Detroit Tigers Clips Friday, November 20, 2015 Detroit Free Press Fenech: Why Price, J.D. Martinez made my MVP ballot (Fenech) Tigers beef up scouting, analytics departments (Fenech) The Detroit News Tigers beef up scouting and analytics staffs (McCosky) MLive.com 3 players Detroit Tigers are most likely to add to 40-man roster, protect from Rule 5 draft (Iott) Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera 11th, J.D. Martinez 15th in AL Most Valuable Player voting (Iott) MLB.com Tigers face roster decisions for Rule 5 Draft (Beck) Tigers expand front-office scouting, analytics (Beck) Oakland Press Tigers announce moves to beef up scouting, analytics departments (Mowery) CBSDetroit.com Buy A Piece Of Comerica Park At The 2015 Detroit Tigers Garage Sale (Staff) Daily Transactions 1 Fenech: Why Price, J.D. Martinez made my MVP ballot November 20, 2015 By Anthony Fenech/ Detroit Free Press Baseball’s awards season finished Thursday night with the announcements of each league’s MVP and, in the end, there were no surprises. In the National League, Nationals rightfielder Bryce Harper ran away with it. In the American League, Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson won ahead of Angels centerfielder Mike Trout. Harper put together one of the best offensive seasons in baseball history, and Donaldson was the offensive and defensive rock of a Toronto team that came a couple of wins short of the World Series. But the method to which both were voted as winners has become anything but predictable these days, with any number of traditional and advanced statistics to evaluate candidates. And for the first time in my baseball writing career, I was tasked with voting on a Baseball Writers Association of America award, and I was thankful that the decision at the top was not as hard-pressed as in the past. Donaldson was my top choice because of the impact he made on a playoff team. He and Trout were neck-and-neck in the numbers — Donaldson a bit ahead in many of the metrics I value most — but his presence in the lineup and at the hot corner of the AL East champs was unmistakable. He was the MVP. After the clear-cut choices at the top, it was easy to slot Royals centerfielder Lorenzo Cain third. Still somewhat of an underrated player, Cain amazed with his defense in centerfield and broke out in a big way offensively, serving as the top player in Kansas City’s championship run. Cain’s selection was my first weighed heavily with the eye test. In the Tigers’ 17 games against the Royals in 2015, he simply stood out. From there, the ballot became tougher. And after watching David Price the first half of the season in Detroit and seeing what he did for the Blue Jays in the second half — 9-1, 2.30 ERA — I felt he was deserving of the No. 4 spot. It was hard to distinguish Price from Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel, who won the AL Cy Young Award on Wednesday night — both had impressive numbers — but the expectations placed on Price after the trade deadline were enormous, and he answered the bell in a big way. Between Price and Keuchel was Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, whose season was outstanding. Machado, 22, hit .286 with 35 home runs, 86 RBIs and 20 stolen bases while playing great defense. Even though the Orioles faded down the stretch, I could not keep Machado out of my top five. At No. 7, I put Tigers rightfielder J.D. Martinez. With Victor Martinez’s bum knee and Miguel Cabrera out of the lineup for a chunk of the season, Martinez carried the Tigers from mid-May. He improved immensely on defense, and with the way he swung out of an early-season slump and the hustle he brought daily, it was a wonder how far the team would have fallen without him. Martinez’s vote was the toughest and no doubt influenced by watching him play daily. He ranked eighth in the league in WAR at 5.0, according to FanGraphs. Martinez was followed on my ballot by Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre — the likely Hall of Famer was banged up a bit this season but still the biggest factor in the Rangers’ playoff run — and designated hitter Nelson Cruz, whose offensive output kept the Mariners from being a 100-loss team. But the easiest pick on my ballot likely will be the most criticized, placing Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin into the final spot. Martin didn’t rank among the league leaders in WAR and wasn’t a stalwart offensively, but there is no coincidence that just like when he joined the Pirates two years ago, they became a winner. He isn’t a sexy name like teammates Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion, but Martin plays the most important position, and ushered an average Blue Jays pitching staff to their first division title since 1987. Looking at the players in the AL and their impact, I could not place 10 more important players this year. Martin is a winning catcher, and was recognized as such on my ballot. 