Detroit Tigers position by position review: First Base (revised)

I never would have dreamed a team out there would have taken on the contract of Prince Fielder even with the Tigers kicking in 30 million dollars towards it. The important thing to note is the real win here is how the 30 million will be paid and it looks like it will be in payments spread over several seasons and for a team in win now mode 5 million of bad money over the last years of the Fielder contract is nothing considering he is owed 24 million for the next seven seasons.

Of course this alters the Tigers daily lineup and the entire make up of the infield. Miguel Cabrera reportedly has asked the team to be moved back to first base, and the expectation is he and Victor Martinez will platoon there and at DH. I would also expect this team to give 27 year old Jordan Lennerton a very long look in the spring and would not bet against the team carrying him on the roster as insurance at first and a left handed bat on the bench. Of course without Prince the Tigers also need a left handed bat in the daily lineup.

I do not think the Tigers will add a free agent at first. Having Miggy and Victor as well as Lennerton seems solid enough to begin the season with. I think the big change will come at third. If they feel that Nick Casetallanos is not ready to play every day for the big club at his natural position.

Cabrera played a fine first base for four years making the All Star team twice and finishing in the top five of MVP voting three times. The move back to first makes sense for anyone who saw Miguel battle through injuries in September, and the post season. Having Cabrera and Victor playing everyday at first and or DH reminds me a lot of the years Darrell Evans and Dave Bergman played first and DH (amongst other positions). I also think Miggy and Victor will hit 3 and 4 in the lineup as of right now. That may change if they find a left handed bat to play left field. Then it would make more sense for the lefty to bat 4th with the switch hitting Martinez 5th.

It will be nice to see a little youth, even if it is somewhat experienced youth, and other guys filling out the bench positions on this team. We all wait to see who Brad Ausmus' guys are but some of the Jim Leyland guys are not likely to return. With that being said I don't see Don Kelly going anywhere. his value to the team is his ability to play multiple positions and I don't see that value declining. Kelly can also play first and fill in in later innings if need be.

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Miguel Cabera wins second consecutive AL MVP

It was announced yesterday, November 14, 2013, that Miguel Cabrera once again has won

the American League Most Valuable Player Award. Miguel ran away with this award being amazingly consistent till a late season injury sidelined him. In fact 2013 may have been a more impressive display of his skill set than his Triple Crown winning 2012 season. Miguel hit .348 with 44 home runs and 137 RBI. That won him 23 of 30 first place votes for his second consecutive MVP award. Since teammate Justin Verlander won the MVP in 2011 the Tigers, as a team, have now won three straight MVP awards.

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What to watch for in the ALCS: Detroit Tigers v Boston Red Sox

For the first time ever the Detroit Tigers will face the Boston Red Sox in the post season. The Red Sox are a very goo team and this has the making to be a very good, intense playoff series. The Tigers did og 4-3 against the Sox this season, but the loss that stick in every one minds is the 20-4 beat down the Tigers suffered in regular season game 140 at Fenway park. The thing to remember about that is Rick Porcello started, and that is not going to happen in this series. We can also argue that the Tigers bullpen is well rested and should be ready for this test. With that being said starting pitching, especially on the Tigers side, will be crucial. 

We already know what Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander can do even if JV's record in the ALCS is spotty. However they will starts games 2 and three. Anibal Sanchez gets the strat in game one and his record in the ALCS is limited but extraordinary. He did throw 7 innings of no hit ball last year against the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium. Let's hope that tough outing against the Oakland A's is motivating him. 

With all of that being said let us take a look at a few things to watch for in this series:

• Lineup changes- it seems at some point Jim Leyland is going to have to adjust his lineup to get more offensive production. Austin Jackson has been horrific in the lead off spot and Prince Fielder continues to be a post season bust. Add to that ailing Miguel Cabrera and one had to wonder if Jhonny Peralta doesn't see some time at third and if Cabrera doesn't serve as the DH. Having Vmart play first base to light a fire under Prince also seems like a good idea. However those might not be game one changes.
• Phil Coke- he is on the ALCS roster, but what is his role going to be? Will he be able to get left handers out? Let us not forget this is the guy who stepped p big time last year in the playoffs. Maybe he can do it again. 
• Miguel Cabrera- he hit a big home run in game five in Oakland. Does that mean he is getting better? Can he be the guy this lineup needs him to be?
• Unsung heroes- one of the role players is likely going to have to come up big here. Jhonny Perlata has been that guy so far, but who steps up now? AJ, Alex Avila, Omar Infante...one of these players needs to be magical in the bottom of the order.      

