in a separate post, but Hand Collated has discovered that the cards will be released in about 4 weeks. Slots are still open, by the way.

That should wrap it up for now, there are many many posts to come, although I'll try to spread them out to some degree. In the meantime, I leave you with another new addition, this one of the game used variety:

2009 SPx WM4-VGSZ Verlander/Granderson/Sheffield/Zumaya

Brandon Inge To Participate in Home Run Derby

In a nice Detroit News article about Brandon Inge making the All-Star team, I uncovered this juicy little nugget:

Inge also said Thursday he will compete in Monday's Home Run Derby.

"I figured it would be something to have fun with," he said. "I watched the Derby more as a kid than the game. (The game) was too long."

Prepare to be amazed, world.

Given the prevalence with which the "big stars" have generally declined to participate in the Derby in recent years, it is nice to see somebody genuinely excited about the taking part in the event. On behalf of baseball fans everywhere, thank you.

UPDATE: Apparently MLB.com was on top of this late last night. Here's a whole story on Inge "likely" in the Derby.

And There Was Much Rejoicing

Yaaaay!

Final Vote Clock is Ticking

Time's almost up. Take 5 minutes and Vote Brandon Inge and Shane Victorino to the All Star Game!

Your 2009 AL All Star, Curtis Granderson

Well, he did it. Generally absent from the All Star conversation--almost entirely because of a unremarkable .256 batting average, Curtis Granderson was voted to the All Star game by a group of his peers. For as much crap as the fan voting gets, (much of it deserved), I'm not sure that enough credit is given to the player voting. For Granderson to make the All Star game in this fashion tells us that things like Defense actually are taken into consideration. Or that the ability to change a game, via speed, or power or what have you, go further than just the stat line.

For that, congratulations to Curtis Granderson, on his first of what we all hope will be many All Star selections. For those of you who may gripe about the selection, the only candidate I can see with a real beef is Nelson Cruz, who's 20 HR, 13 SB and high-quality defense should have given him a nod as well. However, Josh Hamilton, also of the Rangers made it in, despite not deserving it in any way, shape or form. My guess is that he declines the invitation, due to injury, and Cruz is added to the roster as his replacement. That would be fitting and just.

Onto other All-Star musings: Miguel Cabrera just misses out again. Here's a guy was an All Star in 4 of his first 5 professional seasons, but hasn't been included in his first two years in Detroit. Last year, he led the American League in Home Runs and was in the Top 3 for RBIs behind Hamilton and Arod. Nope, not an All Star. This year, he is tied with Justin Morneau (who deservingly did make the team) for the lead among first basemen in Batting Average (.323). His 16 HR and 47 RBI are greater than and equal to (respectively) those same stats for '09 All Star Kevin Youkilis. He has struck out fewer times than any of the three All-Star first basemen. Now, I'm not saying that the three selected players are not deserving, because it is a tough call. However, Miguel Cabrera seems to me to be the most complete first baseman of the bunch, and I have a hard time finding a reason to keep him out of the game.

Which leads me to a final point: The "Final Vote" competition for the last roster spot.

There are five candidates for this position, one of whom is Brandon Inge of the Tigers. Let's take a look at the group with some brief analysis:

Brandon Inge: Leads all AL 3rd basemen in Home Runs (19), Second (behind Evan Longoria) among AL 3rd basemen in RBIs (54), Arguably the best defensive 3rd baseman in the league, 2nd among AL 3rd basemen in Runs Scored.

Now, Inge is also the victim of a poor batting average (.269), but he is OPSing .874, behind only Arod and Longoria in the American League! And look at him play defense! If there is one player who should feel cheated, it is Inge, who lost out to the defensively inept Michael Young, in his first year as a 3rd baseman.

Although, Ranger teammate Ian Kinsler also has a legitimate claim to the All Star team. He was cheated out of a spot by Dustin Pedroia, who coasted in on the tails of Red Sox nation to a starting spot. Kinsler deserves to be an All Star, I don't know how anybody can argue with that either.

As for the other three:

Carlos Pena: has 23 HR and 55 RBIs--and a .233 batting average. He was nominated because the AL Manager is Rays manager Joe Maddon. He does not deserve it more than Miguel Cabrera. Next.

Adam Lind is having a breakout year with 18 HR, 57 RBI and a .310 average. In a normal year, that is All Star caliber. Oh, but he doesn't play defense and this is a national league All Star game with no DH. Next.

Chone Figgens. I've got no beef with Chone. He's got 24 SBs and a .312 average, but almost no power and doesn't have the same leather that Inge posesses. If he were tearing up the league in Stolen Bases then he'd get my consideration, but that's Carl Crawford and he's already on the team.

So, to me at least, both Brandon Inge and Ian Kinsler have legitimate claims to the Final All Star Slot. I will not be particularly upset if either of those two make the squad. However, I will say that there are already three second basemen on the roster (when you include Ben Zobrist of the Rays) to only two 3rd basemen, and considering this game "counts," who else would you want as a defensive replacement late in the game than Mr. Inge down at the hot corner.

Vote Inge. You won't be sorry.

Curtis Granderson: All Star?

It's that time of year again, when All Star balloting is in full swing and the starting rosters are becoming more and more clear. With the release of the most recent results, the ridiculousness of the process dawns on me yet again. However, I am not going to dwell on the relative merits of the voting system other than to say this: The game is for the fans, and given that managers have the ability to fill out rosters, deserving players are on the All Star team more often than not (Curtis Granderson's 2007 snub notwithstanding, thank you very much Jim Leyland).

