Detroit Tigers....2018 Editon

[Tom Horn]

As seam-heads the world over know, the Tigers dumped their high-salaried stars for a pirate's treasure of young hopefuls and are picked to be the worst team in either league this season. I say BAH to that...

Are they a pennant contender? probably not, but then that's why we play the games. Miggy is still there. Nick is now in RF.....the kid will bat cleanup behind Cabrera and in front of Victor, trying to piece together one last season at age 39. He and his $18M salary are gone after this year, maybe at the trading deadline if he has a strong first half. Mahtook is a budding star in LF, Candelario, obtained from the Cubs, is a switch-hitter at the hot corner and has excellent power. McCann and Hicks catching...Hicks can really hit so he'll also DH, and play a little 1B to spell Miggy. Iggy is still the magician at SS and a kid will combine with him at the keystone. Did I mention CF? Jacoby Jones can handle that if he can hit this time around:

The pitching staff is the Ace Fullmer, the hopeful comeback by Zimmerman, young lefties Boyd and Norris, and innings-earter Mike Fiers. They also picked up Liriano who will either be in the rotation or the pen. Speaking of which, Greene and Jimenez will be the back end with several lesser lights in mid and long-relief. So the pitching is sketchy but remember, the Tigers missed the World Series a couple years back with Verlander, Scherzer, and David Price!

My auto-renew on MLB.com kicked in this morning unbeknownst to me....I'd closed the account it was hooked to but they still got their greedy fingers on $90. It's fine....I was going to renew anyway to see the kids play...that's 55 cents a game for 3 hours of Tiger baseball x 162 games.....that's crazy cool if you've been a fan since '59 like me.

 

[BlindBoo]

Look at what the Astros accomplished after dumping all their high value players when the team was being sold.

 

[Tom Horn]

Look at what the Astros accomplished after dumping all their high value players when the team was being sold.

I agree...and the Perez kid we got in the Verlander deal with the Astros could well be in the Show by August...he was pitching in AA last year for Houston at age 19! Got a catcher in that deal named Jake Rogers who they say is the best they've seen in years, and Daz Cameron, Mike's kid who can fly and is developing a power stroke. They got Faedo last year with their first pick after he starred in Florida's college world series. And Burroughs and Matt Miller...future starters who throw gas. Kyle Funkhouser is thought to be a year away from the rotation. AND they get the first pick in the draft this year, thought to be Brady Singer, Faedo's staff-mate at Florida. Singer looks like a 6'5" David Cone..mature, throws very hard, and has a yakker and a hard slider. They also choose first in each round so the their minor league system goes from bleak to one of the best.