In the 108th season of Tigers Baseball, it really was a big disappointment. One of the best fielding third basemen in today’s game was forced to play catcher, Miguel Cabrera, though his bat got hot later in the season, he was rustier than a barn nail trying to play first base . Even though we were predicted to win the AL Central, it took the Tigers 8 games into the season to get their first win, and by mid-September their chances were pretty much gone. It was a season plagued by injuries, but more importantly, poor defense. Edgar Renteria signed with the San Francisco Giants this offseason for $18.5 million, which tells me the management in San Francisco aren’t big Tigers fans, or they would have seen how much he declined at shortstop. Yes, there was a lot of disappointment last year, but I have a few reasons why the 2009 season will be a little more exciting for Tigers fans.
I’ll start where I left off; the Tigers replaced Renteria with Adam Everett. We knew the Tigers weren’t going to go out this offseason and dump a lot of money, but he seems like a nice cheap fix at a million bucks for a year. I think you could stick a glove to a stick and that’s a major Renteria upgrade. They also signed Gerald Laird and Matt Treanor, allowing Inge to return to third base. Carlos Guillén will be moved to left field to keep his bat in the lineup, which is an easy transition for most players. And one move that I found under the radar, but extremely important, would be the signing of Brandon Lyon. To be honest, I’m not going to miss Todd Jones living up to the roller coaster moniker of him. I’m definitely not sold on Fernando Rodney’s shutdown, so it’s another cheap deal the Tigers made to get better.
The deal for the Tigers’ 2009 season would depend on the bullpen. They need to get Verlander back to his old self, Zumaya healthy, and Dontrelle getting back to old form would be unexpected, but much appreciated. With two possible Verlanders in the minors (Rick Porcello, Ryan Perry) the bullpen, I promise, will look better than it did last season. Let’s hope Bonderman makes a full recovery.
