Prelude to a Season

At long last, what feels like an extra long session of Spring Training (probably helped by the World Baseball Classic) is finally coming to an end, rosters are getting set, and players and fans alike are getting ready for another season of Major League Baseball.

For our Detroit Tigers, a few thoughts:

• Will the improved everyday lineup produce more consistently?

• Will the rotation help take the pressure off of the marginal bullpen? 

• Will the team finish the job this season, meaning a World Series championship? 

Good questions, to be sure. But almost certainly hard to answer before the start of a nice, long, 162-game season.

It's nice to have a lineup that doesn't include Delmon Young; that does include a now healthy Victor Martinez, and can boast a front 5 of the order that can be rather potent. Austin Jackson had his first career .300 season, and has shown more power each season in the lead-off spot - and if he can continue to bring down the awful strikeout numbers, he'll be a force at the top.

Torii Hunter should provide a solid 2nd bat. But I'm not going to set the bar too high on his numbers, as he did hit for a career high .313 last season. Hard to imagine he does that again... that was the first time in his 16 seasons he's hit over .300. Even if Torii hits marginally, his defense in the outfield will be a more than welcome sight for me. He's an automatic improvement from anyone who played out in right field last season. Then again, he has won nine gold gloves.

Victor is going to be the real curious case for me. He hit a modest .264 during the spring, with 1 home run and 3 doubles. Before he blew his knee out last offseason, his 2011 campaign with the Tigers was a rather impressive one: hitting .330 and driving in over 100 runs. But at age 34, and a full season of recovering from knee surgery, it'll be intriguing to see how he holds up after the time off rehabbing. In his favor is the fact that he's not needed to play the field, thus causing a little less wear-and-tear on him. Martinez is a career .303 hitter. Though if he hits around .270 or .280 (while driving in a few runs here and there), then I think the team will be in good shape.

Can Alex Avila and Jhonny Peralta come back from their regression-filled offensive seasons of last year? Can Andy Dirks stay injury free this season as he's the general mainstay in left field?

Stop calling me "Annabelle!" (photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

As for the pitchers, is the rotation as good as previously advertised? Time will tell, as we're going to assume that Justin Verlander will continue to pitch like the freak-of-nature everyone thinks he is. Also easy to assume that he and Max Scherzer will strike out about 400 batters between them again this year. Rick Porcello and Drew Smyly both had solid outings this spring, but my concerns coming out of the spring are Doug Fister and Anibal Sanchez.

Sanchez in 4 starts for the Tigers this spring was touched for 13 runs, 26 hits and only striking out 6 in 16 innings pitched: good for a 7.31 ERA. Fister's command has lacked this spring, walking 12 batters in 19 1/3 innings. Last season Doug only walked 37 batters in over 160 innings pitched. While a simple tweak in command would be a good (and moderately obvious) remedy for Fister, it's Sanchez who might feel a little more of the heat if he doesn't start well: as he did sign a 5-year, $80MM deal to come back to the Tigers this past offseason, I'm not so sure the fans will be understanding of his struggles while he cashes those paychecks.

(We'll save the "closer by committee" talk for another time. That debate could easily fill an ordinary Sunday.)

With all that said, I'm sure all of us are eager to see what this 2013 Tigers team can accomplish in the long run of the season. While most people expect them to win the weak AL Central (Jon Morosi evidently disagrees), it'll be curious to see if they can finish off a championship run. Baseball is a game of inches, and for this team, every inch counts.


Play Ball!