30 Clubs in 30 Days: No. 17 Detroit Tigers

The Tigers enter 2011 with another powerful lineup, the acquisition of Victor Martinez combined with resigning Magglio Ordonez certifies that the Tigers will be sending plenty of balls over the fences. Unfortunately that’s the extent of the good news for a franchise that can’t seem to figure out how to win one of baseball’s 2^nd tier divisions. They’re not going to figure it out this year and 3^rd place in the AL Central does not belong to Kansas City, or the Forest City, or the Windy City, and it certainly doesn’t belong to the Twin Cities, it belongs to the Motor City because mediocre is what they do.

No. 17 Detroit Tigers

Projected Rotation

1. Justin Verlander-RHP
2. Max Scherzer-RHP
3. Rick Porcello-RHP
4. Phil Coke-LHP
5. Brad Penny-RHP

Projected Bullpen

1. Jose Valverde-RHP
2. Joaquin Benoit-RHP
3. Daniel Schlereth-LHP
4. Joel Zumaya-RHP
5. Ryan Perry-RHP
6. Brad Thomas-LHP
7. Al Alburquerque-RHP

Projected Lineup

1. CF Austin Jackson
2. 2B Will Rhymes
3. RF Magglio Ordonez
4. 1B Miguel Cabrera
5. DH Victor Martinez
6. LF Ryan Raburn
7. SS Jhonny Peralta
8. 3B Brandon Inge
9. C Alex Avila

Analysis

As always I’m going to start with the positives and one of the biggest positives in baseball is the potential of Austin Jackson. The former Yankee draft pick is one of the fastest players in the league and scored 103 runs in 2010. Jackson is an ideal leadoff man who should hit .300 and steal 50 bases. When you’re watching Jackson play don’t blink, or you’re going to miss something.

Backing up Jackson is an extremely scary group of 3,4,5 hitters. Ordonez, Cabrera, and Martinez can form one of the most powerful trios in the American League. Unfortunately the likelihood of that happening is not in Detroit’s favor. Ordonez is a 37-year-old who’s played in fewer games in each of the past three seasons and will be lucky to crack 100 games in 2011. Martinez had a great year last year but it was the first time he didn’t miss over 60 games since 2007, and Cabrera still hasn’t heard of the open container law. These power hitters also have powerful baggage and the odds are against them to actually win their first AL Central Division Championship.

Luckily the Tigers’ rotation will definitely be good enough to complement the slugging of the batting order. Verlander had another great season last year posting 18 wins with an ERA of 3.37. He forms a good 1-2 punch with Scherzer who had a fantastic 2^nd half to 2010 after a disastrous start. If he continues that success then the Tigers starting five should be okay, to be better than okay they’re going to need Rick Porcello to perform they way they expected him too when they made him a first round pick in 2007. Porcello didn’t have a bad year but he has to have a better record than 10-12, and must improve on his ERA of 4.92. Porcello is the wildcard in the Tigers’ rotation if he has a great year then Jim Leyland might be the happiest manager in baseball. If he has a bad year then have fun watching the White Sox and Twins compete for the playoffs (again) in September.

Despite the certainty of depth the bullpen has a lot of questions that will need to be answered for the Tigers in 2011. Joel Zumaya is one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the league, in fact he throws so hard he’s suffered season ending injuries in each of the last four seasons. Valverde had a great first half in 2010 but to say he cooled off after that would be an understatement, he wasn’t even the same pitcher. Benoit has talent but the Tigers are paying him to be his former teammate Rafael Soriano, which he simply isn’t and everyone else is laced with inexperience and control problems.

With everything added up it looks like another year of being better than the Indians and Royals, but not good enough to prevent the Twins from winning their seventh division title in the past 10 years.