I was wondering when this thread would appear
Thank You Satjay ....
I'll give you my thoughts on your questions. (remember, it's still very early)
Austin Jackson ....
If he doesn't let the bright lights effect him, he'll do fine.
He needs to NOT listen to the fans, most think he'll fail seeing he's taking over for Granderson, I
really like Curtis, but he's moved on now.
As for Austin, he's a very good Center fielder, I think he'll grow into Comerica just fine.
Hitting, we'll see if he can hit enough to be productive in the majors.
Personally, I would have hit him 9th till he gets comfortable.
He could be a very nice surprise .....
Johnny Damon.....
He has a lot of energy and a lot of positive experience, will help Jackson.
Hopefully Damon's D won't become an issue.
He has a weak arm, but there have been other weak arm outfielders as well.
Q. is, does he play sound D and can we count on him to make the plays in the outfield, weak arm aside, how is his overall D ?
We'll see.
Magglio Ordonez
Never can find that sqiggly line on the keyboard ....
So far this spring, he's been a positive, he's 9 - 20 doesn't account for much seeing he hasn't had many plate appearances.
I look for him to rebound and have a good year ...... remember, he's NOT a HR hitter, but if he's putting the ball in play and hitting to the opposite field he'll do nicely.
Miguel Cabrera,
We'll see, he's our best hitter and a beast when in the zone. Can carry the team for a month if need be.
He's the AL's Pujols
He keeps focused the team will go far.
Carlos Guillen.
Professional hitter
If he stays healthy and accepts his DH role, he could have a very good year. If he doesn't accept his DH role, he could cause issues as much as I hate to say it.
If he comes out hitting, I could very easily see him being moved up to the 3rd spot in the line up.
Scott Sizemore,
IF he can get settled in at 2nd base without too many comparisons to Palonco, he'll be OK.
I see him as a OK player all around, nothing flashy.
I don't know enough about him to know if he's a better hitter or fielder.
IF he doesn't make the adjustment early (by the end of May) Santiago will be playing 2b at least I hope so.
Again, another rookie with a lot of pressure on him.
Personally, I have a lot more confidence in Austin, so far.
Brandon Inge
I look for Brandon to have a bounce back year, hit .280+ and about 20 HR's.
He's changed his hitting around (last year actually) and it worked last year till his knees too thier toll on him.
Gerald Laird
Good catcher, handles the staff very well, been working on changing his batting approach, very disappointed in his hitting last year.
Hopefully he'll hit .260 and play great D.
Adam Everett
Solid defensive shortstop, needs to bond with Sizemore quickly to help Scott as much as anything.
Not much of a hitter, thats even a compliment for him, he shared the position with Santiago last year and may again this year if Sizemore comes thru.
Pitching .... That is where the games will be decided
The Defense should be solid.
Mr. Justin Verlander is a STUD, as good as there is, potential Cy.
Rick Porcello
In his second year, came up with a HUGE year his rookie year.
You would expect there to be more pressure in your first year.
As it turns out, he's being counted on this year.
I see a lot of the same type of stuff I saw in JV his first few years.
The future is VERY BRIGHT for this young hurler.
Max Sherzer,
I really don't know much about him, pitched well in Arizona .... then why did they trade him ? I thought Edwin Jackson should have stayed, but then the Granderson trade would not have gone down.
For that matter I would not have traded Granderson either.
After that as far as the Starters go ............. it's unknown, if I were to guess if they started the season Monday,
I would think that Willis would be given a chance to start, know one knows how long that should last, I thought it went on WAY to long last year and eventually cost us a Pennant outright, look how many games we was given to straighten himself out when you have NO IDEA if he would walk the league that day ..... lost the division by ONE game, Willis was in for 2 months of unknown pitching. Most pitchers you have an idea with going out there.
Give Willis starts early and see what happens, if not good, take him out before it gets to late.
# 5 Bonderman ? Robertson ? Minor ?
I still don't understand why they can't stay with a 4 man rotation thru the year, they did it for a hundred year and it was OK.
Bullpen : I like Valverde in the Closer role, (no Rodney/Jones, thats a +)
Looks like Ryan Perry will be the set up guy, unless Zumaya becomes reliable, Zoom, Zoom is showing a bit more control this year.... they need to turn OFF the MPH gun on the scoreboard. Zumaya they say is throwing more multiple pitches, thats a good thing.
I think the rest are bit players in the pen, unless I missed someone, I'm going by memory, not a list.
Role players, bench......
Don Kelly has REALLY impressed me this year so far, hitting well, all over the field and playing all the infield positions, look for him to be the Super Sub this year, unless they send him down due to lack of playing time.
Remember Ryan Rayburn also is in position for that role, he's also one of the reserve OF people.
Clete Thomas, I don't see him sticking unfotunately, he has a very good arm, inconsistent at the plate though.
I see a lot of roster maneuvering this year, I will see alot of these guys at AAA Toledo unless they ship them back to AA Erie.
I see the Tigers to be IN IT thru most of the year with the typical slumps and hot streaks.
Were still not that solid offensively, Dombrowski may pull a trade to pick up a vet bat to help out .... we can hope.
Even with the .500 offense the .700 Starting pitching will lead the way.
I
think Shurzer will get it going and if so they will have a solid 1,2,3....
If they can get to Perry/Zumaya 8th and then to Valverde I think they will be much improved ....
I would like to see Leyland let the guys that are pitching well into the 7th, continue going till it's needed instead of pulling the guy because it's the 8th inning.
The pitch count should be OFF of Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry this year.
I see the Tigers winning or being in the thick of it all year.
Remeber, this is the AL Central anything can happen......
I would have thought that the Twins would be the other top team to keep an eye on as well as the Wh Sox, but hope that the Wh Sox struggle, they have the pitching to be ther in the end as well.
The Twins I expect to make a move to sign John Smoltz for thier Closer for the year with Joe Nathan out.
OK, Your turn Paul .....
