Tigers designate Shelton for assignment

[Post Count Padder]

Chris Shelton-1B- Tigers Nov. 30 - 11:57 am et

 

 

Tigers designated first baseman Chris Shelton for assignment.

 

Shelton got off to a blistering start in 2006, but then slumped badly and was demoted to Triple-A, where he stayed for all of 2007 while hitting .269/.381/.420 in 139 games. A career .281/.348/.477 hitter in 249 MLB games who's batted .311/.410/.500 in the minors, Shelton could have helped the Tigers and should latch on somewhere as a platoon starter or bench bat.

 

Worth taking a chance on him?

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

I'd take a flyer on him. Wonder if he could hack it at either of the corner OF spots? Maybe nice utility player off the bench? I'm Ron Burgundy?

[Roast]

He's certainly got some pop, or at least - he did. I don't know what happened to him but i'd give him a shot if it's in a purely Daryl Ward type of a role.

[bhogg]

when in Rome. . .

[Jake]

I can't believe I'm writing this, but, this somewhat vindicates David Littlefield of one of his worst blunders.

[Mark_R]

He'd be a nice right handed bat off the bench, and IIRC, wasn't he a catcher coming up?

[BCVM22]

He'd be a nice right handed bat off the bench, and IIRC, wasn't he a catcher coming up?

 

He more or less split his time in the minors between catcher and first base and played first almost exclusively in the majors, save for a whopping 16 innings at catcher in 2004. He also has 3 career major league innings at the corner outfield spots.

 

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/S/Chris-Shelton.shtml

[RynoRules]

I'd sign him to play in Iowa, but that is about it. He could help if we had injury issues on the ML level.

[badnews]

Sign him with the major league club? Absolutely not, no chance.

[Mizzou]

Sign him with the major league club? Absolutely not, no chance.

Why are you so against signing him for the bench? As a part time player, he had very very good numbers in '05 (.299/.360/.510) and above average numbers in '06 (.273/.340/.466). One question that I would have but don't know the answer to is, why did he not play in the majors in '07? But looking at his numbers the two years prior to that, I can't see how anyone wouldn't want him sitting on the bench.

[CubColtPacer]

I'm not sure we can devote 3 of our 5 bench spots to our backup catcher and two backup first basemen that don't play OF very well. That would be my worry with signing Shelton when the Cubs already have Ward.

[Outshined_One]

He'd be a nice right handed power threat off the bench. If he can play a corner OF spot, he might be worth a gamble.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'm not sure we can devote 3 of our 5 bench spots to our backup catcher and two backup first basemen that don't play OF very well. That would be my worry with signing Shelton when the Cubs already have Ward.

 

We have 6 bench spots, we don't play Dusty ball with our pitching staff anymore.

 

But this is pointless to talk about cause Shelton isn't a lefty with speed.

[CubColtPacer]

I'm not sure we can devote 3 of our 5 bench spots to our backup catcher and two backup first basemen that don't play OF very well. That would be my worry with signing Shelton when the Cubs already have Ward.

 

We have 6 bench spots, we don't play Dusty ball with our pitching staff anymore.

 

But this is pointless to talk about cause Shelton isn't a lefty with speed.

 

Huh? Lou only said that he had to have 12 pitchers on his pitching staff about 1000 times last year. There will only be 5 bench spots. The only time we didn't have 12 pitchers is when there were injuries in the middle of the year, and it drove Lou crazy to only have 11.

[badnews]

Sign him with the major league club? Absolutely not, no chance.

Why are you so against signing him for the bench? As a part time player, he had very very good numbers in '05 (.299/.360/.510) and above average numbers in '06 (.273/.340/.466). One question that I would have but don't know the answer to is, why did he not play in the majors in '07? But looking at his numbers the two years prior to that, I can't see how anyone wouldn't want him sitting on the bench.

 

It just seems like a waste of a roster spot to me. I'm not too big into the pack rat mentality where we try and collect anyone who ever had a good month here and there, especially 1b. A friend of mine who knows the Detroit organization better than I do says he's no kind of outfielder whatsoever, and a righthanded hitting bench 1b who had all of one great month in 2006 and blah the rest of the way? Next we'll be re-acquiring Hee Seop Choi and grabbing Craig Wilson.