The Goal for the Tigers remains clear. Win one of the first two in Boston. Then come home with JV going in game three and Doug Fister going to game four a hoping to win both those contests. The key here is to force the Bosox into having to beat Max Scherzer and/or JVonce to win this series. If they do that they just might be going back to the World Series. 

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The ALDS moves to Detroit...a few thoughts

The Detroit Tigers accomplished the main goal, they went to Oakland and won one of the first two games of the 2013 ALDS. However, they wasted a gem of a pitching performance by Justin Verlander last night to put a choke hole on the Oakland A's in this series. The offense, the team lost the last week of the regular season, has yet to be found. The simple fact here is if this team does not start hitting they are not going to advance.

Among the problems, and probably first on the list is the fact that the Tigers' 3-4-5 hitters are hitting just 5-24 so far in the ALDS. Prince Fielder is 1-9 continuing a miserable post season performance we saw a glimpse of last fall in the World Series. And a not quite right Miguel Cabrera is just 2-8, and Victor Martinez is also 2-8. Simply put that is not going to get it done. These three men have the responsibility to carry the offensive load and since the last week of the regular season they have failed to do so.

If the Tigers exit the playoffs this early we have no choice but to look at the massive investment in Prince Fielder as a complete and utter failure. An overreaction by the owner of this team to the 2012 loss of Victor Martinez. It would also likely be the end of Jim Leyland's run in Detroit. He has a record of 1-8 in the World Series with this team and while he has helped them come this far it seems reasonable to argue that he is not the manager that will get them to the ultimate goal.

Granted we are not quite at the doom and gloom phase of the 2013 post season. The next two games will be played at Comerica Park and the Tigers are a much better team there, and the offense seems to like playing being there as well. The Tigers still have Anibal Sanchez (Monday) and Doug Fister (Tuesday) and have the option of Verlander or Max Scherzer for game five if necessary. However, the bats need to wake up sooner rather than later.

The Tigers can not ask for better pitching performances. Their top two starters put this team in a position to have a 2-0 lead in this series. The offense has been very disappointing, and largely absent last night in Oakland. This team let a rookie, making his 11th MLB start, shut down a lineup that features five .300 hitters and about 60 million dollars of payroll...

If the Tigers win the next two games, or wind up winning the series maybe we will not focus on this as much. However, for right now it is the story and the Tigers offense needs to work to change that.

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2013 Detroit Tigers regular season in review

There is one goal left. It will take 11 more victories, and hopefully not many more games. For right now the Detroit Tigers have a series coming up with the Oakland A's. That will be a great series without a doubt, but for now we look back at the regular season that was. We look at the splits, the holes, and how the Tigers wound up winning 93 games and their third straight AL Central title.

The Tigers wound up with a 93-69 record. I think my prediction at the beginning of the season was 91 wins and the division. While they did beat up on the Cleveland Indians going 15-4 against the Tribe, the Tigers made the division race a lot closer than it need to be by going just 32-25 against the three other divisional foes. They were also just 12-8 in inter league play a split this team use to dominate, and those three loses to the Miami Marlins certainly play into that. The most significant split here seems to be the 20-26 record in one run games. that means 46 times the Tigers offense was within one run of their opponents. the stats will show that is not a pitching problem, but an offense problem.

