The Tigers have agreed to terms on a Triple A contract with lefthanded pitcher Casey Fossum. Fossum has appeared in 203 games at the major league level with the Boston Red Sox (2001-03), Arizona Diamondacks (2004) and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2005-07).

Last year in Tampa, Fossum assembled a 5-8 record in 40 appearances, 10 of them starts, and a 7.70 ERA.

We’ll see how this plays out.

For me, the letdown wasn’t the 5-4 final from Comerica Park. Nay, it was when the Royals came back to take a 4-3 lead in the seventh. And when I boarded my plane for Houston with the score was tied at 4, I sensed that the Tigers would lose this home opener.

Big deal.

The 2008 Tigers will not, like the 1984 team, go wire-to-wire, will not go 9-0 start the season. In fact, they’re already looking up at the Indians…again.

Big deal.

I’m glad that all the sappy stuff about Opening Day in Detroit is over and done with. Let’s focus on the rest of the season — the long haul — and enjoy the ride.

Three things that I take from this game:

1. With Miguel Cabrera on board, Carlos Guillen will fly even further under the radar
2. The bullpen storyline is tired, man.
3. The Royals will continue to be pesky against the Tigers. Oy.

Finally, here’s a candidate for this year’s least-original AP game story lede: Money can’t buy wins. Just ask the Detroit Tigers.

Bring on game two, please.

In this episode we are joined by über Tigers bloggers Ian Casselberry of BlessYouBoys.com and BaseballBlend.com, “Big Al” Beaton of The Wayne Fontes Experience and SideLionReport.com, and John Milton of The Daily Fungo.

Today we recap Spring Training, talk about what’s ahead for the much-anticipated 2008 season in Detroit, and, as a special bonus, we play “Who’s Your Tiger?” for the new season.

Download the audio file or grab the RSS feed here.

•••

Comments? Leave a message on the new listener line, (602) 903-5174.

Also, be sure to check out The Daily Fungo, my Tigers magazine, for more conversations about the team. To stay current with the blog, use this RSS feed.

Theme music for the podcast produced by Paul Minshall.

In this episode we recap Spring Training and are joined by Gary Gillette, editor of several books including Tigers Corner 2008, to talk about the future of Tiger Stadium

Download the audio file or grab the RSS feed here.

Comments? Leave a message on the new listener line, (602) 903-5174.

Also, be sure to check out The Daily Fungo, my Tigers magazine, for more conversations about the team. To stay current with the blog, use this RSS feed.

Theme music for the podcast produced by Paul Minshall.

On March 27, 1984, the Tigers acquired lefty reliever Willie Hernandez and first baseman Dave Bergman from Philadelphia in exchange for OF Glenn Wilson (my favorite Tiger back then) and all-purpose guy John Wockenfuss.

With World Series expectations higher than perhaps ever in Tigers history and the team searching, as it was in 1984, for bullpen reinforcements, let’s look back on a trade for the ages.

Willie

There was no reason to expect the moon from Willie Hernandez as the Tigers’ new closer. After his trade to the Phillies from the Cubs on May 22, 1983, he went 8-4 with a 3.29 ERA and seven saves in 63 appearances, primarily as a setup man for closer Al Holland.

But, as if I need to remind you, in 1984 Hernandez put together the career year to end career years: 9-3, 32 saves, 1.92 ERA, 80 appearances, 140 IP, All Star, American League Cy Young Award winner and Most Valuable Player.

Sparky had lots to say about Willie Hernandez in his book about the ‘84 season, Bless You Boys. Here’s some of it:

I’ve been in baseball for 31 years, and there’s no way I can believe what I saw in Willie Hernandez this year.

-snip-

Don’t ask me to explain Willie. How do you explain a miracle? Every time Willie had a chance for a save, Willie got it. Every time we desperately had to have a win, Willie was there.

When I read that Hernandez didn’t pitch in 82 of the Tigers regular-season games in 1984, I find it hard to fathom. As a kid it seemed as if he pitched every day. And as Sparky said, when he did pitch, good things usually happened.

Thanks to his miracle season, Hernandez, who wore number 21, cashed-in on a big contract extension with the Tigers and, at age 29, appeared to be the closer for the long term.

In 1985, he turned in a decent year, though spoiled-rotten Tigers fans took to booing Hernandez regularly. He had an astonishing 18 decisions (8-10) even though he compiled stats that current Detroit fans would love to see from Todd Jones: 31 saves, 2.70 ERA.

From 1986 until his final year in Detroit in 1989, Hernandez’s save totals fell from 24 to 8 then bumped up to 10 and 15. Meanwhile his ERA headed north rapidly, topping out at 5.74 in ‘89 — when the entire franchise bottomed out.

