The 133rd season of Major League Baseball is upon us. Over the next month and half, we will be taking a look at each ball club, leading up to the Expert Predictions of the esteemed staff at Sparty & Friends. We will be previewing each team, from worst to first. Today, we ride into the Motor City – home of the Big 3, Greektown, Motown Records and the Detroit Tigers.

We are starting to get to teams that actually have a shot at having a winning record this season.  Enter the Motor City Kitties.  I am fond of the Tigers, even though they did play in the AL East for years.   I grew up watching them when I lived just outside of Detroit.  Alan Trammel to Lou Whitaker was as good of a double-play tandem as you will ever see; don’t understand why Ozzie Smith is in the Hall but Trammel isn’t.  Either they should both be in or neither should.  I was there to watch Cecil Fielder hit a few HRs onto the roof at the old Tiger Stadium, and I watched the team get completely dismantled in the mid-90s and enter into Bolivian (/MikeTyson’d).  It was funny that they tried to push Bobby Higginson as their franchise player for a few years.

When did the Tigers start to really rise to at least decency?  When owner Mike Illitch realized that the NHL was headed towards a salary cap and that he could spend more money on his baseball team.  Anyone else find it funny that the owner of Little Caesar’s Pizza bought the team from the guy that owned Dominos Pizza?  I was always a Buddys Pizza guy…MMMM that was good crust.  Oh, baseball…

Last Season: 74-88 (5th place in the Al Central)

Who’s Gone: Kyle Farnsworth RP (via FA),  Edgar Rentaria SS (via FA), Matt Joyce (via Trade)

Who’s New: Adam Everett SS (via FA)  Brandon Lyon RP  (via FA)  Gerald Laird C (via Trade) Edwin Jackson (via Trade)

Projected Lineup:
1. Curtis Granderson CF
2. Placido Polanco 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera 1B
4. Magglio Ordonez RF
5. Gary Sheffield DH
6. Carlos Guillen LF
7. Brandon Inge 3B
8. Geoff Laird C
9. Adam Everett SS

SP Justin Verlander
SP Jeremy Bonderman
SP Edwin Jackson
SP Armando Galarraga
SP Zach Miner/Dontrelle Willis

CL Brandon Lyon/Joel Zumaya

Key Bench Players:
Matt Treanor C
Ramon Santiago INF
Ryan Raburn OF
Marcus Thames 1B/DH

Manager: Jim Leyland

Lineup Outlook - This time last year, the talk about this team was that they would score 1000 runs in the season. Why not?   They had just added Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Rentaria to a lineup that had scored 887 runs the year before.  Unfortunately, the Tigers stumbled out of the gate and didn’t hit the ball at all.  A lot of that had to do with Curtis Granderson not being there to set the table the first two weeks.  That would eventually be the story of the Tigers all last year – an everyday player would get hurt as soon as someone else was ready to return to the lineup.  They still produced, scoring 821 runs for 5th best in the Majors. We will get to the reason of why that wasn’t good enough in a little bit.

As I said, Granderson sets the table.  He is the AL answer for Jimmy Rollins.  He hits doubles, triples, HRs, steals bases, and gets on base at a decent OBP of .365.  Again, one would really like to see that at about .370 for a lead-off hitter, but that is still pretty solid.  Granderson’s total numbers were not as impressive last year as they were in 2007, but he did begin the year on the disabled list.  His strikeout rate continues to tumble, which is a great sign of maturity. When healthy, he is one of the more dangerous players in the game.

Behind Granderson is Polanco.  Pencil him in for another season batting .300 and scoring near a 100 runs because of the big bats behind him.  You can also count on him for solid fielding. He doesn’t have the greatest range, but he also doesn’t commit errors.

The meat of the lineup is something that Tiger fans should still be excited about. Miguel Cabrera is one of the best hitters in the game.  The guy can flat out rake.  He came to the Tigers with big expectations, and he produced.  He hit .292 with 37 HRs and 127 RBIs.  He generated his highest output in RBIs since entering the league in the summer of 2003, and that isn’t surprsing because he actually had guys getting on base in front of him (apologies to the one year with Hanley Ramirez).

