|
Thoughts on the Tigers...
This move probably pays off in spades this season... but some concerns:
1) In 2013, what are they going to do with Martinez? If Cabrera plays 3B everyday, he'll be atrocious. Fielder is below-average at 1B. Avila and Peralta are OK at C and SS, respectively (with Peralta trending to below-average). Jackson is above-average in center. Boesch is bad in RF and Raburn might be the worst LF in baseball (since the only one worse, Delmon Young, is the Tigers' DH).
Good luck trying to trade a 1B/DH on the wrong side of 30 coming back from a major knee injury and with diminishing power.
2) The rotation. History shows us Verlander will probably take a step back in 2012 due to workload. But beyond him? I love Max Scherzer, but he's probably never more than an OK No. 3. Fister was incredibly lucky last year. Porcello is still baffling (results don't match what the eye shows). Can I also point out that Scherzer, Fister and Porcello are all extreme groundball pitchers. You know when groundball pitchers struggle? When their defense blows giant chunks. Hmm...
3) The lineup, beyond Cabrera and Fielder, is not that great. Austin Jackson and Ramon Santiago are black holes offensively. Raburn is a below-average offensive LF. Boesch is an average offensive RF. Avila is going to regress (.366 BABIP vs. 21% LD rate in 2011 tells me so).
They are the front runners in 2012, definitely, but this is a team that has some major flaws. It has $80 million/year tied up in four players, one of whom is a pitcher and the other three being 1B/DH types who have no value beyond their bat.
__________________
"You gotta love livin', cause dying is a pain in the ass."
---- Sinatra
|