In praise of Pauly: Polanco a deserving All-Star
Out of five — yes, count’em FIVE — Detroit Tigers named today to the American League All-Star team, BaseballBigMouth.com is taking time to salute perhaps the least-heralded of the group that also includes Magglio Ordonez; Justin Verlander; Pudge Rodriguez and Carlos Guillen: Placido Polanco.
Polanco an All-Star at plate, in-field
Not only has this diminutive second sacker become the first Tigers’ 2B to start an All-Star game since Lou Whitaker, but also celebrated one-year on Sunday of errorless baseball. Yes, you read that right - it has been more than a year since Pauly last made an error (spanning 113 games and 550 chances). Not too shabby, to say the least. Of course, this also goes without saying that, since arriving in Motown in 2005 in exchange for reliever (and now inmate) Ugie Urbina, all Polanco has done at the dish is hit everything in sight. This year alone he stands at a .330 clip, while also being on pace to better his personal best of 63 RBI — currently sitting at 36. Tiger fans salute you, Placido, especially all of us here at BaseballBigMouth.com. Congratulations on being voted to your first MLB All-Star game.
Eulogio, we hardly knew ya
In just another excuse to show ya another photo, the Tigers farmed out hard-throwing (but erratic) righty reliever Eulogio De La Cruz last night. The team made the move to make room for newly-aquired Jose Capellan, formerly of the Milwaukee Brewers. De La Cruz looks to have a very live arm, but needs to develop his other pitches. Also, the team — in fairness — should decide once and for all if he is going to be best served as an MLB starter or reliever, and pitch him in that role in the minors. They can’t expect guys to just go back and forth between roles so easily, let alone at the highest professional level. De La Cruz’ ERA in the minors was two points higher as a reliever. And in the bigs? Yeesh. Let’s just say he needs more time. Nice arm, but still a little raw — so sayeth The Heckler. Who wanted this guy brought up anyway? Ahem . . .
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