On Tuesday, I woke up to the news that former Toledo Mud Hen Cody Ross was close to signing with the Boston Red Sox. I was disappointed because I thought Ross would be a good one-year option for the Detroit Tigers in the outfield, allowing Brendan Boesch to be the starting designated hitter. By the end of the day, the Tigers solidified that open spot in the lineup, and it did not include Cody Ross or any other stop-gap player.
The signing of Prince Fielder by the Tigers this week stunned just about everybody in the world except for Dave Dombrowski, Mike Illitch, Scott Boras, and of course Prince himself. Since Victor Martinez is out for the year with a knee injury, there is a hole in the lineup that will be easily filled by Fielder. Still, legitimate questions remain regarding the 2012 Detroit Tigers.
The $214 million deal over nine years is obscene and hopefully it was not a knee-jerk reaction to Martinez's injury. The Tigers now have Fielder under contract through 2020, Martinez under contract through 2014, and Miguel Cabrera under contract through 2015. Unless a team is willing to take on a large amount of salary for a defensively limited player, none of these guys are going anywhere until their deals expire. There is no denying Fielder's offensive consistency and durability. Even with Martinez's injury, the Tigers were best team in the AL Central without Fielder. Now, they will be even more potent on offense and will be the odds-on favorite to win the division and make some noise in the playoffs.
Even with the stacked lineup, there are lingering questions regarding the Tigers.
As somebody who saw Cecil Fielder hit a home run off the front of the left field roof at Tiger Stadium in person, I'm very excited to have a more talented member of the Fielder family playing for the Tigers. Hopefully all goes well and my questions are addressed in a positive manner.
The signing of Prince Fielder by the Tigers this week stunned just about everybody in the world except for Dave Dombrowski, Mike Illitch, Scott Boras, and of course Prince himself. Since Victor Martinez is out for the year with a knee injury, there is a hole in the lineup that will be easily filled by Fielder. Still, legitimate questions remain regarding the 2012 Detroit Tigers.
The $214 million deal over nine years is obscene and hopefully it was not a knee-jerk reaction to Martinez's injury. The Tigers now have Fielder under contract through 2020, Martinez under contract through 2014, and Miguel Cabrera under contract through 2015. Unless a team is willing to take on a large amount of salary for a defensively limited player, none of these guys are going anywhere until their deals expire. There is no denying Fielder's offensive consistency and durability. Even with Martinez's injury, the Tigers were best team in the AL Central without Fielder. Now, they will be even more potent on offense and will be the odds-on favorite to win the division and make some noise in the playoffs.
Even with the stacked lineup, there are lingering questions regarding the Tigers.
- Is Cabrera really going to play third base? If he is, who is going to be the designated hitter?
- Who will play second base? If Cabrera is the DH, who will play third base?
- Can Justin Verlander repeat or even come close to what he did in 2011?
- Will Doug Fister continue his hot streak that began after being traded to the Tigers by Seattle last season?
- What versions of Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer will we see this year?
- Is Jacob Turner the fifth starter? If so, is he ready for a full Major League season?
- With a very shallow talent pool of positional players in the farm system, what happens if Fielder or Cabrera get injured?
- If Cabrera is ineffective at third base in 2012, what happens in 2013 and 2014 when Fielder, Cabrera, and Martinez are in the lineup together?
As somebody who saw Cecil Fielder hit a home run off the front of the left field roof at Tiger Stadium in person, I'm very excited to have a more talented member of the Fielder family playing for the Tigers. Hopefully all goes well and my questions are addressed in a positive manner.
I think you're slightly under estimating the potential for problems with OBP outside of the two big sluggers. After all, the prodigious power that Fielder and Cabrera offer are far more valuable with runners on base. Only Avila seems likely to be useful in that regard, and perhaps Raburn.
ReplyDeleteI think you're also slightly under estimating the extent to which the rotation relies on Verlander and I'm not sure Tigers fans have a realistic expectation of Doug Fister.
For your other questions, some of my thoughts include...
--I really hope, for everybody involved, that Cabrera does not try 3B
--2B: Raburn? Ramon Santiago?
--3B: let's all hope it's not Brandon Inge; is Betemit still around?
--Fister is much closer to being a 4.00 ERA pitcher than a 3.00 ERA one; the Tigers saw an ERA under 2 and I think they expect something under 3.50 for sure; I'd probably take the over
--I'm not sure what they have planned for when Victor Martinez is healthy again, but it will be interesting to see what they do; I think Martinez has the best shot at converting to 3B of the group
The Tigers are awful with OBP. They have been for a while. Once they decided to try the power hitter or bust strategy, they haven't done anything with OBP. Avila wore down at the end of the year, but was very good in a lot of categories, including OBP, last season.
DeleteI expect very little from Ryan Raburn. He is one of my favorite Tigers from his days as a Mud Hen and serves the purpose of "super sub" well.
For 2B and 3B, I think Santiago is the best option at 2B and even though he's a free agent, I hope they bring Betemit back for 3B. Cabrera should be the full-time DH next year.
The pitching is very suspect. The only additions are Collin Balester, Octavio Dotel, and (hopefully) Jacob Turner. Fister, Scherzer, and Porcello are unproven. It's highly unlikely that Verlander will repeat last season.
All that said, the Tigers are very fortunate to be in such a bad division. Of the other AL Central teams, I like the Royals the most. I think they have a great core of talented players. Very quietly, they had a great offensive season in 2011. It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out because the Tigers have a big payroll and guys with good histories, but there is little to no farm depth if anybody gets hurt.