Magglio Ordóñez was always a guy I have enjoyed watching play.  Here is a guy that you can pencil in for a solid 20-25 HRs and 100 RBIs each and every season.  He had a couple seasons earlier in the decade that he battled knee injuries, but he has been the most consistent player on the Tigers other than Granderson.

Is Gary Sheffield finally done?  This is his 21st year in the league, and last year he showed signs of mileage for the first time in his career.  He battled injuries; and, when healthy, he played terribly resulting in his worst season in the league since 1991.  We all know Sheffield likes to workout (even with a little extra help) so I expect him to be healthy this season, but it remains to be seen if one of the most violent swings in baseball can still produce.  He could make or break the Tigers this season.

Carlos Guillen was another Tiger that couldn’t stay healthy last season, playing in only 113 games. He has been incredibly valuable to Detroit since coming over from Seattle in 2004.  He has played SS, 3B, 1B and now is playing in the OF; another player that the Tigers hope stays healthy.

Brandon Inge can be best described like this: amazing plays at 3rd, hits HRs, strikes out.  Oh, and he can play catcher if needed.

Gerald Laird and Adam Everett were not brought in to put up big numbers at the plate. They are considered to be defensive upgrades. Pudge wore out his welcome in Motown, and Edgar Rentaria once again couldn’t hack it in a big market.  The Tigers were not a good defensive team this past year and Laird and Everett hope to improve the Cats reputation.

Starting Rotation - You want a reason why the Tigers finished behind the Royals in the AL Central last year?  You can stop right here.  The pitching was atrocious (save for Armando Galarraga ).  They allowed 857 runs last season.  You can score all the runs you want, but when you let in more than you score, you aren’t winning ball games…pretty freakin’ simple.   Justin Verlander needs to rediscover his electric, filthy, nasty stuff and start to dominate hitters like he can.

The Tigers finally wised up and dumped Nate Robertson.  They actually had convinced themselves that he was one of the better lefties in the AL.  Replacing him in the rotation is Edwin Jackson.  Jackson was an after thought going into last season with Tampa Bay.  But, like the Rays season, Jackson showed the promise that scouts saw when he was working his way up to the Bigs . He finally put together a winning season, starting in 31 games for the AL Champs.  The Tigers feel that he can continue to improve now that he has regained his confidence.

The big key to any Tigers success?  Jeremy Bonderman.  The Tigers have shown so much patience with Bonderman. His rookie year, he lost 19 games, and they still stuck with him. He has always flashed greatness, but seems to break down late in the year.  Either he develops an injury, or loses his control on the mound.  His splits are pretty amazing; he is so much better the first half of the season than he is down the stretch.  The Tigers need him to stay completely healthy to help ease the burden of the bullpen and other starters on the team.

Zach Miner will probably begin the season as the 5th starter, but the Tigers would love to see Dontrelle Willis have a resurgence and become the D-Train.   Dontrelle was unreal for a couple years with the Marlins.  He brought an excitement and love for the game that few show each time they play.  They hope that he worked out whatever kinks in his delivery, or whatever he may have been doing to tip his pitches, and become the dominant lefty that he looked like in 2005.  He is still only 27, so there is plenty of life on that arm; but, he remains a huge question mark, much like the rest of the Tigers rotation.

Bullpen – This was suppose to be the biggest strength of the Tigers.  But, like the rest of the team, they haven’t been able to stay healthy.  Brandon Lyon is the closer until Zumaya can stay off the DL.  Put down the Guitar Hero and start focusing on your damn career.  Fernando Rondey is another fire baller who can’t seem to stay away from arm trouble either.  With these 3 alone on the back end of the Tigers bullpen, they should be able to lockup the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings on a routine basis.

Prediction - 78-83 wins.  This number could be much higher, but the Tigers pitching still has way too many issues; they are a walking disabled list.  This team could return to the postseason for the first time since their magical 2006 run if they can stay healthy.  The talent is there, but the likelihood of that result is very minimal. I fully expect to see Bonderman, Zumaya, and Rodney all with a DL trip by the All-Star break.  They will score runs, again, but they will allow a  lot of runs, again.

Today’s video is a camera phone-captured video of Magglio Ordóñez’s walk-off HR in the 2006 ALCS; my parents were at this game:

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