Tigers Weekly 2008 Season

2008 Season Preview

When the MSU Spartans were trounced Friday night in
the NCAA tournament it meant two things; basketball
season is effectively over and my full attention may
now be devoted to the 2008 Detroit Tigers. Thankfully
I have little time to brood over the butt-whipping
dished out by Memphis, as Major League Baseball kicks
off its stateside regular season Sunday night with the
opening of Nationals Park in Washington. The Tigers
begin their play on Monday with an afternoon game
against Kansas City (sound familiar? this is the third
time in four years the Tigers kick things off with the
Royals and the fourth year in a row we've seen KC in
the first week of play). 

There has been a good deal of movement in the
offseason that has fans excited. Miguel Cabrera and
Dontrelle Willis were acquired from the Florida
Marlins for top prospects Andrew Miller and Cameron
Maybin, both who saw time in the majors in 2007. 
Another promising pitcher, Jair Jurrjens, was sent to
Atlanta as part of a deal for shortstop Edgar
Renteria. Omar Infante was traded to the Cubs for
Jacque Jones, who will take over for the majority of
games in left field. The acquisitions have some
people claiming the Tigers having the best lineup in
baseball. 

Pitching, on the other hand, is what has everyone
holding their breath. Last year the hurlers posted a
4.57 team ERA, up from 3.84 in 2006. The only
addition to the rotation is Dontrelle Willis, who did
not perform well last season. Then there is the
bullpen. Not only will Joel Zumaya and Fernando
Rodney begin the season on the DL, but left-hander Tim
Byrdak was so bad this spring that he was released,
leaving Bobby "A-B-" Seay as the lone lefty in the
pen. If there's a weak link on this team it seems
like its the pitchers. We may be seeing a lot of 12-9
games this season (yuck). 

New Subscribers...

Scott "Cement" Mixer
Randy "Sit on a Pan" Otis
James Otis "Nixon"
Dan "In Davison" Oman

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In and Out...
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Here we briefly list who is new to the squad and the
notables who have left the organization since the end
of the 2007 season.

In...

SS Edgar Renteria - trade from Atlanta
3B Miguel Cabrera - trade from Florida
P Dontrelle Willis - trade from Florida
OF Jacque Jones - trade from Chicago Cubs
P Denny Bautista - trade from Colorado
OF Clete Thomas - rookie 

Out...

Sean Casey - free agent; signed with Boston
Jair Jurrjens - traded to Atlanta; in rotation
Omar Infante - traded to Chicago Cubs (now with ATL)
Chris Selton - traded to Texas; since released
Andrew Miller - traded to Florida; in rotation
Mike Rabelo - traded to Florida; platoon catcher
Cameron Maybin - traded to Florida; in minors
Tony Giarratano - released

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Spring Recap...
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The Tigers had a great record in Spring Training this
year, and that means... absolutely nothing. Still,
for those who spent their spring in Lakeland, they
were able to see the Tigers compile a 15-14-3 record
(including a couple of games played in Houston). They
now leave the sun to return to Michigan, where things
are just beginning to thaw out. Here are some of the
top and bottom performers from Tigers Grapefruit
League action. 

Hot In The City...

Placido Polanco: .408 AVG, 4 HR, 15 R, 12 RBI
Carlos Guillen: .313 AVG, 7 HR, 13 R, 17 RBI
Pudge Rodriguez: .373 AVG, 8 HR, 16 R, 11 RBI

Aquilino Lopez: 14.2 IP, 1.23 ERA, 17 K, 3 BB
Denny Bautista: 13.2 IP, 1.32 ERA 12 K, 3 BB
Nate Robertson: 19.1 IP , 2.79 ERA, 14 K, 2 BB

Cold as Ice...

Edgar Renteria: .234 AVG, 1 HR, 7 R, 8 RBI
Gary Sheffield: .226 AVG, 3 HR, 8 R, 9 RBI
Jacque Jones: .211 AVG, 1 HR, 5 R, 6 RBI

Todd Jones: 10.2 IP, 9.28 ERA, 6 K, 4 BB
Dontrelle Willis: 16.2 IP, 8.64 ERA, 12 K, 15 BB
Tim Byrdak: 10 IP, 13.50 ERA, 9 K, 9 BB

Don't put too much into these numbers. Things often
change when the season begins. Things to note,
though...

- Eight homers from Pudge! Will he see a power
resurgence?

- Dontrelle Willis has more BB than K? Let's hope he
was "working on some pitches."

- Denny Bautista appears to have worked his way (with
the help of injuries) into the setup role. 

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2008 Opening Day Roster...
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Three big names are missing from this list due to
injuries. They are Granderson (expected back in
April), Rodney (out until at least mid-April), and
Zumaya (out until possibly mid-season +). Without
further ado, here are your 2008 Detroit Tigers.

Outfielders...

Magglio Ordonez - RF
Jacque Jones - LF
Marcus Thames - LF
Clete Thomas - ?F
Brandon Inge - CF 
Gary Sheffield - DH

Infielders...

