Motor City Bengals » Joel Zumaya

For Tigers and Joel Zumaya, Only Thoughts of What Might Have Been

John J. Parent — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:06:09 +0000

Zumaya's last Major League appearance ended with a fractured elbow.

In some ways, I get it. Detroit Tigers president and General Manager Dave Dombrowski had been fooled far too many times by promises of a healthy Joel Zumaya. When the flame throwing right hander came to camp with the Tigers last year, sporting a brand new $1.4 million deal, the Tigers were counting on him to be an integral part of their late-inning bullpen.

Instead, Zumaya gave them one Spring Training appearance in early March and never saw the field again.

Yesterday, Zumaya agreed to a one-year deal with the Minnesota Twins, thus ending his tenure in Detroit.

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The Disappointing Career of Joel Zumaya

Bryan Craves — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:59:04 +0000

Ever since Joel Zumaya blasted onto the scene of what was a very exciting 2006 season for the Detroit Tigers, I have always been a huge apologist for the guy. But how could you not be? The intense zip of the 102 mph fastball, the devastating curveball that usually dropped in at 20 mph less. His intensity during games that mattered that season was awesome.

But a myriad of (bizarre) injuries over the years: the rumored injury due to the play of Guitar Hero, the “heavy box” that fell on his shoulder, to the awful injury suffered in 2010 at Target Field when he blew a piece of his elbow off, Zumaya has basically been on the mend for most of his short career. He hasn’t pitched in a game since that last elbow injury, instead having more surgery on the elbow to clean up more scar tissue, a procedure that cost him his entire 2011 season.

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A Long Overdue Thank You To Greg Smith

John Verburg — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:14:51 +0000

A lot of work goes into building a winning baseball team. Often, by the time the major league club is winning, the people that were working behind the scenes unnoticed that helped accomplish that task are long gone. They were either given their pink slip, or promoted/demoted to another position. Often they move on to another organization. This is the life of professional baseball scouts. They are the faceless men that work in the shadows, traveling from city to city, doing the grunt work that they aren’t likely to get recognized for. Their careers depends on the ability to find future baseball players in the swing or arm of a high school or college kid. If their selections work out, they become directors. If they don’t, they become unemployed.

Greg Smith held the position of scouting director for the Tigers from 1997-2004. While that era of baseball isn’t exactly fondly remembered by Tigers fans, that is in large part due to the ineptitude of GM Randy Smith. Greg Smith however, should be fondly remembered for Tigers fans, because before he walked out the door to move on to the Pittsburgh organization, he made perhaps the best draft pick in Tigers history.

And it almost didn’t happen.

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