Wings sign Williams

The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed forward Jason Williams to a one year contract extension. He scored 6 goals last year in a career high 49 games played. He is another good young player for the Red Wings who has the potential to be a solid player in the NHL. 

Several contract negotiations remain for the Red Wings, including for Steve Yzerman, Pavel Datsyuk, Mathieu Schneider, and Jiri Fischer.

Lions Ink Draft Picks

The Lions have signed all but 2 of their draft picks(Roy Williams and Keith Smith) after they signed running back Kevin Jones to a 5 year contract(reports of the deal were for 7 million with  $3.65 million in bonus money) on Wednesday. They also signed Alex Lewis, a fifth-round linebacker, to a three-year contract. On Tuesday they signed second-round linebacker Teddy Lehman and sixth-round tackle Kelly Butler.

Other Lions Notes

Cornerback Chris Cash, who had been slow recovering from last year's knee injury, will not be on the physically unable to perform list when camp opens. Millen said Cash was cleared to go 100 percent. ...

Wide receiver Charles Rogers, who had a lengthy recovery from a broken collarbone, will not be limited either, Millen said. "We're going to let it rip," Millen said. "He's ready to roll.....

Information above taken from http://freep.com 

Pistons waive rights to Okur

Mehmet Okur is officially not coming back to the Pistons next season after they waived their right to match the 6 year, $50-million offer sheet Okur signed with the Utah Jazz earlier this month, leaving Okur free to play in Utah next season. Okur was an afterthought for the Pistons after they signed Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess. It is tough to see Okur go because he is a good young player, who has a lot of upside, but I don't think he is worth the 50 million. He would also probably come off the bench and get limited minutes. The Pistons will now move on without him, hoping to have made the right decision.

Wings sign Mathieu Dandenault

The Red Wings have reportedly re-signed Mathieu Dandenault to a one year contract worth about 1.6 million. His career numbers include 149 points in 616 games. He is a good player who can play offense and defense. To find out more on this signing, head over to http://onthewings.blogspot.com.

Latest News

This is all the Detroit Sports News for each team since I have been gone.

Tigers-the Tigers have been playing bad lately since spliting a series with the Yankees. They now sit 7 1/2 games back of the division leading White Sox

Pistons-the Pistons resigned Rasheed Wallace to a 5 year deal worth around 60 million. They also signed free agent forward Antonio Mcdyess to a 4 year deal worth around 24 million. He will replace Okur who signed a 50 million dollar deal with the Utah Jazz. The Pistons also signed last year's second round draft pick Carlos Delfino to a 3 year deal. Finally, the Pistons won the ESPY for Best Team,Best Upset, and Best Coach(Larry Brown).

Lions-The Lions start training camp soon. They should have a much better season after their great offseason moves.

Redwings-The Redwings resigned Shanahan to a 3 year deal. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

I'm Back

I am back from vacation but I am having major computer problems. As soon as I can get a new computer, I will start posting again.

When I was gone, the most major Detroit Sports news was about the Pistons. They resigned Rasheed,signed Antonio McDyess, signed Carlos Delfino, but they lost Okur to Utah. The Pistons also won the ESPY for Best Team,Best Coach(Larry Brown), and best upset.

State of the Blog

I will be gone for the next 2 weeks so I won't be able to do any postings. For the latest Detroit Sports news, check out these sites:Tiger Blog,Detroit Tigers Weblog,On the Wings,The Cheap Seats,Detroitlions.com, and Detroitpistons.com.

I am looking for a writer to post on my site in any of the following areas.

-writing game recaps for the Lions,Pistons,Redwings, or Tigers.
-writing about sports news outside of the Detroit area.
-finding and writing on news dealing with Michigan University Sports.
-writing reports dealing with the NBA,NHL,NFL,or MLB.

If you would like to write for my site in any of these areas or in another area that you think would improve my site then just leave a comment or drop me an email.

The last thing I would like to talk about is the hit meters. At the time I wrote this post, my script host hit meter had 2023 hits and my other hit meter had 2301. The reason I am putting this is because I want to know how many hits I get a day on average.

Tigers take series

The Tigers won a huge game today over the Twins. They beat them 2-0 to take the series from them on the road 3-1. Jason Johnson(7-7) threw his best game as a Tiger going all 9 innings, while striking out a career high 11 batters. He has now went 6-2 since starting 1-5. Detroit got all the offense they needed when Eric Munson hit a 2 run homer.