As a team the Tigers hit .283 and that was the best team batting average in the American League. They had a On Base Percentage of .346 and that was second best in the junior league. They scored 796 runs (2nd) on 1,621 hits (1st). They hit 292 doubles (5th) and 176 home runs (6th) and we can write off that lower number given they play half their games in Comerica Park. Even though we saw some monster shots by Miguel Cabrera this year. The best stat here is the Tigers had the third fewest strikeouts. Of course they came in dead last in stolen bases with just 35. Jim Leyland does not run often, and this team has next to no speed. It seems like a piece of the game that could help this offense not go so ice cold from time to time.

The starting pitching is very good, but the thing to remember here is no matter how good the starting pitching is, they do not score any runs. Runs are the currency of baseball and we have seen plenty of Tigers pitchers get no run support and eat tough loses this year. Better than good this starting staff is record setting. They struck out 1,428 opponents and that is the most by a staff ever. They racked up 93 wins which was third best in the AL. Had a 3.61 staff ERA (3rd), pitched 1,462.2 innings (4th), and gave up the fewest home runs at just 128. They also allowed the second least amount runs at 624, and the fourth fewest walks. Sure the bullpen has issues and the Tigers only had 39 saves (11th) but the starting rotation is what carries this team, and looking at the numbers here the Tigers should have had far more than 93 wins.

Even with a division title in hand, it feels like the 2013 Tigers underachieved in the regular season. The post season chapter of this team has yet to be written but anything less that a World Series title will certainly be a humongous disappointment.

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Detroit Tigers week in review: Week 21

Kind of a tough week for Detroit Tigers fans. The Tigers go out and lose 3 of 4 to the Oakland A's at home, and in one of those losses Ace Justin Verlander struggles mightily. Then they bring in the Cleveland Indians and beat up on the tribe making their record against them 15-4 for the 2013 season. While getting banged up by a team the tigers could see in the playoffs sometimes in baseball it matters who you beat and when. 15-4 versus the tribe means the magic number is 19, and the tigers handled their business at least within the division.

As always we look at the splits to try and explain exactly what is going on with this team. The overall record is 80-57 and the tigers have a 7.5 game lead on the tribe and the division title is a virtual lock. A big test comes today with the Tigers on the road in Boston playing a very good Red Sox team. We would like to see the tigers play well, but with Miguel Cabrera ailing the tigers might be tempted to but their season on cruise control and get healthy for the post season.

September call ups are upon us. Phil Coke, Jose Alvarez, Bryan Holaday, along with top[ prospect Nick Castellanos have all joined the big club and we shall see how those call ups play out over the rest of the month and what is likely another post season appearance by the team.

In other organization news Toledo Mud hens manager Phil Nevin has been let go, and the Mud Hens will begin a search for a new skipper. It seems very likely that the Tigers will look within their own system to promote someone, maybe the manager of the Erie Sea Wolves who has gotten a lot out of the talent on that team.

The Good:

• Prince Fielder- We have been a lot down on Big Prince so far in 2013 but the truth is he has had a pretty good season. Maybe not in terms of power numbers but we are talking about a huge man that has 29 doubles and will wind up with over 100 RBI. All while hitting behind Cabrera. He has some personal issues to deal with and we always knew his power numbers would suffer playing half his games at the Copa. 
• Anibal Sanchez- With Max Scherzer being basically automatic, and JV struggling (by his standards) we can sort of overlook Sanchez. he has had a very solid year with a 12-7 record 151 innings pitched, 163 K's, and an ERA of 2.68. Hopefully he keeps that up and lives up to the terms of a fairly large free agent contract. 
• Jose Iglesisas- Jose is magic with the glove and will be the starter at Short Stop for this club for years to come. However, as he nears 100 at bats for the Tigers he is hitting .292, and is good enough bunting that Manager Jim Leyland is more willing to let him drop a bunt here and there. This adds another dimension to the Tigers and that is a very good thing. 

The Bad:

• Cabrera's injury- He has missed the last few games, and we are not sure exactly what is meant by abdominal strain. This is a cat who thrives on being in the lineup everyday but who is just dinged up right now. 
• JV- We have yet to see the dominate JV this year that we have seen in past years. He did turn 30, he has pitched a lot over the last couple of seasons but before we get to concerned let's see what he does in the playoffs and maybe even next year. Players are most remembered for what they do in October and JV above anyone else in this town has certainly earned the benefit of the doubt. The good news is he was very sharp yesterday against the tribe. 

