Detroit Tigers 2019

[WillPower]

Here in Arizona we aren't waist-deep in snow or huddled around the fireplace....we look outside and know we can play baseball if we want to. So given my other teams are either finished or should be, it's time to dream about baseball in the Motor City again. Mired in a total rebuild, I don't expect much...be lucky to win 80 games, but the kids are on the way and some will arrive this year. Chris Ilitch has the team now, Mike having spent almost a billion dollars trying for a ring and not getting one, passed away last year and payroll has been slashed. The stars were dealt, with only Miguel Cabrera remaining along with Nick Castellanos who they're trying to trade for "a prospect"....a great young hitter (26) about to be given away before he hits FA. Okay, that sucks but they've built a stable of young fireballers who are raising up through the bushes and will start arriving in late July. Last year they finally started drafting some hitters and may have hit it lucky on a couple. They'll pick 5th in this year's draft and should be looking for some boppers, the pitching taken care of. I can watch their whole season on MLB.com for less than $90 with Detroit announcers. It's a great transition from day to night here since their home games start at 4pm MST. Oh, here's our CFer, Jacoby Jones...can't hit, but man can he go get that ball.

 

[Rambunctious]

Baseball...now you're talking....Go Bulldogs!!!

 

[Rambunctious]

Ahhhh the smell of fresh cut blades of grass....spring is a long time coming....the batting cages are opening up at the University.....

 

[WillPower]

Ahhhh the smell of fresh cut blades of grass....spring is a long time coming....the batting cages are opening up at the University.....

The Tigers get all bundled up and jump on a bus for the winter carnival tour of lower Michigan later this month. Then the trucks are loaded with gear and they all head to Lakeland, Florida...pitchers and catchers report February 15th, games start March 1st. It will be my 60th season following them....never even considered rooting for another team.

 

[Rambunctious]

Yeah I get antsy for some baseball this time of year...I'm a big Fresno Bulldog fan....

 

[PoliticalChic]

Yeah I get antsy for some baseball this time of year...I'm a big Fresno Bulldog fan....

A month 'til pitchers and catchers!

Yankees!!!!

 

[WillPower]

Yeah I get antsy for some baseball this time of year...I'm a big Fresno Bulldog fan....

A month 'til pitchers and catchers!

Yankees!!!!

Yankees? Tigers opening camp on the 12th.....next Tuesday.....pitchers and catchers report...then the rest of the squad 2/15. 3rd year of the rebuild....Castellanos still slated for RF with Jacoby in CF and Stewart in LF. The infield will be in transition waiting on kids we traded for to make their way to the MC. Miggy back at 1st, new catcher, new 2B, new SS, Candy at 3rd until Issac Parades appears, moving Candy to 1st and Miggy to DH. Rotation in turmoil with only Boyd a sure starter unless he gets hurt too. Fulmer, Zimm, and Norris all coming off surgery....look for a dark horse kid named Spencer Turnbull to appear....great stuff. The got a couple guys off the scrap heap to eat innings...Matt Moore (LH) and Tyson Ross (RH) and will be looking to move them both at the trade deadline for a prospect. This team won't lose 100 games but they also won't win 80....better days are ahead....hope I'm still around when they're pouring champagne on each other again someday.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Yeah I get antsy for some baseball this time of year...I'm a big Fresno Bulldog fan....

A month 'til pitchers and catchers!

Yankees!!!!

Yankees? Tigers opening camp on the 12th.....next Tuesday.....pitchers and catchers report...then the rest of the squad 2/15. 3rd year of the rebuild....Castellanos still slated for RF with Jacoby in CF and Stewart in LF. The infield will be in transition waiting on kids we traded for to make their way to the MC. Miggy back at 1st, new catcher, new 2B, new SS, Candy at 3rd until Issac Parades appears, moving Candy to 1st and Miggy to DH. Rotation in turmoil with only Boyd a sure starter unless he gets hurt too. Fulmer, Zimm, and Norris all coming off surgery....look for a dark horse kid named Spencer Turnbull to appear....great stuff. The got a couple guys off the scrap heap to eat innings...Matt Moore (LH) and Tyson Ross (RH) and will be looking to move them both at the trade deadline for a prospect. This team won't lose 100 games but they also won't win 80....better days are ahead....hope I'm still around when they're pouring champagne on each other again someday.

We open Feb 13.....first game, Feb 19


We won 100 last year....with subpar pitching.

Watch out this year!!!!!

 

[WillPower]

We open Feb 13.....first game, Feb 19


We won 100 last year....with subpar pitching.

Watch out this year!!!!!

Best team money can buy....the Yanks TV contract alone pays their entire payroll...that's before a ticket is sold or a hotdog is eaten. When Mike Illitch (Dominoes Pizza) owned the Tigers we had $200M free-agent payrolls but dumbass managers....now they're going the home grown route in a rebuild they say will take 5 years....who's got FIVE YEARS to wait.....