Carlos Guillen - 1B
Placido Polanco - 2B
Edgar Renteria - SS
Miguel Cabrera - 3B
Ryan Raburn - utility
Ramon Santiago - utility
Ivan Rodriguez - C (Inge will back up)

Starting Rotation...

Justin Verlander (R)
Kenny Rogers (L)
Jeremy Bonderman (R)
Nate Robertson (L)
Dontrelle Willis (L)

Bullpen...

Todd Jones (R) - closer 
Denny Bautista (R)
Zach Miner (R)
Yorman Bazardo (R)
Jason Grilli (R)
Aquilino Lopez (R)
Bobby Seay (L)

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Hardware...
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Several Tigers were honored in the offseason for their
achievements on the field. Placido Polanco won both
the Gold Glove (no errors) and Silver Slugger as the
top defensive and offensive second baseman in the
American League. Magglio Ordonez won a Silver Slugger
in the outfield and Pudge Rodriguez racked up another
Gold Glove. 

The complete list of winners of all awards can be
conveniently found at MLB.com:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/awards/y2007/index.jsp

Not forgetting Curtis Granderson and the great season
he had, I checked his stats vs. the other two Silver
Slugger winners from the American League: Vladimir
Guerrero and Ichiro Suzuki. While the case is clear
that Vlad had a better year than Curtis, the choice of
Ichiro is debatable. Here's how they stacked up:

AVG: Ichiro .351 - Curtis .302
OBP: Ichiro .396 - Curtis .361
SLG: Curtis .552 - Ichiro .431
R: Curtis 122 - Ichiro 111
RBI: Curtis 74 - Ichiro 68
HR: Curtis 23 - Ichiro 6
SB: Ichiro 37 - Curtis 26
CS: Curtis 1 - Ichiro 8
K: Ichiro 77 - Curtis 141

* numbers gleaned from www.sportingnews.com

Curtis also out-doubled (38-22) and out-tripled
(23-7)Ichiro in 66 fewer official at bats (walk totals
only differed by three). Curtis smashes Ichiro in the
power department and the stolen bases aren't that
different when you take into account that Ichiro was
caught eight times. K's continue to be a problem for
Granderson, but that normally doesn't seem to work
against hitters in these votes. It's no slam dunk,
but my opinion is that Granderson was more deserving
of this award in 2007 than Ichiro. 

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The Inge Saga...
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Last year Brandon Inge received a four-year contract
for roughly six-million dollars a year that implied he
would be the starting third-baseman for a long time to
come. That changed when superstar Miguel Cabrera was
picked up in December. Inge made it clear that he
would prefer to play every day on another team than
remain with the Tigers in a reserve role, and so the
Tigers looked to make a trade. No trade has yet
transpired, and so Brandon Inge remains a Tiger. 

The situation is strange in that it has its ups and
down. It could be very awkward around the
clubhouse... but what an asset for the Tigers to have.
Inge, though not consistently dangerous at the plate,
is an amazing fielder. He has the capability to back
up any infield position and can also play the
outfield. On top of that he can catch! The Tigers
will utilize this versatility early in the season as
Curtis Granderson has a broken finger and Vance Wilson
is also hurt (yet still with the team, if you were
wondering). Having Inge kills two birds with one
stone... be it an unhappy stone. In a long season
filled with injuries (big and small) I see Inge
starting at least half of the games (if he is not
traded). He may not have a single position to call
his own, but he is very valuable to this club and he
will see plenty of action. 

For six-million bucks I think Inge will continue to
play hard and stay upbeat in the clubhouse. 
Everything we've seen from him suggests that he's a
classy guy. I can understand how disappointed he must
be; he thought he was set up as a mainstay in Detroit
for four years and then that all vanished. Some are
upset with some of the comments Brandon has made this
off-season, but I'll reserve my judgement for when the
whole thing pans out. I'm betting Inge does the right
things. Character has never been a trait that Inge
was lacking. 

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Poll Question...
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There are a ton of things that people can comment on. 
Feel free to weigh in on Inge, the rotation, the
bullpen, the vaunted lineup, the injury-prone Joel
Zumaya, Jim Leyland's cigarette addiction, the
ugliness of Travis Hafner, the pain of listening to
Steve Phillips on ESPN, the designated hitter rule,
and/or what Matt Anderson is doing these days. 

But really, I'd like to hear your predictions for the
2008 season. Sports Illustrated has Tigers over Cubs
in the World Series! What an October that would be. 
Going on 100 years for the Cubs... are they due or
what?

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Readers Write In...
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***Editors Note: Some of these are kind of old. My
laziness prevented their earlier publication.***

Justin "Lewis" Carroll

"Hark! And behold a prophesy: for centuries to come,
the Tigers will rue they day they slighted Inge, and
it will be known by the faithful as the Curse of Inge.
And the Tigers will never win another World Series,
though they'll certainly get close, until they finally
appease his vengeful wrath by killing 3 chickens and a
virgin, and spreading their blood and entrails on his
hallow and sacred grave, for Inge and his soul patch
demand it - - 

And on the third day following, he'll ascend to
baseball heaven and kick Leyland and Co. square in
their collective testaculars. So saith SportsCenter,
and thus saith the fans. 

Amen." 

