Spring Training

[lonesometiger]

Feb. 18: Voluntary reporting date for Pitchers & Catchers.


Starting Pitcher


J. Verlander Remain healthy he's the best in Division IMO
J. Zimmermann Could be the 2nd best in Division Sales & Kluber Can even JV a run for 1st.
A. Sanchez When healthy can give all above a run for the top Pitcher in Division.
M. Pelfrey When all said and done the inning eater gets enough to keep the BP ln the PEN
D. Norris Really need him to step up this season

Boyd, Fulmer, "Green', LaBourt, Robertson, IMO some will see time. So better be/get ready. Would not hurt my feelings should one of them replace Pelfrey or Norris, would like him to make it.



Relief Pitcher


M. Lowe Need to repeat last season with Seattle 1.00 era & forget Toronto 3.79 A. Wilson Same here with Tigers 2015 ERA 2.19
B. Hardy a return to 2014 would be great. 2015 did have more innings. career 2.87
J. Wilson A return to the 2013 season would have kept him in NY Still a career 3.03
D. VerHagen With a 2.05 2015 season under his belt says I'll take it. Age 25

Farmer, Ferrell, Nesbitt, Rondon. Ryan, Valdez, Should compete for the last spot.



Closer


F. Rodriguez Well we had a roller coaster, a potato and now a K Rod.

IMO the BP looks better than the starters this year on paper. This could be a good to great year.


Catchers

50 Bryan Holaday CS% .256 ouch CERA 4.51
34 James McCann CS% .406 CERA 4.65 help
-- Jarrod Saltalamacchia CS% .220 ouch, CERA 4.32

Avila CERA of 3.96 has gone to the sox.

Over all should the health of the pitching stay good they should be better than 2015. However any thing should be better.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I'm exciting for spring training to start.

 

[gotime909]

Same. Coming off a frustrating year, I think it's making me extra excited. I'm also excited to see the new pieces we've acquired take the field.

 

[thehippo73]

I have just as much excitement about this season as the past few. Verlander's health is the key for the staff. With him healthy we have 3 of the top pitchers in the AL. Avila behind the plate is the only big downgrade from last year.

 

[gotime909]

Health is for sure the key. Sooooo many injuries to our key guys last year.

 

[JackCade]

I think JV, at 100% just might regain his title of the best of the best, I think he is one of the best 2 or 3 pitchers in the AL, and probably among the best 4 or 5 in baseball.
But we'll see.
He's learned to be effective without speed and then he started to get the speed back. If he can incorporate the finesse with the 100mph fastball, with his competitiveness, he can easily get back to being more than the division's alpha dog.

 

[UMRules06]

That's asking a lot for Verlander to become the best of the best again. I'll be happy if he can somehow land in between his dominant 2011-2012 self and the crap we have seen the last couple seasons while he's been hurt.

Too many other younger pitchers that are really good out there to put JV top 5.

Kershaw, Felix, Price, Scherzer, Arrieta, Greinke, Bumgarner, Harvey, Cole, Keuchel, Cueto etc. That's just off the top of my head.

 

[UMRules06]

That said, I do think JV can become the ace of our staff again and do a good job. As everyone else probably agrees, we need everybody in the rotation to bring their A game this season.

 

[Thumb]

I have just as much excitement about this season as the past few. Verlander's health is the key for the staff. With him healthy we have 3 of the top pitchers in the AL. Avila behind the plate is the only big downgrade from last year.

I'm less concerned with JV's health than I am with Miggy's.

Need both to be healthy, but JV at best factors in 1/5 of the games, Miggy is going to be in 98% of them. I can only hope if an injury pops up, he is DL'd right away rather than the trainers/doctors letting him play through it like the last few seasons.

That said I don't expect to see 2011/2012 JV again, just hopefully a solid veteran that can eat innings and lead/mentor the younger guys like Norris, Boys and Fulmer.

 

[gotime909]

I'm less concerned with JV's health than I am with Miggy's.