The Tigers released him on Dec. 20, 1989. He never appeared in another major-league game. All told, Willie Hernandez finished his Tigers career with a 36-31 record, 120 saves and a 3.44 ERA.

Bergie

Dave Bergman was traded twice on March 24, 1984. The first deal sent him from the Giants to the Phillies for Alejandro Sanchez. (Interestingly, almost a year later, the Tigers sent Roger Mason to San Francisco for Sanchez) The Phillies quickly spun-off Bergman to Detroit. Most thought he would replace Wockenfuss as a part-time first baseman and outfielder. In reality, he became a workhorse defensive replacement for newly acquired Darrell Evans at first base.

In 1984, Bergman made a quick impact with his glove and, as the season wore on, with some clutch, late-inning heroics.

In the bottom half of the eighth inning at Comiskey Park on April 7, Sparky put Bergman in at first base as a defensive replacement for Barbaro Garbey. The White Sox’ Jerry Hairston ripped a groundball down the first-base line. Bergman, playing close to the line, slid to his left and snuffed the grounder for the first out of the inning but more importantly, protected Jack Morris’s no-hitter.

(Nearly a year earlier, Hairston crushed Milt Wilcox’s bid for a perfect game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. That’s what we call karma.)

On June 4 in Detroit against the Blue Jays, Bergman had what Sparky called the greatest at bat he’d seen in his life. Let’s allow Captain Hook describe it, again from the pages of Bless You Boys:

Here’s the scene: Two out in the last of the tenth, two men on, and the score tied at 3-3. Reliever Roy Lee Howell (sic) pitched to a full count. Then Bergie took over. Bergie fouled off seven pitches and then picked one practically off the ground and drilled it into the upper deck in right.What a battle! Bergie was up there a full seven minutes. It seemed like a whole season. The house went wild.

Actually, Bergman’s homer came off Roy Lee Jackson, which surprised me because I thought it was Luis Leal.

What made that game so much fun was that it was the season opener for ABC’s Monday Night Baseball, which was much bigger back then than ESPN’s Wednesday or Sunday night games are today. Also, school was almost out for summer and my friends and I were fired up for lots of excursions to Tiger Stadium’s bleachers.

During the 1984 season, Bergman appeared in 120 games, 114 at first base and one each in right and left field. He finished the year with a .273 average, seven home runs and 44 RBI. Defensively, Bergman made just eight errors in 732 chances, a .989 fielding percentage.

Wearing Wockenfuss’s number 14, Bergman became a mainstay with the Tigers. In nine seasons in Detroit he batted .252 with 39 home runs and 219 RBI. He retired after the 1992 season but remained in metro Detroit working in financial services.

Looking at the trade nearly a quarter century later, Detroit undoubtedly benefited the most. The Tigers got six seasons of work from Hernandez and nearly a decade from Bergman. Though the Phillies got barely a season and a half from Wockenfuss (whom we profiled here), Wilson had three respectable seasons in Philadelphia. In 1985, he batted .274 with 14 home runs and 102. The next season, he batted .271, 15 homers and 84 RBI.

Still, chances are only the most-diehard Phillies fan could point out any impression Wilson or Wockenfuss made on those mid-1980s Philadelphia teams. Tigers fans, however, remember vividly the contributions of Willie Hernandez and Dave Bergman.

It got me thinking about other former Tigers trying to latch on to another team (this was after I noticed that two former Tigers, Gary Pettis and Matt Walbeck, were coaching the bases for the Rangers).

I may be missing some names but here’s what I’ve uncovered:

• German, Rangers. Welcome aboard!
• Eric Munson, Brewers. Sent outright to Nashville of the Pacific Coast League (AAA). (I saw him play on Tuesday against the Dodgers; Mike Myers came in to face Munson in the bottom of the ninth and made him look silly.)
• Mike Rivera, Brewers. Welcome aboard!
• Gabe Kapler, Brewers. Likewise.
• Robert Fick, Padres. Released.
• Chris Shelton, Rangers. Sent to minor league camp.
• Jose Capellan, Giants. Claimed off waivers by the Reds.
• Eulogio De La Cruz, Marlins. Sent to Albuquerque of the PCL.
• Cameron Maybin, Marlins. Ditto.
• Dallas Trahern, Marlins. Assigned to minor-league camp.
• Jason Smith, Royals. Still hanging on. (He hit two HRs on Wednesday; one conventional, one inside-the-park job.)
• Mike Maroth, Royals. Still up for a bullpen slot. (In three spring training appearances, Maroth is 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA.)
• Roman Colon, Royals. Sent to Double-A Northwest Arkansas

Proving that there is justice in the world, as of this writing, Jeff Weaver is still looking for work.

