The Tigers dump Pena and re-tool for 2006

I think I owe the hometown team a little bit of love. I'm gonna throw a few years of Tiger thoughts into this, concluding with a full review of this year's team.

Carlos Pena

The news out of Tiger Town today is that Carlos Pena is done, unconditionally released. I'm sure many of us are upset about this; Pena was only 27 and he was coming off a bad year, right? We should give him another chance. Besides, if Shelton flops (unlikely,) the only other option at 1st is Dmitri Young. And you don't want to see that. Young is the sloppiest fielder I have ever seen. That said, losing Pena was bad, right?

Wrong. Let's review the facts. Pena had a 'bad year' last year, so bad that he was sent down to AAA for about half the season. Because of that, he played half the games he typically would in a full season at the Major League level. Here are the numbers from Pena's 'bad year': 260 AB, 18 HR, 44 RBI, 95 K's, and a stellar .325 OBP and .235 AVG. That sounds like a bad year to me. But, check this out. Pena's career OBP is .330, and his career average is .243, nearly identical to last year's figures. And this isn't a statistical fluke; he put up numbers right in that area every year. If you carefully compare Pena's numbers in 2005 to his 2004 numbers by doubling all the categories, you'll find that they're pretty much identical. In 2004 Pena was the hero on a club that finished 72-90, and was just coming off a season where they lost 119 games and finished the season 47 games back of the division leader.  Pena was good for this club when we were atrocious. No longer. 1st base is flooded with power talent, and besides the fact that there wasn't much room for Pena on the roster, he simply wasn't a good player. Moving on.

First you need to understand what it's like rooting for the Tigers...

It's really hard. Flashback to the Tiger's 2003 and 2004 seasons, where we finished with a record of 43-119 and 72-90, respectively. Awful. In 2003, the Tigers were on the verge of breaking the AL record for most losses in a season - 120 - as they played the last game of the season. But, miraculously, (for them,) they were able to pull off a win. It was probably the saddest day in Tiger history - I would've preferred a loss. Why, you ask? You avoided notoriety in the record books and the label of worst team in the history of the American League. Correct, but after the win the Tigers celebrated like they just won the World Series, no joke. Ok, there wasn't any champagne, but the rest was still there. Chest bumps, high fives, the works. Embarrassing. You just avoided becoming one of the worst teams in history, (although nothing beats the infamous Cleveland Spiders,) and it's clearly the best thing to happen to you all season. The kicker came the next year, in a 2004 double-header against the Royals, the other doormat of the AL Central.

The Royals piled on the Tigers in Game 1 of a double header, 26-5. 6th most runs scored in a single game since 1900. Then, they got SHUT OUT by the Tigers in Game 2, 8-0. Only two very bad teams can pull that off. It's almost like they got together before the game and told each other, 'alright, you play really crappy the first game, we'll play really crappy the second game.' The Royals' Joe Randa was 6 for 7 in Game 1, scoring 6 runs. In Game 2, he didn't play. Royals Manager Tony Pena explained, saying 'he was tired from running the bases.' That's hilarious. And you know what else is hilarious? At the time, your team was 50-89, 29 games out of first place! There's the real joke. Needless to say, Pena was canned next year, as was Tigers Manager Alan Trammel.

This year's team

Well, without any more of the ado, let's get a review of the hometown team. I know more about the Tigers and their organization than any other team, with the possible exception of the Yankees. But I see a lot more Tiger games than Yankee games, so I have a better feel for the players.

Now, Leyland has apparently settled on a lineup/batting order:
1) Curtis Granderson - CF. Nook... where are you...
2) Placido Palanco - 2B
3) Ivan Rodriguez - C. Leyland thinks he'll bounce back this year.
4) Magglio Ordonez - RF
5) Dmitri Young - DH. Just don't stick him on the field. Too hard to watch.
6) Craig Monroe - LF
7) Carlos Guillen - SS
8) Chris Shelton - 1B. He'll work his way up if he keeps performing.
9) Brandon Inge - 3B. Guess we're going with the 'set the plate' idea.

Look at how solid that lineup is. Going with the holes analogy again, there really aren't any big ones here. Everyone's generally consistent, with the exception of Granderson, who hasn't had a chance to prove himself. I guess Leyland just doesn't think Nook deserves the leadoff job. That said, Granderson has had an exceptional spring, and Nook's has been awful. Granderson is currently batting .413 to Logan's .208. People are always talking about Nook's ability to steal bases at will; whenever he gets on, he steals and it doesn't matter that the opposing battery knows it, because they can't stop him. However, Granderson is 5-5, and Logan is 6-6 in SB attempts. Furthermore, of Granderson's 19 hits, 8 were for extra bases - including 5 HR. All of Nook's 11 hits were singles. In short, In 7 fewer at bats, Granderson has produced 27 more total bases, (38 to 11.) But, Granderson hasn't been able to prove himself as a consistent Major League performer. If he can hold on through the year we shouldn't have any problems.