2 Games played factored into my criteria (eliminating Cabrera) and so, too, did the performance of each player’s individual team (Donaldson played in higher-intensity games down the stretch than Trout) and the eye-test was heavily weighed. From Donaldson to Martin, it was a lengthy process, weighing the pros and cons of each player, talking with many players and coaches and writers, it was overwhelming at times and it was fun, my first BBWAA awards vote. 3 Tigers beef up scouting, analytics departments November 20, 2015 By Anthony Fenech/ Detroit Free Press The Detroit Tigers beefed up their baseball knowledge this afternoon. They announced the hiring of four major league scouts and four analytical staff members – including Jay Sartori as senior director of baseball operations – as they expand their front office efforts to adapt to both sides of the baseball spectrum. Sartori was with the Tigers at the general managers meetings last week in Boca Raton, Fla., and comes to the team from Apple, where he most recently managed the sports and entertainment section of the App Store. Before that, he served as an assistant GM of the Blue Jays from 2010-13. In addition to Sartori, the team named Andrew Koo baseball operations analyst and Chris Long will assist the department as an analytics consultant. On the scouting side, the Tigers added three major league scouts – Ray Crone, Joe Ferrone, Randy Johnson and Jimmy Rough. Former Cubs executive Oneri Fleita also joined the team as an international cross-checker. Additionally, Alan Avila – Al Avila's youngest son – will join the organization in the baseball operations department as assistant counsel and bullpen catcher Jeff Kunkel – a Michigan grad – will join their scouting department, serving as the area scout for the upper Midwest region. The hires point to an added emphasis on not only the analytical side of the game – Al Avila has prioritized that going forward – but also the scouting side of baseball. 4 Tigers beef up scouting and analytics staffs November 20, 2015 By Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News Detroit – As he promised, executive vice president and general manager Al Avila has beefed up the Tigers scouting and analytics staffs, as well as their international operations. The Tigers have hired four veterans scouts to their Major League bureau: Ray Crone, most recently with the Padres; Joe Ferrone, with the Tigers from 2003-2007 and most recently with the Brewers; Randy Johnson, the former Braves third baseman who scouted for the Tigers in the early 2000s and has been with the Padres; and Jimmy Rough, who had been an area scout with the Tigers. Also, Murray Cook, who had been serving as an area scout, has been named senior advisor. Jeff Kunkel, former Michigan captain who has been the team's bullpen catcher the last four seasons, has been hired as an area scout serving the upper Midwest region. Also hired as amateur scouts: Steve Hinton, national cross-checker; Jim Bretz, area scout for the Northeast region; RJ Burgess, area scout North Florida; Dave Dangler, area scout Northwest region; Oneri Fleita, area scout Mid-Atlantic region; Justin Henry, area scout Southeast region. Fleita, former scout with the Cubs, will also serve as the organization's international cross-checker. Jesus Garces will be the team's area scout in Venezuela. On the baseball operations side, Alan Avila, Al Avila's son, has been hired as assistant counsel. As was reported two weeks ago, Jay Sartori was hired as the team's Senior Director of Baseball Operations and Analytics. He added Andrew Koo to his staff as an analyst. Chris Long will assist the department as a consultant. 5 3 players Detroit Tigers are most likely to add to 40-man roster, protect from Rule 5 draft November 20, 2015 By Chris Iott/ MLive.com The Detroit Tigers absolutely will add right-handed pitching prospect Michael Fulmer to their 40-man roster to protect him from next month's Rule 5 draft. Who else will they protect before the midnight deadline Friday night? Two stand out above the crowd of Tigers players who are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft, which will be held Dec. 10 in Nashville at the conclusion of the annual winter meetings. But first, a refresher on how the Rule 5 draft works. • Players were signed when they were 19 or older and have played four years of professional baseball are eligible to be selected by other teams in the Rule 5 draft, as are players who were signed when they were younger than that and have played five professional seasons.