Sports

Yashinsky: How Scherzer, Porcello and Other Ex-Tigers are Doing With New Ballclubs

April 23, 2015, 2:54 PM by  Joey Yashinsky

The Detroit Tigers are off to a sizzling start in 2015, winning 11 of their first 15, good for tops in the American League (tied with KC).  And they’re doing it with some new faces in key places.  But still, it’s always fun to check in on those that formerly wore the Olde English D to see how they are faring with their new clubs.

Rick Porcello (Boston)


Rick Porcello

It’s been rough going for Ricky Porcello during his debut season for the Sox.  In his first start, he surrendered three runs.  In the following start, he allowed four.  And most recently, in his shakiest outing in some time, Porcello somehow permitted 15 baserunners in just five innings of work, with eight of them coming around to score. 

On the happier side of things for the right hander, he was rewarded very handsomely earlier this month to the tune of four years and a touch more than $80 million dollars.  While Porcello is clearly entering the prime of his career at 26 years of age, it sure seems like a healthy overpayment for a guy whose lifetime statistics show a modest 77-65 record to go with a 4.34 ERA. 

One more start like the hit-fest he just turned in against Baltimore and you might see the entire Red Sox front office sprinting to the nearest bank to see if there’s any way to void that contract extension on the grounds of, “Um, we were led to believe he was a lot better.”

Prince Fielder (Texas)

The big man is looking for a bounce-back season after playing just 42 games in 2014 (with three lonely homers), and so far, it’s going according to plan.  Fielder is off to a solid start in April, though the power is still rounding into shape.  He’s clocking in with a healthy .367 batting average, but the ball has only left the park once. 


Prince Fielder

Even a couple years later, it’s still hard to understand how a player as talented as Prince managed to be so inept come playoff time.  He participated in 24 playoff games over five different series as a Tiger, squeaking out a single home run and three RBIs. 

Oh, and he was responsible for one of the more infamous baserunning gaffes in recent postseason memory when he inexplicably stopped between home and third on a ball hit to Dustin Pedroia, resulting in a backbreaking double play the Tigers could not afford (relive the misery here).  The Fielder for Ian Kinsler swap pulled off by Dave Dombrowski remains one of the GM’s more underrated moves.

Max Scherzer (Washington)

Three starts, two earned runs allowed, tops in the National League in ERA.  Scherzer has taken his dominant arsenal to Washington and picked up right where he left off in Detroit.  He’ll toe the slab later this afternoon in a home tilt against the first place St. Louis Cardinals. 


Max Scherzer

But Mad Max will truly earn his money in October, a month in which the Nationals are expected to be prime participants.  Scherzer’s playoff performances in Detroit, while not a disaster by any means, were always a bit underwhelming considering his regular season excellence: 12 appearances, 10 starts, a 4-3 record, and an ERA of 3.73.  If only he was kept in to protect his 5-1 lead in Boston two years ago, maybe he’s remembered a bit differently in this regard.

Curtis Granderson (New York Mets)

Nobody in the world anticipated this when the season began, but the New York Mets are the best team in baseball, currently riding a 10-game winning streak and sporting a 12-3 overall mark.  They’ve somehow accomplished this with Curtis Granderson hitting out of the all-important leadoff spot and doing virtually nothing in the process.


Curtis Granderson

The Grandy Man is hitting a sub-Mendoza .196 with just one extra-base hit (a double) in his 59 trips to the plate.  In six games on the road, Curtis has one hit, good for a microscopic .063 batting mark. 

But the Mets keep chugging along, mostly due to excellent starting pitching from their fleet of young arms.  Granderson did manage to be one of last night’s heroes despite not starting or recording an official at-bat.  He entered a tie game as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 8th, drew a walk, and came around to score the deciding run. 

It’s unlikely a team on such a roll will look to shake things up at all, but Granderson will likely need to increase his minimal offensive production to maintain that perch atop a first-place lineup. 

Torii Hunter (Minnesota)


Torii Hunter

The soon to be 40-year-old Hunter is the daily right fielder for Paul Molitor’s Twins.  It might take a couple more weeks and some warmer weather for the cagey vet to really get untracked, but for now, he’s getting by okay, hitting .250 with a homer and six ribbies.

Despite Hunter’s advanced age, the Twins can more or less pencil him in for a certain standard of production.  After all, from 2008 to 2014, a seven-year period, Hunter clocked between 17 and 23 home runs each season and knocked in between 78 and 92 runs.  No, the numbers are not otherworldly, but it’s impressive the way they never dip below a certain quality, even as Torii adds more and more miles to the odometer.

Austin Jackson (Seattle)


Austin Jackson

It’s been a routine open to the season for Jackson.  He’s rapping out some hits (.267 BA), playing a clean centerfield, and striking out in almost 25% of his at bats.  Mariners’ skipper Lloyd McClendon has been alternating using Jackson in the leadoff and second spot in the order, trying to find the right place for his odd assortment of skills. 

Jackson has never really been a classic top of the order guy.  He doesn’t make consistent contact and is not a feared base stealer.  It always seemed his home was more toward the bottom third of the order, but for whatever reason, he’s never really been given that opportunity.

Don Kelly (Miami)

The former Tigers’ utility guy scratched and clawed his way to one of the final roster spots in Miami, beating out younger prospects to keep his underdog story humming along.  Everything was fine and dandy until Kelly was, you know, put in to an actual game. 


Don Kelly

In the 2nd inning of his very first start of the season, Kelly cleanly handled a grounder at third base, threw the runner out, and realized moments later he had broken one of his fingers making the play.  He toughed it out long enough to hit a weak roller to first in the bottom half, then came out of the game and will likely be on the DL for the next month or so. 

And coincidence or not, without the services of one Donald Thomas Kelly, the Marlins have tumbled to a 4 and 11 start, second worst record in the entire league (Milwaukee, 2-13).  Maybe the guy’s far more important than we ever gave him credit for.


 



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