Baseball In the Mitten

The Tigers won 11-1 today over the Blue Jays. The Lansing Lugnuts will have their home opener tomorrow evening. The White Caps have been playing home games for over a week now. And that is just the tip of the Baseball going on in the State of Michigan.  I am very excited to check out as much baseball this summer as possible.  Let's run down a list of Michigan Baseball Adventures!

1) Detroit Tigers - Obviously the reigning American League Champions should start off any list of Michigan Baseball. There are few better ways to spend a Thursday afternoon in July than sitting in left field, behind the bullpen, in Comerica Park. Watch MVP Justin Verlander throw a shut-out and MVP Miguel Cabrera blast a couple home runs; all the while drinking a Michigan microbrew and eating a Detroit style Coney. Extra onions please! Tickets are more expensive than any other baseball options, but it is still the best deal in town for a Major League sporting event.

2) Lansing Lugnuts - In the heart of the Capitol City is a gem of a stadium in Cooley Law School Stadium: Home of the Lansing Lugnuts.  The single-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Lugnuts are regularly one of the top teams in the Midwest League. It is great to see future Major Leaguers and even some current Big Players on rehab assignments. With planned double-headers, $1 beer nights, and  playground for children; the Lugnuts is a great time for everyone.

3) West Michigan Whitecaps - Just north of Grand Rapids is another Midwest League team that offers a great time. The West Michigan Whitecaps are the affiliate of the Detroit Tigers and have a great hometown feel to them. The Whitecaps are known for having family members of current and past Tigers; Pat Leyland (son of the skipper, Jim Leyland); Nick Avila (Son of assistant GM, Al Avila, and brother of catcher, Alex Avila), and Colin Kaline (Grandson of the Hall of Famer, Al Kaline). The Whitecaps also are know for their interesting food options, a bacon-shelled taco, 5 lb hamburger, and the HUGE beer, just to name a few.

4) Great Lakes Loons - The third Midwest League team in the state, the Great Lakes Loons, call Dow Diamond in Midland home. Dow Diamond is arguably one of the nicest minor league stadiums in the entire Midwest.  Plenty of outfield lawn with fireplaces for picnics, a wonderful selection of food and beverage, and baseball; what more could you ask for?  The single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers are not the strongest team in their division, but they always are competitive at home.

5) Traverse City Beach Bums - Michigan's most popular resort town also offers a unique experience for many people by being the home of an independent league baseball team.  The Beach Bums are in the Frontier League which has no affiliation to Major League Baseball. Wuerfel Park is designed to look like a beach front resort and has an artificial turf field. Having five winning seasons in the past seven years, the Beach Bums are a great way to spend an evening while on an Up North vacation.

6) Michigan State University Spartans - Not all baseball in Michigan worth worth watching is professional ball.  The Spartans of MSU have been back-to-back Big Ten Champions for the past two years.  Playing in McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field, the Spartans offer a great game of baseball at a very reasonable price.  Cam Gibson, son of ex-Tiger and current Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks  Kirk Gibson, shows great potential along with the rest of his teammates. MSU Baseball players are regularly taken in the MLB draft.

In addition to the teams I have mentioned, there is plenty of more great baseball to watch in Michigan.  There are many more colleges, and even more high schools, that field good baseball teams well worth spending an afternoon taking in a game.  I hope this is a useful guide to Baseball in Michigan, and I wish you a wonderful Summer of Baseball 2013.

Opening Day!

Today is Opening Day.  I have been looking forward to this day the way six-year-olds look forward to Christmas.  I have had a count down since December, I had to pick out my out fit (the correct hat/shirt/jersey combination), and I have been bugging Abby about it until she is almost ready to snap.  This is a very big day!

So as I am trying to calm myself from overflowing with baseball excitement, I have some more predictions for the year.

Small Outfield + Big Bat = Come Back 

Ra-Burning Down the House!

The Come Back Player of the Year will be an ex-Tiger.  I am thinking most likely either Ryan Raburn or Brennan Boesch.  Raburn will be the Indians' bench outfielder.  With their history of OF injuries, Raburn will get plenty of at-bats.  In the past, he had shown glimpses of excellence, this will be the year his untapped possibility, that Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland kept mentioning, will finally be reveled. Brennan Boesch is in the same situation with the Yankees.  They signed Vernon Wells?!?! They will definitely be able to use Boesch. The Yankees turned Curtis Granderson from a hitter for average with some power into a home-run machine, just think what they will do with a true power hitter in their little bitty park.

The Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, and Cardinals will NOT make the Playoffs this year.  Trust me, none of them are that good this year, and a lot of other teams really improved in the off season (ex. Blue Jays/Royals) or had a year for their team to jell from last years big additions (Dodgers/Tigers).  

One can never have too many baseball caps! Jonny will back me up on this, even though out significant others may disagree.  Thats all I have to say about that.

The Madness of March!

To respond to Jonny's march Madness post, I want to give my bracket and predictions.  Sadly, I have no clue how to do a screen shot, or copy and paste my bracket and keeps its formatting; so I will have to just give you the highlights!

Upsets:

I picked:
Oregon (12) over Oklahoma St. (5)
Cincinnati (10) over Creighton (7)
Missouri (9) over Colorado St. (8)
Harvard (14) over Mew Mexico (3)
Villanova (9) over North Carolina (8)
Oklahoma (10) over San Diego St. (7)
Temple (9) over N.C. State (8)

I have Gonzaga (1) losing to a very strong Wisconsin (5) in the Sweet 16.

My Final Four is: Michigan State (3) over Ohio State (2).
and Indiana (1) over Kansas (1)

Final is Michigan State 66 - Indiana 63

Much like Jonny, I have 3 Big Ten teams in the final four.  It is partly due to my MidWest pride, but it is also that the Big Ten is by far the strongest conference this year in Men's Basketball.

Go Green!

#SpartansWill

March Madness!

Its that time of year, folks! Where EVERYONE fills out a bracket. Here is mine, broken down by upsets.

East Bracket:

First round upsets: Temple (9) over NC State (8), Colorado (10) over Illinois (7)

Second Round upsets: UNLV (5) over Syracuse (4), Butler (6) over Marquette (3)

Sweet 16: Indiana over UNLV, Miami over Butler

Elite 8: Indiana over Miami

Final Four Team: Indiana

South Bracket:

First round upsets: None

Second Round upsets: VCU (5) over Michigan (4)

Sweet 16: VCU over Kansas, Georgetown over Florida

Elite 8: Georgetown over VCU

Final Four Team: Georgetown

West Bracket:

First round upsets: Wichita St (9) over Pittsburgh (8), Ole Miss (12) over Wisconsin (5), Iowa St (10) over Notre Dame (7)

Second Round upsets: none

Sweet 16: Kansas St over Gonzaga, Ohio State over New Mexico

Elite 8: Ohio St over Kansas St

Final Four Team: Ohio St

Midwest Bracket: (saved the best for last)

First Round upsets: Mizzou (9) over Colorado St(8), Oregon (12) over Oklahoma St (5), Cincinnati (10) over Creighton (7)

Second Round upsets: Oregon (12) over St Louis (4), Cincinnati (10 over Duke (2)

Sweet 16: Louisville over Oregon, Michigan St over Cincinnati

Elite 8: Michigan State over Louisville

Final Four Team: Michigan State


Not sure who's still with me, but to recap:

Final Four Matchups: Michigan State vs. Ohio State, Indiana vs. Georgetown

Three Big Ten teams in my Final Four. A little was gut, a little was bias. But anyway to continue:

Final Four: Michigan State over Ohio State, Georgetown over Indiana.

Championship teams: Michigan State vs Georgetown

After a 13 year drought, the Big Ten finally brings home a championship, and its thanks to our SPARTANS

2013 NCAA Champion: Michigan State Spartans

Thank you,
Goodnight.

Detroit Lions Free Agent Signings, Tuesday's Timeline

Wow.

The first time that I can remember that the Detroit Lions were the team of the day. Second day of free agency, they signed all four guys they targeted. DE Jason Jones, S Glover Quin, CB Chris Houston, and RB Reggie Bush.

It started with the scare that DeAngelo Hall might have signed a deal with Detroit. But that passed and was quickly met with tweets of false reports. Whew. Close one.

Jason Hanson had made a decision to come back for his 22nd season. It won't be long before Lions brass make a decision on whether to sign him for his (most likely) last season.

Not long after 4 pm came reports that local boy Jason Jones of the Seahawks was coming to meet Lions staff at Ford Field. Also scheduling appearances by Reggie Bush and Glover Quin.

Monday came and went, Lions re-signed Amari Spivey and Kassim Osgood, which was good, but not something priority on most fans' minds. We then hear about Bush and Quin arriving in Detroit, most likely to have late dinners with Lions staff, and possibly with some current players. (Good news)

The Tuesday happened.

Matthew Stafford rolling in to help with recruiting. Two white limos pulled up, presumably one for Bush and one for Quin. Jason Jones also came in again, most likely to have physical and sign his deal.

