Detroit Tigers: David Price loves James McCann, more on the fight, Alex Wilson fatigued

With the sporting world once again leering at the Detroit Tigers for the third time in 10 days following trades, GM firings and now dugout skirmishes, one recent ex-Tiger, never shy to give his opinion, weighed in to give his take on the shenanigans.

Without really throwing Jose Iglesias under the bus, David Price said that the fight, argument, disagreement, whatever you want to call it, shows the passion that McCann has already at an early age. Perhaps Iglesias did not take kindly to be giving a criticism on something he did wrong, especially from a rookie. But Price figures that Tigers’ players had better get used to it, that  McCann will one day wear the “C” on his jersey.

The day after the incident, you might expect Iglesias (the only player to not talk about what happened after the game on Friday) to be contrite and apologetic, but that could not be further from the truth. I think the most shocking thing that Iglesias said about McCann is that  he doesn’t care if things are good between him and McCann.

Here is where manager Brad Ausmus fails yet again. Get these guys in a room, give them a beer or 10 and let them hash out their differences, so that when they speak to the media they are on a united front.

It seemed McCann, Anthony Gose, Nick Castellanos and Ian Kinsler (who were all involved in breaking it up) were ready to turn the page, but Iglesias kept the fire going with his comments on Saturday. A good manager would have nipped that in the bud.

The fight itself though, I do agree with Ausmus to a degree that it shows they care. We have often said the Tigers quit games and mentally check out when the game is out of hand. This proves that this is not the case for every player, which is a good thing for the future of the franchise.

Also good for the future of the franchise? If Price’s predictions about McCann comes true. For years the Tigers have had tons of talent but Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez are guys that seem to eschew leadership roles. I can’t even remember when the Tigers had a true leader on their team, maybe dating back to the Alan Trammell years. Perhaps Torii Hunter, but he was always going to be short-term here anyway.

The fight may be embarrassing for this team, but it may ultimately turn out to be a good thing.

Lastly, alarm bells went off when Bruce Rondon came in and earned his first save since 2013 on Saturday night. That has been a spot that “Everyday” Alex Wilson would be getting, but it was announced after the game that he was unavailable due to shoulder soreness. The Tigers saw the effect of this when both Wilson and Blaine Hardy were unavailable on Sunday and Ian Krol allowed four runs in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach.

This has to be very concerning for the Tigers and their fans as for once it appears the team has a very good bullpen arm for now and into the future, but because everyone else is so unreliable, Wilson has been pressed into service so much this year.

In two partial years prior to this year with Boston, Wilson pitched 56 innings. He is now at 57.2 and the Tigers have 50 games left to play. Scary that he could, if healthy, pitch many more innings. But also scary that the Tigers could blow that arm out in likely meaningless games in the last seven weeks of the year.

Not a good position to be in.

Tigers agree with David Price: James McCann’s a leader – George Sipple, Detroit Free Press

"Tigers lefty reliever Blaine Hardy said he knew McCann was a leader before he reached the majors.“Leadership qualities for some reason are sometimes harder to describe, but when you see it, you know it,” Hardy said. “Torii Hunter was easily (a leader). You see him, ‘Yep, he’s a leader.’ Takes initiative is one part of it. You don’t realize it until you see it. McCann definitely has those qualities.“I mean, I know this is his first year, but there’s been times where everyone is willing to listen to him. Yeah, there might be a few jokes thrown in from the veterans but they know that he’s a guy that will take initiative to try and rally the troops.”Hardy said not all catchers are necessarily leaders, “but they have the ability to be in that leadership role because they really are — on the field — leaders regardless.”"

Detroit Tigers’ Jose Iglesias has no regrets about dugout incident: ‘I did what I was supposed to do’ – Chris Iott, MLive

"Iglesias was asked whether he thought he should have handled things differently?“No,” he said. “I do not. I did what I was supposed to do.”Someone clarified that the question was regarding his actions in the dugout, not in the field. Iglesias stood his ground.“Yeah,” he said. “It’s fine. I’m OK with it.”Did he regret that the entire incident played out on camera?“I don’t mind,” he said. “I don’t mind the cameras either. I think I just go by instinct and my instincts tell me to do that and I’m OK with it.”Iglesias was asked whether he and McCann are on good terms now that the incident is in the past.“I don’t really pay much attention to the personal stuff,” he said. “It’s just, I think it was part of the game. Things, we kind of got a little bit heated in the dugout. Other than that, everything is fine.”"

Tigers RP Alex Wilson dealing with shoulder fatigue – Sean d’Oliveria, CBS Sports

"A tired shoulder kept Tigers pitcher Alex Wilson out of Saturday’s game against the Red Sox, reports MLive.com."

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