There is definitely going to be less excitement heading into the draft for the Tigers this year. In previous years, even without a first round pick, teams could go drastically over recommended slot values and pay for talent. This season however, under the new collective bargaining agreement, teams must adhere to their bonus pool, or face penalties for going over it. The Tigers have the 2nd lowest bonus pool in all of baseball, due to their signing of Prince Fielder. Not only do they lose that pick, they lose the money that is slotted for that pick.

June 16, 2010; Kansas City, MO, USA; MLB commissioner Bud Selig sits next to Kansas City Royals owner David Glass (right) before the announcement that Kansas City has been selected to host the 2012 All-Star Game at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

For a breakdown on the money each team has, and the penalties associated, check out this quick look by Baseball America.

Essentially the Tigers will have to fit 9 picks in for bonuses of just under 2.1 million dollars. If it was 200k a piece, it doesn’t sound all that bad, but that’s rarely how the draft works. Essentially if the Tigers want to buy a high school kid out of a commitment for a million in the 2nd round, they essentially are stuck with college seniors the rest of the way out. It will be interesting to see the strategy with which the Tigers take into this.

Overall, the 2012 draft is considered pretty pedestrian, though I don’t think it is as bad as some seem to be suggesting. It isn’t particularly heavy on any aspect, though there is a weakness in college hitters.

So, what direction do the Tigers go in? Well, I think you are going to see quite a few college guys once again by the Tigers, with maybe a high school position guy or two thrown in there. With such a small bonus pool, we might even see a couple of college relievers selected to grab a 300K type of player here and there. Position wise, while teams rarely draft for need, the Tigers do look like if they are going to “overspend” for a bigger bonus guy, it might be for pitching. Their farm system, outside of Jacob Turner and a couple of guys that can’t throw strikes, isn’t rich in high end pitching talent.

Over the next couple of weeks, I do plan on exploring some of the possibilities that could be around when the Tigers make their first selection, so I will be profiling some players for you all.

The Tigers don’t draft until 86, so it might be like throwing darts. Hopefully I profile a guy or two the Tigers eventually take.

Check back soon, as I should be starting those shortly.

Tigers And The 2012 Draft - Motor City Bengals - Motor City Bengals - A Detroit Tigers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

So far, returns on that trade don’t look all that great. Want to know why Putkonen was thrown out there in a 5-4 game last night? No faith in Balester is why. Balester has an ERA of 6.32 in 15 2/3 pitched. Bad luck? Small Sample? Well… maybe. But Balester has done all this with a BABIP of only .156 and a HR/FB rate less than a percentage point over his career average. He has been quite a fly ball pitcher and he’s giving up a lot of fly balls, four of which have so far gone yard. The hope was – in part – that playing in a large park would help Balester allow fewer big flies so he could post ERAs like his xFIPs (xFIP holds a pitchers HR/FB down toward league average) the past couple of years in the Nats ‘pen. Hasn’t worked so far.

Home runs aside, there are two other damning bits of evidence against Mr. Balester: He’s walking way too many guys (5.72 per 9) – throwing too few pitches in the zone to begin with. He’s also striking out too few – 6.32 per 9 innings against 8.58 in 2011 and 12.00 in 2010. The culprit? I’d lay a fair bet it comes down to velocity: his fastball averaged 94.1 in 2010-2011 but only 92.9 so far this year. Plenty of guys can thrive in the bullpen with an average fastball at 92.9 (take Phil Coke and Joaquin Benoit) – but they’d better have something else going for them aside from ‘throwing hard’.
I don’t know that I’d exactly condemn the trade, though – over in Washington Ryan Perry isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire. He started the season in AAA and pitched well, earning a call up in which he has pitched poorly. Small samples, obviously, but the story still gives you Déjà vu. If you evaluated this trade as two teams giving up on two pitchers at the same time, so far you’re looking prescient.

The season is, of course, long. Perhaps by the end of it one of those two will look like a real contributor. Seems more likely that Ryan Perry will spend most of the season in the minors and Balester will, at some point, be DFA’ed. If anyone would really step up to take his job away, that could happen soon. If nobody does (and guys like Putkonen, Weber and Villarreal haven’t looked good in their auditions) Balester’s probably going to get a lot of low-leverage chances to turn things around.

Early Returns on the Balester/Perry Trade - Motor City Bengals - Motor City Bengals - A Detroit Tigers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

I have no idea if Jim Leyland is a Skynyrd fan or not, though I wouldn’t mind seeing him pull that lighter out, throw it in they air…yelling, “Freebird!” while outside at DTE Music Theatre.

Ahh…Jim Leyland. You have a way with words. So much so, you brought me back in time when a good female friend of mine joked about Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “That Smell” being our wedding song. While she had a sense of humor, there isn’t much hilarity going on in the Tigers clubhouse these days, and Jim Leyland can’t be having fun. In fact, when one hears about Jim Leyland talking about something smelling funny, you would assume that he was talking about the Tigers offense. Today, he was talking about his starting pitcher Drew Smyly, or more specifically, the contact that the White Sox were making off of his starter.

May 14, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Drew Smyly (33) makes a throw against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning at US Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-US PRESSWIRE

For reference sake, James Schmehl (Schmehl? It’s destiny he covered this) of MLive covered Leyland’s comments in an article here. I kid James, I like the work you do.

To summarize this evening’s loss, Drew Smyly, who has been excellent this season, was pulled after just 69 pitches against the White Sox with a 5-4 lead. As we know, leads haven’t been safe in Detroit this year when being held by just about any pitcher not named Duane Below in that bullpen. It was a little surprising to see Smyly pulled after the 5th inning. Leyland explained that he didn’t like what he was seeing, and not just what he saw, apparently the fly balls the White Sox hit were tickling his olfactory sense as well.

It does stink giving up two monster bombs by both Adam Dunn and DayanViciedo, but it seemed that things were going rather smooth for Smyly otherwise. I am sure it looked strange to Leyland considering that Drew Smyly had only given up 2 runs one time, and one run every other start so far this season.

What might be more strange is the desire to turn the game over to a pen that has been terrible so far in 2012.

I’m not going to second guess Leyland’s choice of Luke Putkonen. I won’t have to. I am sure the internet and forum world is already blowing up with Leyland’s supposed inability to manage a bullpen. I will say this sofa, or armchair managers, Luke Putkonen is a major league pitcher (on the roster anyway), and he needs to do his job just like anyone else. Leyland’s explanation of why he chose Putkonen makes sense. Luke just made him look bad by quickly relinquishing the lead.

The only thing I question about Leyland’s sense of smell is pulling the young man (Smyly) when he still had plenty of “gas” left in the tank. Smyly had only given up 5 hits on the night, and walked only one. His catcher, Gerald Laird, didn’t notice a drop-off in the quality of his stuff.

Some things work I guess, and some things don’t. Leyland obviously is smelling something funny here, as are many of us, so his nose isn’t the problem. It might just be that he is a little confused where it is coming from. I don’t think it’s the fly balls that were emitting some unpleasant odor. I’m not a scientist, but I would think baseball’s are relatively odor free. It’s the overall play of a pretty expensive baseball team that offends the senses.

I would only say this to Jim Leyland. If you think something smells, maybe it’s time to light a match…

Woo Ooohhh…..That Smell - Motor City Bengals - Motor City Bengals - A Detroit Tigers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More