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Detroit Tigers week in review: week 21

The Detroit Tigers looked unstoppable over the weekend beating up on the hapless New York Mets. That brings their inter league record to 12-5 and once again the Tigers are able to take advantage of a quirk in the schedule. Having inter league games through out the season is a big benefit to them, and hopefully when we get to the last series against the Miami Marlins the divisional crown will already have been locked up and the Tigers can start a bunch of September call ups to beat Jeff Loria's so called team.

As always we look at he splits to see how this team is doing. The Tigers are 77-54 overall and are up 5.5 games over the Cleveland Indians. They are 6-4 over their last 10 including the loss last night at home to Oakland. The A's have given this team fits as the Tigers have just a 2-2 record against them this year. At home the Tigers are still an impressive 41-24, and have to be on the hunt for home field advantage for the post season. On the road they are still a very good 36-30 but this is a different team when they play at Comerica Park, and based on what we saw last year having home field advantage throughout has to be the prize they are after.

We are getting to the point of September call ups and one has to wonder who will be brought up. It seems a virtual certainty that Nick Castellanos will make an appearance in Detroit and hopefully for the post season as well. Maybe he an even have an impact like Avisail Garcia did last year.

The Good:

• Miguel Cabrera- Much like Ken Griffey Jr was, Miguel is able to put up big numbers and keep himself out of the PED argument. This cat is scary good, and he is the run away AL MVP right now today. He is having a way better season than he did a year ago when he won the MVP and the Triple Crown. He may accomplish that feat again but unlike last year no one can argue that this guy is the most valuable. He is hitting .359, with 43 home runs and 130 RBI. 
• The Starting Rotation- All five pitches have double digit wins, all five have at least 108 strike outs, and the highest ERA of the starting five is Rick Porcello's 4.49. All in a year where we could say Ace Justin Verlander has struggled. 
• Victor Martinez- Victor is now hitting .289 and he is even getting ready to play some catcher. Mostly in the NL parks I wold guess but with the Tigers catchers a little banged up having Victor to take a game here and there is nothing but a positive. So far Victor has caught two games for the tigers and getting him use to the pitching staff is necessary should he be pressed into post season duty as a catcher. 

The Bad:

• Alex Avila- I kind of hate to rag on a kid who is on the 7 day concussion DL but the simple fact here is still hitting under .200 despite the recent hot streak before his injury. that truly shows how bad he was in the first half and I don't see any improvement in this kid. He is what he is a guy who can handle the staff pretty well, but comes up short in offensive production. When the tigers decide they need to upgrade their lineup this is one of the positions where they will have to look at very hard. 

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2013 Detroit Tigers week in review: Week 17

So the Detroit Tigers go out and play the Chicago White Sox and the Philadelphia Phillis, win 6 of 7 and leve us without much to complain about. What on earth will all us Tigers fans do this week? Oh ya complain about the jackass umpire who think he is the show by running Miguel Cabrera for well basically for nothing. Dude, if you show me one person who bought a ticket to see you call balls and strikes I will conceded this point but until then you are a total jackass. In fact you are the Joshua Lobdell jack off of the week...congratulations. This game is not about you...do your job and do it well and the best thing about ti is we won't even know or care who you are. That is the life of an umpire my man.

So after spending the weekend blowing smoke and saying how the bullpen is fine that way it is it took General Manager Dave Dombrowski about five seconds to pull the trigger on a trade. They have added Jose Verras from the Houston Astros for prospect Danny Vazquez and a player to be named. That is a good move and it seems the team still needs to make another move. We shall see.

So of course we look at the splits. The Tigers are 59-45 and in first place by three games. That is still the second worst win total of the six teams in first place and that becomes more important as we progress to the fall and the playoffs. The Tigers are 7-3 over the last 10 (and a chunk of those games were played without Cabrera), and they beat up on the teams they should have this past week. that is important and for July they were 16-8 hopefully that means they will start to heat up and quit making the race for the division a race. It should not be. We will have to see what the addition of Verras does for the pen, but it has to be an improvement.

