OT - First Day of Spring, What Will the Tigers Do this Year?

either the beer or watching Mr. T on DWTS has rendered my usual cynicism impotent, but I think they can snag a wild-card spit, IF Zimmerman gives them 25 starts and Upton doesn't take the first half off again.

I have no doubt in my mind.

Disappoint us

Boyd should replace Pelfrey and if Sanchez has no control Norris takes his spot

 

I like their chances

86-76 while narrowly missing the wild card again. CF is going to be an issue and this JD Martinez injury has me feeling pessimistic, but I'll tune in for nearly all the 162 games hoping they prove me wrong.

over 30.  We missed the playoffs last year and now they're all a year older.  Older guys are more prone to injury. I see the downward trend continue, unfortunately.  Hope I'm very wrong BTW, especially for my 86 year old dad who watches them every night from his Lazy Boy.

with no postseason. Shakin' my damn head. 

Lots and lots of optimism for the Tribe down here. Starting pitching is absolutely loaded with Kluber, Carrasco, Salazar Bauer and Tomlin.  And bullpen looks solid as hell with Shaw, Miller & Allen.  Add in Encarnacion (people here still cant believe Dolan shelled out the money to sign him) and it's World Series or bust for Chief Wahoo.

And, Big Mike is dead so look for the payroll to be slashed to ribbons.

This team had a window a few years back and missed it. Now they are aging and the pitching is almost all gone

85-86 wins, 2nd place in the AL East.

Minnesota is still hideous, CWS just dealt their ace in the off-season, and KC is about ready to have a fire sale, too, after losing their young starter. 

Kinsler will not repeat last year's success. The bullpen is still unproven for the 55th year in a row. And you can't leave a gaping hole in CF like we have, if you think you're going to win. 

Enough to contend into September. Not enough to make the postseason. The fire sale and deconstruction begins in October. 

I will be excited to watch the 3 young pitchers if Boyd gets in.  If Boyd is somehow optioned to make room for a contract i.e. Sanchez I will not be excited.

Fulmer - I expect a step back as it's almost impossible to replicate the monster season he had and more homework will be done on him.  I am hoping a step back still means a sub 4.00 ERA (I know, that's not the advanced stats everyone cool is talking about) WHIP of 1.10 or below would be nice.

Norris - would like consistency, he looks lik ea guy who will wow you one game and then depress you the next.  So if his bad outings can be manageable like 4 ER in 6 innings or something vs Pelfrey.Sanchez type bad outings.

Those 2 are the guys who can determine the next half decade if they can be paired with the 2 vets. 

Then you hope Boyd is a guy who gets you sub 5.00 ERA in his first full year if they go that route.

I expect the bullpen to disappoint and ruin some games as its the Tigers and some of these young pitchers will only get us to the 6th so a lot of scary things can happen with the 7th and 8th innings with this pen.

The lineup is the lineup - not much change from last year despite the talk.  The catalyst at the top of the lineup is gone in Maybin and if I recall they had a pretty bad record without him and a good one with him in.   A lot of the same feast of famine - 7 runs or 1 run games as that is how they are built.  Hopefully Upton can be more consistent rather than concentrating all his good games in a 40 game stretch.  Guy like Castellanos seems poised to breakout from all the talk in camp.  Kinsler has been a phenom since we got him here - always feel like he is set to come back to earth so we'll see.

All in all a tad above .500 as most of their field players continue to get older and creakier.  Hopefully none of the top 4 pitchers goes out for an extended period of time like happened with Zim last year or it could be .500 or just below IMO.

My main hope is Norris develops into a legit #3/#4 over the years and Fulmer a legit #2 and if Zim is your #3/#4 you have a pretty good rotation here that can keep you in it for many a game - and you can retool your lineup over the next few years to stay competitive.  Starting pitching has been the backbone of the team for 10 years now.

Cleveland looks scary on paper.

They will suck. I don't see anything near a competitor. They lost their offensive spark plug and are overall one year older/ I predict below 500

My prediction: The Tigers will massively disappoint their fans again.

Where's the guy with the "Lose all the games!" avatar? That's my prediction.

Unfortunately, in nearly equal numbers.  But this still goes here (man I miss Ernie Harwell):

 

The White Sox, Twins and Royals are poo and the Tigers will do quite well against all three.

The Indians will be a machine this year, however, however, I don't think that the Indians could possibly replicate their record against the Tigers from last year.

The AL East and West will eat each other alive given how competitive most of the teams are in each division; resulting in a wildcard opportunity for the Tigers.

That being said, this team has several holes that need filling (they should fill them by dumping Sanchez and Pelfrey in said hole), and I don't think that this team is built for any kind of playoff run.

I say 88-74, and an early wildcard game exit.

A few seasons ago, the starting rotation sucked; the next season, the bullpen sucked. Then, they fix pitching, only to see the bats go completely silent. 

It feels like it's been an awfully long time since the entire team played like a contender in all phases of the game.

I think they'll do well.  Injuries up the wazoo last year and they still managed to just get pipped out for the postseason.  Might see some regression from JV and Fulmer, but I expect a very good year from Castellanos and I think Matt Boyd will be a big breakout player.  CF is a disaster and I think Jones doesn't go north, but grabs that spot by June 15.  McCann should be better too now that he's healthy.

A weak division (CWS in full rebuild mode, Minny in full Twinkies-as-usual mode, and KC going down the tubes fast) means the Tribe and Tigers should be able to pile up wins and the loser of the division race is a likely wild card.

I think they're in good shape against the cap, too, despite some obvious anchors.  If for some reason they tailspin, JD and Frankie are great trade pieces.  Almost $30 million comes off the books with Sanchez, Pelfrey, and Lowe after this year, so they should be able to do a little rebuilding on the fly.  They could be in better shape in places, but they're still contenders.

I don't really know. They didn't make any big moves, only to provide depth. You can look at it two ways. 1) They're confident this group of guys can get into the playoffs and contend. or 2) Management doesn't know what they're doing. I think they can make it back to the playoffs but they have things holding them back such as Anibal and more egregiously Mike Pelfrey are looking like they'll at least start the season in the back end of the rotation. They really don't have a CF unless Mikie Mahtook is a full time guy. And JD Martinez is hurt again.

Honestly, they need to move the first day of spring back a month to mid-April.

Or at least put an asterisk after "first day of spring" with the disclaimer ("unless you live north of Kentucky").

but if they finish above I will be happy and if they get a wild card or win the division, then I will all excited!