The Detroit Tigers bolstered their team with acquisitions of Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Florida Marlins in the trade of the year. They also added Jacques Jones to play left field. However, this team does have a few blemishes.
We won't deal with those blemishes yet. First off, they have one of the best managers of baseball in Jim Leyland. Their offense is loaded with Curtis Granderson (although he'll miss the first few weeks with a broken finger), Placido Palanco, Edgar Renteria, Miguel Cabrera, Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jacques Jones. What a lineup no matter how you write it! This team as you may know by now will score the most runs in Major League Baseball this season. No problems here.
The starting rotation is solid, but it isn't unbeatable either. Yes the acquistion of Dontrelle Willis may help them. But that's if Willis can find his command and not struggle as he did a season ago with the Marlins. Maybe this change of ball clubs will work for him. The Tigers do have Justin Verlander as their ace. He'll be followed in the rotation by Jeremy Bonderman, who seemed to struggle a bit last season yielding too many hits. Kenny Rogers will begin his 20th season and that doesn't promise much success in the 4 slot. Nate Robertson isn't very good as their number 5 pitcher. So based on last season's numbers, they really only have one solid pitcher in Verlander. But you have to expect Bonderman and Willis to perform well and that's about all the Tigers will need to capture the division. If their top 3 pitch well, Rogers and Robertson should be adequate enough.
The Tigers bullpen is in flux because Fernando Rodney will begin the season on the disabled list and Francisco Cruceta won't be ready. Todd Jones isn't getting any younger and it looks like this bullpen is up in the air. Are the question marks in the starting rotation and the bullpen enough to pick the Tigers below the Indians? No. Leyland will piece together areas that need fixing and the Tigers will end up 101-61.
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