The Good:

• Victor Martinez- Is Victor back? He all of a sudden is hitting .270 with 9 home runs and 59 RBI. If he keeps it up 1-6 this is the best lineup in baseball. The offense needs to stay hot and keep the pressure off the pitching staff. Victor and Prince Fielder are the keys to that. 
• Matt Tuiasosopo- finally we have a big enough sample size to say this kid is legit and maybe should be playing everyday in left. With just over 100 at bats Tui is hitting .301 with some power. But 31 K's means he needs to have a little more patience at the plate
• Joaquin Benoit/Drew Smyly- the two reasons Dombrowski could get in front of the media and make a credible argument that the bullpen isn't as bad as the fans and media makes it out to be. These two guys are locking it down out there. 

The Bad:

• Prince Fielder- It is hard to say bad when the guy is hitting .261 with 17 jacks and 75 RBI. However considering who he hits behind and in front of it seems like he should be doing more damage. he came top the plate how many times yesterday with the bases full? That is kind of the point here. 
• Phil Coke- Do I really need to continue?
• Alex Avila- He just cannot hit MLB pitching and his far off his career numbers. We have now seen what this guy is and a championship team needs a guy who can produce out of the catcher's spot. 

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What the 2013 Detroit Tigers need is....Leadership!

Detroit sports fans have become a spoiled bunch. We have an owner, who owns both our hockey and baseball team's that is willing to spend whatever amount needs top be spent to win championships. We have a starting rotation that is without doubt among the best in baseball currently, and out Tigers sport the last two American League MVP. Wit hall of that being said the Tigers still have not one a World Series since 1984 and that is so long ago most current Tigers' fans count Magglio Ordonenz's Home Run in the 2006 ALCS as the greatest home run in Tigers history. Fans of my generation still count the blast by Kirk Gibson in the 1984 Fall Classic as the defining home run in their Tigers fandom.

The 1984 team had a few things that the 2013 version doesn't have, a strong bullpen, and excellent bench, and tow names in particular jack Morris and Gibson himself. These men were leaders on that team drafted by this organization and developed into the nucleus that was the dominant force in baseball. It still amazes me that this core of players only won one World Series title.

While the current core of players has won the last two AL central titles this is a baseball town where the goal is to win the World Series each an every year. Given the age and the size of the payroll the window for this core of players to win it all is rapidly shrinking. It seems the biggest thing missing is veteran player leadership. Octavio Dotel tried to be that guy but he was not here long and may not ever pitch for this club again.

The Detroit Red Wings that won two straight Stanley Cup championships and three in five seasons had the Captain Steve Yzerman as the one ice leader. The example setter, but the also had Darren McCarty (for the most part) as the vocal leader in the clubhouse. Before last fall the last Tigers team to go to a World Series had a vocal veteran leader in Kenny Rogers. The current core has two example setters in Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera (we could probably add Max Scherzer to that list, but no vocal leader in their clubhouse. This seems to be an issue for an offense that goes cold at all the wrong moments and a team that fails to score runs late in games. This roster needs a guy to get into people faces and to help the team pick up its late game effort.

The simple fact here is the Tigers for a long time have looked to add veteran leadership via free agency. Thinks about it Ivan Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Rogers, Ordonez, and Torrii Hunter were all brought in and yet no home grown Tigers has stepped into to take up that leadership void. That may not mean anything but a team with this amount of talent and the size of its payroll that has only two division title and one AL pennant to its name has certainly come up short.

Veraldner has struggled so far this year, while Max Scherzer is a perfect 13-0. However, JV did go out and shit down the Toronto Blue Jays on the fourth of July in a performance that should announce he is back and that could be a rallying cry for this team in the second half of 2013.

Let us not forget it was an early spring closed door ass reaming by then first year manger Jim Leyland in 2006 that lit a fire under this team's collective butt. It seems that the current version of the Tigers needs exactly the same thing. If Leyland is unable or unwilling to do so Veraldner, Cabrera, or someone else needs to step up and do so sooner rather than later.

