Tiger Woes
As the Detroit Tigers continue to slip, I have begun wondering if all my hope in this team is going to be let down. Through this tough 25-36 opening to the season, I have continued to say “I’m not worried at all, they’re still going to get it together and win the division.” The fact that no one in the division was more than a few games over .500 made my theory believable, though now the White Sox have take control of the division with their 35-26 record, which now makes the Tigers 10 games behind the division lead. Before the season began, I had huge expectations of these Tigers, which can be shown by my fantasy baseball draft. I took Miguel Cabrera with my first pick, 3rd overall. Though he has played like a like a 7th or 8th rounder so far, hitting .271 with 8 homers and 34 RBIs. I also took the underachieving Pudge as my catcher, and he has 1 homer, 20 RBIs and a .245 average. Curtis Granderson is also proving to be a bust with his .238 average. Placido Polanco is also not playing to potential with his .279 average and 17 RBIs. I also took Dontrelle Willis in the second to last round of the draft, so I didn’t really hurt myself by doing that, but I really thought that D-Train would be having a better year than he’s having so far. Although he is still 0-0, and has been sidelined mainly by injury, not by bad play.
However, I have since dropped him as well as many other crappy pitchers I drafted (Phil Hughes, Barry Zito [last round, settle down], etc.) and picked up much better ones (Edinson Volquez, Shawn Marcum, Troy Percival, Jon Rauch, and Randy Johnson). It seems so far that the Tigers losing is mainly because of the pitching, which I can agree with. Though, if that’s true, then the Tigers aren’t looking like they’re getting better anytime soon, as they lost Jeremy Bonderman for what looks like the rest of the year due to a blood clot issue. With Bonderman out of the rotation, a 2-8 Verlander, and Willis who has yet to even have a decision, the Tigers are not looking like a team that can turn it around anytime soon. Hopefully relievers Fernado Rodney and Joel Zumaya can return to the bullpen as soon as possible. Though, if the Tigers do want to get this thing turned around, they’re going to have to start swinging their bats better than they are right now, because frankly, the pitching doesn’t look like it’s going to get much better anytime soon, and they have the skill there to be the best offensive team in the majors; they just have to be hungry enough to start winning games with their bats alone.
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Tags: al central, bonderman, cabrera, mlb, tigers, verlander