Excitement starting to boil...

Then reports start coming of the Lions re-signing Chris Houston. Tweets coming in about how excited he was to just have a home.

Ndamukong Suh talking about restructuring his contract. All. Good. Things.

Jason Jones officially announced as signing a deal with the team.

You have to wonder, being a Lions fan, "Ok, when does the bad stuff start happening."

I read this tweet “@davebirkett: If Reggie Bush leaves the Lions without a contract, his next stop is expected to be Arizona”

DOOOOOM. Maybe an overreaction, but hey, it's what fans do.

Panic settles in. As much as I was swiping down on my iPad to refresh all day, that next hour I swiped pretty much every minute. And I'm at work. Training. Learning new things.

An hour later, Lions announce an upcoming press conference. Didn't say for who. I assumed it was for Jones. I had a horrible feeling in my stomach that Bush was leaving without a deal.

But then: “@ttwentyman: Lions and Reggie Bush have agreed to terms on a 4-year contract. Press conference set for 1:45.”

Wow. Detroit Lions signed Reggie Bush.

I'm speechless at this point. My Detroit Lions landed exactly who they targeted. At this point they were 3/4, the 4th being Glover Quin from Houston. I was saying even if we don't hand him, it's been a good day.

They landed their 4th.

Unbelievable haul for Detroit. Yes. Yes, I say. This is exactly the kind if day I've been waiting for from the Lions off-season. Can't remember an off season where a big name star has come to Detroit and didn't leave without a deal.

It was a good day for the Detroit Lions and their fans. It's great to be excited this early, but we'll have to see what happens on Sundays starting this fall.

Defense in the NBA

First off I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to Brandon Knight for actually playing defense in the NBA. Defense is what got Detroit a Championship in 04 along with 7 straight eastern conference championship appearances in the aughts.

There is a reason I, with a long list of people, have stopped watching the NBA and really given more appreciation to NCAA hoops. All anyone wants to see are highlight dunks. Yes they're exciting. But I want to watch a GAME of basketball.

This Big Ten Season has been nothing short of great. Lived up, he'll even exceeded everyone's expectation of what was supposed to happen. This so called "decline" of the product of college basketball to me is actually good for the game. Not necessarily for a particular league, because let's face it it makes the NBA look BORING.

Offense is exciting for about 3 minutes. And those 3 minutes are best spent watching it on SportCenter's Top 10.

Rick Porcello Trade Talk

Today Jonny and I had a Twitter conversation about possible trades between the Detroit Tigers and the Texas Rangers.  All of these have centered around the rumored interest of the Rangers in Rick Porcello. You can see the exact conversation by following us on Twitter ( @FabroSports and @TekJansen )

The Tigers need a proven Closer and getting an upgrade in Short Stop would be very nice.  The Rangers need a 5th Starter, they have an extra Short Stop, and extra power hitting Outfielders is always nice in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.  It seems like a very nice matchup.

We think the trade would consist of Rick Porcello, Brennan Boesch, and a Player to be Named Later and/or cash be given to the Rangers in return for Elvis Andrus and Joe Nathan.  

This works out for both teams. The Rangers get a great Starter that will finally have a strong infield to protect him, and an Outfielder that can boot an upper deck home run coming off the bench.  The Tigers get a proven Closer, and an upgrade in offense and defense an All-Star Short Stop. The Tigers also solve a problem of having six Starting Pitchers and holding onto an Outfielder who needs a chance of scenery.  The only snag is that the Tigers now have two Short Stops.

Now we introduce the Arizona Diamondbacks; a team in desperate need for a starting Short Stop!  There were plenty of rumors in the early offseason about the Diamondbacks having interest in Jhonny Peralta.  He would be a huge improvement over their current options at the position.  The only difficulty with this trade who would come to the Tigers? I do not see anyone the Diamondbacks would be willing to give up that the Tigers would really want.  Maybe multiple prospects could work, but one never knows what Dave Dombrowski (DD) has up his sleeve.

I think the best option would be a three team trade (and DD has already pulled of a 3-way trade with Arizona in the past) between the Tigers, Rangers, and Diamondbacks.  The Tigers give Porcello and Boesch to the Rangers, and Peralta to the Diamondbacks; the Diamondbacks give Someone/Something to the Rangers, and the Rangers give Andrus and Nathan and maybe Someone to the Tigers.

I have no clue is this trade or any trade will happen this year. But I do think that this trade would help all three teams in the long run.