Smoked again today in three innings of work.

Wha-? How did this happen!?

It was eerily reminiscent of last year when, at the end of Spring Training, we were suddenly hit with news that Kenny Rogers would start the season the disabled list and would have surgery on his throwing arm and would miss the first half of the season.

The Freep story lists Brandon Inge, Ryan Raburn and Freddy Guzman as options for replacing Granderson. But is there any doubt that we’ll see Inge roaming the pasture for most of April? For a split-second I thought to myself that maybe Inge will see the long-term benefits — and opportunities — of the super-sub role.

But on second thought, I doubt it.

The reported extension will pay Cabrera an average of just over $19 million per season and is reportedly pending a physical on Monday. The Tigers were already expected to have a team doctor in town this weekend for other matters. Since Cabrera has been healthy and playing all spring, the physical should be a formality.

Nice work, Dave.

Anyone who’s followed the Tigers at least since the late 1970s likely remembers the name. Detroit’s first-round pick in the 1982 amateur draft (#20), Monteleone, we were told, would slide into the rotation behind Dan Petry and someday become the Tigers’ ace.

So we waited. And waited.

And each Spring Training we’d follow his progress and wonder if this was the year Monteleone would break through. But that year never came. Instead the Tigers gave up on him after the 1985 season and traded him to the Seattle Mariners for Darnell Coles.

Though Monteleone failed to live up to the expectations of a number-one draft choice, he managed to carve out a nice 10-year career in the majors with the Mariners, Angels, Yankees and Giants. He retired after the 1996 season with a record of 24-17 and 3.87 ERA.

Today, Monteleone is a special pitching instructor for the Yankees.

Happy Birthday, Rich.

Ty Cobb signs with the Detroit Tigers for $4,000 plus an $800 bonus if he hits over .300. He will collect the bonus with a league-leading .324, becoming one of only three American League regulars to top .300 this year – the National League has five.

— From Baseball-Reference.com:

As if.

The descriptions of the players in the yearbook are deftly crafted. Take, for example, Chuck Scrivener [emphasis is mine]:

Chuck bounced around the Tiger farm system for seven years before getting his first chance, low plate figures holding him back. But he broke loose with a .251 average at Evansville in 1975 to help lead the Triplets to the Junior World Series title.

Hmm. Batting .251 in Triple-A is considered “breaking loose”? Those were lean times for Detroit.

Another name you’ll find in the Tigers yearbooks of that era is Fernando Arroyo, who just so happens to turn 56 today.

In 1975, Arroyo appeared in 14 games and earned a 2-1 record, with a 4.58 ERA. The Sacramento native spent all of the ‘76 campaign in Evansville before returning to Detroit in 1977. In 38 games that year his record was 8-18 with a 4.18 ERA.

Here’s what the yearbook had to say about that ‘77 campaign:

Fernando had lost 18 games — but six were by one run and 12 came when the Tigers failed to score, scored once or scored twice. That’s not the kind of support to enhance a pitcher’s record.

In 1978 and ‘79, Arroyo — who wore number 36 — pitched a mere 16 innings in eight games for Detroit compiling a 1-1 record.

On Dec. 5, 1979, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Jeff Holly. He spent parts of three seasons with the Twins before being released. Arroyo pitched in the White Sox organization from 1982-84.

Almost two years later, he reappeared in the big leagues, this time with Oakland. On Monday, Aug. 11, 1986, Arroyo came into a 4-4 game in the top of the ninth against the Mariners with two out, Danny Tartabull at first and Ken Phelps at second.

He walked the first batter he faced, Bob Kearney, to load the bases. Next he walked Spike Owen to bring home Phelps and the go-ahead run. Then he walked Domingo Ramos, plating Tartabull and giving the Mariners a 6-4 lead. Dave Leiper replaced Arroyo and got Harold Reynolds to flyout to center to end the inning.

And that was the last we heard of Fernando Arroyo.

Today The Wall Street Journal and ESPN’s Rob Neyer take a closer look at Bonderman’s first-inning baggage.

First, The Journal sets the scene:

In 151 first innings in his career, Mr. Bonderman has given up 200 hits, 47 doubles, 27 home runs and 66 walks with an ERA of 7.09. Hitters facing him in the first have an All Star-caliber .316 batting average. In the second inning, their average drops to .216.

Former Tigers pitching coach Bob Cluck is quoted extensively in the Journal piece, describing the lengths to which he tried to simulate the first inning in the bullpen before the game.

He made Mr. Bonderman pitch a simulated first inning in the bullpen, then sit down, hoping that his first inning on the mound would feel like his second. No luck there, either. Given the young pitcher’s talent and value, Mr. Cluck hesitated to go further.