Chapter 19, Verse 9 - 19, Book of Magglio.

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Adam "Doc" Goyt

Hey Matt, 

After watching another Lion's season go down the
toilet, it's nice to see a Detroit team other than the
Red Wings fight to be a contender each year.
I'm glad that the ownership is making it a priority to
make Detroit a baseball town, which is what it should
be. It's unfortunate that we'll likely lose Inge, who
is a wonderfully classy ballplayer, and showed up for
every game, but "thems the breaks". If we want to
spread the spirit of Detroit throughout the nation, we
have to make some sacrifices. 

Since I live in Twinkie Territory now, I'll be looking
forward to those series against our division rival
come next season. 

Best Wishes,
Adam 

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Bob "Jerry" Maguire

hardly recognize these Tigers any more! Being
sentimental, I keep trying to think of ways to keep
Inge around. Brandon , don’t take this the wrong way.
I’m not saying Stay just out of sentiment—you offer a
lot to the team. None of the following ideas is
without a fatal flaw or two, however:

- Carbrera donuts-up to 320 and becomes a Manny-style
left fielder. 
- Sheffield finally uses up his medical merits and
falls apart as in the last scenes of Death Becomes
Her. 
- Cabrera avec donuts becomes the DH. 
- Magglio is a very good outfielder, but lacks a RF
arm, seems to me. He goes to left and Inge and his
cannon go to right. 

All this ignores Jacques Jones and Marcus Thames.
Regarding a trade, it seems that any team that can
afford Inge’s $19mil already has a 3B. Is he painted
into a golden corner?

Anyway, what a Lineup! What Defense! What a Rotation!
What the @#%$ are we gonna do for Relief? Yes, the
Tigers definitely have the best team in MLB, but
without a reliable bullpen, we’ll need 8 runs a game
to win the division. Trade Inge for Nathan? They have
Punto. 

I’m glad we’ve got some savvy people in charge of
answering these questions. Thanks for your newsletter!
Merry Christmas! 

Bob Maguire

PS, how come Sean Casey doesn’t have a job yet?

***Editor's Note: Casey now is a reserve for the Red
Sox, who come to town in May.***

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Toolie's Trashtalk...

Baseball has begun in 2008 as the A's and Red Sox
split a pair of games in Tokyo. I managed to drag
myself out of bed around 7AM on Tuesday morning to
watch the last six innings (plus extras) of the season
opener. It was a great game with the Sox scoring one
in the ninth to extend the game followed by dramatics
in the final inning. Oakland came back the next day
thanks to a strong pitching performace from Rich
Harden. I got a kick out of the cermonies before the
games and also the way fans dangled things on ropes
for the outfielders to sign. Japan looks like a great
place to visit (at least there will be baseball). One
more tease this Sunday night before the action really
kicks off. 

Tickets could be a real hard find in Detroit this
season. I was able to score 20 tickets to the May 8th
game against the Red Sox for my annual MSU Math
Department baseball trip. This should be our biggest
group yet. For the rest of the games I would suggest
buying your tickets early. Do not be surprised if you
can get them the day of. And remember that if you
can't get in the gates there are always the decent
alternatives of Rod & Mario or Jim & Dan. 

Some randome hodgepdge...

Here's a funny season preview which was presented to
me by Derek Muller. 

http://deadspin.com/366300/baseball-season-preview
-detroit-tigers#poll_=QjM1QTM

Interested in knowing how many options the junior
Tigers have? Check out this February article by Danny
Knobler, sent in by Nic Gilbert.

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2008/02/looking
_ahead_the_options_game.html

I can't wait for things to get going! Monday I have
to work in the math learning center from 1:20-3:00PM
but I may be able to sneak a radio in there (I am the
supervisor, after all). No game on Tuesday, and then
there are only two more off-days in April. The
weekend series with the White Sox will have two games
televised nationally (FOX on Saturday, though that
might be regional, and ESPN2 on Sunday), so you
out-of-towners get ready for some baseball. I'm
hoping Rod busts out with his phrases like "and you
know" and "Marcus absolutely buggy-whipped that over
the left-field wall." 

There's not too much more I can say. It's going to be
a great six months and, as long as the Tigers compete
for most of the season, it will be a good year. In a
discussion with Chas "Grey Fox" Claus we questioned
the media's characterization that if the Tigers don't
win it all this year then there will be outrage in
Detroit. Do these media types not recall where we
were just five seasons ago? I don't think people are
to the point, yet, where anything short of a title is
unacceptable. Making the playoffs would be great, but
we can't take it for granted... look at all the injury
problems already! Who knows what things will look
like in two months? 

The Tigers should have enough to keep things hot for
most of the season. When we are able to attend games
Comerica Park will be full and the atmosphere will be
electric. At home, crowds will roar through our
television sets and radios. We'll answer AFLAC Trivia
Questions and pause ten seconds for station
identification. Rookies will get shaving creamed and
Ozzie Guillen will go to the bullpen to turn Carlos
around. For the next seven months we will be able to
turn to baseball when we need it. And that, my
friends, means that spring has officially arrived. 
Enjoy the season!

I'm out,
 





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