If that does not happen we could wind up talking about the 2013 Tigers in the same breath as we do the 2008 version. That would be the ultimate tragedy and let;'s hope one of the veterans on this team figures that out.

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Detroit Tigers week in review: Week 13

This was a bad week in Detroit Tigers baseball, there is no denying that. The Tigers were swept by the Los

Angeles Angels at home, then lost two of three to the Tampa Bay Rays and as I sit here and write this they are losing to the Toronto Blue Jays 8-2. To be perfectly honest it is starting to feel a little 2008ish around this team.

The Tigers are 43-37 and that is the second worst record among the seven teams that own a piece of first place in their divisions. Only the Arizona Diamondbacks at 43-39 have a worst record with a least a piece of first place. And yes the Tigers are currently tied with the Cleveland Indians for first place in the American League Central.

There are not many answers in the splits either. The Tigers are 22-19 against teams with a winning record and 20-17 against team with a losing record. that seems to suggest this team just isn't all that good. The 2-9 record in extra inning games and 8-12 record in one run games suggest the Tigers have two big problems. The bullpen of course, and an offense that goers cold at exactly the wrong times. That is not an new issue. It is very hard to explain and the only logical thing seems to be that the team is to top heavy. The great player play great but the role players are not picking up any of the slack. The misguided loyalty of this organization to certain players is once again threatening to derail a season here the team was expected to contend for a World Series title.

The good:

• Max Scherzer- 12-0, 110.1 innings pitched, just 74 hits. This cat is unreal. he has started 16 games in 2013 and has 12 wins. Think about how good that is. Better than that the Tigers have only lost three of those 16 games he has started. 
• Miguel Cabrera- pick a stat, pick a situation, and realize this is the best hitter of this generation and it is a little scary that he seems to be getting better.
• Omar Infante- hey he did have a four hit game today, and he entered today hitting .299 and he and Jhonny Peralta are two solid bottom of the order guys. This roster seems to need at least one if not two guys like that that can play adequate defense and produce at the plate. 

The bad:

• Victor Martinez- It is sad to say, and even when we see flashes from time to time of the player he once was, but Victor is not getting it done in the five hole. It is an issue and he is hitting just .232 and one has to wonder how long Jim Leyalnd and Dave Dombrowski will ignore this issue, 
• Phil Coke- This bullpen needs Coke to be something weather that is the left handed specialist of the 7th inning guy but he is having a hard time getting anyone out. His ERA in 24.1 innings pitched is 6.29 and that simply isn't good enough even if the bullpen was in better condition that it is. 
• Take your pick on anything else. This team is in a slump and we knew that was gonna happen, even with all the expectations of this team this is still baseball and good teams find  a way to play through sub par weeks like this. 

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Detroit Tigers week in review: Week nine

This as not the best week in the history of the Detroit Tigers, and it was probably he worst week of the 2013

season thus far. Once again the Tigers have shown that annoying habit of the offense going to sleep. It happened last fall at the worst time and whatever the problem is it really needs to be addressed. Is it the lack of a clubhouse leader? Quite possibly. Is it a flaw in the lineup? Maybe. Is tit the failure of Alex Avila at the plate? Is is due to the struggling Victor Martinez? There are no easy answers here, but when we start to look at the splits it gets to look a little more ugly than it really is.

The Tigers are 30-25,and they lead the American League Central by two full games over the Cleveland Indians. Over the last 10 games they are 4-6, and the included a 1-3 record versus the Pittsburgh Pirates and a 1-2 sting in Baltimore. At home they re a very impressive 17-9, but on the road they are just 13-16. Even more troubling they are just 14-15 against teams with a winning record. that is certainly a number that needs to improve. They are 10-7 against the teams in their division and that is also a number that needs to improve.

