It is March 3rd, 2010 and it won't be much longer for baseball season to arrive and we can hardly wait. The weather here in the great state of Michigan has been awful as it can be but with baseball season coming up us baseball fans can be more optimistic especially about one thing the weather that is. With baseball season coming up that means at least 40-50 degree days ahead no more snow and spring is close to being in the air. On December 9th, 2009 Detroit fan favorite Curtis Granderson was traded to the New York Yankees in a 3 team deal sending Phil Coke, Austin Jackson, Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth all to the Detroit Tigers. Now Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth are 2 very young pitchers we got in return for giving away our #2 starter Edwin Jackson to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Both are very young pitchers and neither might be able to make an impact right away but they do ha
ve potential. Austin Jackson on the other hand I think could make an impact right away he at least has the potential to. He has some big shoes to fill in replacing Curtis Granderson but you have to think if the New York Yankees wanted Jackson he must have the potential to be very good. In fact last year he was named the Yankees top prospect according to Baseball American if you are named the Yankees best prospect then you must be good. I expect Austin Jackson to be somewhat like Curtis Granderson in his 1st year could very well be up to par when it comes to his outstanding fielding not sure he'll be able to live up to Curtis's HRs, triples and doubles here however he could have a better batting average than what Granderson had last year which was .249 last year. Receiving Phil Coke from the Yankees this offseason could be a very significant move because he gives the Detroit Tigers somebody that they have been missing, a quality reliever in the bullpen.
ve potential. Austin Jackson on the other hand I think could make an impact right away he at least has the potential to. He has some big shoes to fill in replacing Curtis Granderson but you have to think if the New York Yankees wanted Jackson he must have the potential to be very good. In fact last year he was named the Yankees top prospect according to Baseball American if you are named the Yankees best prospect then you must be good. I expect Austin Jackson to be somewhat like Curtis Granderson in his 1st year could very well be up to par when it comes to his outstanding fielding not sure he'll be able to live up to Curtis's HRs, triples and doubles here however he could have a better batting average than what Granderson had last year which was .249 last year. Receiving Phil Coke from the Yankees this offseason could be a very significant move because he gives the Detroit Tigers somebody that they have been missing, a quality reliever in the bullpen. Johnny Damon finally signing with the Det
roit Tigers on February 22nd, 2010 was also a very significant move to me as well. Sure he may be 36 years old now but don't forget he hit 24 home runs and also had a batting average of .282 last season a better batting average than any of the Tigers hitters last season except Magglio and Miguel, not to mention Damon was key into helping the Yankees receive their 27th World Series title. With all this being said despite Johnny Damon not being a very good fielder he ought to come in and hit better than some Tigers right away. Now remember we learned last season the Detroit Tigers problem and downfall was their hitting not their pitching. With Johnny Damon coming in you have a future hall of famer that has been a batting god and looks like Jesus. So despite being 36 years old since he already can hit better than most of the Tigers batters so he should be able to come and make an impact right away in that department as a veteran.
roit Tigers on February 22nd, 2010 was also a very significant move to me as well. Sure he may be 36 years old now but don't forget he hit 24 home runs and also had a batting average of .282 last season a better batting average than any of the Tigers hitters last season except Magglio and Miguel, not to mention Damon was key into helping the Yankees receive their 27th World Series title. With all this being said despite Johnny Damon not being a very good fielder he ought to come in and hit better than some Tigers right away. Now remember we learned last season the Detroit Tigers problem and downfall was their hitting not their pitching. With Johnny Damon coming in you have a future hall of famer that has been a batting god and looks like Jesus. So despite being 36 years old since he already can hit better than most of the Tigers batters so he should be able to come and make an impact right away in that department as a veteran. I think it is also certain that Damon will make a better impact at the plate than Aubrey Huff did all last season. With all this being said about the newcomers especially with the addtion of Damon I expect the Tigers to compete in the AL Central once again perhaps win between 85-90 games. A couple things I will be looking for this season and one is Brandon Inge finding a way to stay healthy all season because I will tell you one thing he started off hot last season already hitting 20+ HR in the 1st half of the season until he had that injury against the Cleveland Indians and it sure slowed down his clutch hitting we saw it in the home run derby a
nd we also saw it in the 2nd half of the season with all the strikeouts as well. If Brandon can start off hot again this season and stay healthy the Detroit Tigers might not just contend for the AL Central they might finally win the division something they've never done since they were switched from the AL East to the AL Central.
nd we also saw it in the 2nd half of the season with all the strikeouts as well. If Brandon can start off hot again this season and stay healthy the Detroit Tigers might not just contend for the AL Central they might finally win the division something they've never done since they were switched from the AL East to the AL Central. Then again with all this being said everything that went right from last season needs to go right this season as well. The pitching we believe is already set Justin Verlander is a beast he had 19 wins and 9 losses last year and struck out 269 batters last season as well. It is expected of him to continue and dominate against teams like he did last season, Rick Porcello who may have only been a rookie last season was the most impressive rookie pitcher since Dwight Gooden. Rick Porcello had 14 wins and 9 losses last season not to mention he performed spectacular against Minnesota in the one game playoff for the AL Central. This future ace is expected to continue the success this season starting with the season opener on April 9th against the Cleveland Indians. Now as for the 3rd starter here is this for a surprise I think Arnando Gallaraga had a sophomore slump last season and will return to the starting rotation and return to his rookie year form he had with the Tigers where he had 13 wins, 7 losses and 126 strikeouts.
I am telling you watch out for Gallaraga this season because I really do believe he will surprise all of us this season. Max Scherzer and Jeremy Bonderman, yes Jeremy Bonderman will most likely be the 4th and 5th starters. Jeremy Bonderman who is still recovering from the blood clot he had removed in his axillary vein in the 2008 season might be looking to prove something this season as we saw some signs of progess last season including when he was in the bullpen and did what he was supposed to do he shows some signs of returning to the starting rotation as long as we don't see what Bonderman did last year against the White Sox in Chicago in that double header last season oh boy. I really like the addition of Jose Valverde who replaced Fernando Rodney who had 37 saves last season as our closer for this season. Valverde however had more saves in 2007 and 2008 that Rodney might not even come close to where Valverde had 47 saves in 2007 and 44 saves in 2008. So yes our key losses were Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson, Placido Polanco, Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon. But our key gains this season are Johnny Damon, Austin Jackson, Jose Valverde and Phil Coke. I expect Johnny Damon to start at left field, Austin Jackson to start at center field, Magglio Ordonez to start at right field, Gerald Laird/Alex Avila to start at catcher, Brandon Inge at 3rd base, Scott Sizemore at 2nd base, Adam Everett at shortstop, Carlos Guillen at DH and of course Miguel Cabrera at 1st base.
I don't expect Sizemore to step into Polanco's shoes right away and be the clutch #2 hitter Polanco was but like Avila did last season I don't expect him to suck either. One more thing I expect this season is Miguel Cabrera to finally have that MVP type year we have been waiting for him as long as he lays off the alcohol seriously