The Tigers are on a high note going into the All Star break. They just came off of winning 2/3 on the road against the Yankees and winning 3/4 in Minnesota against the division leading Twins. In this past series against the Twins all of their runs came off the 9 homeruns they hit. Their record now sits at 42-45 and they are just one win shy of their total from all of last season(43).

They now sit 5 games back of the Twins.

Tigers bounce back

The Tigers came back with a nice victory over the Twins last night after losing to them 6-1 in the first game of this series.

Jason Smith hit 2 homers and Carlos Guillen hit a 3 run homer on route to the Tigers' 5-3 victory. Guillen's homer was his 13 of the season.

Knotts(5-3) pitched a great game going 6 2/3 innings while giving up only 2 runs. This was Knotts' first win in his last 5 starts.

Urbina closed the door in the 9th inning to pick up his 13th save in 15 tries.

The Tigers have now won 3 of their last 4 games.

Tigers lose important series opener

The Tigers lost an important game yesterday against the Twins 6-1. Maroth(5-7) started the game great but then fell apart giving up 6 runs to pick up the loss. This was the first game in a 4 game series in Minnesota.

Pudge scored the Tigers' lone run when he hit his 11th homer of the season.

The Tigers now must win at least 2 of the next 3 games in Minnesota if they want to stay in reaching distance of the division leading Twins. This series is a great opportunity for them to gain some ground on them and if they get swept, they will have no shot of winning their division or even getting the wild card after the All Star game.

7/7 News

The Tigers won a very important game today against the Yankees. They beat them 10-8 to win the series by taking 2/3 games from them on the road. They now move onto the most important series of the season. They play a 4 game road series against the division leading Twins on the road. It is their last series before the allstar game. They must gain some ground on the Twins if they want any chance of winning their division.

The Redwings signed 42 year old defenseman Chris Chelios to a one year contract extension worth a little less than 3 million dollars. I think it was good that the Wings kept him. He is old but he is still good and he can teach some of the younger defensemen how to play. After this season, Chelios will probably retire.

Okur set to leave Detroit

It looks like the Pistons are going to lose free agent Center Mehmet Okur. The Utah Jazz have offered Okur a contract believed to be worth 50 million over 5 years. Detroit will have 15 days to match the offer, beginning July 14, the first day free agents can officially sign with teams. Joe Dumars had hoped to sign Okur to a deal worth about 41 million over 7 years. What will decide whether the Pistons match the offer depends on if Rasheed Wallace resigns with Detroit. They are said to be offering Rasheed a 4 or 5 year contract worth about 10 million. If Rasheed signs with Detroit, then they won't be able to resign Okur.

If have mixed feelings about whether the Pistons should keep Okur or not. He is a good center that has a lot of upside,but I don't think he is quite worth the 50 million that the Jazz are offering him. Another problem with keeping Okur is playing time. He didn't get many minutes after they got Rasheed Wallace. That trend would continue if Rasheed comes back. Also if Okur stays, then Darko probably would get limited minutes next season. It is tough to have 3 offensively talented big men on your roster. Whether Okur stays or leaves I think Joe Dumars will make the right decision.

Midseason Grades

The Tigers are about half way through their season. Their record is 37-43. Here are my midseason grades for each player and the team as a whole.

Ivan Rodriguez A+
Pudge was brought to Detroit to lead the team. I think he has done a great job at that. He is leading the entire league in batting average at 377. He also has 10 homers,57 RBIs, and was named to A.L. starting lineup for the all-star game.

Carlos Guillen A+
Guillen is having an incredible year. He is batting .324 with 11 homers and 57 RBIs. Along with Pudge, he was named to the all-star game.

Brandon Inge B+
When the Tigers signed Pudge, it looked like Inge wouldn't play much all season. He has played and he has looked great. He is batting 303. He also has 7 homers, 2 grand slams,and 30 RBIs. He has been the biggest surprise for the Tigers this season.

Rondell White B
White is having a very solid season. He is batting 270 with 11 homers and 43 RBIs. He is right on pace for the 22 homers he hit last year.