 

[PoliticalChic]

We open Feb 13.....first game, Feb 19


We won 100 last year....with subpar pitching.

Watch out this year!!!!!

Best team money can buy....the Yanks TV contract alone pays their entire payroll...that's before a ticket is sold or a hotdog is eaten. When Mike Illitch (Dominoes Pizza) owned the Tigers we had $200M free-agent payrolls but dumbass managers....now they're going the home grown route in a rebuild they say will take 5 years....who's got FIVE YEARS to wait.....

Well.....I am a 'front runner'.....


Suffering with the NYRangers and NYGiants right now.

Isn't that enough????????

 

[WillPower]

Well.....I am a 'front runner'.....


Suffering with the NYRangers and NYGiants right now.

Isn't that enough????????

You're top-shelf in my book.....and in the Yanks' defense, they still don't have names on the jerseys or hair on their faces. I saw Maris, Mantle, Ford, Berra all play in Detroit in the early 60's....legends.

 

[WillPower]

HUH? In season #3 of the Tigers "rebuild" what do they do? swipe the Pirates double-play combo of the past 7 years, Mercer and Harrison....ages 31 and 32. Looks like the rebuild is light on infielders but heavy on OFers and pitching. I like it...who needs another 98 losses and under 2M in attendance at Comerica Park? True, both guys are on fairly cheap one-year deals and one of them will likely get flipped for prospects at the trade-deadline. On the other hand, this team might not look like much on paper but with Cabrera back and the bullpen they're building, the Motor City Kitties just might SHOCK THE WORLD and win 80 games!

 

[sealybobo]

Here in Arizona we aren't waist-deep in snow or huddled around the fireplace....we look outside and know we can play baseball if we want to. So given my other teams are either finished or should be, it's time to dream about baseball in the Motor City again. Mired in a total rebuild, I don't expect much...be lucky to win 80 games, but the kids are on the way and some will arrive this year. Chris Ilitch has the team now, Mike having spent almost a billion dollars trying for a ring and not getting one, passed away last year and payroll has been slashed. The stars were dealt, with only Miguel Cabrera remaining along with Nick Castellanos who they're trying to trade for "a prospect"....a great young hitter (26) about to be given away before he hits FA. Okay, that sucks but they've built a stable of young fireballers who are raising up through the bushes and will start arriving in late July. Last year they finally started drafting some hitters and may have hit it lucky on a couple. They'll pick 5th in this year's draft and should be looking for some boppers, the pitching taken care of. I can watch their whole season on MLB.com for less than $90 with Detroit announcers. It's a great transition from day to night here since their home games start at 4pm MST. Oh, here's our CFer, Jacoby Jones...can't hit, but man can he go get that ball.

Baseball is a game you can win it all without having a big star.

But you need 2 good starters and a closer. You’ll go 7 games in the World Series if you have two good starters and a closer.

We had verlander and schertzer but no closer. Sucks.

 

[WillPower]

Spencer Turnbull, a guy only real Tiger seam-heads know anything about, is poised to grab the 5th starter spot with Fulmer doing his usual mysterious rehab stint. MLB scouts agree that Turnbull has filthy stuff and finally has it under control. Norris is supposedly getting his velocity back after Zimmerman told him he wasn't finishing his pitches.....something the pitching coach should have spotted the first day of camp.

Funkhouser (best baseball name in years) is still in the varsity locker room and although will probably start the season with the Mud Hens, is apt to be the first call-up for a spot-start. Cabrera looks dangerous. So does Stewie in LF....reminds me of Gates Brown.....turns and burns....HUGE power. If Avila would smarten up and offer Nick Castellanos a 3 year deal at say $13M per, I bet Nicky would sign...he won't do better as a FA next year. He's a remarkable and still fairly young hitter who has the occasional adventure in RF, but hey, you don't trade an established .300 hitter with power for a "prospect"....they've done their rebuild, now it's time to win some games.

Grayson Greiner looks like a hitter this spring....I'm tired of "defensive" catchers....I want a guy who can hit the gaps and drive in runs. The kid is 6'6"....remember when catchers were 5'10" fat guys? Jacoby is still lost at the plate but still a gazelle in CF and he needs to be with the guys to either side of him. Daz Cameron will start at Toledo but he's almost ready, so Jacoby better understand if he can't hit .250 he's about to be out of a job. The Tigers have two or three other burners coming up through the ranks who want his spot too.

As for the young pitching, Erie (AA) may have a better staff than a couple MBL teams this year. Suffice to say, they're still a couple years away but when they arrive, Detroit will have on helluva rotation. Casey Mize, last year's #1 pick in the draft, may be only the third best pitcher there. Matt Manning and Franklin Perez (who the Tigers got in the Verlander trade) are both hitting 96mph on the gun with wipe-out sliders and are still peach-fuzz kids. Burroughs is right there with them and if Faedo can rediscover his velocity.....watch out AL Central next season.

