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This was suppose to be a transition year for the Tigers

Greg Piatt Written by Greg Piatt, Tuesday August 03 2010
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Remember after the end of last season, the Detroit Tigers let Placido Polanco, Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon go to free agency and the front office then traded Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson?

Other general managers, the media and baseball fans called it a salary dump, a fire sale, because Detroit was in financial dire straits. Even some teams and their fans salivated that they could even pry Tiger slugger Miguel Cabrera away for some prospects.

They were wrong.

The Tigers were retooling, trying to get younger and possibly stay in contention in a transition year.

Then, Detroit signed Jose Valverde, Johnny Damon, and extended Justin Verlander. And in spring training the young studs--Austin Jackson, Brennan Boesch, Ryan Strieby, Casper Wells and others shined--Detroit looked like they had players that would compete in 2011, but also had a chance in 2010. Even manager Jim Leyland asked Dave Dombrowski if he could have the team’s blue chip starting pitcher, Jacob Turner, now. Turner is currently in A-Ball.

There was hope.

The Tigers did contend for the first half of this season, but were plagued by a poor road record, something that has haunted Detroit since the 2008 season. Despite having one of the best home records in baseball, it was that poor road record that would have doomed the team even when they were healthy.

But the hope continued.

Then just before the All Star break, setup man Joel Zumaya blew out his arm. The team had put so much hope and trust in Zumaya, who annually gets hurts, and his back-up Ryan Perry, who lost movement on his fastball and was sent to Triple-A Toledo. The Tigers counted on Zumaya even though his track record had shown that he was injury prone on and off the field.

And the string of bad luck continued in the space of week after the All Star break as three starters in the Tigers’ lineup got hurt—Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen and Brandon Inge.

Hope started to die among some fans when the Tigers were no-hit and then swept in a four-game series by one of the best teams in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays. Would Detroit have done so poorly if they were healthy hadn’t fielded a mostly Triple-A lineup? Detroit’s road record before the break seems to point to that they would have probably lost three of four games in Tampa.

Detroit added Jhonny Peralta a few days before the deadline and there was hope the Tigers would add a hitter and maybe a pitcher at the deadline. But they didn’t.

And then, some writers said the Boston series was a make or break for the Tigers.

While an injury-plagued Boston lineup took two of three games at Fenway this weekend on comeback victories in the ninth, The Tigers’ pitching and rookie-filled lineup were able to stand up to one of the strong teams from the American League East, albeit an injured one.

Some of those rookies, Will Rhymes, Danny Worth, and Robbie Weinhardt, showed some promise and hope for 2011, the purpose for this season.

With an expected $72 million coming off the books because of expiring veteran contracts, many bad ones like Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson, the Tigers should play the kids as much as they can to see who might be a starter next year. That’s the hope for this season and the team hasn’t even brought up outfield prospects Wells and Strieby, who were both hurt at Toledo and got off to bad starts.

By trying out these youngsters now, Detroit can then spend and trade wisely in the off season to fill holes in the infield, outfield and on the pitching staff. Many of these holes were problems this year and even last season.

And as for this season, it wasn’t the Boston series that is the make-or-break series for the Tigers. It is probably this four-game series with the red-hot Chicago White Sox that will determine whether they stay close or will be knocked out permanently.

Remember, this is a home series and the Tigers play great at home. Anything less than three wins for Detroit this week will impact their chances of catching the first-place White Sox down the stretch. They are seven games behind in third place with 58 games remaining.

If the Tigers do surprise the White Sox and Anaheim in the following series at home, Guillen is back and probably a week later Inge returns.

If the Tigers do hold their own, Dombrowski will try to pick up a bat on the waiver wire and possibly a relief pitcher, and keep those players from going to Chicago or second place Minnesota because they have a poorer record.

And then there is hope for the Tigers, even if they are spoilers. There is no reason to give up just yet because there is a lot of good baseball left and hope for who might be trying out for 2011.

Remember, this was supposed to be a transition year with a possibility to contend. And that’s the season, the Tigers have had so far.


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