The rotation goes like this: Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson, Mike Maroth, and Justin Verlander. Again, mostly solid and consistent. Rogers and Bonderman are two solid starters, which is one more than we've had in the rotation in awhile. Rogers will have his typical pre-All Star Break fun, while 23-year-old Bonderman will hopefully become one of the better pitchers in the AL Central this year. He finished 2005 with an ERA of 4.57, but before he dropped the last 4 games of the season he stood at 4.02. Both Bonderman and Maroth won 14 games last year. Robertson is definitely improving, and is only 28 years old. Maroth - our former 21 game loser - seems to have hit his peak with an ERA around 4.50, but is also 28. If Maroth and Robertson can stay consistent, they'll keep the rotation solid. At least Maroth isn't our number 3 anymore, because it's never ok to start a 21-game loser at #3.

23-year-old Justin Verlander has a whole season of professional ball under his belt, and he's a full-fledged #5 starter. Better than AAA-bound Wil Ledezma, last year's #5, I guess. I saw Verlander pitch once last year, and he didn't seem like anything special, although he obviously is. In 32.2 IP for the AA Erie Seawolves, he allowed one run. That's a 0.28 ERA. He then allowed 9 ER in 11.1 IP for the Tigers last year, (2 starts,) but this really doesn't mean much. I guess I'm just not sure if we should be breaking him in at the Major League level like this. If he's ready, fine, go ahead. But don't set him up to fail just because we don't have anyone to start. Apparently Joel Zumaya, even though he has more experience at the minor league level, isn't ready to start, so he'll be in the pen. Eh, ok. He's only 21, and Verlander is 23, (college experience,) so I guess that's cool. But look at the age of this rotation - Bonderman and Verlander, 23. Robertson and Maroth, 28. Zumaya, who will likely replace Rogers in a couple years, (or Robertson/Maroth, if they leave town,) is only 21. In three years, you're looking at three possible stars and two mediocre pitchers who can hold their own. Not bad.

I reviewed the Tiger's Bullpen a month ago.

I guess I'm happy with what the Tigers have done lately; we might actually have a winning season this year! That would be the first time since 1993. When asked what he thought about this, Leyland said,

Under normal circumstances, is .500 good? No, not at all. But under the circumstances when you're 20 games under and you haven't done it for 12 years, you have to start somewhere. I would not be happy, but it would be better than being 20 games under. No, .500 basically means you kissed your sister.

Hmm. Basically, Leyland thinks cheering for .500 is pathetic, but he knows it means the world to Detroit - and he knows how pathetic that is. Leyland won't be happy until we bring home a championship. Far cry from Trammel, who was content with letting Vance Wilson bat in the bottom of the 9th with a runner on 1st and 1 out while we were behind one run. I remember this very well. I said, 'Alan, please, put in someone, anyone besides Vance. He's currently batting .091. Put in Pudge, I don't care if it's his day off. Wilson is gonna ground into a double play.' Sure enough, Wilson hits a hard grounder right to the SS. Game over. The last five years in Detroit baseball have been an awful lot like that play - depressing. Every year, it's the same thing - the Tigers win their first Spring Training game, or we win opening day, and everyone walks around talking about how this is our year, with a huge grin that says they know how hilarious it is. With the exception of 2003, when we lost our first 12 games in a row or something - no one didn't know how that season would end up. But the problem has been that, year after year, no one within the organization seems to mind the perpetual losing. Every year, it's the same. We trade away guys at the deadline, then call up a ton of minor leaguers to join in the misery for the rest of the season.

This year will be different, I hope. The White Sox are good, obviously. The Twins are rebuilding, (I don't care what anyone says, they're rebuilding,) and the Indians are finally coming into their own. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Indians come over on the White Sox this year; remember, the Tribe finished just 6 games back of the Sox last year, with 93 wins. The Tigers, of course, had only 71. But, on July 31st, we were only 4 games behind .500, at 50-54. So, I think this may be the year that we finally capture that elusive winning season. I know that half the League is laughing at us right now, but I don't care. Baby steps, baby steps. At best, the Tigers finish ahead of the Twins but behind Cleveland and Chicago. The Royals, of course, end up dead last again, because that's what they do.

Thanks for reading. I just started up my second fantasy league, which drafts on Thursday night, 10.15p Eastern. If you're interested, e-mail me. The league is free but competitive.