Need both to be healthy, but JV at best factors in 1/5 of the games, Miggy is going to be in 98% of them. I can only hope if an injury pops up, he is DL'd right away rather than the trainers/doctors letting him play through it like the last few seasons.

That said I don't expect to see 2011/2012 JV again, just hopefully a solid veteran that can eat innings and lead/mentor the younger guys like Norris, Boys and Fulmer.

Agree 100% about the medical staff needing to get it together this year.

Disagree a little about the importance of JV vs Miggy. JV maybe only pitches every 5th game, but probably has an impact in more at bats over the course of a season than Miggy.

As far as I know, at least they are both coming into the season both healthy for the first time in quite awhile. That's a plus.

 

[JackCade]

That's asking a lot for Verlander to become the best of the best again. I'll be happy if he can somehow land in between his dominant 2011-2012 self and the crap we have seen the last couple seasons while he's been hurt.

Too many other younger pitchers that are really good out there to put JV top 5.

Kershaw, Felix, Price, Scherzer, Arrieta, Greinke, Bumgarner, Harvey, Cole, Keuchel, Cueto etc. That's just off the top of my head.

I think a healthy and now wiser Verlander is as good the best off that list (except Kershaw, I'm not insane) and better than most of those guys, in some cases way better.

We shall see.
I believe he is going to be better going forward than he was before the injury.

The only one unquestionably better is Kershaw (the freak), I'd take JV going forward over just about everyone else at the top of the list.

He is going to be both the old JV and the new JV, both rearing back and throwing 100mph in the 8th and 9th and not relying on the power, even though he has it.

This is pretty homery, I admit, but yeah.

 

[lonesometiger]

Should we get 2 out of 3, out of the front 3 and 50/50 out of the bottom two, 97 wins are possible,enough to win the division the last few seasons. I guess I'll go with 97 wins for the prediction thread. Hey should the position players do as well as the pitching could do 100 wins could be had! Me thinks I'll stay with 97. But who knows.

Health is indeed the great factor that needs to be dealt with. Last season too many key players fell down. Really Tigers are short in depth in too many spots. So health is the thing to the Tiger season. I think they will be ok in the pitching places, catching a little thin, but enough to win. In ever day players Cabrera is non replaceable. J.D. and Kinsler would be hard to replace for some time as well. Keep those healthy and winning is there.

 

[UMRules06]

I like the optimism, but as far as JV goes that's a "believe it when I see it" sort of notion. I would love for him to turn his career around, and I do believe he can do it. There's a real chance his best days are behind him also though. Gonna wait and see on him.

As far as win totals I don't think there's any chance we get 97 wins. The Tigers haven't won that many games since 1987. We should at least be in the wildcard chase all summer though. I have to admit I do like having that second wildcard because it keeps the season much more interesting for longer.

 

[dale675]

It's definitely starting to get exciting in michigan! Almost more excited just to watch some baseball and see all the new guys we have. May go to opening day this year with the wife and some friends.

While I am concerned with the health of JV and Miggy, I am probably most concerned with the health of Victor. Every time I saw him take a swing last year part of me would cringe in fear of his leg snapping off at the knee. Lol

 

[tomdalton22]

Should we get 2 out of 3, out of the front 3 and 50/50 out of the bottom two, 97 wins are possible,enough to win the division the last few seasons. I guess I'll go with 97 wins for the prediction thread. Hey should the position players do as well as the pitching could do 100 wins could be had! Me thinks I'll stay with 97. But who knows.

Health is indeed the great factor that needs to be dealt with. Last season too many key players fell down. Really Tigers are short in depth in too many spots. So health is the thing to the Tiger season. I think they will be ok in the pitching places, catching a little thin, but enough to win. In ever day players Cabrera is non replaceable. J.D. and Kinsler would be hard to replace for some time as well. Keep those healthy and winning is there.

I don't think there is a chance in hell that they win 97 games.

 

[tomdalton22]

Pretty reasonable analysis (from ESPN article ranking all MLB teams). I could see them 5-10 games better if everything goes right or 5 games worse if things go bad.

