Runs Allowed

During last night's Rays/Red Sox game, one of the announcers commented that the Rays had the third best one-year improvement in runs allowed (RA) in MLB history.  I looked up the information on Baseball-Reference.com, and they allowed 944 runs in 2007 and only 671 in 2008.  The announcer commented that they had improved defensively with Jason Bartlett at short.  He then went on to highlight the importance of defense in reducing runs allowed, effectively giving a leg up to pitching.

Let's look at the Tigers runs allowed over the past couple years:

2008 - 857

2007 - 797

2006 - 675

Obviously, both pitching and defense contributed to our unacceptable inflation in RA.  Lee Panas over at Tiger Tales has a great piece on our defensive erosion this past season.

Thinking about RA leads me to speculate that the front office has been mulling over things like our catastrophic RA also, and that may have precipitated the move of Brandon Inge to third.  Since we know we won't be a player in any big free agent pitcher signing, defensive improvement becomes more crucial.

Obviously, we will also be largely dependent on seeing comebacks from many of our existing staff--Bonderman, Robertson, Willis, even a significant rebound for Verlander.  We will be fervently hoping for the speedy development of young arms like Rick Porcello and Casey Crosby (who I know next to nothing about, other than that he's made a magnificent 9-month recovery from Tommy John surgery--thanks to info from the Freep).

In my mind, there's a lot of synergy between good defensive plays and good pitching, and even hitting at times.  The whole "pick -em up" mentality--I really buy into it.  Let's hope our guys will be picking each other up a lot more next year.

On Inge Back to Third

OK, I know this happened a couple days ago now, but since this is a new blog, I'm reserving the right to go back and comment on things not immediate.  

Why does Brandon Inge, with a final 2008 BA of .205, get handed the 2009 starting third-baseman's job, when just the other day, Leyland said everyone will have to earn his spot, regardless of name (and salary?)?

.205???

I mean, I love Brandon's defense, it is highlight reel every night at third with him, and he's a quality individual, and you can see he plays with a real joy at third.  But, I'm sorry .205 is not going to get it.

For Jacque Jones and Craig Monroe, a BA higher than that meant designated for assignment.  For Ramon Santiago and Marcus Thames, they hit better and don't even get a shot at being an everyday player.  Leyland said Thames would get a shot this  year, but never stayed with him for any length of time.  

Granted Thames' defense isn't like Brandon's, but Ramon's nickname is Pacman for goodness sake.