I was really excited coming into this baseball season - the Detroit Tigers were perhaps one of the most hyped teams entering the season. The trade for Miguel Cabrera was supposed to be huge and the Tigers had made several other offseason acquisitions geared towards giving the team the offensive push to be a real contender. Then the season opened... opened to a sweep by the Kansas City Royals.
Two months later, it's the end of May and I think that makes it a good time for an early overall analysis of a team and where it's going. The true benchmark of the season is, as always, the All-Star Break, but this is a nice mid-point between the start of the season and the break. Sure, the Tigers had some injury issues already - Granderson missing the first 15 games hurt, as did Sheffield's lingering finger injury. But those things aren't really parts of the real problem they face, the problems that I believe will keep them out of the playoffs this season, no matter how well they're hitting.
In reading some of the responses I've seen from Tigers faithful, some observant fans noticed that the while the outfield is, all in all, in fine shape (really, you can't go wrong with Granderson/Ordonez/Thames), the infield is full of 1Bmen and DHs. This was an interesting thought to me and if you watch the Tigers games, it makes sense. The infield defense is atrocious and they're putting up errors (yes, this means you, Renteria) almost every other game. There's a reason Guillen and Cabrera could be shuffled so easily between corners - neither are really fit to play 3B. If I were in charge of the Tigers, I'd be rotating Guillen and Cabrera between 1B and DH and when one of them gets the day off, I'd put Sheffield at DH and the one playing at 1B. Brandon Inge might be one of the most overall talented players on the team and deserves to be playing the infield every day - we need his glove there. When he's off, stick Guillen back over there, or when Pudge Rodriguez takes the day off, have Inge at catcher and Guillen at 3B. Either way, Inge should be priority at 3B, especially given how horrible a fielder Renteria continues to prove himself to be at shortstop.
Of course, the infield dilemma isn't being helped some really awful pitching performances. The starters struggled at the start of the season but they seem to be coming into their own finally. But that doesn't solve the problem of a lackluster bullpen that pretty much offers up runs whenever possible. Really, what other team lost a 0-0 game in extra innings by walking in the winning run? That's absolutely disgraceful. The next game out, the Tigers were up 2-0 when the starter left the game (Bonderman, I believe). The bullpen lost that game, 3-2. These are games that should be won, that any respectable playoff team has to win. But until the Tigers can shore up that bullpen (Rodney and Zumaya will help, no question, but I think some people are kidding themselves as to how much they'll help) and improve infield defense, they'll continue to throttle mediocre teams like the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers while losing embarassingly to teams like the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox.
With any luck, this season will be a learning experience and they'll spend the offseason making quiet acquisitions that bring more balance to the team and dishing out some of the slow, veteran infielders that they brought in to hit the ball for guys who can actually field it decently. Really, I'm looking mostly at the shortstop position here - dish Renteria somewhere, as he's clearly past his prime. Restore Inge to fulltime 3B. Cabrera is fine at 1B, especially if you keep Guillen to swap with him and they can trade off the DH position too. Polanco is a great 2Bman, so no argument there. But that shortstop position worries me and needs to be tended to this offseason, if not sooner.
Keywords: detroit tigers