19. Detroit Tigers

Big offseason moves: Signed OF Justin Upton; signed RHP Jordan Zimmermann; acquired RHP Francisco Rodriguez from the Brewers for INF Javier Betancourt; acquired LHP Justin Wilson from the Yankees for two minor leaguers; signed RHP Mark Lowe; acquired CF Cameron Maybin from the Braves for LHPs Ian Krol and Gabe Speier; signed RHP Mike Pelfrey; lost C Alex Avila, RHP Alfredo Simon and OF Rajai Davis in free agency.

Most intriguing player: Over his final 14 starts, Justin Verlander had a 2.27 ERA, allowed a .207 average, struck out 91 in 99 1/3 innings and averaged just over seven innings per start. Does he throw as hard as vintage Verlander? No, but maybe he doesn't have to.

I'm just the messenger: I get that the Tigers had maybe the sexiest offseason of any team, spending $242.5 million to bring in Upton and Zimmermann and remaking what was one of the league's worst bullpens. But we've learned the big offseason doesn't always lead to the expected results, as we saw last season with the Padres and Red Sox. My point: The Tigers have a lot of improving to do. They were 10th in runs scored in the AL and last in runs allowed, and remember that was with major contributions from Yoenis Cespedes and David Price before they were traded. That was with Verlander throwing up that 14-start run and J.D. Martinez hitting 38 home runs.

Where I could be wrong: The core of the club that won four straight division titles remains, including Miguel Cabrera (had to squeeze his name in here; remember, he missed 43 games). In some ways, the Tigers remind me of last year's Yankees, a team with a high degree of volatility. If the older guys play well -- they'll need bounce-back seasons from Victor Martinez and Anibal Sanchez for starters -- and stay healthy, they could win 90-plus games. The Yankees had a lot go right in 2015 and won 87 games and a wild card. That's obviously a reasonable result for the Tigers.

The final word: Other than Victor Martinez, the Detroit lineup is all right-handed, with Anthony Gose the only primary bench guy from the left side. Is that a problem? It certainly leaves them vulnerable to late-game bullpen machinations where the opposing manager will always have the platoon edge. It's interesting to note that the Tigers and Nationals, maybe the two biggest disappointments in 2015, had the lowest percentage of plate appearances with the platoon advantage in the majors. Then again, the Blue Jays, Cardinals and Pirates were also in the bottom seven. If you can hit, you can hit. Also of note: The Tigers were one of the worst baserunning teams in the majors (only the Reds took the extra base less often). That will be one of the focal points of the team heading into spring training, although if you're slow, you're slow.

Prediction: 79-83

 

[Mitchrapp]

Unrelated to the Tigers but I just got some ST tickets here in Arizona. Cinci vs Texas. Can't wait.

 

[JackCade]

Pretty reasonable analysis (from ESPN article ranking all MLB teams). I could see them 5-10 games better if everything goes right or 5 games worse if things go bad.

19. Detroit Tigers

Big offseason moves: Signed OF Justin Upton; signed RHP Jordan Zimmermann; acquired RHP Francisco Rodriguez from the Brewers for INF Javier Betancourt; acquired LHP Justin Wilson from the Yankees for two minor leaguers; signed RHP Mark Lowe; acquired CF Cameron Maybin from the Braves for LHPs Ian Krol and Gabe Speier; signed RHP Mike Pelfrey; lost C Alex Avila, RHP Alfredo Simon and OF Rajai Davis in free agency.

Most intriguing player: Over his final 14 starts, Justin Verlander had a 2.27 ERA, allowed a .207 average, struck out 91 in 99 1/3 innings and averaged just over seven innings per start. Does he throw as hard as vintage Verlander? No, but maybe he doesn't have to.