Sitting at 14th place, Curtis is unlikely to be voted on to the team, nor does he seem to deserve to. What is more interesting to explore is whether he deserves to be on the team at all. I'll take a semi-analytical approach to this, using the available data. As of this sentence, I am conflicted as to whether Curtis deserves to be on the team--hopefully the data will help push me in one direction or the other.

Based on 2008 All Star Game rosters, approximately 7 outfielders will make the team. The current top 15 vote-getting outfielders are listed as follows. How does Curtis compare?

1. Jason Bay
2. Josh Hamilton
3. Ichiro Suzuki
4. Carl Crawford
5. Torii Hunter
6. Ken Griffey Jr.
7. Nelson Cruz
8. Johnny Damon
9. Adam Jones
10. Jacoby Ellsbury
11. Nick Markakis
12. J.D. Drew
13. Grady Sizemore
14. Curtis Granderson
15. Bobby Abreu

Offense
When you think All Star, you think offense. It is the glamour number, easy to quantify and compare. People recognize excellent defense, but rarely does a defensive whiz make an All Star team without impressive batting numbers. Meanwhile, highly suspect defenders frequently make the midsummer classic despite being defensive liabilities. In the interest of sparing people's feelings, I won't name names.

The Averages
Oh, the averages. The numbers that show your consistency, your well-roundedness and your ability to get on base and score. There is no prestige in baseball like being a .300 hitter, and despite its somewhat antiquated use, it still has a better ring to it than being a .900 OPSer. There are three averages worth paying attention to:

Batting Average: Curtis checks in with a paltry .257 batting average, well below his historical averages. This is attributable to a horrendous start to the season, during which time he frequently flirted with the Mendoza line. Recent improvement has been sporadic, as he hit .270 just last week before dropping back down. Among AL Outfielders with 150 at bats, Curtis Ranks 26th.

On-Base Percentage: Curtis sports a .336 On-Base Percentage, which isn't bad considering his low average. Still, he sticks at 26th among AL Outfielders with 150 at bats.

OPS: This wonderfully pure measure of a hitter's power and ability to get on base is a bit kinder to Curtis. He sits at 18th.

As expected, the Averages are Curtis' downfall so far and are clearly sub-All Star caliber. The question is, has the rest of his game been strong enough to bump him into that elite Top 7?

The Power
We're talking about the numbers that bring home the hardware. Home Runs, Extra Base Hits, RBIs. The money numbers.

Home Runs: The number that everyone oohs and ahhs about, Curtis ranks 5th among AL Outfielders with 14 Home Runs.

Extra Base Hits: Those Home Runs have come at a price however--what used to be doubles and triples have been going out of the park. Curtis is 14th in Extra Base Hits.

RBIs: Batting Leadoff for the majority of the season doesn't help here, but moving to 5th in the order has. Curtis' 33 RBIs are good for 10th among AL Outfielders. For what its worth, Jason Bay towers above the field with 63.

Speed
The last offensive hope, Curtis is tied for 12th in Stolen Bases, checking in with 10.

Hmm...That doesn't look very promising, does it? Curtis only falls into the Top 10 in two statistical categories (HR, RBI), which does not bode well. Even fancy pants statistics don't help him much. Fangraphs lists Curtis Granderson at 20th among AL Outfielders in offensive production. Perhaps his defense can redeem him?

Defense
Defensive statistics are rough, to say the least, but the best metric that we have is provided by fangraphs once again. Granderson is ranked the #7 AL Outfielder defensively, behind the likes of Ichiro, Nelson Cruz and Juan Rivera as the players with legitimate All Star claims.

Fortunately for Curtis, and not unexpectedly, many of the big hitters have been pretty weak in the field so far this year. When you factor in both offense and defense and positional factors, Curtis looks much better. He is ranked 5th in Wins Above Replacement player.

For those of you who say, "that's a bunch of sabermetric hooey," Here's your top ten, in order:
1. Nelson Cruz
2. Torii Hunter
3. Carl Crawford
4. Ichiro
5. Curtis Granderson
6. Jason Bay
7. Juan Rivera
8. Adam Lind
9. Shin-Soo Choo
10. Matt Holliday

I don't see too many glaring omissions there, do you?

And herein lies the problem. Traditional Offense is weighted too heavily, and defense not enough. The value of players like Granderson, Choo and Cruz is elevated when the player is viewed as a whole. I would argue that you could justify the inclusion of any one of these 10 players on the All Star team, based on the seasons that they're having. Adam Jones and Nick Markakis would likely have a gripe with this, as would Swisher, Abreu, Drew and Damon. Still, shouldn't All Star teams recognize the best players in the game?

That brings us back around to it: Is Curtis Granderson an All Star?

So, is he?

My heart says yes, but right now, the answer is no. Home Runs and spectacular defense notwithstanding, he has not been a difference maker offensively, hasn't carried the Tigers' weak offense to key victories and has had a few too many 0-fers for my liking. That said, this doesn't mean that Granderson can't be an All Star. I think that he has played tremendously well on the defensive end and has been strong offensively, just not as stong as some of his AL brethren.

In my opinion, if he can bump that batting average from .257 to .270, that alone should be enough. If he gets to .280 he should be a shoe-in. I hate to simplify everything down to batting average, but the proof is in the pudding. The HR power is there, as is the speed and he's never been much of an RBI guy. His faults lie within the percentages and boosting those will give him the well rounded resume that will allow him to jump past some players with more gaudy numbers.