Then, Mr. Neyer weighs in:

This is all quite interesting, but of course the best explanation for Bonderman’s first-inning woes is not psychology or pitch selection or umpires; the best explanation is something we like to call “statistical fluctuation” or “random variation.”

As a rookie in 2003, Bonderman was equally bad in the first and second innings — as measured by OPS allowed — and even worse in the third inning.

In 2004, Bonderman’s worst innings were the third and the fourth.

In 2005, Bonderman was absolutely horrible in the first inning, much worse than in any other inning.

In 2006, Bonderman wasn’t particularly good in the first inning, but he wasn’t particularly bad, either. And we would expect pitchers to struggle a bit in the first inning, because of course they’re facing a lineup that’s designed to perform well in the first inning.

In 2007, Bonderman was even worse in the first inning than he’d been in 2005.

But let’s go to the source. What does Bondo himself have to say about it?

It’s “not that big of a deal,” he says.

Ahem.

“It’s a combination of everything. We’re not to where I want them to be. I think we will be, though.”

Need proof?

In today’s game against the Blue Jays, the Tigers are down 5-2 in the fifth inning. Why? In 3.1 innings, Dontrelle Willis gave up seven hits, walked four and gave up five earned runs.

Not ready indeed.

But what, pray tell, if it’s not?

I, for one, refuse to buy into the bullpen as Achilles’ heel conspiracy theory, and here are three reasons why:

1. Healthy starters
2. Dave Dombrowski
3. Zach Miner

1. Healthy starters. Among the many problems last season, the one that stands out most prominently for yours truly is the regularity with which Jim Leyland had to go to his bully in the sixth inning or sooner. Not only did it wear a path from the dugout to the hill, it prevented the bullpen from getting the rest required to be fresh when it was really needed. Instead, by Aug. 1 the Tigers bullpen was spent and Joel Zumaya’s return proved to be too little, too late.

Oh, we’re all concerned that the Tigers staff has lingering questions including Kenny Rogers‘ age and ability to pitch deep into games — and the season. There’s concern over Dontrelle Willis‘ declining stats the past two seasons and whether he’ll pitch closer to 35 rather than his actual age. And, let’s not forget Fungo-favorite Nate Robertson. Can he at last shed the Tough Luck Nate label and win some close games?

By all acounts, Jeremy Bonderman’s elbow is sound and should be helped by the change-up he’s supposedly improved — if not mastered. That leaves Justin Verlander. So far, so good and let’s keep it that way.

In all, the only health concerns surround Rogers and he appears good to go. The healthy outlook of the starting five should mean more quality starts, more starts lasting into the seventh or eighth innings and a more-rested relief corps.

2. Dave Dombrowski. Let’s assume — for a moment — that the bullpen underachieves. Then what? I’m betting that Dave Dombrowski will find the right arms (or, I suppose, left arms) to keep the bullpen afloat until either Zumaya or Fernando Rodney get healthy.

By now hasn’t Dombrowski proven to Tigers fans that, with the exception of Neifi Perez, he’s pulled the trigger on the right deals for the Detroit Nine?

And let’s not forget that Dombrowski has a potentially rock-solid chip to parlay into bullpen depth: Brandon Inge. Whether it’s May 1 or July 31, Inge will be gone and you can bet in return the Tigers will have acquired the reliever they need.

And who knows, Francisco Cruceta might have resolved his visa issues by then and logging valuable work in the seventh and eighth.

If I had to have GM at the wheel in this scenario, I’d want it to be the Tigers’.

3. Zach Miner. I’m a Zach Miner Fan Boy. There. I said it. Miner, in my view, is the Tigers most versatile and under-appreciated pitcher. All he’s managed to do since he came to Detroit is eat innings and fill the roles of spot starter and middle-relief guy with aplomb. Sure, he cratered in the second half of the 2006 season — his first in the bigs — but according to Baseball Prospectus 2008:

Miner kept the ball down on the way to an effective [2007] season, posting a 2.3 G/F [groundball to flyball ratio] and allowing just 14 extra-base hits in 232 opponent plate appearances. Miner was also effective with runners on, stranding 24 of the 30 he inherited. Of the Tigers three garbagemen, Miner has the most upside.

(In their assessment of Miner, BP included Chad Durbin and Jason Grilli as the others in the Garbage Time Trio.)

Granted, it’s not a rousing endorsement but if nothing else, the Baseball Prospectus folks do their homework. If they thought Miner was a dog, they’d say it.

Bottom line: If the first two in my recipe fail to hold up their end of the bargain, I feel considerably better knowing that Zach Miner is around to start, mop up or close shop.