I'm just the messenger: I get that the Tigers had maybe the sexiest offseason of any team, spending $242.5 million to bring in Upton and Zimmermann and remaking what was one of the league's worst bullpens. But we've learned the big offseason doesn't always lead to the expected results, as we saw last season with the Padres and Red Sox. My point: The Tigers have a lot of improving to do. They were 10th in runs scored in the AL and last in runs allowed, and remember that was with major contributions from Yoenis Cespedes and David Price before they were traded. That was with Verlander throwing up that 14-start run and J.D. Martinez hitting 38 home runs.

Where I could be wrong: The core of the club that won four straight division titles remains, including Miguel Cabrera (had to squeeze his name in here; remember, he missed 43 games). In some ways, the Tigers remind me of last year's Yankees, a team with a high degree of volatility. If the older guys play well -- they'll need bounce-back seasons from Victor Martinez and Anibal Sanchez for starters -- and stay healthy, they could win 90-plus games. The Yankees had a lot go right in 2015 and won 87 games and a wild card. That's obviously a reasonable result for the Tigers.

The final word: Other than Victor Martinez, the Detroit lineup is all right-handed, with Anthony Gose the only primary bench guy from the left side. Is that a problem? It certainly leaves them vulnerable to late-game bullpen machinations where the opposing manager will always have the platoon edge. It's interesting to note that the Tigers and Nationals, maybe the two biggest disappointments in 2015, had the lowest percentage of plate appearances with the platoon advantage in the majors. Then again, the Blue Jays, Cardinals and Pirates were also in the bottom seven. If you can hit, you can hit. Also of note: The Tigers were one of the worst baserunning teams in the majors (only the Reds took the extra base less often). That will be one of the focal points of the team heading into spring training, although if you're slow, you're slow.

Prediction: 79-83

"Always with those negative waves Moriarty."

I know this is a total homer post, l but I think this analysis is extremely limited. The Tigers didn't just go out and get big ticket items, in Zimmerman and Upton, they didn't just go out and solve their bullpen problem by getting a closer, the Tigers almost completely revamped their bullpen, protected their minor league prospects and a player like Shane Greene, but they also added depth and pop in places they didn't have it before.

The Detroit Tigers are around the 10 mark going into the season if everybody's healthy. A lot of the rankings going around right now are pretty much horseshit, and not because of where the Tigers are ranked. The problem with these rankings is the lousy pieces of evidence they are using to make their arguments. Like I'm ok with a short explanation, but what I want to see is some hint that behind that short exclamation is deeper knowledge. The Tigers revamping of their bullpen could potentially make that one of the best bullpens in baseball, which is a huge change from last year and needs to be acknowledged more than it is most of the time in these sorts of things. I mean the starting center fielder for the Detroit Tigers last year with Anthony gose, yeah Roger Davis play the lot but Gose was the number one, he's down the fourth outfielder, who may or may not platoon with Cameron Maybin ( who runs better than Rajai Davis, fields better than Rajai Davis or Anthony gose, and is a better hitter than both of them). Alex Avila who hits somewhat better than the average national league pitcher was replace bu Jarrod Saltalamacchia, a huge boost, sure he is otherwise not a particularly great catcher, but McCann is-- or is well on his way to being--one.

If all goes to plan they're one of the top 5 best teams in baseball, maybe top one or two, if absolutely everything breaks right.
As in, Victor Martinez is healthy and Hits 300 +, finally healthy Miguel Cabrera has a near career year, Justin Verlander comes back to full on JV, Jordan Zimmermann settles in fine, Anibal Sanchez has a bounce back year, Nick Castellanos has a breakout year, Cameron Maybin has a full season like the start of his last season, Daniel Norris becomes a big league pitcher, K rod does his thing, the rest of the pen do their thing as well as they've shown they can, Upton settles in and has a bounce backish year, Iglesias fills out as a player, Kinsler is Kinsler, JD is JD, James McCann improves a little, Mike Pelfrey doesn't suck, Salty, Romine, and Mike Aviles and Anthony gose backup like mofos, the guys in Toledo are able to more or less get it done when called upon, Brad Ausmus keeps his head out of places it shouldn't be all season long.
Then, if all that happens, which it might, then the Detroit Tigers could very well be the best team in baseball.

