Category: Fungoes

Widespread Selective Amnesia from Media on Huff’s Pennant-Race Experience

AubreyHuff.jpgThe other day, friend of the Fungo, Doug Hill, sent us an email relaying what he heard Dodgers’ radio announcers say earlier this week: “how great it must be for Aubrey Huff to be in a pennant race for the first time in his career.”

Doug and I had the same reaction: What about last season when he arrived in Detroit as the Tigers were fighting off the Twins?!

Apparently there’s some collective amnesia in the media about Huff’s time in Detroit — not that we can blame them. After all, in 40 games with the Tigers last season Huff was dreadful: .189 average, six doubled, two homers, 13 RBI and an OPS of .567.

During Saturday’s Padres/Giants game on FOX, play-by-play guy Chris Rose also mentioned Huff’s long dry spell — and omitted his uselessness last season in Detroit.

And now there’s this: an ESPN The Magazine mini-article focused on Huff’s “epiphany”:

Huff’s first season in San Francisco has been a life-changing experience. “Until this year, I didn’t know what the big leagues were about,”says the 33-year-old.

(snip)

[I]t’s hard to blame Huff for letting the losing get to him. Except for disjointed stints as a late-summer rental for the 2006 Astros and 2009 Tigers, he’s spent more time in the cellar than a ’64 Bordeaux — his clubs have finished in last place six times, and only two active players (Randy Winn and Michael Young) have played more games without a postseason trip.

I’ll be honest, of all the Tigers’ recent late-season pickups I harbor the most bitterness for Huff. He was given a golden opportunity to be a difference maker for a division-leading team and he failed miserably. I can only scratch had in bemusement for this sudden love for him in the media.

He might be a great guy and a model teammate with the Giants. But with the Tigers, he was a colossal bust.

Tuesday Tananas: Fred Lynn, Ted Power and Don Draper

bananas.jpgIs it just me or were there a lot of Aug. 31 trades made back in the day? Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s it seemed that Oakland was always adding a big name at the deadline — Willie McGee, Ruben Sierra, Harold Baines. Just asking.

Carlos Guillen déjà vu

Now that’s how you go on the disabled list.

After so many trips to the DL because of a pulled this or a strained that, Carlos Guillen was shelved today thanks to an honest-to-goodness, bone-jarring collision at second base Monday night.

The Tigers placed Guillen on the 15-day disabled list because he has a deep bruise on his left knee.

We’ve come to expect Guillen’s injuries throughout his seven seasons in Detroit.

Well, that’s not true. In 2006 and 2007, he was remarkably durable, playing in 153 and 151 games, respectively.

Here’s a look at Guillen’s games played since coming to Detroit in 2004:

  • 2004 – 136 games played
  • 2005 – 87
  • 2006 – 153
  • 2007 – 151
  • 2008 – 113
  • 2009 – 81
  • 2010 – 68

At the end of the 2007 season he slid into third base, torqued his knee and from that point on, he went from reliable to liability. (Yeah, that might be a bit strong. But really, have you counted on Guillen to be a productive part of the Tigers’ lineup since then?) And because of his knee problems, the Tigers traded Jair Jurrjens to the Braves for Edgar Renteria.

So perhaps we can stop blaming Dave Dombrowski for that trade and instead blame Guillen? Didn’t think so.

Going into Thursday, there are 42 games left on the Tigers’ schedule this season. If Guillen returns the moment his 15 days on the DL are up, there will be 27 games remaining. If he were to play in all of them, he’d have appeared in 95 games this season — but who are we kidding?

If Guillen returns at all this season, it should be as the full-time DH, clearing the way for Will Rhymes or Scott Sizemore to show what they can do at second base.

And really, it’s too bad that Guillen keeps getting bitten by the injury bug. He could’ve been a much bigger player for the Tigers for a long time.