Omar Infante B
Along with Inge, Infante has been another nice surprise. He is batting 293, has 10 doubles, 5 triples, 6 homers, and 26 RBIs.

Alex Sanchez B-
Sanchez has had a good season. He is batting 326. He also has a team leading 18 stolen bases. Alex is hitting good but he isn't getting walked enough to be the leadoff hitter. He only has 6 walks, something he must improve on.

Dmitri Young B-
Young got injured very early in the season and now he is back. He is hitting 311 with 5 homers and 18 RBIs. He is just starting to get back into the groove.

Carlos Pena B-
Pena is having a good year. He has 11 homers and 46 RBIs. Along with Munson though, his terrible batting average. His batting average is only 234. He too must improve in that area.

Bobby Higginson B-
Bobby is having a much better year than people thought he would. He is hitting 276. He also has 35 RBIs and a team leading 37 walks.

Eric Munson C+
Munson started the season slow but is starting to come around. He has hit 11 homers and has 30 RBIs. The one thing he must improve on his terrible 237 batting average.

Craiq Monroe C
Monroe is not having the type of season people thought he would after having a great rookie season. He is hitting 272 but he only has 2 homeruns.

Fernado Vina D
Vina and Guillen were supposed to be the 1-2 punch up the middle. Guillen is doing is part, but Vina isn't. He has been injured and he is only batting 226. He also has 0 homers and only 7 RBIs. When he gets back from injury, he needs to do much better.

Greg Norton D-
Norton wasn't supposed to be a star this season by any stretch but he has done terrible. He is batting a team low 174. He also has only 2 RBIs and 15 hits in the 41 games he has played.

Note-I only graded players who have played in 20 games or more.

Now for the Pitching Staff

Nate Robertson A
Robertson has been the star of the Tigers' pitching staff. He is 7-3 with a 3.82 ERA. He also has 87 strikeouts in 96.2 innings of work.

Gary Knotts B
Knotts started the season very strong when Detroit called him to pitch. He has struggled a bit lately but he is still having a good season. He is 4-3 and has 49 strikeouts.

Jamie Walker B-
In the few games that Walker has pitched, he has looked great. He has a very low 2.97 ERA and has 30 strikeouts in just 33.1 innings of work.

Jason Johnson C+
Johnson started the season at 1-5 but has now won 4/7 to up his record to 5-7. He has a 4.88 ERA along with 61 strikeouts.

Mike Maroth C
Mike also started the season very good but it looks like he has dropped off the table. He is now 5-6 and has a 4.82 ERA. He is still having a much better year than last year when he lost 21 games.

Danny Patterson C
Patterson is 0-4 but he does have a nice 3.98 ERA. He also has 20 strikeouts in 31.2 innings of work.

Urbina C
Urbina is having a decent season as the Tigers' closer. He is 11/13 in his save opportunities and he also as 38 strikeouts in 31 innings of work. The one thing he must improve on is his terrible 5.23 ERA.

E Yan C
Yan is another guy who is winless at 0-2 but he does have a 4.27 ERA. He also has 31 stikeouts.

Jeremy Bonderman C-
Bonderman is not having a very good season. He is 5-7 with a very high 5.87 ERA. He has allowed 13 homers and has walked a team high 43 batters. About the only good stat Jeremy has, is his 78 strikeouts in 87.1 innings of work.

Al Levine D
Levine was brought in too be the Tigers' strong middle reliever. He hasn't been that man for Detroit and it has cost them some games. He has a horrible 5.84 ERA along with just 18 strikeouts.

Note-I only graded pitchers who have pitched 30 or more innings.

Team as a Whole B-
The Tigers are having a much better season than everybody thought that they would. They have already almost won as many games as they did all of last season, but I still think they should be at least 500. Their hitting has been incredible, maybe the best in the league, but their pitching has really hurt them. They have lost a lot of close games and have blown a lot of big leads. Maybe in the second half of the season they will start winning the close games. If they can do that then I think they will have a shot at being 500.

They are 6 games back of the division leaders.

Wings sign Draper

The Redwings signed Kris Draper to a 4 year deal worth about 11.2 million. This past season, Draper had a break out year scoring 24 goals and 16 assists. He also won the Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive forward. This is a very good signing for the Wings to make. He is a good player and it was important for the Redwings to keep him on their roster. For more on this signing, head over to On the Wings.