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| One of the few bright spots - Jeimer Candelario. |
We are suffering from the aftershocks of a Dombrowski-led team, in which year-after-year, we did whatever we could to try to compete for a championship, by trading away all our prospects and spending every bit of cash to get us over the top...
The top never came, and now the foundation of what was a championship club, is in ruins. We have a few statues remaining, reminding us of the good times, but as of late those that are left, have been just that... statues.
We really have nothing to build around, and the pillars we thought we had, are not as strong as we first thought, with players like Michael Fulmer dealing with injuries.
I was online reading about our probable lineups, I believe it was the Detroit Free Press that had these players for our starting lineup next season...
- C - James McCann
- 1B - Miguel Cabrera
- 2B - Rawel Lugo
- SS - Dixon Machado
- 3B - Jeimer Candelario
- LF - Mikie Mahtook
- CF - Jacoby Jones
- RF - Nicholas Castellanos
- DH - Victor Martinez
The Tigers have since traded second baseman Ian Kinsler to the Los Angeles Angels, while signing a one-year deal with Jose Iglesias.
The Tigers probably won't get much in return as for prospects, and to eat some of the contract, let's say $5-$6 million really wouldn't be worth the trouble. We are already going to have to wait on Miguel Cabrera's & Jordan Zimmerman's contracts to come off the books, while we are still shelling out $16 million total for Justin Verlander's contract.
Trading my favorite player in Verlander was a great deal for the Detroit Tigers. Yes, you want to see such icons retire for their teams... but at the same time, it is a business as well, and we executed this trade perfectly, by getting the Houston Astros to eat $40 million off the books for us, while acquiring a solid package of prospects in return.
- RHP - Franklin Perez - No surprise, currently ranks as the Tigers' #1 prospect, and ranks #40 among all MLB prospects. He's only 19, but has exceeded at all levels, prematurely, so he should get to the Majors quickly. I can see him on the Opening Day roster in 2019.
- OF - Daz Cameron - The son of former big leaguer Mike Cameron, his speed & defense will likely get him to the majors before his bat does. He will likely be on the big league roster full-time as early as 2020, while likely making his debut in 2019.
- C - Jake Rogers - Finished a strong season at Class A+ and will likely jump to Double-A in 2018.
The Tigers have a lousy 2018 ahead of them, their two best players last season in WAR was Justin Upton (5.2) & Justin Verlander (4.5), both playing elsewhere the last two months; The next best player was Michael Fulmer (3.5 WAR), who missed considerable time last season.
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| Game results chart courtesy of Baseball Referrence. |
They also were 51-58 after a win on August 4th... After that? They were 13-40, giving them a .245 winning percentage, multiply that by 162 games, that would only come out to a 40-122 record -- which would tie the 1962 Mets for the worst record in MLB history. The Tigers, back in 2003, flirted with the American League record for worst record, as they went 43-119.
I agree with my father they should have moved Nicholas Castellanos (instead of right field) to first, move Miguel Cabrera to Designated Hitter, while telling Victor Martinez (who just had heart surgery) to stay home, retire and enjoy your money... we need to move forward! No V-Mart, please! Miguel's back is bad, and its time to put him at DH for good.... I can live without the power, but when Miggy is struggling to hit .250 that should be a definite red flag.
The Tigers only other moves this off-season involve the signings of outfielder Leonys Martin and pitcher Mike Fiers.... nothing to write home about.
This team will be bad, and us Tigers fans will have to be patient for the future.
I can't understand why they acquired Zimmerman and Pelfry. Yes, they were supposed to be inning eaters, but both were clearly on the downslide even at the time of their acquisition. I bet they are hoping Victor Martinez aka the World's Slowest Human will voluntarily retire. If not, they'll endure him for one last season while he looks around for Yankees to hug. I used to really like him but something happened to him--he isn't the same fiery player anymore. Hopefully Cabby will be back; reports are that he is feeling much better. If Miggy is Miggy, we will be at least semi-competitive. Not good, but not quite so awful.
ReplyDeleteIt was a revelation to watch Candelario play third down the stretch. I knew Nick was a statue down there, but knowing it and seeing the difference first hand are two different things.
I am pissed at my lifelong team. They are using tradition to market the team, and at the same time making stupid, needless changes to the classic home uniform. WHY? I hate the new look. Change the road uni's, fine, but no, they change the home. Grr!
Agreed, I never understood the Zimmerman & Upton signings when they could have used that money towards "Mad Max" Scherzer... Upton did well, don't get me wrong, but his signing just kept us as a competitive team.... Scherzer would have kept us as a championship contender.
DeleteI wasn't aware of the uniform changes, now looking at them over a cup of coffee, yeah... Not sure if I like them either. They made the 'D' bigger on the hats, but making the 'D' on the jerseys much thinner? Makes them look frail & the team is already frail as is.
Thanks FB for the feedback!