But, everything happens in baseball, well just about everything, and the likelihood of all the stars aligning like that are pretty low.

I still say they're around 10.
Tigers have a chip on their shoulder.
I'm saying 93-69, KC is going to tumble, Twins, blah, Tribe will put up a fight but struggle, I'm thinking the Sox figure out how to win a little but their rotation is way overrated.

 

[tomdalton22]

"Always with those negative waves Moriarty."

I know this is a tota homer post, l but I think this analysis is extremely limited. The Tigers didn't just go out and get big ticket items, in Zimmerman and Upton, they didn't just go out and solve their bullpen problem by getting a closer, the Tigers almost completely revamped their bullpen, protected their minor league prospects and a player like Shane Greene, but they also added depth and pop and places they didn't have it before.

The Detroit Tigers are around the 10 mark going into the season if everybody's healthy. A lot of the rankings going around right now are pretty much horseshit, not because of the where the Tigers are ranked. The problem with these rankings is the lousy pieces of evidence they are using to make their arguments. Like I'm ok with a short explanation, but what I want to see is some hint the behind that short exclamation is deeper knowledge. The Tigers revamping of their bullpen could potentially make that one of the best bullpens in baseball, which is a huge change from last year and needs to be acknowledged more than it is most of the time in these sorts of things. I'm in the starting center fielder for the Detroit Tigers last year with Anthony gose, yeah Roger Davis play the lot but Gose was the number one, he's down the fourth outfielder, who may or may not platoon with Cameron Maybin ( who runs better than Rajai Davis, fields better than Rajai Davis or Anthony gose, and is a better hitter than both of them). Alex Avila who hits somewhat better than the average national league picture. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is a huge boost over that, sure he is otherwise not a particularly great catcher, but McCann is-- or is well on his way to being--one.

If all goes to plan they're one of the top 5 best teams in baseball, maybe top one or two, if absolutely everything breaks right.
As in, Victor Martinez is healthy and Hits 300 +, finally healthy Miguel Cabrera has a near career year, Justin Verlander comes back to full on JV, Jordan Zimmermann settles in fine, Anibal Sanchez has a bounce back year, Nick Castellanos has a breakout year, Cameron Maybin has a full season like the start of his last season, Daniel Norris becomes a big league pitcher, K rod does his thing, the rest of the pen do their thing as well as they've shown they can, Upton settles in and has a bounce backish year, Iglesias fills out as a player, Kinsler is Kinsler, JD is JD, James McCann improves a little, Mike Pelfrey doesn't suck, Salty, Romine, and Mike Aviles and Anthony gose backup like mofos, the guys in Toledo are able to more or less get it done when called upon, Brad Ausmus keeps his head out of places it shouldn't be all season long.
Then, if all that happens, which it might, then the Detroit Tigers could very well be the best team in baseball.

But, everything happens in baseball, well just about everything, and the likelihood of all the stars aligning like that are pretty low.

I still say they're around 10.
Tigers have a cop on their shoulder.
I'm saying 93-69, KC is going to tumble, Twins, blah, Tribe will put up a fight but struggle, I'm thinking the Sox figure out how to win a little.

Get your Kool-Aid here! ICE-COLD KOOL AID!!!

 

[sggatecl]

If all goes to plan they're one of the top 5 best teams in baseball, maybe top one or two, if absolutely everything breaks right.

Couldn't pretty much every team lay claim to this? It's overly optimistic thoughts like this that make me feel like I am a pessimist when I'm really not.

I'm saying 93-69, KC is going to tumble, Twins, blah, Tribe will put up a fight but struggle, I'm thinking the Sox figure out how to win a little.

Any reason that you think KC is going to tumble or is that just a hunch? They retained Gordon at below what his original market price was projected to be and added Kennedy to their rotation. Most publications gave them a B or better for their offseason. If they tumble I think that would surprise most.