The Good:

• Omar Infante- I think Omar gets overlooked a lot, but he has really cemented a trouble spot for this team since being reacquired last summer. He is a solid defender and he is hitting .294 and has a .739 OPS. He has nine doubles and 18 RBI along with two steals. Better than that he has only 18 strike outs which means he is getting the most out of every at bat. 
• Miguel Cabrera- I mean this guy is freaking scary good. He is hitting .367, has 17 home runs, and 65 RBI. He is the best pure hitter since Tony Gywnn and Ken Griffey Jr. He is simply amazing and he only seems to get better. 
• Anibal Sanchez- His 5-5 record doesn't really reflect how good he has been. He has 71 innings pitched, 89 strike outs, a 2.79 ERA, and has pitched the only complete game by a Tigers starter so far this season. 

The Bad:

• Alex Avila- Alex just isn't getting it done at the plate. he is hitting just .169 and has 47 K's. To put that number in perspective that is the same number of K's as Prince Fielder absent all of the offensive production. He is struggling, and it is affecting the bottom of the order. 
• Victor Martinez- he is hitting just .230 and has 28 strike outs. We have seen flashes of the old Victor but they have been few and far between.The lineup could use a hot bat in the five hole. 
• Jose Valverde- We are not going to freak out over one blown save. Everyone blows a save or two during the season but his splits do not look all that great. I think the Tigers can get by with him as the closer and it no longer looks like the 9th inning is the issue for this team. In just 12.2 innings he has a 3.55 ERA, and has given up five earned runs along with 2 home runs. Not the stat line of a legit MLB closer. 

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Detroit Tigers week in review: Week 8

The 2013 Detroit Tigers season is now two months old. For the most part we know what we have now. A

very good team with a pretty large flaw. We see a team that should be dominating and at times they are, but once again they are getting off to that Jim Leyland eske slow start. Maybe it is how he manages giving guys rest so early on, and maybe it is just the mix of players the Tigers have currently.

Of course the news good be a lot worse. This is a team that needs to make a big splash kind of move at the trading deadline but they are in first place by 2.5 games after a couple of statement games against the Indians in Cleveland at the beginning of last week.

So let us take a look at the splits. The Tigers are 29-20 and that puts them on the bottom half of the teams currently leading their own divisions. They are 7-3 over the lat 10 and that includes the two impressive wins at the Indians. They are extremely good at home with a 17-8 record and .500 on the road. However they are still just 10-7 against the teams in their division and have yet to play the Chicago White Sox.

The Good

1. Anibal Sanchez- This kid is scary good. He came within two outs of his second no hitter, a game that I had the pleasure to take my son too, and is certainly worth every penny of the large contract he signed this off season. Somehow he is just 5-4 but he has looked unhittable at times and his 2.38 ERA speaks to that. On top of that he has 80 strike outs and may just be the most impressive Tigers starter so far.

2. Miguel Cabrera- Talk about scary good. He looks better this year than last year when he won the Triple Crown. He is hitting .377, with 14 home runs and 57 RBI. By far he is the most consistent Tigers offensive threat.

3. Jhonny Peralta- It is hard to give this guy any credit but he has been better defensively. However he has been a great presence in the bottom half of the batting order. Jhonny is hitting .341 with 13 doubles, 24 RBI, and 5 home runs.

The Bad

1. The bullpen- Jose Valverde has done an ok job closing out games. he has six saves already. Joaquinn Benoit has 7 holds, but the real weakness for this team is getting from the starter to the 8th and 9th inning guys. The Tigers continue to mix and match guys in their pen, but it is clear a move has to be made.

2. Justin Verlander- this seems like one of those good problems to have. JV has just not looked like the dominant force he has over the last two seasons. However he is 6-4 and has 82 K's to go along with his slightly inflated 3.68 ERA. A string of tough starts was snapped on Memorial Day when he went a strong seven innings giving up just three runs.

3. Alex Avila- This might not seem like a big problem but Alex is hitting just .171 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI. The team could use a little more offensive production out of the catchers spot and having him get hot would certainly help the bottom half of the lineup continue to pressure opposing pitching.

Things could be a lot worse, but for a team with a 150 million dollar payroll it seems the 2013 Tigers have not exactly shown their true potential yet.

Related Links:

• Detroit Tigers news and notes
• Detroit Sports Media Examiner