Last year, the Tigers won the AL central division by about 15 games, and went on to beat the Yankees in the playoffs, before being eliminated by the Texas Rangers. Hopes were high for this season. Then during the off-season, owner Mike Ilitch decided to open up his considerable vault and pay megabucks to get Cecil Fielder's boy, Prince, quite a slugger. Hopes skyrocketed. Against the likes of Cleveland, Minnesota, KC, and the Chisox, who many pundits said was the worst division in baseball, the Tigers were a lock to win that division going away. The regular season was a mere formality, they said. Bring on the playoffs.
Sure, there's still about a 100 games to go, anything can happen, and the Tigers might indeed wind up winning the central division, but let's take a hard look at what the Tigers actually bring to the plate, pun intended.
When Fielder came on board, Miguel Cabrera got moved to 3rd base. That put Brandon Inge in "nowhereland". He was -- and is -- a great guy. Fan and media friendly, a hard worker, his teammates loved him, and he "gave back" to the community in various ways. Inge was also a pretty slick fielding 3rd baseman. But he couldn't hit, at least nowhere near as well as his replacement, Cabrera, can. The downside is Cabrera is a defensive liability at 3rd base. Pros and cons.
Here's what the hypesters didn't tell you. Take an objective look at the other positions on the Tigers, and you just might find them to be much less than was advertised.
They have no second baseman that's even half way decent. Period. Jhonny Perallta at shortstop overachieved last year, but he's basically a journeyman type player. Alex Avila, the original starting catcher this year, hit pretty well in 2011, but it was likely an anomaly. To boot, base runners knew they could "steal" on him, and they surely did.
In the outfield, the Tigers had let Curtis Granderson get away to the Yankees, and replaced him with Austin Jackson. Granderson's lighting it up in the Big Apple while Jackson has "potential", if he can stay healthy. Not counting another journeyman player, that can hopefully stay out of trouble with the law, the rest of them are a mishmash of young guys that are good on some days, and stink it up on others, both hitting and fielding. They'll shine brightly, then go dark for a while. It's like a random clap on, clap off. You never know.
The Tigers have ZERO team speed. The hypesters would have you believe Prince Fielder is faster than we think. Well OK, so is a tank, but it would leave a little bit to be desired on a major league baseball field.
Regarding pitching, Justin Verlander is a superstar. Beyond that, what did they have? Doug Pfister, a kid with supposedly "great stuff", that also can't seem to stay healthy. Maybe he'll develop into a long term stalwart. Or maybe he'll supernova like Mark, The Bird, Fidrych did a few decades ago. Nobody knows. Same with Rick Porcello. Maybe he'll blossom and maybe he'll wilt away. The jury's still out. Max Scherzer, another starter, is, again, no more than a journeyman pitcher. Overhyped, but nothing special. The other starters they've plugged in are a crap shoot as well. Some days they shine. Some days they don't. Clap on. Clap off.
As to the bullpen, last year's premier closer, Jose Valverde, who went the entire season without blowing a save opportunity, has thudded back to earth. He was great in 2011, so naturally the Koolaiders expected the same this year. It doesn't always work out that way. He's been merely average. The rest of them seem to be a conglomeration of guys coming and going that nobody's ever heard of.
It's no big secret the Tigers don't have much in the way of really good prospects in their minor league system. That's because they either traded them away or called them up to the big leagues to fill a hole before they were fully developed. Sometimes it works. Most times it doesn't. Regardless, the cupboard is fairly bare down on the farm these days.
Yes, the Tigers have certainly seen their share of players get sidelined by injuries. Maybe it was freak things, or maybe they were trying too hard to do more than they were ready to do.
People can debate the Tigers' current plight foreverafter, but let's cut to the chase.
They entered this season with one great starting pitcher and two terrific sluggers. That's about it. All the rest of the hype was built on hope, looking at the best of 2011 from various players and expecting them to be even better this year. It's sort of like the economy. Every time somebody is making money somewhere, somebody else has to lose the same amount of money. For every winner there has to be a loser.
I suppose it's the same in every major league baseball city. The local pundits will don their rose-tinted glasses, chug the Koolaid, and try to pass it off to their readers that the local team is WAY better than they actually are. In the Tigers' case, at least so far, they seem to have been vastly overrated.
The local scribes are always going to be "homers". After all, they can't rip their teams too much, because doing so might result in a harder time gaining access to certain things, like players for exclusive interviews. Even the jocks read the papers.
But just because they have to drink the Koolaid, and advertise it -- doesn't mean we have to consume the same product.
Bottom line? Maybe, just maybe, the Tigers ain't all they're cracked up to be.
They better hope they can clap it back on pretty quick, because if they continue bumbling through the rest of this season, only to supposedly woefully underachieve -- then something else will probably happen.
Manager Jim Leyland will get clapped off.
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