Oh, and Detroit picks 5th in the June draft so more help is on the way. On a final note, Verlander is a FA next season and is rumored to want a statue in Comerica after he goes into the HOF....it's just a hunch, but Kate is a Michigan girl, Justin has his ring and all the money he can ever spend, so....

 

[WillPower]

DAMN! Michael Fulmer DONE for the year and maybe in Detroit....Blew out his elbow....UCL surgery, 15 months on the shelf. So instead of regaining his velocity, he's gone. I didn't like putting a knee brace on him after he underwent his third right knee meniscus surgery, last season. The year before that he had right elbow ulnar nerve transposition surgery. This is a big thick dude who threw 97-98. They said he had a "violent" delivery.....so what? You have to be violent to throw that hard...they all are. So now what? Some say make him a closer...not me. Bullpen guys end up throwing 3 and 4 days in a row sometimes warming up and pitching....not something you want to do to a guy with the injury history he has. Maybe he comes back stronger than ever with a year off to rest the knee. Andrews is doing the surgery so his elbow will be good as new. They were going to trade him for "prospects" if he started off the year well anyway so, good luck Michael....do your rehab, keep your chin up, we'll leave the porch light on for ya.






Detroit Tigers' Michael Fulmer needs Tommy John surgery, says Dr. Andrews

 

[Jarlaxle]

As long as Jackie Bradley Jr. is playing, every other outfielder is in a race for second best. The only word to describe his defense is "otherworldly".

 

[WillPower]

OPENING DAY....tomorrow in Toronto....in the field house they call a stadium. On the other hand, it would probably be too cold to play otherwise. I feel the Tigers have put together a team that will be fun to watch but not deep enough to make the playoffs or frankly, win 80 games. But ya never know...Miggy is back, the keystone combo played together for years in Pittsburgh and the kids in LF and 3B bring some real power to the left side of the plate. Minors full of future stud pitching which we'll see the first of, probably in August when the starting staff starts to come unraveled. Bullpen full of power-arms, but can they throw strikes?

 

[WillPower]

I'd decided not to buy the MLB.com package this year to watch the lads lose 98 games again. Then an hour before game time today in Toronto, I went for it again....glutton for punishment. Single team package (Tigers) is $92 for 162 games.....57 cents for a couple hours of entertainment. So what happened? First, the game was delayed for 45 minutes for opening day ceremonies (ex-Tiger and Blow Jay Jack Morris, threw out the first pitch in front of the mound and still bounced it....*****). Then a pitching duel ensued with each hurler throwing no-hitters through 5 innings. Zimimerman's no-no went to two outs in the 6th before a bouncer up the middle was knocked down but the throw was wild....infield hit. Then in the top of the 10th, Christin Stewart, the rookie LFer hit a ball deep into the second deck in RF and the TIGERS WIN THEIR OPENER 2-0!

 

[WillPower]

What a week! Tigers split with Toronto, took two of three from the Yanks, and swept KC. Now 7-3...who saw that coming? I did, that's who. When the weather warms up, the Latins will start hitting and Detroit has enough pitching to be competitive all year. I admit they've gotten about every break possible in this streak...the bounces are going their way. Rookie Cristin Stewart hit a grand salami and leads the team in RBIs...he reminds me of Gates Brown from yesteryear. On a sour note, Mike Moore ,one of their second-tier FA pickups over the winter hurt his knee trying to field a damn bunt and might need to get it scoped. 10 shutout innings to start the season before he got hurt....Fingers crossed he can rehab it and be back in a week. It's his right (landing leg) which takes less stress than the drive leg so maybe he can make it work with therapy. Already lost former ROY for the year in Fulmer with Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Jacoby Jones is rehabbing in Florida and better get back quick before Daz Cameron heats up at Toledo and steals his job in CF.

 

[WillPower]

Moore's knee was worse than expected when they went in to scope it and he's gone for the season with a torn meniscus. Pity because he'd regained his "turbo fastball" and had 10 scoreless under his belt. Losing streak stopped in a wild one against the Pale Hose at Comerica today, so the team is now 9-9..not a bad start for the second year of the rebuild. The breaks should now drift back in the Tigers' favor since the last 5 games were horrible....line-drives snagged, weird bounces....3 errors in one inning today. The bullpen in again in flux and I don't trust anybody out there....I don't watch Greene try to close games....that kid sends my BP through the roof. Still, it's baseball...a couple hours away from politics and city life in a simple game of one against nine, success measured by succeeding a third of the time, mediocrity a fourth, failure a fifth...the Mendoza Line.